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In Canada, there is a lack of research that addresses the sexual health and well‐being of African, Caribbean, and Black young women. This paper aims to gather perspectives of young Black women to address the social contexts of how young Black women navigate issues related to sex and sexual health. Young Black women experience unique dynamics in navigating their sexualities and sexual healthcare. The nuanced experiences stem from social contexts with historical underpinnings, such as the perception of Black women's bodies, Black identity, gender roles, and sexual double standards. This Community‐Based Participatory Research study (N = 24) utilized focus groups to examine young Black women's experiences navigating sexual health. Employing a thematic analysis, participants identified four themes representing their narratives of navigating sexual health. The themes included the perceptions and hypersexuality of Black women's bodies, navigating sexual double standards and gender roles as Black women, diverse Blackness, and migration experiences concerning sexual health and surveillance of Black women's bodies. This paper is intended to add to scholarly discourse and will include practical strategies for use by researchers and community practitioners in sexual health within the Black community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a registered psychotherapist and art therapist, my clinical training was primarily based on North American clinical approaches influenced by traditional Euro and western‐centric clinical theories of human behavior. I completed my training feeling certain that traditional clinical mental health practices were not an appropriate fit for racialized communities and could have negative implications for their healing and well‐being. As clinicians, it is our moral obligation to support and enhance the quality of life for marginalized groups. We can do this by challenging our values and knowledge that have been defined and influenced by structures (i.e., education, training, etc.) embedded in these colonial teachings. For this paper, I used a heuristic self‐inquiry research method to investigate these concerns. I interviewed other racialized psychotherapists practicing in Turtle Island (currently mostly occupied by the political entities of Canada and the United States) with the aim to learn how and if decolonization can be used in therapy practice. With this research, I (1) identified a gap in care for racialized communities, (2) questioned if or how a decolonizing approach to care should be considered, (3) explored my discomfort with practitioners in the field that claim their position on decolonizing therapy, practice, and approaches, and lastly (4) propose other ways of knowing that can inform new ways of practicing therapy. The results of this research helped to problematize the language and use of decolonizing therapeutic practices while learning about other concepts that may be relevant yet distinct, such as principles of coloniality/decoloniality. Those of us, therapists or researchers, wanting to disrupt the current practice of therapy need to work together, share knowledge, and challenge each other, so that we can transform the way we practice as psychotherapists. This paper is my contribution to this conversation. Highlights: I interviewed racialized psychotherapists to learn how and if decolonization can be used in therapy.Traditional psychology can lead to ineffective mental health care for racialized communities.I propose other ways of knowing that can inform new therapy practices for racialized communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, atrocities against Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color's (BIWoC) reproductive rights have been committed and continue to take place in contemporary society. The atrocities against BIWoC have been fueled by White supremacy ideology of the "desirable race" and colonial views toward controlling poverty and population growth, particularly that of "undesirable" races and ethnicities. Grounded in Critical Race Theory, this paper aims to provide a critical analysis of historical and contemporary violations of BIWoC reproductive rights; discuss interventions based on empowerment and advocacy principles designed to promote women's reproductive justice; and discuss implications for future research, action, and policy from the lenses of Critical Race Theory and Community Psychology. This paper contributes to the special issue by critically analyzing historical and contemporary racism and colonialism against BIWoC, discussing implications for future research and practice, and making policy recommendations. Highlights: Historically, reproductive rights of Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color (BIWoC) have been violated and continue today.Atrocities against BIWoC have been fueled by White supremacy ideology of the "desirable race."Advocacy and empowerment interventions can support the reproductive rights of BIWoC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aboriginal Australians experience disproportionately high rates of mental health problems as the result of European colonisation, and Western evidence‐based treatment has been strikingly ineffective in improving the situation. Cultural Therapeutic Ways is a culturally specific healing and wellbeing practice framework developed by the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency that focuses on culturally based practices, trauma awareness, and self‐determination. Despite wide recognition of the importance of these elements in Indigenous healing and wellbeing programs, its measurable empirical impact is currently unclear. This paper summarises findings from a systematic scoping review to ascertain the published knowledge base for Cultural Therapeutic Ways and the gaps in knowledge that can inform future evaluation. Forty‐two studies of programs that applied Cultural Therapeutic Ways with Indigenous participants from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States of America were identified from the literature search. Services based on Cultural Therapeutic Ways contributed to healing and wellbeing because they create safety, strengthen cultural connections, develop empowerment and provide opportunities to release emotion, and increase social and spiritual support. As the review set out to determine the published evidence base for Cultural Therapeutic Ways, other effective approaches may have been overlooked. To develop the evidence base for Cultural Therapeutic Ways, service design must clearly describe target groups, whether the program is delivered by Aboriginal people, the processes of Cultural Therapeutic Ways utilised in service delivery, and how they are blended with Western approaches. Research efforts could also productively be focused on identifying or constructing culturally appropriate outcome measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighborhoods are one of the key determinants of health disparities among young people in the United States. While neighborhood deprivation can exacerbate health disparities, amenities such as quality parks and greenspace can support adolescent health. Existing conceptual frameworks of greening‐health largely focus on greenspace exposures, rather than greening interventions. In this paper, we develop and propose a Greening Theory of Change that explains how greening initiatives might affect adolescent health in deprived neighborhoods. The theory situates greening activities and possible mechanisms of change in the context of their ability to modify distal social determinants of health factors, stemming from macrostructural and historical processes that lead to resource inequalities, affecting both the social and built environment in which adolescents live and develop. The framework illustrates both short‐ and long‐term health, economic, and security effects of greening. We also describe how the theory informed the development of Project VITAL (Vacant lot Improvement to Transform Adolescent Lives) in Baltimore, MD, which aims to (1) build a citywide sharable database on vacant lot restoration activities, (2) evaluate the impact of greening initiatives on adolescent health outcomes, (3) conduct cost‐effectiveness analyses, and (4) develop best practices for greening programs for improved adolescent health. Highlights: Current greenspace‐health frameworks largely address greenspace instead of greening.Greening activities that engage social determinants of health might reduce adolescent health disparities.Our Greening Theory of Change informed study design for Project VITAL (Vacant lot Improvement to Transform Adolescent Lives). [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]

