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Here, the broad goal was to introduce CBPR thinking into the organizational culture and the conduct of community interventions in a Nicaraguan organization with an ongoing history of community change efforts. As participatory collaborative research perspectives such as Community-Based Participatory Research have evolved, key concepts, processes, and goals have become increasingly deconstructed and interrogated. In so doing, the papers show how CBPR can be seen not as a "value-added" perspective on community intervention, but as an alternative vision of how to integrate science, community change, and social justice. [Extracted from the article]

As we planned this special issue, the world was in the midst of a pandemic, one which brought into sharp focus many of the pre‐existing economic, social, and climate crises, as well as, trends of widening economic and social inequalities. The pandemic also brought to the forefront an epistemic crisis that continues to decentre certain knowledges while maintaining the hegemony of Eurocentric ways of knowing and being. Thus, we set out to explore the possibilities that come with widening our ecology of knowledge and approaches to inquiry, including the power of critical reflective praxis and consciousness, and the important practices of repowering marginalised and oppressed groups. In this paper, we highlight scholarship that reflects a breadth of theories, methods, and practices that forge alliances, in and outside the academy, in different solidarity relationships toward liberation and wellbeing. Our desire as co‐editors was not to endorse the plurality of solidarities expressed in the papers as an unyielding methodological or conceptual framework, but rather to hold them lightly within thematic spaces as invitations for readers to consider. Through editorial collaboration, we arrived at the following three thematic spaces: (1) ecologies of being and knowledge: Indigenous knowledge, networks, and plurilogues; (2) naming coloniality in context: Histories in the present and a wide lens; (3) relational knowledge practices: Creative joy of knowing beyond disciplines. From these thematic spaces we conclude that through repowering epistemic communities and narratives rooted in truth‐telling, a plurality of solidarities are fostered and sustained locally and transnationally. Underpinned by an ethic of care, solidarity relationships are simultaneously unsettling dominant forms of knowledge and embrace ways of knowing and being that advances dignity, community, and nonviolence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP) was founded in 1973 and has since its inception has been the flagship journal for the Society of Community Research and Action. AJCP publishes leading scholarship in community psychology and social action research. This special issue celebrates the 50 years of scholarship in AJCP by curating and assembling previously published articles in virtual special issues (VSIs) with accompanying commentaries. Nine VSIs were compiled as part of this special issue. Each of these VSIs were organized around themes that are of critical importance to community psychology and each VSI summarizes what has been learned from their included articles and future directions for the field. In this paper, we introduce this special issue on this collection of VSIs, discussing how each of these VSIs endeavor to push the field forward. Highlights: This special issue celebrates 50 years of the American Journal of community psychology.Nine virtual special issues (VSI) curated previously published papers in AJCP.We summarize these VSI introductions and discuss how each calls for future directions for the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed methods research (MMR) combines multiple traditions, methods, and worldviews to enrich research design and interpretation of data. In this virtual special issue, we highlight the use of MMR within the field of community psychology. The first MMR studies appeared in flagship community psychology journals over 30 years ago (in 1991). To explore the uses of MMR in the field, we first review existing literature by identifying all papers appearing in either Journal of Community Psychology or American Journal of Community Psychology in which the word "mixed" appeared. A total of 88 publications were identified. Many of these papers illustrate the pragmatic use of MMR to evaluate programs and to answer different research questions using different methods. We coded articles based on Green et al.'s classifications of the purpose of the mixing: triangulation, development, complementarity, expansion, and initiation. Complementarity was the most frequently used purpose (46.6% of articles), and nearly a quarter of articles mixed for multiple purposes (23.86%). We also coded for any community psychology values advanced by the use of mixed methods. We outline three themes here with corresponding exemplars. These articles illustrate how MMR can highlight ecological analysis and reconsider dominant, individual‐level paradigms; center participant and community member experiences; and unpack paradoxes to increase the usefulness of research findings. Highlights: Community psychologists have increasingly conducted mixed methods research (MMR).MMR can be used in ways that align with the values and aims of community psychology (CP).MMR in CP can be used to understand context, honor marginalized voices, and unpack paradox. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harmful narratives circulate about Black youths in North America. Deficit narratives portray them, their culture, and their communities as problems, narratives about policing encourage their control and punishment, color‐evasive narratives ignore how race shapes their experiences, and essentialist narratives erase their distinct and often intersectional experiences by presenting them as monolithic. Community psychology and allied fields do not escape these trends, which in turn infuse practice, research, and teaching involving Black youths. The present paper highlights four principles that community psychology and allied fields can adopt to support Black youths in resisting these negative and narrow narratives. They are: (1) emphasizing Black youths' and Black communities' strengths, (2) supporting their agency, (3) adopting culturally relevant practices, and (4) developing critical consciousness through reflections on and deconstruction of these narratives. We hope that the reflections shared in this paper will expand the perspectives infused by researchers and practitioners in community psychology, social work, urban studies, and allied fields who work with Black youths. Highlights: Black youths are depicted with harmful deficit, policing, color‐evasive, and essentialist narrativesThese narratives infuse practice, research, and teaching involving Black youthsSupporting Black youths in resisting these negative and narrow narratives requires intentionEmphasizing Black youths'/Black communities' strengths and supporting their agency are essentialAdopting culturally relevant practices and developing critical consciousness are also essential [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Virtual Special Issue (VSI), we curate and discuss a set of 28 articles previously published in the American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP) focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities. The purpose of this VSI is to bring visibility to this body of scholarship in AJCP and to reflect on how the strengths of our field have been used throughout this work in pursuit of supporting LGBTQ wellbeing. In this VSI, we first discuss articles that help to set the historical background for publications in AJCP. We then discuss papers under the broad themes of HIV/AIDS, identities within ecological context, and social activism among LGBTQ communities. We then reflect on opportunities for our field to further leverage our strengths in contributing to LGBTQ scholarship. Overall, this VSI celebrates the contributions to LGBTQ research already present in AJCP, and we hope inspires future contributions to the pages of AJCP and beyond. Highlights: In this Virtual Special Issue (VSI) we curate and discuss 28 articles already published in AJCP.These articles bring visibility to LGBTQ focused scholarship in AJCP.We reflect on how the strengths of our field have and can contribute to LGBTQ scholarship.We discuss opportunities to expand our field's contributions to LGBTQ scholarship.We hope this VSI inspires application