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University Reporter - Volume 13, Number 05 - January 2009

1996-2009, University Reporter

This issue of the University Reporter features, among others, articles about energy-saving efforts, the University's entrepreneur-inresidence Dan Phillips and his role in student mentoring and the newly established Venture Development Center, and a UMass Boston initiative, in partnership with the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Cherishing Our Hearts and Souls Coalition (COHS) of Roxbury, to reduce socioeconomically-based health disparities.

Anthropology (Anth), Montclair State University

Course Descriptions

No abstract provided.

Rebuilding After Disaster: Going Green From The Ground Up, U.S. Department Of Energy

Publications (E)

If you’re a leader in a community that has met with disaster and must be rebuilt, this guide is for you. It’s intended to show how communities—big or small—can incorporate green principles and technologies like energy efficiency and renewable energy into their rebuilding plans. The information in this guide is based on the real-life experiences of two U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) teams. One team worked with city leaders in New Orleans, Louisiana, after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and the other assisted community leaders in Greensburg, Kansas, after a devastating tornado in 2007. Although the two communities are …

Restorative Justice In Traditional Pre-Colonial 'Criminal Justice Systems' In Kenya, Sarah Kinyanjui

Tribal Law Journal

Traditional African communities are often said to have embraced restorative values in resolving conflicts and responding to wrongdoing. Through empirical research and analysis of secondary data on the pre-colonial traditional Kamba, Kikuyu and Meru communities in Kenya, this article illustrates how penal practices in these communities embraced restorative justice as understood today. This genealogy of restorative justice in these communities demonstrates the potential of restorative justice as an intervention in crime and its role in meeting overall community goals. By doing so, the genealogy challenges the objectification of retributive justice in modern criminal justice systems, which renders retributive practices as …

Land Trusts That Conserve Communities, James J. Kelly Jr.

Journal Articles

Much has been written about land trusts that conserve wilderness, agriculture or other environmentally beneficial uses that would be threatened by unfettered development. In the context of inner-cities, Community Land Trusts (CLTs) conserve neighborhoods. Like their environmental and agricultural counterparts, CLTs employ use restrictions to prioritize communally beneficial development. Conserving communities, however, requires other legal tools as well. CLTs create and sustain permanently affordable homes to break the market’s bias toward socioeconomic homogeneity. CLTs also make room, literally, for green space, sites of shared culture and other productive activities that the market tends to commercialize or marginalize. By sustaining a …

Reclaiming Koreatown: A Prescription For Current And Future Needs Of Koreatown Residents, Edward J.W. Park, Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance

Asian and Asian American Studies Faculty Works

This report presents current and future needs of neighborhood residents and analyzes the challenges facing the multi-ethnic, low-income Koreatown community in Los Angeles. For the thousands of low-income residents of Los Angeles's Koreatown, the economic hardships brought on by the recent subprime mortgage housing and financial crises are not new. In the words of a Koreatown resident, "....the housing 'crisis' has been a crisis for us for a long time." Well before the current recession, Koreatown residents were complaining of increased housing costs due to the influx of upscale luxury housing units that replaced affordable housing units. The 2008 financial …

Survey Study Of The Relationship Between Parents' And Teachers' Perceptions Of What Constitutes Effective School -To -Home Communications, Jill L. Murphy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Even though guidelines at a suburban elementary school in Georgia were in place for teachers regarding frequency and methods of parent communication, it was unclear if these methods were being used consistently and effectively. Research has shown that effective communication increases student achievement, but there is a lack of research examining communication preferences of teachers and parents. Therefore, this study evaluated current practices by comparing parents' and teachers' perceptions of what constitutes effective school-to-home communications. The researcher administered questionnaires to a random sample of teachers and parents of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students to compare their perceptions of the …

Community Benefits Agreements And Comprehensive Planning: Balancing Community Empowerment And The Police Power, Patricia E. Salkin, Amy Lavine

