The Issues and Assets of African Youth on Staten Island's North Shore:

have, <strong>and</strong> designing research tools (including body mapping,interviews, role playing, group discussion, mapping,cartooning, <strong>and</strong> a survey) they planned an event called“Taking a St<strong>and</strong>” for August 2, 2008. <strong>The</strong> group marketedthe event to youth ages 10 to 21 through flyers, a MySpacepage, <strong>and</strong> word <strong>of</strong> mouth. Though rain fell the day <strong>of</strong> theevent, 24 youth participated. <strong>The</strong> youth shared their projectfindings in a short video presented at <strong>The</strong> <strong>Issues</strong> & <strong>Assets</strong> <strong>of</strong><strong>African</strong> <strong>Youth</strong> Conference: Improving the Community for Allon September 30, 2009. 8 CAC members <strong>and</strong> youthcontinued to collect youth surveys until the total youthsurveyed reached 110.Interviews <strong>and</strong> focus groups with <strong>African</strong> parentsFocus groups <strong>and</strong> individual interviews were conducted withparents to learn about the challenges they feel their childrenface, the challenges they face raising their children, what theresources in the community are that help them to overcomethese challenges, <strong>and</strong> how the community could do better tosupport <strong>African</strong> youth.Recruiting parents to participate in focus groups proveddifficult. Many work long hours <strong>and</strong>/or were skeptical aboutthe intent <strong>and</strong> benefits <strong>of</strong> research activities. Limitedavailability <strong>of</strong> CAC members to facilitate also madeorganizing groups challenging. By September 30, 2008, 10parents had participated in four groups. Feeling that thisnumber was insufficient to well represent parents‟ views, theCEY partners decided to continue engaging parents. IRC‟sAdama Kromah recruited <strong>and</strong> interviewed parentsindividually <strong>and</strong> in small groups through April 30, 2009.Ultimately, 40 parents participated.8 Figures presented in the video were preliminary estimates. Final resultsare presented in this report. Please contact the International RescueCommittee to request a copy <strong>of</strong> this 10-minute video.<strong>Youth</strong> Project Interns (clockwise) Anthony Tucker, MichaelBrent, Tedinkay Jawara, Louise Chea, <strong>and</strong> Michael Frank atthe Taking a St<strong>and</strong> Event on August 2, 2008. Photo by BillLyons, Staten Isl<strong>and</strong> Advance.Questionnaires with organizationsFifteen youth-serving organizations on Staten Isl<strong>and</strong>‟s Northshore completed a questionnaire as the third avenue <strong>of</strong>information-gathering. 9 <strong>The</strong> aim <strong>of</strong> the questionnaire was to: Learn about the resources that exist in the NorthShore <strong>of</strong> Staten Isl<strong>and</strong>, including what resources<strong>African</strong> youth use Hear organizations‟ perspectives about thechallenges youth <strong>and</strong> parents face, identifycommunity assets <strong>and</strong> service gaps, <strong>and</strong> comparethis information to data from youth <strong>and</strong> parents Foster good relationships between organizations, sothat they can share information, strategies, <strong>and</strong>create action plans together. 109 A list <strong>of</strong> participating organizations is included in the report Appendix.7