Black youth as researchers: leveraging multiliteracies, community cultural wealth and community resilience through Youth Participatory Action Research Open Access

Considering all the spaces where young people learn, both formal and informal, including educators, community partners, families, and youth, we are encouraged to think about how and why learning spaces can support the expression of knowledge within communities. This approach enables us to respect their agency and responsiveness to the challenges they face. The following sections review the history and persistence of Freedom Schools as a key part of the learning community, the experiences of Black youths in traditional and non-traditional educational settings, and how research processes can either enrich or disenfranchise the communities they serve.

Black communities have always been committed to the educational success and well-being of their young people. Previous accounts of Black education focus on benevolent white Northerners who “brought” education to the South, and the ongoing accessibility issues that have persisted (though in different forms) since the start of slavery (Anderson, 1988; Fairclough, 2001). Anderson's influential 1988 work challenged generations of anti-Blackness and deficit-based narratives, describing how Black communities in the United States educated themselves and each other, paid out of pocket to build schools for their students, and actively campaigned for adequate resources and teachers from their government and institutions. Therefore, despite harmful institutional barriers and outright violence, Black communities across the United States have remained committed to creating meaningful and empowering educational opportunities and spaces (Anderson, 1988; Morris & Morris, 2000). This dedication has taken different forms depending on the sociopolitical, historical, and environmental context. During periods such as enslavement and Jim Crow, when education and literacy were effectively or literally made illegal through threats of violence and harm, Black communities adapted their methods of learning and fighting for education (Anderson & Kharem, 2009; Buchart, 2010). Often pursuing more covert routes, Black educators continued to teach, learn, advocate for their students' rights, and prepare future generations to demand their freedoms and rights (Fairclough, 2007; Siddle Walker, 2013). These ongoing acts of direct and indirect resistance paved the way for critical legal changes aimed at securing the right to quality education for Black communities and their youth (Siddle Walker, 2013).

Among these changes were the passage of the 14th Amendment, the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Each of these was expected to bring about an era of social justice, equality, and transformation. Yet they failed to create fundamental social and institutional change. The educational impacts are most clearly shown by the resegregation of schools nationwide and the increased criminalization of Black children (Battle, 2019; Brownstein, 2014; Siddle Walker, 2009; Weinstein et al., 2004). Traditional schools remain a central focus in the conversation about how educational systems can better serve and support Black students and families. However, as this issue persists, many communities are turning to non-traditional educational spaces to bridge the gap and provide students with what they need and deserve (Butler, 2018).

These spaces and programs vary considerably in their settings, structures, barriers to entry, and topical focuses. For instance, some operate in partnership with traditional schooling environments or local organizations, while others are independent and community-driven (Houchen et al., 2020). Additionally, some lack a specific subject focus, whereas others emphasize STEM or literacy. Nonetheless, the literature suggests that many programs aim to develop STEM literacies and skills, particularly among college-age students (King & Pringle, 2019; Khan et al., 2022; Tuladhar et al., 2021; Rodegher et al., 2024). Despite differences in out-of-school educational programs, investing in these spaces remains crucial, as they serve as partners and guides in continuously enhancing the quality and impact of traditional schooling for all children, especially Black children.

Freedom Schools involve youth, adults, and families in supportive and nurturing environments that set high expectations for all children, boost their sense of self-worth, and affirm that they are loved and valued by caring adults (Children's Defense Fund, 2021; Suchor, 2020). They also act as incubators of possibility, as youth engage with and are exposed to culturally relevant materials and enrichment activities (Ladson-Billings, 2021). These create opportunities for youth to build on their strengths at the intersection of students, families, and communities. This kind of engagement and exposure broadens possibilities within spaces of curiosity and fosters meaningful-making opportunities that contribute to educational research and local outreach. By understanding the past and present of Freedom Schools, we can find opportunities to learn from effective school, university, and community partnerships that elevate youth's knowledge and meaning-making.

