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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]

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., (© 2022 The Authors. American Journal of Community Psychology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Community Research and Action.)

In this introduction to the special issue, we describe some of the rewards and challenges of community-based arts initiatives for our discipline. We explore the inherent tensions between art and science that are reflected in community-based arts activities. We pose larger questions about researching community-based arts activities and defining the arts as a means of promoting social change. The diversity of populations, settings, and issues represented by the papers in the special issue are described and a common set of values, methods of inquiry and action are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissemination, the second stage of Experimental Social Innovation and Dissemination (ESID) is a critical, if not defining, element of this social change model. This paper attempts to assess the extent to which community psychology has adopted and implemented ESID's dissemination focus in its training and publications. We identify four levels of commitment to dissemination: dissemination advocate, dissemination activist, dissemination researcher, and experimental dissemination researcher. Content analyses of textbooks, journal publications, and conference papers and a brief survey of doctoral training in the field were conducted. Findings suggest that the dissemination aspects of ESID have been modestly and partially implemented within the field. That is, although there is some evidence of a commitment to dissemination practice (advocate, activist), there is much less evidence of a commitment to dissemination research. The implications of these findings for the effectiveness of the ESID model and for training and practice in community psychology are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth-Led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is a social justice-focused approach for promoting social change and positive youth development in which youth conduct systematic research and actions to improve their schools and communities. Although YPAR is oriented to generating research for action, with evidence-based recommendations often aimed at influencing adults with power over settings and systems that shape youths' lives, we have little understanding of how YPAR evidence influences the thinking and/or actions of adult policymakers or practitioners. In general, the participatory research field lacks a theoretically informed "use of research evidence" lens, while the use of evidence field lacks consideration of the special case and implications of participatory research. To start to address these gaps, this paper presents a conceptual linkage across these two fields and then provides six illustrative case examples across diverse geographic, policy, and programmatic contexts to demonstrate opportunities and challenges in the use of YPAR evidence for policy and practice. Our illustrative focus here is on U.S. K-12 educational contexts, the most-studied setting in the YPAR literature, but questions examined here are relevant to YPAR and other systems domestically and internationally, including health, educational, and legal systems. HIGHLIGHTS: The use of research evidence (URE) field identifies characteristics of research and conditions that strengthen URE. Youth-led Participatory Action Research is a special case for factors that influence research use. Six case examples across diverse K-12 contexts illustrate facilitators and barriers for YPAR use. We propose next steps for community psychology research and action to promote the study and use of YPAR evidence., (© 2020 Society for Community Research and Action.)

This paper provides an introduction to key aspects of Yup'ik Inuit culture and context from both historical and contemporary community member perspectives. Its purpose is to provide a framework for understanding the development and implementation of a prevention initiative centered on youth in two communities in Southwest Alaska as part of collaboration with the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the National Institutes of Health. This paper is written from the perspective of elders and local prevention workers from each of the two prevention communities. The co-authors discuss their culture and their community from their own perspectives, drawing from direct experience and from ancestral knowledge gained through learning and living the Yuuyaraq or the Yup'ik way of life. The authors of this paper identity key aspects of traditional Yup'ik culture that once contributed to the adaptability and survivability of their ancestors, particularly through times of hardship and social disruption. These key processes and practices represent dimensions of culture in a Yup'ik context that contribute to personal and collective growth, protection and wellbeing. Intervention development in Yup'ik communities requires bridging historical cultural frames with contemporary contexts and shifting focus from reviving cultural activities to repairing and revitalizing cultural systems that structure community. [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]

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., (© Society for Community Research and Action 2017.)

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., (© Society for Community Research and Action 2016.)

