For Youth Initiative (FYI) started as a community space for recreational activities and has grown into a multi-service agency that offers an array of services and programs, including the
Youth Justice RISE program, which supports marginalized youth who have been in trouble with the law. Through research, FYI identified that newcomer youth and their families face additional barriers as research has shown. In response, FYI is implementing “Rising Researchers,” which is a newcomer youth-led Participatory Action Research (PAR) project examining the individual and systemic barriers that propels newcomer youth into gangs and criminal activities. The project empowers newcomer youth who have been in trouble with the law by giving them the opportunity to outline the solutions to the issues they face while providing educational opportunities.
