Interest Groups
The Society of Community Research and Action strongly encourages members and student members to form Interest Groups with colleagues who share a lively interest in a particular issue. The purpose of Interest Groups is to provide a visible yet informal organizational vehicle for members to pursue shared community interests.
Interest Groups form based on grassroots interest expressed by Society members. They come into existence, flourish, and decline primarily as a function of this grassroots interest and initiative. Interest Groups are recognized through a listing and column in The Community Psychologist, the ability to request budget allocations, and inclusion of meeting announcements at the Biennial.
Interest Groups have found diverse ways to pursue their concerns. Special issues of The Community Psychologist, awards for members, development of a mentoring program, surveys, conference presentations, open meetings, member interest inventories and directories, and informal networking all have resulted from interest group efforts. Interest Groups provide a community within the larger Society for those with common concerns.
Current Interest Groups
Aging
The Aging interest group focuses on the productive role of aging in the community and the prevention of mental health problems in the elderly.
Contact: Andrew J. Hostetler, Helena Swanson, Co-Chairs
Aging Interest Group Listserv
If you would like to join the Aging Interest Group listserv just email infoscra@scra27.org and request to be added to the group.
Children, Youth, and Families
The Children, Youth, and Families interest group facilitates the interests of child and adolescent development in high risk contexts, especially the effect of urban poverty and community structures on child and family development.
Contact Michelle Ronayne , Chair
Community Health
To enhance communication and collaboration among community psychologists with interests in health promotion, disease prevention, and health care service delivery.
Contact: Krishna Bhatti, David Lounsbury, Venoncia Baté-Ambrus, Co-Chairs
Community Health
If you would like to join the Community Health Interest Group listserv just email infoscra@scra27.org and request to be added to the group.
Community Psychology Practice in Undergraduate Settings
The Community Psychology Practice in Undergraduate Settings interest group convenes individuals who identify as undergraduate-focused practitioners to share resources, collaborate, and network to identify unique challenges and opportunities among those interested in the scholarship of community psychology teaching and learning as well as research with undergraduates.
Contact: Olya Glantsman, Co-Chair, Sheree Bielecki, Co-Chair
Community Psychology Practice in Undergraduate Settings Interest Group Listserv
If you would like to join the Undergraduate Settings Interest Group listserv just email infoscra@scra27.org and request to be added to the group.
Critical Community Psychology
The Critical Community Psychology interest group seeks to build supportive relationships and research partnerships between folks involved in various forms of critical community psychology to engage knowledge building and critical praxis to move towards more actionable social transformation projects and deeper engagement with progressive social movements and activists.
Contact: Natalie Kivell, Hana Masud, and Christopher Sonn, Co-Chairs
Critical Community Psychology Interest Group Listserv
If you would like to join the Critical Community Psychology listserv just email infoscra@scra27.org and request to be added to the group.
Criminal Justice
The Criminal Justice Interest group provides a forum to facilitate discussion, collaboration and action among community psychologists who have broad interests in research, practice and policy related to the criminal justice system.
Contact: Candalyn Rade, Chair
Criminal Justice Interest Group Listserv
If you would like to join the Criminal Justice listserv just email infoscra@scra27.org and request to be added to the group.
Disability
To promote understanding of the depth and diversity of disability issues in the community that are ready for research and action; to influence community psychologists’ involvement in policy and practices that enhance self-determination, personal choice, and full inclusion in the community for people with disabilities; to enhance the synergy and complementarity between community psychology and the disabled community.
Contact: Naoko Yura Yasui, Co-chair and Delphine Labbé
Disability Interest Group Listserv
We hope that many of you will join us and help create a vibrant community of disability scholars and activists within the SCRA.
To sign up for the listserv,
1. Send an email to: listserv@lists.apa.org with the following message in the body of the email (please be sure to remove any other text, including signatures): SubscribeSCRA-DIG
Early Career
The purpose of the ECIG is to support early career SCRA members from graduate school students up to ten years after graduation, working in academy, practice, or practice/academy integration, as community researchers, practitioners, scholars, faculty, advocates, and activists, etc. in community psychology and/or related community-focused fields. We also welcome undergraduate students interested in learning future pathways to early career development.
Contact: Vernita Perkins, Chair; Shereé Bielecki, Co-Chair; Jordan Russell, Co-Chair
Early Career Interest Group Listserv
If you would like to join the Early Career Interest Group email group, please send an email to infoscra@scra27.org.
Environment and Justice
To promote research, teaching, and action related to global climate change and environmental degradation, with a focus on environmental justice, particularly how environmental change affects and often perpetuates social inequality.
Contact: Carlie Trott, Co-Chair and Kai Reimer-Watts, Co-Chair
Environment and Justice Interest Group Listserv
If you would like to join the Environment and Justice Interest Group listserv just email infoscra@scra27.org and request to be added to the group.