The epistemologies generated from colonized spaces such as Latin America and the Caribbean have been excluded from the dominant Euro‐ and US‐centric discourses of community psychology. Modern science is compartmentalized into disciplines forming silos and boundaries among them. Historically, psychology has been authored by European or North American White men, claiming superior expertise as detached researchers who study, analyze, interpret, and represent the inferior objects of study. Therefore, we should ask: what type of knowledges does psychology generate, with whom, and for what? Our praxis constitutes a political act which should question and challenge coloniality. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we became increasingly aware of the importance of generating knowledges about the communal (lo común) based on the experiences of Indigenous people in the Americas. Epistemologies from Abya Yala delink from the hegemonic, US‐Eurocentric paradigms and address the structural violence of the neoliberal system. To co‐create an inclusive and pluriversal discipline of psychology, we need to disrupt the linguistic colonization executed by the imposition of the English language legitimized as universal. We ought to convey the many examples of epistemologies and praxes from Abya Yala that contribute to the co‐construction of decolonial psychologies emerging from their own localities and cultures. We propose counterepistemologies that disrupt a monocultural, monolingustic, universal, and hegemonic epistemology. This paper reviews selected decolonial contributions from Abya Yala and sketches pathways toward the making of decolonial community psychologies anchored in pluriversal ecologies of knowledges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary manifestations of race are dynamic and elusive in the forms and shapes they take. "Colourblind" racism is effective at drawing on seemingly objective and race‐neutral discourses to obfuscate racialized forms of structural exclusion. Framed by Critical Race Theory and Critical Narrative Analysis this paper presents an example from the Australian context that examines the relationships between a grassroots initiative developed by creatives from the African diaspora and two not‐for‐profit human services organizations, to illustrate how ideologies of race are enacted and obscured by managerialist ideologies and discourses of risk. Specifically, it shows how harmful dominant cultural narratives of deficit and danger transforms racialized Africans in Australia into "risky subjects." In a managerialist organization, risk must be controlled, and thus risk becomes the rationality for the control of racialized and risky subjects. Resistance to control by those subjects produces forms of organizational defensiveness that are mobilized through managerialist discourses and practices that work to structurally exclude. These findings illustrate the ways ideologies of race work alongside and through other ideological discourses and practices which render racialized dynamics of oppression race‐neutral. Highlights: Contemporary and color‐blind manifestations of racism are evasive.Ideologies of race are obscured by discourses of risk.Risk discourses contribute to racialized forms of control and structural exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine citizenship crisis in the Northeast Indian state of Assam through the lenses of structural and cultural violence. In 2019, close to two million people in Assam were disenfranchised by updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The vast majority of those disenfranchised are Miya people who have been subjected to legacies of persecution and violence since the early 19th century during British colonial rule. We map the contours of the citizenship crisis by centering the struggles of Miya communities who are most deeply impacted by violent citizenship regimes. Using a structural and cultural violence lens, we elucidate the linkages between colonial histories, (post)colonial policies, and institutional practices on the one hand and Miya people's everyday struggles on the other. Across these analyses, we demonstrate how current citizenship regimes operate as a form of state‐sanctioned violence against Miya people. The implications of these analyses for rethinking contemporary notions of citizenship and belonging for community‐engaged scholarship are discussed. Highlights: We examine citizenship crisis in Assam by centering struggles of Miya people who are most impacted.We use a structural and cultural violence lens to understand the citizenship crisis in Assam.Citizenship regimes can operate as a form of state‐sanctioned violence.We need to rethink citizenship and belonging beyond the normativity of modern nation‐state borders. [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]

Scholarship on girlhood—especially for girls of Color—is often relegated to studying risk and emphasizing individual deficits over humanizing girls and centering their voices. This approach to generating scholarship renders oppressive systems and processes invisible from inquiry and unaddressed by practice, with particularly insidious consequences for youth in the legal system. Critical youth participatory action research (YPAR) is acknowledged as an antidote to these conceptualizations because it resists deficit‐oriented narratives circling systems‐impacted youth by inviting them to the knowledge‐generating table. In this paper, we present an empirical analysis of the promises and perils that emerged as we conducted a year‐long critical YPAR project alongside five system‐impacted girls of Color. Our thematic analysis of process notes (30 meetings, 120 h) documents the stories posited by girls, in a democratized space, about the injustices of interconnected institutions, and unearths a complicated tension for both youth and adult coresearchers around the promises and perils of engaging in YPAR within the academy. These findings underscore the importance of using intersectional, collaborative research to challenge perceptions around how we legitimize knowledge. We describe lessons learned in conducting YPAR in academic settings and highlight recommendations to grow youth–adult partnerships within oppressive systems to share power. Highlights: Critical YPAR is heralded as a liberatory epistemology for social justice committed research. We conducted critical YPAR with system‐impacted girls of Color. We synthesize the promises and perils of critical YPAR in a research‐intensive university setting. We name the limits inherent in imperial logics and structures between academia and legal systems. Recommendations focus on structural changes at the nexus of academia and other systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the midst of recent protests and antiracism movements following the death of George Floyd in May of 2020 and other Black, Indigenous, and people of Color (BIPOC) murdered in the United States by police violence, protestors and advocates around the world recognized the need for Western governments and other institutions to reckon with their own imperial history—to acknowledge the linkage between the slave trade, colonialism, and racism in their countries. This recognition led to the tearing down of statues depicting racist colonial leaders and calling for museums who have perpetuated imperialism and racism through their acceptance and display of looted artifacts to return them. This article sought to answer the question posed in the call for papers, can the many manifestations of racism be effectively dealt with in our society if the status quo is unwilling to engage with the issues, address them, and relinquish power. Further the author argues that cultural looting has its roots in colonialism and racism and discusses implications of the linkage between one's stolen cultural heritage and individual and community well‐being. Answers to the question include both yes, manifestations of racism can be addressed, and no, they cannot be addressed when institutions and governments refuse to engage, address the issue and do not relinquish power. The article also includes the author's thoughts on using a living heritage approach to preserve cultural heritage and offers suggestions that community psychologists, advocates and activists can help to decolonize museums as part of the broader social and racial justice movement. Highlights: Preserving cultural heritage is important for identityMuseums should be held accountable for stolen artifactsStolen artifacts of any type should be repatriated [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]

