Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the sense of community responsibility scale.

The central aim of the present research was to examine the psychometric properties of adapted versions of the sense of community (SOC) responsibility scale in three Italian samples. We examined the psychometric properties of three modified versions of the sense of community responsibility (SOC-R) scale. Consistent with the original scale, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the scale was unidimensional and exhibited excellent internal consistency. In addition, factor analyses revealed that SOC responsibility and SOC are two separate, albeit related, constructs. The results also provided evidence of the discriminant validity of SOC and SOC-R on key outcomes. Taken together, these results provide support for the Community Experience Model, which posits that community experiences are a function of resource and responsibility components, as well as for the adaptable nature of the SOC-R scale to the Italian context.

Patterns of preference and practice: bridging actors in wildfire response networks in the American Northwest.

The roles of bridging actors in emergency response networks can be important to disaster response outcomes. This paper is based on an evaluation of wildfire preparedness and response networks in 21 large-scale wildfire events in the wildland-urban interface near national forests in the American Northwest. The study investigated how key individuals in responder networks anticipated seeking out specific people in perceived bridging roles prior to the occurrence of wildfires, and then captured who in fact assumed these roles during actual large-scale events. It examines two plausible, but contradictory, bodies of theory-similarity and dissimilarity-that suggest who people might seek out as bridgers and who they would really go to during a disaster. Roughly one-half of all pre-fire nominations were consistent with similarity. Yet, while similarity is a reliable indicator of how people expect to organise, it does not hold up for how they organise during the real incident.

Sense of community responsibility in community collaboratives: advancing a theory of community as resource and responsibility.

This paper contributes to the growing body of scholarship aimed at advancing our understanding of the experience of community by empirically investigating sense of community responsibility (SOC-R) in relation to traditional measures of sense of community (SOC) and indices of satisfaction, engagement, and leadership in interorganizational collaborative settings. Findings support the proposition that, although both are related to the experience of community, SOC and SOC-R emphasize different aspects of that experience and operate under different theoretical mechanisms of influence. SOC emphasizes community as a resource which was found to be a more salient aspect in differentiating those who will be more or less satisfied with their experience. In addition, SOC was found to predict general participation in a community collaborative. SOC-R emphasizes the experience of community as a responsibility which appears to be a stronger predictor in explaining higher order engagement requiring greater investment of time and resources. Even more importantly, this study indicates that SOC-R is uniquely equipped to help us advance models of community leadership. As such, it represents an important contribution to expanding our understanding of the factors that drive members' willingness to give of themselves toward collective aims.

Examining Multi-Sector Community Collaboratives as Vehicles for Building Organizational Capacity.

While community collaboratives have emerged as a prominent vehicle for fostering a more coordinated community response to complex issues, research to date suggests that the success of these efforts at achieving community/population-level improvements is mixed. As a result, researchers and practitioners are increasing their focus on the intermediate outcomes accomplished by these entities. The purpose of this study is to expand upon this examination of potential intermediate outcomes by investigating the ways in which collaboratives strengthen the capacity of the organizations who participate as members. Utilizing a mixed methods design, we present an empirically-based framework of organizational outcomes associated with participation in a community collaborative. The dimensions of this framework are validated based on quantitative findings from representatives of 614 different organizations and agencies nested within 51 different community collaboratives. This article then explores how the characteristics of organizations and their representatives relate to the nature and type of impacts associated with membership. Based on study findings, we argue that community collaboratives can be effective interventions for strengthening organizational capacity across all sectors in ways that can promote greater community resiliency.

Profiling capacity for coordination and systems change: the relative contribution of stakeholder relationships in interorganizational collaboratives.

In response to increasing demands for greater coordination and collaboration among community institutions, interorganizational collaboratives (i.e., coalitions, partnerships, coordinating councils) have emerged as a popular mechanism for strengthening the capacity of a community system to respond to public and social issues. This study adopts a network approach to explore the relative importance of dense networks of cooperative relationships among members of interorganizational collaboratives for two outcomes of effectiveness: improving interorganizational coordination and fostering systems change. Based on survey and social network data collected from 48 different collaboratives, findings indicate that, relative to other key characteristics of collaboratives identified in previous literature, cooperative stakeholder relationships were the strongest predictor of systems change outcomes. However, for coordination outcomes, stakeholder relationships were overshadowed in importance by the leadership and decision making capacity of the collaborative. Collectively, findings suggest key differences in the requisite capacity profiles for coordination and systems change outcomes.

Leading change through collaborative partnerships: a profile of leadership and capacity among local public health leaders.