The pathways and processes through which empowering community settings influence their members, the surrounding community and the larger society are examined. To generate the proposed pathways and processes, a broad range of studies of community settings were reviewed, in the domains of adult well-being, positive youth development, locality development, and social change. A set of organizational characteristics and associated processes leading to member empowerment across domains were identified, as well as three pathways through which empowering settings in each domain contribute to community betterment and positive social change. The paper concludes with an examination of the ways that community psychology and allied disciplines can help increase the number and range of empowering settings, and enhance the community and societal impact of existing ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a strong commitment to promoting social change and liberation, there are few community psychology models for creating systems change to address oppression. Given how embedded racism is in institutions such as healthcare, a significant shift in the system’s policies, practices, and procedures is required to address institutional racism and create organizational and institutional change. This paper describes a systemic intervention to address racial inequities in healthcare quality called dismantling racism. The dismantling racism approach assumes healthcare disparities are the result of the intersection of a complex system (healthcare) and a complex problem (racism). Thus, dismantling racism is a systemic and systematic intervention designed to illuminate where and how to intervene in a given healthcare system to address proximal and distal factors associated with healthcare disparities. This paper describes the theory behind dismantling racism, the elements of the intervention strategy, and the strengths and limitations of this systems change approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1970s mental health consumer-run organizations have come to offer not only mutual support, but they have also adopted agendas for broader social change. Despite an awareness of the need for system level efforts that create supportive environments for their members, there has been limited research demonstrating how their system level activities can be documented or their impacts evaluated. The purpose of this paper is to feature a method of evaluating systems change activities and impacts. The paper is based on a longitudinal study evaluating four mental health consumer-run organizations in Ontario, Canada. The study tracked system level activities and impacts using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The article begins by describing the development and implementation of these methods. Next it offers a critical analysis of the methods used. It concludes by reflecting on three lessons learned about capturing system level activities and impacts of mental health consumer-run organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the authors’ work in a community that received Federal funding for an integrated system of care to reduce the impact and incidence of exposure to violence for children less than six years of age. The paper includes a review of the conceptual framework that guided the work of the authors and provides a brief overview of the issue of family violence, the impact of this violence on young children, and the Federal response to this issue. In addition, a description of the Initiative and the community in which it was based is provided along with some aspects of the evaluation plan. Finally, the authors discuss how their work with this Initiative depicts an approach to facilitating change within communities. [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.

In an effort to inform empowerment theory and research, this paper provides a structural conception of power. First, we examine the essential features present in three dominant conceptions of power in community psychology: social power, psychopolitical power, and relational power. Next, commonalities in the key features of power identified by these conceptions are explored and pared down to yield a more parsimonious conception of power that is grounded only in the structural pattern of relationships through which resources are exchanged. Drawing on social exchange theory, we offer a method for measuring this streamlined, structural conception of power that allows for its more precise examination. Finally, we discuss the implications of a structural conception and measurement of power for targeting and facilitating empowering processes and evaluating empowered outcomes.

In this paper, we report on an exploratory study of perceived barriers and catalysts to increasing pro-environmental behavior among people associated with the environmental movement. Perceived barriers include time, money, low efficacy and hopelessness. Catalysts focus on changing social norms, especially through education and institutional support. We discuss the tragedy of the commons and free-riding as impediments to change. We use this study as an entryway to hypothesize opportunities and challenges that community psychologists face in motivating and supporting actions to reduce the impact of global climate change. We provide examples of how community psychologists can foster these changes. In short, we argue that community psychology is well positioned to take a leading role in the fight for a carbon neutral future.

Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) have been guiding frameworks in Australia for a number of decades. Recently, NRM and ESD have become central to climate change mitigation. In this paper, we explore the psychological paradoxes that function within climate change settings, with particular attention devoted to the way that research and development reinforces these paradoxes by advocating for participatory forms of inquiry. Paradox emerges in NRM at psychological, institutional, and organisational levels. Paradoxes are also features of different forms of democracy such as neoliberal and participatory democracy. Although NRM, ESD and climate change are often conceptualised as distinct issue domains, these policy areas are fundamentally interconnected in both theory and in practice. This interconnection between these policy and research settings, reflections on paradox, and the experience of incorporating community psychology into the paradoxical settings of NRM and climate change are captured in this paper.

Although participatory action research has become an increasingly popular method with youth, involving them in problem identification, analysis, intervention, and/or feedback, few PAR projects tend to involve youth in all of these phases-particularly the data analysis phase. Yet involvement in the data analysis phase of a research effort can help to promote critical awareness of the targeted issues, potentially increasing the effectiveness of subsequent PAR stages. In addition, although many YPAR projects aim to promote the critical consciousness of their youth participants, some projects struggle to promote this awareness, often because the methods used are not well matched to the developmental needs of their participants. In this paper we present the ReACT Method, a PAR approach specifically designed to promote local knowledge production and critical consciousness by engaging youth in the problem identification, data analysis, and feedback stages of research. Given the lack of attention in the literature to the methods used for engaging youth in these processes, we provide detailed descriptions of the methods we developed to engage youth in problem identification and qualitative data analysis.

