Action Council Research Articles

Operationalizing Racism as a Public Health Crisis: Moving Beyond the Rhetoric!

It is well documented that systemic racism and social injustice result in health inequities for communities of color, including premature death. To date, more than 260 municipalities across the United States have declared racism as a public health crisis. In January 2021, the Nation’s Health, a monthly American Public Health Association newsletter, acknowledged Genesee County, Michigan, as one of the communities leading the work in operationalizing these declarations. This research highlights community engagement and participatory processes, models, and tools used to operationalize racism as a public health crisis in Genesee County. A participatory approach grounded in community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods was used to operationalize Genesee County’s resolution declaring racism a public health crisis. To ensure our efforts centered community voices, experiences, and priorities, our methodology consisted of: 1) hosting community dialogues focused on systemic racism; 2) the novel application of a committee composition matrix to develop a geographically and socially diverse Community Action Council to serve as the decision-making body for our strategic plan to identify and address systemic racism within Genesee County; 3) the development of a draft county-wide strategic plan; and 4) focus groups to review and provide feedback on the drafted strategic plan. CBPR provides guidance for effective community engagement and ensures that community voices are centered when identifying effective responses to systemic racism. CBPR principles also foster co-ownership of solutions, increasing trust, transparency, and accountability between researchers, community members, and other stakeholders.

“Planning for anything, not for everything:” Uncertainty and temporal coordination in social movement organizing

A month before the 2020 US presidential election, then President Trump amplified a false claim about poll watchers monitoring early voting in Philadelphia, stating “They were thrown out. They weren’t allowed to watch. You know why? Because bad things happen in Philadelphia, bad things.” The months preceding the November 3rd election featured many similar discursive attacks on the integrity of Philadelphia's election systems, part of a larger right-wing campaign to delegitimate election outcomes in advance. Fearing what this might portend for election day, dozens of local progressive movement organizations and activist groups formed the “Philadelphia Action Council” (PAC), a coordinative space for organizing and planning a mobilized response to a contested election. Strategic collective action involves the coordination of complex temporal orientations, at multiple scales, however, PAC activists couldn’t be sure when, where, or for how long they may need to mobilize, nor what sorts of targets or messages or tactics the action should be orientated around. In fact, they couldn’t be sure if they would need to mobilize at all. In this paper, I analyze the temporal structure of the PAC's “action council” model, arguing that the contingent, eventful temporality embedded in the structure of the PAC engendered similarly contingent modifications in the temporal orientations of its participants, allowing PAC activists to embrace uncertainty in ways that they typically strive to avoid. I then demonstrate how the embrace of uncertainty (somewhat paradoxically) expanded the PAC's collective capacity for improvisation and adaptation in the days following the election. This research draws on (and contributes to) critical time studies to further the emergent project of temporalities research in the field of social movements studies.

The International Discourse on Ecumenical Diaconia as a Chance to Strengthen the Specific Profile and Potential of Churches as Actors of Eco-Social Transformation—A German Perspective

There has always been a conviction in the ecumenical movement that social service is part of the essence of what it means to be the church. The strengthening of social and political witness of churches through church-related agencies and networks in the context of the beginning development discourse from the 1960s until the 1990s, however, led to a scenario in which the secular language of development and political action received much attention. In 2014 at the Malawi consultation, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Action of Churches Together (ACT Alliance) reviewed their working relationships and explored better collaboration between agencies and churches, stating that the specific nature of churches as entities with an added value and particular profile in the area of social and political service would be strengthened. From this consultation, a mandate was given by the WCC Central Committee to develop a study document on the understanding and core components of the concept of “ecumenical diaconia”, which then was made available to the 11th Assembly of the WCC in Karlsruhe, 2022. This article introduces the context, major content, and key convictions of this study document and related discussions in Karlsruhe. It answers the question: what is the significance of the global ecumenical fellowship of churches in focusing on a common language of diaconia and a more explicit church-related terminology to describe and strengthen the social services of churches and their engagement in diaconia and social witness? It is recognized that this article is predominantly written from a German context and perspective in its construction of the international discourse on ecumenical diaconia.

