Closing the Gap: Insights for Doing Community-Based Research With Youth and Adults in Vulnerable Communities (2010)

Undergraduate: Jennifer Pan

Faculty Advisor: Patricia Parker
Department: Biology

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This ongoing project applies a collective leadership model of community-based research with youth and adults in vulnerable communities. Reported here are the preliminary results of a collaborative process with youth and their parents in the Karen community in Carrboro, North Carolina. As recent immigrants from Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), people of the Karen community are made vulnerable by their status as non-English speaking refugees who experienced persecution in their homeland. Many of them now live in impoverished neighborhoods near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. These obstacles inhibit the Karen people from fully integrating into surrounding communities, highlighting the potential divides between the Karen community and: (a) the University; and (b) other vulnerable communities. Also, the challenges point to the traditional divide between youth and adults within Karen immigrant communities created by language barriers and cultural consequences. The research question guiding this project is: What are the most effective means for co-constructing a purpose and building trust with the youth and adults in the Karen community? Preliminary results show that one effective strategy for engagement is through youth media. This strategy serves two purposes: (a) to empower youth to explore meanings of community through creative arts; and (b) to facilitate the collaborative creation of knowledge among the youth, adults, and researchers. This research has implications for enhancing social initiatives that engage members of vulnerable communities.