Don't Make Decisions About Us, Without Us
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Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
1
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us: An Introspective Look at Latina Youth
Development
I recall preparing to train my very first group of youth peer educators in 2005. I
clearly remember all of the programmatic expectations that were in place – the need for
it be based on a pilot project; the need for it to engage Latino youth as peer educators -
not just Latina girls; the need for it to last only 10 weeks with on-going coaching and
support as needed; and the need for it to be
evidenced based. It was quickly apparent to me
that this was not going to work. Instead, I have
focused my research on drawing attention to the
significance of engaging young Latinas in youth
development initiatives by way of a framework that
is practice based. Where I take whatever I’m
currently working with, and I modify it to meet the needs of each individual group –
always playing up to their strengths, always fluid and always adapting. Where young
Latinas are the experts, where a sense of belonging and ownership is cultivated, and
where programming is seen as being in a constant state of flux, always evolving to
reflect the needs and wants of young Latinas.
It was meant to be a retreat,
during which we would meet to
plan for the upcoming school year
and to reflect on the past year’s
work. I was asked to hold it at a
hotel, but when I asked the girls,
they wanted to have the retreat at
my home, and we did – the
defining moment in the way in
which I work with young Latinas.
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
2
The Sleepover
I came to this work for my own personal reasons, hoping that my experiences
would be ones that would one day positively influence the lives of young Latinas, but
more importantly, I’ve stayed, because of what I have learned. Six years ago, I was
hired at Casa de Esperanza, a national Latina organization, whose mission is to
mobilize Latinas and Latin@1 communities to end interpersonal and familial violence.
As the peer education coordinator, I was charged with the duties of developing a youth
peer education program targeting Latin@ youth. With no prior experience in the field of
youth development, the task that lay before me was daunting and downright
intimidating. The sleepover, was one of many defining moments that has guided my
work with young Latinas and the most influential in informing my philosophy around
Latina youth development. It was the defining moment, the moment in which I began to
question the way in which I work with young Latinas.
At this point in my work, I had trained two groups of Latina youth peer educators.
The first, a group of young Latinas ages 14 to 17, and the second, a group of 14 year
olds. One group was from Harding High School in St. Paul, and the other was from
Washburn High School in Minneapolis. I had worked with both groups separately
throughout the school year, bringing them together towards the end of the school year
to partner up on a few workshop presentations. In preparation for the upcoming school
1 The @ is being utilized to be gender inclusive of both the masculine and feminine when referring to Latinos within
this document.
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
3
year, I’d planned on hosting a retreat, where we could all get reacquainted and begin
planning our work.
Initially my thought was to propose to the group the idea of having the retreat at a
local hotel - I honestly believed that the girls would be excited about having a sleepover
at a hotel. However, as I called and spoke to each and every one of them, they asked
the same question over and over again, “Why do we have to go to a hotel, why can’t we
just spend the night at your house?” Clearly, not the response that I had been
anticipating, this completely threw me for a loop. Up through this point, I’d done my
work by the “book”, always maintaining strict boundaries by limiting the amount of
personal information that I shared about myself, as well as, the access that the young
woman had to me. Always focusing on the fact that this was how youth work was to be
done, and believing that if I deviated in some way, I would be doing the girls and the
field of youth work a disservice.
I pondered obsessively on how I would handle this situation. Why couldn’t I
invite the girls into my home? Opening up my home to them would create genuineness
and authenticity in our relationships, and it would send the message that they were
indeed a part of my life, not just my work. I asked myself, “How can my work be
grounded in Latina youth when I choose not to listen to them?” For me, it would have
been hypocritical to not take their request into consideration. I needed to go beyond the
obvious youth development research and models from the field. I started to question if
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
4
these were applicable to this group of young Latinas or any other group of young
Latinas for that matter.
