The Youth Voices Project

Joanne E. Marciano, College of Education
Beth Herbel-Eisenmann, College of Education
Edgewood Village Housing Nonprofit

As youth of Color and youth with limited access to economic resources continue to encounter educational disparities, the Youth Voices Project, an ongoing community-university partnership, amplifies youths’ voices. Through Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), the project provides strengths-based examples for teachers, teacher educators, and researchers of what’s possible when youths’ identities, dynamic cultural practices, and perspectives about issues that matter to them are centered in curriculum and teaching. 

Since 2019, the Youth Voices Project has involved more than 40 middle and high school students who live at Edgewood Village, a subsidized housing community. The reciprocal partnership provides free after-school YPAR programming for youth as they examine issues of equity and social justice during weekly two-hour sessions. Youth-led projects include improving the community’s basketball court; raising money for residents’ needs as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded; designing and facilitating a book club to increase residents’ awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement; advocating for school policy changes during the pandemic; and facilitating an online college readiness program. Youth and community educators have co-presented research findings alongside MSU faculty and students. The project generates new knowledge about youths’ perspectives as they navigate educational inequities, including those brought on by the pandemic and systemic racism.