Cultivating Inclusion: Belonging and Agency in Young Black Men through Civic Action Research

Authors

  • Amanda Eppley University of California, Berkeley
  • Blanca Gamez-Djokic University of California, Berkeley
  • Deborah L. McKoy University of California, Berkeley

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33524/cjar.v21i2.513

Keywords:

Civic action research, Civic engagement, Communities of practice, Critical race theory

Abstract

This paper examines how community-based civic action research can cultivate civic engagement, civic belonging, and shifts in civic stakeholders’ perceptions of racially and economically minoritized youth’s civic agency. Specifically, this paper examines the implementation of Youth, Research and Plan (YRP) – a community-based research methodology that cultivates equitable relationships between schools, cities, and communities by situating disenfranchised youth and their schools at the center of civic and urban planning – in a unique academic program focused on the development of Black manhood and achievement in a public high school. Using a Critical Race Theoretical application of Communities of Practice and drawing on qualitative data gathered over the course of two years, we show how YRP was instrumental in the development of three interrelated communities of practice that supported the youth’s academic endeavors and civic agency and yielded important shifts in civic stakeholders’ perceptions of and relations with Black urban youth.

Author Biographies

Amanda Eppley, University of California, Berkeley

Amanda Eppley brings experience in schools, city planning, and technology to her work at the University of California, Berkeley Center for Cities + Schools (CC+S). An experienced educator, Amanda has taught middle and high school English and history at urban and suburban public schools in California and Massachusetts. Additionally, after earning a Master’s degree in City Planning from UC Berkeley with a concentration in Environmental Planning, Amanda has facilitated equitable school planning and design processes and has served on her local planning board. In her previous roles as Y-PLAN Program Manager at CC+S, Amanda led Y-PLAN systems expansion in New York City and in California. Meanwhile she has leveraged experience as a software engineer and database developer to improve Y-PLAN’s website and CC+S’s data management systems. In her current role as the Center's Associate Director, Amanda develops and provides training on Y-PLAN content, cultivates school, community, and civic partnerships, and manages action research initiatives.

Blanca Gamez-Djokic, University of California, Berkeley

Blanca Gamez-Djokic is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Education. Blanca’s research interests pivot around emotion, affect, critical pedagogy, schools, practices and processes of racialization, and school-community partnerships. Blanca has a B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology from Swarthmore College and an Ed.M. in Arts in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education. 

Deborah L. McKoy, University of California, Berkeley

Deborah L. McKoy is the Executive Director and Founder of the UC Berkeley Center for Cities and Schools at the Institute of Urban and Regional Development and a lecturer in the Department of City and Regional Planning and the Graduate School of Education. Her research and teaching focuses on the intersection of educational reform, urban & metropolitan planning, community development, and public policy. Central to her work is the critical role young people play in urban and metropolitan change and transformation. For over two decades, Deborah’s work has bridged the worlds of research, policy and practice, including a wide range of professional experiences: Consultant to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Chief of Economic Development at the NYC Housing Authority; Director of Refugee Services for CAMBA, a NYC non-profit organization; and Consultant to the United Nations Education For All initiative. Deborah has published numerous articles and reports for academic and peer reviewed journals and her work and teaching has won a range of awards.

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Published

2021-03-27

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 2 (2020)

Section

Articles

License

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