So I learned that in order to do my work in a manner which would honor the
young women and yet be reflective of our culture, I needed to start at the roots. This
meant moving away from the mainstream way of thinking about youth development and
focusing my work on the most basic, of basics, our Latino cultural value on
relationships. I had done this instinctively before; however, I knew that in order to be
successful I needed to intentionally create opportunities for building and enhancing our
relationships with each other. The sleepover at my home became the pivotal decision.
Culturally our community is built on the strength of our Latino values and none
more important to us than that of familia. Our reality is based on them, and our
identities are bound to them. They are our sources of support, and they make up the
fabric of what it means to be Latino. Familia is our core of stability and strength. Our
connection is strong, and the good of family comes
before that of that of individual members (Casa de
Esperanza, 2003). Family is at the nucleus of Latino
culture, and it’s so much more than the traditional
nuclear family. We create familias wherever we are and with whoever is around us.
Our ability to create familias exemplifies the importance of community and collectivism
so prominent in Latino culture.
“During these years we have
become real close and now she is
like a mother or a big sister to me.
My own mom has called her my
Puerto Rican mom.”
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
5
We place a great value on extensive networks that includes friends and others
outside of our nuclear families. We thrive on interaction, seek out social connections,
and support one another in countless ways. Interdependence is the basis for
relationships within familia, and it shapes our way of life. Mainstream culture often
views life in an individualistic way, making decisions in the best interest of the individual.
In contrast, our reality is communal. We tend to make decisions after first weighing the
impact on the entire family (both nuclear and extended), the community and other
support systems within the community. Mainstream culture may misinterpret our
interdependence as “unhealthy dependence” or “codependence.” On the contrary, it is
the supportive, strengthening reality that defines us (Casa de Esperanza, 2003).
When I reflect on my work with the girls, I see how we have always operated as a
familia, always working together for the betterment of our collective selves and
ultimately that of our community. When I made the decision to host the sleepover at my
home, I took a risk. I thought, “How can we become a familia, if I can’t even provide
them with access to my own home, a glimpse into my personal life?” I crossed
boundaries that typically aren’t crossed in youth development work, and I honestly didn’t
care. However, what I did care about was the need to be true to myself, to the young
women that I worked with and to our Latino culture. In all honesty, I could not imagine
what our work together would have been like had I not taken the chance.
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
6
The sleepover set the foundation for us to begin being intentional about creating
opportunities for building and enhancing our relationships with each other, where a
sense of belonging and respect was our purpose and where our interdependence on
each other guided and sustained us. The sleepover in itself forced me to realize that
fundamentally, this work could not exist unless the relationships that support us and
give us strength were central to the work. After all, it’s what we all require to survive -
interdependence – the idea that we need not do it alone, and the belief that we need
each other to thrive and succeed. That night I realized that there was no way, that I
could do this work alone without them.
Over the course of the planning of the sleepover and the sleepover itself, the way
that I work with young Latinas was forever changed. Once I’d shared the decision with
the girls to host the sleepover at my home, they immediately took charge of planning for
the retreat. They rose to the occasion as they had many times before and took
leadership, asking for the opportunity to use one of our scheduled sessions to create an
agenda for our time together. This would be one of the many times to come, in which
the girls would come together in solidarity to ask for what they wanted. Being able to
wholeheartedly provide them with this opportunity to take ownership, thereby completely
relinquishing my implied power as group coordinator, drastically changed the dynamics
of our group then and propelled us into the future.
