Summary
In recent years, there has been growing interest in examining K-12 schools as sites of anti-blackness. Previous research also has shown that Black mothers play a pivotal role in supporting the academic and emotional well-being of their daughters. However, more research is needed to understand the care Black mothers exhibit and the educational advocacy they undertake to counter anti-blackness in predominantly White schools. By amplifying the experiences of 36 middle-class Black mothers, this work brings to the fore how social structures of race, class, and gender influence the educational care practices Black mothers use to protect their daughters. Findings reveal that mothers used a developmental approach where daughters were taught to “speak up” as an act of resistance. Our work underlines the need for anti-racism efforts that address the diverse needs, concerns, and experiences of Black students and their families.

Objectives

• To demonstrate the use of anti-blackness as a theoretical frame in research on the educational care practices of Black mothers
• To analyze how social structures of race, class, and gender influence the educational care work Black mothers undertake to protect the academic and emotional well being of daughters attending predominantly White schools
• To discuss recommendations for how schools can positively engage Black students and Black families

Subject Codes: education, parenting, race
Population Codes: African Americans, K-12
Method and Approach Codes: qualitative methodology

Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for parents and families. Moreover, existing structural inequalities have exacerbated the disproportionate economic and health impacts of the pandemic and have put low-income people and mothers at greater risk, with fewer resources available to mitigate these impacts. During the pandemic, low-income mothers have accessed existing and cultivated new informal networks of support to meet their material, social, and emotional needs and those of their families when more formal institutional and policy supports have been insufficient, inaccessible, or non-existent. By centering the narratives of low-income mothers and highlighting their coping strategies and networks of support, we aim to elevate their strengths and the factors that contribute to their resilience to inform asset-based approaches for supporting families experiencing poverty as we continue to navigate the challenges of COVID-19 and its long-term impacts.

Objectives

• To examine the experiences of a diverse group of low-income mothers, during the COVID-19 pandemic
• To analyze the impacts of informal social support networks on coping strategies of mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic
• To demonstrate the factors that contribute to the resilience of mothers experiencing challenges related to poverty and the pandemic and inform asset-based approaches for supporting families

Subject Codes: COVID-19, coping, strengths
Population Codes: low income, those in poverty
Method and Approach Codes: qualitative methodology, intersectionality, grounded theory

Author: Janeal M. White

Summary
Building on work of Nooe & Patterson (2010) who identified fourteen factors contributing to increased risk of homelessness as visualized by Ecology of Homelessness, the current study sought to explore how these risk factors manifest in lived experiences of women residing in Texas homeless shelters. While the former study was based on a literature review of the existing literature of the time and was conducted by established male researchers of European descent, the current study utilized qualitative interviews conducted by an emerging Indigenous scholar with lived experience of homelessness. Virtual interviews with twelve women living in homeless shelters in Texas informed the findings of this study which identified three primary themes: relationships, victimization, agency. These key concepts served as framework for creation of the new Life Model of Homelessness which shifts the paradigm from a resource-based understanding of homelessness (Nooe & Patterson) to that of shared, stolen, and reclaimed power.

Objectives

• To understand how risk factors manifest in lived experiences of women residing in Texas homeless shelters.
• To identify the common life events that precede the first episode of homelessness for women.
• To compare theoretical framework of The Life Model of Homelessness to The Ecology of Homelessness.

Subject Codes: abuse/neglect, feminism, homelessness/housing insecurity
Population Codes: homeless/home insecure
Method and Approach Codes: content analysis, qualitative methodology, resilience