The Community Psychologist

From the President

Brett Kloos
University of South Carolina

Creating Resources and Opportunities

After concluding a very busy SCRA Executive Committee Annual Meeting in February, I came away tired (it’s a lot of work) but also enthusiastic about what SCRA members are doing.

A Call to Action

Remembering Alex Ojeda through his Work and Reflections

Written by Alexander P. Ojeda & Nyssa L. Snow-Hill (nsnow@email.sc.edu)

University of South Carolina

By the age of 27, Alex Ojeda had already begun making an impact on the field of community psychology. Alex was a Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) student representative for the Southeastern region and had formed many contacts with other students, practitioners, and researchers through his participation in SCRA,

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Special Feature

Community Psychology as a Value-Added Proposition for Students

Written by Maurice J. Elias (RutgersMJE@AOL.COM), Aishah Manuel (aishah.manuel@rutgers.edu), Marguerite Summer (marguerite.summer@rutgers.edu), & Daniel Basch (daniel.basch@rutgers.edu)Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University

Community psychology students often end up in job titles that say something other than, “community psychologist.”

Special Feature

Insider Forbidden Knowledge of a “Culturally Integrated” Treatment Program: From Field Observation to the Confession Booth

Written by Izaak L. Williams (izaakw@hawaii.edu), University of Hawaii at Manoa

This article is the culmination of three years (2011-2014) of field notes as an addiction counselor at a publicly funded “Hawaiian culture-based” drug treatment program on Oahu’s Leeward Coast in Hawaii (referred to here by the pseudonym “Aloha Aina” [AA]).

Special Feature

Wichita State University: Bridging the Visibility Gap using the Core Practice Competencies

Written by Jessica Drum (jessica.drrum09@gmail.com), Nicole Freund (nmfreund@gmail.com), Jasmine Douglas (jasmine.douglas.wsu@gmail.com), Dan Clifford (dclifford11@gmail.com), Refika Sarionder (rsarionder@gmail.com), Deborah Ojeda (debb.ojeda@gmail.com), Rhonda Lewis, PhD, MPH (Rhonda.lewis@wichita.edu)

Wichita State University

Public Policy

Edited by Melissa Strompolis (mstrompolis@gmail.com)

The first section of the policy column contains the 2014-2015 recipients of SCRA Policy Mini-Grants. The policy committee received many great proposals and was able to fund three projects that would have significant impact in the policy arena. In the second section of the policy column, doctoral candidate Venoncia M. Baté-Ambrus provides SCRA with an update on the Community Health Worker (CHW) Initiative and the overlap between SCRA and the American Public Health Association.

Regional Update Spring 2015

Edited by Regina Langhout, Regional Network Coordinator, langhout@ucsc.edu; University of California at Santa Cruz

Winter brings with it the beginning of the new year, and some changes in coordinators. Many thanks to Nashalys Rodriguez, Tesania Velázquez Castro, and Michelle Ronayne, who have finished their terms as a grad rep for the Southeast region, a Latin American international liaison, and a regional coordinator for the Northeast region, respectively. Thanks to all for your contributions and hard work! I also want to extend a warm welcome to Hector Barreota, a new Latin American international liaison, Chris Beasley, a new Northeast Regional Coordinator, and Jaimelee Mihalski and Dominique Thomas, new Southeast region grad reps. I look forward to working with you all! Finally, please pay special attention to the summer school opportunity offered in Italy this July. It looks fabulous!

Rural Issues

Edited by Susana Helm

The Rural IG column highlights rural resources as well as the work of community psychologist, students, and colleagues in their rural environments. Please let me know via email if you would like to be added to the listserve, which I use for announcements (rural grants, rural resources, SCRA news, etc.).

Student Issues

Edited by Chuck Sepers and Meagan Sweeney

Congratulations to the winners of the 2014 Graduate Student Research Grants. In 2014 there were two dissertation level and two master thesis level awards. The dissertation grant winners were: First Place) Erin Ellison from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Department of Psychology, for her project, Collaborative competence as embedded social practice among community organizers: The interpersonal reproduction of, and resistance to, systems of oppression, and Second Place) Jennifer Marceron from The George Washington University, Department of Psychology, for her project, Disability and Disasters: The Role of Self-Efficacy in Emergency Preparedness and Health Outcomes. The winners for the master’s level grant were: Jennifer Lawlor from the University of Michigan, Department of Community Psychology, for her project, Stakeholder engagement in systems change; and Second Place) Alexa Queen from University of Massachusetts, Department of Community Psychology, for her project, Subtle Biases toward Asian American Women. The first place grants were $1,000 each and $500 was the second place award.

The Community Practitioner

Edited by Susan M. Wolfe and Olya Glantsman

Transitioning into the New Year with a Review

My tenure as editor of The Community Practitioner column started in the Spring of 2010, and will end with this column in the Spring of 2015. After five years I have decided to step down as column editor to allow someone else the opportunity to edit this column, and to bring a fresh perspective.

Self Help and Mutual Support

Edited by Greg Townley (gtownley@pdx.edu) and Alicia Lucksted (Aluckste@psych.umaryland.edu)

For this issue’s Self-Help and Mutual Support column, Ruth Hollman, Executive Director of SHARE! in Los Angeles, provides suggestions for best practices for the structure and practice of self-help support groups. SHARE! is a nonprofit organization founded in 1992 that hosts more than 150 self-help support groups each week in Los Angeles, CA. (www.shareselfhelp.org)

TCP 48(2) Spring 2015