Rosalind S. Chou
Brown University
Department of Sociology
E-mail: [email protected]
POSITIONS
2022 - Present Lecturer of Sociology at Brown University
2017 - 2022 Associate Professor of Sociology at Georgia State University
2011 – 2017 Assistant Professor of Sociology at Georgia State University
2010 – 2011 Samuel Dubois Cook Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University, Durham, NC - Social Science Research Institute
Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Social Sciences (REGSS)
EDUCATION
May 2010 Ph.D., Sociology at Texas A&M University, College Station, Dr. Joe R. Feagin (Chair)
May 2007 M.S., Sociology, Texas A&M University, College Station
August 1999 B.S., Sociology, Minors: Women’s Studies and Psychology
Florida State University - Honors Program Graduate
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality, and Law.
BOOKS
Chou, Rosalind S. and Dresden Lackey. Forthcoming. Queering the Peach: LGBTQ Experience at an Urban Southern Campus. (Under Contract, Routledge Press)
Chou, Rosalind S., Kristen Lee, and Simon Ho. 2015. Asian Americans on Campus: Racialized Space and White Power. New York:
Routledge Press.
Chou, Rosalind S. and Joe R. Feagin. 2014. The Myth of the Model Minority: Asian Americans Facing Racism, Fully Revised Second Edition,
New York, NY: Routledge.
Chou, Rosalind S. 2012. Asian American Sexual Politics: The Construction of Race, Gender, and Sexuality, Lanham, MD: Rowman
& Littlefield.
*Reviewed by Jacob Y. Young in Ethnic and Racial Studies Volume 37, Issue 5, (2014)
*Reviewed by M.E. Pfeiffer in Choice Reviews (2013) February
*Forthcoming Review in Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews
Chou, Rosalind S. and Joe R. Feagin. 2008. The Myth of the Model Minority: Asian Americans Facing Racism, Boulder, CO: Paradigm
Publishers.
*Reprinted, Chapter Nineteen, "Excerpts from The Myth of the Model Minority: Asian Americans Facing Racism," in Inequality in the United States: A Reader, edited by John Brueggmann, (Pearson, 2012).
*Reprinted, Chapter Four, "The Many Costs of Anti-Asian American Discrimination," in Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Social Class: Dimensions of Inequality, edited by Susan J. Ferguson, (Sage Publications, 2012).
*Cited in the California Supreme Court Case Robert Martinez, et al. v. Regents of the University of California (2011) regarding the existence of discrimination against students of color on college campuses.
*Reviewed by Nicolas D. Hartlep (2011). Critical Questions in Education 2(2) Summer.
*Reviewed in Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews (2011) 40 (1): 106.
*Reviewed by Sharon S. Lee (2010). Journal of American Ethnic History 29(4): 152-154
*Reviewed by Heather Shaw Foreword Reviews (2008) November 1.
PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES
Chou, Rosalind S., Kristen Lee, and Simon Ho. (2015). "Love is (Color)blind: Asian Americans and White Institutional Space at the
Elite University," at Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, April, vol. 1, no. 2, 302-316.
Chou, Rosalind S and Susan Choi. 2013. “And Neither Are We Saved: Asian Americans' Elusive Quest for Racial Justice.” at Sociology Compass, Vol 7,
Issue 10, October, pps. 841-853.
Chou, Rosalind S., Kristen Lee, and Simon Ho. 2012. “The White Habitus and Hegemonic Masculinity at the Elite Southern University: Asian
Americans and the Need for Intersectional Analysis,” Sociation Today, Volume 10, Number 2.
BOOK CHAPTERS
Lackey, Dresden and Rosalind S. Chou. 2019. "Foreign, Fetishized, Fever! An Examination of the Exotification of Asian and Asian American Women
by White Men in the U.S." in The Yellow Book edited by Isaac Chong, Berlin: He Xiangyu.
Lackey, Dresden and Rosalind S. Chou. 2019. “Queer Faces, Unsafe Spaces: Everyday Discrimination of Lesbian and Gender Non-Conforming
Women” in Women and Inequality in the 21st Century edited by Brittany Slatton, New York: Routledge Press.
