Blog Post #6 by Cabrera, Roberto

    The article, New Terrain in Youth Development: The Promise of a Social Justice Approach by Ginwright and Cammarota is an appealing and satisfying article. Ginwright and Cammarota are trying to show how positive youth development became a problem in society.  The authors show us in the article that this approach started in the 90s when "The youth development field began to promote youth assets, rather than focusing on youth problems" (p.84). They were leaning more towards their strengths, but not on their mistakes/difficulties. The positive youth development model was made in order to help youth, but to also show that they are the problem in their society, which does not support youth or make them better people.  

    

    Not all youth are having equal opportunities, support, and/or privileges. From the way I view Positive Youth Development, I agree with the authors critique on that Positive Youth Development is a problem and that youth need something better to best meet their needs. When someone is helping a group of people of different ethnicities such Black-American and White-American, it is a possibility that White-American could get all the help they need while Black-Americans are standing aside and being oppressed for being different. All youth should be given better support, programs, and opportunities no matter how different they are from others. Positive Youth Development was created to focus mostly on White-Americans and only giving them the help they need, but not for those who identify as Black-American or Non-White such as Latino, etc. If this gets removed, every individual will have better chances to succeed and become better people. After reading this article, I was able to learn more about the social justice issue in youth development as well as learning the better meaning of positive youth development, praxis and the actions happening within the society. 

    One quote that stood out to me the most from Ginwright and Cammarota's article is, "We still pay too little attention to the complex social forces affecting their lives, as well as to the oppressive community conditions that require youth action" (p.84) because it gives us a way to show how positive youth development does not exactly support youth in positive ways nor letting youth express their problems and finding ways to get them fixed. This quote also idealizes Positive Youth Development and we must make a change in our community. 

    Positive Youth Development is different to social justice youth development. Positive youth development is "Created by adults, with some youth input-- focused on highlighting the kinds of respectful behavior that staff want to see" (Restler, Mini-Lecture) which does not let youth behave in the way they think will help them express their emotions or problems. As with social justice youth development, it is "Created by and for youth. Youth would take a leadership role in creating norms in the community" (Restler, Mini-Lecture) which makes youth in charged of their own process/business and do what is right for themselves by not letting adults take control of them. Social Justice Youth Development focuses on two key elements which are "Critical Consciousness and their ability to act" (Treasure Map).

This map shown on the left side gives a quick sketch/set up of the Social Justice approach. Two things I learned from looking at this map was "Risk Resiliency Prevention and Positive Youth Development equals Individuals" and "Civic Youth Development and Social Justice Youth Development equals Institutions which are being seen as problems and can become solutions" as mentioned earlier in the blog. None on the youth should isolated nor being helped only for what they are good at. It is important to get to know the problems they have in order to help them learn from their mistakes and gain experience on their own skills/knowledge. We want youth to be aware of themselves and see what is happening around them to get a sense of what they need to know, must do, and begin having the correct support. Below SJYD shows "Critical consciousness + ability to act = PRAXIS" which ties into the framework of this map, which is also known as a quick sketch/set up. Self awareness, social awareness, and global awareness all fall into the category of critical consciousness, which is also leads to the goal of social justice youth development to foster praxis in youth. Relating back to Ginwright and Cammarota's article, youth can become better with praxis /critical consciousness as something positive that could happen to them is becoming "More intentional about their life choices and strive to value the 'humanness' in everyone" (p.91) which could help them feel ready to be supported, accepted, and have the ability to express the kind of people they are and be understood by others.

I agree with all the details the author(s), because I believe that the ideology does not lead or advocate youth in their goals, settings, etc. If you look at Latinos or Black-Americans, they both have an extensive circumstance/life. White-American is not the only identity we see in America. All of us live in a diverse community where people can have a chance to get to know one another and learn about the different aspects of others and work together as a group to make society better.

    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llci8MVh8J4 (Link to see Kimberly Jones, "How Can We Win") 

    I think Kimberly Jones has to deal with this as well. She shows a demonstration of how black people are being oppressed and how they can do better. The part that touched me the most was "Rioters, Protestors, and Looters" and she explains how many Black-Americans are trying to protect their own society. People of different aspects try to make people of color look bad. Instead of making them feel like they are criminals, we should help them and make space for them to feel comfortable. When Kimberly explains why people protest, it is because they want to bring peace and justice to their own community. They work their hardest to make a change until rioters come in "Angry, who are anarchists who really want to deal with their [_] up and that's what they're gonna do regardless" as they think they are protecting their city from something bad that could happen. As with looters, "They are almost exclusively just here to do that to loot, what you did gain" believing that they are bringing peace, but they are actually being oppressive to innocent members of the community. There is no peace or system where all individuals could feel safe and want to love in a better environment. It is as we have to fight to protect ourselves and handle things the hard way. This video shows a deep presentation of how Black-Americans are being oppressed in the United States, the same way the article shows how most individuals who identify with a different identity other than White are not earning freedom or support in positive youth development, which is why Social Justice must happen and people should be aware of everything happening around them and the people they are hanging with, as we are all aiming to help youth succeed and live a better life.