Digital Commons Network^™

Issue Brief: Asset Management For Stormwater, New England Environmental Finance Center, Sustainable Communities Learning Network

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

Asset management is a strategic approach to maintaining and sustaining infrastructure in order to meet the needs of the community at the lowest overall life cycle cost. This approach helps communities know how and where to prioritize limited funds in order to achieve the greatest benefit. Often applied to drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, this method is well suited to managing any assets, including stormwater systems.

This issue brief is intended to introduce local governments to the asset management process and to show how it can be applied in managing stormwater assets. It was adapted from an appendix written by …

إبداعية الإدارة العامة بحث مداخل تحديث بيئة المنظمات العامة, منى حيدر عبد الجبار الطائي

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

يمثل الفهم الصحيح لادوار وأشكال الادارات العامة في سعيها لإنجاز الأهداف تلبية للاحتياجات المجتمعية عبر مؤسساتها العامة ، بعداً إستراتيجياً في الأداء الفعال والكفء لهذه الادارات ، وقد كان للتطورات الحاصلة في البيئة الخارجية دوراً مؤثرا أسهم في دفع العديد من الدول لإعادة النظر في أجهزتها الإدارية العامة لتحسين مقدرتها على مواجهة التغيرات المتسارعة والتوجه نحو اعتماد مداخل واستراتيجيات إبداعية حديثة في العمل الإداري لضمان النجاح والتفوق المستمر. ويمكن القول أن نجاح جهود الاصلاح والإبداع تعتمد بشكل كبير على درجة الانسجام والتوافق بين المداخل والتقنيات الجديدة اللازمة لتحقيق التحديث الإداري, يستعرض هذا البحث اهم مداخل إبداع الإدارة العامة اللازمة للتطوير …

A Vision For Berwick: A Case Study Of The Citizen Initiated Visioning Process For Downtown Redevelopment In Southern Maine, John Stoll

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

This Capstone follows the downtown redevelopment visioning process in Berwick from the initial presentation to Town Officials up until formal adoption as an addendum to the Comprehensive Plan. Berwick has a monumental task ahead of it as the Town looks to redevelop an 11 acre abandoned factory site that is located directly where a downtown should be. Residents of Berwick had to work with Town Staff to navigate a considerable amount of lingering controversy and to rebuild trust between the public and local government. Members of the Downtown Vision Committee worked tirelessly to reach out to the community through education …

Attitudes Towards Climate Change And Sustainability, Sammy Easby, Tess Manning

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

Climate change is an important issue in the world today and the University of Richmond has the ability to make a difference. The purpose of this project was to gain information about University of Richmond students’ awareness, attitudes, and behaviors related to climate change and sustainability on campus. A short survey was composed and sent to students via email. Over the course of two weeks, 274 students completed the survey. The data from the survey was composed and analyzed. Based on the data, for the most part our community’s behaviors have stayed consistent. Student awareness has slightly increased but they …

Baltimore And The Cherry Hill Urban Garden: Tearing Down And Building Up The Physical And Imaginative Spaces Of Post-Industrial Urban Food Systems, Rebecca L. Croog

Student Publications

The tide is changing in food research and food movements. Both academic thought and grassroots mobilization have demonstrated a shift beyond merely the problems of industrial food, and toward an emphasis on issues of justice and equity within food systems (Sloccum, 2006; Alkon & Agyeman, 2011; Sbicca, 2012; Agyeman & McEntee, 2013). In examining the contemporary case of the Farm Alliance of Baltimore City, which is “a network of producers working to increase the viability of urban farming and improve access to urban grown foods, united by practices and principles that are socially, economically, and environmentally just” (Farm Alliance website, …

Diy Urbanism As An Environmental Justice Strategy: The Case Study Of Time's Up! 1987-2012, Benjamin C. Shepard

Publications and Research

Time's Up! is a New York environmental group which promotes nonpolluting transportation and sustainable solutions to an urban problems. Over the last twenty-five years, the group has taken a do-it-yourself approach to an environmental activism, bridging neighborhood, global justice, and occupy movements. With roots in the squatter movement in New York, Time's Up! has built its own distinct brand of DIY urbanism to fight for community gardens, support group bike rides, and create sustainable approaches to an urban living. While the group makes use of a wide range of approaches to reclaim public space, direct action is its guiding principle. …