Taylor, Brittany Jean and Rosalind S. Chou. 2018. “Yellow Fever and Yellow Impotence: The Polarity of Asian American Adolescent Sexuality,”
in The Cambridge Handbook of Sexuality: Childhood and Adolescence edited by Sharon Lamb and Jen Gilbert, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
BOOK REVIEWS
Chou, Rosalind S. 2012. Book Review. “Asians in the Ivory Tower: Dilemmas of Racial Inequality in American Higher Education,” by Robert T.
Teranishi. (New York, NY, Teachers College Press, 2010). The Journal of Higher Education. Volume 83, Issue 5, September/October.
Chou, Rosalind S. 2011. Book Review. “Asian Texans: Our Stories and Our Lives,” by Irwin Tang. (2008: The It Works). The Journal of
Asian American Studies. Volume 14, Number 1, February, pgs 159-159.
PAPERS AND MONOGRAPHS IN PROGRESS
Ho, Simon, Kristen Lee and Rosalind Chou. “Asian American Sexual Politics at an Elite University” (under review).
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
2012 - 2013 Asian Studies Center Professional Support Grant, Georgia State University ($800)
2011 - 2012 Janet B. Chiang Research Grant from Duke University ($2,000)
2009 - 2010 Texas A&M University College of Liberal Arts Dissertation Research Award ($4,000)
2009 - 2010 Recipient of the Philanthropic Educational Organization’s Scholar Award ($15,000)
2009 - 2010 Recipient of the American Business Woman’s Association Scholarship ($2,000)
2009 - 2010 Graduate Student Stipendiary Fellow from the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, Texas A&M
University ($1,000)
2009 - 2010 Texas A&M Academic Excellence Award Scholarship ($1,000)
Summer 2009 Texas State University Pre-Doctoral Fellow award for summer research with a faculty member ($11,000)
2007 - 2008 Graduate Student Stipendiary Fellow from the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, Texas A&M
University. ($1,000)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Undergraduate: Graduate:
Race and Urban Studies Comparative Racial and Ethnic Relations
Racial and Ethnic Relations Sociological Theory I
Social Problems Critical Race Theory
Social Theory Special Topics: Sexing Race, Racing Sex
Special Topics: Sexing Race and Racing Sex Sociological Theory II
Intro to Gender and Society Racial and Ethnic Relations
Global Social Trends
Marriage Institution
SELECTED INVITED LECTURES & PRESENTATIONS
Spring 2020. Interviewed by The Guardian in an article titled, "'Coughing while Asian': Living in Fear as Racism feeds off Coronavirus
Panic."
Spring 2020 Featured in the Asian American Podcast hosted by Ken Fong. To hear the full episode, go here.
Spring 2020 Interviewed by Salon.com in an article titled, "Fox News host claims coronavirus outbreak was caused by Chinese people
'eating raw bats and snakes.'"
Spring 2020 Interviewed by Instyle magazine in article titled, “Asian-Americans are being attacked over coronavirus”
Spring 2020 Featured on CNN for segment “Racism and xenophobia are on the rise as the coronavirus spreads”
Spring 2020 Cited in CNN article titled, “What's spreading faster than coronavirus in the US? Racist assaults and ignorant attacks
against Asians”
Spring 2019 Invited lecture, Texas A&M University Libraries, Asian American History Month – “Ten Years After The Myth of the Model
Minority”
Spring 2019 Sociology Brown Bag Lecture, Texas A&M Department of Sociology – Queering the Peach: LGBTQ Experience at an Urban
Southern Campus
Fall 2018 Invited lecture, Georgia State University, Multicultural Center lecture series, In the Library – Asian Americans on Campus
Spring 2018 Invited speaker, National Credit Union Association, Washington, DC, for Asian American History Month, The Myth of the
Model Minority
Spring 2017 Invited Speaker, "Asian Americans on Campus," Green River College
Spring 2016 Invited Speaker, "Asian Americans on Campus," Georgia State Multicultural Center
Spring 2015 Keynote Speaker at the University of Tennessee's Sex Week, “Racing Sex and Sexing Race.”