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
7
The Agenda
The agenda was without a doubt, the catapult that took our work together in a
new direction. At a point during the sleepover, just after we had eaten dinner, and
before we could settle in for an evening of movies and fun, the girls decided that it was
time to hold our meeting. They gathered in the living room and asked to have some
time alone to discuss the agenda. They asked that I leave the room, and instructed me
to stay away until one of them came to get me. Needless to say, I went into my
bedroom and sat on my bed, feeling like I had just gotten into trouble. I felt uneasy and
uncertain about what was to come. I sensed the urgency and significance of the
conversation that was to take place, and wondered about what could possibly be on the
agenda. I admit that I was a bit nervous, I mean, I had already taken a huge step in
holding the retreat at my home. What would they want from me now? I wondered. The
fifteen minutes that I spent in my bedroom felt like an eternity. When I was finally
invited to make my appearance at the meeting, I encountered the girls sitting on the
living room floor in a circle, with huge smiles on their faces, looking as if, in their own
way, they were thanking me for trusting them to take this on. Looking at them as they
sat there with huge smiles on their faces put my mind at ease.
As I sat down to join them in the circle, it was immediately clear to me that my
role at this meeting was simply to listen. Two of the older girls opened the meeting by
stating that they would be facilitating the meeting utilizing a talking circle approach that
we had incorporated into our youth peer education work. They wanted to make sure
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
8
that everyone in the group had an equal opportunity to speak and be heard. Next, they
pulled out a flipchart on which they had outlined a handful of ground rules, which made
me chuckle, as they were clearly modeling what they had learned from our group work
together. The list was simple: be respectful of each other’s ideas and opinions; only
one group member speaks at a time; be considerate of other’s feelings; if someone
doesn’t understand something being discussed – raise your hand and ask; and don’t
interrupt another person as they are speaking – wait until they are done before
speaking. The girls read the ground rules aloud and asked if anyone had any questions
as they looked directly at me. I shook my head in response and stated that I had no
questions at the moment.
The group remained quiet, almost as if, there was some hesitation on their part to
begin the conversation. I sensed the uneasiness and tension in the group, and asked if
I could speak. I shared with them how proud I was of each and every one of them, for
all that they had accomplished the previous year in their work as peer educators, in their
academics and how much they had matured and grown as young women. I shared how
much I appreciated their honesty, and thanked them for always being open, and for
trusting me.
In a cadence of sorts, the girls followed suit, each one sharing how they felt
about our time together. A few expressed their appreciation for what they had learned
and experienced in the program thus far, and shared that the program had prepared
them to go out and let people know what they thought about things, thus basically
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
9
preparing them to speak their minds so that their voices are heard. One shared that
she was proud of every one in the group and the work that we were doing, and thanked
me for making the time to talk to them about things that other adults don’t have the time
to do. These few minutes of sharing broke the ice, and allowed us to ease our way into
the conversations that we truly wanted to have.
The first young woman to speak, stood up with a notebook in hand, and read
what she’d written, stating that the first item on the agenda that we would be discussing
would be around leadership. She then
looked in my direction, with a look of
uncertainty on her face, and said,
“Lumarie, we love you and don’t want for
you to take this in the wrong way, but
we’ve been talking and we want to have more leadership in the program, we want for
this to be our program.” She continued by sharing that as a group they wanted for me
to give them the opportunity to do things their own way - they wanted to try out their own
ideas to see if they would work and wanted for me, at the very least, to let them try.
She shared that the group wanted to create their own workshops outside of the ones
they had been presenting.
This meant that they wanted free reign to select their own topics, to conduct the
research and create their own activities. She also shared that when they were out
“Lumarie, we love you and don’t want for
you to take this in the wrong way, but
we’ve been talking and we want to have
more leadership in the program.”
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
10
facilitating and presenting workshops that they wanted for me to be invisible. This
meant that they wanted for me to sit in the back of the room and quietly observe without
jumping in to help facilitate, which was a tendency of mine? She went on to indicate
that if at some point they needed my help, that they would invite me to participate by
saying something like, “Lumarie, would you like to add something?”, or “Lumarie, what
do you think about this?” As I sat there quietly listening to what she was saying, I
looked around the circle, and with my heart pounding forcefully as it filled with an
indescribable flood of emotions, all I saw was the glimmer of hope in their eyes. I knew
at that very moment that there was absolutely no doubt in my mind what my response
would be. All I could think of, at this very moment, was how incredibly proud I was of
them for having the courage to voice what they wanted from me.
