The first idea that came to mind was work that I've already been doing with how after-school programs can help disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. A working group through RIAN which includes myself, has done a lot of work and had discussions around this and I think it could be interesting to write it all down.
When we looked at evaluation tools and I thought more deeply at the RIPQA I had the idea to dissect the way we engage young people in the tool and if it could be done better which I think could be really cool to try out in the Spring and give maybe a set of recommendations based on me trying out a new method.
I'm also about to (with my BLBC professors' approval) do a research-to-action paper about how to provide impactful after-school programming to refugee and newly arrived youth which I'm implementing at my work right now with a partnership with DORCAS.
I also remember in Victoria's class we read Tema Okun's "White Supremacy Culture" which I was previously familiar with and I wrote in my blog about the idea of this text being used as an evaluation tool for organizations. Victoria and I talked about the power dynamics that are typically present in educational/ foundation observations that are all tangled up in white supremacy (perfectionism, one right way, objectivity etc.) and how this might flip the script.
So yeah lots of ideas. I think I'm gravitating towards one of the first two but really wherever I feel I have the most support is where I'll go.
Kelly first of all your research topics are very interesting I am excited to see which one you pick especially if you lean more into white supremacy culture being used as an evaluation tool that sounds like something that needs to be published in a journal honestly. I think the work could help a lot of programs better serve black and brown youth and institutions!!!
ReplyDeleteI love your ideas! I agree with Ronya, I feel that evaluation tools need to be researched and changed, it needs to be out there! Maybe grabbing some ideas and looking at the sources Tema Okun used would help give you some ideas with hat! But I also feel going with what provides you the most support.
ReplyDeleteWait wait what if you analyzed the RIPQUA using the White Supremacy Culture framework?
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