Commentary on the papers of the special issue identifies and discusses four themes: 1) strategies to bridge the gap between science and practice, 2) sources of community science questions of interest, 3) choice and quality of methods, and 4) epistemology and useful language for community science. The commentary identifies some limitations in the models proposed by the special issue authors, and proposes renewed attention to ecology, context and process in community change initiatives, calling for a common set of community level measures as one strategy to advance a community centered science agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) classrooms can work to shift the dialog and structure of schools to better fit the needs of students and disrupt dominant narratives that have marginalized students of Color. As scholars have shown, this work is not devoid of tensions. This paper examines the tensions that arose during the first 2 years of a high school PAR class. Written from the perspective of the 23 students in Soy Yo, the students use testimonios to narrate their collective experience as they analyze three tensions that could have ended Soy Yo and their YPAR project before it began. As a decolonial method, testimonios allow students to reclaim their stories by shedding light on their struggles, tensions, and transformative moments that adult collaborators might overlook. These testimonios illustrate the potential for YPAR classrooms to becoming a third space that allows for campus change and personal transformation. The paper concludes with lessons learned for future scholars and educators to explore. Highlights: Contributes to the growing literature on tensions within Youth Participatory Action Research projects in schools.Highlights the use of testimonios as a decolonial method to be used in community based work.Illustrates how classrooms can become third spaces for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generations of scholars and activists have argued that racial inequities emerge not only because of racist ideologies but also from a hierarchical system of racial oppression. This theoretical tradition has highlighted numerous ways in which systemic racism manifests itself, from racist policies to differential access to material conditions and power. However, given that by definition systemic racism is focused on systems, theories of systemic racism would be more comprehensive and actionable by drawing on scholarship related to systems thinking. Systems thinking is a conceptual orientation that aims to understand how different types of systems function over time. This paper builds on the work of previous scholars to propose a systems thinking approach to understand and strategically disrupt racist systems. We provide a typology of system characteristics (organized into the categories of paradigms, structures, elements, and feedback loops) that together can be used to help understand the operation of systemic racism in different system contexts. The paper also provides an approach to identify and strategically target multiple system leverage points to simultaneously disrupt the status quo of racial inequity and promote the emergence of conditions enabling racial equity. This systems thinking approach can be used to guide learning and action within an ongoing process of antiracist praxis. Highlights: Theories of systemic racism could be enhanced by infusing a systems thinking orientation.System paradigms, structures, elements, and feedback loops interact to reinforce systemic racism.Shifting multiple system leverage points can promote the emergence of racial equity. [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]

Structural racism contributes to homelessness in the United States, as evidenced by the stark racial disparities in who experiences it. This paper reviews research at the intersections of race and homelessness to advance efforts to understand and address racial inequities. Part 1 offers a synthesis of homelessness research from the 1980s to 2015, where several scholars examined the role of race and racism despite mainstream efforts to present the issue as race‐neutral. Part 2 presents the results of a systematic scoping review of research at the intersections of race and homelessness from 2016 to 2021. The 90 articles included demonstrate a growing, multidisciplinary body of literature that documents how needs and trajectories of people experiencing homelessness differ by race, examines how the racialized structuring of society contributes to homelessness risk, and explores how programs, policies, and grassroots action can address inequities. In addition to charting findings and implications, included studies are appraised against research principles developed by Critical Race Theory scholars, mapping the potential of existing research on race and homelessness to challenge racism. Highlights: Research has begun to pay more attention to the role of racism in driving homelessness.I conducted a scoping review to map the methods and findings of recent US‐based research.Recent studies include more qualitative methods; participants describe how race impacts experiences.Research is beginning to examine how homeless services and policies can reduce disparities.Applying critical theoretical frameworks may improve future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human sexuality textbooks, like most social and health sciences products, are notoriously limited in their inclusion of queer, trans, and intersex people. While well‐intentioned faculty (like the first author) do their best to address these limitations, sometimes it isn't enough. Sometimes our texts, and we, cause harm. This paper describes two phases of a participatory action research (PAR) project involving queer, trans, and intersex students and a queer, nonbinary faculty member that intended to address harm tied to a course text, support student empowerment, and move toward action to improve unjust textbook representation. Through first‐person reflective storytelling, we, the faculty member and one student member of the research team, share our approach to "working with poison," including strategies for infusing trauma‐informed practices into our PAR approach. We reflect on the pain of doing this work, and the ways our approach succeeded and failed. We end with recommendations for individuals, publishers, and institutions looking to minimize harm and promote justice in higher education curriculum. Highlights: Process‐focused reflection by undergraduate student‐ and faculty‐activist‐researchers.Tensions and accountability when pursuing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual+ justice through trauma‐informed participatory action research (PAR).Addressing unjust inclusion in textbooks, in this case, intersex/trans inclusion in sexuality texts.Positive, care‐focused practices in PAR for minoritized facilitators and participant‐researchers.Call to support ongoing, participatory curricular review by educators, publishers, and universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of literature demonstrates that both place attachment and social capital play considerable, and likely interdependent, roles