This article offers a model of how to construct a course that makes the abstract principles of the Catholic social tradition more concrete through community-service learning (CSL). Primary source readings from scripture, the Apostolic Fathers, Thomas Aquinas, and the major documents of Catholic social thought provide the academic theory of the…

This article details a community-based art therapy mural project with young people involved in New York City's justice system. To address the racial and economic oppression they confront, the project aimed to increase social bonds and create social power shifts within a collective community. Examples from two projects, "Good Art: Bad…

In this article I reflect on my experiences as a previously incarcerated individual being involved in theatre performance for the first time. I reflect on how my involvement in arts and education programmes in prison made me aware of the larger structures of Whiteness that were embedded in the educational and arts contexts that I found myself in…

Youth engagement is the meaningful and sustained involvement of young people in efforts to create positive social change. This approach requires youth-serving organizations to rebalance traditional power dynamics between adults and young people, allowing youths to take on decision-making responsibilities. Collective impact initiatives such as…

The University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development (OCD) has practiced university-community engagement activities for 30 years. This has included hundreds of specific projects conducted with community partners, all funded by outside grants. Based on our experience, we describe some lessons learned regarding the operation of a…

This paper discusses human relationships with the natural world in Japanese educational policy. Based on two case studies, we argue that policy must recognize the cultural and spiritual ties that people in Japan have fostered in order to live well, which this paper considers to be part of "re-wilding education policy." We briefly review…

This paper describes The Freedom Theatre's Freedom Bus initiative and its use of Playback Theatre for community mobilisation and cultural activism within Occupied Palestine. Utilising a conflict transformation perspective, conventional dialogue-oriented initiatives are contrasted against interventions that pursue concientisation and alliance…

Out-of-school time programs provide intervention and prevention services to young people who are deemed "at-risk" with the goal of improving their social, emotional, and academic development. However, research indicates that children and youth who are most "at-risk" are less likely to participate in out-of-school time programs, and do so less…

This paper explores the origins, differences, and similarities of community-based rehabilitation, which developed in southern countries, and independent living, which developed in northern countries, for persons with disabilities. Although both approaches share a broad definition of rehabilitation and values emphasizing community and consumer…

Integrity is commonly conflated with basic literacy in assessments of the skills workers need. This case study of a word-based character education program in Springfield, Missouri examines how business leaders may blame a lack of skills by employees on a lack of moral literacy. The premise of this essay is that the expression of a literacy program…

In this article, an ESL instructor reflects on her preconceptions of power and control in the classroom. In the community-based program described, learners determined not only when and where classes would take place, but also the aims, curriculum, and content of the program. The challenges of this setting required the instructor to redefine her…

The concept of critical media literacy expands the notion of literacy to include different forms of mass communication and popular culture, as well as deepens the potential of literacy education to critically analyze relationships between media and audiences, information and power. The authors argue that critical media literacy is crucial for…