Collaborating for Justice: Disproportionate Minority Contact and Community Psychology

Minority youth, specifically African American and Latino/Hispanic males, have historically been overrepresented at every stage of the U.S. criminal justice system (Piquero, 2008). For these youth, initial contact can lead to transitions from one correctional institution to another and diminish their ability to contribute to their community and society in healthy ways.  These trends have led to what the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention calls “disproportionate minority contact (DMC).”  Numerous points of interaction across the ecological context can directly and indirectly affect DMC, from the family, neighborhood, school, and institutional level.

Among the most valued principles of community psychology are promoting systems change and social justice. Using these principles and responding to DMC, the Center for Community Safety at Winston-Salem State University is fostering collaboration among key stakeholders and researchers to address DMC in North Carolina. Under the direction of Alvin Atkinson, Executive Director, the Center is undertaking two forms of action: 1) leading a research team to examine contributing factors to DMC and identify areas of need across youth services; and 2) organizing key stakeholders from agencies (i.e., Department of Social Services and juvenile detention centers) and institutions (i.e., law enforcement and public school system) throughout Forsyth County to engage in dialogue and develop an action plan to address DMC. 
The process of engaging stakeholders was a daunting task and required some push from the national and state level; nonetheless, it provided the leverage needed to get stakeholders talking about the issue.  According to Mr. Atkinson:

“Initially, the DMC stakeholders were identified and assembled by a different agency that had received funding to address the issue. The Center was the research partner for this collaborative and our 2006 report on DMC in Forsyth County solidified our role on this issue. When the funded ended, we stepped up to serve as the coordinating agency for Forsyth DMC efforts. We did this with the hope that the committee and our community would pursue some of the recommendations in the report.  Our initial efforts did not gain any traction locally, but did on the state and national levels. For the next few years, we used our work at the state level to keep the issue alive locally but did not invest heavily in reconvening stakeholders until the end of 2010 when we were ready to bring our knowledge and experience from our state and national involvement to Forsyth County. Since most of the stakeholders were familiar with our earlier work and having heard about our DMC work in the state, we were able to reconvene the group.”

The Center for Community Safety was established in 2001 to “engage communities in the strategic utilization of research to shape action and enhance response to community safety issues” (Center for Community Safety, 2012). The Center has been integral to Forsyth County and North Carolina by providing research, training, and technical assistance to build capacity among organizations that address violence prevention and intervention.  As a result, the Center would expand the university’s connection with “external constituencies and communities to respond to community-identified needs” (Harvey, Mac-Thompson, & Easterling, 2003).
Historically the Center has served more as a facilitator within the community; however, through DMC, the Center is utilizing research and analytic strategies to bridge the connection between research and action. Mr. Atkinson believes that, “With DMC, our research contribution is valued and it also provides a service to the community.” 

Through the support of the Governors Crime Commission and Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Center is currently conducting a state-wide mixed methods study of DMC to assess the point where DMC is most prevalent across initial referrals to detainment and areas where there exist the greatest need to address youth and family services.  According to Mr. Atkinson, the intent of this work is to “seek to improve collaborative research efforts and regain the confidence and trust of the stakeholders.” Ultimately, the findings seek to support advocacy efforts by local leaders in promoting positive youth and community development and addressing systems’ change. 
Through the leadership of Mr. Atkinson and collaboration between community stakeholders and researchers from Winston-Salem State University, the goals of this endeavor are manifold. However, the Center is striving to become a relevant participant in facilitating systems change by advocating for strategies and initiatives that reduce the number of minority youth involved in the criminal justice system.

Dawn Henderson 
North Carolina State University 

______________________________________________________________




References:

Harvey, L., Mac-Tompson, D., & Easterling, D. (2003). A blueprint for sustaining community-based initiatives: A case study of the Center for Community Safety at Winston-Salem State University. A report submitted to the National Institute of Justice.

Piquero, A. R. (2008). Disproportionate Minority Contact. Retrieved on September 21, 2012 from http://www.futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/docs/18_02_04.pdf

For more information about the Center for Community Safety, see http://centerforcommunitysafety.org/

For more information about Disproportionate Minority Contact, see http://www.ojjdp.gov/dmc/

This is a part of a series of bulletins highlighting the use of community psychology in practice.  For more information about the series, contact Bill Berkowitz at Bill_Berkowitz@uml.edu

Are You Registered to Vote? Deadlines are Approaching!

