Disconnected and Pushed Out: Youth Narratives of "Second-Chance" Programs in an Urban Community of Color

• In Event: 28.089 - MTCC Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: 28.089-3 - Shifting Partnerships and Priorities for Organizing

Abstract

This critical qualitative study draws from research exploring resources for youth who have been pushed-out of their schools and are currently enrolled in “second-chance” programs in an urban community. Drawing on 9 focus group interviews with 59 youth of color, this paper explores these “second-chances”. Supportive relationships with adults in the organizations offered a remedy to the disconnections the youth felt in their earlier educational experiences and they clearly benefited from the encouragement and motivation. But efforts fell short in terms of any larger analysis of how they came to be “pushed-out” of their schools. Individual responsibility was emphasized leaving unexamined how schools and society failed them and diminishing the opportunity to work collectively for change.

Authors

• David Lardier, University of New Mexico

• Carrie Bergeson, Montclair State University

• Kathryn G. Herr, Montclair State University

• Pauline Garcia-Reid, Montclair State University

• Robert J Reid, Montclair State University