Harris County has the third largest Asian American and Pacific Islander (APPI) population in the United States. Researchers at the University of Houston are focused on the civic experience of APPI teenagers and why it is important to address the inequalities in their community.
Suzanne Pritzker, an associate professor at the UH College of Social Work, said that this research is to “elevate AAPI youth voices in order to build a more comprehensive understanding of how teenagers in diverse AAPI ethnic communities define civic engagement, what they perceive, and experience as supports and barriers to their civic engagement and what specific practices that they believe would promote civic engagement among themselves and their peers.”
This research project is being conducted in partnership with six AAPI organizations in the Greater Houston area. Each organization will compose a group of AAPI teenagers, from the ages of 14-18, that will serve as a research team.
This youth research team will conduct focus group discussions among other AAPI youth in order to keep the youth voice predominant throughout the study.
“The experiences and perspectives of AAPI teenagers are underrepresented in civic engagement research; discussions with OCA-GH staff focused on the lack of – and need for – evidence around how to address civic inequalities specifically among AAPI teenagers,” Pritzker said.
Currently, Pritzker and her team are assembling the youth research team to begin training them on the research process.
“We are excited about beginning to build relationships with these AAPI youth experts, who will inform so much of this project,” Pritzker said.
This project will take up to three years. The first year will consist of data collection with AAPI teens in the Houston area. Year two will focus on analyzing the data collected with the youth researchers. In year three of the project, Pritzker and her team will begin to share their findings and will train the youth researchers on community and policy-focused dissemination.
These findings will then be used in order to “develop a set of concrete, practical recommendations that can be incorporated into the programs and practices of AAPI-serving community-based organizations and schools.”
Pritzker and her research team received a grant from Houston Endowment to support this project. The funds will help build a research team, support community partner organizations, provide incentives to focus group participants, and help to acquire technology to support both virtual and face-to-face project activities.
Image: Getty Images/E+/AJ_Watt
