Creating a New Beginning: Youth Speak Out on Race and Ethnicity in Metropolitan Detroit

This project brought together 14 community-based teams of youth to talk about issues of race and ethnicity in Metro Detroit. Each group, made up of 6-8 young people of similar racial and ethnic backgrounds, spent the first two dialogues in intragroup meetings and then were paired with another group for five dialogues in intergroup meetings. There were two seven-week sessions, involving six groups in the first session and eight groups in the second session. The dialogues were facilitated by University of Michigan undergraduate students and recent graduates.

The purpose of Youth Dialogues was to break down barriers and address the prejudices that have segregated our community into what it is today.

This evaluation began with a team of high school, college and graduate students, diverse across age, gender, race, and ethnicity, who called themselves "The Rangers." While the name didn't mean much, it became a symbol of the team they created. They were unified in their work, developed strong relationships between themselves, and, most of all, had a lot of fun in the process.

They got involved in the evaluation because of their own personal stories and their mutual interest in race and ethnicity. (authors)