It quickly became very apparent to me that the girls were ready for the very thing
that they were asking for, like them, I too believed that they were indeed ready for
increased leadership in the group. I had felt their need to want to do more, to learn
more and to be heard, and therefore in response to their request, I began to
intentionally create opportunities for them to take on additional leadership. Together we
worked endlessly to prepare them in how to create and facilitate workshops including
(1) developing a workshop’s purpose statement; (2) identifying learning objectives; (3)
creating and adapting activities; (4) enhancing small group facilitation skills and (5)
developing discussion questions that would get to the heart of the topic. We worked on
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
11
these together so that they could be better prepared to take on their newly expanded
leadership roles.
It didn’t end there, this was only the beginning. It was the first of many wants that
evening, but none more important and critical, than their wants to: (1) have a physical
space where they could quietly work on their school work; and (2) have an opportunity
to receive some additional support in dealing with and addressing some of the personal
issues that they were facing in their daily lives.
A second young woman shared that it was often difficult for many of them to work
on school work and school projects at home, specifically those that involved using a
computer for researching, writing or creating documents. For many of them, access to
a quiet space in their homes was none existent as many live in homes with extended
family members and friends, and often did not have access to a physical space where
they could study quietly. Also, many of them did not have computers or internet
available to them at home, and as a result it was yet another barrier that they had to
deal with. The girls requested that we extend our weekly meetings from 2 hours to 4-5
hours, so that they could not only prepare
for our workshops, but also so that they
could utilize the computers, copy machine
and empty offices to work on homework,
and to conduct research for school projects.
They also asked to use this time to have
“I knew she really cared about us because
she would ask us what we wanted. We
would tell her we needed a quite place to
do homework and she gave it to us. We
told her we wanted someone to talk to and
to give us advice and she brought someone
who listened to us gave us advice and was
there for us just like she is.”
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
12
someone, other than myself, come in and work with them on dealing with the issues that
they were facing on a daily lives.
As I listened to their simple requests, I could only ask myself, how irresponsible
would it be of me to not give them what they were asking for? So without hesitation, I
agreed to provide them with what they were asking for. I agreed to extend our weekly
work sessions from 2 to 5 hours. We agreed to start each session with a check in and
dinner, followed by any work that needed to be done for any upcoming workshops. We
would then spend an hour to an hour and a half, depending on the need, doing some
group work with a psychotherapist learning about grief, depression, anxiety and ways to
cope in healthy ways. We decided that when a young woman wanted one on one time
with the therapist, she would be able to have that, otherwise after our psycho
educational group work, the girls would disperse throughout the office to work on their
school work until it was time to go.
The opportunity Creating safe spaces where we could come together to talk
about the things that we were dealing with no matter how simple or difficult, we became
a support network for each other, just like a familia.
My Journey
At undefined moments in our journey as youth practitioners we have all
experienced those moments when we look into the eyes of the youth and see
ourselves. For me, the process of reflecting on my responsibility as a youth practitioner
has been a journey of exploration, acceptance and motivation to transform the way I
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
13
work with young Latinas. Many have come to the field of youth work through a calling,
others by chance. I am of the belief that I am one of those who have come to this field
by chance. I didn’t choose this path, this path chose me, and for that reason alone,
here I’ve stayed.
Over the course of my journey as a youth practitioner, I have had the honor of
working with, and mentoring some incredibly amazing young Latinas who are insightful,
passionate, zealous and resilient. From adolescent mothers to college freshman, junior
high students to high school graduates, young women from rural Ohio to young women
from the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. Although life circumstances, choices
and decisions have led them on distinct journeys, at the core they all share a common
bond. They are all young Latinas who have much to contribute to the field of youth
development, and who have something to say about their expectations of us, our work
as practitioners and the ways in which we develop programming targeting them.
