“Meeting them where they’re at”: Implementation of community psychology values into city policy and the case of the Honest Elections Initiative

《“Meeting them where they’re at”: Implementation of community psychology values into city policy and the case of the Honest Elections Initiative》

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来源: JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS,Vol.42,Issue5,P.765-785

语言: 英文

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作者单位: University of Washington Bothell

摘要: Seattle, Washington, has recently experienced significant economic growth, but, this boom has not been felt by all city residents. Many residents have increasingly felt disenfranchised from Seattle’s social, economic, and political institutions. To address some of these issues, Seattle residents passed the “Honest Elections” Initiative 122 (I-122) in 2017, the goals of which were to shift the power of city-level political contributions toward lower-propensity donors. To implement I-122 upon its passing, a coalition, Honest Elections Seattle (HES), developed strategies that mirrored many of the values of community psychology. The purpose of this paper is to use the Honest Elections Initiative as a case study to highlight the ways that community psychology values can be applied in urban politics. Specifically, I found that HES: promoted social justice by creating a culture of powerful engagement, adopting a long-term strategy, and holding elected officials accountable; built upon an existing sense of community by embedding in organizational and community structures; fostered civic engagement by building grassroots leadership and reducing barriers to participation; valued collaboration and community strengths by constructing a representative coalition and making local leaders the face of the initiative; and respected the diversity of local communities and residents. I conclude by providing insights to researchers and urban practitioners.AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the reviewers for their thoughtful, direct, and critical review of this manuscript. Your feedback has been invaluable in strengthening this paper. I also thank Dr. Jennifer Watling Neal for her feedback and guidance on this manuscript and for curating this special issue and the managing editor, Dr. Zachary Neal, for his careful consideration of this paper and guidance in this process. Finally, I thank the participants of this research for their work implementing I-122 and for taking their valuable time to speak with me.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Additional informationNotes on contributorsCharles R. CollinsCharles R. Collins is an assistant professor of community psychology in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (SIAS) at the University of Washington Bothell. His research examines issues of social, economic, and political injustice. In particular, he is interested in social interventions that are designed to undermine unjust systems. His work is largely informed by his personal experiences growing up in one of the poorest neighborhoods in one of the most violent and economically disenfranchised cities in California: San Bernardino.