Amid the height of the Civil Rights Movement, various organizations were established to challenge and condemn the systemic racial inequities within the United States. In the early 1960s, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was established and led by young, educated Black activists, including Ella Baker, Jane Stembridge, and Charlie Cobb, who demanded change through peaceful yet direct protests (2022). In the pursuit of social justice, the SNCC initiated the 1964 Freedom Summer Project, which involved establishing voter registration campaigns and community action movements aimed at combating discrimination and segregation in the United States (Children's Defense Fund, 2021; Etienne, 2013). While multiple centers were created, much of the literature focuses on those in Mississippi, specifically the Freedom Schools. Across twenty communities within the state, 41 schools were led by 175 educators serving over 2,000 students (Conwright, 2023).

With Black students attending highly segregated public schools with minimal resources, Freedom Schools became a strong foundation for responding to the educational inequity that was common for marginalized students in the deep south (Bonastia, 2016). The curriculum, grounded in the lived experiences of Black Mississippians, focused on both standard academics and the arts, as well as citizenship, African American history, and cultural preservation. Taught by motivated Black college students and educators, who desired to serve an education they had not received themselves, students engaged in cultural literacy, critical thinking, social action, and resistance (Etienne, 2013; SNCC, X); thus preparing them to become political actors and advocates for their own communities (Anderson, 1988; Children's Defense Fund, 2021).

Since 1995, Freedom Schools have been led by the Children's Defense Fund, a non-profit organization founded by civil rights activist and leader Marian Wright Edelman with the mission of prioritizing children's social, emotional, and academic well-being (Children's Defense Fund, 2021, n.d.; Conwright, 2023). Using the 1964 curriculum as a foundation, Freedom Schools have expanded across the United States, serving thousands of children in over 26 states through partnerships with local communities, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and religious groups (Children's Defense Fund, 2021, n.d.). Today, Freedom Schools are guided by educators, staff, volunteers, and community groups committed to promoting educational equity beyond the classroom.

Today, freedom schools have become primarily a space for students of color seeking community beyond traditional schooling. To promote diversity, education, and social justice, modern curricula expand beyond traditional academics by incorporating various engaging activities, discussions, and lessons that focus on culturally relevant literature, arts, and history. While these programs serve communities for short periods, ranging from 5 to 8 weeks, students experience a socially diverse environment that enhances their sense of belonging and social justice, creating an impact that lasts a lifetime (Davis et al., 2023; Howard, 2016).

Research processes and partnerships carry a historical and institutional burden. Data mining, abuse, extractiveness, and insincerity toward communities of color have eroded the trust placed in research institutions and the individuals associated with them (Ladson-Billings, 2006; Lesiak, 1992; Strauss et al., 2021). Additionally, educational research and policy have continually failed to provide all students equal access to quality education (Donnor & Dixson, 2013; Reardon et al., 2012). Despite institutional and governmental shortcomings, educational research has consistently blamed communities and children of color, suggesting they were responsible for gaps in their educational knowledge, attainment, and achievement (Woodson, 1933; Ladson-Billings, 2006). Stakeholders in policy, pedagogy, and research have worked to address these issues; however, systemic racism has hindered concrete and lasting change (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Most recently, there has been an outright repeal and attack on any attempts to address equity and accessibility issues in education, as demonstrated by expansive book bans, Department of Education funding practices, and localized charges against community members and teachers (Goncalves et al., 2024; US Department of Education, 2025). As we return to an era of open hostility against racialized communities and youth, we, as researchers and community members, relearn the “why” of critically focused educational work. We also rediscover the importance of intentionality in engaging meaningfully with the communities we work with.

While research will always play a vital role in developing knowledge and understanding, there is also a responsibility to do more and refocus the audiences of our work (Anderson et al., 2012). Marginalized communities deserve and demand honesty, integrity, and respect as they continue to face systemic challenges shaped by social injustices that affect their daily lives (Hipolito-Delgado et al., 2025). These injustices are directly linked to environmental factors that influence youth experiences, development, and identity (Marks et al., 2020; Hope et al., 2021). However, communities respond to these hardships with resilience (Grant et al., 2023). Yosso's Cultural Wealth Model (2005) highlights various forms of capital that support and empower marginalized communities, including resistance, aspirational, linguistic, familial, social, and navigational capital (Yosso, 2005). When combined with the community resilience framework (Grant et al., 2023), this model demonstrates how communities can adapt and thrive despite systemic challenges and adversity. This resilience framework, which aligns with Yosso's model, is created when “communities intentionally develop personal and collective capacity…to respond to and influence change, to sustain and renew the community, and to create new trajectories for the communities' future” (Magis, 2010, p. 402).

