Ask an Advisor Questions

Question	Core Competency	Date
Hello, I am looking at using your toolbox in my college course. I was curious when the last time the toolbox was updated? Thanks, Suzanne		Thu, 05/18/2023
My research topic is the assessment of practice of social marketing campaign strategy in Ethiopian national blood bank service. What is your advice for me especially the theoretical and conceptual models. And also,the research questions and approaches. Thanks in advance,	Implementing a Social Marketing Effort	Sat, 05/13/2023
where to find sources in the communities to assist with different needs and maintenance	Assessing Community Needs and Resources	Tue, 05/09/2023
Hello, The Y has been a part of many grass roots coalitions and served as a fiscal agent in cases. Recently we've been asked by two orgs about how we can oversee a local coalition. I'd like to find tools, legal info about what this might look like. We have attorneys who are great at dissecting agreements but I want more general knowledge. Thanks so much, Kim	Creating and Maintaining Coalitions and Partnerships	Thu, 05/04/2023
Hi, I live in a community-driven neighborhood in San Diego and wanted to contribute to the community building efforts. I was thinking of building a collective problem tree (and subsequently solution tree) to tackle community needs and identify assets and resources by interviewing individuals of this community. I would be posting this community needs assessment online, to raise awareness and try to promote meaningful actionable path to tackle those needs. I want to bring light to needs identified by community members, promote community ownership and mobilization of resources to eventually act upon those needs. I am still working on the questionnaire, do you have any advice by any chance? Thank you	Assessing Community Needs and Resources Developing Strategic and Action Plans Increasing Participation and Membership	Fri, 04/21/2023
Hello, I am a foster parent of 2 and I would like to open up a Group home "Safe Haven for the children here in MEMPHIS,TN. I'm looking for advice/support on where to start? Im looking for help with funding as well with licenses/permits etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.	Increasing Participation and Membership	Sun, 04/16/2023
I am trying to develop an Integrated Prevention Program in a military setting, frames after the public health model of tier 1 prevention. We are trying to assess the current state and build as needed our prevention system - the people, the relationships and infrastructure (specifically data, current policies, current prevention efforts, etc.) I am looking for a structured or semi structured interview tool or assessment tool that our working group can use to capture the information needed to understand our current system and the gaps. We are not even close to a needs assessment. This is literally building our framework system to then build our processes.	Assessing Community Needs and Resources Developing a Framework or Model of Change Developing Strategic and Action Plans Increasing Participation and Membership Influencing Policy Development Sustaining the Work or Initiative	Wed, 04/12/2023
We have formed a group and picked a name and are meeting with the officials advocating for capacity building at our local animal shelter. Do we need to form a legal entity like a non-profit or can we can continue as a group of people just doing stuff?	Improving Organizational Management and Development Sustaining the Work or Initiative	Mon, 04/10/2023
Hi crew! I'm a civics coordinator with an environmental nonprofit and we have been working with the office of the Senator that introduced a PFAS regulation bill. We are trying to whip up support through letters of testimony, and I'm hoping to reach out to community members that are affected by PFAS to ask for their supportive testimony. The problem that I am running into is that we want testimony to not sound like it is all coming from the same source. I was thinking about including talking points, but if those are recycled in each testimony, we can risk the quality of testimony, but I also want to make written testimony as easy and enticing as possible. One of my questions is do you all have any resources that I can share with our community on how to best give written testimony, and do you have any best practices as well? Additionally, do you know of any way that we can use AI as a method to create unique testimony - I have been using chat GPT and it works pretty well! Thank you so much y'all.	Advocating for Change Implementing a Social Marketing Effort	Tue, 04/04/2023
Hi Community Toolbox! We are planning a piece of action research in relation to sexual gender based violence in Bangladesh and want to include different community representatives on a steering/monitoring/oversight committee and wondered if you have any suggestions on recruiting people to such a committee since the number of potential stakeholders will be quite large? Thank you. Best, Patrick	Increasing Participation and Membership	Tue, 04/04/2023
