A growing awareness

By Henry Tomes, PhD
Executive Director for the Public Interest

This column is being written just a few days after APA?s spring consolidated governance meetings have adjourned. The meetings are unusual in that most of the association?s major boards and committees meet at the same time. In addition APA?s Board of Directors was also present and available for consultation and advice.

In the fall, APA hosts other meetings primarily for committees, followed several weeks later by meetings scheduled primarily for boards.

A strong presence for public interest groups

For psychologists interested in public interest activities, it is important to know that the governance groups associated with the Public Interest Directorate were very visible during these meetings. At the March 20?22 meetings, APA?s Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest met along with its family of committees. Included was the newly established Committee on Aging, which was meeting for the first time, having been established as a continuing committee by APA?s Council of Representatives in 1997. Perhaps there is a developmental logic in having this committee concerned with issues associated with aging and the elderly as the youngest of the several public interest policy-recommending groups. The Committee on Urban Initiatives met for the first time within the consolidated meetings arrangement, having been established as a continuing committee by the Council of Representatives in 1996.

The 'older' public interest committees are the Committee on Children, Youth and Families (CYF); Committee on Disability Issues in Psychology (CDIP); Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs (CEMA); Committee on Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns (CLGBC); and Committee on Women in Psychology (CWP). When the Board of Directors Ad Hoc Committee on Psychology and AIDS (COPA) is placed in the mix, it would appear that many issues of public interest concern are addressed.

The creation of these new committees and their assignment to public interest indicates a growing awareness that APA must not be perceived as interested in only 'bread and butter' issues such as science, education and practice, but also interested in using its resources to demonstrate ways in which psychological knowledge and expertise can address the continuing problems of society, particularly as these problems affect those less able to care for themselves and their families. Ways in which the association may address these issues and concerns is the province of the various public interest committees.

Working with other groups

One benefit of the consolidated meeting format for public interest groups?and the spring meeting in particular?is that BAPPI and its committees are able to quickly involve other groups, including those outside of public interest, to communicate concerns, suggest cooperation and to collaborate. For example, during the recent meetings, CEMA met with the Committee on Advancement of Professional Practice to discuss ways in which the committees might work together on matters of mutual interest. Outside the consolidated meeting format such a meeting might occur rarely if at all. Using the same meeting time and meeting in the same hotel made such a meeting possible.

In the short time that public interest groups have been meeting in the consolidated format, BAPPI and the public interest committees have been discovering the importance of working together to provide more effective meeting and governance outcomes. While each governance group has a special emphasis, it becomes clearer and clearer that because of the value structure within public interest, groups are able to facilitate each other?s work. For example, CWP often finds that its issues involve to a greater or lesser extent groups such as CLGBC, CEMA or CUI.

Yet the time has not arrived that will enable groups to be melded together, as these alliances are pragmatic, but not good for all times and issues. It is typically at the BAPPI level that the process becomes predictable as members of the board are selected for their knowledge and interest in concerns likely to be generated by the respective committees.

It is said by some?in fact, I always say it?that the membership constituency represented by Public Interest is quite large, maybe the largest of any. So it is important that people interested in public interest issues nominate others or themselves to become involved in considering and recommending ways that psychological knowledge and expertise can help improve the society in which we live.