Journal of Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

The Social Bottom Line Of Community Development Financial Institutions: What Facilitates Or Inhibits The Uptake And Use Of Meaningful Social And Community Impact Reporting?, Kelly Haines

Dissertations and Theses

Businesses, governments and communities are increasingly interested in measuring the non-financial impacts of their activities and investments. This assessment often takes the form of measurement models that utilize a Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework, namely looking at the areas ofthe environment, the economy, and the social simultaneously. Despite its many accounting flaws, more and more organizations adopt this philosophy by applying it literally in the form of impact reports. In this framework, the social dimension is the most challenging to measure. Because of its complexities, this aspect of TBL reporting has often been vague and lack rigor.

The research question …

Group-Conflict Resolution: Sources Of Resistance To Reconciliation, Erin O'Connor

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In the past few years a number of scholars in a variety of intellectual disciplines have contributed to a better understanding of dyadic conflicts and their resolution. In particular, sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, lawyers, and others have explored the dynamics of apology and its role in deescalating disputes and promoting forgiveness and reconciliation. Furthermore, we have a better understanding today of the benefits to individuals from forgiveness and reconciliation. Victims who are able to forgive their transgressors have better psychological and physical health and lead richer lives. Because lawyers tend to focus their attentions on legal disputes, a growing body of …

Transformative Learning : An Examination Of The Impact Of Short-Term Study Abroad, Jesse Carson Pugh

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

When selecting a study abroad program, some students undertake a semester or academic-year study abroad program, while other students undertake a two-to eight-week study abroad program. Both study abroad opportunities allow students to become immersed in a culture different from their own. This research project is an exploratory study that looks at the impact of short-term study abroad programs on undergraduates at a public institution. This study examines how participants change in regards to their understanding of the host culture, explores what students learn about their host cultures, and looks at the intercultural development that the students gain from spending …

Barcelona: An Economic Exception For Mega-Event Host-Cities., John Cantalin Wahl

Honors Theses

This thesis assesses the economic impact of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games by comparing its benefits and costs with those experienced by other cities chosen as Olympic venues or as hosts of similar "mega-events”. While it is true that the economic impacts of most such events have been found to be modest, Barcelona seems to be an exception.

Sustainable Development Extension Plan (Sudex): Community Mobilization Through Proactive Participation And Synergistic Alliance To Alliviate Poverty And Achieve Sustainable Self Sufficiency, Stephen Forbes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation describes a sustainable development extension plan (Sudex Plan) to help communities in developing countries achieve Goal 1 of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Goal 1 focuses on reducing poverty and hunger by 50% by the year 2015, but all the MDG are interrelated and one can not be achieved without considering the others, and to attain any is an empty accomplishment without ways to ensure that they can be sustained and continuously improved with the means to pass on the information, knowledge and lessons learned from community to community, generation to generation. The Sudex Plan is …

Art, Water, And Circles: In What Ways Do Study Circles Empower Artists To Become Community Leaders Around Water Issues, Jill Beth Jacoby

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This research explored the use of study circles as a means of engaging artists in dialogue with their peers about water related concerns. The question driving this research was, “In what ways do study circles empower artists to become community leaders around water issues?” Secondary questions focused on emerging environmental, water, and social justice themes as well as examples of increased water awareness and behavior change occurring as a result of individual participation in the study circles. Artists have a unique way of commanding attention and communicating about environmental concerns while functioning as catalysts for activism on a variety of …

The Colorado Trust’S Healthy Communities Initiative: Results And Lessons For Comprehensive Community Initiatives, Ross Conner, Doug Easterling

The Foundation Review

· This article summarizes how 29 diverse communities throughout Colorado implemented the Colorado Healthy Communities Initiative (CHCI), which was conceived and funded by The Colorado Trust to engage community residents in the development of locally relevant strategies to improve community health.

