{"title":"Crisis and opportunity: the impacts of COVID-19 on water advocacy in Ontario, Canada","authors":"Robert Case, Allison Eady","doi":"10.1080/10705422.2022.2103864","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2022.2103864","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article provides results from interviews and a focus group conducted at two different points in time in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which explored impacts of the pandemic and adaptation among water advocacy organizations in southern Ontario, Canada. Our findings show that despite the destabilizing and sometimes devastating impact of COVID-19 on grassroots organizations and their programs, by disrupting business as usual the pandemic also created the conditions for experimentation, innovation, the establishment of new capacities and strategic foci. In this paper, we share descriptive narratives from water activists in our geographic area about how they adapted and innovated their work despite the challenges of the pandemic. Our findings illustrate and add nuance to themes emerging in the literature about the impacts of the pandemic on environmental advocacy groups and other nonprofit organizations, and generate new themes for further exploration.","PeriodicalId":46385,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Community Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"279 - 298"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42151112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mutual aid using digital technology: a case study of virtual community organizing during the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"K. Wilson, O. M. Roskill, J. Mahr","doi":"10.1080/10705422.2022.2102101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2022.2102101","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This case study explored the evolution of a mutual aid network founded through virtual mediums and using digital technologies in response to the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Boston, MA area. We collected qualitative interviews with the network’s founders and focus groups with active members. We assessed findings through a framework provided by Nelson, Ochocka, Griffin, and Lord which identified four key characteristics of mutual aid: learning as an ongoing process, supportive relationships, empowerment, and social change. We discuss the implications for using mutual aid as an approach to community organizing and activism in contemporary times and in the context of a public crisis.","PeriodicalId":46385,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Community Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"255 - 278"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45706109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Wonhyung Lee, Kelly M. Gross, C. Chelmis, Daphney-Stavroula Zois
{"title":"Community-engaged technology development for bridging service users and service providers: lessons from the field","authors":"Wonhyung Lee, Kelly M. Gross, C. Chelmis, Daphney-Stavroula Zois","doi":"10.1080/10705422.2022.2101573","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2022.2101573","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article shares the experiences and lessons learned from a community project that aims to develop a technology-based solution to improve communications between service users and service providers. Through this multi-year project in the Capital District of New York State, a team of social workers and engineers created a mobile app prototype based on the feedback from the community. This case study shares insights for conceptualizing various phases of community engagement as well as for recruiting multiple groups of stakeholders in the process of creating a collective vision for technology development.","PeriodicalId":46385,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Community Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"319 - 331"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47332533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Amy Mendenhall, Deborah Adams, Mary L. Ohmer, Michelle Mohr Carney
{"title":"A convergence of crises: how do we move community practice forward?","authors":"Amy Mendenhall, Deborah Adams, Mary L. Ohmer, Michelle Mohr Carney","doi":"10.1080/10705422.2022.2106765","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2022.2106765","url":null,"abstract":"As we write this editorial, the COVID-19 pandemic continues, but has shifted to a different phase in which public health mandates, restrictions, and recommendations have lessened, vaccines are available for all ages six-months and older, and tentative conversations about what an endemic stage of the virus looks like have begun. Despite these changes, the virus case and positivity rates continue to fluctuate with the emergence of new variants and seasonal patterns of individuals engaging in travel and gatherings. Globally, as of early July 2022, there have been 547,901,157 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6,339,899 deaths, and over 12 billion vaccine doses have been administered. In the United States as of early July, 86,512,787 COVID-19 cases have been reported, including 1,010,089 deaths, and approximately 66% of the total US population has been fully vaccinated. Data suggests that more than 40% of US adults have had COVID-19, with 1 in 13 US adults experiencing “long COVID,” symptoms lasting three or more months after contracting the virus (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Additionally, the pandemic has amplified mental health concerns. In the first year of the pandemic, the global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25%, with the most severe impact on young people, women, and people with preexisting physical health conditions (World Health Organization, 2022). During the pandemic in the U.S., approximately 4 in 10 adults have reported symptoms of anxiety or depression, up from 1 in 10 the year prior to the pandemic (Panchal et al., 2021). However, as an early pandemic report from the United Nations warned:","PeriodicalId":46385,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Community Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"225 - 233"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46652627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Youth civic and community engagement under Singapore’s COVID-19 lockdown: motivations, online mobilization, action, and future directions","authors":"J. Kwan","doi":"10.1080/10705422.2022.2108952","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2022.2108952","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Disasters like COVID-19 adversely affect young adults but also present opportunities for civic and community engagement. Cognizant of and personally experiencing the pandemic’s disproportionate socio-economic fallout on disadvantaged communities, civically engaged young adults have mobilized and questioned government actors and structures which perpetuated pre-pandemic vulnerabilities. However, research gaps exist about their motivations, community engagement processes, and implications of post-disaster mobilization on long-term socio-political engagement with communities and governments. A thematic analysis of public podcast episodes produced by the author during Singapore’s COVID-19 lockdown revealed five chronologically related themes: “Pandemic and lockdown as triggers,” “Motivations,” “Online mobilization,” “Action,” and “Future directions.” Respondents, triggered by COVID-19, were motivated by new socio-economic needs and existing inequalities and responded quickly. Their seamless online mobilization and action informed future civic and political directions, resulting in two distinct approaches to long-term engagement. Those framing their initiatives as addressing preexisting needs called for more fundamental changes to ensure communities were not vulnerable to start with. Others who believed that the government’s pandemic response was adequate focused solely on their own initiatives, which they saw as filling gaps that the government could not. Youth COVID-19 engagement is thus likely to shape community-building and young adults’ expectations of governments.","PeriodicalId":46385,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Community Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"234 - 254"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43210659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Community events as part of age-friendly community practice","authors":"N. Pope, E. Greenfield","doi":"10.1080/10705422.2022.2106526","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2022.2106526","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT As the number of localities committing to age-friendly progress increases worldwide, there is growing interest in the processes and contexts that lead to systemic and long-term age-friendly community (AFC) impact. Our study aimed to advance research in this area by exploring community events as a mechanism through which practitioners work toward AFC goals. We used semi-structured interview data with core teams that participated in a multi-year developmental evaluation of eight grant-funded AFC initiatives in New Jersey. We employed a constructivist grounded theory approach to analyze the data, focusing on how AFC leaders facilitate events and what they perceive as the value of events. Findings highlighted the centrality of an inter-organizational context for event planning and implementation, as well as the unique positioning of AFC leaders relative to other community actors. Results further indicated that AFC leaders view events as immediately benefiting older adults and local organizational partners, while also having longer-term strategic value, including by deepening older adults’ engagement with the AFC initiative, providing opportunities for core teams to learn about aging in community, and expanding the AFC initiative’s community presence. We interpret these findings within a community-building framework, theorizing that events can strategically build relational capacity to sustain age-friendly progress within broader community systems.","PeriodicalId":46385,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Community Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"299 - 318"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43817245","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Third spaces and opioid use within Black communities of Dane County: a qualitative secondary data analysis","authors":"T. Williams, Carolee Dodge Francis","doi":"10.1080/10705422.2022.2107133","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2022.2107133","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study utilizes data initially collected by evaluators at Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services to create a secondary data analysis to investigate the opioid use and misuse among Black residents of Dane County. Sociologist Eric Klinenberg defines the term social infrastructure as the physical places and organizations that shape the way people interact. This study analyzes conversations of Black women, men, and youth throughout Dane County as they discuss the role of social infrastructure, specifically Third Spaces, as a contributing factor to drug abuse. Using a phenomenological design to analyze eleven focus groups and interview transcripts, this study helps fill the gap in scholarly literature of first-hand accounts from Black residents who have been impacted by the opioid crisis. Interviewees reveal that opioid use in Black communities throughout Dane County is exceptionally complex and involves multiple systems and structures that reach far beyond individuals’ choices and behaviors, which are often alluded to as the root of drug abuse. The first-hand accounts depict the impact of being denied access to spaces and how the absence of social infrastructure has impacted their lives. The results of this study help support arguments for easily accessible social, economic, and political resources in Black communities to reduce opioid abuse.","PeriodicalId":46385,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Community Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"332 - 350"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45038586","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Katherine M. Collins, Nicole L. Novak, Gladys E. Godinez, Tamera L. Shull, W. Lopez
