Professional Blueprint – Community Psychology (CP)

Overview
The final project for this course is the creation of a professional blueprint for your work in the field of community psychology (CP). The blueprint is a professional statement that provides a foundation and framework for professional growth in a body of knowledge and practice that is evolving and changing. The blueprint combines knowledge—what you will learn about CP—with your professional goals, insights, beliefs, and practices. This framework will help guide your work in fostering strong communities.
The project is divided into two milestones that scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Three and Five. The final submission is in Module Seven.
This project will assess your mastery with respect to the following course outcomes:
•Evaluate the central concepts of community psychology to determine the relevant and applied nature of the concepts to professional practice
•Illustrate the connections between social issues and community support systems with the creation of policies and interventions for individual andcommunity development
•Engage in research to promote theories for social change that are applicable and beneficial to the community
•Apply the concepts of community psychology to real-world scenarios based on an analysis of community issues
Prompt
The professional blueprint is a structured paper that includes a number of specific elements that link your expanding knowledge of CP with your professional goals and interests. The blueprint should synthesize the lectures, assigned resources, annotated bibliography articles, and additional resources into a framework for your professional growth in the field.
Note: You will be creating an annotated bibliography throughout the course modules. The work you do in each of the modules should directly relate to this project. You should use the resources that you collect in your annotated bibliography to inform your project.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
1.GoalsWrite a brief, one-page statement explaining your professional goals and career interests, particularly as they relate to CP.
2.Overview
Write a two-page response to the following questions:
a.What is CP?
b.How did it start?
c.Are the conditions that gave rise to it still present?
3.ApplicationWrite a two-page response to the following questions:
a.What conditions or issues in CP are most pertinent to your professional goals and career interests?
b.How will CP add to your understanding of how to respond to these conditions or issues?
4.The Future of CPWrite a two-page response that explains your vision for the future of CP. Include specific examples to illustrate key points.
5.Key ConceptsWrite a two-page response that identifies and analyzes at least five key concepts in CP. Reference course resources, articles, and professional experienceas appropriate.
6.Stakeholder PerceptionsWrite a two-page response to the following questions:
a.Are the concepts identified readily agreed upon or contentious?
b.How are the concepts understood by different stakeholder groups (police, educators, business owners, taxpayers, and so on) in the community?Provide specific examples to support your position.
7.Systems View
Write a two-page response to the following questions:
a.As a systems thinker, how do various agencies and their goals interact in the community? Pick two agencies and demonstrate how their goals,missions, and outcomes support the community.
b.Does your community have any interagency associations that coordinate planning and social change efforts? For example, does the communityhave a human service association such as United Way? (These efforts may deal with prevention, crisis response, building community resilience,and so on.)
8.Your Role in the System
Write a two-page response to the following questions:
a.In your current role, what system are you part of?
b.What specific ideas and issues drive that system? (Example: the benefits of elder day-care services or of youth diversion courts.)
c.As part of the system, how do these issues impact you?
Note: If you are not currently working in this field, answer based on your intended position in the future.
9.Topic of Interest
Write a two-page response to a question of your choice that highlights your professional and career interests—a particular idea, concept, or theory thatyou would like to study further.