Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
200 OAK ST SE
MINNEAPOLIS,MN 55455-2009
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Somali youth and their families invest many resources into education. Still, Somali youth in Minnesota and North Dakota experience lower educational and career outcomes than their peers. Addressing these disparities matters because education and career attainment improves individual wellbeing. From a social perspective. Individuals with more education are more likely to be civically engaged and contribute to their communities and higher levels of education correspond to lower levels of unemployment and poverty, so addressing these disparities can lead to a decreased demand on public budgets.For Somal youth, structural barriers, like anti-Muslim racism, rural social isolation, and deficit-based interventions negatively impact Somali youths' educational outcomes. This suggests that strategies to improve Somali youths' educational outcomes, career opportunities, and overall well being, should not solely focus on building skills and changing behavior of youth, but requires cultivating positive environmental contexts within youths' families, schools, and potential places of work. This program model aims to improve multiple social environments that support Somali youth thriving.2.To address this issue, we propose a program model that incorporates three key methods to produce measurable results.1. Somali youth participate weekly in a high quality youth program that helps them explore their interests in culturally relevant ways. Youth also engage in leadership activities to build skills needed to pursue higher education and careers.2. Family members/caregivers participate in 14 hours of parent programs to exchange resources for developing close relationships with their children to support their education goals and strengthen their cultural identities.3. Somali youth have immersive experiences on secondary and postsecondary campuses and industry sites to learn about future education and career possibilities. At these experiences, youth will showcase knowledge and aspirations to adults in these settings to forge a relationship and to transform deficit perspectives these systems hold.To understand the impact of these strategies, an evaluation plan is embedded in the program design. Descriptive statistical analysis and deductive content analysis of interviews will describe youths' changes in attitude in skills around education and career attainment. Families will be interviewed. Adults representing postsecondary education and careers will be interviewed to see if their perspectives of young people and their assets have changed.The ultimate goal is twofold and involves cross-sector efforts: Somali youth are prepared and supported to attain their educational and career goals. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, adults with the positional authority will be able to create opportunities for young people to attain education and career goals.?
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
GoalThe goal of this project is to improve educational and career opportunities for Somali youth living in rural, rapidly growing and diversifying communities. By improving their opportunities for thriving futures, Somali youth and families will have improved well-being and the educational and industry systems in which they interact will be more equitable and just.Objectives1) Youth will identify an interest or skill that sparks encouragement and fosters excitement towards learning2) Youth will demonstrate a growth mindset to help youth and growth in critical thinking and decisionmaking skills in an effort to form habits that can lead to academic, educational, and career success3) Parents and guardians will gain support and resources to promote parent-child closeness and theirchildren's education4.) Families and youth will feel a sense of belonging and inclusion, expanding a sense of hope andpurpose within their communitiesDesired long-term results1) Youth will create a personal plan for post-secondary education and career development related to theiridentified areas of interest2) Parent and guardians will improve their self-efficacy and engage with their children on goal setting and management skills to work towards obtaining education goals3) Community members, representatives postsecondary institutions, and industry professionals will recognize the assets and value Somali American youth bring to their education and to society?
Project Methods
Efforts:1. Somali youth participate weekly in a high quality youth program that helps them explore their interests in culturally relevant ways. Youth also engage in leadership activities to build skills needed to pursue higher education and careers.2. Family members/caregivers participate in 14 hours of parent programs to exchange resources for developing close relationships with their children to support their education goals and strengthen their cultural identities.3. Somali youth have immersive experiences on secondary and postsecondary campuses and industry sites to learn about future education and career possibilities. At these experiences, youth will showcase knowledge and aspirations to adults in these settings to forge a relationship and to transform deficit perspectives these systems hold.Evaluation:Quantitative data will be collected annually in the form of a survey, measuring youths' change in behavior and knowledge.Changes in Action and Conditions will be collected qualitatively, collecting program artifacts and youth, families, and postsecondary and industry adults will be interviewed.Success is marked by improved knowledge, skills, and interest in topics, measurable improved readiness for careers, and identifiable changes in attitudes and behaviors of adults representing industry and postsecondary.