Using the Participatory Culture-Specific Intervention Model to Improve a Positive Youth Development Program for African American Adolescent Girls

ABSTRACT

This article describes the first year of a partnership between a university and a community organization working to improve and expand a community-based multigenerational mentoring program for African American adolescent girls ages 12–17. The mentoring program, set in an urban Midwestern city, is a collaboration between university researcher-consultants and the program administrator of an out-of-school time (OST) program at a local community center. Program mentors are university faculty, students, and community members. Written by an interdisciplinary research team, this manuscript centers issues in consultation during the formative (research) phases of participatory culture-specific consultation. Using the Participatory Culture-Specific Intervention Model (PCSIM) as a guiding framework, authors review the processes, successes, and challenges of the formative phases of PCSIM application.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Miami University Office of the President and the Office for the Advancement of Research and Scholarship.

Notes on contributors

Erin A. Harper

Erin A. Harper, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Special Education at Texas A&M University-Commerce. Prior to entering academia, Harper practiced school psychology for eight years in urban schools. Her research interests include school-based consultation and prevention, commercial sexual exploitation of children, positive youth development, and school mental health.

Anthony G. James

Anthony G. James, Ph.D. is Director of the Family Science Program and Associate Professor in the Department of Family Science and Social Work at Miami University (OH). His scholarly work uses an interdisciplinary approach to understanding social interactions and human development, with an expertise in positive youth development, religion and spirituality, diverse family systems, and family processes. His works include publications in referred journals and book chapters, on topics in the areas of youth development and family relations, to include an edited book on black family life using a systems perspective. He is the current deputy editor of the Journal of Family Theory and Review and a consulting editor for the Journal of Research on Adolescence. Dr. James is a certified relationship assessment facilitator through the PREPARE/ENRICH program, a certified family life educator through the National Council on Family Relations.

Chamina Curtis

Chamina Curtis, M.A. is a lecturer in the Department of Commerce at Miami University. She is the creator of a teen girls’ leadership and mentoring program where she applies her interests in positive youth development, youth activism and community development.

Demoni’ Ramey

Demoni’ Ramey, B.S. is a graduate student in the Department of Family Science and Social Work at Miami University. Her research interests include black girlhood studies, the school-to-prison pipeline and positive youth development.