ENS Fellows Lead Community-Driven Change for Girls and Gender-Expansive Youth
The Envisioning New Structures (ENS) Research Fellows are a collective of girls, young women, and gender-expansive young people of color (14-25 years old) across New Jersey, New York, and the DC area who are committed to advancing safety and healing in their communities. Over the past year, ENS research fellows have participated in various research training and sessions featuring guest speakers highlighting the state of mental health among girls and gender-expansive youth of color. These trainings are designed to support the fellows in developing their research skill sets as they prepare to design and implement youth participatory action research (YPAR) projects in their respective communities.
Last month, in partnership with Dr. Lauren Mims and Elisha Arnold of Homeplace Lab at New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, the ENS Research Fellows convened for a hybrid research team meeting. During this meeting, fellows worked collaboratively to refine their research topics, articulate their research questions, and present their research proposals to their peers and program leadership for feedback. The fellows will continue to work together to develop data collection instruments that they will use to lead conversations across their communities focused on envisioning new structures that better support the mental health needs of girls and gender-expansive young people of color. As a culmination of the program, ENS fellows will present their research findings and action projects at a final Summit at NYU.
As our fellows prepare for the next stages of their research projects, we asked them to share about their experience in the program thus far. Here are some reflections from two of our 2024 ENS Fellows, Julia and Emily.
Julia Fitzgerald (she /her), 20 years old, New Jersey
My experience in the ENS Fellowship has been nothing short of amazing. Since the beginning, we have created a space of belonging. Whether in person or on Zoom, the fellowship has allowed me to reflect on the importance of community. It has been such a fantastic joy to learn about one another and to learn from each other as well! This fellowship has allowed me to grow professionally and also personally. A space where I can listen and be heard and where our voices are taken seriously.
I am in a space where power and unity puzzle pieces graciously fit. I am reminded that I am enough to impact girls and gender-expansive youth of color. When we met in person, it felt like we had known each other forever, which is what a community should look like. I am fortunate to be alongside like-minded, solid individuals passionate about making change. Through this fellowship, I have strengthened my determination to advocate and uplift the mental health of girls and gender-expansive youth of color. I feel empowered and complete when we work together, and that lets me know I am right where I am meant to be!
Emmie (Emily) Huynh, 14 years old, New Jersey
The JJNC fellowship has been an excellent way to expand my interest in increasing girls’ and gender-expansive youth of color access to adequate mental health resources and practices. The fellowship has provided me with foundational learning about topics surrounding the mental health history, past and present, of young women of color. Learning from accomplished female experts and scholars in the early stages of the fellowship, I was able to engage live with leading women who are working to increase studies on girls and gender-expansive youth of color. The fellowship has allowed me not only to learn more about the importance of these studies but also to begin conducting my research with the broader community to improve specific knowledge on how generational aspects of POC families impact the mental health and upbringing of female youth.
In the Envisioning New Structures fellowship, I have gained a sisterhood with my research partners and the rest of the fellows, as well as mentorship between the women on the team and our advising leaders of the fellowship. Not only have I learned from group meetings and researching strategies to conduct focus groups and necessary preliminary information on previous POC mental health research, but I have also been able to get advice from the other fellows on the team and create a strong bond with one another. The JJNC fellowship has given me a network of support as a young woman of color to rely on and a community of strong emerging leaders who are just as passionate about pushing for the accessibility of mental health resources and continued research for girls and gender-expansive youth of color.
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This research fellowship was funded in partnership with the Spencer Foundation Racial Equity Grant in partnership with New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
