Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

Bridges Out Of Poverty As An Anti-Poverty Strategy In Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Katlyn M. Uhler

Capstone Collection

This paper explores the initial results of the Bridges Out of Poverty (“Bridges”) community framework as implemented by the organization Kennett Area Community Service in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The aim of this research is to provide perspective on Bridges Out of Poverty’s contribution to the understanding of poverty in the United States and its potential as an antipoverty intervention. It does so first through an exploration of the historical and current discussion on poverty and anti-poverty interventions in the United States, followed by research on the Bridges model itself and its implementation in Kennett Square. This latter research includes content …

Fortaleza's Immigrant Song: Portrait-Narratives And An Identity Needs Analysis Of Recent Immigrants' Lived Experiences, Carl Weitz-Santiago

Capstone Collection

This inquiry sheds light on the personal stories and lived experiences of a group of recent immigrants currently living in Fortaleza, the sprawling capital of the Northeastern state of Ceará, Brazil. Utilizing a theoretical framework guided by “Epistemologies of the South,” ethnographic principles, and constructivist grounded theory, this capstones presents five first person portrait-narratives highlighting intimate details of project participants’ lives prior to immigrating, and uncovers four persistent and recurrent themes expressed by project participants: (1) language and communication, (2) professional opportunity, (3) personal growth, and (4) “saudade” and belongingness.

Through the lens of Johan Galtung’s Basic Needs Approach, …

Giving A Voice To The Powerless: Participatory Monitoring & Evaluation As A Tool For Inclusive Development Through Microfinance, Evan T. Burke

Capstone Collection

The greatest experts on the situation of the marginalized peoples of the world are the marginalized communities themselves. This paper explores how participatory monitoring & evaluation can be a powerful tool for giving voices to marginalized communities, ensuring that the voices of beneficiaries and local stakeholders are heard and inform sustainable project design. It analyzes a participatory monitoring and evaluation methodology implemented for women’s credit cooperatives in Gujarat, India by the Human Development & Research Centre, and examines lessons to be learned to design evaluations facilitating inclusive development.

Strategies for the monitoring and evaluation of microfinance have evolved along with …

Reinventing The Role Of Children And Youth In Post-Conflict Peacebuilding, Amirah M. Alias

Capstone Collection

This paper underlines the roles of children and youth in post-conflict peacebuilding and the reinvention of their roles from participants of peacebuilding to active facilitators of post-conflict peacebuilding. The reinvention is based on the re-interpretation of the traditional roles of children and youth in post-conflict peacebuilding and the analysis of children and youth peacebuilding programs. The re-interpretation will suggest that children and youth take on a more active role, if not, a leadership role in peacebuilding programs conducted for children and youth. This paper will look at the historical and contextual information about Nigeria's inter-religious conflict and a youth peacebuilding …

Playing For Peace: Building Relationships Between Ugandan And Refugee Youth Through Football3 At Soccer Without Borders Uganda, Jean-Christophe Moran

Capstone Collection

This paper describes and analyzes a soccer tournament for Ugandan and refugee youth based on the principles and practices of football3, an established methodology for using soccer as a means of dialogue and resolution of conflict across differences. The goal of this tournament to was build relationships between Ugandan and refugee youth at Soccer Without Borders Uganda. This tournament was held in 2013 in Kampala under the auspices of Soccer Without Borders Uganda and involved training of staff. The implementation of football3 demonstrated that this methodology could have a positive impact on uniting refugee and Ugandan youth while providing participants …

The Primacy Of Context: An Exploration Into The Causes Of Food Insecurity In Kitere, Kenya., William O. Aludo

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this study was to explore the specific reasons why households in Kitere village, Kenya experience persistent food insecurity every year while the region enjoys the advantage of two planting/harvest seasons in a year. Kitere village lies within the lakeside region of Nyanza Province in Kenya, generally considered to be one of the more agriculturally productive parts of the country. The Participatory Rural Appraisal method was employed to gather qualitative data on the causes of food insecurity in Kitere village. The data sources were focus groups and a self-administered, one-time survey of random and non-random samples of key …

A Lone Nut In Compton:Lessons In Community Engagement With Treepeople In South Los Angeles, Jason Schlatter

Capstone Collection

The following study was conducted as an exploration of the community engagement practices of the Los Angeles based nonprofit organization, TreePeople. The intention of this study was to foster a deeper understanding about the theories and practice of the “outsider” TreePeople’s community engagement initiatives in the region of South Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on the communities of Compton, Inglewood, and historic South Central. I attempted to synthesize a collective narrative about the way TreePeople interacts with its constituents and community partners by drawing upon the experiences and perceptions of TreePeople staff, community partners, and community members. The individual experiences …

Addressing The Learning Needs At Occupy Dc, Andrew J. Batcher

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this paper is to examine how learning can help the Occupy movement in Washington DC. It explores three questions. What are the learning needs of the movement? What educational content can help meet those needs? And how can education be practiced in a way that most effectively addresses the learning needs within the real world circumstances of the movement? Research methods include participant observation, surveys, interviews, focus groups, literature review, and primary document review. Data was coded into 11 outcome oriented learning needs and 3 educational orientations which are geared towards meeting those needs. This paper is …

The First Generation Community: What Does It Mean To Be A Youth Member?, Elissa M. Gallup

Capstone Collection

This paper examines the impact of being part of the First Generation community on the youth members. The context of Springfield, Massachusetts and the culture of First Generation are explained. The role of The Performance Project, the nonprofit through which First Generation operates, is also described, as it pertains to the context. A literature review, with other youth programs’ methodologies and findings of analyzing impacts in their programs, has been included.

Following months of work with First Generation and the literature research, qualitative interviews were crafted and conducted with members of the group. These anonymous interviews allow some insight into …

Immigrant Women Organize For Justice: A Listening Project, Sandra Catalina Nieto

Capstone Collection

Over nineteen million immigrant women live in the United States. Each one of those nineteen million women carries with her a powerful history. Immigrant Women Organize for Justice: A Listening Project is an attempt to capture a breath of those histories, in particular the histories of four mujeres luchadoras: immigrant women who are organizing communities surrounding them and devoting much of their life and their work to the lucha (struggle or fight) for a more just and equal society. Immigrant Women Organize for Justice: A Listening Project is a two-part project. The first section is devoted entirely to remembering the …