I have a dream...of a day when registering to vote in the U.S. and figuring out basic information about voting is as simple and easy as booking a cross country flight, sharing your opinions with hundreds of friends, or instantaneously accessing ancient religious texts.

In an age of mind-blowing technological advances and an explosion of information sharing, in a country that often claims a large share of credit for these advances, you'd think that we'd be ahead of the game in enabling this most fundamental act of democratic participation. On the contrary, plenty of folks are seemingly outraged that there aren't even more barriers in place. 

But this is not a post about voter ID laws. This is about you, dear U.S. readers, and whether or not you're registered to vote. Because a functioning democracy requires full participation. And because voter registration deadlines are rapidly approaching. And while it's still not quite iPad-easy, there are plenty of organizations using technology to make the registration and voting process a whole lot easier. 

The League of Young Voters* has a list of resources designed to make the process easier, including: 

• TurboVote - Here you can enter your information, print out your registration form, and mail it in. In earlier days, they would have even mailed it for you, but since registration deadlines are so soon, you've got to take that last step yourself. 
• TheBallot.org - A promising attempt to create a forum that provides information on what's on your ballot, and allows people to share their intended ballots online. 
• Student Voting Guide - This state-by-state clickable map has information on voter registration rules and student voter rights, developed by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. 
• 1-866-OUR-VOTE (English) or 1-888-Ve-Y-Vota(Spanish). Use the old fashioned telephone to find answers on voter registration and polling places, and to report voting problems. (You can also go to 866OurVote.org)

All this is not to say that voting is a terribly a complicated thing. You register, you (hopefully) research the candidates and issues that are being voted on in your state, you mail in your ballot or show up on Election Day, and voila, you are an active participant in democracy! Sure, it could be easier, but especially with all these resources, there's really no excuse not to do it. Our forefathers and especially our foremothers fought long and hard for the right to do it, so let's not let lack of time or a stamp get in our way. 

Gina Cardazone

University of Hawaii at Manoa

*Historical sidenote: When I was first introduced to the League of Young Voters in the early 2000's, it was called the League of Pissed Off Voters. Incidentally, at this time I was both younger and more pissed off. 

Better Outcomes for Substance Abuse Addiction: Spotlight on Leonard Jason and the Oxford Houses

Alcohol and drug addiction is a complex and pervasive chronic condition that causes substantial harm, not only to individuals suffering from addiction, but also to those around them. Recognizing the importance of understanding this complex condition, a team of Chicago-based community psychologists, led by Dr. Leonard Jason of DePaul University, has focused its efforts on studying recovery outcomes for those in recovery from addiction. 

Oxford House: Self-Help for Sobriety without Relapse

At a young age, Dr. Jason discovered the atrocities of the Holocaust, and this knowledge motivated him to work for social change. He understood that most community changes are not brought about by authority figures such as politicians, but by ordinary members of the community. After learning about the Oxford House model, he recognized it as a prime example of individuals successfully using the support of their communities to overcome their difficulties. For over 20 years, Dr. Jason and his team have been researching the role that Oxford Houses play in substance abuse recovery.

Oxford Houses (OH) are self-governing recovery homes that are rented by six to ten people who are in recovery from alcohol or drug addiction. Oxford Houses are run democratically, require residents to pay an equal share of rent and expenses, and have a zero tolerance policy toward alcohol and drug use. What makes OH’s distinct from similar institutions is that there are no residency time limits, something that current addiction research deems very important, as there is no universal timeline for a successful recovery process. 

For years, the results of Dr. Jason’s research have provided food for thought to many who are interested in addiction and recovery within the scientific community. Through a number of multi-million dollar grants from the National Institute of Health, Dr. Jason and his team have empirically validated the positive effects of Oxford House residency when compared to usual care facilities, such as higher abstinence rates (69% vs. 35%), higher monthly income ($989 vs. $440), and lower incarceration rates (3% vs. 9%). These findings led the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMSHA) to recognize the OH model as a successful recovery model and also resulted in the reinstatement of Illinois’s revolving fund to help open new houses, among other benefits. Outside of academic publications, descriptions of Dr. Jason’s past and current research are systematically distributed at the Oxford House conferences.

