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In this paper, we examine the nature and impact of coalitional work within a research-practice partnership (RPP) between university-based researchers, families, and youth as we navigated shared investigations into educational equity within a digital mediated space. We conceptualize our community and collaboration using Montoya's metaphor of "trenzas" to highlight our understanding of our interwoven identities, spaces (both digital and physical), and literacies in service of educational change. Amid global and local precarities, we found that members of the partnership leveraged what we refer to as their digital coalitional literacies to repurpose the virtual space. Drawing from participatory research and practitioner research methodological tenets, our findings show how research partners engaged in "digital coalitional literacies" as they (a) collaboratively mobilized their literacies and their cultural and experiential resources to repurpose digital platforms; (b) worked in solidarity to cultivate communities of care across boundaries; and (c) created art that evoked critical thinking on critical issues for advocacy and change. Lastly, this article provides implications for RPP and classrooms.

The way the words say what I mean, how they twist and turn language, how they connect with people. How they build community. --Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X In this [...]

In this collaboratively written article, we share what we have learned in our over decade-long partnership working across social and institutional boundaries, including: the right for students to be taught through a strength-based perspective; the necessity of communication between schools and communities; and insights into how educators can foster genuine care with families. We conclude with recommendations about how educators can work in solidarity with families to promote a robust universal vision of student flourishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]