Developing a Latinx Youth Research Advisory Board to Address and Dismantle Structural Inequities in Emerging Latinx communities

In this proposal, we will create a multidisciplinary community-academic partnership to develop a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) study with Latinx youth living in Pittsburgh, PA (or the surrounding region), which is an emerging (or new growth) Latinx immigrant community. Our team will use YPAR—an approach that centers youths’ voices in research by investigating and acting on issues that are of concern to youth and their families—to develop a Youth Research Action Collaborative. This Collaborative will include Latinx youth ages 14 to 18 with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Faculty will guide youth through creating and implementing research that aims to dismantle structural inequities, such as White supremacy, xenophobia, and language barriers. This “Teaming” grant includes community partners from the Latinx empowerment organization Casa San José, as well as a multidisciplinary team of faculty with backgrounds in psychology, social work, education, medicine, and public health. The goals of this proposal are threefold: 1) develop the Youth Research Action Collaborative with Latinx youth in Pittsburgh; 2) design and implement a research curriculum for youth leaders; and 3) conceptualize, implement, and analyze a pilot study using Photovoice to explore how structural racism impacts Latinx youth in Pittsburgh. Collaborations nurtured through this work, coupled with data from the YPAR project, will inform larger external grants to the National Institutes of Health and the WT Grant Foundation to develop a research program around addressing structural inequities experienced by Latinx youth in emerging Latinx communities