of our field's strengths to LGBTQ scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a review of empirical studies published with a decolonial epistemic approach in psychology. Our goal was to better understand how decolonial approaches are being practiced empirically in psychology, with an emphasis on community‐social psychology. We first discuss the context of colonization and coloniality in the research process as orienting information. We identified 17 peer‐reviewed empirical articles with a decolonial approach to psychology scholarship and discerned four waves that characterize the articles: relationally‐based research to transgress fixed hierarchies and unsettle power, research from the heart, sociohistorical intersectional consciousness, and desire‐based future‐oriented research to rehumanize and seek utopia. Community‐social psychology research with a decolonial approach has the potential to remember grassroots efforts, decolonizing our world. Highlights: This paper reviews 17 empirical studies published with a decolonial epistemology in psychology.Authors discuss colonization and coloniality in the research process as orienting information. We discerned four waves within the empirical work with the potential to uplift decolonial efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, a first‐person account, describes a community psychology‐aligned intervention into a precalculus mathematics class at an Hispanic Serving Research Institution. The intervention was designed because the standard precalculus mathematics class had a high failure rate, especially for Latinx students, which was serving as a barrier for declaration of a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics major. The high failure rate indicates a structural problem that requires a structural intervention. The paper is coauthored with the teaching team, undergraduates who had taken the course, a graduate student who evaluated the class, and a community psychologist. We describe the ways that the new course, the College Math Academy, transformed the social environment through capacity building, providing access to valued resources for historically marginalized groups, facilitating opportunities to critique dominant power structures, prioritizing perspectives and experiences of people of color, and promoting understanding of how various social forces shape culture and values. The course also decentered white educational norms via adapting decoloniality and liberatory practices. In turn, each person describes their experience of the course. We draw on the first‐person accounts to show how they illustrate a transformative, decolonial, and liberatory social environment. We end with implications for how community psychologists can work in their universities to support structural change. Highlights: Changes to Precalculus class to better serve Latinx students.First person account of how structural course change shifted the classroom experience for students.Integration of a decolonial social enviornment intervention into a college math class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue of The American Journal of Community Psychology originated from the Society for Community Research and Action Criminal Justice interest group, with a goal of exploring the work of community psychologists intersecting with criminal justice research, practice, and policy and shaped by our shared values—equity, collaboration, creative maladjustment, social justice, and social science in the service of social justice. In this introduction, we discuss the socio‐historical context of the special issue, followed by an outline of the special issue organization, and brief summary of the included papers. Across 13 papers and an invited commentary, we see the ways in which community psychologists are: (1) delivering and evaluating services, programming, or other supports to address the needs of system‐involved people; and (2) working to improve the systems, structures, and interactions with units of criminal justice systems. Across these two sections, authors highlight the guiding role of our values to influence change within and outside of criminal‐legal systems. Highlights: The values guiding community psychologists uniquely position them to effect change.This includes effecting change within and beyond criminal justice settings.The papers here demonstrate the intersection of community psychology values and criminal justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current discussion on coloniality dismantles structures embedded in neoliberal capitalism that maintain and perpetuate social pathologies. Theories and praxes emerging from Abya Yala (North, Central, and South America) provide academic and nonacademic contributions to co‐construct community psychologies de otra manera (otherwise). These accountable ways of knowing and acting in cultural context and local place, become ways of making counterculture to inform decolonial community psychologies. The epistemologies of the Global South have produced invaluable teachings for transformative revisions of community psychology within frameworks that go beyond liberation and toward decoloniality. Activist women and decolonial feminists from the Global South, contest patriarchal rationality and universalism and co‐construct new ways of being, thinking‐feeling, sentipensar, and acting. Decolonial paradigms weave networks of solidarity with communities in their struggles to sustain Indigenous cosmovisions, delinking from western‐centric ideologies that are not anthropocentric and promote sustainability, epistemic and ecological justice, and Sumak Kawsay/Buen Vivir (wellbeing) that includes the rights of the Earth. This paper deepens into decolonial community psychologies from Abya Yala that are making the road caminando (walking) de otra manera by applying methodologies of affective conviviality with communities, sentipensando, and co‐authoring collective stories that weave pluriversal solidary networks within ecologies of praxes into colorful tapestries of liberation. These are the proposed coordinates to sketch pathways toward decoloniality. Key points: Committing to work with Indigenous communities means making community psychologies otherwise.This paper describes legacies and contributions from community psychologies in Abya Yala, epistemologies from the Global South, Indigenous psychologies, and feminist contributions.Decolonial community psychologies are co‐created with sentipensar, and affective conviviality.Building webs of solidarity with communities' struggles, sustaining their cosmovisions, and co‐authoring stories that delink from western‐centric ideologies within pluriversal ecologies of praxes.These are the proposed coordinates to co‐construct decolonial community psychologies to promote collective wellbeing that includes the rights of the Earth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Deepen and refine our understanding of workforce development across multiple settings and sectorsProvide a conceptual model of interactive ecological factors that influence professional developmentSuggest a framework for further scholarship on workforce best practices in low‐resource communities The professionals and paraprofessionals who work daily with youth in low‐resource, marginalized communities are integral to youth wellbeing; yet, their professional development, and the factors that promote it, are not well understood. In this introduction to the special issue, Understanding and Strengthening the Child‐ and Youth‐Serving Workforce in Low‐Resource Communities, we focus on understudied practitioners operating in an array of sectors and settings, such as home visitors, mental health paraprofessionals, early childhood assistant teachers, teachers in low‐income countries, school resource officers, juvenile justice staff, and after‐school and community‐based program workers. We put forward a conceptual model detailing the interactive, layered set of proximal‐to‐distal ecological factors that influence the practice and professional development of these workers, and show how papers in the current issue address these layers in their examination of workforce development. We conclude with a summary of the contributions and lessons from this work – including the value of a whole‐person approach, the importance of sharing process across research stages, and the need to build on the foundation provided by community psychology and implementation science – toward the twin goals of understanding and building the skills and strengths of the workforce, and ultimately, enhancing youth