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Full-Text Articles in Urban Studies and Planning

Underserved And Unaccompanied: Lgbtq Youth, Meeting The Intersecting Needs Of Youth Homelessness And Lgbtq Identities In Worcester, Ma, Molly Kellman May 2018

Underserved And Unaccompanied: Lgbtq Youth, Meeting The Intersecting Needs Of Youth Homelessness And Lgbtq Identities In Worcester, Ma, Molly Kellman

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

LGBTQ youth are at a much higher risk for experiencing homelessness, victimization, abuse, and disconnection from social and medical services than their non-LGBTQ peers. This research paper uses a mixed-methods approach to identify the specific needs of unaccompanied LGBTQ youth in Worcester, Massachusetts, and how the youth service sector can better meet the needs of this population. Analysis of data from unaccompanied LGBTQ youth and the providers who serve them revealed a disconnect between service providers, and a lack of resources that accommodate the intersections of homelessness and LGBTQ identities. LGBTQ youth in Worcester are more at risk of experiencing …


Media Analysis Of City-Wide Local News Portrayals Of Youth Criminality: Worcester, Massachusetts, Andrea Boffice Mar 2018

Media Analysis Of City-Wide Local News Portrayals Of Youth Criminality: Worcester, Massachusetts, Andrea Boffice

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This study consists of a comprehensive media analysis of local news in Worcester, Massachusetts that explores portrayals of youth criminality of an entire city’s local media landscape. It examines how local media portrayal of youth is primarily dominated by coverage of youth crime and youth victimization. As our nation is questioning our trust and reliability in ever-changing news, this study asks whether our local news, with the new platforms that are emerging, have been compromised in providing a fair portrayal of youth. Particularly, whether it fairly portrays Black and Latinx youth in representations of criminality proportional to crime occurring. During …


The Ethics Of Care And Refugee Education: Promoting Caring Envrionments In U.S. Urban Schools To Address The Needs Of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors, Tina Meetran May 2016

The Ethics Of Care And Refugee Education: Promoting Caring Envrionments In U.S. Urban Schools To Address The Needs Of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors, Tina Meetran

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The United States has resettled more than 2 million refugees since 1975 and approximately one third of them are children. Some of the children who arrive in the U.S. are unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs), meaning they arrive without a parent nor guardian. The absence of a parent figure heightens the adversities of escape and acculturation for URMs. However, due to the lack of available information on URM experiences, their physical, emotional and psychosocial needs in the U.S. are continually unmet. This paper considers the role that schools and teachers have as agents of care to foster positive growth and acculturation …


Can We Do It? : The Feasibility Of Youth Restorative Justice Implementation In Worcester, April M. Hooper May 2016

Can We Do It? : The Feasibility Of Youth Restorative Justice Implementation In Worcester, April M. Hooper

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper addresses the feasibility of implementing a restorative justice process in the juvenile justice system in Worcester, Massachusetts from a community stakeholder perspective. Strengths, barriers, process, and collective will in Worcester were explored. Findings of this research include that while Worcester has many strengths, the barriers and lack of collective will may interfere with any immediate attempts to implement restorative justice processes within the local juvenile justice system. It concludes that while restorative justice approaches may be feasible in the longer term, current implementation is unlikely.


Supporting Mentor Competency At African Community Education, Kelsey Renner May 2016

Supporting Mentor Competency At African Community Education, Kelsey Renner

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This practitioner paper focuses on the African Community Education (ACE) Mentoring for Empowerment and Exchange (MEE) in Worcester, Massachusetts and its ability to develop mentor competency in their volunteer mentors. In order to be effective mentors to their mentees, mentors need to be given tools to develop their own personal sense of competency via programmatic support like check-ins and trainings. Using interviews with mentors, literature in the field of mentoring, and program data, recommendations are made for ways ACE MEE program staff can enhance their programmatic structures to promote mentor competency and therefore develop high quality matches that support the …