A Summer At Azavea Working With Nonprofit Organizations: The Summer Of Maps Fellowship, Sarah Gates

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report details my experience as a Summer of Maps Fellow at Azavea during June 2017 to August 2017. As a Summer of Maps Fellow I worked with nonprofit organizations, the Fair Tech Collective and the World Resources Institute, on two geospatial analysis projects. For the Fair Tech Collective I analyzed data on refinery flaring pollution, air toxin concentrations, and sensitive receptor populations to produce a series of maps and infographics detailing the impacts of petrochemical pollution in the San Francisco Bay Area. For the World Resources Institute I used data-driven methods to analyze conservation efforts in the Central African …

Greening The Gateway Cities: Summer Internship With The Clark University Human Environment Regional Observatory (Hero) And Massachusetts Department Of Conservation And Recreation (Dcr), Zhiwen Zhu

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report provides a detailed account of my internship experience with the Clark University Human-Environment Regional Observatory (HERO) and Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) in the summer of 2017. This internship concerns the urban tree health assessment in three ‘Greening the Gateway’ cities in Massachusetts. During the internship, I conducted tree survey field work, database management, mapping, tree survey data analysis and urban tree plantation benefits microclimate simulation. During the internship I worked with the professors and students at Clark University and University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the staff from Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), Worcester Tree …

Contentions At The Human-Wildlife Interface: An Analysis Of Chicago’S Coyote Management Plan, Ilanah Taves

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Urbanization and habitat fragmentation cause animal species to either adjust to human- dominated landscapes or suffer population loss. This paper examines the municipal challenges associated with coyotes, an animal successfully adapting to cities throughout North America. The presence of predators in highly developed areas challenges conceptual and spatial attempts to separate cities from nature. This report’s introductory sections critically examine the alienation of wildlife from the urban form. Theoretical perspectives from the discipline of animal geographies are employed to deconstruct problematic relationships between cities and animals, and reimagine a metropolis that considers the presence of nonhuman others. Engaging Jennifer Wolch’s …

Cluster Approach: Gaps And Shortcomings In Un Coordination Of Humanitarian Actors In Post-Earthquake Haiti And Implications For Policy Concerns Of The New Humanitarian School Of Thought, Naomi Vinbury

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This research analyzes the role of the UN OCHA Cluster Approach in the context of Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Gaps and shortcomings of the current humanitarian model are identified and the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach is considered as a model to be used as an instrument to inform the New Humanitarian school of thought. A recent history of Haiti and the political relationship to the international community will be reviewed as context that outlines the vulnerabilities that created a risk society leading up to the disaster. A brief history of the recent trajectory of humanitarian aid will be reviewed and …

Inequity In Rebuilding After Disasters, Sara Brown

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Natural disasters are becoming more and more frequent. Policies that help rebuild residential areas after disasters need to be equitable. The five residential programs researched are The Road Home Homeowner Assistance Program, The Road Home Small Rental Property Program, LIHTC Piggyback Program, Hazard Mitigation Gram Program, and Non- Profit Rebuilding Pilot Program. Through a case study of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans this research reviews five residential rebuilding programs to see if its goals were written equitably. This research then compares the Lower Ninth Ward with the entire City of New Orleans as well as two other planning …

A Moment Became The Season: An Exploration Of Trauma Narrative Within The Community Development Context, Lydia Berry

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This research explores current methods of psychological trauma intervention within the community development context, namely the understandings that bound the clinical and diagnostic side of trauma, and the more recent victim centered approach: the trauma informed care method. The shortcomings of these approaches is that they individually lack the ability to establish the victim back into their sense of self or community, accordingly. This research argues that a narrative approach, a process by which a survivor of trauma has full agency to express their experience, used in conjunction with existing practices can rectify the shortcomings of both methods. The researcher …

Gis Specialist 2016 Internship With Cdm Smith In Boston, Massachusetts, Suzanne L. Meek

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This report provides a detailed experience of my internship with CDM Smith during the summer of 2016. This was a formal 12-week internship that was extended an additional two weeks due to my success in the first few weeks. My title was listed as a GIS Specialist Intern. My responsibilities included applying GIS technologies to construction, water, and energy projects, digitizing various locations for cities and private clients, FEMA projects, and street light audits in two different towns in New England.

