Invited Symposium II: Roadmap to Resilience for Youth of Color

Low-income or resource-poor, urban and rural environments present a number of risk factors leading to deleterious outcomes for youth of color, including school truancy and dropout, compromised physical and behavior health statuses including substance abuse, sexual risk-taking behaviors, or gang involvement.Intervention programs to address these risk factors are plentiful; yet, there is some ways to go to ensure the effectiveness of these approaches across a host of outcomes for youth of color. We will host a panel discussion, via a 90-minute talk show format with follow-up Q & A, to share in the collective wisdom of key scholars whose research address important challenges in intervention science and programing targeting youth of color.In particular, this panel will: (1) Discuss the positive and successful programs that promote development in youth of color and learn how these existing programs can be further innovative to promote sustained success; (2) explore how existing programs might accommodate different environments and communities (suburban, rural; immigrant/refugee; “ethnic”); (3) identify the problems, whether environmental, social, or on the part of systematic failures in the program itself, that hinder the success of youth of color; and (4) promote public, academic, and professional advocacy for successful and positive existing programs through engaged exploration and dialogue.