Sociology Commons^™

Uno Student Housing Survey, Robert F. Blair

Publications

For many years the University of Nebraska at Omaha has been considered the urban campus in the University of Nebraska system. Part of its mission was to meet the educational, research and service needs of the Omaha metropolitan area. UNO was able to meet this urban mission as a commuter campus since most of the students were already living in Omaha.

Student Service Learning And Student Activities -- A Perfect Fit, Deborah Craig

Higher Education

"A thousand points of light ... Lifetime national service ... Be part of the solution ... The volunteer initiative ... Corporate volunteerism ... " These and other slogans have become popularized during the past few years as the "Me Generation" is being replaced by the "We Generation." Yes, volunteerism is once more in vogue, but the issues of the '80s and '90s arc different from those of the '60s. Vietnam and civil rights versus illiteracy and homelessness. Today's issues are less personal for today's typical college students. Very few of them have personally experienced illiteracy or having been homeless. But …

Nebraska Preschool Child Care, 1988 - A Survey Of Parents On Access To Quality Child Care, Patricia A. Funk

Publications

A survey of child care arrangements for Nebraska preschool children was conducted in 1988 by the Center for Applied Urban Research (now, Center for Public Affairs Research), University of Nebraska at Omaha, under the direction of Dr. Christine Reed. The purposes of the survey were to document the characteristics of the child care arrangements used in 1988 by Nebraska parents with preschool-age children and to identify household characteristics associated with the different types of child care that parents chose.

Results from the survey were incorporated with other research data into the report, "Child Day Care Policy Issues in Nebraska" (Reed …

Visions For Greater Fremont Strategic Action Plan, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Publications

The city of Fremont, Nebraska, has a proud history beginning with its founding in 1856. Wagon trails that once went through the town were soon transformed into railroads, contributing to the industrialization of the city before the turn of the century.

Today, Fremont is a city of 24,000 people. Although the population has remained relatively stable over the past 30 years, the economy has continued to grow. The City of Fremont, the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Fremont Chamber Industrial Foundation have been actively promoting growth and development during the last decade. Although the 1980s were dominated by …

Nebraska Department Of Social Services' Child Support Enforcement Unit Demonstration Project: Final Evaluation Report, Chris Marshall, Vincent J. Webb

Publications

In July 1987, the Nebraska Department of Social Services successfully applied to the U.S. Family Support Administration's Office of Child Support Enforcement for funds to conduct a Demonstration Project. This Demonstration Project, "The Nebraska IV-D/IV-A Intake and Phone Collection Project," was designed to increase telephone activities and improve intake practice as part of the ongoing child support collection activities. It was expected that such improvements would result in an increased level of absent parent location and an increased level of child support payment.

Teaching Twenty-First Century Citizenship: Social Psychological Foundations, Allan R. Brandhorst

Civic Engagement

Effective American (U.S.) citizenship in the Twenty-first century may require a shift in the value orientation which currently characterizes American life. Two components of the American value system are becoming increasingly dysfunctional. American social science, and accordingly the social studies curriculum, has become narrowly focused on an economic model of human decision-making. Such a one-dimensional model of man, because it invalidates by omission justice-based models of decision-making, leaves American society with a reduced capacity for addressing social dilemmas, particularly commons-type problems. Secondly, American cultural life has been dominated by a heavy and one-sided commitment to primary control. Such an imbalance, …

Comprehensive And Integrative Planning For Community Development, Ronald Shiffman, Susan Motley

Partnerships/Community

Over the years, both the public and nonprofit sectors have moved away from comprehensive, community-based planning strategies, lured by "quick fix" of a project-by-project development strategy. Unquestionably, these projects have directly benefited some poor individuals and families. More often than not, however, they do little to increase the economic vitality of the community in which the project is developed. To deal effectively with the issues of community disorganization and poverty and to broaden participation in the community renewal process, we must examine in today's light the originally envisioned community development corporation model and its principles. We need to plan, initiate, …

Congress Likely To Pass Kennedy's National Community Service Measure, The Committee On Labor And Human Resources

Special Topics, General

A bill by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the National and Community Service Act, S.1430, should have little trouble gaining congressional approval next session, unless President Bush's Points-of-Light Initiative can muster sufficient support within Congress to challenge it. Kennedy's proposal recently gained strength as a bipartisan effort when Sen. James Jeffords (R-Vt) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) signed on in mid-November as the 22nd and 23rd co-sponsors. Over twenty national service-related bills were introduced in the first session of the 101st Congress. Components of many of these bills ended up in S.1430, which further suggests that the bill stands very good …

Social Interactions Of Secondary-Aged Students With Severe Handicaps: Implications For Facilitating The Transition From School To Work, Janis Chadsey-Rusch

Disabilities

The social interactions of a group of 10 students with severe handicaps attending a junior high school campus were described with the use of narrative recording procedures. The students were observed when they arrived at school, during lunch, and when they were engaged in vocational training. In addition, teacher perceptions of behavior were measured, and parents were interviewed regarding their childrens' future vocational opportunities and their social relationships with their peers. The results from this study indicated that (a) these youth of transition age were involved in more task-related than nontask interactions, (b) they were engaged in more interactions with …

Differences In Interpersonal Values Among Students Involved In Volunteer Service, R. Thomas Fitch

Higher Education

A study of college students involved m. community service volunteer activities found that students' interpersonal values differed relative to whether they were involved through religious, Social Greek, or service organizations.