development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychology is grounded in the ethical principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence, that is, "do no harm." Yet many have argued that psychology as a field is attached to carceral systems and ideologies that uphold the prison industrial complex (PIC), including the field of community psychology (CP). There have been recent calls in other areas of psychology to transform the discipline into an abolitionist social science, but this discourse is nascent in CP. This paper uses the semantic device of "algorithms" (e.g., conventions to guide thinking and decision‐making) to identify the areas of alignment and misalignment between abolition and CP in the service of moving us toward greater alignment. The authors propose that many in CP are already oriented to abolition because of our values and theories of empowerment, promotion, and systems change; our areas of misalignment between abolition and CP hold the potential to evolve. We conclude with proposing implications for the field of CP, including commitments to the belief that (1) the PIC cannot be reformed, and (2) abolition must be aligned with other transnational liberation efforts (e.g., decolonization). Highlights: The prison industrial complex (PIC) is a White supremacist system of violence that needs to be abolished.PIC abolition would replace systems of punishment and control with care and accountability.Community psychology (CP) and abolition are aligned in commitments to social justice and systems change.CP and abolition have misalignments, but they can be shifted.Aligning with abolition will help CP follow the "decolonial turn" for which many are calling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When White people are predominantly in power and the discipline has yet to grapple with its own involvement in oppressive and racist ideologies, the concept of empowerment has the potential of being misused, or worse, abused. This is my experience and observation within Community Psychology (CP). In this paper, I interrogate the history of CP, especially the interplay of colonized knowledge production practices and the concept of empowerment, and uncover the use and abuse of well‐meaning community psychological principles by scholars and leaders without the critical racial awareness to apply them to communities to which they do not belong. Lastly, I offer a "slash and burn" approach to starting over. Highlights: The concept of empowerment has been misused and abused to support white supremacy.Community Psych was created by White people, for White people, to indoctrinate people of Color.Community Psychology and Society for Community Research and Action has a legacy of weaponizing empowerment and defensive gaslighting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this virtual special issue, a set of 26 papers previously published in the American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP), focused on self‐help/mutual aid groups (SH/MAGs), are being curated given their significant impact in this domain. SH/MAGs constitute an important component of the community psychology's proposal to address various psychosocial and health problems. The American Journal of Community Psychology has played an important role in exploring the characteristics of self‐help/mutual aid groups in various fields. These articles cover important areas of the study of self‐help/mutual‐aid groups. More specifically, the selected articles address issues such as the definition and key characteristics of self‐help/mutual aid groups, the main fields that are applied, such as mental health, addictions, and disabilities. The article also addresses important issues such as the place of self‐help/mutual aid groups in health systems, the experiential knowledge generated within these groups and the relationship of health professionals with these groups. The aim is this VSI to contribute to contemporary discussion on self‐help/mutual aid groups, their challenges, and their perspectives and to highlight the crucial role that community psychology has in this field. Highlights: The crucial contribution of self‐help/mutual aid groups in addressing human problems.Community psychology as a discipline enables our understanding about self‐help/mutual aid groups.Participatory action research and self‐help/mutual aid groups: a close relationship.The importance of self‐help/mutual aid groups in the field of addictions.Challenges and perspectives for self‐help/mutual aid groups in the 21st century and the role of community psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community psychology involves several dialectics between potentially opposing ideals, such as theory and practice, rights and needs, and respect for human diversity and sense of community. Some recent papers in the American Journal of Community Psychology have examined the diversity-community dialectic, some with the aid of agent-based modeling and concepts from network science. This paper further elucidates these concepts and suggests that research in community psychology can benefit from a useful dialectic between agent-based modeling and the real-world concerns of community psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Embodied approach to decoloniality by Indigenizing curriculum and pedagogy in community psychologyHow Indigenous pedagogies may be enacted using protocols &ethics, talking circles, stories, and landFramework for decolonizing and Indigenizing curriculum Decolonizing may be conceptualized through the interconnected processes of deconstructing colonial ideologies and their manifestations, and reconstructing colonial discourse through Indigenous counter'narratives. Given that the field of psychology is firmly rooted in colonial systems of thought, it is integral that professionals in psychology and allied disciplines engage in meaningful, beneficial work with Indigenous communities through actively decolonizing and Indigenizing research, practice, and education. This paper illustrates an embodied approach to decoloniality through Indigenizing curriculum and pedagogy in community psychology and allied fields. Drawing on both Indigenous research and experience, the author presents a framework for decolonizing and Indigenizing curriculum through: (a) deconstructing what is not working in service provision with Indigenous communities; (b) restor(y)ing colonial narratives through community'based Indigenous perspectives that highlight the importance of love, good relationships, Indigenous knowledge, local approaches to wellness, responsibility, identity/belonging, and the land/earth in community wellness; and (c) how Indigenous best practices may be engaged through community'based processes and transformations. The author then discusses how Indigenous pedagogies may be enacted using Indigenous protocols and ethics, talking circles, storytelling, and land'based pedagogies. The paper concludes with the author's reflections on the challenges and rewards of decolonizing and Indigenizing in conventional postsecondary educational systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: An example of decolonial pedagogy connected to community psychology values.Illustrates the potential outcome of praxis assignments connected to social justice.An example of how class projects can raise student awareness and activism. This article explores how decolonial pedagogy can develop a sense of student activism (Portillo, 2013; Tejada & Espinoza, 2003; Villanueva, 2013). Decolonality in the classroom requires decentering dominant groups to make space for marginalized voices and experiences (Cruz & Sonn, 2011). Aligned with community psychology values (Amer, Mohammed, & Ganzon, 2013), this paper argues for the importance of employing decolonial pedagogy in undergraduate learning through praxis projects. Centering the analysis on one college course in United States, the author showcases how a large‐scale class project can engage students in decolonial thinking and foster an interest in social action. The Practical Activism Project, a 45 student collaborative project, explores how class projects can work to decolonize the classroom environment and further push students toward social action and activism. Co‐authored with some undergraduate students from this course, this article will examine how decolonizing‐informed class projects can lead to campus activism that has spearheaded institutional change for marginalized students. Integrating both perspectives, the authors conclude with lessons learned from this project and advice for future educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A decolonizing standpoint in community psychology is discussed in relation to the Family Portrait Assignment—a pedagogical tool developed and implemented to facilitate white students' decolonial thinking. The Family Portrait Assignment contributes to the limited of decolonial pedagogical tools in community psychology. Through a critical discourse analysis of student's essays, I discuss how decolonial thinking, including a critical sociohistorical examination of colonialism, racism and whiteness, was facilitated. Decoloniality as the disruption of white innocence, an ideological construct embedded within systems of power that sustain structures of whiteness, guides the analysis of student's essays. