A Vision for the Future of Community Psychology Education and Training

Abstract

As we reflect on the founding vision of the field of community psychology in the United States, we assess our progress toward achieving, building upon, and refining this vision. We review early literature regarding the US vision of the field, provide a historical overview of education and training within the field, and provide recommendations to guide and strengthen our approach to education. Our recommendations include the following: 1) serve as a resource to communities, 2) promote a sense of community within our field, 3) diversify students, faculty, and leadership, 4) evaluate our efforts, 5) be current and relevant, 6) enhance the visibility and growth of our field, and 7) create globally minded and innovative CPists. We provide strategies for programs, faculty, linkages between researchers and practitioners, and the Society for Community Research and Action. We conclude that community psychology education and training continues to reflect the early vision; however, we believe we must make more intentional efforts to align with the mission and values of the field, and to engage in a critical analysis of our pedagogy. Enhancing and growing undergraduate and graduate education can facilitate the achievement of our goals to promote social justice, prevent and address social problems, and build community connections to become more effective, impactful, and global social change agents.

Giving Community Psychology Away: A case for open access publishing

“…Recently, community psychologists have called for our field to evaluate our efforts and create innovative strategies to improve our visibility and relevance (Jimenez, Sánchez, McMahon, & Viola, 2016). Researchers who publish open access are more likely to have their work seen, which in turn increases the chances of someone actually reading and using our findings.…”

Exploring online and gaming communities through community psychology

“…Others have discussed how community psychologists might create mutual-help forums (Pita, 2012) or use social media . Most recently, community psychologists have pushed for using social media in order to make community psychology more current and relevant, and to increase the visibility and growth of our field (Jimenez, Sánchez, McMahon, & Viola, 2016;Tebes, 2016).…”

Reflections on the Future of Community Psychology from the Generations after Swampscott: A Commentary and Introduction to the Special Issue

“…One way to enhance capacity is to sponsor specialized trainings and conferences (e.g., research methods; community practice) as has been done at recent biennial pre‐ or post‐conferences. Jimenez, Sánchez, McMahon and Viola (, this issue) and McMahon et al. () offer other examples of how to advance education and training in community psychology.…”

“…Jimenez et al. () offer an impassioned argument for community psychology education and training that is attuned to cultural and community values and relevant to pressing community and social problems. As a group, they represent different eras of training: Jimenez in the early 2010s, Sanchez in the early 2000s, McMahon in the mid‐1990s, and Viola in the 2000s.…”