Spring 2014 Invited Speaker, North American Femininities Course, University of Georgia
Fall 2013 Sociology Club Lecture, "Everyday Racism: Resistance and Resignation," Georgia State University Sociology Club
Fall 2013 Asian Studies Brown Bag, "Yellow on a White Campus: Asian American Students Navigating College Life," Georgia State
University
Fall 2013 Keynote Speaker at the University of West Georgia, Controversies in Culture Series
Spring 2013 Invited Subject Area expert on National Public Radio's Tell Me More with Michel Martin
Spring 2013 Keynote Speaker for CPACS Youth Summit
Spring 2012 Invited Speaker at Oberlin College
Spring 2012 Keynote Speaker at the University of Florida's APIA Awakening
Spring 2012 Keynote Speaker for ECAASU 2012
Spring 2012 Cited in an article for The Daily Dot anti-Asian racism on the Internet
Spring 2011 Cited in an article for Insidehighered.com and usatoday.com regarding the climate for Asian Americans at UCLA
Spring 2011 Invited Panelist - Duke Center for Multicultural Affairs and the Duke International House 11th Annual Unity Through
Diversity Forum: Asian/American
Spring 2011 Invited Speaker – The University of Oregon’s “Bias Awareness Week” and speaker for Asian Pacific American
Student Union
Spring 2011 Invited Speaker for The Program in the Study of Sexualities and The Center for LGBT Life’s Speaker Series at Duke
University
Fall 2010 Invited Speaker for Duke University’s Asian Student Association Fall Political Series, VOICES. “Asian American
Identities: Debunking Myths about Race, Gender, and Sexuality”
Fall 2010 Invited Speaker for SUNY- Stony Brook Colloquium Series, “Asian American Sexual Politics: Constructions and
Resistance.”
Summer 2010 Interview on Asian Voice Radio, recorded July 5, 2010
Fall 2009 Keynote Speaker for The Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), Houston, TX
Fall 2009 Invited Lecture at South Texas College of Law, “Asian Americans and the Law”
Summer 2009 Invited Panelist – Student Forum Professional Workshop. “The Confident Graduate Student: Successful Strategies
for Dealing with Feelings of Self-doubt” at the American Sociological Association meeting in San Francisco, CA
Spring 2009 Keynote Speaker for NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. Student Success Series: Beyond the
Model Minority Myth: Working with Today’s Asian, Pacific Islander, and South Asian Students at the University of Southern
California
Spring 2009 Keynote Speaker – Salem College Cultural Diversity Series in Salem, NC
Spring 2009 Invited Panelist for the Educational Writer’s Association Regional Seminar: “Model Minority: Myth or Reality?” San
Francisco, CA
Fall 2008 Podcast interview with Carmen Van Kerckhove On Addicted to Race, recorded on December 8, 2008
Fall 2008 The Jordan Journal radio interview with Howard Jordan WBAI- 99.5 ~ New York Pacifica Radio, 12-5-2008
Fall 2008 Book Reading and Signing for the Center of Asian American Studies at The University of Texas at Austin
Summer 2008 The Journey Home radio interview with Diego Mulligan KSFR-FM ~ Santa Fe Public Radio, on 8-29- 2008
SERVICE
2010 – present Undergraduate mentoring and advisor for research project: “En(Gender)ing Asian America, Duke University
2006 – 2007 Diversity Facilitator for the Global Leadership Institute Texas A&M University
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Member: American Sociological Association
Section Member: Asia/Asian American
Section Member: Race and Ethnicity
Section Member: Race, Class, and Gender
Section Member: Sex and Gender
Member: Association of Asian American Studies
Member: The Society for the Study of Social Problems
OTHER ACTIVITIES
2008 – 2010 Council Member for Alma de Mujer, a project of the Indigenous Women Network (two year council appointment)
2006 – 2010 Member and Volunteer for ALLGO – A statewide network for Queer People of Color.
