Social Justice Youth Work: Actualizing Youth Rights

Authors

  • Monica McDaniel Augsburg College

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jyd.2017.488

Abstract

This article explores models of prevention/intervention and positive youth development within the context of social justice. Both of these models seek to support young people, but they have vastly different methods and goals. The author argues that these models fall short of effectively supporting youth because they neglect to interrogate how power, privilege and oppressive forces shape a young person's identity and how that young person engages with society. Therefore, a new approach to working with youth is needed: a social justice youth work model. The author proposes this model as a means for youth and adults to work together to achieve a high quality of life in an equitable world. The paper outlines three steps to enact this approach with young people: 1. develop self-awareness within youth and adults; 2. build solidarity across differences; and 3. take action towards dismantling unjust systems. In order to do this work successfully, adults must first interrogate their own motivations for engaging in social justice work with youth.

Author Biography

Monica McDaniel, Augsburg College

Monica McDaniel has been a dedicated youth worker for the past fifteen years. She works in partnership with youth to facilitate action towards positive change in communities. She strives to do her due diligence by checking her priveleges and motivations in these endeavors. As mentioned in this article, Monica is a product of positive youth development programming in Minnesota. Once she completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at Linfield College in Oregon, she returned to her youth work roots in Minnesota. She has worked in a variety of settings and organizations in rural, urban and suburban communities. Through her work, she has realized that young people have many similar needs, but she knows that they have differing experiences, particularly in regards to oppression and privilege. Monica is currently a graduate Social Work student at Augsburg College where she is exploring effective ways of facilitating dialogue and cross-cultural coalition building as a means towards enacting change in shared communities. Monica welcomes and invites others to engage with her in respectful dialogue about the ideas expressed in this work as it is meant to give readers pause, agitate their emotions and nudge them towards action in partnership with young people. 

References

Benard, B. (1991). Fostering resiliency in kids: Protective factors in the family, school, and community. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

Cammarota, J., & Ginwright, S. (2002). New terrain in youth development: The promise of a social justice approach. Social Justice, 29(4), 82-95.

Catalano, R. F. , Berglund, M. L., Ryan, J. A. M., Lonczak, H. S., & Hawkins, J. D. (2004). Positive youth development in the United States: Research findings on evaluations of youth development programs. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 591, 98-124.

Cole, T. (2012, March 21). The White-Savior industrial complex. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/

Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: The Continuum International Publishing Group.

hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York, NY: Routledge.

Imarisha, W., & brown, a. m. (Eds.). (2015). Octavia's brood: Science fiction stories from social justice movements. Oakland, CA: AK Press and the Institute for Anarchist Studies.

Janmohamed, Z. (2015, May 31). When language loses its bite. Retrieved from Counter-Archives website at http://counterarchives.org/2015/06/01/when-language-loses-its-bite-by-zahir-janmohamed/

Kay, A. C., & Jost, J. J. (2010). Social justice: History, theory and research. Handbook of Social Psychology (pp. 1122-1165). New York, NY: New York University, Department of Psychology.

Kreager, C. (2008). Understanding the “systems” in juvenile justice: A map of Minnesota’s juvenile justice system. Juvenile Justice Coalition of Minnesota. Retrieved May 20, 2015, from: http://www.jjcmn.com/public/2010/04/JJC-Juvenile-Justice-System-Handout.pdf

Mother Jones. (2017). US mass shootings, 1982-2017: Data from Mother Jones' investigation [data file]. Retrieved from http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data

Rosenbaum, D., & Hanson, G. (1998, November 1). Assessing the effects of school-based drug education: A six-year multilevel analysis of Project D.A.R.E. Journal of Crime and Deliquency, 35(4), 381-412.

Skager, R. (2007, November). Replacing ineffective early alcohol/drug education in the United States with age-appropriate adolescent programmes and assistance to problematic users. Drug and Alcohol Review, 26, 577-584.

United States Department of Justice. (2016). Female victims of sexual violence, 1994-2010 [data file]. Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fvsv9410.pdf

Van Slyck, A. A. (2010). A manufactured wilderness: Summer camps and the shaping of American youth 1890-1960. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Downloads

Published

2017-04-04

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2017): Special Issue on Practitioner Inquiry

Section

Feature Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
  6. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  7. The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  8. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.

Revised 7/16/2018. Revision Description: Removed outdated link.