An Analysis Of Structural And Psychological Barriers To The Adoption Of Demand Response Smart Grid Technologies: Lessons Learned, John M. Richards

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Over the past decade, America’s utility grid has undergone fundamental changes on a scale not seen during the past 100 years (Energetics Incorporated, 2014). These changes have largely been driven by the need to replace aging infrastructure, modernize the grid, incorporate new sources of energy, and better balance the supply and demand of energy. In order to address some of these changes, utilities have increasingly implemented smart grid programs that provide customers with consumer-focused demand response technologies that aim to reduce peak demand. This report examined the success these technologies have in reducing peak demand for smart grid programs by …

Trafficking Of Women In Nepal And Their Vulnerabilities, Sushmita Diyali

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

ABSTRACT

TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN IN NEPAL AND THEIR VULNERABILITIES

Sushmita Diyali

Around the world, women are marginalized and their liberty has been violated despite women rights and movement. The women and girls are still treated as subhuman. They are subject to sexual exploitation, sexual slavery, and a forced labor. The problems of women based discrimination are widespread all over the world and trafficking of women issues is taken as the most intolerant criminal activity in the earth. Though the world is advancing but Nepal is still dragging behind and its one of the problem is sex exploitation. Human rights of …

Defending Home: How Resistance Movements Are Framed Against Mineral Extraction In Cajamarca And Tambogrande, Peru, Anne B. Read

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper examines community resistance in the Peruvian communities of Tambogrande and Cajamarca to mineral extraction by the corporations Minera Yanacocha (MYSA) and Manhattan Minerals. It considers the fluid nature of the frames, strategies, and tactics that allow social movements to shape and reflect each other. This paper documents how ideas and symbols travel through space and time, in the form of community referenda, collective acts of resistance, and symbols of cultural patrimony, to resist mining projects in two emblematic conflicts. Social movement theory informs this study, in particular it explores the ways in which movements frame mining conflicts, build …

Conditional Cash Transfers For Education: A Comparative Analysis Between Funder And Country, Wesley Marcum-Mullins

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Educational Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT) are market driven poverty alleviation interventions, which have been growing in popularity throughout Latin America and the Caribbean in the last 25 years. These are multilateral interventions with many different participants such as funders, national governments, municipal governments, school, teachers, students, and parents. This paper addresses the question: How are educational Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs discussed and rationalized by various state and funder participants? This paper compares funders, The World Bank and Inter-Americas Development Bank, and country CCT programs, Jamaica’s Program of Advancement through Health and Education and Brazils Bolsa Familia. The paper concludes …

Evaluating Amphibian Vulnerability To Mercury Pollution From Artisanal And Small-Scale Gold Mining In Madre De Dios, Peru, Kate Markham

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Environmental hazards commonly associated with gold mining include local pollution of the air, water, and soil. Specifically, mercury used to extract gold bioaccumulates in the environment, contaminating rivers and watersheds and posing a danger to wildlife in regards to its developmental, hormonal, and neurological effects. To conceal these typically illegal operations happening along rivers, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) often occurs in remote areas with high faunal biodiversity. The Madre de Dios region of southern Peru is a global biodiversity hotspot and has been undergoing extensive ASGM for years. The impact of ASGM on biodiversity is largely unknown. This …

Engaging In Effective Behavioral Health Treatment Methods: The Importance Of Building Trust And Relationships With High And Proven Risk Men With A History Of Childhood Trauma(S), Tracie Sullivan

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Nearly 60% of youth involved in the juvenile justice system in the United States have a diagnosable mental illness (Buffington, 2010; SAMHSA, 2012). These high and proven risk youth have fallen through the cracks in the behavioral health system, with a lack of prevention, intervention, and effective treatment methods being provided to them prior to incarceration. This paper presents connections between childhood trauma, undiagnosed and untreated mental illnesses, and delinquency in adulthood for high and proven-risk young men. It also investigates barriers to engaging high and proven risk young men in treatment with the concepts of stigma, and hyper-masculinity introduced. …

The Latina Women & The Informal Microenterprise, Ivette Olmeda

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

ABSTRACT

THE LATINA WOMEN & THE INFORMAL MICROENTERPRISE

Ivette Olmeda

The informal economy refers to economic transactions that are not generally recorded through formal business compliance systems such as licensing, taxes, permitting and others. Informal economic activities are primarily completed through cash transactions.

This research explores the perceptions, intentions, and motivations of Latina women to operate informal microenterprises in an open market. The research consisted of interviews with five Latina women from Worcester, Massachusetts to gather information and ultimately understand why they are not entering formal entrepreneurship systems. The interviews supported existing research in which women state that they operate …

The Passage Of The 2016 Ballot Question #3 In Massachusetts And Its Implications, Hannah Silverfine

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

In the 2016 Massachusetts primary election, ballot question #3, “Massachusetts Minimum Size Requirements for Farm Animal Containment”, aimed to improve welfare standards for cows raised for veal, female sows confined to gestation crates, and chickens caged for eggs. This study seeks to analyze the complex relationship between local and national food systems, and articulate the multi-level implications of Question 3. Research examines the rationale behind voting, campaign narratives, and campaign financing in Massachusetts, and ultimately compares the implications of Question 3 with those of California’s 2008 Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act. The lenses of animal geographies and the political …