· In line with the World Health Organization’s Healthy Cities model, CHCI emphasized (a) inclusive, representative planning; (b) a broad definition of “health”; (c) consensus decision making; and (d) capacity building among local stakeholder groups.

· Communities implemented an array of projects (on average, six per community) that extended well beyond traditional health promotion and disease prevention. The most …

Scope, Scale, And Sustainability: What It Takes To Create Lasting Community Change, Tina R. Trent, David M. Chavis

The Foundation Review

· This article examines success factors that relate specifically to the ability of a comprehensive community initiative (CCI) to achieve the scope and scale required to generate community-level outcomes and to sustain those positive impacts over time.

· The CCIs selected for study represent a wide range of goals, strategies, and organizational structures.

· Six factors were found to cut across scope, scale, and sustainability. These factors include having a single broker or entity that holds the vision of the change effort; clearly defined roles; alignment among interventions, resources, and geography; meaningful community engagement; competent leadership and staff; and strategic, …

Using Community-Based Participatory Evaluation (Cbpe) Methods As A Tool To Sustain A Community Health Coalition, Leslie Aldrich, Daniel Silva, Danelle Marable, Erica Sandman

The Foundation Review

· Participatory evaluation has set the standard for cooperation between program evaluators and stakeholders. Coalition evaluation, however, calls for more extensive collaboration with the community at large.

· Integrating principles of community based participatory research and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Strategic Prevention Framework, which guides much coalition work, into coalition evaluation has proved useful to foster community affiliations and support reciprocal relationship building. The resulting evaluation method, named community based participatory evaluation (CBPE), takes time, money, and skilled personnel but can lead to more accurate results and coalition sustainability.

· The CBPE method has proved essential …

The Challenges Of Place, Capacity, And Systems Change: The Story Of Yes We Can!, Pennie Foster-Fishman, Robert Long

The Foundation Review

· Yes we can!, a comprehensive community initiative (CCI) funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, was designed to improve educational and economic outcomes within the foundation’s hometown of Battle Creek, Mich. Since 2002, Yes we can! has supported five core strategies designed to trigger the systems changes needed to reduce educational and economic inequities in Battle Creek.

· Yes we can! has achieved some important wins to date; for example, more residents are involved, more neighborhoods have stronger neighborhood associations, and more organizations are engaging residents in their decision-making processes. However, the scale of wins remains small, and the …

Embedded Philanthropy And The Pursuit Of Civic Engagement, Mikael Karlström, Prudence Brown, Robert Chaskin, Harold Richman

The Foundation Review

· This article examines a range of civic engagement strategies pursued by embedded funders conducting community-change work in chronically disadvantaged communities.

· Embedded funders are place-based foundations that (1) commit to working in a particular community or communities over an extended period of time; (2) pursue direct and ongoing relationships with a range of community actors; (3) make community relationships and partnerships a primary vehicle of their philanthropic operation; and (4) provide extensive supports and resources beyond conventional grantmaking.

· Working as an embedded funder tends either to correlate with a prior commitment to civic engagement or to promote the …

Setting The Table For A Sustainable And Just Food System, Kien Lee, Kolu Zigbi, Marjorie Nemes

The Foundation Review

· As consumers and producers, people of color have been affected disproportionately by systemic problems in the food system.

· This article describes the Diversifying Leadership for Sustainable Food Policy initiative, a joint effort of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to build the capacity of organizations led by people of color to engage in policy and advocacy work.

· Grantees successfully built their capacity to engage in policy work (e.g., increased capacity to identify policy targets), increased their organizational capacity (e.g., diversified boards), improved their communities’ capacity (e.g., created opportunities for dialogue and improved …

Gvsu Undergraduate And Graduate Catalog, 2009-2010, Grand Valley State University

Course Catalogs, 1963 - Current

Grand Valley State University 2009-2010 undergraduate and/or graduate course catalog published annually to provide students with information and guidance for enrollment.