Social change, well-being and liberation have been intertwined in community research and action, as much as being used as political common-places. In this paper, it is argued that community research and action can have a political character. The epistemological premises shared by both the community and political spheres are discussed, and concepts are defined. The way community psychological action can produce changes is illustrated by an experience carried out with children from poverty sectors of Caracas, Venezuela, intended to construct citizenship by developing awareness about values, civic rights and duties, while experiencing the advantages of participation, peaceful negotiation and solidarity, during art classes. Topics regarding citizenship values and ethics were painted and discussed in a participatory way. Results about how the children developed consciousness about those topics, relating them to their lives, are presented.

Community psychologists have a long history of interest in understanding social systems and how to bring about enduring positive change in these systems. However, the methods that community psychologists use to anticipate and evaluate the changes that result from system change efforts are less well developed. In the current paper, we introduce readers to system dynamics modeling, an action research approach to studying complex systems and the consequences of system change. We illustrate this approach by describing a system dynamics model of educational reform. We provide readers with an introduction to system dynamics modeling, as well as describe the strengths and limitations of the approach for application to community psychology.

Successful community-based interventions require that change agents give attention to the complexities of interwoven systems, described in the literature as complicated or complex, purposeful or purposive. The author further notes the separate standards, norms, principles and/or goals (here-named systems-guides) of systems. This paper describes the author's experience as a consultant to a multi-system collaboration where observed tensions among participants resulted in the author's implementation of a three-step systems-guides model, which can increase change agents' effectiveness with systems. The steps comprise: detection (of systems, systems-guides, and discrepancies between them; here through observation); documentation (of discrepancies; here through small group discussions); dissemination (to systems participants; here to the collaboration). Two small but fundamental systems changes emerged from systems participants, not from the change agent/author who facilitated systems members' recognition of discrepancies. A major limitation in the implementation of this systems-guides model centers on the critical necessity of the close relationship change agents must have with the involved systems.

In this paper we discuss our conceptualisation of a 'health-enabling social environment', and some of the strategies we are currently using to build social contexts most likely to support effective HIV/AIDS management in southern Africa. In developing these ideas, we draw on our on-going collaboration with residents of Entabeni, a remote rural community in South Africa where 43% of pregnant women are HIV positive. The aim of this collaboration is to facilitate contextual changes that will enable more effective community-led HIV/AIDS management in an isolated area where people have little or no access to formal health or welfare support, and where HIV/AIDS is heavily stigmatised. We give an account of the three phases of collaboration to date. These include research; the dissemination of findings and community consultation about the way forward; preliminary project activities (skills training for volunteer health workers; partnership building and a youth rally) as a way of illustrating what we believe are six key strategies for facilitating the development of 'AIDS-competent' communities: building knowledge and basic skills; creating social spaces for dialogue and critical thinking; promoting a sense of local ownership of the problem and incentives for action; emphasising community strengths and resources; mobilising existing formal and informal local networks; and building partnerships between marginalized communities and more powerful outside actors and agencies, locally, nationally and internationally. We discuss some of the triumphs and trials of this work, concluding with a discussion of the need to set realistic goals when working at the community level in highly conservative patriarchal communities to tackle problems which may be shaped by economic and political processes over which local people have little control.

A major public health crisis facing America's society is the increase in child and youth obesity, which has seen a fourfold increase in the last four decades. Major concerns include what children eat for school lunch and what other foods are available in schools. This paper illustrates efforts towards systems change in the luncheon program and food vending machines in the Chicago Public Schools. We discuss the different factors that lead to such changes using the framework of the social ecological model and the soft systems methodology, and we analyze how the resulting innovation was implemented and evaluated. First, we present a theoretical perspective to explain factors that influence children's eating patterns from a systems approach. Second, we discuss the antecedent factors that lead to systems change. Finally, we examine challenges to systems change, such as resistance to change, different stakeholder priorities, lack of resources, institutional bureaucracy, and unrealistic funder expectations.

