Youth Participatory Action Research to Prevent Community Violence among Black youth

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PROJECT ABSTRACT Anti-Black racism contributes to disproportionate community violence exposure among Black youth through structural violence including residential segregation, concentrated poverty, and limited access to education and employment opportunities. This structural violence creates a cumulative and collective experience of trauma that manifests as racial trauma. While researchers have called for novel methods to address the violence- related consequences of racial trauma, many current violence prevention practices do not explicitly address this fundamental contributor to community violence inequities. Multilevel approaches that promote individual and collective healing processes and recognize community as an asset and agent of change are needed. We will continue our community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to addressing community violence inequities by implementing and evaluating a multilevel intervention, Youth Empowered Advocating for Health (YEAH), designed to promote individual and collective healing processes to reduce risk for community violence among Black youth ages 12-17. YEAH guides youth through identifying factors that influence health in their community using photovoice, a participatory research methodology that uses photography to examine community concerns, generate ideas to address them, and translate those ideas into social action. Based on our formative CBPR focused on community violence we have adapted YEAH to include strategic storytelling through theater arts as anti-racist community violence prevention strategy. We will evaluate the effectiveness of YEAH on youth prosocial behavior and aggressive behavior, assess racial identity and future orientation as mediators of prevention effects, and explore potential community-level outcomes including Boys and Girls Club enrollment and community youth critical consciousnesses and political and civic mindedness. This project aligns with violence prevention priorities set by NCIPC by evaluating the effectiveness of multi-level strategies that reduce the likelihood of different forms of youth violence.