Young People as Agents of Change: The Experiences of New Immigrant Families in a Border Community (with S. Aitken, D. Mattingly and T. Herman)
This project examines how children and young people act as agents of change with regard to the community involvement and civic participation of new immigrant families. Through data collection in a suburb of San Diego, California, the project will analyze whether and how young people are creative agents of change that connect adults with institutions of the public sphere, introducing families to new relations and situations beyond the realm of the private sphere of the home. The goals of the project are to uncover different pathways and strategies that immigrant adults develop and follow as a result of their interaction with children and young people in their communities. By analyzing how young people exert a continual and subtle influence on the knowledge and perspectives of immigrant adult family members, this project will advance knowledge of the way immigrant families overcome barriers to assimilation and become involved in their communities.
A focus group with parents in Chula Vista, CA March 2007