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the Family Portrait Assignment facilitated white student's decolonial thinking, specifically their process of engaging with and disrupting white innocence. A discussion of decoloniality in community psychology pedagogy, theory, research and action concludes this paper. Highlights: A decolonizing standpoint in community psychology is discussed.A pedagogical tool developed to facilitate white students' decolonial thinking is explained.Decoloniality as the disruption of white innocence is also discussed through the pedagogical tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intellectual legacy of Seymour Sarason continues to serve as a critical resource for the field of community psychology. The present paper draws on one of Sarason's favorite aphorisms and two of his seminal writings to suggest the relevance of ideas articulated 35-40 years ago for the current time. Each in their own way highlights the importance of unearthing and interrogating core assumptions underlying our research and our efforts to make a positive difference. The aphorism reminds us that the rhetoric of change is far easier to articulate than to enact and all too often ignores or disguises issues of power among actors. The 'misdirection' of Psychology reflected his assertion that the asocial, acultural, and ahistorical nature of American Psychology reflected American culture more generally and ill prepared it to understand and engage in social change, particularly with respect to educational reform. The 'anarchist insight' articulated his belief in interrogating the implications of the increasingly interdependent relationship of science and the state for the autonomy of scientists and scientific inquiry. The evidence-based practice movement is offered as an example of the current day relevance of the aphorism and core insights of these two papers. The paper concludes with a plea to rekindle the discussion and continued examination of Sarason's paradigmatic insights for the intellectual and social development of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased proportion of juvenile court‐involved girls has spurred interest to implement and evaluate services to reduce girls' system involvement. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a family‐based intervention by using a dominant sequential mixed methods evaluation approach. First, we examined quantitative data using a quasi‐experimental design to determine whether the family‐based intervention reduced recidivism among court‐involved girls. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to construct statistically equivalent groups to compare one‐year recidivism outcomes for girls who received the court‐run family‐based intervention (n = 181) to a group of girls on probation who did not receive the intervention (n = 803). Qualitative interviews (n = 39) were conducted to contextualize the quantitative findings and highlighted the circumstances that family‐focused interventions for court‐involved girls. Girls who received the program had slightly lower recidivism rates following the intervention. The qualitative findings contextualized the quasi‐experimental results by providing an explanation as to the girls' family circumstances and insights into the mechanisms of the intervention. Results highlighted the importance of family‐focused interventions for juvenile justice‐involved girls. These findings have practical and policy implications for the use interventions—beyond the individual level—with adjudicated girls and offer suggestions for ways to improve their effectiveness using a community psychology lens. In addition, this paper includes a discussion of evaluating of juvenile court programming from a community psychology perspective including strengths, challenges, and considerations for future work in this area. Highlights: There is limited research on the effectiveness of interventions for legal system‐involved girls.Quantitative data revealed girls who received the family intervention had slightly lower recidivism.Qualitative results contextualized the family environment and intervention mechanisms.Moving forward it is important to develop legal interventions that move beyond the individual‐level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the experiences of a research team as they navigated uncertain ethical and political terrain throughout the formative stage of a public housing redevelopment project. Specifically, we discuss the challenges related to balancing multiple accountabilities and the tensions among the various roles and responsibilities that emanated from different accountabilities. Due to contractual obligations to our funding source, established relations with community partners, and an ethical imperative to align with those holding the least power, we grappled with embodying multiple and often conflicting roles. Without oversight provided by our university institutional review board or a clear ethical framework for community psychology research and action, our team was left to negotiate the challenges that emerged through critical reflection and financial considerations. Throughout the case example presented in this paper, we highlight our difficulty in ethical decision-making with respect to the principles of obligation, disclosure, consent, commitment, and professionalism. Community psychologists often straddle the realms of academia, community partnerships, and conscious engagement with little guidance in navigating often conflicting roles and value systems. We present our narrative to highlight the complexity of scholar-activism in the context of community psychology and the necessity for developing ethical standards and guidelines tailored to meet the unique needs of community psychologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past couple of years, a debate has played out in the pages of the American Journal of Community Psychology concerning the relationship between two of Community Psychology's core values: promoting diversity and promoting a sense of community. This special section is to continue a discussion about diversity and community, both among the debate's initial contributors (Alex Stivala, Greg Townley, and Zachary Neal), as well as among others whose own work has touched on these issues (Anne Brodsky, Richard Florida, Jean Hill, and Roderick Watts). In this essay, I address some broad questions that have emerged through this discussion. First, because much has been written on the relationship between diversity and community, both in community psychology and in other disciplines, what do we know, or at least think we know? Second, since the constructs of diversity and sense of community are complex and multi-faceted, how can definitions get in the way and how can we avoid talking past one another in this discussion? Finally, looking across the original papers that initiated this discussion, as well as the contributions in this special section, what path(s) forward do we have? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agitation, as deployed by the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), occurs when imaginations and curiosities are piqued, and self-interest is made visible. In this framework, agitation is a step in creating change. In this paper, I outline two agitations within US-based community psychology. I then describe a third agitation that is underway; I add my voice and call for a methodology of diffraction as a contribution to critical reflexivity practices within US-based community psychology. Consistent with the IAF framework, I do not provide solutions. I write this paper as a provocation to help us think imaginatively and creatively about our actions and future, so that we can consider the paradigm shifts needed to move into critical ways of understanding connection, responsibility, accountability, and creating change--of interest during Swampscott and today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 50 years since the 1965 Swampscott conference, the field of community psychology has not yet developed a well-articulated ethical framework to guide research and practice. This paper reviews what constitutes an "ethical framework"; considers where the field of community psychology is at in its development of a comprehensive ethical framework; examines sources for ethical guidance (i.e., ethical principles and standards) across multiple disciplines, including psychology, evaluation, sociology, and anthropology; and recommends strategies for developing a rich written discourse on how community psychology researchers and practitioners can address ethical conflicts in our work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Comprehensively reviews the impact of social support on community integrationResponds to the call to reengage in community mental health research from special issue of AJCPEmphasizes the importance of social support and community integration for individuals with serious mental illnesses Community integration has emerged as a priority area among mental health advocates, policy makers, and researchers (Townley, Miller, & Kloos, 2013; Ware, Hopper, Tugenberg, Dickey, & Fisher, 2007). Past research suggests that social support influences community integration for individuals with serious mental illnesses (Davidson, Haglund, Stayner, Rakfeldt, Chinman, & Tebes, 2001; Davidson, Stayner, Nickou, Styron, Rowe, & Chinman, 2001; Wong & Solomon, 2002), but there has not yet been a systematic review on this topic. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to explore the influence of social support on community integration through a review of the existing literature. An extensive literature search was conducted, resulting in 32 articles that met the search criteria. These articles were organized into three categories: defining community integration, supportive relationships, and mental health services. The search results are analyzed according to the types of support being provided. Article strengths, limitations, implications, and future directions are also addressed. Overall, the findings of this review suggest that social support, which may be provided by a variety of individuals and services, plays an important role in promoting community integration for individuals with serious mental illnesses. Therefore, as community mental health research and practice continues to promote community integration for individuals with serious mental illnesses, the mental health field should emphasize the importance of social support as a key factor influencing community integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Furthermore, while early ideas of community psychology emerged from interests in the application of clinical psychology (Levine & Perkins, [25]), the field of community psychology today spans an increasingly diverse range of "psychology" topics, as well as to a plurality of issues of relevance to "communities." Chung-Do et al. ([3]) describe the development and maintenance of a long-term community-academic partnership in support of Native Hawaiian community well-being in "Waimanalo Pono Research: A Community-Academic Partnership to Promote Native Hawaiian Wellness through Culturally-Grounded and Community-Driven Research and Programming." Fraser et al. ([12]) tackle questions of decolonization and community mobilization from a different side of the coin - they and their community partners turn the investigative eye onto themselves using ethnographic and qualitative methods to evaluate the processes of community mobilization. Through this special issue, we have sought to bring to light innovations in community science stemming from collaborative inquiry with Indigenous communities, as well as clarify the ways in which community action and inquiry are relevant to Indigenous peoples. [Extracted from the article]

Highlights: We outline the understudied challenges and needs of the Youth Residential Facility (YRF) workforce.Integrating trauma‐informed care and settings theory, we describe YRFs as trauma‐organized settings.We critique the person‐mediated emphasis of current trauma‐informed approaches.We make recommendations to shift problematic YRF regularities by focusing on safety, relationships, and YRF workforce well‐being. Each year approximately 48,000 youth are incarcerated in residential placement facilities (YRFs) in the United States. The limited existing literature addressing the workforce in these settings paints a complicated picture. The YRF workforce is highly motivated to work with legal system involved youth. However, YRF staff report high rates of burnout, job fatigue, and work‐related stress. The current paper proposes solutions to persistent problems faced by staff in these settings by integrating literature from criminology, organizational psychology, trauma‐informed care, and community psychology. In doing so, we highlight previously overlooked aspects of intervention for trauma‐organized settings and respond to recent calls for community psychologists to take a more active role in the adaptation of trauma‐informed care in community settings. We conclude by advancing three recommendations, drawn from setting‐level theory and inspired by the principles of trauma‐informed care, to transform YRFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community psychology has long stood as a social justice agitator that encouraged reformation both within and outside of the academy, while keeping a firm goal of building greater well‐being for people in communities. However, community psychology's historically Euro‐centric orientation and applied, interventionist focus may inadvertently promote colonial agendas. In this paper, we focus on the example of Indigenous Pacific peoples, drawing upon experience working among Indigenous iTaukei Fijian communities and with Indigenous frameworks for promoting student success in Aotearoa New Zealand and Canada. We outline how community psychology curricula can strive toward decolonization by (a) teaching students to respectfully navigate complexities of Indigenous knowledge and traditions that contest colonial ways of being and doing, (b) act as facilitators who build toward collaborative community projects and model this research practice to students, and (c) boost Indigenous student success by fostering relationships with instructors and fellow students that are embedded within the relational model of self that is often absent in individualistic‐oriented Western academic settings. Highlights: Examples of work toward decolonizing via indigenizing through work with Pacific peoples. Examples of teaching and research practice in Aotearoa New Zealand and Turtle Island Canada. Suggest pedagogy challenging colonial narratives, responsive research, and indigenous student support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community psychology's history has traditionally been described within the context of U.S. history, silencing contributions from people of color from the Americas, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Africa. In a MA/PhD specialization in Community Psychology, Liberation Psychology, Indigenous Psychologies, and Ecopsychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, we are attempting to steer into critical dialogues about modernity, coloniality, and decoloniality, closely examining our curriculum and pedagogy, including our approaches to fieldwork and research. Turning to Indigenous psychologists, decolonial and critical race theorists, and cultural workers within the U.S. and from the Global South, we are attempting to challenge coloniality in the social sciences, community psychology, and in our own thinking and teaching to unmask hegemonic assumptions and open space for decolonial theory and practice. In this paper, we explore ways in which we are working with our graduate students and faculty to co‐construct a decolonial curriculum that integrates decoloniality so that knowledges from historically silenced locations, as well as anti‐racist and other decolonial praxes can co‐exist and thrive. Highlights: Critical community psychology educators must confront injustice. Injustice in the forms of colonialism, neoliberal globalization, coloniality, and capitalism. Developing decoloniality in education requires clarity of intention and critical dialogue. Key is solidarity with those who live and practice decolonial forms of resistance. Doctoral