Immigrant Justice
To identify ways in which community psychologists could assist and support new immigrant and refugees at the local level, to educate SCRA members about opportunities to collaborate with local agencies/organizations in support of immigrants and refugees, to provide information and tools that could be shared with local agencies/organizations to help immigrants and refugees, to advocate for the rights of immigrants and refugees at the national and international levels, and to work toward permanent protection, dignity, and respect for the migrant communities around the world.
Contact: Kevin Ferreira van Leer, Co-Chair and Sara Buckingham, Co-Chair
Immigrant Justice Interest Group Listserv
If you would like to join the Immigrant Justice Interest Group listserv just email infoscra@scra27.org and request to be added to the group
Indigenous
To support members who are conducting Indigenous research by providing a forum for the exchange of ideas, literature and experience. The interest group aims to utilize combined resources more effectively in order to raise public awareness of the plight of Indigenous people and address the social justice issues they face in oppressive dominant societies.
Contact: William Hartman and Pauline Thompson, Co-Chairs
Indigenous Interest Group Listserv
If you would like to join the Indigenous Interest Group listserv just email infoscra@scra27.org and request to be added to the group
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Concerns
To increase awareness of the need for community research and action related to issues that impact LGBT people; and serve as a mechanism for communication, collaboration, and support among community psychologists who are either interested in research/service/policy related to LGBT people and communities, and/or who identify as LGBT.
Contact: Corey Flanders, Co-Chair and Debbie Ojeda, Co-Chair
LGBT Interest Group Listserv
If you would like to join the LGBT Interest Group listserv just email infoscra@scra27.org and request to be added to the group.
Organization Studies
The Organization Studies interest group is a community of scholars who are interested in community psychology themes (e.g., empowerment, ecological analysis, prevention, sense of community) in organizational contexts, and in importing organization studies concepts, methods, models, and theories into community psychology.
Contact: Neil Boyd, Co-Chair and Kimberly Bess, Co-Chair
To sign up for the listserv, send an email to: SCRA-L-ORGS-request@LISTS.APA.ORG
Prevention and Promotion
To enhance the development of prevention and promotion research, foster active dialogue about critical conceptual and methodological action and implementation issues, and promote the rapid dissemination and discussion of new developments and findings in the field.
Contact: Toshi Sasao, Susana Helm, and Kayla DeCant, Co-Chairs
Prevention and Promotion Interest Group Listserv
If you would like to join the Prevention and Promotion Interest Group listserv just email infoscra@scra27.org and request to be added to the group
Rural
To promote awareness of rural issues by developing communications networks, and by publishing and providing timely and accurate material for graduate training programs.
Contact: Melissa Cianfrini and Suzanne Phillips, Co-Chairs
Rural Interest Group Listserv
If you would like to join the Rural Interest Group listserv just email infoscra@scra27.org and request to be added to the group
School Engagement
The mission of the interest group is to promote interchange about the application of community psychological practice, research, and theory to P-16 schools and other educational spaces in an effort to promote well-being, empowerment, equity, collaboration, action, and systems change.
Contact: Sara Stacy Co-Chair and Adam Voight, Co-Chair
School Engagement Interest Group Listserv
If you would like to join the School Intervention Interest Group listserv just email infoscra@scra27.org and request to be added to the group
Self-Help/Mutual Aid and Peer Support Interest Group
The Self-Help/Mutual Aid and Peer Support Interest Group is an international forum for encouraging, promoting, and assisting research and practice of self-help/mutual aid groups and peer support. We provide a forum for critical analysis, evidence or experience-based discussion, and exploration of emerging trends in theory, research, and practice of self-help/mutual aid and peer support.
Contact: Deidra M. Somerville, Chair
Self-Help/Mutual Aid and Peer Support Interest Group Listserv
If you would like to join the Self-Help and Mutual Support Interest Group listserv just email infoscra@scra27.org and request to be added to the group.
Transformative Change in Community Mental Health
We seek to establish an alternative paradigm to the promotion of mental health based in community settings upon the values of citizenship, recovery, empowerment, inclusion, and social justice. Our work includes the articulation of models, identification of promising practices, and research to demonstrate the value of this alternative paradigm. Through a SCRA interest group, we seek to create an international network that can support the development of this paradigm and transformative change in mental health systems and communities that includes partnerships with community leaders, consumers/survivors/users, mental health professionals, social and biomedical scientists. Through such a network, we aim to find ways to be a resource groups, individuals, and communities that are interested in pursuing alternative paradigms for the promotion of mental health in community settings.
Contact: Bret Kloos, Chair
Initiating an Interest Group
To initiate an interest group, the group must submit the following information to the Executive Committee:
- A proposal indicating the purpose and rationale for the group;
- A list of at least 25 Society members who want such a group to form and agree to be active participants; and
- The names, addresses, phone numbers and fax numbers of at least two contact persons who are willing to be appointed as Chair and Chair-Elect.
The Executive Committee will typically consider these requests at its next business meeting (Midwinter or August). Individuals who wish to start an Interest Group are welcome to contact the President, other Executive Committee members, and/or current Interest Groups Chairs for further information and support.