2005 Campus-Community Partnerships
Building Community within Diversity:
A Partnership for Bridging Theory
and Practice for Engaging Youth
| Awardee: | Dr. Yuen Huo, Assistant Professor |
| Partner: | Greater Long Beach Region National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) |
Abstract:
Within the context of a recent rise in youth-related violence in Long Beach and efforts by the regional branch of the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) to ease ongoing inter-racial tension in this diverse community, we propose a partnership between UCLA and NCCJ to examine the experiences of the community's youth as they come into contact with public and private institutions (e.g., the schools, the police, businesses) and to use the findings to support practices for addressing these tensions and for building community.
The three phases of the project include:
- Focus groups with youths to assess the nature and extent of experiences with unfair treatment and other subtle forms of discrimination in everyday encounters with teachers, the police, and other institutional authorities
- A survey with a larger sample of youths to quantify these experiences and to examine their relationship to engagement in the community (tolerance, civic pride and behavior)
- A dissemination and education phase which will use the study findings to inform and support best practices for addressing the problem of youth violence and racial conflicts in Long Beach and for stimulating discussion among civic leaders about preemptive strategies for building community.
