Engaging in Collective Action in Out-of-School Time Settings for Intergenerational Possibility, Healing, and Well-Being

• In Event: In Solidarity With Youth: The Possibility and Precarity of Youth Work Through Pandemic and Protest

Abstract

Overview, Background & Purpose

The commitment among youth workers and young people to equitable, collective work is an antidote to the individualism that is dominant in many U.S. institutions. In this final paper, we discuss how OST programs have experienced engaging in collective action rooted in principles of community, solidarity and care. While intergenerational partnerships and the premise of collective action have long existed in OST programs, few researchers have considered the interpersonal, organizational, and sociopolitical context that foster the collective action and healing aspects of authentic youth-adult partnership work. Seeking to fill this gap, we put forth a conceptual and practice-oriented vision for what it means to move toward collective action and community healing in out-of-school time settings.

Theoretical Framework & Methods
We frame our work through an understanding of youth-adult partnerships as the practice of: “(a) multiple youth and multiple adults deliberating and acting together, (b) in a collective [democratic] fashion, (c) over a sustained period of time, d) through shared work, (e) intended to promote social justice, strengthen an organization and/or affirmatively address a community issue” (Zeldin, Christens, & Powers 2012, p. 388). We also consider what it means to contextualize youth experiences and partnership in a system of community healing vs. the more individualistic approaches of traditional youth development and trauma-informed practice (Ginwright, 2016). Through drawing on key guiding principles of Zeldin and colleagues (2012) and Ginwright’s model of healing-centered engagement (2016), we synthesize our learning on collective action from a set of key youth program models and cases featured in our recent volume on youth-adult partnerships.

Findings & Significance
This commentary paper conceptually explores the potential of OST programs to shift from an individualist to collectivist focus through youth-adult partnerships. We share what collective action aspects of youth-adult partnerships in OST settings can look like - whether through artistic expression, responding to community needs, engaging in policy changes, building spaces to affirm identity and belonging, or advancing education or work opportunities. Without this shared commitment to individual and collective wellbeing of both youth and adults, as well as the positive transformation of organizations and communities, authentic youth-adult partnerships often fall short. These insights, both the promises and conflicts inherent in developing collective goals, are particularly important for OST programs, where relationships often form the backbone for positive youth development (Akiva, Cortina & Smith, 2014; Deschenes et al., 2010; Smith et al., 2011); they also provide a powerful alternative to the hierarchical relationships of traditional schools.

Finally, while collective action particularly considers the roles of young people as decision makers and experts of their own lives, we call for collective wellbeing that includes adults and makes space for their growth and wellness. In urging both scholars and practitioner to consider the long-term well-being of young people as intertwined with the health and happiness of their adult caregivers, we aim to build on research and theory on relational aspects of care and healing (Ginwright, 2016).

Author

• Gretchen A. Brion-Meisels, Harvard University