This paper describes the use of a theory of change approach to community-based cross-agency service planning for children with serious emotional disturbance and their families. Public agency planners in Contra Costa County, California used the theory of change approach to organize service planning for a population of youth who had been arrested and involved with juvenile probation. The theory of change process described in this paper links community outcomes with planned activities with the assumptions or principles that underlie the community planning efforts. When complete, a theory of change logic model can serve as a guide for implementation, ensuring that community plans for service delivery remain true to their intent. The theory of change development process includes twelve stages and is based on a step-by-step approach. Theory of change logic models establish a context for articulating a community's shared beliefs and prompt local stakeholders to establish logical connections between the population to be served, expected results, and strategies intended to achieve those results.

The current article is an analysis of the research represented in American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP) from 1993 to 1998, including a comparison to two previously published analytic reviews by Lounsbury et al. (J. W. Lounsbury, D. S. Leader, E. P. Meares, & M. P. Cook, 1980) and Speer et al. (P. Speer, A. Dey, P. Griggs, C. Gibson, B. Lubin, & J. Hughey, 1992), respectively. Observed trends are examined with references to major epistemological frameworks and methods used to define community psychology. Four guiding principles were examined to determine the representation of the epistemological frameworks of the articles published in the journal. The frameworks include social action, human diversity and cultural relativity, person-environmental fit, and methodological procedures. The results document the transition of community psychology from its early beginnings to an independent field conducting research consistent with the values articulated at the Swampscott Conference. This paper also comments on how well, after three decades of publication, the journal has served as a vehicle for improving community life.

This paper discusses tensions and contradictions experienced by a group of psychologists in post-1994 South Africa as we struggled to develop an MA program in community psychology. Situating our work within the history of the subdiscipline and the historical context confronting South Africans in the "wake of apartheid," we explore models of community psychology that informed praxis under apartheid and contemporary challenges confronting a country in transition. We discuss three tensions that inform the ongoing program development. These include (1) the construction and deconstruction of Western and indigenous knowledge systems; (2) assessment and intervention at multiple levels and from differing value perspectives; and (3) paradoxes experienced by a team of university-educated, primarily White academic staff committed to challenging oppression. We conclude our discussion by suggesting that, within these shifting sands of economic, political, cultural, and institutional change community psychology must, of necessity, resist rigid self-definition and seek to position itself as a "work-in-progress." We suggest that this seemingly anomalous self-description may be suggestive for other community psychologists-in-the-making facing similar challenges within the majority world.

This paper describes the origin of the Experimental Social Innovation and Dissemination model and its contribution to and intersection with community psychology. It also discusses the challenges presented to ESID by community psychology's growing emphasis on cultural diversity and participatory approaches to research and intervention. It concludes with an overview of the papers presented in the special issue.

The HIV epidemic has been the most significant public health crisis of the last 2 decades. Although Experimental Social Innovation and Dissemination (ESID) principles have been used by many HIV prevention researchers, the clearest application is the series of model-building and replication experiments conducted by Kelly and colleagues. The model mobilized, trained, and engaged key opinion leaders to serve as behavior change and safe-sex endorsers in their social networks. This paper illustrates how ESID principles were used to develop, test, and disseminate an innovative social model and discusses the challenges of applying ESID methodology in the midst of a public health emergency.

This paper illustrates how the articles in this special issue demonstrate the central values, research, and action principles inherent in Fairweather's ESID model. The programs described in these articles address earlier social problems in new forms (e.g., previously, institutionalized mentally ill patients and now, the homeless mentally ill) and new issues (e.g., HIV prevention). Dissemination of innovative programs is abundant, but only recently has research begun in earnest to study the critical processes of dissemination. Moreover, Fairweather has pointed us in important, but yet unrealized directions for how to pursue a theory of social change on the basis of ecological concepts, innovative research methods and data analytic techniques, and salient change agent behaviors and principles.

This paper examines theories and concepts relevant to sociopolitical development (SPD). As an emerging theory, SPD expands on empowerment and similar ideas related to social change and activism in community psychology--oppression, liberation, critical consciousness, and culture among them. SPD is the process by which individuals acquire the knowledge, analytical skills, emotional faculties, and the capacity for action in political and social systems necessary to interpret and resist oppression. Equally as important is a vision of liberation that is an alternative to oppressive conditions. All of these concepts have been underemphasized in the social change literature of U.S. community psychology. In our view, sociopolitical development is vital to human development and the creation of a just society. As part of identifying and illustrating concepts and processes relevant to SPD theory, we will draw from the words of young African American activists who were interviewed as part of a research study.

