Making a Change! Exploring Refugee Youth’s Civic Engagement in Out-of-School Programs to Cultivate Critical Consciousness

• In Event: Possibility Development: A Model for Theorizing and Catalyzing Youth Development

Proposal

Author will dive into her research focusing on refugee youth and the role of out-of-school time (OST) programs in cultivating opportunities for civic engagement and critical consciousness. She identifies the potential of OST programs to serve as an anchor for refugee youth, who lack familiarity with U.S. schools and communities.

Youth civic engagement encompasses activities that are critical for empowering young people to participate in political, economic, and social initiatives, becoming agents of positive change. While civic engagement has been deemed an important activity, Author has detected limited research that highlights refugee youth’s motivation, benefits, and engagement in civic duties within local communities. Her phenomenological research, drawing from a critical consciousness framework, has sought to explore refugee youth's motivations as well as types of civic engagement offered in OST programs. Furthermore, she leverages her findings to recommend ways in which schools and community partners can assist refugee students in becoming more civically involved in OST settings.

Author

• Ashley Elizabeth Cureton, University of Michigan Ann Arbor