March 21, 2006

Kellogg Foundation to Fund Latin American Youth Project

The University of Illinois at Chicago's Latin American and Latino studies program received a $100,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to document narratives of civically engaged youths from Latin America.

"We hope to build a better understanding of the place of youth in global cities, their political aspirations and the ways in which they view their ability to influence change in their lives," said Maria de los Angeles Torres, principal researcher and director of Latin American and Latino studies at UIC. "It will also provide a forum in which we can better understand the nature of democracies and the challenges facing them."

UIC, in partnership with the International Centre for Research on Childhood at Pontifícia Universidade Católica of Rio de Janeiro and the Research Program on Infancy and Childhood at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana de Mexico, will oversee the project.

UIC researchers plan to examine how 13 to 17-year-olds living in Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City perceive citizenship, public action, and their own participation in society. The project will follow the protocol established by Torres' earlier program "Global Youth and Their Politics, Chicago Project."

The Latin America-based partners will select the community youth organizations to participate in the program. Outreach begins when 25 teens are identified for interviews. Researchers plan to conduct multiple interviews guided by a series of thematic questions that engage the youths in self-reflection.

Information will be gathered through group discussions, workshops and shared research activities. After the interviews are transcribed, the youths will be asked to produce in-depth narrative essays detailing their school or community involvement.

Once the one-year study is completed, the researchers intend to produce a publication of the youth stories, a joint paper reflecting on the work, and initial material for a collaborative book on youth's place in the Americas and in emerging and established democracies. In fall 2007, UIC plans to host an international workshop featuring presentations and colloquiums on youth engagement and democracies.

Torres hopes the working relationships established with the Latin American scholars provide future collaborative exchanges in Mexico and Brazil for UIC faculty and students.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations.

UIC ranks among the nation's top 50 universities in federal research funding and is Chicago's largest university with 25,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.

For more information about UIC, visit www.uic.edu

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