Examining a Community-Based Program for Newly Resettled Refugee Adolescents

The purpose of this article is to examine refugee-background high school students’ experiences in an adolescent support program, Teen Response, and its impact on students’ educational and career pathways. Teen Response, offered by a non-profit refugee organization working with a large metropolitan school district and community partners, is in a mid-size midwestern urban community in the United States. Employing a mixed-method approach utilizing surveys and focus groups, we studied nineteen newly resettled refugee-background high school students who participated in the study over nine months. Three overarching themes emerged from the data 1) Teen Response program strategies, 2) growth in self-efficacy, and 3) being an advocate for self and others. This article focuses on the Teen Response program strategies identified as impactful by research participants. It contributes to the knowledge of the design of effective adolescent programs and their impact on refugee-background adolescent development.