2008 – 2010 Volunteer and supporter for Girls Rock Camp Austin - The camp creates leadership opportunities, cultivates a
supportive community of peers and mentors, and encourages social change and the development of life skills
Department of Sociology
E-mail: [email protected]
POSITIONS
2022 - Present Lecturer of Sociology at Brown University
2017 - 2022 Associate Professor of Sociology at Georgia State University
2011 – 2017 Assistant Professor of Sociology at Georgia State University
2010 – 2011 Samuel Dubois Cook Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University, Durham, NC - Social Science Research Institute
Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Social Sciences (REGSS)
EDUCATION
May 2010 Ph.D., Sociology at Texas A&M University, College Station, Dr. Joe R. Feagin (Chair)
May 2007 M.S., Sociology, Texas A&M University, College Station
August 1999 B.S., Sociology, Minors: Women’s Studies and Psychology
Florida State University - Honors Program Graduate
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality, and Law.
BOOKS
Chou, Rosalind S. and Dresden Lackey. Forthcoming. Queering the Peach: LGBTQ Experience at an Urban Southern Campus. (Under Contract, Routledge Press)
Chou, Rosalind S., Kristen Lee, and Simon Ho. 2015. Asian Americans on Campus: Racialized Space and White Power. New York:
Routledge Press.
Chou, Rosalind S. and Joe R. Feagin. 2014. The Myth of the Model Minority: Asian Americans Facing Racism, Fully Revised Second Edition,
New York, NY: Routledge.
Chou, Rosalind S. 2012. Asian American Sexual Politics: The Construction of Race, Gender, and Sexuality, Lanham, MD: Rowman
& Littlefield.
*Reviewed by Jacob Y. Young in Ethnic and Racial Studies Volume 37, Issue 5, (2014)
*Reviewed by M.E. Pfeiffer in Choice Reviews (2013) February
*Forthcoming Review in Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews
Chou, Rosalind S. and Joe R. Feagin. 2008. The Myth of the Model Minority: Asian Americans Facing Racism, Boulder, CO: Paradigm
Publishers.
*Reprinted, Chapter Nineteen, "Excerpts from The Myth of the Model Minority: Asian Americans Facing Racism," in Inequality in the United States: A Reader, edited by John Brueggmann, (Pearson, 2012).
*Reprinted, Chapter Four, "The Many Costs of Anti-Asian American Discrimination," in Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Social Class: Dimensions of Inequality, edited by Susan J. Ferguson, (Sage Publications, 2012).
*Cited in the California Supreme Court Case Robert Martinez, et al. v. Regents of the University of California (2011) regarding the existence of discrimination against students of color on college campuses.
*Reviewed by Nicolas D. Hartlep (2011). Critical Questions in Education 2(2) Summer.
*Reviewed in Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews (2011) 40 (1): 106.
*Reviewed by Sharon S. Lee (2010). Journal of American Ethnic History 29(4): 152-154
*Reviewed by Heather Shaw Foreword Reviews (2008) November 1.
PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES
Chou, Rosalind S., Kristen Lee, and Simon Ho. (2015). "Love is (Color)blind: Asian Americans and White Institutional Space at the
Elite University," at Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, April, vol. 1, no. 2, 302-316.
Chou, Rosalind S and Susan Choi. 2013. “And Neither Are We Saved: Asian Americans' Elusive Quest for Racial Justice.” at Sociology Compass, Vol 7,
Issue 10, October, pps. 841-853.
Chou, Rosalind S., Kristen Lee, and Simon Ho. 2012. “The White Habitus and Hegemonic Masculinity at the Elite Southern University: Asian
Americans and the Need for Intersectional Analysis,” Sociation Today, Volume 10, Number 2.
BOOK CHAPTERS
Lackey, Dresden and Rosalind S. Chou. 2019. "Foreign, Fetishized, Fever! An Examination of the Exotification of Asian and Asian American Women
by White Men in the U.S." in The Yellow Book edited by Isaac Chong, Berlin: He Xiangyu.
Lackey, Dresden and Rosalind S. Chou. 2019. “Queer Faces, Unsafe Spaces: Everyday Discrimination of Lesbian and Gender Non-Conforming
Women” in Women and Inequality in the 21st Century edited by Brittany Slatton, New York: Routledge Press.