Water-Based Strategies For Making The Small Beverage Industry In New England More Sustainable And Climate-Change Resilient, Michelle Kozminski

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Water is a vital resource to the ecosystem, human life, and the economy. However, it is a limited resource that is threatened by a changing climate. The small beverage industry relies on large amounts of high quality water and is therefore at risk due to the uncertainties of climate change. This paper explores how the small beverage industry in New England approaches water to ensure that the industry is sustainable in the long term. A water threatened brewery in California, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, is used to determine “best practices.” Three small beverage companies in New England are examined to …

Learning From A Mid-Term Evaluation Of Fonhdad In Haiti, Kelsey E. Hopkins

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This is a mid-term evaluation for FONHDAD’s REFERANS project in the communes of Ganthier and Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti. The process of this collaboration with FONHDAD is outlined in a reflection which begins this report. The evaluation is based on a review of project documents including performance indicator reference sheets, indicator performance tracking tables, attendance records, work plans, activity reports, and numerous other project documents. Recommendations for better data management practices and the thoughtful inclusion of women in all project activities are included.

Refugee Self Organization : The Effects Of Organizations On Refugees, Ayfer Hurmuzlu

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Abstract

Refugee Self Organization: the Effects of Organizations on Refugees The following abstract will introduce research conducted to find how incoming refugees integrate themselves into American societies through the aid of organizations. The paper was divided into two main questions: 1. How do refugees self organize themselves upon arrival to a new country? 2. How do organizations help them transition into integration? The paper is serves to define ways that refugees integrate into new environments. The research was collected through conducting interviews to organizations that serve refugee communities. The findings presented in this paper were defined through a collection of …

Asset Assessment For Women: A Case Study Of Imasayi Village In Ogun State, Nigeria & Ngo Development: A Strategic Plan, Olamide Adeyinka

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper presents the findings of an asset assessment performed with women in a village southwest of Nigeria, Imasayi Ogun state. This paper not only describes the process and results of a qualitative study, but also presents the implementation plan for an NGO that will work with the women of Imasayi to implement community-wide development projects. The research upon which this paper is based used the framework of seven capital domains, which are then used in turn to structure findings, recommendations and NGO planning and analysis. For the purpose of this paper, the marketplace is identified as significant for Imasayi’s …

Barriers To Sustainable Hunting-Based Conservation Of Elephants In Zimbabwe, Jessica H. Cusworth

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The international demand for ivory has devastated African elephant populations. In 2015, more elephants were poached for ivory than were born. Many countries have sought to decrease poaching pressures through ivory trade bans. However, Zimbabwe, home to the second largest African elephant population, funds its anti-poaching efforts with revenue from ivory exports. The ivory bans implemented by other countries prevent Zimbabwe from generating many sources of ivory revenue. These bans hamper Zimbabwe’s ability to fund anti-poaching efforts and exacerbate the complex interactions between the social, economic, and political factors which contribute to poaching. Increasing the understanding of the relationships between …

Capturing The Resilience Dividend: Post Hurricane Sandy Insights From Brooklyn's Sea Gate Community, Alexander M. Rezk

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This research project presents a resilience, governance, and vulnerability analysis of populations traditionally considered as non-vulnerable to natural disasters and climate related events. The paper examines how homeowners in Sea Gate, a neighborhood located on Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York, experienced systemic disruption following Hurricane Sandy. This research sets out to answer the following questions: How does the lived experience of homeowners in a coastal community reflect the creation of newly vulnerable populations in regard to natural disasters in New York City? How is the current municipal resilience strategy being perceived as managing these shifts? And finally, what avenues …

Seeing Community Through The Trees: Characterizing Resident Response To Urban-Tree Planting Initiatives, Eli Goldman

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Urban tree planting initiatives have become common across cities in the United States. In order to advocate for sustainable urban forests, managers of urban planting initiatives must adopt a strong community framework, which includes community values in reforestation efforts. Clark University researchers conducted interviews and surveys with residents in six central Massachusetts cities and towns to assess why residents value urban trees and to characterize public response to reforestation efforts. Results indicate residents had positive experiences with tree planting programs, are most likely to value urban trees for aesthetic reasons, and commonly associate change in neighborhood character with Asian Longhorned …

Healthcare And Homelessness: How Can We Better Service The Health Needs Of Homeless Individuals? A Case Study Of The City Of Worcester, Ma, Kali Adams

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Health care for the homeless is a major problem in American communities. Understanding the gaps, barriers and limitations in this system is imperative to providing homeless populations appropriate care. This research aims to understand the gaps in the homeless system of Worcester, Massachusetts through interviews with hospital staff and employees of agencies working with the homeless population. Analysis revealed an extremely divided system between provision of health care and provision of social services to Worcester’s homeless population. Across these two systems there was limited to no collaboration, communication and understanding. In order to provide more adequate care to homeless individuals, …

