You've Got to Know Who You're Serving: Asset Mapping in Marginalized Communities

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Place and Meaning-Making in Educational Contexts

Abstract

Academic research has historically engaged communities of color and low-income communities from a deficit-based perspective. As a result, the assets in these communities often go overlooked or underexplored. Using Milner’s Opportunity Gap Explanatory Framework, I explore the assets in the 37208 community, the zip code with the highest incarceration rate per capita in the United States. My research questions are: (1) what are the assets in 37208 according to the ways in which assets are commonly described in the research literature? (2) what are the assets in 37208 according to the members of the 37208 community? And (3) are there any overlooked or underutilized assets in the community that can help reduce or eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline?

Author

• Bryant O. Best, Vanderbilt University