Peace accords and international interventions have contributed to the suspension of armed conflict and the censuring of repressive regimes in many parts of the world. Some governments and their opposition parties have agreed to the establishment of commissions or other bodies designed to create historical records of the violations of human rights and foster conditions that facilitate reparatory and reconciliatory processes. This paper explores selected roles that community psychologists have played in this process of remembering the past and constructing new identities towards creating a more just future. With reference to two community groups (in Guatemala and South Africa) we show how efforts to "speak out" about one's own experiences of political and military repression involve complex representational politics that go beyond the simple binary opposition of silencing versus giving voice. The Guatemalan group consisted of Mayan Ixil women who, together with the first author, used participatory action research and the PhotoVoice technique to produce a book about their past and present struggles. The South African group, working within the ambit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and in collaboration with the third author and others, explored ways of speaking about their roles in apartheid and post-apartheid society. Although both these initiatives can be seen as moments in on-going struggles to overcome externally-imposed repressive practices that censor the voices of marginalized communities, they also serve to dispel overly romanticized notions of "univocal" communities now liberated to express themselves in an unmediated and unequivocal fashion. The paper discusses how each group of women instead entered into subtly nuanced relationships with community psychologists involving a continual interplay between the authenticity of their self-representational accounts and the requirements of the discursive technologies into which they were being inducted and the material conditions within their sites of struggle. In both cases the group's agenda also evolved over time, so that what emerged was not so much a particular account of themselves, or even the development of a particular "voice" for speaking about themselves, but an unfolding process--for the groups and for the community psychologists who accompanied them--of becoming active players in the postmodern, mediated world of self-representational politics and social struggle.

This paper argues for the need to advance promotion efforts and proposes a conceptual framework for promotion of social change. A brief review is presented of traditional frameworks for the prevention of mental and social disorders and the promotion of wellness and social competencies, with attention to the ways in which promotion of social change extends and departs from these frameworks. In a framework for promoting social change, we advocate for promoting dynamic processes within systems, rather than outcomes within individuals. Systems are viewed as flexible and capable of facilitating multiple adaptive pathways for individuals and groups. Promoting social change also involves careful attention to critical analysis, values, language, and contextual processes. Examples are discussed throughout to illustrate how these principles have been used in the past and can be implemented in future efforts to promote social change.

Several prominent Black scholars have argued that the predicament of Black intellectuals is inseparable from that of Black communities (C. West, 1994), and that Black psychologists should be at the forefront in developing culturally relevant psychological interventions (J. A. Baldwin, 1989). Yet, for Black psychologists there are a number of challenges to conducting successful interventions in Black communities, including historical abuses of Black communities by the "helping" professions and divergences in values, goals, and behaviors of professionals as compared to community members. In order for community psychologists to design interventions that are respectful of the cultural traditions and norms of Black communities, these obstacles to collaboration need to be addressed. This paper outlines some of the challenges faced by Black community psychologists, as well as the unique strengths they can mobilize when collaborating on research and interventions in Black communities. The paper also addresses methods of empowering Black communities and improving the training of community psychologists.

In this paper, we argue that attempts to change social settings have been hindered by lack of theoretical advances in understanding key aspects of social settings and how they work in a dynamic system. We present a systems framework for understanding youths’ social settings. We focus on three aspects of settings that represent intervention targets: social processes (i.e., patterns of transactions between two or more people or groups of people), resources (i.e., human, economic, physical, temporal resources), and organization of resources (i.e., how resources are arranged and allocated). We postulate that these setting aspects are in dynamic transaction with each other, resulting in setting outcomes. Discussion focuses on the implications of our theoretical framework for setting intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measuring progress toward systems change, sustainable efforts that address root causes of an issue by changing policies and practices, is a difficult task for communities, evaluators, and foundations. Tracking and documenting changes in resources, power, policy, sustainable funding, structured relationships and roles, and underlying values require multi-level analyses. Systems change analysts must consider at least four “strata” at once: (1) events and trends, (2) patterns of interaction, (3) context and cultural or social models, and (4) the systems themselves. In this paper we provide a brief overview of systems change; a discussion of collaboratives as one “engine” of social change; a discussion of benchmarks and indicators of collaboratives focused on systems change; and suggestions for further research. The analysis draws upon several analytic frameworks described in the literature. We illustrate these concepts with examples from six systems change initiatives funded by The California Endowment. The need for further research is outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yes we can! is a community-building initiative funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation that aims to improve educational and economic outcomes in Battle Creek, Michigan by mobilizing low-income communities and resident leaders and building their capacity to influence the decisions and policies that impact their lives. This paper describes the strategies pursued during the first phase of this initiative to foster resident mobilization by building small wins within the neighborhood. Primarily through a neighborhood-based mini-grant program and staff supports to encourage collective action, Yes we can! has started to increase levels of resident mobilization within the seven economically distressed neighborhoods that initially partnered with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation on this effort. The specific programming components and how they were implemented as well as the initial successes experienced are described. Lessons learned are discussed. [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]