Ed Stevens, a graduate student in DePaul’s doctoral Community Psychology program, believes that the team’s research answers three very important questions about the OH model:   1) Does it work? 2) Can it be replicated? and 3) Can its elements be used for other systems? Ed calls OH a “grassroots model” and a “classic form of empowerment” in which people are trying to solve their own problems and overcome their own obstacles. Olya Belyaev-Glantsman, a doctoral student in DePaul’s Community Psychology program who has worked with Dr. Jason since 2001, states, “It feels great knowing that thousands of lives are positively affected by Dr. Jason’s work.”  Ed Stevens adds, “I love the topic. I love people we are involved with; it’s an honor to work with them.” 

The feedback from Oxford House representatives on their experience working with the DePaul University research team is also overwhelmingly positive. For example, when asked about his involvement with the OH research team, Rory, a state coordinator and an Oxford House resident for seven years, said that it makes him feel good to be a part of this team, and that he is glad the team sought his help. “After being part of a problem for so long, I feel like I am now part of the solution,” he continued. Rory has been working with DePaul’s team for three years, helping with recruiting, tracking, and placing individuals into Oxford Houses. He also holds another important role – through his own experience, as well as his active involvement with Oxford House, Inc., he helps the team to better understand the addiction and the recovery process. Rory laughs when he reflects on his first experience at the team’s weekly meeting: “[Coming in with no research skills,] at first I was lost,” but over the years he has become comfortable interpreting data and is often the one the team turns to when it needs help explaining the results of its studies.

The topic of recovery is extremely important and through this truly collaborative partnership, the Oxford House Inc. and the DePaul’s research team are constantly sharing resources and learning from each other on the road to better outcomes for substance abuse addiction. The years of systematic research by Dr. Jason’s team helped raise awareness of this successful and cost effective recovery approach.

Olya Belyav-Glantsman
 DePaul University 

______________________________

For more information about Oxford House Inc., see http://www.oxfordhouse.org/userfiles/file/

For more information on Dr. Jason’s work, see http://condor.depaul.edu/ljason/

To see Dr. Jason talking about OH, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15lIOw1VVCw

This is the second in a series of bulletins highlighting the use of community psychology in practice, written by the members of the Outreach Group of the Community Psychology Practice Council. For more information about the series, contact Bill Berkowitz at Bill_Berkowitz@uml.edu.  

Up to $1200 for your Community Project! Applications are Open for the 2012 SCRA Mini-Grants

Free money for my community? Why, sure!

Welcome back to the SCRA blog! We're happy to be back after a busy summer, and have great news - the second round of SCRA Community Mini-Grants are now available!

The SCRA Community Mini-Grant  

Who Can Apply:  Current SCRA members, along with their community/organizational partners

What:  Funding (up to $1,200) for small, time-sensitive, community-based projects; up to ten awards available annually.  Grant criteria include timeliness, potential for success/impact, community involvement, and alignment with SCRA’s vision, mission and values.  Grantees must be willing to share the process and outcome of their funded actions with others. 

Where:  Communities across the globe.

When:  Completed pre-application forms are accepted on a rolling basis.

Why:  Because SCRA wants to help communities in “real-time” and recognizes that a small amount of funding can often make a meaningful difference. 

How:  Find the application online at  www.scra27.org/communityminigrants.  Pre-Application forms will be reviewed within a week to ten days of submission, at which point some applicants will be invited to fill out the longer, 3-page application form for funding.  All pre-applications and applications will be subject to a blind-review process.

The Community Mini-Grant is generously funded by SCRA and administered by the Practice Council.   

