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"Street Life" as a Site of Resiliency: How Street Life–Oriented Black Men Frame Opportunity in the United States

University of Delaware, ypayne{at}udel.edu

This study organized a participatory action research team of four street life–oriented Black men to examine attitudes toward opportunity in a community sample of street life–oriented Black men ranging between the ages of 16 and 65. Data were collected in the form of 371 surveys and two group interviews. Most of the data collection took place inside the street communities of Harlem, New York City, and Paterson, New Jersey. Descriptive data suggest that the men hold positive as well as negative attitudes toward learning and their overall educational experience. Quantitative and qualitative results suggest that an intergenerational set of attitudes toward opportunity exists in this community sample of street life–oriented Black men. Specifically, a set of one-way analysis of variance revealed older street generations to hold more negative attitudes toward overall, educational, and economic opportunity. In addition, a content analysis revealed three dominant themes in relation to the code economic survival: (a) commitment to family/community, (b) personal motivation, and (c) a moral posture.

Key Words: Black men • crime • resiliency • economic and educational opportunity • participatory action research (PAR)

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