Like many of us, young Latinas also want to be considered and included when
decisions are being made about them. They want to be asked, they want to be listened
to, and they want us to take action on what they tell us they want—not on what we think
they want. Like us, they appreciate having the support and understanding of others
who are willing to reflect, ask, listen and take action.
My experience and insights as a youth practitioner coupled with my research as
a community psychologist, illustrates that there continues to be a serious lack of, and
access to, culturally relevant positive youth development efforts targeting young Latinas.
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
14
Gaining insight into the wants and
needs of young Latinas offers us the
potential for developing action plans for
effective youth development programs that
target them. Respecting young Latinas as
the experts in their own lives by honoring
their insights and experiences; while
encouraging, engaging, and supporting them
is a recipe for success.
Over the course of our journey together, the young women and I have lived
together the stages of youth development programming. Our experiences working in
partnership prove that young Latinas want to be engaged in the process of developing
and enhancing youth development programs that target them. They appreciate having
the support and understanding of other youth practitioners who are willing to reflect,
ask, listen and take action. Together we’ve learned that youth development programs
that are developed in partnership with young Latinas are more likely to have a positive
and significant impact on their lives by creating a sense of ownership and belonging,
developing leadership and fostering the development of healthy relationships with
others.
“But not only that, the way Lumarie said
what she did and how she said she was
going to work with us made me more
interested as well. Not many people show
that they really enjoy their job, but she did.
Lumarie made things sound fun and
interesting and they are till this day! And
the fact that she cares is even better she
would always ask for our opinion on how
we want to do things. It wasn’t always
about her or anything like; it was about
us.”
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
15
It has been my experience as a youth practitioner that there is a demonstrated
need for creating youth development programs which are culturally and linguistically
relevant and which encourage, engage and support unserved and underserved young
Latinas. This is most evidenced by the fact that although young Latinas face many of
the same issues as other young women there continue to be startling trends specific to
young Latinas, which are a cause for alarm and action. Young Latinas are continuously
facing changing cultural norms, varying levels of acculturation, racism, discrimination,
poverty, violence, poor physical and mental health, and limited access to adequate
health care and education. When coupled with the complex interactions of the
challenges that young Latinas face this can significantly impact a young woman’s life
choices. Specifically her ability to set, strive for and achieve goals that could lead to a
successful future.
In a study conducted by Rodriquez and Morrobel, A Review of Latino Youth
Development Research and a Call for an Asset Orientation, several leading journals in
youth development were reviewed for its inclusion of Latino youths. It was apparent
that this population has not been a priority among the interests of youth development
researchers. However, it was concluded that among those researchers who did
investigate issues concerning Latino youths, the trend has been to adopt wide ranges of
theoretical perspectives that are heavily deficit centered thus largely discounting the
assets that Latino youths possess. Rodriguez and Morrobel illustrated that the degree
to which research includes, reports or focuses on Latino youth development provides
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
16
one indication as to the relative importance of Latino youth development issues in the
field.
Another study, Challenges and Opportunities to Latino Youth Development
Increasing Meaningful Participation in Youth Development Programs (Borden, 2006),
offers a clear understanding of the importance of incorporating the voices and
experiences of young Latinas as a way of increasing meaningful participation in youth
development programs. Borden’s research explored the lived realities of young Latinas
and suggested that addressing contextual issues, such as family responsibilities, may
be essential for increasing participation of minority youth in positive youth development
programs.
Much attention has been focused on youth development as a response to
address the innumerable challenges youth experience, as a result, youth development
programs are relevant sources in supporting youth in gaining and enhancing the
necessary skills to meet the challenges that they will face as they develop (Roth,
Brooks-Gunn, Murray & Foster, 1998). As such, it is critical to develop a framework
grounded in and reflective of the strengths and insights of young Latinas, as a guide for
the development and implementation of programming targeting them.