Legal Issues In Combining Service And Learning, Michael B. Goldstein

Special Topics, General

A basic guide to the legal issues involved in programs that combine educational goals with direct involvement in the community - essential reading for any program administrator. The term "school" is used throughout to indicate any educational institution -elementary, secondary, or postsecondary, public or private - which may sponsor a student service-learning program. The term "agency" denotes any public or private community-based organization which may provide work opportunities or training or supervision of students at work sites. Portions of this analysis of legal issues in internships and experiential learning first appeared in Legal Issues Resource Booklet, by Michael B. Goldstein …

Service-Learning Advances School Improvement: A Position Paper From The International Service Learning Initiative, Barbara Gomez

Special Topics, General

The base on which the United States is built is participatory democracy -achieved only when all citizens are included in choice and decision-making. Nothing could be worse for our nation than to have our children feel alienated from the communities in which they attend school. For more than 200 years the rest of the world has been watching our progress, and as we have succeeded they have made efforts to emulate our sense of individual freedom and collective responsibility for governance.

Omaha Conditions Survey: 1990, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Publications

This report summarizes responses for the North Omaha sample; findings from the metropolitan sample are presented in a separate report series. After a look at the demographic characteristics of the 200 adult respondents, the report examines the North Omaha area's quality of life, employment, and housing conditions. Next, ratings of the best and worst facets of life in the Omaha area are highlighted. The fourth section of the report provides details on North Omahans' satisfaction with a variety of services, facilities and programs. The final two sections focus in greater detail on two issues - labor force experiences and crime …

Bringing Old And Young Together, Jane Angelis

Intergenerational

"I just can't get it all done!" It is the classic lament of the teacher stretched too thin by the demands of the classroom. Imagine what educators could accomplish if we only had enough help...

Intergenerational Programs: A Manual For Success, Ramona Frischman

Intergenerational

Although there are always social issues which much be faced by educators and by society, three issues in particular demand attention in the 1990s. Racism, sexism, and a third "ism" - one relatively new to our vocabulary - ageism. Referring to the discrimination against a group or an individual because of age, ageism is most often practiced against members of two distinct groups in our society: those over 60, and those under the ago of 18.

Youth Service: From Youth As Problems To Youth As Resources, Bonnie Benard

School K-12

New Paradigm "Youth as problems, or youth as resources? Communities with problems or communities with resources?" These opening sentences to Reaching Out. a recent book on establishing community service programs for youth, encapsulate a critical issue I see confronting anyone relating to or working with young people, whether as parents, teachers, community folk, or prevention advocates and other helping professionals: the framework or perspective from which we view youth in our society today. Whether we view youth as problems or as resources determines not only our expectations for our youth and our actions towards them, but also the type of …

Training Student Organizers Curriculum (Revised Edition), Michael Zamm, Robert Ortner, Beverly Deangelis

Curriculum

This second edition of the Training Student Organizers Curriculum has been written to reflect the project organizing experiences of students, teachers and staff participating in the Council on the Environment of New York City's Training Student Organizers Program (TSO) since the first edition of the curriculum was published in 1983. We have expanded the lessons/narratives in Part I to include more information on environmental issues and have also added lessons and/or narratives for specific environmental action projects. The "how to's" of project organizing are described, step by step, in specific improvement projects in Part I, and reviewed as a total …

The Civic Mission Of The University, Benjamin R. Barber

Civic Engagement

The modern American university is embroiled in controversy, fueled by deep uncertainty over its pedagogical purposes and its civic role in a "free" society. At times the college establishment seems to know neither what a free society is not what the educational requisites of freedom might look like. Nonetheless, both administrators and their critics have kept busy, for like zealots (classically defined as people who redouble their efforts when they have forgotten their aims), they have covered their confusion by embellishing their hyperbole. They wring hands and rue the social crises of higher education... apathy, cynicism, careerism, prejudice, selfishness, sexism, …

Cpar Focus, October 1989, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Publications

This issue of Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR) FOCUS features "Employment Trends in the Omaha MSA Construction Industry" by E. David Fifer.

Principals Of Good Practice For Combining Service And Learning, Ellen Porter Honnett, Susan J. Poulsen

Guides

The level of interest and sense of urgency in community and voluntary service grows greater every day. In every community, programs are being designed for participants from kindergartners to the elderly. Is there a set of guiding principles by which service programs can be designed and by which their effectiveness can be judged? Is there a set if ideas which have the potential for deepening and sustaining current movements?

The principles described on these pages reflect the grassroots experience and the thinking of thousands of people, hundreds of programs and numerous national organizations over the last several decades. They are …

Public Talk And Civic Action: Education For Participation In A Strong Democracy, Benjamin R. Barber

Civic Engagement

Civic education programs have always played a distinctive role in the American education curriculum. For the most part, however, civic education has been associated with civic knowledge and the cultivation of a cognitive faculty thought to be identical with political judgement (private judgment on public issues).

