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The Color of Change Possible and Giving Us the Space to Think About the Importance of Youth Within the Ecology of Social Change

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The Color of Change Possible and Giving Us the Space to Think About the Importance of Youth Within the Ecology of Social Change NOVEMBER 2010 Manuel Pastor Rhonda Ortiz Jennifer Ito Veronica Terriquez Vanessa Carter Jennifer Tran Teresa Cheng theCOLORof CHANGE Inter-ethnic Youth LEADERSHIP for the 21st Century USC Program for Environmental & Regional Equity ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank all the practitioners, academics, and funders who allowed us to draw on their wisdom for this project, particularly those who were able to gather with us for a convening in April 2010 where we tested the ideas we present here against their realities on the ground. We also thank the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for making The Color of Change possible and giving us the space to think about the importance of youth within the ecology of social change. Most of all, we would like to acknowledge all those in the field (and in the home) investing in our youth from behind-the-scenes — our present day Ella Bakers. You have done more than you think about how youth can become change agents; you have supported them along the way, awarded them the dignity and respect they deserve, and prepared all of us for a new generation and a new vision of social justice. — Manuel Pastor and Rhonda Ortiz Program for Environmental & Regional Equity University of Southern California (USC) For the extended version of this report, go to: http://college.usc.edu/pere/publications/index.cfm The Color of Change is based on a significantly longer report, by the same name, which includes a discussion of the genesis of the report, methodological considerations, an academic literature review, an extensive data analysis on demographics in the U.S. and select metro areas, and more in-depth consideration of strategies within the “Promising Practices to Fill the Gaps” section. ii The Color of Change TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................1 DEFINING INTER-ETHNIC YOUTH LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT...................3 DEMOGRAPHY AS DESTINY..................................................................4 CLIENTS TO CONSTITUENTS................................................................5 RACE IS REAL................................................................................... 6 PROMISING PRACTICES TO FILL THE GAPS.................................................8 10 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BUILDING THE FIELD................................... 11 CONCLUSION: CHANGE NOT CHANCE.........................................................14 APPENDICES..............................................................................................15 APPENDIX A. RESOURCE GUIDE....................................................15 APPENDIX B. INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS INTERVIEWED...............................................................................16 APPENDIX C. ATTENDEES AT THE COLOR OF CHANGE CONVENING, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, APRIL 22, 2010................ 17 APPENDIX D. MAP OF ORGANIZATIONS INTERVIEWED................ 19 The Color of Change iii INTRODUCTION America is on a path to a “majority-minority” nation. “[Undocumented youth] realized the pathway to According to official predictions, this momentous liberation could be in starting a group and building a transition will occur shortly after 2042— but the future collective identity and taking bold, risky actions that is pressing closer than many think. Demographers now really created this level of euphoria that made them believe that our youth will be majority-minority by 2023, feel like they can change the world.” and that 2010 or 2011 will be the first year in the U.S. in — Jose Luis Marantes, Center for Community Change which the majority of births will be to parents of color. The new world these young people, white and non-white, outcomes have persisted since the early 1970s, even will face is full of both opportunities and challenges. To as globalization demands that all of our nation’s talent some extent, racial barriers have fallen. A black man now be ready to contribute to a strong America. While occupies the highest political office in the nation. The segregation of any type is illegal, our neighborhoods and leadership of the country in politics, business, and civic schools remain sharply divided. Our prison systems have institutions is now more diverse than ever. And while the grown dramatically, housing disproportionate shares of country has recently seemed to be driven by the politics youth of color and often failing to deliver on the promise of race — including the forced resignation of Agriculture of rehabilitation and reentry. And place has sometimes official, Shirley Sherrod, discussions of altering the notion taken the place of race, with access to education, of birthright citizenship, and struggles over the location of opportunity, and even healthy food determined by one’s an Islamic cultural center in New York — acts of outright address not one’s ambition. racism are admittedly far and few