This project is a community-led participatory project concentrated on West Philadelphia High School, which has been a pillar of the community since its founding in 1912. Our project seeks to change the idea of a traditional preservationist through the integration of new media and digital technologies that center the community cultural wealth of both youth and older adult alumni. Through the collection of oral histories of alumni, students, teachers, and community members, as well as through the preservation of the school's archives and artifacts, we hope to amplify the amazing legacy of West Philadelphia High School to document how African. Americans experience a change in control of their environments and to abolish single-stream narratives about African Americans in the United States.

Partner(s): West Philadelphia High School

Funder: Drexel University School of Education, Lindy Center, Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development (PHENND)

Publications

Allen-Handy, A., Meloche, A., Brown, J., Frazier, A., Escalante, K., Walker, M., Burns, I., Edwards-Chapman, N., Ervin, Q., Thomas, A., Thomas, M., Wortham, I., Bugg, D. & Dia, J. (2021). Preserving history for the persistent legacy of our school: A youth-led participatory heritage project. Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture, 50(1), 15-29. https://doi.org/10.1515/pdtc-2021-0003

Allen-Handy, A., Thomas-EL, S.L., & Sung, K.K. (2020). Urban youth scholars: Cultivating global leadership development through youth-led justice-oriented research. The Urban Review, 1-31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-020-00568-w

Allen-Handy, A., Thomas-EL, S.L., Bhuiyan, T., Carroll, X., Karlen, E., Medlock, I., Weeks, I. (2019). Urban youth/international scholars: Critical solutions in support of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. In P.A. Robinson, A. Allen-Handy, A. Bryant & C.W. Lewis (Eds.) Global perspectives on issues and solutions in urban education. Information Age.

Allen-Handy, A., & Thomas-EL, S. L. (2018). Be(com)ing critical scholars: The emergence of urban youth scholar identities through research and critical civic praxis. Urban Education, 1-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085918814589

Presentations

Allen-Handy, A., Escalante, K., Brown, J., Ray, R., Nettles, C., G-Carter, Rana, Poole-Linder, B., & Lassiter, I. (2023, February). Community Archivists as Collective Impact: An Intergenerational Participatory Heritage Project. Community Conversation at the 10th Annual Critical Conversations in Urban Education Summit. Philadelphia, PA.

Allen-Handy, A., Escalante, K., Brown, J., & Walker, M. (2022, May). The West Philadelphia Community Archivists: An Age Friendly Participatory Heritage Project. Conference Presentation for the 15th Annual Conference on Global Challenges.

Allen-Handy, A., Meloche, A., Escalante, K., *Brown, J., & *Frazier, A. (2021, April). African American Youth Archivists: A Critical Youth-led Participatory Heritage and Cultural Preservation Research Project. Paper Presentation for the American Educational Research Association, Annual Meeting.

Allen-Handy, A., Meloche, A., Brown, J., & Frazier A. (2020, March). Nurturing transformative youth-adult partnerships in youth participatory action research: A collaborative autoethnography of identity and sharing power across difference. Paper presented at the 41st Annual Ethnography in Education Research Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Allen-Handy, A., Walker, M., Meloche, A., Brown, J., Frazier, A., Dia, J., Burns, I., Ervin, Q., Edwards-Chapman, N., Holloway, A., Thomas, M., Wortham, I. (2020, March). Preserving History for the Persistent Legacy of West Philadelphia High School: A Youth Participatory Action Research Project. Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Association of Multicultural Education. Radnor, PA.

Allen-Handy, A., Meloche, A., Brown, J., Frazier, A. (2019, October). Preserving History for the Persistent Legacy of West Philadelphia High School: A Youth Development Summer Internship. Drexel University School of Education Research Presentation. Philadelphia, PA.

Allen-Handy, A. (2019, June). Empowering urban youth’s critical scholar identities: Reflection from an after-school program in one urban community. Paper presented at the Critical Race Studies in Education Association Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA.

Allen-Handy, A., & Thomas-EL, S. (2019, April). Be(com)ing critical scholars: The emergence of urban youth scholar identities through research and praxis. Paper presented at the 2019 American Education Research Association Conference, Toronto, ON.