Why Urban Youth?

1. Urban Youth are Social Justice Catalysts

By focusing on Urban Youth, we affirm their paramount importance as social and political catalysts. Youth are the center of all revolutionary social movements. Due to the demographic and political shift in the United States –particularly concerning population diversity and increase in people of color– urban youth are, and will continue to be, the predictors and catalysts of social movements that radiate out through the rest of society.

By asserting the importance of urban youth, we also undermine the stereotypical stigma of urban as lesser-in value, quality, and importance. We also reject the racist stereotypes that urban is synonymous with Black, “inner-city”, crime or decay.

The term “urban” is related to a socioeconomic core population and/or economic activity within a larger metropolitan area.

Urban youth defines the youth population socially & economically connected to the urban core city(s) in a large metropolitan area, that may include multiple counties, i.e., the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

These urban metropolitan areas uniquely reflect the population density and diversity required to examine and foresee socioeconomic trends and factors that affect youth rights issues overall. In this way, social justice for urban youth informs social justice for all youth.