in disaster recovery. This paper contributes to our understanding of these constructs by presenting findings from a longitudinal, mixed‐methods study of communities impacted by a home buyout program implemented in New York after Hurricane Sandy (N = 111). Results suggest a dynamic balance between place dependence, place identity, and bonding social capital, in which the relative importance of each construct can shift over time, and where losses in one of these areas may lead to cascading losses in the other areas. For buyout participants, increases in place dependence were associated with increases in bonding social capital, indicating that relocatees either regained both place dependence and bonding social capital in their new homes and communities, or they lost and did not regain both, depending on whether their new home and community met their emotional and functional needs sufficiently. For residents who remained in place, higher levels of place dependence were associated with losses in bonding social capital, reflecting the potential consequences of living in postdisaster limbo. Implications for future buyout research, policy, and practice are discussed. Highlights: There is a dynamic balance between place dependence, place identity, and social capital in disasters.Comparative data suggest significant, unrecovered losses in communities affected by home buyouts.Disaster survivors face tradeoffs in recovery between aspects of place attachment and social capitalPostdisaster relocation had negative effects on place identity and bonding social capitalWe must consider the substantial losses associated with buyouts in balance with potential benefits [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]

Much research has been devoted to the positive effect of green space on prosociality, but little is known about its impact on civic engagement. It is also unclear how the effect takes place. This research fills the voids by regressing 2440 US citizen's civic engagement on the vegetation density and park area in their neighborhoods. It further examines if the effect is due to changes in well‐being, interpersonal trust, or activity level. Park area predicts higher civic engagement, which is mediated by higher trust in outgroups. However, the data is inconclusive about the effect of vegetation density and the well‐being mechanism. In contrast to the activity hypothesis, the effect of parks on civic engagement is stronger in unsafe neighborhoods, suggesting that they are valuable resources to combat neighborhood problems. The results bring insights into how individuals and communities can benefit the most from green spaces in the neighborhood. Highlights: This paper extends the social benefits of green space to civic engagement.It uses remote sensing data to achieve objective measurements of green space.Park area, but not vegetation density, predicts higher civic engagement.The social benefit of parks is driven by interpersonal trust, but not well‐being.Park area predicts higher civic engagement in insecure neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context is important when considering how racism acts to harm Black youth. Hence, social scientists developed socioecological theories that consider both the individual and the context(s) which shapes them. We used these theories to make sense of the challenges facing Black youth and identify points for intervention. However, these theories were rarely shared with community participants. Theory, at its core, is a way to make sense of the world. Theory shared in an age‐appropriate manner can help youth make sense of their experiences in a way that promotes psychological wellness. This paper describes the intentional sharing of socioecological theory with community members engaged in two community‐based mental health programs. Our team has collaborated closely with community stakeholders to implement and iteratively improve these programs. This first‐person account presents the doctoral students' experiences in engaging community members in using socioecological theory to improve the programs with which they have identified as useful to their community. The article underscores the importance of elevating community voices when engaging in community‐based research and how that engagement is more fundamental as programs become well‐established. Highlights: Community‐based participatory research (CBPR) encourages a more equitable research process.Together, CBPR and socioecological theories contextualize the lived experiences of Black youth.The socioecological theory presented in an age‐appropriate fashion inspired youth‐driven action.Revised curriculums of both CBPR programs reflect this salient interest in community engagement.Ongoing discussion with community members is essential in ensuring CBPR interventions stay relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions present unique settings in which identities and life paths are distinctively shaped. While at their best universities should serve as empowering settings that support their members to grow and develop, to raise awareness of injustice, and to catalyze change, too often systems of higher education in the United States serve to marginalize Indigenous cultures and promote assimilation to White, Euro‐American cultures. Counterspaces offer an important response, spaces developed by and for people experiencing oppression that allow for solidarity‐building, social support, healing, resource attainment, skill‐building, resistance, counter‐storytelling, and ideally, empowerment. The Alaska Native (AN) Cultural Identity Project (CIP) is based at an urban U.S.‐based university and was rolled out during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Developed from the best available scientific and practice literature, local data from AN students, and traditional wisdom from Elders, CIP incorporated storytelling, experiential learning, connection, exploration, and sharing of identity and cultural strengths with the aim of helping AN students understand who they are and who they are becoming. In all, 44 students, 5 Elders, and 3 additional staff participated in the space. In this paper, we sought to understand how CIP was experienced by these unique members who co‐created and engaged in this space through 10 focus groups with 36 of the CIP members. We found that the counterspace promoted a sense of community, served as an empowering setting, and set the stage for empowering actions and ripple effects beyond its impact on individuals. Highlights: Indigenous students may benefit from Elder‐led counterspaces in university settings.Counterspaces facilitate empowerment by being empowering settings and fostering sense of community.The structure of a counterspace is likely more important than its content or curriculum.It is possible for a counterspace to exist in a virtual, online space. [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]

Public housing aims to reduce social inequalities by providing affordable dwellings as a social policy. Anchored in an ecological perspective, the paper reports on a multicase photovoice study documenting public housing tenants' perceptions of how their residential environment influences their well‐being. This design can provide a deeper understanding of the public housing environment to inform change at a programmatic level. To this end, 303 captioned photos were collected by 59 tenant‐researchers at six sites in Québec (Canada). An in‐depth cross‐case analysis of the material led to two key themes with five subthemes each. In the Residential environment perceived as mostly positive theme, the subthemes were access to nature, community resources and services, positive relations among tenants, opportunities for participation, and specific aspects of their home. In the Negative aspects focused on life in public housing theme, the subthemes were strict regulations, lack of respect for tenants' needs, lack of intimacy, lack of proper maintenance, and conflicts between tenants. Findings highlight the dynamic interplay between the residential environment and public housing tenants' well‐being. Two recurring programmatic issues are highlighted: problematic maintenance