Description

Youth Movement: Building on the Assets of Community for School Reform

Social capital can be used to measure the health and wellness of a community. Through an ethnographic account of one school and community in Northern California, we demonstrate how social and economic forces diminished this community’s social capital and consequently its health. We also show how one community-based organization took into account this larger social and economic context to develop creative interventions to address interracial violence within a school. Their efforts built trust, increased social networks and accountability, which resulted in empowering previously marginalized members of the community. Organizers encouraged counselors to work creatively to expand their scope of their work to include a social capital framework in an effort to develop more sustainable interventions.

interracial high school violence, social capital, youth community organization

Citation: Social Justice Vol. 38, No. 3 (2011): 42-59