Colonialism in Youth Programs

Colonialism in Youth Programs

I always knew that programs like YMCAs were unequitable and embedded with systemic racism, however, I never understood exactly why or how. I felt shocked and disgusted as I read through the "Decolonizing youth development" and learned more of the specific examples of how youth development programs were birthed and have held onto colonialism practices and beliefs. Reading both resources made me think more about my own practices through afterschool and summer programs. I understand that words and phrases like "at risk" harm our youth's identities and I find that while I never say words or phrases likes this towards or in front of our youth, I do conform and may use them during meetings with administration, staff and funders. I would like to practice more strategically using words and phrases to create more of a "family" within my after school and summer programs in order to help  youth's vision of their own future and remove colonialism. 

I am interested in learning more about how to promote anti-saviorism amongst employees in an authentic way for our youth. This particularly connected with me from our group conversation last week where we spoke about BIPOC youth not trusting white adults because they are so used to white saviorism and not trusting these adults. While some site locations have a diverse staff, many still have to hire school-day employees which are historically white. While our mentors are more diverse which helps with representation ratios, the facilitators of programs still tend to be white. Proven in the "Reclaiming community" read, acknowledging saviorism and allowing for spaces for youth to speak about the world around them and their opinions is an important piece in building trust, community and their personal success.

Lastly, reading about how these amazing programs changed with staff and leadership to become more white-cultured based broke my heart. Therefore my lingering question becomes, how do we create sustainable systems in order to keep practices in place that promote equity and prevent harm to youth?


Readings:

Decolonizing youth development: re-imagining youthwork for indigenous youth futures (Katie Johnston-Goodstar) Reclaiming Community: Race and the Uncertain Future of Youth Work [Chapter 1] (Bianca Baldridge)



Comments

  1. Victoria RestlerSeptember 15, 2022 at 9:58 AM

    Thank you for your post Caitlyn and for these reflections. I appreciate your admission about using deficit language with funders and folks in leadership especially because I think it's so common in education and nonprofit spaces. Language that frames young people as "at risk" is still the dominant lens for lots of folks in power and when nonprofits are hustling for resources, oftentimes we take up the language of power. What would it look like to make this shift? How might you shift not only particular words, but the way you frame and tell stories? Who could you partner/ bounce ideas/ support with in this work?

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