Research indicates that community resilience among Black youth has positive effects, including increased self-esteem, improved mental health, enhanced developmental outcomes, and a sense of belonging, understanding, and support (Grant et al., 2023). Other studies show that when participating in a community-resilient framework, not only individuals but entire communities can overcome traumas, failures, and challenges rooted in systematic oppression faced by the Black community (Brown, 2008). When scholars actively engage and collaborate with the communities they study, they have a greater potential to reduce adversity and hardships while fostering positive change and strengthening community resilience.

In a society where minority communities, especially Black and Latinx groups, are constantly scrutinized based on race (Morrell, 2017), students of color must be able to participate in academia through their multiliteracies, or “the increasing salience of cultural and linguistic diversity characterized by local diversity and global connectedness” (New London Group, 1996). However, linking academia to cultural and personal backgrounds has remained a challenge in the classroom (Marciano & Warren, 2019). Despite the positive effects of connecting one's cultural background to learning through culturally responsive teaching (Gordon et al., 2009; Clark et al., 2016), the American education system continues to struggle with implementing these practices. Therefore, for students to experience a cultural and linguistic environment centered on their own backgrounds and learning, communities must go beyond relying solely on academic institutions and instead support one another, building resilience against oppressive forces that could limit or erase this kind of learning.

Highlighting these multiple literacies and the different educational landscapes in which these multiliteracies can be experienced, several benefits emerge that extend beyond the positive impact on the individual. In Brooklyn, educator and researcher Vaughn Watson contextualized multiliteracies through art (such as songwriting and graffiti) to engage his Black students in literary content. His work promoted engagement in reading, writing, and entrepreneurship. As a pathway of learning, the CDF Freedom School and a signature component of the YPAR curriculum that we implemented, spaces of creativity become the pathways for how students can enter into their own self-defined spaces of engagement and research literacy development that connect their genius (Muhammad & Love, 2020) to funds of knowledge and ways of knowing. One of his students created an online retail presence upon graduation, utilizing the art created in his class to further this initiative and positively shape the community (Watson et al., 2020). Uses of multiliteracies centered on community engagement result in advocacy, creating resources and solutions across the nation, such as the Beyond Your Perception (BYP) and Dark Girls programs, established with the aid of Black middle and high school girls who utilized multiliteracies to embrace and highlight the Black female experience and community (Price-Dennis et al., 2017).

By engaging the community as a whole unit in the movement for social change, this project centered on opportunities for youth to engage and act across their multiple literacies (Muhammad, 2015; Haddix & Sealey-Ruiz, 2012). Focusing on multiliteracies among stakeholders in community resilience, coupled with community cultural wealth (see Table 1), emphasizes our collaborative efforts to create spaces that foster youth engagement, enhance diverse learning and civic involvement (Marks et al., 2020), and strengthen support and resilience within our Freedom School community and beyond.

Using Youth Participatory Action Research, this paper examines the experiences of youth as both actors and researchers during the implementation of our university-community partnership in a Children's Defense Fund Freedom School program. In this context, we reexamine how youth were involved as researchers, providing our students with opportunities to enhance their research skills and investigate the implementation and facilitation of the YPAR process. To address the lack of anti-racist approaches within broader civic engagement and socio-political awareness, and to harness the potential of action research to build greater capacity for youth-led research in this area, we highlight the importance of the YPAR as a central process in a culturally relevant and responsive learning environment. This approach, in our work, aims to build relational trust and reciprocity in research and to support a framework that fosters adult-youth collaborations for action research.

Recognizing both the innovative nature of this methodology and the importance of creating a culturally responsive and sustaining environment for youth, we also worked to reimagine pathways toward educational equity that center youth as knowledge producers. This was achieved through a genuinely designed and protected university-community partnership that empowered youth to confront challenges arising from political polarization, culturally divisive conflicts, and various federal, state, and local efforts that limit diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in PK-12 schools and higher education institutions through intential centering of texts, curriculum, and spaces of inquiry that prioritize critical reflection and thinking. By cultivating skills in inquiry, evidence collection, and presentation, the broader goal of this project created an exploratory space for multi-modal intellectual communities where youth act as co-creators in community resilience (Payne, 2023; Serrano et al., 2022). Learners as producers of their own knowledge enables youth to articulate their self-perception and discuss issues within their schools and communities, giving them a voice to express how they experience these institutions and the limitations they face. This presents an opportunity for educators and partnership leaders to recognize that young people are not merely participants; they possess genuine decision-making power and can take on leadership roles in planning, implementing, and evaluating initiatives. This approach in this work serves as a model for centering youth-led equity praxis in school and community partnerships.

