2: Building Equity and Authentic Engagement With Military-Connected Youth Through a Research-Practice Partnership

Military-connected youth face unique developmental challenges due to family member deployment, ongoing disruptions to social support networks, and frequent transitions that require persistent adaptation. Community-based programs are efficacious for enhancing positive youth development outcomes in adolescents and may be distinctly well-suited for addressing the needs of military-connected youth. Boys and Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) have partnered with the U.S. Armed Forces to provide the Military Teen Ambassadors (MTA) program to build resilience skills in military-connected youth and to support reintegration needs of military families. Since 2017, Clemson University has collaborated with BGCA to implement formative and summative assessments of the MTA program. The research-practice partnership has produced resources for local and national program implementation, as well as academic outputs to enhance the breadth and reach of applied implications of the research. Theoretically framed through the lenses of Relational Systems, Youth-Adult Partnerships, and the P7 Model of Youth Participation, this chapter describes the evolution of the BGCA partnership, highlighting key findings, effective strategies, and lessons learned in serving the needs of military-connected youth and their families.