Don't Make Decisions About Us, Without Us

Don't Make Decisions about Us, Without Us Twin Cities AfterSchool Matters Practitioner Fellowship

Lumarie Orozco, MA Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, MN

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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.



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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.



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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



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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.”



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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.



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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.



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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



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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



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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.”



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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



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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.”



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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



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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.



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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.”



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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



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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



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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.



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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.



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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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22

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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24

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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25

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

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Rodriguez, M. & Morrobel, D. (2004). A Review of Latino Youth Development Research

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(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

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