Applied human and community development: a culturally-based master's degree program for strengthening communities - Escuela de Psicología Profesional de California; Instituto Internacional de los Cuatro Mundos - TA: California School of Professional Psychology; Four Worlds International Institute

Hispanic Times Magazine, March-April, 1998

When the young people stop singing the old songs and there are no more dreams and visions of greatness, there is no more power. So as your vision is, so shall your power be. So as your faith is, so shall your success be. Therefore we need to allow our hearts and minds to be world embracing.

The California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) has launched a new interdisciplinary Master's degree program in human and community development at its Fresno campus. The program was developed in collaboration with the Four Worlds International Institute for Human and Community Development and the Four Worlds Centre for Development organization that has become known for its culturally-based approach to development work. Structured for accessibility to working adults, the new degree program was developed through the generous support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which provided funding for Four Worlds' work among North American indigenous communities--work that formed the foundation of the curriculum, which draws on the related disciplines of community psychology, health promotion, adult education, applied anthropology, economics, and sustainable development studies.

"Communities are made up of people," says Mary Beth Kenkel, chancellor of CSPP-Fresno and accomplished community psychologist. "If the individuals within a community are struggling with challenges due to trauma, fear, addictions, physical or sexual abuse, or just a lack of opportunity, the whole community is held back. Many community development efforts fail because they do not deal with the personal challenges that overwhelm the members of some communities."

"All human societies depend on the establishment and maintenance of human relationships that are healthy and sustainable," says Michael Bopp, Ph.D., the specialist in participatory change at Four Worlds who is director of the new Master's degree program. "Whether these relationships are personal; based in families, clans, or tribal groups; economic; social; or cultural, they are connected together in an interdependent web of influence and effect."

Kenkel points out that national economic indicators showing that the people of this country are doing well can be deceiving. "Not all of society have benefitted from recent economic expansion," she says. "Many sources of data show that only high-income households have recovered from the recession."

For example: last year, according to the US Department of Labor, the national unemployment rate was 5.8 percent, but the unemployment rate for African Americans was 11 percent, and for Hispanics it was 9.4 percent--almost double the national average. A September 8, 1996 article in Awake! cited Ron McNeil (Hunkpapa Lakota), president of the American Indian College Fund, as saying that unemployment figures for Native Americans range from 50 to 58 percent! A survey conducted at the end of 1997 by the U.S. Conference of Mayors reported that hunger and homelessness have been on the rise in America's cities--a situation that is expected to worsen as poor families are denied welfare.

In covering the mayors' report, USA Today quoted Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson as saying that, despite a strong economy, the homeless are facing "incredible problems." Among them: increased substance abuse and mental illness, high housing costs, low-paying jobs, and reductions in federal welfare aid and food stamps. The report points out that minimum-wage and part-time jobs, often without health benefits, are not enough to lift people out of poverty.

"When you look at poverty: there are some parts of the picture that can be resolved through structural change and government programs, but there are some parts of the picture that can only be resolved through community action," says Bopp. "Professionals who are charged with the responsibility for addressing critical social and economic problems are coming to understand that they must engage communities in the process. But very often, they don't know how. Research and experience show that success in communities comes best through locally-generated, rather than externally-imposed solutions to social problems."

Origins of The Four Worlds International Institute

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS), in the late 1980s, Native American residents of the United States numbered approximately 1.6 million, encompassing numerous tribes and over 400 federally recognized nations. In Canada, 1.2 million Native Americans are members of 600 disparate tribes.

In 1990, more than 1 in 4 Native American in the U.S. was living below the poverty level and fewer than eight percent had college degrees. Premature death rates exceeded those of the total population significantly. Alcoholism, a big problem in both the U.S. and Canada, was a factor in a homicide rate that was 60 percent higher than that of the total population. Suicide was occuring at an overall rate that was 28 percent higher than the national rate, but among some tribes it was 10 times higher.