Document Type
Honors Thesis
Semester of Graduation
Spring 2026
Abstract
Community organizations can provide numerous benefits to adolescent youth in various aspects of their lives—socially, psychologically, and physically, to name a few. Unfortunately, many youth-serving organizations aim to serve youth without directly involving their perspectives in the creation of their respective programs. At the Gardere Initiative, adolescent girls appear to have low levels of engagement and belonging, while their male counterparts enjoy activities and spaces catered to them. This poses a question of how this community organization might better serve the desires and life context of these adolescent girls.
Social Design is the practice of designing an intervention (product, service, experience, policy, etc) that addresses a social issue within a specified context. To maximize the potential benefits of this youth-serving community organization, this research aims to apply the concept of deep understanding in addressing the experiences of adolescent girls (aged 13-18) and invite them to co-design an intervention that engages them, creates a space for them, and addresses their needs, wants, and capabilities. I partner with 15-20 adolescent girls in 7th- 12th grade to identify key insights of their experiences with the Gardere Initiative, brainstorm and prototype solutions, create a final intervention, and test its impact. My research approach marries the Design field with the Sociology field to create a new paradigm of praxis. Using Design Research as an umbrella framework, I incorporate the theoretical frameworks of Participatory Action Research and Human-Centered Design to guide both methodology and ways of thinking. Throughout the research design, there are multiple threads of iterativity that lay the foundation for Grounded Theory as a method of analysis.
I used Sense of Belonging and Self-Determination as sensitizing concepts. As research has progressed, preliminary findings include themes of cross-cultural identity, resilience, and psychosocial resources/protective factors. Major findings point towards identity as a mediator of the adolescent-community organization relationship.
Recommended Citation
Mukoro, E. (2026). Feelings and Futures: Social Design Addressing Identity and Engagement of Adolescent Girls in a Community-Based Organization. Retrieved from https://repository.lsu.edu/discover_dur/19
Awardee Name
Eseoghene Mukoro
Academic Major
Interdisciplinary Studies
Project Mentor
Danielle Thomas