Networks of Solidarity: Young Men of Color's Well-Being and Community Organizing Across California

• In Event: 64.019 - Leveraging Resources: A Statewide Perspective of Boys and Young Men of Color in California

Abstract

Background: As documented in prior research, young men of color (YMOC)—in particular Black and Latinx boys and young men—tend to be overrepresented among those suspended and expelled in school and locked up in juvenile halls and adult prisons (Lewis et al. 2015; Skiba et al. 2011). In his ethnographic study in Oakland, CA, Victor Rios (2011) finds that surveillance, punishment, and the treatment of the Black and Latino young men’s everyday activities as criminal alienate them from the K-12 schooling process. Rios argues that youth become entrenched in the youth-control complex, which he defines as “a system of punitive social control held a grip on the minds and trajectories of the boys in this study” (P.21). Criminalization is thus a central and pervasive phenomenon that impacts the everyday lives of Black and Latino young men in Oakland. To address the criminalization and other challenges boys and young men of color encounter, community-based organizations (CBOs) in low-income communities across the state of California are organizing to support the leadership of YMOC and engage them in grassroots campaigns that address the structural conditions that limit their success and well-being.

Methods and findings: To gain a richer understanding of how youth programming in these organizations is contributing to the empowerment of young men of color, Black, Latinx, Native American, and Asian Pacific Islander, this paper draws on qualitative data collected from 2016 to 2018. In-depth interviews conducted with 30 youth and 20 staff allow for an understanding of the everyday practices and interactions (Denzin & Lincoln 2000) across youth organizations in the state of California. Interviews were drawn from youth organizations in Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Fresno, Oakland, Stockton, Long Beach, and Salinas, California. In addition, participant observations were collected at local, regional, and statewide convenings, rallies, meetings and other statewide coalition building efforts that the BMOC who are part of this study attended.
Informed by social justice youth development literature (Ginwright and Cammarota 2002) the findings in this paper are presented after a brief contextualization of youth organizing in the state of California. Drawing from a report recently published (Author, 2018), the first section briefly discusses quantitative findings that capture the involvement of YMOC in their respective organizations across the state of California. I then highlight the cultural and organizational practices in local, regional, and statewide programing that further promotes the well-being and leadership development of young men of color. Taken together, the findings highlighted in this paper suggest that youth organizations addressing the criminalization and marginalization of YMOC play an important role in developing their leadership capacity and promoting their well-being.

Conclusions and Implications: We are well aware of the social and educational marginalization of YMOC, but few studies help uncover how community-based-organizations (CBO) help empower young men of color in different types of communities throughout California. This paper provides a foundation for practitioners, researchers, and others the needed tools to support YMOC to take a more active role in their communities.

Author

• Uriel Serrano, University of California - Santa Cruz