IRYA LISTENING?!

Immigrant and Refugee Youth Action Project (IRYA) is a research program from the CUNY Youth Studies Program at the School of Professional Studies, that centers on creating/developing intergenerational participatory research that impacts our communities. Our group is made up of individuals from 14 to 45 years old, who are connected or have experiences working or belonging with immigrant and/or refugee families. We have individuals from various organizations all over the city, including Flanbwayan, Global Action Project, South Bronx United, Terra Firma.

IRYA Listening to our project playlist?

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OUR STORY

Our project began as an inquiry into mental health in the immigrant and refugee communities of New York City. We intended to explore topics ranging from mental health service accessibility to family separation. However, as COVID-19 hit NYC we realized that shifting our thinking primarily toward mobilization and response would reshape our research. After finding our footing over Zoom we decided that understanding and highlighting both the challenges the immigrant and refugee community is facing during this global pandemic and the ways in which people are finding and providing support would be at the center of our work. As panic spread across the city and resources dwindled, we wondered who was listening to the needs and demands of immigrant and refugee communities?

Because of the nature of our questions, the instability of the consequences, and the urgency of the moment, we understood that moving forward with just information gathering was simply not enough, so we decided to draw from our backgrounds in community organizing and utilize our collective tools to reimagine research under quarantine. We asked ourselves: what can we do to offer immediate support to our communities? How can we rethink traditional research methods? How do we create community over video? How can we center healing despite not having a cure? Our project used multiple methods of conducting research, both quantitative and arts-based methods, including a survey translated into three languages and healing circles/focus groups in English and Spanish with cohorts of teens and intergenerational adults.

Traditional focus groups and healing circles are usually held in person and generally have separate purposes. While focus groups are meant to gather information and gain insight into an issue, healing circles aim to create a community of care and emotional support through difficult moments. We wanted to create a safe and welcoming space where participants could share the challenges they are facing during this time to build solidarity with others experiencing similar circumstances. The focus groups made space for people to speak back to the government through guided questions and activities that elicited their demands and dreams for the near future. Through guided visualization, collective poetry, and art, both participants and facilitator/researchers experienced emotional support and release in community with each other.

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RESEARCH FOR/BY THE PEOPLE

FINDINGS | FACTS | FIGURES

IRYA is committed to the principles of Participatory Action Research (PAR). PAR isn't just a method of conducting research but rather, an entire philosophy of research that,

1) centers those most impacted by the issue at all stages of the research from selecting topics to investigate to conducting, analyzing, and reporting back the research results;

2) is grounded in a commitment to social justice, responsiveness, and action, which means we remain flexible to the needs of the communities we work with to guide the process toward real change; and

3) uses expansive and creative methods, so while we use traditional methods like surveys and interviews, we also incorporate new or emerging methods learned from people and spaces outside of the academy, like community organizers, educators, and everyday folx.

For this project, we chose to do a survey and focus groups in the form of healing circles. Because COVID-19 turned everything upside down, we reimagined how to build community, safety, and care via online tools and platforms. What emerged from the experience speaks to both the struggles and the ingenuity of our communities of immigrant and refugee people to imagine a new world.