{"title":"The repercussions of large-scale immigration worksite raids on immigrant women: results from six rural communities","authors":"Katherine M. Collins, Nicole L. Novak, Gladys E. Godinez, Tamera L. Shull, W. Lopez","doi":"10.1080/10705422.2022.2067608","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2022.2067608","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT We conducted a community-based study to analyze outcomes of and community responses to six large-scale immigration worksite raids by conducting semi-structured interviews with individuals who responded to these raids. Participants (n = 77) represented four primary sectors: faith, advocacy, education, and law. Analyses show that large-scale immigration worksite raids frequently prompt family reorganization and generally impact men and women differently, as men are predominantly detained while women and children are generally left behind. Findings indicate a need for these raids to be eliminated completely, although they also reinforce the importance of implementing damage-mitigation strategies such as trauma-informed social services, legal guardianship clinics to facilitate guardianship paperwork, and policy changes to address family separation.","PeriodicalId":46385,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Community Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"128 - 142"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43099174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michelle Mohr Carney, Deborah Adams, Amy Mendenhall, Mary L. Ohmer
{"title":"The lens of community","authors":"Michelle Mohr Carney, Deborah Adams, Amy Mendenhall, Mary L. Ohmer","doi":"10.1080/10705422.2022.2077598","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2022.2077598","url":null,"abstract":"When asked what community we belong to, how do we respond? Do we define community in terms of our family, faith, profession, or geographic area? Many define communities in terms of space or place (MacQueen et al., 2001). I live in a city, I live in the suburbs, or I live in a rural community. For each member associated with these communities the identified categorization has meaning in terms of relationships that unite the community. Community is a structure, it’s a place, it’s a defined space, but community can also transcend space (Weil et al., 2012). It can be the place where we belong. Where we make meaning. Communities of meaning or those based on shared beliefs, shared experiences, or shared ethnicity also tell the story of the people in the community. The profession of social work differentiates itself from other helping professions with its focus on the person in the environment (Kondrat, 2013). What is the interaction between the environment and the individual? More specifically, what is the relationship between the community and the individuals in that community? We articulate this perspective as the person in environment orientation, but it is really the recognition that it is imperative to understand the interplay between the people and their communities. Community members are impacted by communities experiencing crises whether environmental, racial, economic, or because of an external force like gentrification. The most well-meaning individuals in those places cannot be separated from the trauma of poverty, discrimination, pollution, or war, and the resulting restrictions on life and barriers to meeting basic needs. In general, this issue observes our interaction with communities in three ways, as places that call us back and have meaning in our lives, as vulnerable places where external entities can disrupt or have disregard for community, and as “labs” of sorts where students and young people are recognized as vital members of the community with agency and voice who can engage with communities to impact programs and policies and create a vision for improved futures. This issue opens with an article by Sears et al. (2022) that highlights the resiliency of the Appalachian region in Kentucky where geographic and ontological communities intersect. They examine the interplay between Appalachian roots/identity and the rural isolation of residents. Rather than focusing on the commonly held stigma or deficits of the region as the primary lens, the authors choose to explore why young adults stay. The article speaks to resiliency, commitment to place, and what it means to call a community home. JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PRACTICE 2022, VOL. 30, NO. 2, 105–108 https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2022.2077598","PeriodicalId":46385,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Community Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"105 - 108"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45344582","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Resident service coordinators as an underutilized resource in the design and development of affordable housing","authors":"Dustin C. Read, J. Robert, G. Galford","doi":"10.1080/10705422.2022.2067607","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2022.2067607","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Drawing on 20 semi-structured interviews with industry professionals, this study considers whether barriers to collaboration prevent affordable housing developers in the U.S. from collaborating with resident service coordinators when making development decisions. Results suggest executives working in both fields perceive barriers to collaboration to exist, many of which stem from competing interests, financial concerns, and organizational cultures that do not appropriately emphasize the importance of cross-disciplinary cooperation. Recommendations for overcoming these barriers include ongoing communication, a willingness to compromise, and a shared commitment to improving the lives of people who make affordable housing their home.","PeriodicalId":46385,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Community Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"143 - 154"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48518225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}