Sociology Commons^™

Programs And Strategies For Community Resilience In A Metropolitan Area Public Library: A Case Study, Andreas Vårheim

Proceedings from the Document Academy

This paper reports a case study on community-oriented public library programs in a metropolitan Texan city. A main purpose of the paper is to report the findings from this explorative case study on the relationship of a public library system with its communities from a community resilience perspective. The study is a part of a research project aiming at creating empirically-based knowledge on the role of public libraries in forming community resilience. The description of specific library programs is a basis for further study of the mechanisms contributing to community resilience. Community resilience enables communities to face major environmental change …

Stop, Collaborate, And Listen: The Importance Of Critical And Creative Thinking, Kalynne Gallagher

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

Creative thinking and critical thinking are necessary skills for equipping individuals to be the social change makers, leaders and innovators we need to make the world a better place. However, with our current education system focused on standardized testing and conformity, how can we foster these skills and be empowered to challenge assumptions and take risks? Kay ties in her own experience as well as the work from scholars in the field of education like bell hooks, David Orr and Sir Ken Robinson, to support her beliefs. Throughout this piece Kay examines where she believes that her critical thinking and …

Examining The Barriers To Community Engagement In A Low-Income Lafayette Community, Nathan Chianelli

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

At the outset of the 2017 Fall semester, Dr. Jason Ware tasked students in HONR 29900 Well-being with discerning what determines quality of life, which we aimed to understand through work with community partners in impoverished communities of Lafayette. Myself and eight other students worked with the Hartford Hub, a neighborhood center located in the Lower Lincoln Neighborhood on the north end of Lafayette, to identify factors residents considered relevant to their well-being so that the administration of the Hub could implement improvements accordingly. Our student group worked with the pastors at the Hub to organize a pumpkin carving event …

Toward Effective Rural Community Development In Black Belt Counties: Conceptual And Methodological Issues, Andrew Zekeri

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

Abstract

The objectives of this paper are to (1) specify what “rural”, “community”, and “development” mean, and (2) what should be the essential steps to be taken to achieve an effective rural community development. Rural is a territorial concept, and it means an extent of dispersion of people in a local ecology. Community is a natural disposition among people who interact with one another on different matters that compromise a common life. Development is an organized intentional effort of local people to work together towards a shared goal. Community development is building the capacity of community residents to act effectively …

Paws For Thought: The Importance Of Dogs In A Seniors Social Intervention, Elisa Maria Concetta Papotto, Jessica Lee Oliva Dr

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

As Australia faces an aging population with an unprecedented life expectancy, it is the community’s obligation to ensure seniors are offered resources to support their well-being. Studies investigating loneliness in aged-care facilities attest to the therapeutic properties of dogs for residents’ sense of well-being. Consequently, this study aimed to ascertain the effectiveness of a community-based dog lover’s initiative for the self-management of well-being among senior citizens. Our qualitative research investigated whether community gatherings including dogs would produce greater feelings of subjective well-being among senior citizens compared to community gatherings without dogs. A conventional content analysis provided support for the supposition …

Off-The-Grid In An On-Grid Nation: Household Energy Choices, Intra-Community Effects, And Attitudes In A Rural Neighborhood In Utah, Eileen Smith-Cavros, Arianna Sunyak

Journal of Ecological Anthropology

This research is an investigation of the perceived positive and negative aspects of off grid living in a middle to upper-class neighborhood in rural Utah in which no public utility grid was available for connection. Off-grid living is defined as unconnected to a public utility power grid, water, or sewer system. In the researched community, all individuals lived off-grid on minimum twenty-acre lots of land with single-household dwellings. We used surveys with closed and open-ended questions to qualitatively explore the local social effects (from individual attitudes to group identity to household economics to conservation attitudes) off-grid living had on individuals …