and limited opportunities for tenants' empowerment. Changes to address these concerns at the programmatic level of public housing could potentially increase tenants' well‐being. Highlights: Describes a multicase photovoice study conducted in six public housing sites in Québec, Canada.Shows the dynamic interplay between public housing residential environment and tenants' well‐being.Underlines the importance of taking an ecological approach for research in public housing.Reflects on issues at the programmatic level of public housing to increase tenants' well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black women in the United States continue to be disproportionately affected by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic. HIV/AIDS activism among Black women for Black women may be one solution to reduce the disparate rates of HIV/AIDS among Black women. However, little is known about what processes and experiences prompt Black women to participate in HIV/AIDS activism. In this paper, I aim to identify mechanisms of empowerment for Black women to engage in HIV/AIDS activism. I draw upon empowerment theory as a theoretical framework to guide analysis of the literature and to offer a strengths‐based perspective on Black women's efforts to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. An extensive literature search was conducted to identify studies of Black women's participation in HIV/AIDS activism. The search yielded 11 studies that were included for review. Synthesis of the literature indicated the following analytic themes as mechanisms of empowerment for Black women to participate in HIV/AIDS activism: relationships and interactions with others, critical awareness, self‐reflection, and spirituality. Article limitations, suggestions for future research, and implications for social change are also discussed. Overall, findings from this study suggest that there are unique mechanisms that facilitate psychological empowerment and prompt Black women's entry into HIV/AIDS activism. Highlights: A comprehensive review of 11 articles on Black women's participation in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) activism. Explores how Black women become psychologically empowered to become HIV/AIDS activists. Many mechanisms of empowerment for Black women engaged in HIV/AIDS activism are communal. Emphasizes psychological empowerment as not only an intrapsychic process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal mentoring has many demonstrated impacts on young people, including increased educational attainment, economic mobility, and both physical and mental health. Emerging work on a typology within informal mentoring suggests that "core" mentors are often extended family members and provide emotional support, while "capital" mentors are connected to formal institutions and provide valued advice and social capital. The present paper contributes to this emerging body of work by examining which qualities of a young person and their environment lead to core versus capital mentoring using a nationally representative sample of youth (N = 4226). Using both a series of regression analyses and conditional inference trees, findings demonstrate the importance of racial‐ethnic identity and socioeconomic status. Peabody Picture Vocabulary score, a likely indicator of socioeconomic resources, was consistently a robust indicator of capital mentoring. Implications for both practice and research are discussed. Highlights: Sociodemographic characteristics predict if an adolescent will have a core or a capital mentor.More resourced youth were consistently more likely to have a capital (over core) mentor.Vocabulary test scores were a consistent predictor of capital (over core) mentoring.Black participants and females were more likely to receive core (over capital) mentoring.Findings raise questions about the previously shown impact of capital mentoring on upward mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

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]

Many young people who experience social marginalization (such as young people of color, who identify as LGBTQ, and who have experienced housing instability, among others) have often faced significant trauma exposure and social oppression and may endure subsequent adverse impacts on their well‐being. Conversely, many such young people exhibit adaptive responding—the ability to maintain well‐being through and despite such contextual constraints. This theoretical paper illustrates a conceptual model for how third places—public settings which offer sociability and community connection—may foster adaptive responding through the mutually constitutive (i.e., mutually reinforcing and interrelated) mechanisms of psychological sense of community and social capital. As prior work on third places has not considered the social marginalization which many young people face, especially in public settings, this theoretical model also considers how social policing in third places potentially moderates the mutually constitutive relationships between participation in third places, social capital, and psychological sense of community. This paper ends with a proposed research agenda, which may empirically test this theoretical model and its assumptions through future model development. Lastly, key considerations for policy and practice are offered, with particular attention to how young people may be affirmed and welcomed in third places rather than socially policed. Highlights: Third places (public settings that foster sociability) may support young people who experience marginalization.Social capital and psychological sense of community may thrive in third place settings.Social policing (via informal social control) may inhibit young people from feeling welcome and safe.Future model development should empirically test if third place settings support adaptive responding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, college has often served as an incubator for social change agents in the form of student activism and participation in broader social movements. Historically Black colleges and university (HBCUs) have played a pivotal role in social justice movements since their inception with the most notable example being the central role of HBCUs in the Civil Rights Movement. The role of HBCUs in cultivating exemplary leaders provides invaluable examples and frameworks for tackling the dual pandemics of COVID‐19 and the latest racial reckoning. The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study of how an all‐male HBCU contributes to the development of moral leadership and how that tradition has evolved with the current dual pandemics. We provide a historical overview of Morehouse's leadership models and provide a case study from students currently enrolled at Morehouse College, the only all‐male, historically Black college in the United States. Student participants described how leadership has evolved from previous generations, the impact of social media, and what it means to be a moral leader and how the HBCU tradition, shapes leadership. Highlights: Moral leadership is a cornerstone of many historically Black colleges and universities.The dual pandemics of COVID‐19 and the racial reckoning fueled public service amongst students.In the United States, college has often served as an incubator for social change agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racial reckoning is defined as the subjugation of Black, Indigenous, and people of Color (BIPOC) to racial hierarchies and subordinate groups that influence multiple well‐being outcomes throughout the developmental lifespan and across generations. With the two pandemics of racial reckoning and COVID‐19 amidst a growing controversial political landscape, topics around civic engagement have been brought to the forefront of community conversation. Discussions surrounding civic engagement must go beyond addressing issues of public concern and examine the vehicle in which civic engagement may be delivered. This is becoming increasingly important as civic engagement is one of the main avenues of social change through individual and collective action, particularly regarding racial reckoning and healthcare disparities highlighted by COVID‐19. The paper focuses on civic engagement among ethnic minority youth and young adults. An integrated model of civic engagement was created based off what was learned through this review. This proposed model of civic engagement is meant to be the first step to addressing the gap in civic engagement literature for ethnic minority youth. Weaknesses and future considerations regarding the model will also be discussed, as well as any implications for ethnic minority youth and young adults. Highlights: Civic engagement is one of the avenues of social change through individual and collective action.The proposed model is a first step to addressing the gap in civic engagement literature for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).Future studies should be more deliberate in highlighting its application to BIPOC communities. [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]