Healthy youth development strategies are grounded in the premise that youth are
“resources to be developed, rather than problems to be solved” (Resnick, M.D. and
Hilkene Bernat, D., 2006). Therefore, involving young Latinas as partners, by asking
and listening to what they want in order to be successful and in making decisions that
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
17
impact their lives, increases the likelihood that youth development programs are
reflective of their voices. Providing opportunities to contribute to the development of
programs that reflect the wants, realities and experiences of young Latinas can increase
their engagement in youth programs that provide a sense of ownership and belonging.
Therefore it is critical that as youth
practitioners we provide young Latinas with
the support, relationships, experiences,
resources, and opportunities needed to
become successful and competent adults.
Creating a Framework: Reflect, Ask,
Listen and Take Action
As a youth practitioner, I have a
responsibility to help educate young
Latinas and to provide sufficient support so
that they feel confident to explore the world
around them. If young Latinas are provided with opportunities to develop an awareness
of who they are and opportunities to identify and develop the strengths they possess
before they go out into the world on their own - - they will indeed succeed. Therefore,
our responsibilities as youth practitioners are many, but at the forefront lingers the
urgent need to develop programming to support young Latinas in leading successful
and meaningful futures.
My life has been impact by this
program a lot. Now I have the strength
to do what I set my mind to. Also by
seeing the life styles of other people and
learning from other peoples experience
I learned why my relationships in the
past were weak and I learned how to
make them better. This has just been a
life changing for me. Having Lumarie
and the other girls is awesome. Before I
would cry alone and keep to myself. But
I learned it’s great to just let things out
and let people help me. And just to have
the opportunity to do what I do. It’s
already a big impact.
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
18
So how do we, as youth practitioners, youth workers, educators and community
organizations work to support young Latinas in living up to their full potential? We
support them by asking, listening and taking action, and then by asking, listening and
taking action again, continuing the cycle as long as we need to. The idea of asking
what they want coupled with our ability to really listen to what they are saying and our
ability to put them both into action allows us to create opportunities for them to (1) learn
about themselves and the issues impacting their lives; (2) explore their goals and
challenges they face in reaching those goals; (3) develop their own leadership; and (4)
create and maintain healthy relationships with others. We support them by teaching
them to embrace the world they live in without compromising their own traditional values
and beliefs. We support them by showing them how to become aware of the world
they lives in, while experiencing the positive things life has to offer. We support them so
that they embrace life’s challenges, triumphs, highs and lows, happiness, grief, joy and
pain. We support them by teaching them to see challenges as opportunities,
challenges as learning moments, grief as experience, and pain as growth. We support
them by showing them that when we ask we really want to do know, that when we listen
we’re thinking of how we can give them want they want and need, and that when we
take action, we do it because it’s what they believe is best for them, after all, they are
the experts. Our job is to help their perception of the world change and grow.
As youth practitioners, we all know what our boundaries are. We understand that
we not a peer, that our value is in being an adult that is open to listening and sharing.
Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship
Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN
lorozco@casadeesperanza.org
19
We play an instrumental role in identifying, nurturing, educating, counseling, advising
and encouraging young Latinas. Latina youths yearn for a relationship with a youth
practitioners who can be trusted with confidential information, lend a hand, and provide
guidance and reassurance. Youth practitioners who possess authority, give approval
and become real friends to young Latinas can have an unexpected influence.
Frequently, we are surprised at how little it takes to establish a significant relationship
with young Latinas, and to be embraced as a “big sister” or mentor, just look at what a
simple sleepover can do.
Most of us who are now adults can count on one hand – if we can count anybody
at all – the number of grownups outside our immediate family who took a personal
interest in us. An adult who noticed and took the time to be there for us , who
welcomed and praised us, who offered us a home phone number, who took us aside for
a personal conversation, who invited us into their home - - these people and times stand
out in our memories. This is an indication of how important our personal involvement is
to the young Latinas we work with.
