Many people want to help bring about changes in their neighborhoods, workplaces, and communities. Leaders and scholars of change efforts are likewise eager for insights into what makes some organizations and coalitions capable of building and exercising power. Why are some groups successful in making changes in policies and systems and in sustaining their momentum over time, while others struggle or never really get off the ground? With Community Power and Empowerment, Brian D. Christens brings the most comprehensive analysis of empowerment theory yet conducted to bear on these questions, taking aim at many of the longstanding weaknesses and ambiguities of empowerment theory, research, and practice. For example, one major hindrance is that most notions of empowerment have not been coherently connected with community power. In addition, research has emphasized psychological aspects of empowerment over organizational processes, and has neglected community empowerment processes to an even greater extent. By linking empowerment and community power, Christens constructs a holistic framework for assessing and comparing community-driven change efforts. This book offers new guidance for inquiries into outcomes and impacts of empowerment processes on health and well-being, providing a resource for researchers, organizational leaders, practitioners, and anyone interested in collective action for change.

Power and empowerment are critical topics for social change. This handbook maps out ways that people can collectively engage with, influence, and change systems that affect their lives, particularly the systems that maintain inequality and oppression. It includes in-depth examinations of a variety of approaches to building and exercising community power in local organizations, institutions, and settings. Each chapter examines a particular approach, critically engaging with contemporary research on how and when collective action can be most effective at producing change within communities and societal systems. By examining a range of approaches in diverse contexts, this book provides new insights for scholars, practitioners, and engaged resident-leaders aiming to be more precise, strategic, and innovative in their efforts to build and sustain community power. It is the ideal resource for those working with community groups to build more just and equitable systems.

Through entirely new interviews, Organizing for Power and Empowerment: The Fight for Democracy features the voices and experiences of more than forty organizers, telling the stories of twenty geographically and racially diverse progressive organizations. The authors highlight how organizations use innovative new strategies, like targeting corporate expansion, operating at statewide levels, building new structures for electoral action, and establishing community-labor coalitions to win on such critical issues as worker protections, bail reform, immigration, climate change, and affordable housing. The book describes organizations working across a range of issues. The organizers discuss campaigns that activate people around issues that matter in their daily lives—work schedules, bail reform, schools, voting, and affordable housing—and connect them to broader topics such as racial justice, immigration, climate change, criminal justice, and workers’ rights. They share their thoughts on building community organizations and empowering ordinary citizens to become leaders. The book underscores the leadership of Black Americans, other people of color, women, and LGBTQ+ people as they lead campaigns to address the disparate effects of inequality faced by their communities. It provides detailed analysis of the new and effective organizational structures and change strategies, and sheds important new light on foundational organizing practices, innovations, and the challenges and opportunities for progressive social action today.

"The book provides an excellent combination of broad theoretical background with a generous helping of vocational guidance on the practice of health promotion." scotregen "A very welcome addition to the practical side of health promotion! Laverack’s brief and simply-worded text weaves together just the right balance of theory, evidence, tips and case studies to satisfy the new learner looking to gain a grasp of health promotion’s empowering whole, while still offering new insights to the more seasoned practitioner." Ronald Labonté, Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa How can health promotion practitioners help communities to become more empowered? How do you encourage different communities to work together towards a shared goal? How can you focus your resources to be most effective in building empowered communities? How do you evaluate your success (and failures) in building empowered communities? Power and empowerment are two complex concepts that are central to health promotion practice. People experience empowerment in many different ways and this book explains an approach that has been used by health promoters to intentionally build and evaluate empowerment. The book provides a special focus on communities and is illustrated throughout with useful field experiences in the United Kingdom, Asia, North America, the Pacific region and Africa. The book aims to provide the reader with: An understanding of the key concepts of power and empowerment and the link to improved health outcomes in the context of health promotion programmes An understanding of practical approaches that can be used in health promotion programming to build and evaluate empowered communities Case study examples of how communities can be empowered in practice This unique book offers sound theoretical principles to underpin the practical approaches used to build empowered communities and brings together new and innovative approaches in health promotion practice. Health Promotion Practiceis essential reading for health promotion students and practitioners who want to learn more about innovative approaches to build empowered communities in their everyday work. It will inspire them to work in more empowering ways in health promotion practice and to carefully contemplate how they can influence the way others gain power.

This is a new book that will address the ways in which the theory andd of empowerment can be established and sustained in a variety of community settings and for a variety of target groups, and that may operate at different levels, from individual to societal. In this book, the authors aim to explore and illustrate how inclusive communities can be created and sustained through the development and implementation of empowerment strategies at various levels: Individual, peer, community and societal. The authors utilize the framework of the Dynamic Synergy Model, outlined in Chapter Two, as the context in which we can understand and then actualize the ideals of inclusive communities. In the first two chapters of this volume, the authors outline the concept of inclusive communities, beginning with the initial notion of inclusion, and how that concept has been applied in a variety of settings. They then discuss the topic of empowerment, its theoretical foundations and evolution, including a critique of the concept and the inherent power dynamics of community-based work. In Chapter Two, the authors outline the various levels of empowerment, introduce the Dynamic Synergy Model and delineate a variety of components for establishing and sustaining empowering activities at a variety of levels, in various settings, with evidence or goals for any of the elements outlined for establishing and sustaining empowerment goals with a variety of methods. The authors especially encourage contributions that can illustrate the implementation and/or evaluation of work that exemplifies the Dynamic Synergy Model.

The eminent contributors to this volume offer a four-part analysis of Central Asia's new importance in world affairs since the distingration of the Soviet Union.

This visionary textbook is the third edition of a trusted and highly respected introduction to community psychology. The editors have focused on three contemporary social issues in order to illustrate key concepts throughout the book: climate change, affordable housing and homelessness, and immigration. Featuring a wide range of critical perspectives from international scholars and practitioners, Community Psychology encourages students to consider theories and methodologies in light of how they might be applied to different cultures and settings. It develops students' ability to think critically about the role of psychology in society, and about how the work of community psychologists can aid in the liberation of oppressed groups, promoting social justice and flourishing both for people and for our planet. This book is essential reading for students taking both undergraduate and graduate courses in community psychology and its related fields. New to this Edition: - New chapters on power and racism - Coverage of the latest research in the field, with numerous new concepts, theories, and references - An approach which takes three critical issues as illustrative examples throughout the book: immigration, affordable housing and homelessness, and climate change. Accompanying online resources for this title can be found at bloomsburyonlineresources.com/community-psychology-3e. These resources are designed to support teaching and learning when using this textbook and are available at no extra cost.