Advancing Community Engaged Scholarship And Community Engagement At The University Of Massachusetts Boston: A Report Of The Working Group For An Urban Research-Based Action Initiative, Mark Warren, John Saltmarsh, Patricia Krueger-Henney, Lorna Rivera, Miren Uriarte, Donna Friedman, Richard Fleming, Diana Yadira-Salas, Luciano Ramos

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

The University of Massachusetts Boston has a rich history of mission-driven commitments that engage the campus with local, state, regional, national, and global communities. In the context of a public urban research university, a mission of community engagement is most clearly expressed through community-engaged scholarship. The University is positioned to build upon its strengths in community engagement and strengthen its community-engaged scholarship to become an international model for community engagement.

Intimate Partner Violence Among Lgbtq+ College Students, Katie Edwards, Kateryna Sylaska

Carsey Publications

Drawing from a survey of 391 college students in same-sex relationships, this brief documents the rates and patterns of intimate partner violence, and responses to it among LGBTQ+ youth. Authors Katie Edwards and Kateryna Sylaska report that four in ten LGBTQ+ college students in the sample reported intimate partner violence victimization or perpetration within a current relationship and that more than one-third of the victims told no one about the abuse, a rate that is higher than what is generally found among heterosexual college students. Victims most frequently turned to friends when revealing the abuse, followed by family members. Only …

Walking Builds Community Cohesion: Survey Of Two New Hampshire Communities Looks At Social Capital And Walkability, Shannon H. Rogers, Kevin H. Gardner, Cynthia H. Carlson

Carsey Publications

This brief reports the results of a survey conducted in 2009 of approximately 2,000 households in Portsmouth and Manchester, New Hampshire, to examine the connection between walkability and social capital. Authors Shannon Rogers, Kevin Gardner, and Cynthia Carlson report that higher levels of social capital are found in areas that are perceived to be more walkable, as measured by the number of places people can walk to in their community. In addition, walkability is influenced by concerns of safety, access, time, and health and by physical characteristics such as proximity, scale, and aesthetics. Given the link between walkability and greater …

Grand Valley Forum, Volume 038, Number 24, March 10, 2014, Grand Valley State University

2013-2014, Volume 38

Grand Valley Forum is Grand Valley State's faculty and staff newsletter, published from 1976 to the present.

Building A Lifetime Of Economic Security: Mobilizing For Change, Center For Social Development

Center for Social Development Research

Building a Lifetime of Economic Security: Mobilizing for Change

The Changing Focus Of Education: How Rowan University Professors View The Shift Toward Online Education, Genevieve Cross

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores Rowan University professors' attitudes toward online education and its increasing prevalence. The researcher used an online survey program by which participants' feedback was gathered. The survey was sent to 201 Rowan University professors, and the data was analyzed with the computer program, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to obtain calculations and percentages. The survey results are presented in both narrative and chart form. The researcher concluded that from the results of the study that Rowan University professors' have diverse opinions about online education, but also recognize the value in this asset to higher education. Specific …

The Importance Of Outdoor Activity And Place Attachment To Adolescent Development In Coös County, New Hampshire, Jayson Seaman, Sean R. Mclaughlin

Carsey Publications

This brief discusses the rates of participation in structured and unstructured outdoor activities as Coös County youth age, along with the relationship between outdoor activity involvement and indicators of place attachment throughout this period. The analysis is based on data collected between 2008 and 2013 as part of the Carsey Institute’s Panel Study of Coös County youth. Authors Jayson Seaman and Sean McLaughlin, who concentrate on a subsample of 222 youth who completed surveys in both eighth and twelfth grade, report that Coös County youth participated in outdoor activities at a rate 20 percent higher than national averages for youth …

Planning Sustainable Food Hubs: Thinking Beyond Economic Viability To Democratize Local Food Access, Ashley Bahlkow

Capstone Collection

In light of an increasing awareness of the detrimental public health impacts of conventional food systems, the New Hampshire Endowment for Health (NHEH) funded a food hub feasibility study to develop a local food hub in the southeastern region of New Hampshire. The study centered on conceptualizing a food hub that would be both viable from a small business standpoint as well one that would increase access to local food, especially for marginalized communities in the city of Manchester--the major population center in the region.