Connectivity and racial equity in responding to COVID-19 impacts in the Chicago regional food system

The COVID-19 outbreak led to major disruptions in food systems across the globe. In the United States’ Chicago region, the outbreak created immediate concerns around increased hunger, food insecurity, supply chain disruptions, and loss of local liveli­hoods. This was especially evident in communities of color, which faced disproportionate impacts from the pandemic. In March 2020, the Chicago Food Policy Action Council (CFPAC) coordinated a Rapid Response Effort that convened people in working groups related to emergency food assis­tance, local food producers, small businesses, and food system workers to address urgent needs that arose due to the pandemic. Each working group met regularly through virtual calls. This effort has persisted throughout the pandemic in various forms. For this study, we interviewed CFPAC staff members and participants in these calls to create narratives that document respondents’ perceptions of the Rapid Response Effort’s evolution, benefits, challenges, and potential for long-term impacts. Thematic analysis conducted across these narra­tives revealed the importance of network connec­tions to overcoming food system disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis also underscored challenges associated with racism in efforts to strengthen local and regional food sys­tems. These findings indicate a need for research and practice that intentionally attend to power dis­parities related to race within collaborative net­works in order to structure local and regional food systems to achieve greater racial equity and resili­ence to future shocks.

The Frontier Effect: State Formation and Violence in Colombia

The Frontier Effect: State Formation and Violence in Colombia

Councils in Action: Automating the Curation of Municipal Governance Data for Research

ABSTRACTLarge scale comparative research into municipal governance is often prohibitively difficult due to a lack of high‐quality data. Recent advances in speech‐to‐text algorithms and natural language processing techniques has made it possible to more easily collect and analyze this type of data. In this paper, we introduce an open‐source platform, the Council Data Project (CDP), to curate novel datasets for research into municipal governance. The contribution of this work is two‐fold: 1. We demonstrate that CDP, as an infrastructure, can be used to assemble reliable comparative data across municipalities; 2. We provide exploratory analysis to show how CDP data can be used to gain insight into how municipal governments perform over time. We conclude by describing future directions for research on and with CDP such as the development of machine learning models for speaker annotation, outline generation, and named entity recognition to the linking of data for large‐scale comparative research.

Community-Driven Identification and Adaptation of a Cancer Caregiving Intervention for LGBTQIA Populations

BackgroundLesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other LGBTQIA cancer patients experience significant disparities in cancer-related outcomes. Their relationships may not be acknowledged in care systems designed to serve primarily heterosexual and cisgender (H/C) patients, and resources for partners and caregivers of H/C patients may not address the needs of LGBTQIA caregivers. Tailored interventions are needed to address disparities in LGBTQIA patients and caregivers.MethodsTo address this gap, researchers from Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, MI and Wilmot Cancer Institute in Rochester, NY worked with a cancer action council (CAC) of LGBTQIA stakeholders with lived experience of cancer in a community-academic partnership. This group used the ADAPT-ITT model to guide their process of assessing needs in this community, identifying evidence-based interventions that could be adapted to meet those needs, and beginning the process of adapting an existing intervention to meet the needs of a new population.ResultsIn the Assessment phase of the model, CAC members shared their own experiences and concerns related to cancer and identified cancer caregiving as a priority area for intervention. In the Decision-Making phase of the model, researchers and CAC members performed a review of the literature on interventions that reported outcomes for cancer caregiver, identifying 13 promising interventions. Each of these interventions was evaluated over a series of meetings using a scoring rubric. Based on this rubric, the FOCUS intervention was established as an appropriate target for adaptation to the LGBTQIA population. In the first stage of the Adaptation phase, CAC members reacted to the intervention content and identified principal components for adaptation.ConclusionWhile the FOCUS intervention adaptation is still in process, this manuscript can serve as a guide for others establishing community-academic partnerships to adapt interventions, as well as those developing interventions and resources for LGBTQIA persons coping with cancer.

The Youth Wellness Quest: A Comprehensive Online Mental Health Literacy and Self-Advocacy Resource Developed by Youth for Youth.

A lack of mental health literacy may impact youths' ability to advocate for themselves as they seek to access and navigate the mental healthcare system. Recognizing this, members of the National Youth Action Council at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, ON, developed the Youth Wellness Quest resource. This health literacy resource informs youth of possible available services, increasing their capacity to make informed mental healthcare decisions. The youth-led process of creating this resource, from development to dissemination, is described within this paper, showcasing how youth can lead the development of tools designed for youth.