Perhaps this has been appropriate to a society which understood democracy primarily as a system of accountability in which elected representatives do most of the actual governing and "citizens" limit themselves to the passive roles of voter and watchdog.

National Service And Student Aid: Myth And Reality, Will Marshall, Joel Berg

Service Learning, General

Do citizens who receive government benefits owe a debt of service to society? That question lies at the heart of the controversy surrounding the Citizenship and National Service Act introduced in January, 1989 by Sens. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and Charles Robb (D-Va.) and Rep. Dave McCurdy (D-Ok.). The bill stems from a May, 1988 proposal by the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) that challenges the efficacy and fairness of existing federal student aid programs and proposes instead a "new G.I. Bill" that would award public aid in exchange for civilian or military service to the nation.

Speaking Out For Youth Service: It's Not Just The Thought That Counts, Youth Service America, Nittional Association Of Service And Conservation Corps

Conference Proceedings

Welcome to the Youth Service America conference on national youth service issues and policy. We are gathering in Washington at a time when interest in youth service is high and Congressional action possible. Together, at this conference, we have an opportunity to play a central role in expanding the diversified field of youth service and translating successful youth service strategies into a national policy that will make the ethic of service an integral part of growing up in America.

The Value Of Community-Service Programs, John H. Buchanan

Service Learning, General

When both President Bush and Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts assume leading roles in a new national movement, there is reason to believe that something significant may be happening.

Such appears to be the case with the growing interest in Washington and elsewhere in youth-focused community-service programs.

Fostering Intergenerational Relatiollships For At-Risk Youth, Marc Freedman

Intergenerational

Many at-risk youth are growing up isolated from the range of caring and consistent adult relationships so important for navigating the treacherous course from adolescence to adulthood. An accumulation of research from the social sciences suggests that adult relationships-provided not only by parents. but by grandparents, neighbors and other interested elders-are a common factor among resilient children, who achieve success despite growing up under disadvantaged and stressful circumstances. An important. and not often addressed, question for social programs and policy is whether the circumstances of more at-risk youth could be improved through efforts designed to provide greater access to helping …

Occasional Paper No. 089-1: Employment Of Black And Hispanic Police Officers, 1983-1988: A Follow-Up Study, Sam Walker

Publications

Police departments in the 50 largest cities in the United States made uneven progress in the employment of black and Hispanic officers between 1983 and 1988.

Nearly half (45 percent) of the big-city police departments made significant progress in the employment of black officers. Seventeen percent, however, reported a decline in the percentage of black officers. A similar pattern exists in the employment of Hispanic police officers. Forty-two percent of the departments reported significant increases in the percentage of Hispanic officers employed. Nearly 11 percent (10.6 percent) reported a decline, however, while 17.0 percent reported no change.

Affirmative action plans …

National Youth Service: The Proposed Legislation, Robert H. Atwell

Special Topics, General

I'm very happy to be back in sunny Arizona. I was here just a few weeks ago for another meeting, but this week I'm especially glad to be out of Washington, where the weather has been dreary and some of the political debate even drearier.

Because I work in Washington, everybody always wants to know what's really going on in the nation's capital, and why the government can't seem to get anything right. So I thought I'd begin by telling you about something you didn't read in the newspapers, and that's a meeting that took place the other day at …

The State Of Black Omaha: 1989, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Publications

Creation of an economic base is necessary for the continued growth and development of any society or community. It is of utmost importance within Black neighborhoods in our urban center because they have Jacked representative economic development. They have been depleted as a result of a "dollar drain," through which money leaves Black communities and strengthens White communities. This drain must be halted. Economic enterprise must be created in Black communities, such as employment opportunities for the unemployed and underemployed to foster family stabilization, and neighborhood beautification projects that can provide jobs and an improved environment.

S.T.A.R.T. Economic Development Action Step Packet - Community Image And Marketing, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Publications

Lack of a clear community image, or the presence of a negative or ambivalent image, may emerge during your S.T.A.R.T. Economic Development strategic planning sessions as a reason for economic difficulties. Image problems are often perceived as a major cause of declining sales, conflicts, residents shopping elsewhere, and young people leaving. Although a negative image may be only part of the reason for (or a product of) economic decline, it usually has some influence on the community economy. Image is manifest in feelings of pride or embarrassment about the community-its streets, houses, lawns, city buildings, and businesses. A lack of …

"Person-To-Person": A Community Service Guide For Youth Groups Visiting Senior Residences, Susan Chandler

Intergenerational

The purpose of this guide is to assist you in the development and implementation of intergenerational projects in which youth groups visit senior adult residences. These "youth in service to elders" projects are designed to meet a variety of needs. Through them, young people learn to give of themselves and their time in a significant and positive way. With our mobile society, young people often do not have the opportunity to spend time with their elders; and as a result are deprived of an awareness of the aging process and of the wisdom which older people possess. Conversely, older people …