Abstract
Over the past three decades, youth activism efforts have grown and become more visible, and with this change, comes an opportunity to learn from an adult generation that grew up through youth activism. The purpose of this Banded Dissertation is to explore what life after youth activism looks like for former youth activists as they transition into adulthood. This Banded Dissertation is comprised of three products: a conceptual paper that argues the importance of investment in leadership pathways from youth to adulthood; an original qualitative study that explores the facilitators and barriers to ongoing involvement in child welfare-related activism efforts for former youth activists with foster care backgrounds as they become adults; and an academic conference presentation designed to disseminate learnings and engage child welfare professionals in a dialogue about the qualitative study. This Banded Dissertation will add to micro and macro social work practice and discourse as it relates to holistically supporting youth activists and building the capacity of future social justice leaders.