Metropolitan Airports Commission’s vision for customer-centric services and facilities at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

Years ago, the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) declared its vision is: ‘Providing your best airport experience’. To that end, MAC has been creatively determining strategies for how and where to provide enhanced services for not just the passengers, but for employees as well. By tapping into the passengers using the airport as well as the employees providing the service, the MAC formed a Customer Service Action Council (CSAC) to develop customer training, rewards programmes and a forum for discussing what MSP can do better to meet the needs for all. The MAC also tasked the airport development design teams to incorporate customercentric amenities into construction wherever they can to ease stress, enhance joy and create a facility that is equitable to the endless variety of passengers and employees. These two strategies, coupled with an overall attitude of infusing customer service into all things, has created the opportunities MAC needed to elevate the quality of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) facilities and boost ASQ scores. This paper describes the strategies which, although disrupted with the 2020 COVID-19 turndown, resulted in a pre-COVID four-year run of ASQ’s Best Airport in North America award for airports in the 25−40m passenger category.

The Pleasure and Pain of Passing as (Dis)abled: Rudi Dutschke’s Exile in the United Kingdom (1968–1971) and the Ableism of the West German Student Movement

The Pleasure and Pain of Passing as (Dis)abled: Rudi Dutschke’s Exile in the United Kingdom (1968–1971) and the Ableism of the West German Student Movement

The Cost of Chronic Disease—Clinical Exercise Physiologists Can Be Part of the Solution

Recently I was reading an article of an insurance study by the Health Action Council about the cost to employers for workers who have chronic diseases or conditions (1). The data was compiled from 57 nationwide employers who cover the healthcare of more than 280,000 individuals. The report stated that more than 60% of the employees had at least 1 of the following 5 chronic health issues: asthma, diabetes, hypertension, mental health conditions, and substance abuse. Over a 2-year period of analysis these employers spent about $2.5 billion to pay for treatment of their employees. As I read this article, I couldn't help but think, “I hope they include supervised exercise coverage for both primary prevention and as part of a treatment plan.” However, that desire is not likely to be the case for these particular health issues.Nonetheless, an argument can be made for the inclusion of exercise coverage. Of the 5 health issues listed, each can be either prevented or improved in some manner (e.g., primary prevention for those at risk, better control or management, reduced progression, fewer symptoms, less medication, and fewer emergency room visits or hospitalizations) with regular exercise training (2–6). The article went on to provide data showing some of these health issues affect certain races more than others. For instance, those of Asian descent were found to have a higher prevalence of diabetes (43%) compared with other races, and black individuals had a higher prevalence of asthma, by 20% or more, than other races. The rates of these health conditions also were affected by socioeconomic status, with lower income individuals at a higher risk.The aim of the Journal of Clinical Exercise Physiology is to provide meaningful, practical information that the practicing clinical exercise physiologist can immediately use in their own work with clients and patients. The journal supports submissions in each of the health issues mentioned in this editorial, including mental health conditions and behavioral strategies. Mental health in particular has an emerging body of literature suggesting exercise training as an important part of the overall treatment strategy with the potential to improve adherence to a healthy lifestyle. This may have important considerations (e.g., treatment adherence, desire to improve health, return to work) for both the chronic health issues mentioned here, as well as many others. As we continue to better understand the value of regular physical activity and exercise training in the primary and secondary prevention and treatment realms of care, the clinical exercise physiologist can play an important role in providing this type of care. Supervised exercise therapy is a low-risk, low-cost treatment strategy with a potentially high return on investment; as part of an overall wellness strategy, it may be as much as $3 to $6 on every dollar spent (7). So be the one in “your neck of the woods” to take advantage of any opportunity to suggest exercise training as a treatment strategy; it can potentially reduce the effect of chronic health conditions on treatment costs and lost workdays.

The Evolution of the Prohibition on the Use of Force in the Face of United Nations Security Council Inaction: How Can the United Nations General Assembly Maintain International Peace?

The Evolution of the Prohibition on the Use of Force in the Face of United Nations Security Council Inaction: How Can the United Nations General Assembly Maintain International Peace?

Arthur Dunham Provides a “Birds-Eye View” of Councils of Social Agencies in 1929

ABSTRACT This “From the Archives” article provides excerpts from the text of Arthur Dunham’s pamphlet, Community Councils in Action: A Bird’s-Eye View of Thirty-Three Councils of Social Agencies, published by the Public Charities Association of Pennsylvania in November, 1929.

Hate Speech In Libraries: How and How Not to Fight It

This is a revised version of a talk delivered at the ALA 2019 Annual Conference on June 22, 2019, in the discussion group “Hate Speech and Libraries,” sponsored by the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) of ALA. Tom Twiss is co-chair of the International Responsibilities Task Force of SRRT and a member of the SRRT Action Council. Views expressed in this commentary reflect the general position articulated by SRRT Action Council in its August 2018 “Statement on Hate Speech and Libraries.” However, neither this commentary nor the talk on which it was based was endorsed by SRRT or its Action Council.