education is a paradox, accompanying communities with humility as we move toward justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a way to theorize and practice Decoloniality in teaching and learning within higher education. Two social work academics develop a framework for teaching about decoloniality which they hope is useful for other academics from different "helping" professions who also work with First Nations peoples. Rather than a fixed and firm framework it is intended to be used to inform practice and assist students in developing their own framework for practice. The article begins by offering how the authors define decoloniality, then presents a theory for practice/practice to theory framework and explanation of how we use this framework for teaching/learning and practice. Highlights: Decolonial practices in teaching and learning in higher education.Embedding indigneous ways of doing, being, and knowing in Social Work Curriculum.Decolonial theory in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we discuss the ongoing colonial relationship between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous peoples in Canada with a consideration of how to align the principles and core values of community psychology in relation to Indigenous rights, decolonization, and social justice. In working with Community Psychology values to address issues of social justice it is necessary to recognize that empowerment alone is only one half of the solution. While our discipline focuses on oppression and the empowerment of vulnerable and disenfranchised populations we generally fail to consider the relational aspects of power and justice. Specifically, in recognizing power inequities the focus is often placed on empowerment among vulnerable or subjugated communities while neglecting the requisite counterbalance of consciousness‐raising and de‐powerment of dominant populations. The authors provide three personal accounts from a non‐Indigenous faculty member, an Indigenous doctoral student, and a recently graduated non‐Indigenous Masters student. We share our experiences of conscientization and decolonization within the post‐secondary and graduate education systems. We describe an educational context, a pedagogical praxis, and our efforts to bridge the theories of Settler colonialism and community psychology. From our individual and collective reflections of engagement with decolonization in the education system we present an emergent framework that highlights four principles for decolonization. In implementing these principles we discuss the co‐creation of safe(r), decolonized spaces within post‐secondary institutions through deconstructing dominant narratives and illuminating Indigenous narratives of self‐determination with attention to the de‐powerment of non‐Indigenous faculty and students. Highlights: Provides novel standpoint reflections on decolonization by Indigenous and non‐Indigenous authors.Contributes to critical scholarship on concepts of allyship and depowerment in Community Psychology.Offers four practice principles for decolonizing the academy and the Community Psychology classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The focus of this paper is to demonstrate how embodied subjectivities shape research experiences. Through an autoethnography of my involvement in a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) after‐school program with low‐income and working‐class youth of Color from predominantly Latinx communities I examined my embodied subjectivities, via an ethical reflective practice, as these surfaced in the research context. Autoethnography is presented as a tool to facilitate an ethical reflective practice that aligns with heart‐centered work. Drawing from an epistemology of a theory in the flesh (Anzaldúa & Moraga, 1981), embodied subjectivities are defined by the lived experiences felt and expressed through the body, identities, and positionalities of the researcher. The article concludes with implications for the development of community psychology competencies that attend to the researcher's embodied subjectivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community psychology recognizes the need for research methods that illuminate context, culture, diversity, and process. One such method, ethnography, has crossed into multiple disciplines from anthropology, and indeed, community psychologists are becoming community ethnographers. Ethnographic work stands at the intersection of bridging universal questions with the particularities of people and groups bounded in time, geographic location, and social location. Ethnography is thus historical and deeply contextual, enabling a rich, in-depth understanding of communities that is aligned with the values and goals of community psychology. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the potential of ethnography for community psychology and to encourage its use within the field as a method to capture culture and context, to document process, and to reveal how social change and action occur within and through communities. We discuss the method of ethnography, draw connections to community psychology values and goals, and identify tensions from our experiences doing ethnography. Overall, we assert that ethnography is a method that resonates with community psychology and present this paper as a resource for those interested in using this method in their research or community activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Individuals with serious mental illness are at particularly high risk for trauma; however, service environments with which they interact may not always be trauma‐informed. While community mental health and other human services settings are moving toward trauma‐informed care (TIC) service delivery, a variety of TIC frameworks exist without consensus regarding operationalization, thereby leading to challenges in implementation. TIC is principle‐driven and presents substantial overlap with community psychology values and competencies, including ecological frameworks, second‐order change, empowerment, and citizen participation. One way to address barriers to TIC implementation is to draw on the strengths of the field of community psychology. With a particular emphasis on the applicability of TIC to individuals with serious mental illness, this paper identifies key implementation issues and recommends future directions for community psychologists in clarifying the service framework, its adaptation to specific service contexts, and improving delivery through consultation and evaluation. Community psychologists may work with various disciplines involved in the TIC field to together promote a more conscious, actionable shift in service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper provides a critical reflection on participatory action research (PAR) methods as they pertain to community psychology. Following a brief review of the fundamental aspects of PAR, key developments in the field are examined. These developments include the redefinition of the research enterprise among groups such as Indigenous and consumer/survivor communities, challenges that attend the “project” framing of PAR, academic and practice context challenges, and important domains in which PAR methods need to become more engaged (e.g., social media and disenfranchised youth). Three illustrative case studies of programs of work in the areas of youth homelessness, consumer/survivor engagement, and Indigenous research are provided to illustrate these contemporary challenges and opportunities in the field. The authors make the argument that without an effort to reconsider and redefine PAR, moving away from the stereotypical PAR “project” frame, these methods will continue to be poorly represented and underutilized in community psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine historical and conceptual literature in community psychology in order to understand the field's potential to be the socially transformative subdiscipline of psychology to which it aspires. By reviewing papers from two prominent journals and other literature, we conclude that the claim that community psychology is well-suited to social transformation, because it is a product of Sixties' radicalism and is theoretically equipped, is untenable. Systematic accounts of the subdiscipline's origins suggest that the transformative aspirations of current community psychologists do not correspond to the subdiscipline's reformist past. Furthermore, in analyzing three related concepts currently employed in the field-social justice, power, and