What do the voices of young people sound like? What stories do they tell? What issues do they struggle with? And where do they identify sources of resilience and resistance? Scenarios USA asked 7,000 youth from underserved communities in Chicago, Cleveland and New York City: What's the REAL DEAL about Place & Power? Staff and researchers from Scenarios, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago have conducted an in-depth analysis of youths' stories to identify how marginalized adolescents conceptualize their sense of self in relation to place, power and privilege, and how this influences their identity, sense of agency, and broader health and well-being. Today, we will hear the first findings of that analysis from the people who climbed inside the teenagers' stories. We will discuss what we've learned and how youth voices and perspectives can inform the health and technology fields.

1. April 26-28, 2015
San Francisco, CA
#YTHLive
Annual Conference on Youth + Tech + Health
#ScenariosPresents
Let Youth Speak: Stories for
Transformative Change

2. #ScenariosPresents#ScenariosPresents
Scenarios asked teens:
What’s the REAL DEAL about Place & Power?
This is what they told us.
A collaboration between Scenarios, The University of Chicago
and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

3. Introductions
#ScenariosPresents#ScenariosPresents
MAURA MINSKY
Executive Director / Co-Founder
Scenarios USA
@ScenariosUSA
KRISTEN L. ETHIER
Researcher
University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration
BRIANNA GARRETT
Scenarios Youth Media Corps & Student at Columbia College
@briebxrries

4. Scenarios USA is a national non-profit
organization that uses writing and film to
foster youth leadership, advocacy, and
self-expression in students across the
country, with a focus on marginalized
communities.
#ScenariosPresents

5. The REAL DEAL Cycle
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6. #ScenariosPresents

7. The Films
#ScenariosPresents
An intimate look at a
teenager's life in Brooklyn's
"murder capital" over two
days. Addresses intimate
partner violence and
unintended pregnancy.
The story centers on the
attraction between two girls
in a community that is not
ready for it. Addresses
homosexuality in an African-
American community.
A story written by a
transgender teen as he
imagined his coming out
in his Midwestern town.
Addresses community,
culture and courage.
https://vimeo.com/124321313

8. Methods
● Analyze 60 submissions: 20 finalists each from Cleveland,
Chicago and New York
● 70 youth writers: 69% female and 87% youth of color
● Scripts and cover letters as data:
o What does your story say about power and place?
o What elements of your story will other teens connect
with?
o How does your story challenge stereotypes about place
and/or different social groups?
#ScenariosPresents

9. Methods
Interdisciplinary coding team: education; social work; public
health; art, film and literature; gender and sexuality studies.
● Codebook: Scenarios Curriculum
o Power: structural, social, interpersonal, individual
o Place: physical, emotional, virtual, public/private
o Intersectionality: gender, race/ethnicity, sexuality, class
o Social and emotional learning competencies
o Thinking and deliberating
o Fictional elements/aesthetic forms: art, metaphors,
blurring between author and character
#ScenariosPresents

10. Coding Process: Emergent
Themes
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11. Youth Engaging Dominant
Narratives
“My character was set out to be a statistic.” - A Rebel’s Tale, Chicago
“My story also tackles a stereotype that is very rarely discussed in
today's society: Just because a boy likes to dress as a female does not
automatically mean that he is gay.” - Church Boy, Cleveland
“One of the main stereotypes placed on Muslims is that they are all
traditionalist and stick rigidly to their views. I've known dozens of Arabic
teenagers who aren't as connected to their religion as the mainstream
portrays them to be. Most of the Arabic families I know aren't any
different than the caucasian families I've known... Zippy isn't a
traditionalist Muslim either is his father. - Rotten Envy, New York
#ScenariosPresents

12. Thematic Dive: Young men of
color, masculinity, and violence
● 10 stories address masculinity and violence, with young men of
color as main characters
● Dominant narratives: young men of color as inherently dangerous,
prone to violence, hyper masculinized and criminalized.
● Youth engage, reinforce and subvert narratives:
o Violence as part of the social environment: not individual
o Conceptualizing masculinity: expectations from self and others
o Resistance: protection, emotionality, empathy.
#ScenariosPresents

13. Thematic Dive: Gender non-
conforming youth
● 6 stories address transgender and gender nonconforming youth
● Dominant narratives: conflate gender identity/presentation with
sexual orientation; inherently pathological; personhood via
victimhood.
● Youth engage, reinforce and subvert narratives:
o Conceptualizing gender: fluid and relationship to sexual
orientation
o Bullied and victimized: lack of safe spaces at school and home;
familial, peer and societal rejection.
o Resistance: empowered, resilient and brave; allyship and
support.
#ScenariosPresents

14. #ScenariosPresents
https://vimeo.com/125740575

15. Implications
What do youth’s stories tell us about the types of
issues that should be addressed in youth-driven
curricula?
How do we use these stories to foster complicated
conversations between adolescents and between
adolescents and adults?
#ScenariosPresents

16. Youth Media Corps - Who Are
We?
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17. Youth Media Corps - What Are
We Doing?
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18. #ScenariosPresents

19. Youth Media Corps - Why Are We
Important?
● Youth gets to use their voice and tell their stories to the
public
● Strong involvement of social justice and speaking out
against injustice
● Along with being dedicated activists, youth are also
dedicated artists making their mark through writing,
filmmaking, music, etc. something that is rarely
acknowledged in academics
#ScenariosPresents

20. #YTHLive
#ScenariosPresents
Stream the Scenarios Films
Reserve your films now and join the
nationwide screening party on May 12th.
bit.ly/Watch512
May 12th is the launch date of the new films.
Stream the 3 films and join the Twitter chat at
7:45pm ET, using #ScenariosPresents.