I have a 12-year-old nephew living in Haverhill mass who would like to be part of an organization on changing the school system. He feels the school system is outdated, and kids are not being taught skills that would be beneficial to real life situations/jobs, as well as the teaching skills of teachers and children, not being taught in the way they are able to learn well. He would like information on who to write to regarding this and what actions he could take as a 12-year-old kid be it organizations to join, etc..	Developing Strategic and Action Plans Advocating for Change	Mon, 03/27/2023
Hi - my name is Danelle Zapzalka and I live in Central Minnesota. I am taking a Community Health course as part of obtaining a bachelor of science degree. As part of my final project I need to complete a community assessment, plan, implement, and evaluate a project within a community designed to address the primary prevention of an identified health concern. My question to you... Is there a particular area within Central Minnesota that is of high need of assistance and change? My initial community ideas include veterans and women shelters. Do you have any recommendations? Thank you for your time.	Assessing Community Needs and Resources	Mon, 03/20/2023
Hello, I am an Irish psychology student currently studying abroad in Bulgaria. Here, I am taking a course in disability, accomodation & adaption, and the psychology of social change with Prof. Ronald Harvey. As part of these courses, I will be working alongside disabled students at our university; our goal is to make the disability services here more accessible and receptive to students' needs. One major barrier to this has been the students' self advocacy, particularly for those with invisible disabilities: Many students choose not to disclose their disabilities due to previous bad experiences and a lack of faith in the services. Even if I am unable to make policy changes to the university, I still want to change students' attitude, to encourage them to engage more with these services and with each other. To this end, I wanted to ask for advice on how to build self-advocacy and solidarity in a community of (primarily invisibly) disabled college students. Currently, I am looking towards peer-run solutions that give disabled students agency to represent and campaign for themselves (for example, peer-support groups for wellbeing, peer-run meet and greets or campus orientations). I also want to take inspiration from my home university and their access programme (the Maynooth Access Programme or MAP). Student Central is one aspect of this programme that links disabled students to an assistant psychologist and offers them one-to-one academic support. I don't think I'll manage to find an assistant psychologist, but I am interested in setting up a similar mentor-support network between junior and senior students. Of these suggestions (or if you have others), is there one that would be most feasible to achieve? And are these effective ways to foster community, solidarity, and self-advocacy amongst these students? If there is anything else I should explain or clarify, I would be happy to do so. Thank you so much for your time and I look forward to your response. Naoise	Assessing Community Needs and Resources Developing Strategic and Action Plans Building Leadership Advocating for Change Influencing Policy Development	Sat, 03/18/2023
I am currently preparing for my culminating project to graduate with my MPH. For my project, I am hoping to evaluate our state's rural health association as I work in the rural health field and was excited to loop in my existing professional interests. My question is, would evaluating a professional association such as of rural health professionals, follow the same principles of evaluating a coalition or an issue-based initiative? I know most of their efforts are put toward advocacy, networking, and education if that is helpful for context.	Evaluating the Initiative	Tue, 03/14/2023
I need to devise a plan according your toolbox to become adherent to GGHHI on a Health care waste management program in my hospital	Developing Strategic and Action Plans	Tue, 03/14/2023
2) Draft an action plan for a strategy in Cynthia's workplace. Be sure to include all the necessary steps and fabricate whatever detail necessary.	Developing Strategic and Action Plans	Tue, 03/14/2023
Hello, I am part of the Psychology of Social Change Class. My professor, Ronald Harvey, mentioned you can help me and my partner. We are doing a project about drug and alcohol prevention. We are looking for effective ways to approach our research. Any information or advice would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.		Wed, 03/08/2023
How do i use community toolbox, just pay for my courses and curriculum? Workstation etc		Wed, 03/01/2023