State‐sanctioned violence (SSV) has resounding effects on entire populations, and marginalized communities have long persisted in the work toward liberation despite continued SSV. This paper aims to bridge the gap between the vast scholarship on resilience and the practical challenge of sustaining and thriving in communities targeted by SSV. We use the theoretical frame of the Transconceptual Model of Empowerment and Resilience (TMER) to articulate the process of resilience and the resources that support it: maintenance, efficacy, skills, knowledge, and community resources. As a practical frame, we ground our application of the model in the experiences of the first two authors in their own communities. Centering examples from the Black Lives Matter movement and the CeCe McDonald Support Committee, we use our theoretical and practical frames to explore the scholarship on resilience relevant to resisting SSV, and we identify mechanisms for supporting community stakeholders' efforts to move toward liberation from SSV. We discuss implications for future research and activism, and we include a toolkit with suggested strategies as an appendix for psychologists, activists, and community stakeholders to consider as they work to facilitate community resilience and build a society free from SSV. Highlights: Adapts findings from resilience literature to inform strategies for community resilience.Presents model for community resilience in communities targeted by state‐sanctioned.Presents model for resilience in communities targeted by state‐sanctioned violence.Black lives matter, Black trans lives matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has highlighted the importance of Indigenous knowledge and cultural practice in healing from ongoing histories of trauma, dispossession, and displacement for Indigenous peoples in Australia and elsewhere. Connection with culture, Country, and kinship has been identified as protective factors for Aboriginal social and emotional well‐being and as facilitating cultural healing. This paper draws on stories mediated through cultural practice specifically, Wayapa and bush‐dyeing workshops, to explore how women resignified experiences and engaged in "healing work." Our collaborative analysis of the stories shared resulted in three main themes that capture dialogs about the need for culturally safe spaces, vulnerability and identity, and culture, Country, and place. Centering Aboriginal knowledge, our analysis shows the meanings of Country, spirituality, and the coconstitution of people, culture, and the natural environment. Through Indigenous cultural practice, the women "grew strength in relationship" as they engaged in the psychosocial processes of deconstruction, reclamation, and renarrating personal and cultural identities. Highlights: Aboriginal communities continue to experience historical trauma and ongoing structural violence.Aboriginal people have expressed the need to understand the impacts of colonial dispossession.Unpacking systems of oppression and cultural reclamation is central to decolonization and healing.Embodied cultural practices allow Aboriginal women to yarn about culture and Country.Relationship building is central to empowering inquiry as healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capabilities approach offers a multidimensional, ecological, and agent‐centered framework that may inspire models of intervention and evaluation. A growing number of measures grounded on the capabilities approach for outcome measurement are appearing. Regarding community mental health, new consumer‐valued measures—constructed in collaboration with consumers—are here considered crucial for a transformative shift. Meanwhile, new measurements need to provide psychometric evidence to enable proper choice and application. The Achieved Capabilities Questionnaire for Community Mental Health (ACQ‐CMH) was developed in collaboration with consumers of community mental health services. It aims to assess consumers' capabilities achieved through program support. The present paper shows advancements in the measure validation through a confirmatory factor analysis within a sample of community mental health consumers (N = 225). Reliability and construct‐related validity were also observed. A structural solution composed of five factors and 43 items revealed a better model fit than that obtained in a previous exploratory study. Findings support the reliability, sensibility, and both convergent and discriminant validity of using the ACQ‐CMH in the evaluation of community mental health interventions. The ACQ‐CMH offers a consumer‐valued framework with specific dimensions and indicators of capabilities for use in a routine service evaluation setting. Highlights: Growing number of capabilities measures to evaluate health intervention has appeared.Psychometric refinements and confirmatory factor analysis are fundamental to enable a proper choice and application.The Achieved Capabilities Questionnaire for Community Mental Health (ACQ‐CMH) is consumer‐centered once it reflects consumers' needs and goals.This measure may contribute to the evaluation of community‐based mental health interventions.The obtained dimensions and indicators may inspire a transformative mental health system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental health professionals in schools and the community are often overburdened and underfunded in high‐need areas, limiting their capacity to deliver needed family‐based mental health interventions. To address this issue, paraprofessional school personnel (e.g., family engagement liaisons) can facilitate these family‐based mental health interventions alongside licensed mental health professionals, thereby increasing access to mental health services for families with mental health needs. To train professional and paraprofessional school personnel in maternal depression and interventions, we used storyboarding, a narrative storytelling method traditionally used to create films. Latinx families who had previously participated in a family‐focused program for maternal depression shared real life stories focused on themes of (a) maternal depression, (b) impact on children, (c) cultural views and role of immigration, (d) self‐harm and suicide, and (e) what families need. In this conceptual paper, we describe our engagement of families in a multistep process of storyboarding that resulted in video modules of family stories for a training website and in‐person workshop for school professionals and paraprofessionals. We conclude with how community‐engaged tools such as storyboarding can be used to increase awareness and reduce stigma of maternal depression among staff training to deliver family‐focused mental health programs in schools. Highlights: Schools are well positioned to support the mental health of students and their families.For schools to deliver mental health family programs, they need specialized training.We used storyboarding to capture the narratives of families with a history of maternal depression.Family storyboards were then used to create training videos on a website for school staff.Engaging families in training can increase school staff's empathy and knowledge, and reduce stigma. [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]

