Aishia Brown
Biography
Dr. Aishia Brown holds a Ph.D. in recreation, park, and tourism sciences with a concentration in youth development. She also holds a B.S. in Psychology with a concentration in Africana and Women and Gender Studies. Dr. Brown completed her postdoc at the University of Louisville in the School of Public Health & Information Sciences where she engaged in projects that examine the role of the social justice youth development in advancing health equity.
Research Interests
My research efforts utilize an ecological systems theory approach to cultivate transformational change within the youth development ecosystem through research-practice partnerships. My research interests focus on social justice and community youth development through three main lines of research: (1) sociopolitical and critical consciousness development of youth, (2) youth-adult partnerships, and the (3) professionalization of youth development workers utilizing the social justice youth development (SJYD) framework. With a specific focus on cultivating structural transformational change, each line of my research aims to develop intervention strategies that evaluate the impacts of scaling up the SJYD framework.
As the former Director of the Louisville Metro Government Office of Youth Development and Center for Social Justice Youth Development Research, I spend my research effort working alongside local community-based youth development workers in shifting institutional and cultural policies and practices in their communities to ensure youth have access to institutions that promote health equity and social justice.
Degrees and Certifications
Texas A&M University