Refugee-Background Youth Workers’ Model for Social Change: Building Bridging Relationships Through Storytelling

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Facilitators of Positive Youth Development (Table 3)

Abstract

In the context of an established research-practice partnership, the authors piloted The Stories Project, a narrative inquiry study alongside refugee-background youth workers and U.S.-born community members. The inquiry explored the process by which storytelling could be used to build bridging relationships and advocate for refugee-background youth in the United States. Data sources included interviews, dialogue session recordings, participant artifacts, and researcher memos. Findings centered the voices of refugee-background youth workers as they honored each other’s unique perspectives and life experiences as well as recognized each other’s shared humanity. Collectively, the youth workers identified the importance of being vulnerable, humanizing the refugee experience, and building capacity for advocacy as ways to promote social change.

Authors

• Lindsay M. McHolme, Georgia State University

• Laura M Kennedy, Northern Michigan University

• Carrie Symons, Summers-Knoll School