Collaborative partnerships have grown in prominence as vehicles for systems change and organizational development among a network of organizations, particularly in the complex field of public health. Likewise, supporting the functioning and effectiveness of collaborative partnerships has become a key interest among organizational development scholars and community psychologists alike. In the question of capacity-building, no aspect of collaborative capacity has received greater attention than that of leadership. Research on collaborative partnerships has highlighted the importance of shared leadership while at the same time acknowledging that specific individuals do and often must emerge and assume more prominent roles in the partnership in order for the work of the partnership to move forward. However, we have limited knowledge of these key individuals and the roles that they play in non-hierarchical, voluntary partnerships. The present study is a comparative case study of prominent leaders in three regional public health partnerships. The aim of this investigation is to explore the questions: (1) What does it mean to be a leader in a context where no one is "in charge?" (2) What roles do those individuals identified as leaders play?, and (3) What are the specific capacities that enable the enactment of these roles? We find that those viewed as leaders by their partnerships shared a similar profile both in the range and types of roles they play and the capacities that enable them to carry out these roles. Further, we find that while individual attributes such as passion, knowledge, and leadership skills are important, some of the most prominent capacities are rooted in the organizational and institutional contexts within which the leader is nested.

Putting the system back into systems change: a framework for understanding and changing organizational and community systems.

Systems change has emerged as a dominant frame through which local, state, and national funders and practitioners across a wide array of fields approach their work. In most of these efforts, change agents and scholars strive to shift human services and community systems to create better and more just outcomes and improve the status quo. Despite this, there is a dearth of frameworks that scholars, practitioners, and funders can draw upon to aid them in understanding, designing, and assessing this process from a systemic perspective. This paper provides one framework--grounded in systems thinking and change literatures--for understanding and identifying the fundamental system parts and interdependencies that can help to explain system functioning and leverage systems change. The proposed framework highlights the importance of attending to both the deep and apparent structures within a system as well as the interactions and interdependencies among these system parts. This includes attending to the dominant normative, resource, regulative, and operational characteristics that dictate the behavior and lived experiences of system members. The value of engaging critical stakeholders in problem definition, boundary construction, and systems analysis are also discussed. The implications of this framework for systems change researchers and practitioners are discussed.

Mobilizing residents for action: the role of small wins and strategic supports.

Yes we can! is a community-building initiative funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation that aims to improve educational and economic outcomes in Battle Creek, Michigan by mobilizing low-income communities and resident leaders and building their capacity to influence the decisions and policies that impact their lives. This paper describes the strategies pursued during the first phase of this initiative to foster resident mobilization by building small wins within the neighborhood. Primarily through a neighborhood-based mini-grant program and staff supports to encourage collective action, Yes we can! has started to increase levels of resident mobilization within the seven economically distressed neighborhoods that initially partnered with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation on this effort. The specific programming components and how they were implemented as well as the initial successes experienced are described. Lessons learned are discussed.

Revealing the cues within community places: stories of identity, history, and possibility.

Place-based approaches to community change have become increasingly popular strategies for addressing significant social problems. With their intentional focus on 'place,' most efforts have sought to gain greater understanding into how neighborhood contexts affect people. However, while both aggregate characteristics and social dynamics of neighborhoods have been subject to scrutiny in the literature, less attention has been paid to understanding how the environmental characteristics of neighborhoods and communities as places have meaning for residents. The present study used an innovative methodology called Photovoice to obtain a greater understanding of the meanings residents ascribe to the salient characteristics of their neighborhoods and communities. As part of a place-based initiative, 29 adult and youth residents in seven distressed urban neighborhoods photographed and dialogued about the meaningful physical attributes of their community. According to participants, place characteristics provided cues about their personal histories as members of the community; communicated messages about the value and character of the community and its residents; defined social norms and behavior within the community; and provided markers that could remind residents of who they are and inspire a sense of possibility for who they could become. Implications for practice are discussed.

Using methods that matter: the impact of reflection, dialogue, and voice.

In recent years, the field of community psychology has given considerable attention to how research and evaluation methods should be designed to support our goals of empowerment and social justice. Yet, as a field, we have given much less attention to whether the use of our methods actually achieves or supports our empowerment agenda. With the primary purpose of beginning to establish the norm of reporting on the impacts of our methods, this paper reports on the findings from interviews of 16 youth and adults who had participated in one participatory evaluation method (Photovoice). Two specific questions were examined: (1) What is the impact of participating in a Photovoice effort; and (2) How does the method of Photovoice foster these impacts? Overall, participants noted that they were significantly affected by their experiences as photographers and through their dialogue with neighbors during Photovoice group sessions. Impacts ranged from an increased sense of control over their own lives to the emergence of the kinds of awareness, relationships, and efficacy supportive of participants becoming community change agents. According to participants, Photovoice fostered these changes by (a) empowering them as experts on their lives and community, (b) fostering deep reflection, and (c) creating a context safe for exploring diverse perspectives. The implications of these findings for the science and practice of community psychology are discussed.