between. It is not new that youth of color, particularly those in At the same time, something more subtle but nonetheless communities with concentrated poverty, generally have insidious is afoot. Racial gaps in economic and academic worse performance rates and outcomes. Some have Changing American Demographics, 1970-2050 100% 3% 3% 2%2% 3% 3% 3% 4%4% 4% 4% 7% 5% 6% 6% 9% 7% 8% 90% 11% 13% 12% 16% 12% 19% 80% 23% 12% 27% 30% 70% 12% 12% n o 60% 12% ti a l 12% u p o 12% p 50% l a t o t f 83% o 40% 80% t 76% n e 69% c r Other 65% e 30% 60% p 55% Asian American and/or API 51% 46% 20% Latino or Hispanic (of any race) Black or African American 10% Non-Hispanic White 0% 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 Source: Blackwell, A. G.; Kwoh, S.; and Pastor, M. (2010). Figure 1-1: Changing American Demographics, 1970-2050. Uncommon Common Ground: Race and America’s Future. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. and The American Assembly. Pg. 30. The Color of Change 1 suggested that the best way to address these challenges “‘It’s always been an emerging field; it’s been is to imagine the post-racial future some think is already evolving. In everything I’ve seen, it’s experimental here: focus on lifting up all boats, knowing that this will or evolving, like ‘let’s try this right now.’” likely help young people of color along the way. But — Kimi Lee, another equally valid approach suggests that we must Movement Strategy Center put race up front to get race behind — we must make In what follows, we explore the field of inter-ethnic youth achieving racial equity central to our society and our leadership development for people aged 18 to 26. We politics. look at this age group because it is a formative moment Part of that second approach also means seeing youth for lifetime patterns of civic engagement, and is also a of color not simply as the beneficiaries of social policy, time when so many youth of color get lost — dropping but the co-creators of the social movement that will out of high school, struggling through community college, make change happen. Developing the leadership juggling the demands of adult life for the first time and potential of youth so they can change the systems that often without adequate support. The field of inter-ethnic are not working for them and, subsequently, hold those youth development at this age and socioeconomic bracket institutions accountable, is critical. This does not mean is, we would suggest, under-developed — and given the that service provision is not necessary — our research life trajectory of many of these young people, community shows that youth face numerous challenges and need colleges may be particularly strategic institutions for mentoring as well as support. But it does mean youth intervention. empowerment is crucial to meeting the needs of young We begin the paper by detailing the challenges as well as people in the 21st century. successes in this emerging area of youth development. We then focus on three areas that are particularly pertinent to youth leadership development: the changing demography of youth across the nation, the dual needs of youth as both clients and constituents, and the importance of proactively addressing the intersectionality of race and identity. Along the way, we identify gaps in the existing leadership development field, not to highlight the deficits but rather to point towards areas where new solutions and new strategies can help the field move forward. We close by offering a variety of strategies and opportunities — for both practitioners and funders — to address those gaps and develop and strengthen the field. Finally, we end with a message of hope: we really do think a series of well-placed investments could make all the difference. The hopeful message we impart is not just ours: in the process of researching this piece, we talked to dozens of leaders across the country and eventually convened nearly forty of them for a meeting at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to discuss both our findings and their learnings. We can take a bit of credit for what follows — we did, after all, try to synthesize, summarize, and strategize. But mostly we sought to be faithful in communicating their wisdom and their vision that another world is indeed possible — and that it is young people, with the support of elders and organizations, who will play a critical role in making it happen. 2 The Color of Change DEFINING INTER-ETHNIC YOUTH LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Traditional youth leadership development programs populations who need to be seen in the way in which such as after-school mentoring, sports and recreation, issues are framed and leadership is developed. vocational skills training, and the like, have thus far Third, youth leadership training has often been focused on dominated the field of youth leadership development. either high-school or college students (or recent college However, an investment in youth who can lead for graduates). While important, this leaves out community equity in the 21st century will differ from past dominant college and out-of-school populations — populations that approaches in several key ways. tend to be more heavily people of color and tend to have First, traditional leadership programs for youth and young more barriers to success.
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