The Racial Justice Prevention Plus Wellness (PPW) program was implemented by Women of Colors (WOC) to local school youth in Saginaw, Michigan.
WOC is a non-profit organization aimed at promoting multi-cultural diversity and enhancing community relations in Saginaw County.
A total of 89 adolescents received the Racial Justice PPW program provided to groups of youth.
Pretest to posttest survey results showed there was an increase in intentions to:
- Think about prejudices or stereotypes about people of other races (14%),
- Are likely to observe the racial makeup of the people in your environment (27%),
- Are likely to read, listen to or watch something to learn more about racial justice (17%), and
- Help combat racism in your school, community or online (8%) during the next year.
There were also fewer intentions to engage in any racial discriminatory behavior in the next year (12%).
At posttest, most youth said they were “likely” or “very likely” to:
- Observe the racial makeup of the people in your environment (57%),
- Read, listen to or watch something to learn more about racial justice (63%), and
- Combat racism in your school, community or online (51%).
At posttest, most youth also reported they were “unlikely” or “very unlikely” to engage in racial discriminatory behavior (63%).
Participating adolescents’ comments after receiving the Racial Justice PPW program supported the quantitative data results and included:
- I liked how we learned not to be racist.
- I feel like I can help stop the racism in (my) life.
- I love the fact that I’m discussing this with people. It affect(ed) me in a good way that makes me want to help people of different race(s).’
- This lesson made me realize how wrong racism really is.
- I like best was talking about races. It makes me see that most people are the same.
- I learned not to judge anyone about their race.
- I like how we talked about different races and how there’s diversity.
- It affected me because I helped people that aren’t my color or race.
We thank the dedicated and skilled professionals at Women of Colors for implementing the Racial Justice Prevention Plus Wellness program to adolescents in their region and for partnering with Prevention Plus Wellness to track their early successes.
Learn more about Women of Colors (WOC): https://womenofcolors.org/
Learn more about Racial Justice Prevention Plus Wellness: https://preventionpluswellness.com/products/evidence-based-racial-discrimination-prevention-plus-wellness