Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

Decommissioning Orleans Parish Prison: A Campaign To Build A Safer New Orleans / One Local Policy Step To Dismantle The Prison Industrial Complex, Tara M. Echo

Capstone Collection

Today, nearly two and a half million people in the U.S. are living in cages, with New Orleans holding the highest per capita rate of incarceration. While we have consistently seen that building cages does not bring us any closer to actualizing safety, the sheriff and other city officials of New Orleans justify a financially profitable plan to create more cages-to warehouse more of the city's people-in the name of safety.

Using an abolitionist framework, this paper examines safety by differentiating between contributing factors of being secure and factors which create harm in our communities. By tracing these factors to …

Perform + Function: A Proposal For A Healthy Public Housing Community, Brandon M. Harvey

Masters Theses

PERFORM+FUNCTION: Proposal for A Healthy Public Housing Community

Architecture exists in Place, the integrated context of both the built and natural environments, including socio-economic, cultural, and political climates that influence our growth, development, and survival. As architecture necessitates around human purposes, it is important that architecture is built for and sited in an environment compatible for human well-being. My thesis focuses on human habitation and its immediate relationship with human health, assessing the performance and functionality of Place that have an impact on human health. Using public housing as the vehicle of my investigation, I will seek the appropriate application …

Food Fight: A Case Study Of The Community Food Security Coalition’S Campaign For A Fair Farm Bill, Marni Salmon

Capstone Collection

The farm bill is an all-encompassing piece of legislation that is reauthorized approximately every five years and establishes federal policy for everything from farm subsidies and crop insurance to energy, conservation, food stamps and school lunches. The current law expires at the end of September 2012. Reauthorization of the farm bill represents the single largest opportunity to reform the policies that shape food systems in the United States. The Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) is campaigning to improve access to healthy food by increasing links with family farmers and to strengthen local and regional food systems. This case study traces …

Land Is Life: A Policy Advocacy Case Study Of The Northern Thailand Land Reform Movement, Jason Lubanski

Capstone Collection

This case study provides an in-depth examination of the work of the Thailand Northern Land Reform Movement using the framework of Jeff Unsicker's "Policy Advocacy Circles". Due to increasing population pressures, the liberalization of land markets, and agribusiness pressures, Thailand has experienced an increase in land ownership inequality and a growing number of landless and nearly landless small-scale farmers. In order to address this situation, agricultural communities have joined together at local and national levels to fight for the legislation of land reform policies, including Community Land Titles, progressive land taxes, and a National Land Bank to assist with land …

Homelessness: An Outcome Of Structural Cruelty, Bharat Rathod

Capstone Collection

In the current capitalist economic models, poverty and homelessness are an epidemic situation across the world. This research focused on the underlying causes of homelessness and poverty in India and the U.S., as well as developing suggestions to resolve the issues of homelessness in India. For this research I used literature reviews and interviews of the homeless; the interviews were conducted in Ahmedabad (India) and Brattleboro (U.S.). To analyze the data all the responses were entered into Excel format to discover patterns, themes and trends. The data was primarily qualitative in nature which led me to create three categories. According …

Seattle's Orchards: A Historic Legacy Meets Modern Sustainability, Audrey L. Lieberworth

Scripps Senior Theses

European immigrants introduced orchards to the U.S. in the early 1600s. As they began to establish settlements and migrate west, they brought orchard cultivation with them, creating an extensive network of orchards spread across the U.S. However, over time many of these orchards were lost due to urban development, which is what makes Seattle’s historic orchards significant. Early Seattle settlers planted orchards in the 1800s and early 1900s, and their remnants still exist today, despite urban development. Over the years, many of the orchards have been incorporated onto City Department-owned land, but they have not been maintained to the extent …

The Californians Against Sexual Exploitation (Case) Act: A Case Study In Policy Advocacy, Bailey Mannisto-Ichés

Capstone Collection

In any given year in the United States of America at least 100,000 domestic youth are sexually exploited through the commercial sex industry. Current national and state laws do not adequately protect these children from being groomed, pimped, and exploited over and over again in their young lives. A majority of these children are trafficked from, into or within the nation’s most populated state of California. In 2003 the FBI identified three of the country’s 13 high-­‐intensity child sex trafficking cities as being in California. The cycle of violence these children endure is not being brought to justice through the …