Searching For Ourselves: African Cultural Representation In Children’S Books In The United States, And Implications For Educational Achievement, Lulama Moyo

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Using documentary and discourse analysis of children’s literature I explore the extent to which there is a multicultural gap in children’s literature to reveal the prevailing challenges of the colonized and Eurocentric values embedded in the contemporary education system that supports the monocultural socialization of young children in their early formative years. I translate my research through examining four thematic ways on how the multicultural gap is manifested which are subject matter, the lack of African writers, degree of complexity of diasporic experiences, and confronting whiteness. By focusing more specifically on the gap in African diasporic children literature, I review …

Be Serious About Diversity: Exploring Why Innovation Communities Are Not Diverse, Julia Carrasquel

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

BE SERIOUS ABOUT DIVERSITY:

EXPLORING WHY INNOVATION COMMUNITIES ARE NOT DIVERSE

JULIA CARRASQUEL

Innovators and entrepreneurs rely on support, resources and collaboration to succeed, but who can access these resources? Failure is a constant variable in the learning progression of an entrepreneur, but who can afford to fail? There exist inherent biases that prevent women and minority entrepreneurs from entering entrepreneurial pipelines, which has led to a general lack of diversity within innovation communities. This paper, unlike other bodies of research, does not explore why diversity (or the lack thereof) is an important issue to consider in innovation and entrepreneurship. …

Financial Assessment Of Agricultural Lands At Risk To Coastal Salt Marsh Migration In Relation To Climate Change Induced Sea Level Rise In Dorchester County, Maryland, Jewell Porter

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The increasing rate and effects of sea level rise is a major environmental concern in the Chesapeake Bay. This paper evaluates the impacts of rising sea level on coastal salt marshes and the surrounding agricultural lands at risk in Dorchester County, Maryland to build off existing environmental monitoring work performed by NOAA’s Sentinel Site Program. The results of the spatial analysis were used to estimate monetary benefits to incentivize farmers to protect these marshes by making their land available for marsh migration to occur. Looking at three scenarios of sea level rise and marsh migration, grain crops (corn, soybeans, and …

A Framework For Evaluating And Enhancing Resilience Integration In Conservation Policy: The Case Of Massachusetts, Kyle Pilkington

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper develops a framework for evaluating conservation policy from the perspective of integrating resilience, using Massachusetts as a case study. After an intensive literature review on the topics of resilience and conservation, five resilience-enhancing attributes were identified: biodiversity, stakeholder engagement, acknowledgement of climate change, multiple species or species interaction focus and ecosystem or environment health. The framework ranks the policies with respect to the effectiveness of following the resilience-enhancing attributes. Three Massachusetts-based conservation policies, Massachusetts Endangered Species Act (MESA), State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) and MassWildlife Habitat Management Grant Program (MHMGP), were chosen to demonstrate the evaluative capacity of …

Impact Of Two Wars On The Educational System In Nigeria, Helena Onyemelukwe-Waziri

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Since the 1960's Nigeria has continuously been in a state of internal conflict, with different ethno-religious groups vying for social, economic, and political control. The situation has played out in extreme violence and has been on the international world's radar since the emergence of Nigeria's militant Islamist group Boko Haram in the late 2000's. Boko Haram translates to "Western education is forbidden," and the group has been behind the destruction of over 2,000 schools in Nigeria, killing hundreds of teachers and students, while displacing entire communities. As Nigeria holds the highest African population, it also has the highest number of …

Sweden’S Floating Refugee Camp: A New Form Of Spatial Segregation?, Miranda L. Weinstein

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper looks at the structure of discrimination and marginalization of refugees and asylum-seekers. The paper investigates a new form of housing –– floatels –– which was seen in Sweden in 2016. This paper explores the relevant literature on identity, biopower, and spatial segregation, to make the case that floatels are contemporary forms of encampment. Floatels are clear examples of the State’s use of biopower to spatially segregate certain undesirable populations. By providing a case study of the situation in Sweden, the overall goal of the paper is to highlight the issues and complexity involved in refugee housing. In particular, …

Global Deforestation Prediction: Summer Internship At Clark Labs, Tianze Li, Yahsee Joshi

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper is a description of our internship with Clark Labs in the summer of 2016. We worked as research assistants in the Deforestation Risk Prediction project for Ecosystem Services team. This goal of the project was to predict deforestation at global, continental and national level. Our responsibilities were to choose the variables that may influence the deforestation and to use Land Change Modeler in TerrSet to test the variables and create the deforestation prediction maps. We highly recommend this internship with Clark Labs to other GISDE students who are interested in land change analysis.