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If you are not a current or former member of SCRA please email biennialprogram@scra27.org to have a account created for you. Please remember that you will need to join SCRA before you can register for the Biennial.

Call for Proposals

19th Biennial Conference of the

Society for Community Research and Action

June 20-24 2023, Atlanta, Georgia

Where Do We Go From Here? Dreaming New Community Futures

Hosted by Morehouse College

The Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA, Division 27 of the American Psychological Association) invites you to our 19th Biennial Conference!

For the first time, this conference will be held both virtually and in-person! Sessions will be offered in several hybrid (virtual and in-person) formats, including:

Live, with all presenters and attendees present at the same time
Pre-recorded, with pre-recorded presentations shown to the attendees during the session time, with some or all presenters attending to answer questions and facilitate discussion
Hybrid, with parts of the session pre-recorded and others live, and some or all the presenters attending the session

Program Formats

Priority will be given to proposals that explicitly address one or more of the following expectations: (a) high quality, (b) congruence with the general conference theme and the topic areas listed above, (c) exemplars of community-academic engagement, (d) clear articulation of lessons learned from the session, and (d) collaboration. Proposals should include a description of formats and activities that will maximize audience participation. Innovative, creative, and art-based approaches toward this goal are encouraged. Please note that we will accept only one first-author submission per individual, and the first author on a submission will be the individual who submits the proposal to the system. Also, we ask that any single individual be listed in any role in no more than 5 separate proposals (not including poster presentations). Submissions should fall under one of the following seven categories:

Poster Presentations facilitate individual and small group conversations through the use of a visual aid. Posters that highlight innovative methods for conference participant interaction are preferred. Poster presentations can emphasize research, practice, action, or other initiatives. Posters will be organized in thematic groups and be presented during designated poster sessions.
Symposia provide a forum for discussion, debate, and explication of diverse perspectives as they pertain to the conference themes and/or tracks. Symposia may be used to present practice and/or research topics. Submissions that explicitly describe the process or method that will be used to facilitate audience interaction and dialogue will be preferred. Symposia typically include 3-4 related papers, a moderator, and a discussant.
Ignite Presentations provide an opportunity to share research and ideas in a brief 5-minute format (20 slides at 15 seconds each) to ignite conversations and discussions between the presenters and the audience. Several speakers will follow each other in rapid transition followed by a time to engage in conversation. This format is ideal for presenting findings from smaller studies (e.g., student thesis projects), a new tool or method, or research that is still in progress. Examples of this type of format can be found at http://p2i.eval.org/index.php/ignite/ and http://www.pechakucha.org/faq.
Town Hall Meetings feature participant discussions of critical and current issues or important future directions pertaining to community research, values, and action and the field of community psychology. This format is most appropriate for exploring the broad issues that cut across the conference theme, subthemes, and related topics. One or more facilitators may lead a town hall meeting.
Workshops provide a means to teach new skills of relevance to the field (e.g., specific methods, analytical techniques, community outreach strategies).
‘The Innovative Other’ session provides an opportunity to submit sessions that do not fit within any of the other categories. This format is especially suitable for arts-based, technology-based, and practice-based presentations.

The deadline for receipt of program proposals is Thursday, December 15th, 2022, 11:55 PM (EST). Proposal submission guidelines will be available online. When filling in your submission, please select a program format and a program track for your proposal.

PROGRAM TRACKS

I. Building the Beloved Community: Community Partnerships and Social Change

System level change requires (a) partnerships across players and sectors in society, and (b) value-based social change efforts aimed communal thriving. This track of the conference affords an opportunity to present and discuss research, ideas, and experiences related to collaborations and deliberate social change efforts.

II. Ubuntu: Healing, Prevention and Wellness Promotion from Ecological Perspective

“I am because we are, we are because I am.” The meaning of Ubuntu emphasizes the connection between individual wellness and community wellness. Reactive and medical approaches to health and well-being are costly and not as effective as preventive approaches. While prevention seeks to reduce risk factors, wellness promotion seeks to enhance resilience, protective factors, and enabling environments. This track is aimed at presenting work on prevention and promotion that enhances communal thriving and well-being.

III. Nommo: Consciousness Raising through Storytelling, Arts, and New Media

In Dogon cosmology, nommo is the force or cosmic word that brought the cosmos into being. An important component of individual and communal thriving is meaning making. Storytelling, artistic expression, and engagement in new media afford people opportunities to be creative and expressive. Arts and new media are not only methods of expression, but also of communication; innovative and challenging ideas get expressed and communicated through new media. We wish to highlight efforts by community psychologists, community members, and other professionals that utilize expressive methods for thriving.

IV. Ma’at: Solidarity, Equity, Diversity, and Social justice

Ma’at is the Kemetic/Egyptian principle of cosmic and social justice which includes the values of reciprocity, justice, and harmony. The values of diversity and fairness are central to community psychology. Many communities suffer from oppression and exclusion due to societal structures such as imperialism, colonialism, and racial capitalism. We wish to highlight efforts that promote communal thriving through interventions aimed at valuing diversity and social justice.

V. Technologies of Liberation: Knowledge Creation and Consciousness Raising through Research

Information and research are essential components of communal thriving. We wish to highlight how diverse approaches to research (including quantitative, qualitative, community based participatory research, and other innovative approaches to rigorous inquiry) contribute to community well-being. Data and data-based information can be a powerful tool to raise consciousness about oppressive conditions and potential for change. In addition to empirical research, we welcome integrative conceptual and theoretical papers addressing communal thriving.

VI. We Shall Overcome: Transformative Justice in Organizations and Schools

System level changes happening in organizations can foster or inhibit the well-being of stakeholders. We are interested in learning about enabling structures and interventions that bring people together in healthy processes leading to positive outcomes, with an emphasis on organizational and school transformation.