1.) A concerned citizen approaches local government officials about developing a walking path in their community. Who should be involved in this scenario? How should each individual or organization be involved? 2.) There has been an increase in heroin use in a metropolitan area. The local government needs a solution. Who will be involved in coming up with a plan? Who should be involved in this scenario? How should each individual or organization be involved? 3.)The number of people who are homeless in urban areas has increased by 15% in the last two years. Citizens are concerned and complaining to the city government. Who will be involved to address the issue? Who should be involved in this scenario? How should each individual or organization be involved?	Analyzing Problems and Goals Developing Strategic and Action Plans Advocating for Change	Wed, 03/01/2023
Dear Advisors, My teammates and I are working on a project for a Psychology of Social Change course with Prof. Ronald Harvey at the American University in Bulgaria. We are currently focused on a social problem that concerns mental health. We were thinking of exploring why people do not seek outside/professional help when needed. Our focus is Bulgaria, but we think that in the Balkan region, the case is similar. What we believe is the most 'troublesome' group is older men. In Bulgaria, the older generation does not seem to accept well the idea of going to therapy. This might be because of fear of shame. They tend to keep the problems to themselves, and/or friends and family. We currently haven't found any scholarly sources on this issue. Do you think you could maybe forward us some sources and studies that contain interesting information about the case? Thank you in advance! Best regards, Viktoriya Ikonomova	Analyzing Problems and Goals Developing Strategic and Action Plans	Mon, 02/27/2023
Hello! We are Psychology Majors from the American University in Bulgaria and we are taking a course in Psychology of Social Change with Professor Ronald Harvey. One of our main projects is to make a research about a local social problem. We decided to work on the lack of housing on campus of our university since last year there was an influx of new students and many of them had to seek alternatives off campus (hotel rooms, rentals, Airbnb, etc.). This leads to lack of integration and a feeling of isolation from the community, which especially affects foreign students. We are open to any suggestions on how we could make the students living off campus feel a part of the university and how we could help the university to tackle the issue. Any links/research done on this matter would be very helpful because we could not find much online. Probable topics we discussed are reflection on mental health, possible solutions, and cases from abroad where this situation occurred. Thank you for your time! :)	Assessing Community Needs and Resources Analyzing Problems and Goals Developing Strategic and Action Plans Increasing Participation and Membership Improving Organizational Management and Development	Mon, 02/27/2023
Hello, I was referred by Prof. Ronald Harvey to this community website. Please, provide some ideas about easier integration of international freshmen students to the university community. Can you also tell me some opposing sides of this issue and why they might disagree? Some practices from real universities might also be helpful if you are aware of any. Thank you!	Analyzing Problems and Goals Developing Strategic and Action Plans Increasing Participation and Membership Advocating for Change Influencing Policy Development Improving Organizational Management and Development	Mon, 02/27/2023
Hello everyone, I have a couple of questions: How to integrate first year international students in the university community? How to prevent them from having psychology difficulties in their academic journey? How to rise awareness regarding the problem? What activities should be done regarding the issue? Thank you in advance! Kind regards, Velina Parashkevova	Assessing Community Needs and Resources Analyzing Problems and Goals Developing Strategic and Action Plans Increasing Participation and Membership Advocating for Change Influencing Policy Development Improving Organizational Management and Development	Mon, 02/27/2023
How to cite a part of this website in APA format? I am looking to use some information off of this page /en/table-of-contents/implement/enhancing-support/peer-support-groups/main - but I am unsure how to cite it. Who would the author be? Would it be Chris Hampton because he is the contributor? Thanks!		Wed, 02/22/2023
Hello, I would love to use your resources for a class project. What is the proper way to cite this? /en/table-of-contents/overview/models-for-community-health-and-development/collective-impact/main Thank you! Kelly	Developing a Framework or Model of Change	Fri, 02/10/2023