As a primary source, focus groups provided an innovative approach, transcending traditional youth participatory action research. This format fostered a friendly atmosphere, limiting the power imbalance between researchers and offering a secure environment for youth to share their insights and experiences (Adler et al., 2019). We conducted one focus group with six students, in grades 6–8, who participated in the 6-week-long YPAR intervention. Lasting about one hour, our focus group asked students about their experiences in their traditional schools, their Freedom School and YPAR intervention, and how and with whom they learn and construct knowledge.

While focus groups played a vital role in our research, our team also collected artifacts and materials generated by participants throughout their engagement with the YPAR program. In qualitative research, these artifacts are more than just data; they enhance the study with context and richer participant perspectives (Billups, 2021). Our team kept field notes that captured the researchers' observations and reflections. In facilitating youth participatory action research workshops throughout the program, these reflective insights also created links between the program's implementation and the development of experience and research literacy in real-time with the youth. According to Phillippi and Lauderdale (2017), field notes are “an essential component” of qualitative research, providing “thick, rich descriptions of the study context, encounter, interview, focus group, and documents' valuable contextual data” (p. 281).

Our data analysis was multifaceted, aimed at addressing research questions and supporting the PAR process through a layered inquiry approach, with individual questions guiding navigation and experience. Our process began by reflecting on field notes from project implementation, documenting key observations and engagement points. We then reviewed the focus group transcripts multiple times to familiarize ourselves with the content, identify themes, and gain insights. We also used our reflective notes to find words or phrases aligned with research questions, serving as in vivo codes. Analyzing these codes involved a systematic approach to capture participant perspectives, identify patterns, themes, and meanings within the data (Creswell, 2012). To code the data, we took several steps to ensure that we captured the essence of the co-researchers' experiences and stayed focused on the research questions guiding the study. After familiarizing ourselves with the content in the scripts and making connections to our field notes, we read the data, looking for in vivo codes and value codes (Saldaña, 2021). Both together and separately from the in vivo codes, we aimed to identify codes that revealed attitudes, beliefs, and values of the students' experiences during the YPAR curriculum and program, and the significance of their own negotiated research projects in highlighting what was the most essential takeaway from the curriculum, as well as its alignment with their identified community needs.

Throughout the six-week YPAR experience, the youth shared their perceptions of the project's impact, described challenges they faced, discussed their learnings, and provided their views on potential future directions. Students also explained their roles as researchers and peer leaders. The coding of all focus groups and observations followed a two-stage process. In the first stage, each researcher developed descriptive codes, resolving disagreements through discussions, which resulted in refined codes. Later, pattern coding was used to identify broader themes, and both researchers drafted analytic memos.

Positionality is the holding of “multiple identities that are shifting, contextually situated and grounded in prevailing individual and group characteristics” (Hylton, 2022, p. 150). Locating the source of our positionality and how it guides our research decisions evoked notions of the subjectivity and potential bias we bring to the study. When researchers acknowledge our personal narratives, we can “better reposition ourselves at the center of our own inquiry” (Hylton, 2020, p. 16). The project was initiated through an intentional partnership among the university, community, and schools, aiming to design and create academic enrichment experiences for youth that bridged student learning outcomes and experiences across the summer months. These partnerships brought us, the co-authors of this paper, into a deeper connection with school district administrators and educators who supported the implementation of the program within a local school context for youth across the county.