In Conversation with Bill Rauch

In Conversation with Bill Rauch Sonja Arsham Kuftinec (bio) Bill Rauch’s inspiring ATHE keynote dwelled with the conference theme of transitions. He spoke on the cusp of a move from Ashland, where he had spent twelve years as artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), on his way to helm the new Perelman Performing Arts Center, under construction at the World Trade Center adjacent to where the Twin Towers once stood. Rauch movingly reflected on his time with OSF and on the company he cofounded in the 1980s, Cornerstone, as well looking ahead toward his new position. Invited to respond to this keynote, I in turn looked back on my relationship with Bill Rauch, which has spanned over twenty-five years. I reviewed the book and myriad articles I had written about Rauch’s always collaborative work, as well as our published interviews and conversations. I combed through this archive with a dramaturgical eye, seeking the themes developed and keynotes struck by our relationship as artist and scholar. While I noted shifts over time, a core value of what David Román has termed “critical generosity” sustained the relationship,1 enabling us to stay in conversation around the vexed dynamics of community and inclusion. I initially explored this conundrum of “community” through my first published article—in Theatre Topics—composed with the aid of an ATHE mentorship program. “A Cornerstone for Rethinking Community Theatre” (1996) launched an analysis of the company’s work by thinking through the terms of “community” as a realm of exclusion as well as inclusion. The article read Cornerstone through an ethnographic lens, as manifesting community meanings through social and symbolic systems. (As I write this, I imagine Bill’s cautionary note in my ear on the obfuscation of academic language.) I argued that while Cornerstone’s production process animated communal networks and public spaces, staged collectively generated narratives, and often prompted interpersonal and social reconciliations, productions could also elide contradictions and complexities. I still note Bill’s propensity to end shows with hopeful full-ensemble choreography, and he still responds about the necessity of that hope. And both of us have moved the other. Another recurrent theme emerged around doubleness and dialectics—particularly when Cornerstone worked with Brecht or when OSF’s repertory productions conversed with one another across stages. I wrote of “Cornerstone’s Community Chalk Circle” produced in 1995 with the Watts Labor Community Action Council (WLCAC) in Los Angeles, and of “Staging the City with the Good People of New Haven,” an adaptation of Brecht’s Good Person of Szechuan coproduced with the Long Wharf Theatre in 2000—both of which Rauch directed. Lynn Manning’s earthy adaptation in Watts drew attention to ethnic stereotypes as well as the ways that social circumstances defined characters. In Central Ave. Chalk Circle, black janitor Gertha Gibson (Grusha in Brecht’s original) escapes from police officers Superior and ButtKiss by playing into their stereotypes. “I thought I left some grits on the stove. I ran back to check (gesturing to Latina character) Right? Uh, Maria? (to Officer Superior) You know how we love our grits.” I also noted how Cornerstone ensemble member Lynn Jeffries’s design defamiliarized and illuminated. A world marked by paper and cardboard in the first act (narrated by the artist Azdak) shifted to one defined by janitorial iconography in the second act (narrated by Gertha). Both choices drew attention to the symbolic constructions of power: the clothing of the rich was made of tissue; the judge’s robe of garbage bags. And I still viscerally recall [End Page E-11] the moment that background wall units opened to reveal the WLCAC Warehouse setting as a police van drove downstage, its realism heightened by the stylized design worlds. I also recall the intense conversations Bill and I would have about the intersection of Cornerstone’s artistic and social impacts, which seemed moot when Central Ave. Chalk Circle won LA’s Ovation Award for best production. Click for larger view View full resolution Fig. 1. Bill Rauch delivering the keynote address at the 2019 ATHE conference. Conversations with Bill continued as I immersed myself in archives, interviews, and rehearsals of The...