Hi Everyone, I am a practising individual and couple’s therapist, been trained at NIMHANS, Bangalore India. I practice in New Delhi (the capital city of India) in private. I am originally from Srinagar, Kashmir – the northern part of India. Kashmir has been conflict areas and a historic bone of contention between two countries – India and Pakistan and since the inception of armed conflict in 1990s, the society has been showing all the signs of trauma and increased psychosomatic illnesses. After Covid, there has been an alarming increase in divorces and relationship dissolution impacting families, children and society in general. The armed conflict has already left thousands of children orphan and now increasing rate of divorces are making the situation more worse. Since the valley doesn't have any expert trained to intervene at a grassroots level or at a community level, I have been contemplating developing an intervention model to work with the community. As I am not trained in community psychology and work with couples only in therapeutic context, I was hoping if you could guide me in a direction about how to approach the issue. I am putting up few important questions as of now that I have in my mind: 1. How to approach the idea of community intervention in the context of relationship problems prevalent in the Kashmiri society? 2. What research and intervention models are appropriate to engage at community level? 3. What stakeholders within the society I should collaborate with in order to make a sustainable and effective interventions?	Assessing Community Needs and Resources Developing a Framework or Model of Change Developing Strategic and Action Plans Increasing Participation and Membership	Sat, 02/04/2023
Hello! I am working on a rural health research project focusing on Tusayan, Arizona and women's health. There is a lack of resources there and the closest care would be roughly an hour away in Flagstaff, Arizona. I was hoping to see if you had any ideas on how to assist this community.	Assessing Community Needs and Resources Analyzing Problems and Goals Developing an Intervention	Tue, 01/31/2023
I live in Springfield Township, Montgomery County, PA. We are having a controversy regarding the Township's Police Benevolent Association using the symbol of the Blue Line Flag on some of their communications to promote police solidarity. Many in our community feel the flag has been co-opted by white supremacists and is not appropriate to be used by Township police. Our Township Commissioners passed a resolution to prevent the police from using the symbol while on duty. This past Friday, the PBA informed the Township they are instituting legal action against the Commissioners. Those of us in the community who just want peace and justice need help in resolving the situation. Can you help us?	Analyzing Problems and Goals Influencing Policy Development	Mon, 01/30/2023
I am using toolbox for an assignment in school and need to use in-text citation. What was the year this was published and who is the author(s)?		Sun, 01/29/2023
in a power point presentation how many sentences and what font size is recommended how many is too many visuals? and should visuals be placed throughout or at end of presentation?		Tue, 01/24/2023
Hello Advisors, My name is Sanjay Shrivastav and I am from India. During my research, I have landed this page. Well, first of all, I would like to thank you for providing some exceptional services for the communities. I am looking for the best Community Software for the community management. And, I have reviewed following Google Searches. 1. https://www.g2.com/categories/online-community-management 2. https://www.softwareadvice.com/community/ 3. https://www.capterra.com/community-software/ 4. https://www.softwareworld.co/best-community-software/ Well, there are lots of options available and I am quite confused about. Could you please help me to know which online software would be the best option for community planning and development? Thanks	Developing Strategic and Action Plans	Wed, 01/18/2023
I started a nonprofit to provide transitional housing and life skill education for the single mothers in the redline neighborhoods. I am working on my first project to host a money management workshop. The location I am interested in is a low housing community with 100% single mothers residence and about 25% are working outside of the home. I want to know what would be the best way to start a money management workshop and would asking my bank to sponsor the event be a great idea? The main question is how should I propose using the community center as the place to hold the event?	Increasing Participation and Membership	Wed, 01/11/2023
Hello, I am a public health planner with City of Austin-Austin Public Health, and wanted to know if you or others have access to consultants who assist with community health improvement plans (CHIP)? Any insight or direction would be greatly appreciated!	Developing Strategic and Action Plans	Thu, 01/05/2023
