The Anti-Hate YPE Project

The Anti-Hate Project

Building Effective Strategies to Address Identity-Based Harm in Schools

A Partnership Between the Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth and Osseo Area School District with Funding from Hennepin County

Background

The Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth (BBAY) launched a Youth-led Anti-Hate Campaign in 2022 to better understand young people’s experiences in our community. The youth-led project included:

• A marketing and communications campaign to educate, inform and empower youth in schools to fight back against hate in the forms of crime and identity-based bullying.

• Youth and adult interviews were conducted to better understand their experiences and to learn what key messages might be needed to inform the community of what to do if they experience or if someone they know experiences a hate crime, incident, or bullying.

In January 2023, Osseo Area School District (OASD) approved a NEW protocol and handbook on Identity-Based Harm Response* focused on awareness and response to supporting victims and communities who experience identity-based harm at OASD. 

*OASD Identity-Based Harm Response Protocol attached below

The purpose of this project was to conduct an implementation process evaluation to identify the strengths and challenges of the schools’ current approach and develop evidence-based recommendations to iteratively build on their new protocol and continue to provide a safer and more inclusive school environment for students. To do this, we:

1. Assessed and evaluated the implementation and initial impacts of the Identity-Based Harm Response protocol in Park Center and Osseo Senior High Schools.

2. Raised awareness of identity-based harm and the support services of OASD, including how data is currently tracked and recommendations for improving data tracking. 

3. Convened stakeholders to explore the efficacy of this new protocol to be implemented in their own school districts, and in other settings where identity-based harm occurs.

Research Questions:

• To what extent was the Identity-Based Harm Protocol implemented as intended?

• What were the strengths and challenges of the new Identity-Based Harm Protocol?

• What are youth needs in order to feel safe and supported by their schools from identity-based harm? And how do these align with the protocol?

Anti-Hate Project Team

Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth

• Rebecca Gilgen, Executive Director

• Chia Xiong, Data, Evaluation and YPAR Coordinator

• Marwok (Mo) Gure, Data Assistant and Youth Program Evaluation Specialist

• Alice Apaloo, Youth Intern (Park Center Sr. High School)

• Alondra Armento, Youth Intern (Osseo Sr. High School)

• Mercy Nyamao, Youth Intern (Osseo Sr. High School)

• Bolatito Ikotun, Youth Intern (Park Center Sr. High School)

• Kristina Thomas, Youth Intern (Park Center Sr. High School)

Osseo Area School District

• Bryan Bass, Assistant Superintendent of Equity & Achievement

• Thomas Watkins, Data & Assessment Coordinator

• Jenna Johnshoy-Aarestad, Data & Assessment Coordinator

• Gao Thor, Data & Assessment Analyst

Hennepin County

• Ifrah Jama, Anti-Hate & Violence Prevention Program Coordinator