A Case Study Of Leclaire, Iowa, Revitalization Efforts, Rick N. Reed

Ed.D. Dissertations

This dissertation was an exploratory and descriptive study on the revitalization efforts of LeClaire, Iowa. Two community surveys, one business survey, and one leader interview survey were conducted to collect data from distinct stakeholder groups, consisting of LeClaire residents, visitors to LeClaire, residents throughout Scott County Iowa, business owners in LeClaire, and LeClaire leaders. Emergent results from quantitative and qualitative data identified that females are more concerned with revitalization and sustainability efforts than males, residents throughout Scott County are concerned with revitalization and sustainability, LeClaire residents are more concerned about the viability of their downtown than residents in other communities, …

Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors? An Investigation And Analysis Of The Nature Of The Trinity College And Surrounding Neighborhoods Relationship As Seen Through Gates, Ariel Schuster

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Exploring German And American Modes Of Pedagogical And Institutional Sustainability: Forging A Way Into The Future, Lindon N. Pronto

Pitzer Senior Theses

Rooted deep in Germany's past is its modern socio-political grounding for environmental respect and sustainability. This translates into individual and collective action and extends equally to the economic and policy realm as it does to educational institutions. This thesis evaluates research conducted in Germany with a view to what best approaches are transferable to the United States liberal arts setting. Furthermore, exemplary American models of institutional sustainability and environmental education are explored and combined with those from abroad to produce a blueprint and action plan fitting for the American college and university.

Learnlocal| Place - Based Education Community Planning Meets Classroom Education, Holli Andrews

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

Partnerships between planners and high school teachers add a dynamic element to local planning. Youth who are engaged in community-driven efforts provide a fresh perspective for long-term objectives. They are not inhibited by the old ways of doing things. They exhibit ownership in the conditions of their community, and they show enthusiasm for becoming involved. Young people bring modern ideas to the planning table. Planner-teacher partnerships enhance opportunities for broad community development as well. By bringing local planning into classroom education, there is an opportunity to increase the level of participation through parents, family members, caregivers and youth groups. With …

Veterans Court: Towards The Implementation Of A Collaborative Justice Model In San Luis Obispo County, Daniel Smee

Continuing Education (CAPSTONE)

Veterans’ treatment courts represent an emerging trend across the country of collaborative justice designed to deal with criminal justice issues stemming from problems linked to military service. This approach places the veteran in VA (Veterans Affairs) treatment programs as a diversion from incarceration. There are few such courts in California (nine) largely in non-rural counties. This study investigated two rural counties, Tulare and Santa Barbara with Veterans courts to develop a model for such a court in San Luis Obispo County. Early recidivism data at the one-year point for Tulare County showed a zero percent rate of criminal behavior (12 …

Public Participation In Emergency Management, Jason Alexander Rood

Dissertations and Theses

With disasters increasing in frequency and costs each year, this study seeks to explore ways greater public participation can assist emergency managers in their mission to keep communities safe. Specifically this study examines the policy process and administrative functions of emergency management to illuminated the benefits and hindrances involved in greater participation. This study conducted a qualitative analysis of governmental documents, disaster case studies, international research, as well as political science and administrative doctrines, to arrive at its conclusions. The results of this study reveal that the public is a largely untapped resource in the emergency management field. Engaging the …

West Coast Antiwar Nonprofit Collaboration, Rosalind Sipe

Capstone Collection

While collaboration among nonprofit organizations is happening in both San Francisco and Los Angeles on issues ranging from breast cancer to saving the whales, and while 75% of Americans are opposed to the war in Afghanistan (CNN, 2010), the antiwar movement on the West Coast has come to a standstill. This paper examines the dynamics of West Coast antiwar nonprofits, whether or not they are collaborating, and the advantages and disadvantages of collaboration. A successful collaboration among several antiwar nonprofits, and the combined use of their resources, might stand a better chance of creating a sustainable antiwar movement on the …