This study proposes an innovative use of a modified version of photovoice for cross‐national qualitative research that allows participants to express their ideas, experiences, and emotions about a topic through photographic language. We examine factors affecting social service providers' work on people experiencing homelessness in Europe. We highlight five advantages of using photovoice in cross‐national research: visual language, methodological flexibility, participatory data analysis, the bottom‐up process, and the promotion of social change. Moreover, we identify key stages of the process: writing a detailed protocol for the implementation and fidelity of the projects, using two levels of data analysis, and disseminating the results. This study provides lessons learned for others who may want to use photovoice in cross‐national research. Highlights: Qualitative methods provide a detailed understanding of people's experiences across countries.This article offers an example of using photovoice to study homeless services in Europe.This study showed the benefit of using photovoice in comparative qualitative research across nations.This study provides recommendations for those who may want to use photovoice in cross‐national research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prevalent critique of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is that members must adopt an inflexible illness narrative, taking on an "alcoholic" identity and performing a set of practices to address this condition. Conversely, a small body of research suggests that, rather than comprising the uniform adoption of a rigid narrative, integration into AA is achieved by negotiating individual beliefs, values, and preferences with the AA model. To investigate such processes of negotiation, the current study aimed to explore the politics of belonging in AA. The study involved semi‐structured interviews with 15 AA members recruited from meetings across Sydney, Australia, and data were analyzed thematically. Findings illustrated how participants navigated the politics of inclusion/exclusion within AA. While some aspects of AA were found to be negotiable by participants, a non‐negotiable aspect of AA ideology that emerged was the axiom that "alcoholics" have no control over alcohol and therefore should maintain abstinence. Findings raise questions about how the politics of belonging in AA may shift over time following broader patterns of societal change. Highlights: •This study demonstrates that many aspects of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) ideology and practices can be negotiated and adapted.•The acceptance of powerlessness over alcohol emerged as a non‐negotiable aspect of AA ideology.•The politics of belonging in AA may shift further over time following broader societal changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses tensions and contradictions experienced by a group of psychologists in post-1994 South Africa as we struggled to develop an MA program in community psychology. Situating our work within the history of the subdiscipline and the historical context confronting South Africans in the "wake of apartheid," we explore models of community psychology that informed praxis under apartheid and contemporary challenges confronting a country in transition. We discuss three tensions that inform the ongoing program development. These include (1) the construction and deconstruction of Western and indigenous knowledge systems; (2) assessment and intervention at multiple levels and from differing value perspectives; and (3) paradoxes experienced by a team of university-educated, primarily White academic staff committed to challenging oppression. We conclude our discussion by suggesting that, within these shifting sands of economic, political, cultural, and institutional change community psychology must, of necessity, resist rigid self-definition and seek to position itself as a "work-in-progress." We suggest that this seemingly anomalous self-description may be suggestive for other community psychologists-in-the-making facing similar challenges within the majority world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community psychology is driven by the values of social justice, action, and accountability to oppressed groups, with a large body of literature devoted to understanding how to work in partnership with communities through participatory methodologies (e.g., community‐based participatory research, participatory action research). However, some community psychologists may work in partnership with oppressive institutions (e.g., the criminal justice system) in order to transform these institutions toward greater equity and justice. In this conceptual review, I explore the unique challenges and opportunities of partnering with oppressive institutions for social change. First, I define oppressive institutions as those that are hierarchy‐enhancing under social dominance theory and draw on theories of social change to explain when and why we might choose to partner with these institutions in research and action. I then review case studies of the ethical dilemmas community psychologists have faced in such partnerships. Finally, I propose a conceptual framework for practicing accountability when partnering with hierarchy‐enhancing institutions. This framework includes specific practices that research/evaluation teams might incorporate into their relationships with institutional partners and communities impacted by the institution. Highlights: This article reviews challenges in partnering with oppressive institutions for social change.Case studies of these partnerships demonstrate the potential for collusion with oppression.I propose a conceptual framework for