Innovative Research
Generating knowledge grounded in lived expertise
Why This Work Matters
Girls, young women, and gender-expansive young people of color hold essential knowledge about their lives, communities, and the systems that affect them. Yet their experiences remain underrepresented in the research used to shape public policy, institutional practice, and investment.
Participatory research centered on their lived expertise is a powerful act of justice. By engaging those most affected by systemic inequities as research partners and knowledge producers, it generates deeper insights and more relevant evidence to inform equitable, effective, and responsive policies and practices.
Justice + Joy’s Approach
Justice + Joy conducts research that makes underrepresented experiences visible and creates meaningful roles for young people throughout the research process. Through participatory methods, national conversations, surveys, and community partnerships, we examine how interconnected systems shape young people’s lives and generate insights and solutions grounded in lived expertise.
Our research challenges harmful narratives, fills critical gaps in public knowledge, and builds the evidence needed to advance equitable policies, practices, and systems change.
Led by Dr. K. Shakira Washington and Dr. Jamelia Harris, our intergenerational research is rooted in the belief that when girls, young women, and gender-expansive young people of color define the questions, interpret the findings, and advocate for change, research becomes more than a tool for understanding—it becomes a catalyst for collective action, healing, and liberation.
Young People as Knowledge-Creators
Participatory research recognizes that people who experience an issue firsthand should play a meaningful role in determining how it is studied, understood, and addressed. In Justice + Joy’s research, girls, young women, and gender-expansive young people of color shape research questions, facilitate conversations, interpret findings, and identify the changes their communities need.
By centering young people as knowledge creators, our research challenges deficit-based narratives and brings forward fuller stories of perseverance, leadership, and innovation. It also deepens understanding of the root causes of injustice and generates evidence for community-driven solutions, more equitable policies and practices, and transformative systems change.
The form of participation varies across projects, but the commitment remains consistent: research should illuminate young people’s experiences without translating away their wisdom, complexity, or vision.
Highlighted Research
Beyond ACEs
Bringing a gender and intersectional lens to childhood adversity
Beyond ACEs examined adverse childhood experiences among more than 1,000 girls and young women receiving services through Crittenton agencies across 16 states. It revealed exceptionally high levels of adversity and explored connections among trauma, placement instability, trafficking, early parenting, stress, connection, and coping.
By asking what conventional ACE frameworks fail to capture, the project strengthened the case for gender-responsive, intersectional, and multigenerational approaches to policy and practice.
Communities of Care
Reimagining coordinated support with girls and gender-expansive young people
In partnership with Ramsey County and regional partners, Justice + Joy conducted research to inform a coordinated Continuum of Care for girls and gender-expansive young people impacted by child welfare and youth legal systems. Grounded in data and lived expertise, the work identified service gaps and opportunities for more trauma-responsive, community-rooted support.
In Our Words
Young people examining reproductive justice after Dobbs
Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, eight young women and gender-expansive fellows of color designed and led a national conversation series examining how the decision affected young people’s health, autonomy, mental well-being, and futures.
The fellows helped shape the research questions, recruit participants, facilitate conversations, analyze findings, and curate the report’s vision. Through 12 conversations with 115 young people ages 14–24 across 14 states, In Our Words documented both the consequences of the Dobbs decision and young people’s determination to advance a broader vision of reproductive justice.
Knowledge Can Shift What Is Possible
Explore research grounded in lived expertise—and follow Justice + Joy for new findings, publications, and opportunities to participate.