praxis-we show that each suffers from conceptual ambiguity and a restricted political scope. These conceptual flaws, coupled with community psychology's historical inclination toward social reform, inhibit the possibility of contributing to radical social transformation. We conclude that neither questionable historical claims nor ambiguous and politically dubious concepts support a community psychology of social transformation. We offer solutions for the historical and conceptual problems we identify and, as a broader solution to the problem of engaging in socially transformative work, propose that community psychologists should seek direct political engagement in solidarity with other citizens as fellow citizens not as psychologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I describe a community psychology perspective on acculturation and adjustment of immigrants and refugees and suggest that this field of acculturation research has in turn something to offer heuristically as we consider our identity and training for future generations of community psychologists over the next 50 years. I suggest that honoring our heritage, maintaining our disciplinary identity as community psychologists, and sustaining doctoral programs that offer training specific to community psychology are crucial for our survival as a field and is not antithetical to, and is indeed necessary for, interdisciplinary collaborations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the authors discussed the nexus between the Americans with Disabilities Act and the founding of the field of Community Psychology. Contributions of the latter and future areas of research are reviewed here in three areas of importance to both fields: Community living and participation, employment, and transition from high school. Community psychology can make potential contributions to advancing research in these three areas. Implications for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I offer reflections as someone from outside the United States about the Swampscott conference. I refer to Fryer and Fox's (The Community Psychologist, 24, 2014, 1) critique of the "Swampscott discourse" and its role in fixing the birthplace of community psychology. While the critique is important, I note the growing references to international community psychology and the need to view the discipline as a product of social political realities in different contexts, as well as dynamics of dominance and marginality in knowledge production in psychology. The work in the Global South presents opportunities to contribute to developing a decolonizing community psychology through expanding the ecology of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community psychology is expressly concerned with social justice. Such concern necessitates attention to race. Yet, nearly absent from the field's literature is explicit and critical attention to whiteness. Thus, community psychology's contribution to promoting social justice remains incomplete. In this article, we examine how a critical construction of whiteness can be useful for community research and action. After a brief history of the construction of whiteness in the United States, and a summary of key insights from critical whiteness studies, we present a scoping review of the nascent body of community psychology literature that addresses whiteness. That work implicates whiteness in the emergence of the field itself, frames whiteness as social location, problematizes whiteness, addresses White supremacy and institutional racism, interrogates White privilege, and employs whiteness as a theoretical standpoint. We conclude with three propositions for scholars to broker the relationship between community psychology and critical whiteness studies: (a) community psychology should become more critically conscious of whiteness, (b) community psychologists should promote critical awareness of the ways that whiteness operates as a complex system, and (c) greater critical awareness of whiteness should be applied to the development of multilevel interventions aimed at dismantling whiteness as a system of domination. Highlights: Critical evaluation of whiteness is virtually absent from community psychology literature.Other fields provide more comprehensive frameworks for interrogating whiteness.Incorporating whiteness into liberation frameworks would advance the study of social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of social capital is becoming increasingly common in community psychology and elsewhere. However, the multiple conceptual and operational definitions of social capital challenge its utility as a theoretical tool. The goals of this paper are to clarify two forms of social capital (bridging and bonding), explicitly link them to the structural characteristics of small world networks, and explore the behavioral and ecological prerequisites of its formation. First, I use the tools of network science and specifically the concept of small-world networks to clarify what patterns of social relationships are likely to facilitate social capital formation. Second, I use an agent-based model to explore how different ecological characteristics (diversity and segregation) and behavioral tendencies (homophily and proximity) impact communities' potential for developing social capital. The results suggest diverse communities have the greatest potential to develop community social capital, and that segregation moderates the effects that the behavioral tendencies of homophily and proximity have on community social capital. The discussion highlights how these findings provide community-based researchers with both a deeper understanding of the contextual constraints with which they must contend, and a useful tool for targeting their efforts in communities with the greatest need or greatest potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This narrative describes a series of 15 short-term public art projects that were part of a program for women and girls in Lowell, Massachusetts, a mid-size city in the United States. The projects were designed to give public space to women's stories and perspectives by exhibiting their creative art in response to suggested themes. A few thousand women and girls representing diverse age and cultural groups created art based on their lived experiences. The organizers of the program met people in comfortable settings, tailored their art-making approaches to particular groups, and used inclusive processes in developing and executing the program. Program successes and challenges were related to the organizational structure of the art projects, the annual themes and art media, the extent of outreach and support, the process of creation, and the impact of art exhibits. Using community psychology and feminist frameworks, authors reflect on the projects and their relevance across contexts, highlight key organizing strategies, and identify ways the project represents community psychology in action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the March 2014 issue of American Journal of Community Psychology, we published an article that examined the tension between two core values in the field of community psychology: promoting contextual conditions that foster respect for diversity and promoting contextual conditions that foster sense of community. We concluded that processes of social network formation could help explain why diversity and sense of community are seemingly incompatible goals. The study's findings initially disseminated through the usual academic channels, and later through mainstream media outlets. However, they also eventually appeared on blogs and discussion forums devoted to white nationalism. The findings were viewed there as having demonstrated the evils of diversity, and thus having vindicated the white nationalist agenda. As a result, we were forced to consider whether and how to set the record straight. In this first-person narrative, we describe our study's journey from AJCP to white nationalist blogs, discussing how we ultimately responded to the situation, and concluding with some lessons learned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a special issue of the American Journal of Community Psychology that features racial reckoning, resistance and the revolution in the context of a syndemic, the historical subjugation of communities of Color (COC) to racial hierarchies and the coronavirus (COVID‐19). More specifically, this special issue underscores the need for community psychology and other allied disciplines to address this syndemic facing COC. The