By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
When Deena Pierott, founder and executive director of iUrban Teen, noticed the educational inequities affecting male youth of color, she knew she had to take action. As a mother of two African American sons and a former commissioner on the Washington State Commission on African American Affairs, she saw firsthand the opportunity gaps impacting Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Pacific Islander boys. Witnessing these disparities firsthand led her to create iUrban Teen, a nationally recognized program that provides hands-on career exposure, community service, and civic engagement opportunities for historically minoritized youth ages 12-18.
“When I started the program, and even to this day, we focus on male youth. Even though we are inclusive and probably have more girls in our program compared to others, male youth of color—Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Pacific Islander—is the focus,” Pierott said. “I was a commissioner in the state of Washington for years on the Commission on African American Affairs, and all of our ethnic commissions were looking at the opportunity gap issue, especially with male youth of color. Seeing them being marginalized, disenfranchised, and not graduating—that was a major concern for me. And then, of course, I have two African American sons, so I could see the education inequities that were impacting them firsthand.”
Since its launch in 2011, iUrban Teen has served over 20,000 students and maintains an 80% family retention rate, a testament to its strong community engagement. The program, originally launched in Vancouver, Washington, quickly expanded into Seattle in 2013 as word about the program began to spread.
“We were getting so much word-of-mouth buzz, like true grassroots outreach from parents and others that participated in our Vancouver and Portland staff, that we decided to launch a chapter in Seattle,” Pierott said.
“Our headquarters is actually now in Seattle, but initially, we were getting families from Seattle driving all the way down to Vancouver and Portland to attend our events. They encouraged us to start a chapter in Seattle,” added Pierott.
Because iUrban Teen is heavily family-focused, getting youth involved has been relatively easy for Pierotti and her staff. Many return for multiple programs, and new families often discover the program through personal recommendations and community engagement.
“We do a lot of marketing, and since we have so many families already in our list of members, they just continually attend and repeat different programs that we have in place,” says Pierott. “And because there are so many people who have heard about us now, they look to our website and sign up or want to be on our list to be notified when we have opportunities for them.”
With an emphasis on integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into education, iUrban Teen offers several key programs that equip students with in-demand skills. Among its most notable are iCode, iSpy, and iMap, which provide students with hands-on training in coding, cybersecurity, and geospatial technology while also incorporating real-world research projects.
“iCode is a coding program, which goes from levels 1.0 to 3.0,” said Pierott. “Entry level coding, then a little bit more advanced, then 3.0 is more like a boot camp for older teens and young adults to really give them that training where they can possibly get an internship with a coding career once they go through iCode 3.0.”
“iSpy is the same thing, with the different three levels, but it is a cyber security program that we hope will get students into internships, or at least interviews in the cyber security field,” she continued.
According to Pierott, the iMap, is a little more challenging because it involves several different technologies that students must learn in about eight weeks. However, Pierotti says that iMap is one of her favorite programs at iUrban teen because not only are they teaching the kids geospatial technology and GIS mapping along with AI and data analytics, but they’re also learning research principles to things that are currently taking place in their community.
“In iMap Health, not only are these kids learning these technologies, but they are also learning about a health disparity that is impacting Black and brown communities at record numbers, and that is diabetes,” Pierott said. “When they are doing their research, they are using AI to do it and research further into diabetes. AI provides them with the research tools.”
“And how do they change that health disparity in their community? So, they are taking a deep dive into diabetes through AI, and by the end of the program, in their case studies, they are learning about healthy eating, exercise, how to manage diabetes, and even more importantly, how to prevent it,” she added.
iMap expands beyond health research to address transportation and environmental issues within communities, while still utilizing AI.
“iMap environmental focuses on climate change, and so the kids are using AI to come up with their research on different ways to prevent or to put a dent in the climate change crisis and learning how to read satellite data in their cities,” said Pierott. “iMap transportation is where they look at transportation inequities in their communities and research how to resolve some of those issues using AI tools,” Pierott continued.
Recently, iUrban Teen launched a new program called iSports, which also integrates AI.
“In our new iSports program, where we partner with the Portland Trailblazers and the Dallas Mavericks in Texas, we factor in AI with that program when they are doing their statistics and some of their analytics,” Pierott said. “So yes, we definitely have that AI factor at iUrban Teen, and we have been doing it for years before it became popular.”
With AI on the rise, Pierott says that it is important for students to understand AI and understand the impacts and dangers of it, especially for communities of color.
“We all know that before, but not so much now, but it is still prevalent that some of the data points that they were using for AI were not accurate for people of color, especially Black folks, and that is why it is so important that we learn everything about AI,” says Pierott. “Anywhere from the different models to the different uses for AI, hopefully we can get behind the scenes on being the safeguards that are helping to dictate the direction that AI is going.”
Pierott believes that exposing youth to different career and business opportunities is critical for their success.
“I always wanted to make sure that we were giving these youth and families the latest cutting-edge information in different fields. I also tell the kids that they are going to experience a lot of different things with iUrban teen,” Pierott said. “By giving them that pathway and helping to support them all along the way, that is going to help with their economic development, and within their cities and families because you are giving them an opportunity.”
“We are just one extra tool in their toolbox for success,” she concluded.”
This story is part of the Digital Equity Local Voices Fellowship lab. The lab initiative is made possible with support from Comcast NBC Universal.
Source: Seattle Medium