Taylor, Brittany Jean and Rosalind S. Chou. 2018. “Yellow Fever and Yellow Impotence: The Polarity of Asian American Adolescent Sexuality,”
in The Cambridge Handbook of Sexuality: Childhood and Adolescence edited by Sharon Lamb and Jen Gilbert, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
BOOK REVIEWS
Chou, Rosalind S. 2012. Book Review. “Asians in the Ivory Tower: Dilemmas of Racial Inequality in American Higher Education,” by Robert T.
Teranishi. (New York, NY, Teachers College Press, 2010). The Journal of Higher Education. Volume 83, Issue 5, September/October.
Chou, Rosalind S. 2011. Book Review. “Asian Texans: Our Stories and Our Lives,” by Irwin Tang. (2008: The It Works). The Journal of
Asian American Studies. Volume 14, Number 1, February, pgs 159-159.
PAPERS AND MONOGRAPHS IN PROGRESS
Ho, Simon, Kristen Lee and Rosalind Chou. “Asian American Sexual Politics at an Elite University” (under review).
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
2012 - 2013 Asian Studies Center Professional Support Grant, Georgia State University ($800)
2011 - 2012 Janet B. Chiang Research Grant from Duke University ($2,000)
2009 - 2010 Texas A&M University College of Liberal Arts Dissertation Research Award ($4,000)
2009 - 2010 Recipient of the Philanthropic Educational Organization’s Scholar Award ($15,000)
2009 - 2010 Recipient of the American Business Woman’s Association Scholarship ($2,000)
2009 - 2010 Graduate Student Stipendiary Fellow from the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, Texas A&M
University ($1,000)
2009 - 2010 Texas A&M Academic Excellence Award Scholarship ($1,000)
Summer 2009 Texas State University Pre-Doctoral Fellow award for summer research with a faculty member ($11,000)
2007 - 2008 Graduate Student Stipendiary Fellow from the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, Texas A&M
University. ($1,000)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Undergraduate: Graduate:
Race and Urban Studies Comparative Racial and Ethnic Relations
Racial and Ethnic Relations Sociological Theory I
Social Problems Critical Race Theory
Social Theory Special Topics: Sexing Race, Racing Sex
Special Topics: Sexing Race and Racing Sex Sociological Theory II
Intro to Gender and Society Racial and Ethnic Relations
Global Social Trends
Marriage Institution
SELECTED INVITED LECTURES & PRESENTATIONS
Spring 2020. Interviewed by The Guardian in an article titled, "'Coughing while Asian': Living in Fear as Racism feeds off Coronavirus
Panic."
Spring 2020 Featured in the Asian American Podcast hosted by Ken Fong. To hear the full episode, go here.
Spring 2020 Interviewed by Salon.com in an article titled, "Fox News host claims coronavirus outbreak was caused by Chinese people
'eating raw bats and snakes.'"
Spring 2020 Interviewed by Instyle magazine in article titled, “Asian-Americans are being attacked over coronavirus”
Spring 2020 Featured on CNN for segment “Racism and xenophobia are on the rise as the coronavirus spreads”
Spring 2020 Cited in CNN article titled, “What's spreading faster than coronavirus in the US? Racist assaults and ignorant attacks
against Asians”
Spring 2019 Invited lecture, Texas A&M University Libraries, Asian American History Month – “Ten Years After The Myth of the Model
Minority”
Spring 2019 Sociology Brown Bag Lecture, Texas A&M Department of Sociology – Queering the Peach: LGBTQ Experience at an Urban
Southern Campus
Fall 2018 Invited lecture, Georgia State University, Multicultural Center lecture series, In the Library – Asian Americans on Campus
Spring 2018 Invited speaker, National Credit Union Association, Washington, DC, for Asian American History Month, The Myth of the
Model Minority
Spring 2017 Invited Speaker, "Asian Americans on Campus," Green River College
Spring 2016 Invited Speaker, "Asian Americans on Campus," Georgia State Multicultural Center
Spring 2015 Keynote Speaker at the University of Tennessee's Sex Week, “Racing Sex and Sexing Race.”
