When is it safe enough? Considering diversity and equity when brokering pre-professional opportunities to youth of color

This study conceptualizes “brokering pre-professional learning opportunities” as a practice that goes beyond facilitating access across settings to include concerns about when, exactly, an opportunity is “safe enough” as a fundamental question when connecting youth to opportunity. Utilizing a design-based research approach, we report results of an organizational ‘vetting’ routine used to assess companies being considered as work-placement sites for youth of color. Our findings confirm that characteristics of staff diversity and equity orientation of work-placement organizations can support or hinder positive learning outcomes. However, we also found that both strengths and limitations in terms of diversity and equity, in concert with other supportive factors, can be productive resources within the context of future goal setting for youth of color. We close with implications for researchers and designers interested in promoting equity-oriented cross-setting learning.