BlackQueer Mentors: The Definition of Taking Up Space and Building Community

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Fifteen
  In Roundtable Session: Social Support With COVID and Underrepresented Students (Table 6)

Abstract

This session will highlight the importance of using focus groups to help with community building for Black LGTBQIA youth. My goal was to help cultivate an atmosphere where intergenerational mentors could build community, critically examine the ways that Black LGBTQIA youth desire support, and to share ideas on how to best develop those supports (Bettez, S. C., & Hytten, K., 2013). I interviewed six BlackQueer adults whose ages ranged from 29-62. They have all been working with Black LGBTQIA youth for three or more years, and lived and mentored in the Midwestern part of the United States at some point in their lives. The significance of this work emphasizes the importance of focus groups in building community.

Author

• Javania Michelle Webb, University of California - Riverside
  Presenting Author