Spring 2014 Invited Speaker, North American Femininities Course, University of Georgia
Fall 2013 Sociology Club Lecture, "Everyday Racism: Resistance and Resignation," Georgia State University Sociology Club
Fall 2013 Asian Studies Brown Bag, "Yellow on a White Campus: Asian American Students Navigating College Life," Georgia State
University
Fall 2013 Keynote Speaker at the University of West Georgia, Controversies in Culture Series
Spring 2013 Invited Subject Area expert on National Public Radio's Tell Me More with Michel Martin
Spring 2013 Keynote Speaker for CPACS Youth Summit
Spring 2012 Invited Speaker at Oberlin College
Spring 2012 Keynote Speaker at the University of Florida's APIA Awakening
Spring 2012 Keynote Speaker for ECAASU 2012
Spring 2012 Cited in an article for The Daily Dot anti-Asian racism on the Internet
Spring 2011 Cited in an article for Insidehighered.com and usatoday.com regarding the climate for Asian Americans at UCLA
Spring 2011 Invited Panelist - Duke Center for Multicultural Affairs and the Duke International House 11th Annual Unity Through
Diversity Forum: Asian/American
Spring 2011 Invited Speaker – The University of Oregon’s “Bias Awareness Week” and speaker for Asian Pacific American
Student Union
Spring 2011 Invited Speaker for The Program in the Study of Sexualities and The Center for LGBT Life’s Speaker Series at Duke
University
Fall 2010 Invited Speaker for Duke University’s Asian Student Association Fall Political Series, VOICES. “Asian American
Identities: Debunking Myths about Race, Gender, and Sexuality”
Fall 2010 Invited Speaker for SUNY- Stony Brook Colloquium Series, “Asian American Sexual Politics: Constructions and
Resistance.”
Summer 2010 Interview on Asian Voice Radio, recorded July 5, 2010
Fall 2009 Keynote Speaker for The Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), Houston, TX
Fall 2009 Invited Lecture at South Texas College of Law, “Asian Americans and the Law”
Summer 2009 Invited Panelist – Student Forum Professional Workshop. “The Confident Graduate Student: Successful Strategies
for Dealing with Feelings of Self-doubt” at the American Sociological Association meeting in San Francisco, CA
Spring 2009 Keynote Speaker for NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. Student Success Series: Beyond the
Model Minority Myth: Working with Today’s Asian, Pacific Islander, and South Asian Students at the University of Southern
California
Spring 2009 Keynote Speaker – Salem College Cultural Diversity Series in Salem, NC
Spring 2009 Invited Panelist for the Educational Writer’s Association Regional Seminar: “Model Minority: Myth or Reality?” San
Francisco, CA
Fall 2008 Podcast interview with Carmen Van Kerckhove On Addicted to Race, recorded on December 8, 2008
Fall 2008 The Jordan Journal radio interview with Howard Jordan WBAI- 99.5 ~ New York Pacifica Radio, 12-5-2008
Fall 2008 Book Reading and Signing for the Center of Asian American Studies at The University of Texas at Austin
Summer 2008 The Journey Home radio interview with Diego Mulligan KSFR-FM ~ Santa Fe Public Radio, on 8-29- 2008
SERVICE
2010 – present Undergraduate mentoring and advisor for research project: “En(Gender)ing Asian America, Duke University
2006 – 2007 Diversity Facilitator for the Global Leadership Institute Texas A&M University
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Member: American Sociological Association
Section Member: Asia/Asian American
Section Member: Race and Ethnicity
Section Member: Race, Class, and Gender
Section Member: Sex and Gender
Member: Association of Asian American Studies
Member: The Society for the Study of Social Problems
OTHER ACTIVITIES
2008 – 2010 Council Member for Alma de Mujer, a project of the Indigenous Women Network (two year council appointment)
2006 – 2010 Member and Volunteer for ALLGO – A statewide network for Queer People of Color.
2008 – 2010 Volunteer and supporter for Girls Rock Camp Austin - The camp creates leadership opportunities, cultivates a
supportive community of peers and mentors, and encourages social change and the development of life skills