Hello, My name is Elizabeth Morgan. I have spent the last 2 years studying and researching impacts and treatment for trauma, PTSD, C-PTSD, with a focus on sexual abuse trauma. This is because one of my children, my daughter who turned 16 today) is a victim of sexual trauma from a family member. I started college in 2008, and took many classes on psychology, and wrote most research papers with a focused and focus on mental health. Though I was unaware of what my daughter was going through until late November 2017, I have a significant amount of family members who struggle with mental health, and therefore I have always had a strong desire to understand their struggles as well as some withib myself. I am active duty Army National Guard, with nearly 14 years of service. I have an BS degree as well as an AA Degree in Organizational Management. My experience outside of personal research includes EMT, medical management, case coordinator, and about 5 years of training and operations of multiple small companies. Since May 2020, my family and I have worked closely with the wrap around program in Indiana to focus on my daughter's recovery. As the years pass and I see retirement quickly approaching, I am looking to get involved in my state and community and focus my career change in advocating awareness, making resources more known and readily available, and actively participating in policy change. I have started by enrolling in FRIENDS Online Learning Courses for additional knowledge, but I am looking for guidance on getting actively involved. I greatly appreciate your time, and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you!	Advocating for Change	Thu, 01/05/2023
Hello, I'm a social worker and I just started a position as a Case Manager/Advocacy Specialist at a small LGBT community center in Washington, DC. My position is grant-funded and the only way they could get accepted was by creating a dedicated advocacy position outside of therapy services. My job is poorly defined and is honestly the creation of a person that does not want to be a program director nor do they want to be in-person with the community they serve. I'm just a bit overwhelmed with where to start. The other people on my team are remote and very disconnected with what in person is like or what the needs are. Our front desk on daily has people coming in with housing/shelter and food insecurities and the best they can do is direct to our pantry (if there is anything) and give them a resource guide that has not been verified/updated in a long time. I really need to develop a referral service system that connects to my advocating role but before that I feel like the most immediate thing (and most helpful for me learning other community services) is to update the resource guide but since Im overwhelmed im not even sure where to start with that. Any advice, tools or resources would be DEEPLY appreciated. Thank you so much!	Developing Strategic and Action Plans Advocating for Change	Thu, 12/01/2022
I'm the Elderly Hispanic Coordinator. How can I or what can I do to keep my seniors interested in coming to the senior center.	Increasing Participation and Membership	Thu, 12/01/2022
Should a new coalition set up as a formal legal entity to protect the organizers? If so, does it matter if it is an LLC or non-profit?		Wed, 11/16/2022
My understanding for peer led support groups is that facilitators have no legal/insurance -required responsibility because we are peers and this is not a therapeutic group. Do you have any resource that states that? I only have my AFSP peer group manual stating that.	Assessing Community Needs and Resources	Tue, 11/15/2022
Hi there, Love what you are doing! I would like to know to be a peer parent advocate inlolved in supporting parents involved with child protection; What forms and templates would I need? Further question I would also like to become a patient advocate and have the same questions about that. Thank you	Advocating for Change	Fri, 11/11/2022
I work as a Community Health Worker for a non-profit organization and wanted to use the Action Plan as a template. I also frequently see other tools I would like to use. I noticed the works on this site are licensed according to the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Does this allow for my use and dissemination to the internal workgroup? According to what I read it seems that it would not pose an issue but due to my position being a paid one, I wanted to be on the safe side. Please advise.		Thu, 11/10/2022
We are looking for a good evaluation model and descriptive narrative (sample) for community oriented disaster preparedness workshops (any close or similar topics would be fine). We are just looking to use it as a model. Would you be able to point us in the right direction? Thankyou in advance.	Evaluating the Initiative	Sun, 11/06/2022
how can a school and community work together to ensure the children are learning effectively and efficiently and feeling safe while walking to school or while sitting in class learning the curriculum what approach can be done or made after the parent teacher meeting of what the district did or trying to do I am a student major in social work and i want to be a major part of the change that is needed how can i start a community movement while working together with the community leaders	Developing Strategic and Action Plans Increasing Participation and Membership Influencing Policy Development	Thu, 11/03/2022
