This past summer, under the PURM program, our team researched “Racial Literacy as Key to Moving Justice Beliefs to Acts,” and a considerable part of our experience was focused on a program called Makuu Summer Impact: Success in College. For six weeks, 15 high school students from Philadelphia were prepared for the college experience, while concurrently receiving activist and leadership training and holding tough, race-based conversations. Organized by Penn’s Black Cultural Center, Makuu, and facilitated by four undergraduate students, Makuu Summer Impact provided incredible insight on how racial literacy can be used to combat the racial trauma and stress people of color develop as a result of the program's themes. Digital Justice Academy, Higher Learning, and Peer Ambassador Training were our three themes, and the program focused on one every two weeks. Digital Justice Academy surrounded conversations and content about social injustice. We had group discussions on topics such as the murder of George Floyd and watched documentaries such as “True Justice” by Bryan Steveson. Additionally, we encouraged students to share their experiences of social injustice. Higher Learning, our next theme, was all about the college process. Students were able to ask any questions they had about the college admissions process or college life. Also, they wrote their personal statements, made a college list, and listened to a panel of current undergraduate students and recent college graduates. Our last theme, Peer Ambassador Training, allowed students to find their leadership and activist role. Students took a personality test, studied an activist role sheet, and presented their very own initiative to bring back to their schools. 

Because the program was heavily filled with conversations that cause racial stress or the revisitation of past trauma, we provided students with racial literacy skills to combat this. The most prominent tool was CLCBE. Based on the racial socialization research of Dr. Howard Stevenson, CLCBE—calculate, locate, communicate, breathe, exhale—was a core intervention used throughout Summer Impact. By helping students unpack difficult conversations and experiences, CLCBE aims as a catalyst for racial healing and self-care. Along with this exercise, games and check-ins were utilized to inspire comfort and joy amidst the tough conversations. 

Although racial literacy in the form of self-care, such as CLCBE, was adopted, we also provided students with racial literacy in the form of self-discovery and using this to foster unique change. As mentioned before, through our activist and leadership training, students were given a personality test and a roles of activism resource. This allowed them to determine how they could best combat issues such as colorism, sexism, and racism while keeping in mind their characteristics and which activist role best complements them individually. This proved to be very beneficial at the end of the program, in which each student was able to create a school-oriented program with their very own approach. Through our evaluation of the program, much insight was gained regarding the importance of racial literacy in a world where racial stress and trauma constantly circulates.