Assessment of the Wellness and Self-care Strategies of Drug Surrenderers in San Fernando City, La Union: A Basis for an Intervention Program

The war on drugs in the Philippines aroused queries from the community and from neighboring countries. Disputes concerning drug rehabilitation programs and human rights violations have been a target for scrutiny. Around 1.8 million drug users are present in the country. Local government units are mandated to put up community-based rehabilitation programs to prevent and eradicate drug abuse. Barangay Anti-Drug Action Council is revitalized to address peace and order. The objective of this study is to evaluate the wellness and self-care strategies of 307 drug surrenderers using descriptive research design with questionnaire and standardized test as tools. Personal and psychological profile, degree of problems related to drug use, problems encountered and degree of effects along the implementation of PNP Oplan Double Barrel “Project Tokhang and degree of self-care strategies employed are variables explored as bases for the formulation of an intervention program. Majority are male adults, unmarried, Php5,000 and below monthly income earners and high school graduates. Emotions Profile Index Personality test reveals tendencies towards depression, isolation from social contacts, withdrawn, anxiousness and cautious personality traits. Drug Abuse Screening Test yields a low level score implying further monitoring and re-assessment. Top three problems encountered are; (1) Being dragged to the police station when resisted to surrender, (2) Forced to list down known drug user or drug pusher and (3) No chance to consult lawyer before surrendering. Project Tokhang has no effect on the life aspects of participants. Spiritual self-care strategy is infrequently utilized.

Professional societies and African American engineering leaders: Paving pathways and empowering legacies

Diversity and inclusion in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is a global issue. The challenging issues facing the world relating to STEM diversity cross national borders and require leveraging the talents of diverse constituents.1Active international efforts at inclusive talent development are being undertaken to empower persons from groups historically underrepresented in STEM communities.2,3The US National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) reports that in the United States, African Americans are one of the most underrepresented minority groups in engineering relative to their population. This is in spite of a great deal of progress in “growing African American scientists, engineers, and technologists since the Howard University School of Engineering opened in 1910.”4The number of African Americans in engineering at all degree levels is not representative of their percentage in the US population. Table I shows a sampling of 2016 data from a National Science Foundation (NSF) survey of doctoral recipients in engineering.5Figure 1 illustrates a snapshot of African American representation in US colleges of engineering. These statistics show that African Americans remain underrepresented relative to US demographics.6–8

Prospects and problems for European legal cooperation concerning prisoners

Formal legal cooperation in matters relating to prisoners has existed at European level for over 50 years. With the development of an European Union (EU) competence in criminal law from the Treaty of Maastricht 1992 onwards, now both the Council of Europe and the EU have adopted legal instruments in this sphere. This paper analsyses the scope and rationale of transnational European cooperation relating to prisoners. It first outlines Council of Europe instruments, including the relevance of the European Convention of Human Rights, conventions specifically on prisoners, and soft law. It then examines the more recent EU instruments, following which the relevance of constitutional principles and the prospects and potential difficulties of European cooperation are analysed. It concludes that cooperation can best succeed through a specification of minimum standards and greater coordination between Council of Europe and EU action, along with greater recognition of its specifically penal context.

Reducing Disparities in Cancer Screening and Prevention through Community-Based Participatory Research Partnerships with Local Libraries: A Comprehensive Dynamic Trial.

Reduction of cancer-related disparities requires strategies that link medically underserved communities to preventive care. In this community-based participatory research project, a public library system brought together stakeholders to plan and undertake programs to address cancer screening and risk behavior. This study was implemented over 48months in 20 large urban neighborhoods, selected to reach diverse communities disconnected from care. In each neighborhood, Cancer Action Councils were organized to conduct a comprehensive dynamic trial, an iterative process of program planning, implementation and evaluation. This process was phasedinto neighborhoods in random, stepped-wedge sequence. Population-level outcomes included self-reported screeningadherence and smoking cessation, based on street intercept interviews. Event-history regressions (n=9374) demonstrated that adherence outcomes were associated with program implementation, as were mediators such as awareness of screening programs and cancer information seeking. Findings varied by ethnicity, and were strongest among respondents born outside the U.S. or least engaged in care. This intervention impacted healthbehavior in diverse, underserved and vulnerable neighborhoods. It has been sustained as a routine library system program for several years after conclusion of grant support. In sum, participatory research with the public library system offers a flexible, scalable approach to reduce cancer health disparities.

Strengthening the Rule of Law in the EU: The Council's Inaction

AbstractIn May 2014 the Legal Service of the Council delivered an opinion on the European Commission's Rule of Law Framework, stating the Commission's new mechanism was unlawful. This article sets out a critical analysis of this opinion, and questions whether the annual rule of law dialogue announced by the Council in December 2014 is a feasible response. Hungary is used as a case study to highlight the total failure of the Council to take any action whatsoever in the face of the grave and systemic abuses of human rights committed by the government of that country since 2010; and Poland where an autocratic regime has been in place since the autumn of 2015 is also mentioned. This is contrasted with the efforts of the majority of the Members of the European Parliament to tackle the acute challenge and with the Commission's action on specific breaches. A co‐ordinated strategy is sorely needed.