For educators and youth workers:
- Prioritize the work of building affirming, responsive, mutually accountable communities in which young people have ownership over norms and collective goals.
- Expand YO and related research-supported approaches that center critical consciousness, such as culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy, ethnic studies courses, and youth participatory action research.
- Provide structured opportunities for civic action and for authentic, youth-directed work to address real-world problems.
- For youth organizing groups and other youth-serving organizations, expand capacity to provide ongoing support, mentorship, and alumni engagement opportunities.
For policy makers and funders:
-
Expand college readiness frameworks beyond traditional SEL skills to include dimensions of critical consciousness as core capacities.
-
Invest in youth organizing and other approaches that integrate critical consciousness development, such as ethnic studies, action civics, and youth participatory action research.
-
Youth organizing and related approaches should be prioritized for investment by funders committed to SEL and to expanding postsecondary access and success for BIPOC students. Current youth organizing funders should consider additional support for YO
groups to provide ongoing support and connection to alumni.
For colleges and universities:
- Colleges and universities, especially predominantly white institutions, should invest in training and support for faculty and staff to create more culturally responsive, affirming classroom and campus environments.
- Colleges and universities can support faculty and staff to incorporate transformative SEL approaches in courses and activities.
- Colleges and universities should view potential counterspaces—ethnic and women’s studies departments, student activist groups, ethnic clubs, etc.—as important resources for retaining BIPOC students, and ensure that they receive adequate funding and support.
- College and university admissions offices should consider elevating YO and related high school experiences in admissions decisions.
For researchers:
- Future research might use a transformative SEL lens to understand how different settings and specific practices prepare BIPOC youth to make decisions about college, navigate academic and social challenges, and find and build counterspaces.
- Future research could elucidate how colleges can leverage BIPOC students’ transformative SEL skills to ensure that campus climates are more affirming and responsive.
- Future research could document the experiences of youth organizing alumni over a longer period and document how young adult alumni perceive the long-term impacts of their experience.
- Future longitudinal research with youth organizing alumni should examine the experiences of alumni who don’t enroll in postsecondary education.
