Fifteen year-old Magdalyn Roldan has spent her summer researching personal and group abuse in the lives of Hartford teens. Roldan, who attends Bulkeley High School, reflects on her researcher role and its power, “conducting the research on personal and group abuse has affected me because I’ve learned many ways to remain calm and think about my actions and since I know people who have been through things like this (personal and group abuse), I can talk to them before they do anything dumb.”  Roldan and twenty-nine other Hartford youth researchers (ages 15-16), working for the Institute for Community Research’s Summer Youth Research Institute (SYRI) chose to explore the causes and affects of teen personal and group abuse with hopes to educate other teens and the community at large. The youth researchers will present their findings based on Interviews, Surveys, PhotoVoice, and Pile Sorting to the community Friday August 8, 2008. The event is the culmination of the youth-driven participatory action research project and will take place at the Institute for Community Research, 146 Wyllys Street in Hartford from 1 – 4 pm; a reception will follow from 4 – 5 pm. The event is free and open to the public.

SYRI trains youth researchers to conduct participatory action research (PAR). Through a six-week summer program, youth reach consensus on an issue to investigate, devise methods to collect data, work together to analyze their findings and then use their results to affect change. Photovoice Youth researcher Magdalyn Roldan says “It feels good using my voice to address this topic and afterward everyone is really into it.” This summer’s youth examined teen emotions, peer pressure and traumatic events in the lives of teens’ and their relation to teen personal abuse, such as cutting and group abuse such as gang violence. Youth researcher Nehemiah Gray explains that “personal and group abuse is about fear, pain, sorrow, domination … suffering of all souls instead of treating others like you wish to be treated.”

“Wow! Our summer has been a mix of aha! moments and grunt moments, but the youth researches have arrived from point A to point Z with deeper self-awareness, meaningful relationships, and the satisfaction of having worked hard towards understanding and implementing youth-centered research,” enthuses SYRI Program Coordinator Brenda Munoz, adding “And that is what we are all about!”

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The Institute for Community Research is an independent, nonprofit organization that conducts applied research and community enhancement programs to promote equal access to health, education, and cultural resources.