Session: Local and Transnational Youth and Community-Based Participatory Research Approaches to Health Promotion (Society for Social Work and Research 23rd Annual Conference - Ending Gender Based, Family and Community Violence)

Symposium Overview: Local and transnational communities are experiencing significant multidimensional transformations in the areas of education, politics, and economics. Urban youth and communities are grappling with interlocking forms of power and oppression (Harris, 2012) which places particularly low-income youth of color as second-class citizens unable to democratically participate fully in society (Ginwright, Cammarota, & Noguera, 2005). In order to address these challenges, it is critically important and necessary to adopt approaches that center meaningfully the voices of youth and communities who have been neglected. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) present relevant opportunities to create a paradigm shift in the discourse. By actively sharing power and collaborating with Community Based Organizations (CBOs), youth, and residents at every stage of the research process, CBPR generates spaces for creation of postcolonial, indigenous knowledge and collective decision-making processes to enact change and increase health equity (Wallerstein & Duran, 2010).

This session describes four unique Youth and Community-Based Participatory Research initiatives aimed at elevating the voices of youth and adults of color to improve community health and development. The first session is a community health assessment conducted by youth (n=8) in Las Malvinas II, Dominican Republic, in which youth identified risk and protective factors to adolescent health through participatory photovoice. The second session describes a Youth Participatory Action Research initiative to explore the impact of violence in the lives of Black and Latinx youth in Boston through various qualitative methods including photomapping and key-informant interviews. The third reports on a mixed-method study using social network interviews and photovoice to examine the relevancy of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in shaping the health and support of Brazilian immigrants in the U.S., especially strengthening transnational relationships. Finally, we present a photovoice study which engaged college students in Zambie as participant researchers to explore their multiple dimensions of health and wellbeing. This presentation will focus on local and transnational Community-Based Participatory Research efforts as a catalyst to amplify voices of youth and adults ni community development.