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Considering Community Psychology Competencies: A Love Letter to Budding Scholar-Activists Who Wonder if They Have What It Takes

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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

Recently, community psychologists have re-vamped a set of 18 competencies considered important for how we practice community psychology. Three competencies are: (1) ethical, reflexive practice, (2) community inclusion and partnership, and (3) community education, information dissemination, and building public awareness. This paper will outline lessons I—a white working class woman academic—learned about my competency development through my research collaborations, using the lens of affective politics. I describe three lessons, from school-based research sites (elementary schools serving working class students of color and one elite liberal arts school serving wealthy white students). The first lesson, from an elementary school, concerns ethical, reflective practice. I discuss understanding my affect as a barometer of my ability to conduct research from a place of solidarity. The second lesson, which centers community inclusion and partnership, illustrates how I learned about the importance of “before the beginning” conversations concerning social justice and conflict when working in elementary schools. The third lesson concerns community education, information dissemination, and building public awareness. This lesson, from a college, taught me that I could stand up and speak out against classism in the face of my career trajectory being threatened. With these lessons, I flesh out key aspects of community practice competencies.

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Notes

  1. I thank Bob Majzler for this suggestion.

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Acknowledgments

I am deeply indebted to my elementary school collaborators for these research partnerships. I also am grateful for the patience of Gina Ulysse, Aaronette White, and Ken Maton, who told me years ago to write this paper. I also thank the funders who made this research possible: the Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community, the UCSC Division of Social Sciences (Junior Faculty Research Grant Program), University-Community Links, the Cowell Foundation, Partnership Illinois (a University of Illinois program designed to promote University/community collaboration), and an NIMH, National Research Service Award, No. MH14257, to the University of Illinois. Finally, I thank Gina Ulysse and my research team, the UCSC Community Psychology Research and Action Team, for their careful reading of this paper and continued encouragement.

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  1. Psychology Department, UC Santa Cruz, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA

    Regina Day Langhout

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Correspondence to Regina Day Langhout.

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Langhout, R.D. Considering Community Psychology Competencies: A Love Letter to Budding Scholar-Activists Who Wonder if They Have What It Takes. Am J Community Psychol 55, 266–278 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-015-9711-5

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