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Micro-Hydropower Projects In Nepal, Shradha Upadhayay

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Tahoe : Bridging The Economic Gap, Gabriel Reuben Valle

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Being Peace: The Life And Work Of Marta Benavides Of El Salvador, Leigh Fenly

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

In the following pages, you will find narrative stories about a Woman PeaceMaker, along with additional information to provide a deep understanding of a contemporary conflict and one person’s journey within it. These complementary components include a brief biography of the peacemaker, a historical summary of the conflict, a timeline integrating political developments in the country with personal history of the peacemaker, a question-and-answer transcript of select interviews, and a table of best practices in peacebuilding as demonstrated and reflected on by the peacemaker during her time at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice.

Marta Benavides of …

Community Building For Children’S Health: Lessons From Community Partnerships For Healthy Children, Dorothy Meehan, Kathleen Hebbeler, Stacie Cherner, Dana Petersen

The Foundation Review

· This article describes Community Partnerships for Healthy Children (CPHC), a 10-year, $17 million initiative of the Sierra Health Foundation targeted at improving children’s health in northern California by mobilizing communities to use their assets. Implementation grants were modest ($50,000 annually), but technical assistance and communications support were also provided.

· The initiative rolled out in four phases. Overall, a total of 31 communities participated in the initiative. Twenty-six communities remained through phase three, with 18 engaging in the final fourth phase.

· Evidence indicates that CPHC improved the health of some children in some communities with regard to some …

Cultural Power And Utopianism In Laurie Halse Anderson's Prom And M.T. Anderson's Feed, Leah Dinatale

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Author's abstract: Resourcefully and responsibly obtaining a sense of power is central to quality young adult literature. Laurie Halse Anderson's Prom and M.T. Anderson's Feed show their adolescent protagonists' struggles with identity formation, consumerism, and the adult world. In order to address power relationships, the two novels address the rise of a global electronic and print media system that collapses traditional notions of time and space and the excessive consumption associated with the culture such a system creates. However, these two novels explore postmodern consumer culture from different perspectives. Prom functions as a utopian, revisionist fairy tale in which the …

The Politics Of Law And Film Study: An Introduction To The Symposium On Legal Outsiders In American Film, Jessica Silbey

Faculty Scholarship

The articles collected in this Symposium Issue on Legal Outsiders in American Film are examples of a turn in legal scholarship toward the analysis of culture. The cultural turn in law takes as a premise that law and culture are inextricably intertwined. Common to the project of law and culture is how legal and cultural discourse challenge or sustain communities, identities and relations of power. In this vein, each of the articles in this Symposium Issue look closely at a film or a set of films as cultural objects which, when engaged critically, help us think about law as an …

Access And Innovation: A Study Of Two Ngo Schools In North India, Christy Ivie, '09

Honors Projects

Using data collected from two NGO schools in North India, this study presents two case studies that will shed some light on how NGOs in India are increasing access and innovation in the primary education system. By comparing and contrasting the two organizations, this study will also highlight the diversity of NGOs involved in primary education in India. Instead of making broad generalizations about the role and contributions of NGOs in primary education in India, this study aims to provide perspectives on two different organizations and raise questions about NGO schooling in India.

Peace By Piece, Teresa Sherman '09

Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine, 2002-2017

Recent Illinois Wesleyan graduates find that, as Peace Corps volunteers, success is often a process of patience and perspective.

Health And The Nature Of Urban Green Spaces, May Elizabeth Carter

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Recognition that city-dwelling people can benefit from contact with nature is not new. The urban open air movement of the 19th century advised retention of greenways and development of urban parks and gardens to stop disease spread through lack of fresh air, poor sanitation and overcrowding. Now, in the early 21st century, urban green spaces are under threat from inner city infill projects and clearing of remnant vegetation to accommodate suburban sprawl.

While much literature discusses positive health benefits of contact with nature, few studies explore explicit pathways between urban green space and health, despite mounting concern that disassociation between …