special issue delivers on the stories of the lived experiences from researchers and community members as it relates to COVID‐19 and COC. Twelve articles are illuminated to challenge the field to create social change. Highlights: This special issue represents an array of voices to answer the call: reckoning, resistance, and revolution as an important endeavor for the field of community psychology.The articles included in this special issue underscore the need for community psychologists to work together with other allied fields to proactively, and strategically center the experiences of communities of Color to understand how different groups have navigated COVID‐19.As we begin 2023 and our communities continue to navigate the effects of COVID‐19 and the work that has been done around issues of racial reckoning, this special issue is an important contribution to the field because it allows community psychologists across the country and internationally to critically analyze, learn and propose interventions that can address more comprehensively and appropriately to better the mental health outcomes of communities of Color, disenfranchised and marginalized groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A first‐person narrative essay is presented through a critically reflexive auto‐ethnography of a community psychologist's experiences as a member of the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) and (as of this writing) co‐chair of the Cultural, Ethnic and Racial Affairs council. Through this methodological orientation, an analysis of some of the discourses that circulated within the SCRA listserv in relation to the murder of Mr. George Floyd, and amidst an ensuing pandemic are analyzed and discussed in relation to Anzaldúa's seven stages of conocimiento. The intentions that guide and ground this first‐person account are to animate deeper reflection, accountability, and solidarity‐in‐action, as well as an organizational shift in the culture of the SCRA. Guided by a set of questions—What accounts for the organizational silences within the SCRA? How did the SCRA respond or engage with the murder of Mr. Floyd, anti‐Blackness, Black Lives Matter, and related racial justice efforts?—the purpose is to turn a critical social analysis gaze to the SCRA in order to align its purpose, values, and mission with liberation and a decolonial feminist praxis. Anzaldúa's seven‐stage framework of conocimiento is utilized to describe the possibilities for an organizational cultural shift in the SCRA that aligns with racial justice and liberatory decolonial feminist praxes. Highlights: A first‐person narrative essay is presented through a critically reflexive auto‐ethnography method.Anzaldúa's seven stages of conocimiento are used as a framework to contextualize the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) racial reckoning.Conocimiento is utilized to describe the possibilities of an organizational cultural shift in SCRA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to systemic racialized homophobia and transphobia, Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people continue to experience worse life outcomes in comparison to both their Black cisgender and heterosexual, and White LGBTQ+ counterparts. Community psychologists have the tools and training to address these disparities. Using a critical whiteness studies lens, we draw on qualitative data with 17 White LGBTQ+ people to describe how white supremacy manifests in LGBTQ+ spaces. Our research indicates White LGBTQ+ people want to create intersectional spaces but lack the necessary skills to effectively confront anti‐Black racism. This resulted in actions which upheld and reinforced white supremacy, despite stated commitments to Black LGBTQ+ liberation. We conclude with recommendations for community psychologists, including engaging in intersectional coalition‐building, training centered around queer critical race theory, working to address racialized homophobia and transphobia alongside existing efforts to deconstruct anti‐Black racism within community psychology, and consciousness‐raising work with White people involved in LGBTQ+ equality movements to dismantle white supremacist structures within their organizations. Highlights: White lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ+) people simultaneously seek to dismantle and uphold white supremacy.Being LGBTQ+ was implicitly equated with being White.White LGBTQ+ people perceive anti‐Black racism as an interpersonal issue, not a structural problem.Community psychologists must address racialized homophobia and transphobia in antiracism work.Intersectional coalition‐building can facilitate liberation movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community psychology has long valued reflexive praxis as a critical part advancing our research and action. In this Virtual Special Issue (VSI), we, a group of community psychologists and gender‐based violence (GBV) researchers at many different points in our careers, reflected on GBV publications that have appeared in AJCP. We examine the ways in which community psychology broadly and articles in AJCP more specifically have conceptualized GBV as a sociocultural issue, how GBV intersects with other oppressions and forms of violence, the tension when systems that aspire to support survivors are inequitable and focused on ameliorative change, and the importance of interventions being locally informed and locally driven. By highlighting selected GBV‐focused articles published in AJCP, this VSI discusses (a) understanding and transforming culture via robust research and local partnerships, (b) targeting effective interventions for survivors, (c) invoking systems and targeting change in institutional environments, and (d) making connections between local efforts and broader social movements. To continue to move forward, we conclude we must reflect, embrace methodological plurality, partner, and push for structural change. Reflective questions regarding research and action are offered, to address gender‐based violence. Highlights: Community psychology conceptualizes gender‐based violence (GBV) as a sociocultural issue, targeting contextual factors.GBV intersects with other oppressions and forms of violence.Systems that aspire to support survivors are often inequitable and focused on ameliorative change.Interventions should be locally informed and locally driven.Reflective questions regarding research and action are offered, to address gender‐based violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars in the field of community psychology have called for more research dedicated to examining White privilege as part of a system of White supremacy in the United States. One branch of this work focuses on awareness of White privilege, yet to date, this research has typically investigated awareness of White privilege at individual levels of analysis instead of also focusing on neighborhoods, schools, and other levels of analysis beyond the individual. In this study, we combine survey and U.S. Census data to explore both individual‐ and community‐level predictors of White privilege awareness. With a sample of 1285 White college students, we found that gender, modern racism, social dominance orientation, and subjective socioeconomic status (SES) significantly predicted White privilege awareness. After accounting for these individual‐level variables, we found that characteristics of students' hometowns (defined by zip code) predicted White privilege awareness. Specifically, greater income inequality was associated with higher White privilege awareness, while greater White racial homogeneity was marginally associated with lower White privilege awareness. There was a significant interaction between community‐level White racial homogeneity and individual‐level subjective SES, such that students with high subjective SES and low White racial homogeneity had the highest White privilege awareness. This study highlights the importance of examining different facets of ecological context in relation to White Americans' racial attitudes. Highlights: Awareness of White privilege is associated with willingness to combat racism.Research shows gender, SES, and racial attitudes predict White privilege awareness (WPA).We merged survey responses with census data to test whether hometown variables also predict WPA.Income inequality predicted WPA and White racial homogeneity interacted with individual SES.Results show community variables are important for understanding White students' racial attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]