Our work developed in stages. Author 1 co-founded and led the Freedom School, which was in its second year during our project. This Freedom School was housed within a local high school. It was co-sponsored by the school district and the University of Florida's College of Education to provide teaching and learning opportunities for students, with a focus on literacy and summer enrichment. Staffing for the Freedom School reflects an intergenerational model, aiming to bring together teachers, college students, and community members from diverse backgrounds. These engagement points in building the program staff for the Freedom School brought Author 2 and Author 3 into the shared efforts of this paper, as they were current undergraduate and graduate students at the university, seeking to advance community-engaged research and the implementation of culturally reflective and responsive teaching practices—another benefit of the CDF Freedom School program. Author 3, a first-generation multiracial doctoral candidate, researches educational equity for historically marginalized students. After meeting Author 1 through the Freedom School initiative, Author 3 was fascinated by the YPAR practices and eager to join the team. Author 2, a proud child of immigrants and a Cuban-American, met Author 1 during an undergraduate Social Foundations of Education course and connected with Author 3 through the project. Our shared university affiliation, research interests, and focus on space and placemaking at the Freedom School brought us together. Ultimately, it is our genuine commitment to community-centered work that guided our YPAR project through its development, implementation, analysis, and writing.

CDF Freedom Schools occur across various types of learning landscapes. Our project partnered with the local school district to facilitate the program within the local high school in the US South. Our Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) team consisted of fifteen Freedom School scholars in the Level Three program (see Table 2). They ranged in age from eleven to thirteen years old. The authors met with the YPAR team in two-hour weekly sessions throughout the six-week Freedom School program. During each session, we engaged in a community-building activity, played a brief review-based game, discussed relevant vocabulary related to the research topic, and completed an activity based on the content. The authors also collected feedback informally from the PAR team at the end of each session. This feedback influenced how information was shared, which activities were planned for the following week, and the organization of each session.

Given the six-week duration of the Freedom School program, the authors adjusted a timeline to encompass the principles of Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), including building relationships, developing critical awareness, identifying issues, creating research design, analyzing data, advocating for change, and reflecting and repeating (see Table 3). After developing a more comprehensive schedule with guiding questions for each principle, the focus for each session, and activities was determined. With Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) as our method, artifacts created by youth were collected during the implementation of the Freedom School program. These artifacts included notes taken by scholars throughout, questions drafted as part of their data collection process, and art created during a community-building activity, among other items. Additionally, the authors took field notes based on their observations of and with scholars throughout the project. They also gathered reflexive notes after each session to identify strengths and areas for improvement in activities and curricula. These points of self-reflection informed the development of the co-created YPAR curriculum that infused feedback, perceptions, and voice from the youth researchers as they experienced the YPAR.

Critical epistemological approaches raise ethical issues due to their focus on relationships with coresearchers (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Establishing rigor in qualitative research is linked to the trustworthiness of findings (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Patton, 2002, 2015). The researcher as an instrument is key to rigor; trustworthiness depends on those collecting and analyzing data (Patton, 2015). Varying trustworthiness techniques demonstrated my “intellectual rigor” (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The data included artifacts from the YPAR curriculum, focus group interviews, and the researcher's field notes. Member checking involved follow-up interviews to clarify points from the discussion. A limitation was the lack of student review of transcripts or one-on-one follow-up; however, reflection discussions and peer debriefing helped connect the findings to learning.

Recognizing the strength and power of youth as active participants in their communities and schools, this study's findings highlight the youth's ability to learn and share research language and skills with peers and families. Efforts to build university-community partnerships, including Freedom Schools, community health clinics, and food pantries, have been created to address unmet community needs and improve trust, fidelity, and agency. Many of these partnerships focus on local issues related directly or indirectly to educational access and success, especially for populations that have historically been excluded from educational spaces (Fruhauf et al., 2022; Mance et al., 2020; Ward et al., 2013). For instance, Radina and colleagues (2018) utilize YPAR within a school-university-community partnership to honor and amplify urban students' voices on issues that matter to their community.

