The SCRA Executive Committee decided to award you the Special Contributions to Community Psychology Award in recognition of your groundbreaking and truly amazing and inspiring achievements in multiple areas of community psychology, including your work as both an academic and practitioner, multiple contributions to theory, education, and contributions to community practice in a way that has truly advanced our field.
Donata Francescato is being nominated for exemplary contributions to the field of community psychology. She has been an intellectual pioneer and a champion of community psychology in Italy and in Europe. Her work spanning more than 5 decades has had a tremendous impact on the academic and lay communities in which she has worked. Her work has advanced the field of community psychology through contributing to theory, research, methodologies, and training in Italy and across Europe. She has contributed to the dissemination of community psychology among academics, community professionals, and the general public through mass media interventions, writing textbooks, and providing resources and support for psychologists to communicate with the general public. She introduced the Participatory Multidimensional Organizational Analysis (PMOA) model, Socio-Political Empowerment Training Labs, and innovative online collaborative learning models for conducting integrative, interdisciplinary, and empowering community practice. She has been a strong advocate for women’s roles and women’s activism, and to foster empowerment at the individual, organizational, and community level for marginalized community groups.