The project work plan contained several activities for determining feasibility, which were completed over the …

Grand Valley Forum, Volume 038, Number 19, February 3, 2014, Grand Valley State University

2013-2014, Volume 38

Grand Valley Forum is Grand Valley State's faculty and staff newsletter, published from 1976 to the present.

Perceptions Of Bicycle-Friendly Policy Impacts On Accessibility To Transit Services: The First And Last Mile Bridge, Mti Report 12-10, Bradley Flamm, Charles Rivasplata

Mineta Transportation Institute

The coordination of bicycle and transit modes has received close attention from public transit planners and researchers in recent years, as transit agencies around the world have installed bicycle racks on transit vehicles, implemented bicycles-on-trains policies, and made other efforts to facilitate bicycle-transit integration. Many planners presume that the catchment area for transit is enlarged by these efforts, but geographic changes in the size of catchment areas have not been effectively documented. This research project was designed to assess the distances travelled on bicycle by cycle-transit users (CTUs), both those who use bicycles as a means of access to transit …

How Do You Build A Community? Developing Community Capacity And Social Capital In An Urban Aboriginal Setting, Gus Hill Phd, Martin Cooke

Lyle S. Hallman Social Work Faculty Publications

Previous literature has identified social capital as an important resource for successful community development activities, and there have been some attempts to adapt the concepts of social capital to the particular context of First Nations. However, little information is available about how social capital itself might be developed or improved in Aboriginal communities. Moreover, urban Aboriginal communities are different from rural First Nations, Inuit or Métis communities in structure, composition, activities, and diversity, and deserve specific attention and their own models of community development. This paper presents a framework to guide development initiatives in urban Aboriginal contexts that is drawn …

The Long-Term Unemployed In The Wake Of The Great Recession, Andrew P. Schaefer

Carsey Publications

Using the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey, this brief outlines the demographic and economic characteristics of the long-term unemployed and compares them with their short-term unemployed counterparts. It also describes changes in the composition of the long-term unemployed since the start of the Great Recession. Author Andrew Schaefer reports that the percentage of unemployed workers who were seeking employment for more than six months more than doubled between 2007 and 2013 from 18.4 percent to 39.3 percent and that the long-term unemployed are more likely than the short-term unemployed to live in urban areas. In …

Arts Management Curriculum Map 2013-2014, Alexandra Chappell, Char Booth, Dani Brecher, M. Sara Lowe, Sean M. Stone, Natalie Tagge

Curriculum Maps

This map displays degree requirements, courses, faculty information, clubs & organizations, and Library resources associated with arts management across the seven Claremont Colleges (7Cs) for the 2013-14 academic year. It was compiled using public information drawn from Colleges websites, course schedules and catalogs, and the Claremont Colleges Library website.

This project was completed as part of an IMLS Sparks! Ignition grant in 2013-14.

Resource Sovereignty: The Indigenous Value Of Mount Rainier Within Activities Of Traditional Resource Harvesting, Samantha Joan Nemecek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Nisqually, Puyallup, Muckleshoot, Cowlitz, and Yakama Indian Tribes historically utilized the plant resources of Mount Rainier until the National Park Service established Mount Rainier National Park in 1899. Since 1992 there have been formal, written requests by these Tribes to revitalize the harvest of these culturally significant plant resources in their original collection location. Through archival analysis, participant observation, and interviews with Indigenous consultants, I investigated the impetus for these requests and furthermore the role of Mount Rainier in tribally relevant plant harvesting. Data indicates a lack of plant resource monitoring in the United States Forest Service has resulted …

2013-2014 Annual Report - Office Of Intenational Programs And Study Abroad And Global Learning, Office Of International Programs

Office of International Programs Faculty/Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Personhood, Ethics, And Animal Cognition: Situating Animals In Hare’S Two-Level Utilitarianism, By Gary E. Varner / The Philosophy Of Animal Minds, Edited By Robert W. Lurz., Kristin Andrews