To work effectively with young Latinas we need to set aside the behaviors and
attitudes that we carry with us that assume that adults are better than young people.
We need to rid ourselves of the assumptions that young Latinas are less important and
inferior to adults. That they cannot be trusted to develop correctly and that they must be
taught, disciplined, punished and guided into the adult world. When working with young
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Latinas, you must respect the ideas and abilities of the young Latinas that you are
working with. Your role is to stand back, and let the girls do the work and make the
decisions, while providing guidance and information as needed to help them make
informed decisions.
Recommendations
Based on my reflections and experiences in working with young Latinas, it is
evident that the young Latinas have undergone multiple experiences of overlapping
challenges caused by racism, discrimination and family problems coupled with
unemployment, financial instability, substance abuse, mental health, immigration
concerns, isolation, and histories of physical, sexual or emotional abuse. In the midst of
such challenges the young women have noted that it has been difficult at times to keep
their heads above water, let alone to set, strive for and achieve their goals. However,
the demonstrated strengths of the young women are impressive by any measure, and
are all the more admirable in light of the challenges they face on a daily basis. Despite
the challenges, having felt disengaged from their surroundings in school and in their
families, having struggled to build relationships with others in their lives, and having
struggled with extended separations from their families, these young women have
continued their plight to succeed with their heads held high.
The complexity of these challenges can significantly impact a Latina young
woman’s choices, resiliency and ability to have a positive development experience. The
state of Latina young women today is a topic of major concern and a cause for alarm
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and action. Due to the limited research on Latin@ populations (Driscoll, A.K., et al.,
2003) we face the risk of having little information on which to base the design and
implementation of culturally and linguistically relevant and appropriate programs and
services for Latinas. However, gaining insight into the lives of Latina young women
offers us the potential for developing recommendations and action plans for effective
youth programs targeting Latinas. Programs that view Latinas as the experts in their
own lives, and which encourage, engage and support Latinas by providing opportunities
to develop and enhance the skills that they need in order to cope with life, and the
various transitions into adulthood. Not feeling supported and prepared to cope with life
events and transitions often exacerbates the challenges they face and the ways in
which they deal with those challenges.
Therefore based on the research undertaken, it is of the essence that the
following five aspects be considered as a framework when developing intervention
programs targeting Latina young women. First, intervention programs must (1)
recognize the strengths, resiliency and hope for the future that young Latinas possess.
Latina young women are strong, proud, intelligent, capable and fearless. They possess
an insurmountable amount of strengths, such as those of being responsible, being of
integrity, being someone of their word, and being someone who remains hopeful
despite the daily challenges. They are true to themselves, take pride in caring for
others, stand up for themselves and overcome challenges all the while maintaining their
undeniable hope for the future.
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Intervention programs supporting the positive development of young Latinas
must also (2) engage Latinas in the conceptualization/design, implementation,
evaluation and enhancement phases of the programs that target them, thus insuring
that their voices are reflected and that they are represented as the experts that they are
when it comes to their own lives. Intervention programs developed in partnership with
Latinas and which take into account their lived realities and experiences, which are
grounded in their voices and which are reflective of their expectations, are more likely to
be effective at encouraging, engaging and supporting Latina young women and
therefore, more likely to have a positive and significant impact on their development.
These types of programs would not only benefit Latinas, but could ultimately impact how
practitioners, educators and researchers approach youth development opportunities for
young Latinas.
Interventions must also (3) include a parental involvement component that
provides opportunities for parents to develop a better understanding of the challenges
that young Latinas face, that supports parents in building healthy relationships based on
communication, and which encourages and supports parents in increasing their
involvement in the lives of Latina young women. Research has shown that adolescent-
parent acculturation gaps are the primary source of familial conflict or youth behavioral
problems and suggests that factors beyond the acculturation gap be considered in
understanding the adolescent-parent interactions and family dynamics that often times
make it difficult for Latina young women to reach their goals (de Anda, D., 2009).
