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“They Are Doers”: Writing to Advocate With Immigrant Youth in Community‐Based Organizations
Author(s) -
Lee Crystal Chen,
Dufresne Kelsey Virginia,
Relyea Jackie Eunjung
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of adolescent and adult literacy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1936-2706
pISSN - 1081-3004
DOI - 10.1002/jaal.1131
Subject(s) - immigration , sociology , literacy , publication , publishing , pedagogy , writing process , space (punctuation) , media studies , political science , gender studies , public relations , law , linguistics , philosophy
Over the course of a year, student authors in the Juntos NC Writing Project participated in the Literary and Community Initiative to write, publish, and share their lived experiences and identities as Latinx immigrants and first‐generation high school students in North Carolina. Throughout the publication process of their collaborative bilingual book titled The Voices of Our People: Nuestras Verdades , student authors actively engaged in pursuing advocacy and activism in three ways: (1) community space as an intentional space for advocacy, (2) writing as a vehicle for collective advocacy, and (3) publishing and sharing as an opportunity for youth activism. The participants’ words and actions demonstrated how youth in community organizations can use literacy practices to collectively advocate for their community and become activists who write about and vocalize immigrant youth’s strengths and needs.