Sentience Collection

It seems to be a widely held belief that we should not try to trap, kill, and eat any creature that can relate the story of its close call. While this turns out to be a good rule from the perspective of R. M. Hare’s version of utilitarianism, other intuitive-level rules about the proper treatment of sentient beings require revision, or so Gary Varner argues in his recent book Personhood, Ethics, and Animal Cognition. After defending Hare’s two-level utilitarianism in the first section, Varner turns to the question of the kinds of beings who worthy of kinds of concern, and …

Aligning Fiscal And Environmental Sustainability, Richard Callahan, Mark Pisano

Public and Nonprofit Administration

The future of environmental sustainability will be driven by the capacity of local, state and federal levels of government to develop fiscal sustainability. For example, in the case of the Alameda Corridor in Los Angeles County environmental sustainability advanced only because of the fiscal sustainability of the project. The environmental improvements of reducing particulate car and truck pollutants, as well as remediation of underground water pollution, were financed by the innovative public–private partnership that generated revenues to pay for long-neglected environmental degradations (Callahan 2007). The Alameda Corridor rail construction case illustrates a small but emerging set of cases showing local …

Ua41 University College Connection, Dennis K. George, Dean, Wendi Kelley, University College, Western Kentucky University

UC Publications

No abstract provided.

Differences Between Children With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders And Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders: Rural Social Work Implications For Prevention, Assessment And Treatment, Susan M. Ryan, George S. Leibowitz, Jeanne M. Nauheimer, Paul Force-Emery Mackie

Social Work Department Publications

This literature review examined nine quantitative research studies published between 1992-2013 that compared children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to identify: (a) the differences between these children (e.g., intellectual, behavioral); and (b) the diagnostic tools that may be used to distinguish between them, thereby providing a differential diagnosis. Special focus was placed on rural treatment implications. These studies revealed differences between the intellectual, executive functioning, adaptive behavior, motor, and behavioral skills of children with FASD and ADHD. This review identified neurodevelopmental assessments used in these nine research studies that appear to support learning …

Book Review: Rural Social Work: Building And Sustaining Community Capacity, 2nd Edition, Susie Mallard Barnes

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Book Review: Rural Social Work: Building and Sustaining Community Capacity, 2nd Edition T. Laine Scales, Calvin L. Streeter, and H. Stephen Cooper (Eds.) 2014 Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Press 384 pages Softcover: $55.00 ISBN-13: 978-1118445167

Of Academic Embeddedness: Communities Of Choice And How To Make Sense Of Activism And Research Abroad, Bernd Reiter

Government and International Affairs Faculty Publications

Postmodernism has caught up with all of us in one way or another. We are all decentered to some degree. Advances in education and increased exposure to a globalized media have corroded traditions everywhere and challenged monistic worldviews and belief systems in the remotest corners of the globe. While we are becoming more and more aware of Others everywhere, we can rely less and less on those traditional values and guiding systems passed on to us from the past. Th e postmodern condition, as Jean-Francois Lyotard (1979) has argued, is one of uncertainty and of disconnection, as traditional bonds, both …

Educating For A Changing World: The Importance Of An Equity Mindset, Judith A. Ramaley

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

Our nation's colleges and universities are being asked to play demanding roles in creating the capacity for active and engaged collaboration and collective action to address complex challenges that are shaping the world we live in. An essential ingredient of any effort to build healthy communities for any purpose, including education, is the cultivation of equity and inclusion. In this article, we discuss what these terms mean in practice and how to draw upon the talents and experiences of all the members of a diverse community in order to understand and address the pressing social, cultural, economic, and environmental challenges …

Pro-And-Anti Immigration Activities In Iowa's 4th Congressional District: A Community Capitals Framework Perspective, Anne Junod

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The foreign-born immigrant population in Iowa is increasing. Across Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, communities that have never had statistically significant populations of non-Anglos have in recent decades experienced dramatic influxes of predominantly Latino immigrants. Today, Latinos comprise upwards of 25 percent of the population of some counties and well over 35 percent of the population of many towns. At the same time, many other communities in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District remain almost exclusively white. How are communities responding? This research centers on the statements and activities of individual and group actors representing various market, state, and civil society sectors, examining …

Grand Valley Magazine, Vol. 14, No. 3 Winter 2014, Grand Valley State University

Grand Valley Magazine

Grand Valley Magazine is a quarterly publication about Grand Valley State University produced by University Communications since 2001.