Questions? Clarifications? Email: SCRACommunityGrants@gmail.com

***At least one person associated with each application must be a current SCRA member.  Additionally, the Mini-Grant funds cannot be used to support projects that are already being financially supported by SCRA (e.g., through the Policy Grant or various student research grants).***

Community Psychologists: Boosters for the Local Economy

Every so often, it’s helpful to take a step back and realize how many intriguing community ideas are out there. Creative, feasible, and potentially powerful ideas. Tested and replicable ideas, ripe for the taking. And simple ideas – sometimes so simple that you might wonder, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

But with the Web, you needn’t think so hard; you mostly need to know where to find good ideas and put them to use. In other words, there are many available ways to do business in the community; both figuratively – or in the case of this blog post, literally.

For example: In this presidential year, where jobs and the economy are dominating issues, we might consider ideas community psychologists could apply to boost the local economy. I can mention three that recently crossed my path:

* Do you have a favorite local business? If so, you can get together with others to support it, in an organized way, by being part of a cash mob. Just mobilize your friends and neighbors, agree on a date and time, and show up at the store with cash in hand. Then simply spend money, hopefully on items of value to you. Cash mobs, a flash mob spinoff, have become something of a national phenomenon. More at www.cashmobs.com.

* No cash to spend? Then invent your own. Many of us have become familiar with homegrown currencies, such as Ithaca Hours, or BerkShares, in Massachusetts (www.ithacahours.com, and www.berkshares.org). Another very simple ideas was Downtown Dollars, in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, where merchants sold Downtown Dollars at a 50% discount to Ardmore area shoppers, who could then spend those dollars at local stores. See http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2012/pf/1201/gallery.community-currencies/7.html.

* Got a business idea? Then pitch it. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, five contestants had five minutes each to pitch their best business idea to a local jury, with prizes of up to $5000. One idea that caught my eye was a creating a “signature sandwich” for Grand Rapids, to put it on the culinary map. (See http://www.npr.org/2011/03/18/134930914/In-Michigan-Entrepreneurs-Pitch-Ideas-for-5-000.) Could you do something like that where you live?

These ideas just skim the surface, without yet touching on individual creative ideas some of your acquaintances have probably had. What an asset it would be to have a useful compendium of these and other community ideas – but that’s for another posting.

Can community psychologists be “job creators”? Not directly, as a rule.

We don’t hear much about our colleagues starting businesses – although they, and we, could. True, most of us may not aspire to become Captains of Industry, or even CEO’s; but we can surely support local businesses, encourage new ones, and apply our knowledge and skills to create a local economic climate where community psychology values will take hold and flourish. 

Bill Berkowitz

University of Massachusetts Lowell

Profiles of Applied Arts-Based Programs

Hello again! For this posting, we have decided to provide mini profiles of some organizations that we think provide an interesting approach to arts-based work and community psychology.

dance4life

“We are a growing, worldwide movement, led by nearly half a million young people. Through education, we are challenging stigma and taboo, and young people are learning how they can protect themselves and those around them.”

            Working in 27 different countries with national non-profit organizations, dance4life has created a school based program for youth to explore issues of sexual health, sexuality, and HIV/AIDS. This movement, as it is referred to, facilitates sexual health education with youth in school systems while using a 4-step model. These steps include: INSPIRE, EDUCATE, ACTION, CELEBRATE. Step one: A dance4life team travels to different schools to use music and dance to inspire young people to get involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS while providing opportunities for open communication about HIV and related topics. Step two: The dance4life team facilitates workshops and discussions about leadership, decision making, reproductive rights, and healthy sexuality. Step three: Youth involved in the dance4life movement begin to take action. This may take various forms such as using the skills they developed in the workshop, sharing their knowledge with those in their communities, or making change in their communities. Step four: Every two years a celebration on World AIDS Day is planned for those youth who took action (agents4change).   

http://www.dance4life.com/en/organisation/dance4life!/

The Possibility Project

“A society where teenagers are valued, respected and play a leading role in creating a better world.”

            The Possibility Project merges performance art with community action to “empower teenagers to create safe, peaceful, and productive lives and communities.” Throughout an entire year youth throughout New York City meet to engage in “issue-oriented discussions,” exploring diversity, activism, and leadership. Throughout the program youth are also trained on play writing and other skills related to performance art. Together, the youth write a musical that addresses social issues that they face in their lived realities while also creating a community action project. The Possibility Project has four core values that influence their approach to community based work: cross-cultural understanding, youth leadership, integrity, and excellence.

http://the-possibility-project.org/

The Center for Urban Pedagogy

“We believe that increasing understanding of how these systems work is the first step to better and more diverse community participation.”

