A Healing Oasis for Peace and Empowerment (H.O.P.E.) Circle: Implementing Youth-Led Participatory Action Research as an Antiracist Approach to Black Youths’ Disenfranchised Grief and Healing

Abstract

Objective: This methodological report examines a collaboration between a social worker and an urban education researcher who partnered with a predominantly Black youth-serving organization to address disenfranchised grief among Black youths. Method: The university partners facilitated the Healing Oasis for Peace and Empowerment (H.O.P.E.) Circle program—an antiracist, healing-centered, youth-led participatory action research initiative intended to enhance youths’ social–emotional well-being through near-peer mentoring and help Black and brown youths to navigate collective grief in response to community violence. The focus on collective grief emerged after consecutive homicides involving peers in an after-school program, which prompted the program’s director to seek ongoing support from the university to address trauma among program participants. Results: Findings highlight the result of a youth-led healing-centered intervention following peer deaths from violence and disenfranchised grief exacerbated by the normalization of community violence in Black communities and the local school’s inadequate and culturally invalidating responses to youth grief. Conclusions: We emphasize the importance of providing affirming spaces for Black youth to act as change agents within their communities during grief. The H.O.P.E. Circle initiative offers insights for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers seeking to address disenfranchised grief among Black youth following community violence.