The past decade brought forth a wave of excitement and promise for researchers and practitioners interested in community practice as an approach based on social justice principles and an embrace of community participatory actions. But, effective community practice is predicated on the availability and use of assessment methods that not only capture and report on conditions, but also simultaneously set the stage for social change efforts. This research, therefore, serves the dual purpose of generating knowledge and also being an integral part of social intervention. Research done in this way, however, requires new tools. Photovoice is one such tool - a form of visual ethnography that invites participants to represent their community or point of view through photographs, accompanied by narratives, to be shared with each other and with a broader community. Urban Youth and Photovoice focuses on the use of this method within urban settings and among adolescents and young adults - a group that is almost naturally drawn to the use of photography (especially digital and particularly in today's era of texting, facebook, and instagram) to showcase photovoice as an important qualitative research method for social workers and others in the social sciences, and providing readers with detailed theoretical and practical account of how to plan, implement, and evaluate the results of a photovoice project focused on urban youth.

This book provides readers with a solid theoretical foundation and a guided approach to how to carry out a youth photovoice project. It takes the readers throughout all facets of the process, including raising key ethical considerations when involving youth in this process. In addition, this book outlines for the reader considerations and cautions that they must exercise in order not to subvert the potential of this method for achieving important social change in the lives of participants, their families, and communities.

Community Practice and Urban Youth is for graduate level students in fields that offer youth studies and community practice courses. Practitioners in these fields, too, will find the book particularly useful in furthering the integration of social justice as a conceptual and philosophical foundation. The use of food, environmental justice, and immigrant-rights and the book’s focus on service-learning and civic engagement involving these three topics offers an innovative approach for courses.

Trauma has unfortunately become an all-too familiar occurrence in the lives of children, with a majority of youth experiencing a traumatic event before the age of 18. With the rise of school shootings and recent March for Our Lives, this timely book will address intervention strategies for social workers and counselors to combat this negative phenomenon. Urban Youth Trauma focuses on urban violence and guns, while due attention is also paid to other forms of trauma in order to ground violence-related trauma within the constellation of multiple forms of trauma. Violence, and more specifically that related to guns, is very much associated with urban centers and youth of color. Divided into three parts, this volume traces the roots of urban youth trauma. Parts I and II provide context and foundation for the problem and intervention strategies. Part III takes the reader through a variety of intervention strategies directly related to the community’s assets. The strength of Urban Youth Trauma’s lies in its focus on the community itself as the key to survival, resilience, and change.

Photovoice for Social Justice, the latest volume in SAGE′s Qualitative Research Methods Series, helps readers in the health and social sciences learn the foundations and applications of this exciting qualitative method. Authors Jean M. Breny and Shannon L. McMorrow approach photovoice as not only a community-based participatory research method, but as a method for social justice, centering community participants, organizations, and policy makers at the heart of this research method. Special topics relating to social justice include a focus on ethics and working with marginalized communities, sensitive concerns during data collection, and presenting the work to communities and policymakers, as well as academics. Written for students and researchers new to photovoice, this brief text takes readers from the process of conceptualizing and implementing a photovoice study to analyzing data and finally presenting the results of the study. The book concludes with suggestions for future iterations of photovoice, including web based resources and digital storytelling. The authors take into account the realities of photovoice as a method by providing practical, applied tools including sample consent forms, presentations, recruitment flyers, and photo-taking tips. Using Photovoice for Social Justice, new and experienced researchers can design, implement, and analyze their photovoice projects.

As the civic engagement gap widens across lines of race, class, and ethnicity, educators in today’s urban schools must reconsider what it means to teach for citizenship; however, few resources exist that speak to their unique contexts. Teaching for Citizenship in Urban Schools offers lessons and strategies that combines the power of inquiry-driven teaching with a funds of knowledge approach to capitalize on the lived civic experiences of urban youth and children. Teaching for Citizenship in Urban Schools presents six strategies for making civic and social studies education relevant and engaging: using photovoice for social change, conducting culturally responsive investigations of community, defining American Black founders, enacting hip-hop pedagogy, employing equity literacy to explore immigrant enclaves, and drawing on young adult fiction to teach about police violence. Written by some of the leading scholars in the field, each chapter includes an overview of the strategy and lessons for both elementary and secondary students. As a whole, these lessons draw on neighborhood resources, facilitate cultural exchanges among students and teachers, create community networks, and bridge schools and communities in a shared mission of building a just and inclusive democracy. This book is for anyone who values student-centered, inquiry-driven, and culturally-sustaining pedagogies that foster a deeper understanding of citizenship within a diverse democracy.

Empowered youth CAN and DO make a difference! Young people become empowered by their participation in the institutions and decisions that affect their lives—which in turn can lead to real positive change in the community. Youth Participation and Community Change presents leading authorities providing the latest research and effective approaches on how young people can be drawn to participate in organizations and communities. The diverse perspectives discuss youth participation in today’s society, the models and methods of its practice, the roles of youth and adults, and the future of youth participation and community in a diverse democracy. Approaches include those which promote participatory community-based research and evaluation, and involve youth groups in poor and racially segregated areas. The mainstream view of much of today’s youth is that of being victims of society rather than a being a possible positive influence on society as a whole. Youth Participation and Community Change seeks to shift the viewpoint from youth as being problems to empowering them to enact positive social change. The book explores community agency efforts to involve young people, and the process by which youth civic engagement promotes empowerment. Social work and public health approaches are examined, with cogent discussions on conceptual and theoretical issues. Empirically based case studies illustrate best practices and interdisciplinary work that draws upon psychology, sociology, social work, public health, education, and related academic disciplines and professional fields. Topics in Youth Participation and Community Change include: key dimensions of critical youth empowerment a case study of youth leadership development in Hawaii—the Sariling Gawa Youth Council the Lexington Youth Leadership Academy—a leadership development and community change program a new model for youth civic engagement in Hampton, Virginia three projects that engage urban youth in community change through participatory research youth engagement strategies and the benefits of youth participation in health research ten projects which used photovoice to represent, advocate, and enhance community health a participatory action research process with youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina the Growing Up in Cities project of UNESCO training students as facilitators for the Youth Empowerment Strategies (YES!) project four characteristics of engagement in the research literature and a school-community-university project differences in developmental outcomes among youth organizing, identity-support, and traditional youth development agencies Youth Participation and Community Change is thought-provoking, enlightening reading that is perfect for organizers, planners, policymakers, advocates, youth service workers, agency administrators, educators, students, and professionals in psychology, sociology, social work, urban planning, public policy, and public health.