The Health Equity Advancement Lab (HEAL) at the University of Iowa College of Public Health began in 2012 to support students, researchers, and community members interested in tackling persistent health inequities through a community‐based participatory research (CBPR) approach. Using concepts from critical consciousness theory, we developed an approach to building students', faculty members', and community partners' capacity to engage in CBPR to promote health equity that involved immersion in developing CBPR projects. Our paper describes the evolution of HEAL as a facilitating structure that provides a support network and engages diverse stakeholders in critical reflection as they participate in research to advance health equity, and resulting political efficacy and social action. We describe one HEAL‐affiliated research project that employs a CBPR approach and has a strong focus on providing transformative learning experiences for students, faculty, and community members. We highlight challenges, successes, and lessons learned in the application of critical consciousness as a framework that engages diverse academic and community partners seeking to promote health equity. We argue that critical consciousness is a relevant theoretical framework to promote transformative learning among students, faculty, and community partners to promote health equity research in diverse communities. Highlights: This paper describes the development and evolution of the Health Equity Advancement Lab (HEAL).HEAL emphasizes transformative learning opportunities for students, faculty and community partners.HEAL is guided by community‐based participatory research principles & critical consciousness theoryHEAL creates a support network to promote health equity research in diverse communities.We describe one HEAL‐affiliated CBPR study that exemplifies transformative learning experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In jurisdictions throughout the United States, thousands of sexual assault kits (SAKs; also known as a "rape kits") have not been submitted by the police for forensic DNA testing. DNA evidence may be helpful to sexual assault investigations and prosecutions by identifying perpetrators, revealing serial offenders through DNA matches across cases, and exonerating those who have been wrongly accused. This paper describes a longitudinal action research project conducted in Detroit, Michigan after that city discovered approximately 11,000 untested sexual assault kits in a police department storage facility. We conducted a root cause analysis to examine individual, organizational, community, and societal factors that contributed to the development of the rape kit backlog in Detroit. Based on those findings, we implemented and evaluated structural changes to increase staffing, promote kit testing, and retrain police and prosecutors so that cases could be reopened for investigation and prosecution. As we conducted this work, we also studied how this action research project impacted the Detroit criminal justice system. Participating in this project changed stakeholders' attitudes about the utility of research to address community problems, the usefulness of DNA evidence in sexual assault cases, and the impact of trauma on survivors. The results led to new protocols for SAK testing and police investigations, and new state legislation mandating SAK forensic DNA testing. Highlights: Thousands of sexual assault kits have not been submitted by the police for forensic DNA testing.This paper describes a longitudinal action research project conducted in Detroit, Michigan.We also studied how this action research project impacted the Detroit criminal justice system.Participating in this project changed stakeholders' attitudes about the utility of research.The results led to new protocols for SAK testing and new legislation for SAK forensic DNA testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community‐based participatory research (CBPR) approaches to promoting justice focus on working from the ground up and giving a voice to marginalized communities regarding their concerns, potential solutions, and how to address social justice issues that matter to them. The pursuit of justice is often related to efforts to attain personal as well as collective well‐being. In this paper, we illustrate three exemplars of community psychologists' efforts to promote justice. Within each case study, we discuss the social and community context and examine how the researchers built partnerships and solidarity, developed ways of doing, and approached challenges and solutions. First, we present an example to promote economic justice through an entrepreneurship initiative developed in collaboration with young Black youth with disabilities in the United States. The second case illustrates an effort to promote reproductive justice in collaboration with Roma women and girls in Spain. The third exemplar depicts the use of life stories as a method to raise the voices of displaced, marginalized indigenous women in Peru. Based on these three case studies, we present a synthesis model of social justice. We also discuss implications for future studies emphasizing the importance of engaging community participants in research meaningful ways, developing sustainable partnerships, and decolonizing research. Highlights: Promoting justice requires ongoing reflective dialogue and deconstruction of a colonial approach.Acting on power imbalances, giving voice to people, and advocating for change promote social justice.Community‐based participatory research is the appropriate approach to elevate the voices of those affected by oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychologists in the helping professions have long accepted the idea that cognitions have implications for mental health and wellbeing. Community psychologists have further established the importance of context and systems in the etiology of mental health problems. In this paper, we argue that as a discipline that prioritizes social justice, community psychology should consider associations between cognitions about structural and systemic inequality and individual mental health, particularly in marginalized populations. As one illustration of this argument and its complexities, we asked if and to what degree mental health was concurrently associated with adolescents' beliefs in societal fairness (i.e., system‐justifying beliefs), attending to gender differences. Our findings were informed by a sample of 196 adolescents residing in detention facilities (49.50% girls; 51.75% Black/Caribbean, 21.68% multiracial; 15.38% Hispanic/Latine; 27.98% LGBTQ+). These youth represent an understudied group in the research literature addressing fairness beliefs and their influence on wellness. Results suggested that boys were more likely to endorse societal fairness compared to girls, but these beliefs were unrelated to their mental health. However, we found a significant gender moderation such that girls who perceived society to be fair reported lower levels of internalizing and externalizing mental health problems. We discuss implications for theory, research, and intervention. Highlights: We suggest that youths' cognitions about social systems may be associated with their mental health.This study examines these associations in a sample of youth in detention.Believing society to be fair was associated with fewer mental health problems for girls.There were no associations between mental health and fairness beliefs for boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we name and uplift the ways in which Miya community workers are building communities of resistance as ways to address the manifold colonial, structural (including state‐sponsored), and epistemic violence in their lives. These active spaces of refusal and resistance constitute the grounds of our theorizing. Centering this theory in the flesh, we offer critical implications for decolonial liberatory praxis, specifically community‐engaged praxis in solidarity with people's struggles. In doing so, we speak to questions such as: What are the range of ways in which Global South communities are coming together to tackle various