Youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) is an applied research methodology in which youth work in collaboration with adult stakeholders to conduct research projects. YPAR has been traditionally conducted in person, with virtual forums typically serving as ways to share resources and ideas across independent YPAR teams or collecting data. The COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the closure of most public spaces where youth congregate (including schools) and requirements to socially distance, led to translating YPAR projects into completely virtual formats. This paper aims to provide promises and challenges of conducting virtual YPAR during the COVID-19 pandemic. It describes how a team of university faculty, college students, and youth from two community-based youth organizations navigated a YPAR experience during the 2020-2021 academic year. We provide reflections on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on (a) the research setting, (b) the building of collaborative relationships, (c) YPAR methodology, (d) youth engagement, and (e) conceptualization of community action and engagement. We end with the implications for the future of YPAR for practitioners.
Due to systemic racialized homophobia and transphobia, Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people continue to experience worse life outcomes in comparison to both their Black cisgender and heterosexual, and White LGBTQ+ counterparts. Community psychologists have the tools and training to address these disparities. Using a critical whiteness studies lens, we draw on qualitative data with 17 White LGBTQ+ people to describe how white supremacy manifests in LGBTQ+ spaces. Our research indicates White LGBTQ+ people want to create intersectional spaces but lack the necessary skills to effectively confront anti‐Black racism. This resulted in actions which upheld and reinforced white supremacy, despite stated commitments to Black LGBTQ+ liberation. We conclude with recommendations for community psychologists, including engaging in intersectional coalition‐building, training centered around queer critical race theory, working to address racialized homophobia and transphobia alongside existing efforts to deconstruct anti‐Black racism within community psychology, and consciousness‐raising work with White people involved in LGBTQ+ equality movements to dismantle white supremacist structures within their organizations.
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