Partnering for Youth Empowerment in Urban Middle Schools: An Autoethnography Examining the Synergies and Tensions between Positive Youth Development and Youth Participatory Action Research

Youth empowerment approaches in school settings hold the possibility of increasing positive outcomes for youth and the school community. One method of youth empowerment is Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). As schools are bureaucracies that historically have not facilitated youth participation in significant decision-making, most school-based youth empowerment projects will include outside facilitators to support these activities. This autoethnography analyzes work with school-based adult leaders to promote the youth’s ability to actualize a YPAR project. The critical roles of YPAR facilitators are presented for enhancing outcomes for youth, adults, and school systems when engaging in youth empowerment activities in public schools. This article is a discussion of positive youth development which is described as an holistic model for preparing young people for college, work, and life, and youth participatory action research; a strategy for fostering youth development through building leadership skills, empowerment, and youth-adult partnerships, as they can inform work in schools. (authors)