Tulane University researcher awarded $3.4 million NIH grant to help families have ‘Color Brave’ discussions against racism
“The first module in the app will educate parents about why it's important to talk to their kids about race and racism,” Chae said. “One of the reasons that some parents give for not talking about race and racism is the belief that their kids are too young. We dispel that because kids actually have a very strong sense of right and wrong. Kids do notice race starting from age 2, if not earlier. And they also begin to assign values to racial groups as well.”
Despite the persistent lack of conversations about race and racism in families, many parents still believe that they are significant. One study found that 81% of white mothers felt it was important to discuss race with their children, although less reported having done so, and only a third could recall a specific conversation.
Chae’s project will involve advocacy groups, teacher-based organizations, and members of the community, among others, who will be part of a racial equity network which will provide direction for the study and provide critical feedback regarding what topics should be included in the learning modules. They’re also running focus groups with parents and interviewing one-on-one with parents and kids. The app is already in development and will be downloadable on multiple platforms.
“I think the most direct positive impact of this intervention will be on the kids themselves, but parents will also be impacted through the process of teaching, and their kids will learn to become anti-racist partners,” Chae said. Ultimately, he hopes the app will reduce the perpetration of racism, and that the effects will spread to others to increase broad support for policies that advance racial equity. “There's research showing that when low-prejudice kids are paired with the high-prejudice kids, levels of prejudice in high-prejudice kids go down. I think this investment has a potential to yield long-term societal benefits in addition to some short-term benefits as well.”
The study will also include researchers from Northwestern University, San Diego State University, Tufts University, and the University of Illinois Chicago.
The grant is one of 11 recently announced through the NIH Common Fund’s Transformative Research to Address Health Disparities and Advance Health Equity initiative. This research is supported by the NIH Common Fund under award number U01OD033242.