Social justice is a philosophical, political, and public health concept rooted in the ideal of human rights and social equity (Reichert, 2007). The equitable distribution of resources and opportunities for a productive and fulfilling life is a human rights concern. Prerequisites for social justice include the establishment and assurance of equal treatment under the law, equal access opportunities, and fair and equitable distribution of resources. Yet in many communities around the globe, availability and access to basic resources and opportunities (i.e., clean air and water, adequate and nutritious food, appropriate housing, safe and secure neighborhoods, equitable educational opportunities, the means to a productive and fulfilling livelihood, affordable culturally appropriate health services, and fair and equal treatment under the law) are not equitably distributed among all individuals and groups. Rather, factors such as social privilege or market forces determine the distribution of these key resources and opportunities, resulting in social injustices and inequities. Overcoming social injustice requires collective action and solutions on multiple fronts. One of the ways the ideal of social justice is translated into practice is through community activism.

In the United States, education is a common focus of activism involving students, parents, teachers, and the broader community. For example, in 2002, Mayor Jerry Brown hired 100 police officers to patrol Oakland, California’s underfunded public schools serving primarily African-American and Hispanic youth. This policy decision prompted the mobilization of the very youth intended as the target of armed police surveillance. In protest of the surveillance-based policy focus, Oakland students organized youth rallies and a march on City Hall, forcing the mayor to acknowledge other approaches to youth development and to allocate $7 million to Oakland youth programs (Ginwright & Cammarota, 2006). Similarly, the implementation of bilingual education programs in southwest Chicago public schools came about in response to Mexican-American community activism (Stovall, 2006).

Grassroots activists also mobilize across geographical and social communities. Historically, community activists have participated in broader social movements (e.g., the women’s rights, civil rights, workers’ rights, and environmental health movements). Much activism occurs within the context of communities formed through affiliation with a collective social identity (e.g., a cultural or ethnic group, race, or religion) or shared sense of political responsibility. Collective social identities related to specific health issues (e.g., HIV/AIDS, cancer, mental health, tuberculosis, women’s reproductive health) have given rise to significant community activist movements. Over the past 25 years, what is now a global HIV/AIDS movement began as local activism within gay communities in the U.S., Canada, Western Europe, and Australia. These early activists mobilized to educate their own communities around HIV prevention and, at the same time, demand responsive public action from governments, medical researchers, health care providers, pharmaceutical companies, and legal systems (Piot, 2006). Subsequent HIV/AIDS grassroots mobilizations have involved diverse communities, including persons living with AIDS in Brazil, Uganda, and South Africa; sex-workers in Thailand; religious and community leaders in Senegal; and impoverished mothers of childhood AIDS victims in Romania. Through relentless advocacy and demands for changes in public policy as well as local health care systems, HIV/AIDS community activists have provoked governmental and industry responses, resulting in more effective prevention and access to treatment and significantly impacting the global HIV/AIDS epidemic (Marcolongo, 2002; Piot, 2006).

Consciousness raising, critical reflection, and praxis are three interrelated components of community activism. Underlying liberatory approaches to community activism is the premise that empowerment emerges from engagement in focused dialogue, listening, critical reflection, and reflective action (Freire, 1970, 1973). One of the first steps of engaging participants in activist endeavors is to increase public awareness of specific issues and the associated root causes.

Critical reflection is integral to understanding the linkages and connections between a local community’s issues and problems and those of other communities across the globe. By engaging in critical dialogue and reflection, community activists begin to envision possibilities for collective action leading to transformation (Jennings et al., 2010). Critical reflection also involves attention to the political processes and actions necessary to challenge inequalities and effect change. Praxis is purposeful, reflective action arising out of individual and collective conscientization and theorizing, grounded in a commitment to building a more just society, through diverse means, including culture circles, critical pedagogies, action research, and community activism (Freire, 1970, 1973; Hesse-Biber, 2007; Stovall, 2006). Community activism is a form of critical social praxis, an iterative cycle of conscientization-reflection-reflective action in which relations of power and inequality are identified, challenged, and changed.

Empowerment is a multilevel construct that incorporates processes and outcomes of social action through which individuals, families, organizations, and communities gain control and mastery within the social, economic, and political contexts of their lives in order to attain greater equity and improve the quality of life (Jennings et al., 2006). At the individual level, empowerment may result from the generation of new knowledge and understanding of issues and the development of new skills among community activists. This individual empowerment then can be linked to community organizing to support social action and political change, as well as to individual self-protective and other socially responsible behaviors (Wallerstein, Sanchez-Merki, & Velarde, 2005). Collective empowerment occurs within families, organizations, and communities. It involves processes and structures that enhance members’ skills, provide them with mutual support necessary to effect change, improve their collective well-being, and strengthen intraorganizational and interorganizational networks and linkages to improve or maintain the quality of community life.

The process of making connections between personal experiences and broader social issues is integral to personal and community empowerment and to effective action. In describing a youth empowerment program at an alternative high school for youth unable to succeed within the traditional educational system, Mitra (2008) reported an adult advisor’s observation that “The kids involved are changing [from] delinquent into activists. [They can see] how they got sucked into being delinquent and the criminal justice system through their upbringing—not just their family, but the community and the policies” (p. 210). The purpose of empowerment education is to develop the requisite knowledge and skills for community activism, particularly among youth. By participating in community action projects (e.g., peer teaching, the production of murals, cultural institutes, the creation of videos for use in educational efforts, or photo-voice projects), youth and other potential activists develop the requisite knowledge and skills for community activism as they engage in collective consciousness-raising, critical reflection, and reflective action (Messias, McLoughlin, Fore, Jennings, & Parra-Medina, 2008).