Whose Community are You Working for? A Change Agent Case Study

This article explores the role and responsibility of the community psychologist in creating change that could potentially harm the group they are meant to be in solidarity with. Drawing upon a 2-year project with a Latinx Student Union at a public middle school in the Pacific Northwest, I examine the ethical dilemmas that arose when powerful stakeholders (school administration) changed the goals and intention of the research project without the consent of the low-power stakeholders (the students). This narrative seeks to shed light on the dilemmas that come with being an ethical community psychologist (Balcazar, Garate-Serafini, & Keys, 2004; Nelson, Prilleltensky, & MacGillivary, 2001; O'Neill, 1989), how these ethics can be compromised by one's identity, and what it means to work for/with/against one's community when deciding whether to stay with or leave a project.