Furthermore, while some interventions developed within these partnerships occur throughout the school year, others take place during out-of-school time, such as summer programs like Freedom Schools (Jones et al., 2011; Rawles et al., 2023). Rawls and colleagues (2023) describe their partnership practices at a North Florida Freedom School, emphasizing the importance of communication, intergenerational mentoring, and a sense of duty to the community as vital for successful stakeholder relationships. Although university-community partnerships have great potential to promote collaborative and intentional dialogue across different settings (Miller & Hafner, 2008; Walsh et al., 2020), current research often does not clearly define or identify stakeholders. Clearly articulating the specific partners and interested parties is essential for creating transparency and reducing tensions and mistrust regarding the research process, the researcher's intentions, and community voice and agency (Celestina, 2018). Community-embedded work, like YPAR, seeks to address these issues further. YPAR emphasizes trust-building as a core principle, demonstrating a broader understanding that harm caused by past research practices is not easily rectified and highlighting the importance of the relationship between researchers and co-researchers (Caraballo et al., 2017; Fine, 2018). Our writing developed trust with co-researchers by engaging in the daily activities of the Freedom School as volunteers, leveraging our existing roles as program support. This enabled us to get to know and connect with the scholars, staff, and families involved, fulfilling our overall goal of fostering community through the program and our YPAR intervention.

Similarly, while developing this project, we considered how reciprocity, especially self-disclosure and collaborative theorizing (Harrison et al., 2001), could be further integrated into our practice and work with youth. Reciprocity is grounded in feminist and critical research theories and practices, challenging the common notion of “objectivity” promoted by dominant research principles (Boveda & McCray, 2021; Morales et al., 2023). Our experiences and identities as researchers of color motivated us to create and include culturally affirming and sustaining practices in this work. We found ways to build reciprocal relationships with our co-researchers and to show consideration for their interests and well-being in ways that are not often emphasized. Our care and concern for youth team members were clear within and beyond our research efforts, especially through ongoing mentoring support provided to many students regarding their goals for admission to local high schools and community programs, which Author 1 frequently facilitates. Our relationships with co-researchers grew significantly throughout the Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project, building the trust and confidence necessary for youth to give honest feedback, which was key to addressing their needs and shaping the scope and goals of our work.

We recognize the fundamental importance of trust and reciprocity with our co-researchers in this work. However, we also acknowledge the layers of power dynamics that had to be accepted and eventually dismantled. Primarily, our educational and social structures create an imbalance of authority and power between adults and children. Freire (1970) and Hooks (1994) identify this as a key teaching strategy within schooling systems, arguing that it serves as a tool to prepare students to submit to authority in their future workplaces and civic lives. Therefore, we experienced tension between the banking model, which is normalized in modern schools and familiar to our scholars, and the co-researcher and youth-centered practices of YPAR, which we aimed to implement. We addressed this through whole-group conversations about researcher identity and education, emphasizing that our co-researchers were already knowledgeable and engaged as researchers in their daily lives and interactions over time. This approach helped ease some of their fears about taking on this project and began to foster their agency as change-makers within their schools and communities.

During the negotiations, we observed how young people interpret and address complex social issues, offering insights and viable solutions. This was highlighted in two main themes that we focus on in this paper, as we aim to emphasize reciprocity in school and community partnerships within culturally responsive and relevant learning environments for youth: (1) Black youth as researchers and (2) the importance of adult-youth relationships in civic engagement, which we will discuss further in the upcoming sections.

When employing the frameworks of community cultural wealth (CCW) and multiliteracies, this research underscores the necessity for a reevaluation of our roles in educational research. Rather than perceiving ourselves as the exclusive resolvers of prevailing social issues and challenges, we must recognize our students as valuable creators of knowledge and protagonists of their narratives, endowed with the capacity to address the challenges that we frequently assume authority over. Our goal was to help them recognize and utilize their strengths instead of trying to fix every problem. Through their work, our youth researchers learned from the curriculum as well as other areas of inquiry being developed across it. Sariah shares,

Recognizing youth as researchers offers many benefits, each contributing to a more inclusive and empowered society. First and foremost, it empowers young individuals by allowing them to play an active role in their learning journey. By involving youth in research, we validate their perspectives, experiences, and insights, nurturing a sense of agency and self-confidence within them. Moreover, viewing youth as researchers ensures that their voices are not only heard but valued in academic and policy discussions. This amplification of their perspectives promotes diversity and inclusion, representing the full spectrum of experiences within youth populations. Through their research, youth become advocates for their communities, challenging existing narratives and advocating for change.

