Hope and Hardship: Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) with African Refugee Youth

Background: Among all U.S. states, Kentucky ranks highest in per capita refugee resettlement, with Louisville serving as a primary resettlement city. Between 2018 and 2022, Louisville accepted 77.1% of the state’s refugees. Kentucky hosts the largest Congolese population and the second-largest Cuban population in the nation. The largest school system in the state, Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), serves the city of Louisville. Over the last ten years, JCPS has experienced a threefold increase in the enrollment of multilingual learners within the district. Currently, 20% of all JCPS students are multilingual learners, with students from 147 countries listed as their birthplaces, and 154 languages spoken by students. Refugee families resettled in Louisville have escaped violence in their home countries, but now face violence renewed in their host city. Between 2019 and 2022 a spike in homicides occurred, with most occurring in neighborhoods with the highest numbers of foreign-born residents, including refugees. ASILI Center is an ethnic community-based organization serving African immigrant and refugee youth in Louisville.

Methods: ASILI Center is an ethnic community-based organization serving African immigrant and refugee youth in Louisville. This youth participatory action research (YPAR) project occurred in conjunction with the organization’s Youth Advisory Board (YAB). All 6 YAB participants identified as African, male, and current or previous refugees. Participants spanned 17-23 years. Youth and facilitators met between October 2023 and May 2025 and youth engaged as co-researchers within this project. Youth identified areas of concern, explored potential causes of community problems and experiences, interviewed fellow refugees to better understand their lived experiences, co-created an interview guide, and conducted interviews with purposively selected interview participants. Critical portions of the interviews were identified and the identified themes were represented via a documentary film disseminated with local refugee service providers and city policymakers. It is also available via YouTube and social media outlets.

Results: Participants described social and community integration as key catalysts of negative interactions, including bullying and potential violence in both schools and communities broadly. These experiences stemmed from low English proficiency, as well as not “fitting in” with the culture of their host communities. New refugee families are often resettled in communities of color experiencing high poverty due to historical disinvestment and systemic racism. Participants described how the resettlement process created difficulties integrating socially and economically, with both the host communities and resettled refugees viewing themselves as distinctly different, even in the presence of racial similarities. Participants described the need for enhanced policies to support refugee youth and families, including access to inclusive community-based youth programming and considering the compatibility of jobs with existing skill sets.

Conclusion/Discussion: Youth identified a need for more realistic education for refugee families before resettling in the US to ensure expectations are better aligned with reality. They also identified a need to enhance infrastructure and systemic support for refugee families as they familiarize themselves with their host communities. Suggestions included job training programs, greater financial resources, and economic integration supports for families resettled in the US.