Practicum Summary:

Youth Empowerment: Assessing and Addressing the Lack of Agency and Empowerment experienced by youth participants of Buxton/Friendship North

Travis’s research focuses on developing capacity and increasing youth empowerment and agency in the community and to encourage local capacity building in the community of Buxton Friendship in Guyana. In 2002, Buxton Friendship experienced an infamous jailbreak which catapulted the country into an unprecedented crime wave. The community became policed by criminals, and those communicating information with outsiders were executed. These events completely dismantled and disempowered the community. In his research, Travis explores youth empowerment and local development by implementing a pilot program with 15 to 25 youth in the community, which he hopes to expand to neighboring communities and eventually, country-wide.