PhD Student Noor Toraif Awarded a Pardee Center Graduate Summer Fellowship
This summer, Doctoral Student Noor Toraif will be one of eight graduate and doctoral students to become a 2021 Pardee Center Graduate Fellow. This competitive ten-week fellowship includes a financial stipend of $6,000, structured interaction with Pardee Center affiliated faculty and research fellows, and a collegial atmosphere that fosters peer support and intellectual growth.
Summer Fellows conduct independent research and produce a substantive research paper that may be considered for publication by the Pardee Center. Toraif’s research and paper will examine the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and Youth of Color navigating reentry in Massachusetts from the juvenile justice system and are navigating services from both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. “I am really looking forward to diving into my data collection process,” says Toraif. “I love conducting focus groups and interviews. I am also looking forward to brainstorming ideas with the other fellows; workshopping ideas and writing; learning about other fellows’ research projects, theoretical approaches, and epistemologies; and being in community with other scholars–hopefully in person!”
Using Interdisciplinary Approaches to Better Understand BIYOC Transitioning between State Agencies
“There are several key factors and experiences that have motivated me to pursue this research topic,” says Toraif. “I am interested in using phenomenological methods to understand how youth, and especially Black, Indigenous, and Youth of Color (BIYOC), navigate transitioning into and out of state agencies.” In addition to Toraif’s interdisciplinary background in developmental neuroscience, child development, and philosophy, personal experience also motivates her research. “My experiences working with several child-serving agencies in Massachusetts including the juvenile court, the Office of the Child Advocate, and the Department of Youth Services have shown me that involvement with multiple systems is all too common, especially for BIYOC.”
Amplifying BIYOC Voices in the Juvenile Justice System
In addition, Toraif seeks to shift the literature on these patterns that focus on processes and outcomes more than the youths’ voices. “I am pursuing this research with the aim of uplifting the voices and the experiences of youth navigating state agencies, to understand the challenges that they face during these life turning points, the goals that they pursue, and their hopes and expectations for life beyond incarceration.” Part of her research will also consider how these youth groups respond to discrimination and racial inequity during reentry.
“My hope is that my research will influence Massachusetts child serving agencies’ policies and programs to better support youth during community reentry, and to intervene upstream in order to prevent youth from crossing over from the child welfare system into the juvenile justice system. Short of preventing youth from entering the system, I hope that my research will uplift youths’ voices on how to best support them, and how to promote racial equity and justice for BIYOC during reentry.”