We Got Us: The Process of Engaging Youth as Participants and Co-Researchers

This paper discusses the “how” of conducting participatory research that engages youth as participants and, more importantly, as co-researchers. In collaboration with four community co-researchers, this arts-based inquiry engaged 14 young Black people ranging in age from seven to fifteen years around their definitions of joy. Using a theoretical framework of community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) and counter storytelling (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002),the decision to engage a methodology that would be accessible for participants maintained a commitment for the research to make a positive difference in the present material conditions of my participants’ communities and beyond while. As a community-engaged project, this work continues to produce scholarship useful for the transformation of educational and otherwise spaces where young Black people are welcomed. This article will discuss strategies, insights, and challenges in the process of community-engaged research across adult and youth researcher collaborators.