Youth researchers offer a unique perspective that adult researchers might overlook. Their lived experiences lend relevance and authenticity to their work, offering insights that others may overlook. This deeper understanding enables the development of more effective interventions and policies grounded in the realities of young people's lives. Our youth researcher shares,

Engaging in research also cultivates critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and independent inquiry among youth. These skills, essential for academic and professional success, are honed through hands-on research experiences. Additionally, youth-led research fosters connections between young people and their communities, encouraging collaboration and partnership among various stakeholders. Research involvement can also contribute to positive youth development outcomes, including increased self-esteem, resilience, and civic engagement. Through their research endeavors, youth make meaningful contributions to society and build networks of support within their communities. Recognizing youth as researchers challenges stereotypes and biases that portray them as passive recipients of knowledge. It underscores the capabilities and expertise of young individuals, challenging societal perceptions and promoting a more nuanced understanding of youth capabilities. In essence, embracing youth as researchers enriches the research process and promotes empowerment, social justice, and positive youth development within our communities.

Throughout the YPAR project, youth co-researchers began to recognize themselves as researchers. The content covered, interactive activities, and provided materials helped them grow in confidence, enabling them to identify key terms, develop interview questions, and collaborate with members of their research group to create materials for a presentation. Consequently, participants began to contextualize their ability to collect research within their day-to-day lives and interests. This understanding developed primarily through the integration of digital literacies into the intervention curriculum. Youth utilized tablets to access curriculum materials, conduct online searches, and collect and represent their data, building a foundation that can be applied to future schoolwork or projects. This is exemplified by Sariah, who articulates her insights on how she connected with the texts that formed the focal point of our curriculum, particularly those that highlighted Black culture. Our youth researcher shares,

Additionally, as participants developed their research identity, they created connections with both researchers, relying on them for support and guidance. This relationship was built on feedback, with participants sharing both formal and informal feedback about the experience and outcomes of planned activities, as well as the project's overall direction. The relationships formed and growth in research confidence further allowed participants to identify themselves as capable of inspiring social action and change to address issues affecting them and their communities.

Researchers drew on participants' strengths and interests to shape the activities of the intervention. For example, participants completed a coding activity as part of a data analysis lesson using their favorite songs. This further connected research literacies to students' everyday lives. Using an asset-based community resilience framework, researchers led intervention sessions focused on addressing community gun violence. Researchers also used a combination of relevant statistics and examples of community activists or groups. This, together with the various activities and interviews they conducted, allowed participants to navigate their emotions in response to the issue with their peers and researchers, and to center their perspectives on themselves as actors who could also respond to this larger societal issue.

This work highlights the meaningful impact that community, relationality, and research can have on Black youth. It also raises several points for consideration, reevaluation, and calls to action. As stakeholders and beneficiaries of education, researchers bear a responsibility to the communities, spaces, and individuals they study. This responsibility calls for a reciprocal, ongoing partnership where both researchers and communities expand each other's perspectives, ideas, and practices. When developing these layered relationships, it's essential to acknowledge the unique histories and experiences that influence how communities engage and interpret meaning. Understanding the diversity of these experiences helps craft more effective, culturally aware, and rigorous learning opportunities for youth. Moreover, since learning extends beyond traditional school hours and locations, building a meaningful learning community involves leveraging all educational environments, including non-traditional or seasonal programs, such as Freedom Schools. These settings, designed to address student needs that schools have not adequately met, provide valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners to reshape the educational system to better serve all students.

Since today's Black youth possess unique skills and abilities to innovate, this project intentionally utilized multiliteracies to expand access points and deepen their understanding of youth culture. Future research can develop a more comprehensive YPAR scholarship, one created with and for Black youth. It is also important to recognize that conducting research helps students develop their skills as they collect and interpret data, often noticing things adults might miss. For Black adolescents, hope, inspiration, and the desire for change through YPAR can motivate them to challenge social oppression and environments that suppress their experiences. This remains particularly significant amidst rapidly expanding policy targeting the safety, learning, and existence of Black communities (e.g. Florida H.B. 7; Florida S.B. 266; US Department of Education's elimination of DEI initiatives). Through our university-community partnership, youth were empowered to share their positive experiences with civic engagement. They received physical, emotional, and mental support from adult co-researchers in an environment that acknowledged and celebrated Black youth, culture, and identity. With these resources and supports, they spoke power to the youth experience, resistance, and revolution.

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the University of Florida reviewed and approved this study. All research procedures adhered to the ethical standards set by the IRB. Informed consent was secured from all participants before they took part in the study.