I am starting a community project about health education and faith-based groups. How can I reach out to these groups? What should I do to get started?	Developing Strategic and Action Plans Increasing Participation and Membership	Thu, 10/27/2022
Hi my name is Loreal Burkhalter. I currently attend UMSL we're doing a project on community resources to help our future students in their transition post education. Does your foundation have resources for special needs youth?	Assessing Community Needs and Resources	Wed, 10/26/2022
I moved into a water privileged community in 2017 only to find that a member has taken over the community access to the Chesapeake Bay. Since then, a couple other members have also moved in with their children. The path is a dedicated and is not an easement. We are being denied our riparian access by this resident. Our homes do not face the bay. We have a community association and our community deed states that this access belongs to everyone living in this community. An Opinion of the Circuit Court of Annapolis Maryland indicate that the path is to benefit the neighborhood, a Perpetual Injunction and the court’s Opinion substantiates our claim The community association department ID number is D00048009. The resident installed pavers and recently a no trespassing sign; and this year she has put a fence up. My understanding is that this resident has been keeping the community members from exercising their riparian rights of accessing the Chesapeake Bay for several years. The community deed from 1955 dedicates the path to the community. The community plat shows the path to the bay. The community deed also references a Perpetual Injunction from a 1935 Circuit Court Opinion, which defends the rights and benefits of the community to always have access to the bay via of this path. This year a new neighbor from the opposite side of the path, that moved in, in 2017 established a “Quit Claim” and gave the path to the neighbor that stated told the community that she owned the path. There are no other documents besides what I have enclosed in this email in regards to the 8’ path to the bay. This was once a community in which residents socialized with each other. Since this neighbor has taken our access to the bay, people don’t talk to one another anymore. Would you please review the documents attached? We are a very small community and this neighbor has affected us awfully. Would you mind telling me if it is possible to pursue this issue please?	Developing Strategic and Action Plans	Mon, 10/24/2022
Hello Will be great if you advise on the best tools related to vulnerable communities' identification and need assessment to their needs	Assessing Community Needs and Resources	Sun, 10/23/2022
Dear team, I am Malawian born but work in the UK. The village of my origin in Malawi does not have a nursery school so I started paying 3 women to teach basic literacy and numeracy to the under 5 year olds as well as feeding them porridge. The children rely on this and at times its their only meal of the day. The programme is run out in the open due to lack of a building for the children. I want to build them a basic plywood structure of their own so that they can learn in a comfortable environment without worrying about the weather. I have started a Go Fund me to raise £500 for building materials but have struggled to gain traction, do you have any advice on how I can successfully build the nursery school? Thank you, Sarah	Increasing Participation and Membership	Sun, 10/09/2022
I am starting a group called "A New Beginning" We only have NA and AA in our small community and we need a group that focuses on awareness and a social support we will be meeting weekly and volunteering or doing activities together every 2 weeks I really want to make this happen I just dont know how to get funding for it. I just want to help our community get involved and gain awareness and support addicts like myself in recovery and I think a positive social support is crucial. How would I go about it. I have the location made flyers and I just dont know how to get funding please help	Improving Organizational Management and Development	Mon, 10/03/2022
Good Afternoon I have a at risk youth curriculum that I need to be researched. Do you have any resources available	Developing a Framework or Model of Change Influencing Policy Development	Wed, 09/28/2022
Hi, my name is Zac. I work in Web3 (crypto) as a community builder and I am reaching out because I found the community tool box to be a powerful resource for me and what I do as a consultant in the web3 industry. I wrote an article (not published yet) on the problems of Web3 communities. I'm reaching out to see if I can get some resources from this amazing organization. I believe if we want this industry that uses the word "community" a lot, there needs to be some serious changes to how users view what a good community looks like. Link to article https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y7IAKnDuzC32gOYK8E3B_-IwYi8jPu1-OOGyNQsp8as/edit?usp=sharing	Analyzing Problems and Goals Building Leadership Improving Organizational Management and Development	Tue, 09/27/2022