“It’s Not Your Everyday Classroom”

A school-based enterprise (SBE) is an entrepreneurial operation managed and operated by students in a school setting.  School-based enterprises reinforce classroom instruction through practice-based learning and can enhance creativity, innovation, problem-solving, critical thinking, and other skills. In addition to creating a more engaging, enriching learning environment, SBE bridges the gap between classroom instruction and the world of work and can benefit students, schools, and communities. This paper utilized the systems view of school climate framework to assess differences in perceptions of school climate between students participating in SBE and students not participating in SBE at a high school in the Mississippi River Delta Region. The qualitative analysis of five focus groups with 36 students examined differences in relationships, values, and beliefs and findings indicated that SBE can produce more meaningful, enriching learning experiences than students not participating in SBE. This research adds to the sparse empirical analyses of SBE and suggests directions for future inquiry

An Action Research Collaboration to Promote Mental Wellbeing Among Men of Color

Background: Action research seeks to affect social change by prioritizing partnership and participation. This approach fosters the equitable engagement of marginalized populations in research. In Boston, the marginalization of men of color has resulted in inequitable outcomes in education, employment, health, and other indicators of wellbeing. Objectives: A Boston-based coalition of community organizations was tasked with developing an action plan to promote mental wellbeing among men of color. The coalition engaged in action research to identify the individual, organizational, and community-level factors that contribute to mental wellbeing. Methods: The coalition collected 174 surveys and facilitated focus groups with 55 men. The planning process created valuable opportunities for relationship building and partnership development. Lessons Learned: The planning process reinforced the importance of proactive community engagement, continuous capacity building, inclusive data collection, and cross-sector collaboration.    Conclusions: Centering lived experience resulted in community-driven, culturally sensitive solutions to promote mental wellbeing among men of color

An Action Research Collaboration to Promote Mental Wellbeing Among Men of Color

Background: Action research seeks to affect social change by prioritizing partnership and participation. This approach fosters the equitable engagement of marginalized populations in research. In Boston, the marginalization of men of color has resulted in inequitable outcomes in education, employment, health, and other indicators of wellbeing. Objectives: A Boston-based coalition of community organizations was tasked with developing an action plan to promote mental wellbeing among men of color. The coalition engaged in action research to identify the individual, organizational, and community-level factors that contribute to mental wellbeing. Methods: The coalition collected 174 surveys and facilitated focus groups with 55 men. The planning process created valuable opportunities for relationship building and partnership development. Lessons Learned: The planning process reinforced the importance of proactive community engagement, continuous capacity building, inclusive data collection, and cross-sector collaboration.    Conclusions: Centering lived experience resulted in community-driven, culturally sensitive solutions to promote mental wellbeing among men of color

Community Health Improvement and the Community Psychology Competencies

Community health improvement initiatives are strongly influenced by the local context in which they take place. Community coalitions of diverse stakeholders are expected to determine the needs of their population of interest, select an appropriate strategy, implement with quality, and evaluate for effectiveness. Many public health initiatives look toward behavioral scientists with experience in collaborating with community members. The competencies that community psychologists possess make them particularly useful contributors in these initiatives, especially when the projects explicitly focus on increasing health equity. This paper describes how community psychologists can contribute to community health improvement work by sharing our experiences in the Spreading Community Accelerators through Learning and Evaluation (SCALE) initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. As part of SCALE, community coalitions are expected to develop appropriate aims and corresponding driver diagrams as well as implement quality improvement projects to help reach those aims. We demonstrate how community psychologists operationalize SCALE by working with communities of color in three distinct settings with different contextual factors: the Proviso Partners for Health (Chicago, IL), Boston Medical Center’s Vital Village Network (Boston, MA), and the San Gabriel Valley Healthy Cities Collaborative (Los Angeles, CA). We also describe how community psychologists contribute to the formative evaluation of the entire SCALE project. We note that specific community psychology competencies are applicable across diverse settings in community health improvement work. Consequently, community psychologists can contribute significantly to improving community health and advancing health equity