            The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) aims to improve civic engagement through the use of art. Projects pursued by CUP cover a range of social issues such as juvenile justice, urban planning, immigration, and many others. These collaborative projects involve artists, community-based workers, and the staff at CUP. The goal of the projects is to increase diversity in community participation and civic engagement by breaking big system concepts down into a language and state where community members are better equipped to become involved, fight for change in their communities, and shape policies that impact their lives.

http://welcometocup.org/

Crossroads Institute for Arts, Learning and Community

”To spread knowledge and build capacity regarding the use of the creative arts for learning and social change”

            The Crossroads Institute is a team of researchers, artists, educators and youth leaders that works with children, youth and adults across the U.S. to develop and disseminate community-based arts practices. They have developed creative publications and seminars that are available to other artists, educators and communities interested in promoting social change. They also provide free access to their online library which includes best practices from community-based arts programs. This organization has taken a collaborative approach by partnering with local and national community-based organizations and universities.

http://xroadsinstitute.org/

ArtsCorps Detroit

“In partnership with community agencies, non-profit organizations and neighborhood groups, ArtsCorps Detroit identifies creative arts-related projects”

            ArtsCorps Detroit is a community-based program at Wayne State University. This program offers service learning opportunities for students and community members to help revitalize the greater Detroit community through the arts. For example, LOTS of Art! is a project which involves working closely with neighborhood groups to find creative ways, such as painted  murals or dance platforms, to address abandoned spaces in the city. This program also has a research component that addresses the effectiveness of arts in promoting personal growth and organizational/community change.

http://artscorpsdetroit.wayne.edu/about.php

The Kresege Foundation

“We seek to foster the power of arts and culture to recharge and rebuild communities of all sizes throughout the United States”

The Kresege Foundation is a great organization for community psychologists who are interested in funding arts-based projects focused on social change. One of their program areas is Arts & Culture. Within this program, there is an Arts and Community Building focus area.  Overall, this foundation is interested in funding organization projects dedicated to integrating the arts and community building activities. In addition, they commission and publish research on efforts to integrate cultural organizations into community building efforts; and evaluating activities for their community arts mini-grant initiatives for grassroots arts and cultural projects that address pressing social issues.

http://www.kresge.org/programs/arts-culture

Arts-Based Approaches: A “Snapshot” of our Work!

Prior to entering into Wichita State’s Community Psychology program, I, Kyrah, was heavily involved in grassroots-level work in my home community. I was involved with organizing a youth group as a means to promote positive youth development by ‘stirring up their gifts’. The youth in our community are at particular risk for gang involvement, teen pregnancy and overall idleness. So, this service-oriented, youth-led group provided a way for youth to develop their talents and to become active participants in community affairs. Many of our activities involved using the arts as a tool for individual and community level change. For example, we’ve been fighting for years with the city to have a community center built. We rallied at council meetings, and many youth expressed their concerns by reading poems (about their personal experiences and their community) to council members in an effort to convey how important this decision would be for them. In addition, while our community is affected by crime and blight, it was important for the youth to showcase themselves as community strengths. So, whenever we organized community rallies there was always an element in the program that involved youth showcasing their talents (e.g. singing, interpretive dance, poetry) with a particular message (e.g., neighbor relationships, anti-violence). In terms of practice, this work was focused on helping youth understand that they could use their talents/gifts in the arts to make changes in their community.

 Of course at this time I had no idea that this was called ‘community psychology’ or an arts-based approach. In college, I learned that the two could be merged and could be counted as research! Since then, I’ve tried to think about ways that arts-based approaches can be integrated into projects that I work on. For instance, our research team is a part of a university-community partnership which has implemented a project to support predominately African American middle school-aged children who are at risk for disproportionate health outcomes, contact with the juvenile justice system and academic failure. We hold a summer college enrichment camp to expose our youth to the six program areas and to build on their understanding of academic success and college. Last summer, I suggested that we include a poetry workshop into the program. So the team worked with the students to develop ‘I Am’ poems, which is a poem form used to describe one’s characteristics, beliefs, desires and ambitions. The youth then performed their poems for their senior citizens at a local senior center. We were able to use poetry as an educational tool to practice writing (e.g., nouns, verbs, imagery, etc.) as well as to promote self-reflection and creative thinking.  This is important because many of our students struggle in reading and writing. So if we can make it fun, we may be able to plant a seed for further academic development. We plan to do another poetry workshop this summer. This time I hope to be able to measure some of their attitudes about the experience to understand in what ways it helped them.