forms of political, social, epistemic, and racial injustice? What are ways of doing, being, and knowing that are produced at the borders and liminal zones? What are the varied ways in which people understand and name solidarities, alliances, and relationalities in pursuit of justice? We engage with these questions from our radically rooted places in Miya people's struggles via storytelling that not only confronts the historical and ongoing oppression, but also upholds desire—Interweaving and honoring rage, grief, pain, creativity, love, and communality. Highlights: Reclaiming theory is a decolonial imperative for people excluded from Western knowledge societies.Miya women's praxis moves beyond "inclusion" to create non‐oppressive modes of being and knowing.Miya people resist commodification and damage‐centered narratives of Global South communities.Researchers must prioritize solidarity and honor communities' vocabulary, metaphors, and silences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a partnership between an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and a community to understand trauma given the high rates of reported violence among youth locally. The accumulative stress of living in high‐stress, high‐poverty environments coupled with the normative developmental tasks of adolescence is thought to place these youths at risk for negative mental and physical outcomes (Murry et al., 2011). The current research uses a community‐based participatory research (CBPR) approach and developmental lens to better understand environmental stressors and subsequent trauma among Black youth. Specifically, the paper describes the recruitment, engagement, and equitable partnership between a youth advisory board (YAB), university research team, and community agencies advisory board (CAB). The current work is part of a larger research study designed to explore environmental stressors, coping, and social supports for Black youth residing in low‐resource urban communities. The broad objective of the research is to develop a trauma‐informed community intervention to improve adolescent mental health. The initial phase of this university–community research, which entails the YAB, CAB, and university discussion groups, is outlined in this paper. Community engagement and trust are key factors described in the literature when collaborating with communities of color. These themes were reiterated by research partners in this study. The research team created coding terms to identify themes from YAB and CAB transcript data, respectively. YAB themes regarding stressors centered around financial strain, anger, and loss/violence. CAB themes regarding adolescent mental health and resources centered around trauma, trust, and sustainability. Initial steps to utilize the themes identified thus far are described. The unique advantages of an HBCU and CBPR to address mental health disparities in ethnic minority communities are also highlighted. Highlights: This research uses CBPR and a developmental lens to understand stressors and trauma among Black youth.The recruitment and engagement of a youth advisory, community advisory, and university are described.Themes from discussion groups with the advisory boards are presented.The unique advantages of a HBCU and CBPR to address mental health disparities are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microaggressions present significant barriers to the entry and advancement of individuals from marginalized groups within the workplace. Their ubiquity, coupled with their harmful impact, creates an urgent need for organizations to mitigate them to foster truly equitable and inclusive work environments. In this paper, we present a bystander‐focused approach to address this particular form of workplace bias. Informed by the empirical literature and grounded in socioecological principles, we underscore the importance of a systems‐change approach to the development and implementation of any bystander program. We describe ways to incorporate social–ecological sensibilities into the substance of the training itself by outlining our "Get A (Collective) GRIP" framework. This framework emphasizes the need for active bystanders to employ an ecological scan that includes Assessing what happened, determining one's Goals for intervening, considering the Relationships among those involved in the incident (target/s, transgressor/s, and witness/es), taking into account the Institutional context in which the incident occurs, and being attuned to structural issues and Power dynamics within the context. Finding ways to address microaggressions that embody systemic analyses has transformative potential for the workplace and doing so through activating bystanders to alter local social norms is an area that has tremendous promise in this regard. Key points: Promotion of active bystanders can mitigate harmful impacts of microaggressions.Social‐ecological principles inform a systems‐change approach to activating bystanders.Value added by a systems‐change approach to bystanders is change in workplace social norms.Attention to the context and substance of bystander training is critical to its preventive potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Báa nnilah is a chronic illness self‐management program designed by and for the Apsáalooke (Crow) community. Arising from a collaboration between an Indigenous nonprofit organization and a university‐based research team, Báa nnilah's development, implementation, and evaluation have been influenced by both Indigenous and Western research paradigms (WRPs). Báa nnilah was evaluated using a randomized wait‐list control group design. In a WRP, contamination, or intervention information shared by the intervention group with the control group, is actively discouraged as it makes ascertaining causality difficult, if not impossible. This approach is not consonant with Apsáalooke cultural values that include the encouragement of sharing helpful information with others, supporting an Indigenous research paradigm's (IRP) goal of benefiting the community. The purpose of this paper is to address contamination and sharing as an area of tension between WRP and IRP. We describe how the concepts of contamination and sharing within Báa nnilah's implementation and evaluation are interpreted differently when viewed from these contrasting paradigms, and set forth a call for greater exploration of Indigenous research approaches for developing, implementing, and evaluating intervention programs in Indigenous communities. (Improving Chronic Illness Management with the Apsáalooke Nation: The Báa nnilah Project.: NCT03036189), ClinicalTrials. gov: NCT03036189). Highlights: Within an Indigenous research paradigm, the purpose of research is to improve people's lives and their community and must be relational.When one contextualizes Western research notions of contamination within an Indigenous research paradigm, sharing helpful information with others takes on a different meaning.We identify a number of ways Indigenous voices and research methods can be amplified within CBPR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present community‐anchored counterstorytelling as a form of epistemic justice. We—the Miya Community Research Collective—engage in counterstorytelling as a means of resisting and disrupting dehumanization of Miya communities in Northeast India. Miya communities have a long history of dispossession and struggle – from forced displacement by British colonial rulers in the early 19th century to the present where they face imminent threats of statelessness. Against this backdrop, we theorize "in the flesh" to interrogate knowledges and representations systematically deployed to dispossess Miya people. Simultaneously, we uplift stories and endeavors that (re)humanize Miya people, creating/claiming cultural, knowledge, and political spaces that center peoples' struggles and resistance. Across these stories, we offer counterstorytelling as a powerful mode of recentering knowledges from the margins—a decolonial alternative to neoliberal epistemes that maintain institutions/universities as centers of knowledge production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]