Expanding Possible Futures With Youth: Moving Beyond the Contradictions of Exceptionality

• In Event: Roundtable Session 53
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Research on Race, Gender, and Leadership Development of Youth of Color

Abstract

This critical qualitative study examines the lived experiences of youth of color (Black and Latino) in an underserved urban community in northern New Jersey. Drawing on 11 focus group interviews we explored how youth navigate their current environments as well as think about their futures. Espousing a belief in self-reliance, individual achievement and exceptionality, they saw higher education as the pathway to their futures yet simultaneously offered narratives of disconnection from their high schools. Literature on resilient youth who make it can solidify the American ideology of exception. In contrast, we draw on social capital theory’s concept of institutional empowerment agents to support youth in “reading their worlds” as well as form bridging relationships toward possible future success.

Authors

• David Lardier, Montclair State University

• Veronica Barrios, Montclair State University

• Kathryn G. Herr, Montclair State University

• Pauline Garcia-Reid, Montclair State University

• Robert J Reid, Montclair State University