Community Health Improvement and the Community Psychology Competencies

Community health improvement initiatives are strongly influenced by the local context in which they take place. Community coalitions of diverse stakeholders are expected to determine the needs of their population of interest, select an appropriate strategy, implement with quality, and evaluate for effectiveness. Many public health initiatives look toward behavioral scientists with experience in collaborating with community members. The competencies that community psychologists possess make them particularly useful contributors in these initiatives, especially when the projects explicitly focus on increasing health equity. This paper describes how community psychologists can contribute to community health improvement work by sharing our experiences in the Spreading Community Accelerators through Learning and Evaluation (SCALE) initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. As part of SCALE, community coalitions are expected to develop appropriate aims and corresponding driver diagrams as well as implement quality improvement projects to help reach those aims. We demonstrate how community psychologists operationalize SCALE by working with communities of color in three distinct settings with different contextual factors: the Proviso Partners for Health (Chicago, IL), Boston Medical Center’s Vital Village Network (Boston, MA), and the San Gabriel Valley Healthy Cities Collaborative (Los Angeles, CA). We also describe how community psychologists contribute to the formative evaluation of the entire SCALE project. We note that specific community psychology competencies are applicable across diverse settings in community health improvement work. Consequently, community psychologists can contribute significantly to improving community health and advancing health equity

Neighborhood-Level Interventions to Improve Childhood Opportunity and Lift Children Out of Poverty

Abstract Population health is associated with the socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods. There is considerable scientific and policy interest in community-level interventions to alleviate child poverty. Intergenerational poverty is associated with inequitable access to opportunities. Improving opportunity structures within neighborhoods may contribute to improved child health and development. Neighborhood-level efforts to alleviate poverty for all children require alignment of cross-sector efforts, community engagement, and multifactorial approaches that consider the role of people as well as place. We highlight several accessible tools and strategies that health practitioners can engage to improve regional and local systems that influence child opportunity. The Child Opportunity Index is a population-level surveillance tool to describe community-level resources and inequities in US metropolitan areas. The case studies reviewed outline strategies for creating higher opportunity neighborhoods for pediatricians interested in working across sectors to address the impact of neighborhood opportunity on child health and well-being

An Action Research Collaboration to Promote Mental Wellbeing Among Men of Color

Background: Action research seeks to affect social change by prioritizing partnership and participation. This approach fosters the equitable engagement of marginalized populations in research. In Boston, the marginalization of men of color has resulted in inequitable outcomes in education, employment, health, and other indicators of wellbeing. Objectives: A Boston-based coalition of community organizations was tasked with developing an action plan to promote mental wellbeing among men of color. The coalition engaged in action research to identify the individual, organizational, and community-level factors that contribute to mental wellbeing. Methods: The coalition collected 174 surveys and facilitated focus groups with 55 men. The planning process created valuable opportunities for relationship building and partnership development. Lessons Learned: The planning process reinforced the importance of proactive community engagement, continuous capacity building, inclusive data collection, and cross-sector collaboration. Conclusions: Centering lived experience resulted in community-driven, culturally sensitive solutions to promote mental wellbeing among men of color

An Action Research Collaboration to Promote Mental Wellbeing Among Men of Color

Background: Action research seeks to affect social change by prioritizing partnership and participation. This approach fosters the equitable engagement of marginalized populations in research. In Boston, the marginalization of men of color has resulted in inequitable outcomes in education, employment, health, and other indicators of wellbeing. Objectives: A Boston-based coalition of community organizations was tasked with developing an action plan to promote mental wellbeing among men of color. The coalition engaged in action research to identify the individual, organizational, and community-level factors that contribute to mental wellbeing. Methods: The coalition collected 174 surveys and facilitated focus groups with 55 men. The planning process created valuable opportunities for relationship building and partnership development. Lessons Learned: The planning process reinforced the importance of proactive community engagement, continuous capacity building, inclusive data collection, and cross-sector collaboration. Conclusions: Centering lived experience resulted in community-driven, culturally sensitive solutions to promote mental wellbeing among men of color