practicing accountability to our values in these partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic violence affects women globally. Domestic violence in India is embedded in structures of patriarchy, cultural norms, and a conservative social structure (Biswas, 2017). Community narratives help to create meaning and impact human behavior and can be tools of empowerment (Rappaport, 1995). They can also provide an important means of detecting changes in norms. Community engagement efforts that focus on empowering communities can play an important role in creating empowering narratives. Organizational settings like grassroots agencies can play a salient role in providing opportunities for community engagement leading to the creation of new community narratives and personal stories. This study sought to examine the work of a grassroots agency in India engaged in community action aimed at social change in the response to domestic violence, with a special focus on understanding shifting community narratives related to the response to domestic violence. Based on data from semi‐structured interviews, archival data, and participant‐observations, and using a modified‐grounded theory approach, our results identified five major themes reflecting counter narratives on domestic violence. These included (a) awareness and discourse on gender related issues, (b) framing domestic violence as a social issue, (c) supporting the empowerment of women, (d) supporting disclosure of violence, and (e) supporting intervening in cases of violence. Implications of our findings for social change work in the response to domestic violence are discussed. Highlights: Community narratives can provide an important means of detecting changes in norms.Social movements can target and change community narratives to redefine problems.Community engagement that empowers communities can create empowering narratives.This study highlights various counter narratives in the response to domestic violence.Implications for social change work are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous youth suicide remains a substantial health disparity in circumpolar communities, despite prevention efforts through primary health care, public health campaigns, school systems, and social services. Innovations in prevention practice move away from expert‐driven approaches to emphasize local control through processes that utilize research evidence, but privilege self‐ determined action based on local and personal contexts, meanings, and frameworks for action. "Promoting Community Conversations About Research to End Suicide" is a community health intervention that draws on networks of Indigenous health educators in rural Alaska, who host learning circles in which research evidence is used to spark conversations and empower community members to consider individual and collective action to support vulnerable people and create health‐promoting conditions that reduce suicide risk. The first of nine learning circles focuses on narratives of local people who link the contemporary youth suicide epidemic to 20th century American colonialism, and situates prevention within this context. We describe the theoretical framework and feasibility and acceptability outcomes for this learning circle, and elucidate how the educational model engages community members in decolonial approaches to suicide prevention education and practice, thus serving as a bridge between Western and Indigenous traditions to generate collective knowledge and catalyze community healing. Highlights: This study examines narrative linkages between Alaska Native youth suicide and colonial violence.Alaska Natives linked youth suicide to culture loss, social suffering, and rapid social change.Innovations in prevention practice call for decolonial and community‐based approaches.PC CARES utilizes decolonial pedagogy to support self‐determined prevention practicein rural AK.Participants expressed collective strength and aspirations to lead suicide prevention practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neoliberal academy is, at its core, an apparatus through which coloniality sustains itself. Despite the academy's self‐promotion as a catalyzing institution that prepares students to become agents of social change and transformation, some students and faculty experience it as a crucible of oppression. In this essay I trace the beginnings of a project I was a part of in which I worked alongside students who demanded that a psychology program in the university be transformed into a force for decoloniality. I reflect on some of the conditions of coloniality that students actively resisted at one college and that exist elsewhere within the university. Juxtaposed against manifestations of coloniality in the university are synopses of student's experience of them. These synopses provide insight into why students have chosen to resist coloniality in the academy. I also outline a pedagogical response to coloniality that I created given students' desire for decoloniality. Finally, and with the permission of student artists, two liberation psychology student art projects are included to make visible the rise in subjectivity that becomes possible when a decolonial atmosphere is created within the university. Highlights: The neoliberal academy is a site of coloniality where dehumanization is experienced.Transformative psychologies exist and are effective tools for dismantling coloniality.Decolonial atmospheres are dialogical and affective spaces for engagement with social realities.Decolonial atmospheres spur increases in subjectivity.Decolonial atmospheres promote rehumanization including the realization ofdecolonial attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]