Youth Creating Disaster Recovery and Resilience

A Multi-Site Arts-Based Youth Engagement Research Project

Abstract

Youth have historically been understudied in disaster research and largely excludedin practice. Yet, a growing body of evidence suggests that they want to be actively engaged, and when they are, can contribute in myriad ways to disaster preparedness, response,and recovery processes. This field report describes the Youth Creating Disaster Recovery and Resilience (YCDR2) project—a Canadian-United States applied research initiative aimed at learning from and with youth ages 13-22 about their disaster experiences. The project used creative and arts-based methods to engage youth in participatory workshops held in disaster-affected communities. Key findings, research and implementation challenges,successes, and lessons learned are discussed.