Youth Empowerment Solutions: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Appreciation and Solidarity

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of YES-IDEAS (Youth Empowerment Solutions - Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Appreciation, and Solidarity) compared to regular after school programming in increasing youth empowerment, promoting anti-racist behaviors, and decreasing youth violence.

Through the evidence-based YES (Youth Empowerment Solutions) program, youth design and implement projects to help improve their communities. In the current study, investigators adapted the existing YES curriculum to empower youth from diverse backgrounds to address racism and racial discrimination to reduce violent behavior, including race-based victimization. The adapted curriculum, YES-IDEAS, focus on middle school students.

The investigators test the effects of YES-IDEAS curriculum on youths' sense of empowerment, racism attitudes, and violent behavior. They designed the study to be a group-randomized trial in after-school programs across multiple middle schools in south-east Michigan, but issues that arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other practical issues with the schools we modified the design to be a matched control group design at the school level. Matching variables included size, geographic locations, race/ethnicity, free/reduced lunch status. Dose-response and sustainability of YES-IDEAS effects are also examined.

Youth violence is a significant public health concern as over 20% report being in a fight, 19% reported bullying someone, and 16% reported weapon carriage. Violent victimization among youth includes mental health sequelae in addition to the physical injury caused by violent behavior, with the heaviest burden on non-white youth. Homicide is the leading cause of death for 10-24 year old African Americans and one of the top 3 causes of death for Hispanic and Native American youth. Racism, the exercise of power against a racial group defined as inferior, is associated with aggression and violence against racial minority youth. Researchers have identified two pathways by which racism affects youth violence: 1) as a stressor leading to violence; and 2) as a structural factor resulting in more exposure to community-level risk factors. Racial prejudice may also increase interracial mistrust, hostility, and violence. Yet, strategies that integrate undoing racism with violence prevention that also engage youth in change efforts have not been studied systematically.

Positive development can be achieved by engaging youth in community improvement activities designed to empower them to avoid risky behaviors. Building on prior research and guided by previous studies of empowerment processes, the investigators developed an afterschool violence prevention program for middle-school students called Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES) for Peaceful Communities. Prior studies have described how YES engages youth in assessing neighborhood assets and liabilities for violence prevention and designing and implementing neighborhood or school projects to reduce violence. Results from prior YES evaluations found the YES program reduced violent behavior and increased positive behaviors in a comparison group design through the process of empowering youth to think critically about their community, develop plans for change, and implement their plans (i.e., program effects were mediated through empowered outcomes).

The existing YES curriculum was adapted to empower youth from diverse backgrounds to address racism and discrimination as a way to reduce violent behavior. YES IDEAS focuses on middle school students because this is a developmental period when racial identity development becomes a central developmental task, awareness of racism develops, ideas about interpersonal relationships are formative, and bullying behavior is at its peak. Empowering youth to address racial prejudice and racist behaviors may, in part, contribute to reductions in violent behaviors. Working with an Advisory Board involved in undoing racism work, the investigators modified the existing YES curriculum to integrate the Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance (TT)) curriculum from the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the oldest civil rights organizations in the U.S. A unique feature of YES IDEAS is that youth design and implement projects with a focus on undoing racism or discrimination.

The study includes two phases: 1) adapting YES and 2) testing YES IDEAS effects. Phase 1 included piloting and evaluating curriculum revisions through testing new modules and obtaining feedback from youth and teachers. Phase 2 tests the effects of YES IDEAS using a group-randomized trial in after-school programs across multiple middle schools across south-east Michigan. The investigators examine the effects of the curriculum on individual youths' sense of empowerment, racism attitudes, and violent behavior. Finally, dose-response and sustainability of YES IDEAS effects are examined.

The Specific Aims are:

AIM 1: adapt the YES curriculum to integrate several modules from the Learning for Justice curriculum and study the adaptation and implementation process for the new curriculum for racially diverse groups of middle school students

AIM 2: test the efficacy of the YES IDEAS curriculum in a randomized design on empowered outcomes which will mediate the effects of YES IDEAS on perpetration of racist attitudes and behavior

AIM 3: investigate if empowered outcomes are the mechanism by which the YES IDEAS curriculum reduces racist behavior and aggressive and violent behavior (especially those motivated by racism) over time.

AIM 4: study the effects of dose-response over time on the outcomes from AIMS 2 and 3.

Findings from this study will provide evidence for a racial tolerance program based on empowerment that will reduce discrimination and racially motivated aggression in racially diverse middle school youth.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Students enrolled in afterschool programs at multiple middle schools in Counties across south-east Michigan
* Students in 6th through 8th grade
* Students who assent

Exclusion Criteria:

* Non-students
* Students who do not assent or whose parents notify us of their refusal