Urban Minority Youth Matters

You Can Engage Urban Minority Youth In Their Communities!

Urban minority youth are boys and girls usually teenage (11-14 years old) who reside in urban areas of 1,000,000 or more of all races or ethnicities. In urban areas, youth are exposed to violence, lack of resources and poverty (Briggs et al., 2012).

Let's Check It Out In Virginia 

39.3%
Suburbs and cities with a population of over 50,000

17.6%
Towns/Cities with a population of 10,000 to 50,000

28.5%
Youth participating from under-represented groups

Numbers from the 4-H Online Enrollment for 2018-2019

Barriers of Urban Minority Youth:

• Single parent households
• Violence, crime and incarceration
• Health and well-being disparities
• Racial discrimination
• Stereotype-threats
• Sexual abuse and drug use
• Gender identity issues
• High school dropout rates or poor access to higher education

Youth In High-Risk Urban Communities 

who are ages 11-14 from all races and backgrounds who live in urban areas...

are in the upper 50th percentile for violent crime

and fall in the bottom percentile for median of household income

(Briggs, Grella, Burton, Yarmuth, and Taylor, 2012)

Did You Know About These Factors?

COMMUNITY VIOLENCE EXPOSURE

Public health problem affecting urban youth. Witnessing and hearing about violent activity in the community can be stressful to urban youth (McDonald, Deatrick, Kassam-Adams, & Richmond, 2011).

UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES

Locations that are affected by limited resources that could include employment, income, transportation, and education (Avent & Jayaratne, 2017).

SINGLE PARENT HOUSEHOLDS

Families headed by mothers or fathers, and occasionally headed by a grandparent who is raising the grandchildren. Divorce and nonmarital births have increased through the years within these single parent households (Comerford, 2009).

STEREOTYPE THREATS

When people are viewed as endangered or being a risk to society among their own social or ethnic group (Steele & Aronson, 1995).

TEEN DATING VIOLENCE

Physical violence that may include slapping or hitting, psychological aggression, sexual violence or even stalking (Briggs, Grella, Burton, Yarmuth, and Taylor, 2012).

What We Can Do?

Click on each speech bubble to learn more.

FATHER-SON/ MOTHER-DAUGHTER PROGRAMS

to focus on building relationships, mentoring, life skill building and cultural awareness

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

that can increase youth assets and build self-identity

COORDINATION AND PARTNERSHIPS

with organizations outside of school to support students’ needs and issues

TEEN DATING VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAMS

to raise awareness and increase prevention

References

Avent, M., & Jayaratne, K. (2017). Factors limiting youth participation in 4-H and other youth development programs in underserved communities. Journal of Extension, 55(4), Article 4RIB8. Available at: https://www.joe.org/joe/2017august/pdf/JOE_v55_4rb8.pdf

Briggs, M. Grella, L., Burton, T.A., Yarmuth, M., & Taylor, T. (2012). Understanding and engaging key influences of youth in high-risk urban communities: A review of the literature. Social Marketing Quarterly, 18(3), 203-220. Doi: 10.1177/152450041240669

Cohen, A. K., Littenberg-Tobias, J., Ridley-Kerr, A., Pope, A., Stolte, L. C., & Wong, K. K. (2018). Action civics education and civic outcomes for urban youth: An evaluation of the impact of Generation Citizen. Citizenship Teaching & Learning, 13(3), 351–368. https://doi-org.vsu.idm.oclc.org/10.1386/ctl.13.3.351_1

Comerford, L. (2009) Single-Parent Households. In J. O’Brien (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Gender and Society (Vol. 2, pp. 794-799). Thousand Oaks, Ca: SAGE Publications.

McDonald, C.C., Deatrick, J.A., Kassam-Adams, N., & Richmond, T.S. (2011). Community violence exposure and positive youth development in urban youth. Journal of Community Health, 36(6), 925-932. Doi: 10.1007/s10900-011-9391-5