University of Alberta researchers are working with dozens of collaborators across the country to improve the lives of Black youth in Canada.
Led by former U of A nursing professor Bukola Salami — now at the University of Calgary — the team has received a $2.5-million Partnership Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to conduct research aimed at identifying systemic barriers faced by Black children and youth.
"We will be taking on all the challenges faced by Black youth in Canada," says U of A political scientist Andy Knight, co-principal investigator on the project. Sociologists Temitope Oriola and Shirley Anne Tate are joining him from the U of A, along with 40 researchers from 20 other institutions across Canada.
Black youth more often live in poverty, are disproportionately affected by gun violence and have low educational outcomes compared to their non-Black peers, says Knight, who is the Provost Fellow in Black Excellence and Leadership at the U of A. They are also overrepresented in the criminal justice and child welfare systems.
"One of our big concerns is educational outcomes," says Knight. "Many Black youth are falling between the cracks and not making it into university. They're dropping out of high school early, or sometimes not making it into high school."
The team's research will be informed by critical race theory — which examines racism as a structural element of society — and intersectional theory, which recognizes that "gender and race intersect to shape the well-being of Black children and youths."
The project, called Transforming Lives, will include Canada's first national survey of 2,000 Black parents and 2,000 youths, as well as 540 interviews with parents, children, youths and other interested parties.
The researchers will also hold 26 focus groups from among them. Black community groups will also contribute to data collection and in the crafting policy recommendations.
Some of the tools for disseminating the research will be via Knight's BlackTalk podcast, a speaker series and film documentaries.
"A large chunk of our focus has to do with poverty, in terms of inadequate housing and lack of meals, which have long-term effects on individual health," says Knight.
The prevalence of violence is another issue that adversely affects young Black lives, he adds.
"How do young black kids get caught up in this cycle of violence, and why do they have so many problems with the police and justice systems?" Evidence shows that black youth are twice as likely to be stopped and arrested by police, have more conditions imposed with bail and are less likely to be released on parole.
The research will focus on the experiences of Black immigrant youth, as more than 13 per cent of the 7.4 million foreign-born people living in Canada — close to a million people — are originally from an African country.
In her previous research, Salami has led or collaborated on 55 studies, many of them shedding light on the mental health challenges of Black immigrant children and youth from Africa.
Her team also plans to expand on the success of her Black Youth Mentorship and Leadership Program, which Salami designed to pair Black youth with students and faculty at the U of A, inspiring them to continue to a post-secondary education.
"Almost every single person on the team is saying we need better mentors … in various sectors of the community," says Knight. "Especially in the media, within the university system, in finance and in justice. Not everybody is willing to do it, because the time commitment takes away from their own personal ambitions.
"And we need to encourage our allies to help us, because our numbers are not enough to do the kind of mentorship necessary."
The Transforming Lives project will include a summer institute for Black early-career researchers, a knowledge hub, a Black youth hub, policy forums and a media-enhanced speaker series.
