Commentaries in Urban Education

DIVAS for Social Justice: Building Resilience in Youth Through STEAM

Abstract

This is an accepted article with a DOI pre-assigned that is not yet published.

DIVAS (Digital Interactive Visual Arts Sciences) for Social Justice is a STEAM-based grassroots organization that has created positive youth-led multimedia projects for the past 17 years in communities of color. The organization uses digital media and emerging technologies in the development of youth voices to tell the stories of their communities. We demonstrate how youth creating multimedia content around issues facing a community can be a vehicle for leadership development and resilience. We explore three programs:

  • Gentrification Through the Eyes of Youth: A multimedia exhibition led by youth, ages 7-14, to address solutions to gentrification in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.
  • Laurelton.nyc: The launch of the neighborhood website to share positive stories of Southeast Queens and increase digital literacy.
  • Forward, A Social Justice Makerspace for All: A makerspace focused on participatory action to design a community space that can lead to economic opportunities for the greater community.

Keywords

STEAM, STEM, social justice, underserved communities, resilience, digital literacy, STEM, social justice, underserved communities, resilience, digital literacy

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Authors

Clarisa James (DIVAS for Social Justice)

Issue

  • This article is not a part of any issues.

Dates

Accepted 2024-04-10

Licence

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Identifiers

Peer Review

This article has been peer reviewed.