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Another aspect that needs to be considered is one of cultural competence. It is
critical that those working with young Latinas have (4) a developed sense of cultural
competence inclusive of the diversity among Latino cultures and which promotes
appreciation and respect for the various cultures, traditions, beliefs and values of the
young Latinas being targeted. Appreciation and respect towards Latino cultures can be
of support to young Latinas in developing self-esteem and self-efficacy and in setting,
striving for and achieving goals. Cultural competence, appreciation and respect towards
Latino culture and the lived realities of young Latinas helps to create a sense of
belonging that supports them in achieving their goals.
The last critical aspect that needs to be considered when developing intervention
programs for young Latinas is that the programs be (5) collaborative, comprehensive
and holistic in nature. They should not only provide supports to young Latinas in
identifying, setting, striving for and achieving goals, but they should also provide
services that are of support to them in achieving their goals by offering a broad range of
formal and informal opportunities that create the potential for personal gain and
development. Including opportunities to build self-esteem and efficacy, as well as
opportunities to connect with positive Latina adult role models who they can trust, who
reinforce their aspirations, who expose them to a wider range of social networks, and
who foster their motivation for learning and community engagement. Intervention
programs should also provide access to behavioral health services, primary and
preventive general health and reproductive health services, substance abuse education
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and counseling, crisis and advocacy intervention, employment counseling, training, and
placement, summer and part-time job development, recreational activities, and referrals
to health and social services (Burt, Martha R., 1996).
In sum, the framework for developing future intervention programs targeting
young Latinas can be grounded in integrating the aspects outlined above, while
developing coordination among various service and supports systems so that the needs
of young Latinas can be addressed in a holistic and inclusive way. It is imperative that
we all work together in creating culturally relevant programs that are reflective of their
insights in order to best support them in facing and overcoming challenges in effectively
managing their lives. The work together needs to ensure that young Latinas have
opportunities to achieve their goals by promoting high school and college education, job
skills, and employment coupled with opportunities to enhance life skills, increase
cultural, ethnic and racial awareness and understanding as well as providing access to
adult role models and caring adults.
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REFERENCES Borden, L.M. et. (2006). Challenges and Opportunities to Latino Youth Development.
Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences (28), 187-208.
Diane de Anda, T. M. (2009). Latino Parents' and Adolescents' Perceptions of the
Needs and Issues of Adolescents in Their Community. Child and Adolescent
Social Work Journal (26), 415-430.
Driscoll, A.K., et al. (2003). In Their Own Words: Pregnancy Prevention Needs of
Latino Teen Mothers. California Journal of Health Promotion (1), 118-129.
Espondaburu, M.L., Sanchez, A., Tototzintle, P. (2003). Latino Families and Domestic
Violence: A Guide for Systems and Organizations Committed to Serving Latino
Communities. Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN.
Resnick, M.D. & Hilkene Bernat, D. (2006). Healthy Youth Development Science and
Strategies. Journal of Public Health Management. November (Suppl).
Rodriguez, M. & Morrobel, D. (2002). Latino Youth Development: A Vision of Success
in a Period of Empirical Drought. Presented at the annual meeting of the
American Educational Research Association. New Orleans, LA.
Rodriguez, M. & Morrobel, D. (2004). A Review of Latino Youth Development Research
and a Call for an Asset Orientation. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences
(26) 107-127.
Roth, J., Brooks-Gunn, J., Murray, L., & Foster, W. (1998). Promoting healthy adolescents: Synthesis of youth development program evaluations. Journal of Research on Adolescence, (8) 423-459.
Martha R. Burt, P. (1996). Why Should We Invest in Adolescents? Conference on
Comphrehensive Health of Adolescents and Youth in Latin America and the
Caribbean. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute, Health Promotion and Protection
Program, Pan American Health Organization.
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