Youth Wellness Lab

The Youth Wellness Lab (YWL) is a collaborative “hub” for youth who are interested in participating in the design and dissemination of research, academic and community-based researchers who are committed to promoting the well-being of young people across a broad spectrum of domains, and service providers, networks, and advocates who are passionate about partnering on youth-related research. Their goal is to engage youth as partners and leaders in designing, developing, implementing, and disseminating research that impacts service delivery across sectors and ultimately improves youth outcomes. Despite how services and research projects are often siloed by disciplines, populations, and institutional or organizational contexts, the YWL seeks to create empirical and youth-driven knowledge that engages the intersectional identities of young people. They have a particular commitment to working with and for Black and Indigenous youth who have experienced disproportional involvement in the child welfare and justice system and whose educational outcomes have been negatively impacted by systemic and institutional racism. Members of the YWL are involved in multiple partnerships and research projects that specifically measure disparities in involvement and outcomes for these youth, articulate the policy and practice contexts in which they emerge, and develop evidence-based solutions to address these issues. In addition to building the YWL collective, which includes the recruitment and meaningful engagement of an active and growing Youth Advisory Committee (YAC), they are developing two projects in response to the social impacts of COVID-19 and police violence against Black and Indigenous communities.

Alignment with the 5 Year Strategic Plan: The Youth Wellness Lab aligns with the focus within the Strategic Plan in that this project focuses on elevating the voices of those youth with experience within the Justice and Child Welfare Systems to be engaged in the design and dissemination of research.  It also aligns with objective #2 within the strategy which focused on strengthening the leadership capacity of young people with lived experience in the justice, education, and child welfare systems as this project will further develop grantees’ leadership skills of youth with lived experience of these systems.