My experience with art-based approaches has been mostly in the form of community psychology practice. In the future, I hope to be able to incorporate these approaches into my own research. While I am very interested in how arts-based approaches can promote positive youth development, my primary research focus is women’s health- particularly maternal and child health (i.e., infant mortality). I would like to look into arts-based approaches that help understand the prenatal experiences of women of color. I would be very interested in hearing about any work that anyone is doing in this area. I am quite passionate about understanding the ‘stories’ of underrepresented populations in addition to highlighting the strengths that they possess through arts-based methods.

I, Katherine, have just begun my journey into arts-based methods. Currently, I am working on a Photovoice project with survivors of sexual violence within a college campus setting, and I have begun developing an international project with an organization that uses music and dance to educate and empower youth around issues of sexuality and sexual health. This second project will also extend beyond music and dance, and will incorporate video journaling, performance ethnography, and the Photovoice methodology (Wang & Burris, 1997).

For this posting I will primarily focus on the Photovoice project with survivors of sexual violence as the other project is still in the planning stages.

I have learned an incredible amount from the research participants in this project; far more than I ever expected to learn from a Master’s thesis in fact. For those of you who may not be familiar with Photovoice I will give a very brief overview of the process. The process begins as most all research projects do: with a theme and research questions. Framing questions are then developed from the research questions, and are stated as simple, brief questions similar to the research questions. For the current project two framing questions were originally developed: What is most helpful to someone after they have experienced assault? What should the campus community offer survivors like you? Participants responded to these questions by taking a photograph and writing a short narrative about each photo. The group held multiple meetings during which the photos and narratives were discussed more in-depth.

Currently the project is in the participatory data analysis stage, during which the participants decide what themes are most important across their photos and narratives. There have already been very rich recommendations made by the participants for how the campus community response may be improved to better reflect the diversity of survivors on campus. The next and final part of the project involves compiling the photos and narratives into a sustainable community outreach tool. For this project we are planning to explore the use of digital stories to use throughout the campus community to share what was learned and to make recommendations on how to better reach out to the diversity of survivors on campus.

Many ethical issues were explored throughout the development and beginning stages of the project. However, while there were many barriers to developing a Photovoice project with survivors of sexual violence, I am very happy to have barreled through them and pursued this opportunity. To begin, the process of confidentiality has been interesting. Participants have expressed pride in their voice and participation, and tentatively plan to attend the events at which the digital story is shown. Secondly, the framing questions were developed in order to try and prevent the participants from having to relive their violent experiences. However, participants have used the framing questions as an opportunity to re-evaluate their experiences to some extent. Additionally, a great deal of time was spent deciding whether or not the project should recruit male survivors. Some perspectives suggested this could be problematic considering how it may have influenced the project participants (who are all women); however, when I posed this question to the participants it seemed as though they would have enjoyed learning more about the male survivor perspective. This, of course, was said to be dependent on where the survivor was at in their own healing process.

As can be seen from the brief overview of our work, we have used different forms of arts-based methods, but believe in the unique influence these approaches have on the research process. That influence, is voice and story. These methods have created beautiful opportunities for participants to share their stories in a communicative way that may capture their voice better than an interview protocol or a focus group transcription. Furthermore, participants have an opportunity to use an active voice through poetry readings, taking pictures, and writing narratives. Such active opportunities are usually left out of traditional research dissemination processes.

**This post was written by Katherine Cloutier from Michigan State University, and Kyrah Brown from Wichita State University.

References

Wang, C., & Burris, M. A. (1997). Photovoice: Concept, methodology, and use for participatory needs assessment. Health Education & Behavior, 24(3), 369-387. doi: 10.1177/109019819702400309