Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

Lessons Learned In The Superfund Process: A Guide For Community Advisory Groups, Terri Nichols

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Superfund Community Advisory Groups (CAGs) and Technical Advisory Groups, also known as Technical Assistance Groups, (TAGs) can influence the clean-up of hazardous wastes in their communities by providing a forum for diverse community interests and concerns in the federal Superfund clean-up process. These volunteer groups may increase local input and engagement in remediation of hazardous wastes, as well as in the ultimate future of their community, through collaboration with community members, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staff, and parties responsible for contamination. Yet most CAGs and TAGs struggle within the complex, multi-phase Superfund process. Forming a Superfund advisory group is a …

Increasing Access To The James River Park System: A Community Roadmap With The Blackwell, Oak Grove, And Bellemeade Neighborhoods, Max A. Ewart

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Natural Parks like the James River Park System offer a host of benefits. They improve our mental health, make us better environmental stewards, Improve socialization, and make a healthier population by lowering the rates of asthma, obesity and hypertension. These public health outcomes disproportionately impacts minority communities in the City of Richmond, a population that visits the James River Park System at a lower rate than white communities do. This plan identifies the barriers preventing access for minority communities and gives recommendations to improve access in the City of Richmond.

Stormwater Management In Philadelphia: The Importance Of Green Stormwater Infrastructure And Community Involvement In Greater Citywide Sustainability, Julie Groff

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found the City of Philadelphia to be in violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972 due to insufficient stormwater infrastructure. In 2011, Philadelphia initiated a 25-year, citywide plan called Green City, Clean Waters to reduce stormwater runoff by implementing green stormwater infrastructure (GSI). The plan promised significant community involvement in the process. I conducted semi-structured interviews with City employees and individuals in the community that have partnered with the City to administer GSI and participant observation of community meetings and used them to explore different neighborhoods’ experiences with Green City, Clean …

The Gunnison Basin Sage-Grouse Strategic Committee: A Colorado County’S Fight For Conservation Self-Determination, James Cochran, Jonathan Houck, Greg Peterson

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Since 1995, sage-grouse (Centrocercus spp.) conservation planning in the western United States has largely been based upon local working groups comprised of federal, state and local governments, environmental groups, landowners, interested citizens. In this article, we review the history and process of these local working groups in western Colorado. These groups are generally convened by one or more government agencies, operate on the general principle of consensus, and have little or no administrative or financial support. The local working groups were generally comprised of field biologist, rancher/landowners, members of local environmental groups and occasionally representatives from local governments. The …

Lessons For Legalizing Love: A Case Study Of The Naz Foundation's Campaign To Decriminalize Homosexuality In India, Preston G. Johnson

Capstone Collection

In 1860, British colonizers codified Section 377 into the Indian Penal Code. 377 is an anti-sodomy law based on Victorian/Judeo-Christian values which criminalizes homosexuality through judicial interpretation and the manipulation of ambiguous language. On August 15^th, 2017, India celebrated 70 years of independence from British control, yet 377 still exerts oppressive control over the safety and freedom of Indian LGBTQI communities. Defining queerness as perversion has caused LGBTQI individuals to become victims of false accusations, blackmail, harassment, housing and workplace discrimination, familial rejection, forced “conversion therapy”, assault, rape, torture, and even murder because of this power imbalance and …

The Torch (December 2017), Crtp

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

Description

Civic and Community Engagement | Civil Rights and Discrimination | Education | Gender and Sexuality | Inequality and Stratification | Politics and Social Change | Public Policy | Race and Ethnicity

Recommended Citation

Baldwin, Brandon and Civil Rights Team Project, "Torch (August 2013)" (2013). Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter. 58. http://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/torch/58

Preschoolers And Pandas Making Friends: A Journey About Healing From Brain Injury, Barbara Anne Doucette

Museum Studies Projects

Preschoolers that have obtained Non-Accidental Injury (NAI) from familial child abuse are in need of having a unique place for neurorehabilitation in correlation with traditional therapies. My thesis project suggests adding an exhibit annex to an existing giant panda exhibit that will give preschoolers an opportunity to help develop new neuropathways when exposed to mediation and creative activities. Meditation and creative activities are being examined by neuroscientists as an aid in neuroplasticity after brain injury. This thesis reviews the neurotypical preschooler’s milestones and the playful means by which they are achieved. Conjoining the contemporary museums’ and zoological gardens’ outreach to …

Addressing Social Issues Affecting Vulnerable Populations In San Benito County Through Community Events, Lucila Alvarez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

In San Benito County there is a high concentration of Triqui community members. They originate from the state of Oaxaca in Mexico and flee their homeland due to political prosecution and violence. Many times, Triqui community members arrive in the United States speaking and understanding only their native Triqui language. Their customs and traditions clash with those of the United States and due to fear they isolate themselves and do not seek any community services. Community Solutions addressed these issues by organizing the first ever Indigenous Cultures Day in Hollister, CA on May 21, 2017. The event consisted of a …

Suicide Prevention: Do San Francisco Afsp Community Walks Reduce Hopelessness?, Tyson Peltz

Master's Projects

Community-based outreach programs have been found to be effective, helping to educate people, and reduce suicide through outreach and peer group support. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) has been at the forefront of the battle to reduce suicide through education, fund raising, lobbing, and support efforts to those in need of suicide prevention services, as well as those who have lost someone. One of the ways they have done this is through community walks and fundraising throughout the nation for anyone affected by suicide. These events are called Out of the Darkness Walks, which allow the community to …

We Have A Sacred Duty To House All Homeless Veterans, Christopher R. Fee, Joshua L. Stewart

English Faculty Publications

In a letter to Congress urging the nation to pay what it owed to veterans of the Continental Army, George Washington voiced his firm conviction that we as honorable Americans would “never leave unpaid the debt of gratitude” to those brave souls who “rescued by their arms from impending ruin” the fledgling United States. (excerpt)

Faith-Based Resistance, Human Rights, And Emancipatory Practices, Curtis Kline

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Progressive political theologies can expand and deepen both the strength and the conceptualization of human rights advocacy. However, not all political theologies are an effort to defend human dignity; neither are all understandings and practices of human rights. The validation of progressive political theologies as well as the validation of human rights conceptualizations comes from their capacity to concretely change the lived reality of poor and oppressed peoples of the world.

As with political theologies, there is a constant struggle over the control of how to conceptualize what constitutes a human rights issue. While many communities of faith find liberating …

Measuring The Impact Of Youth Leadership Development: An Evaluation Of Impacts, Heartland Center For Leadership Development

Heartland Center for Leadership Development Materials

Introduction

The research purpose of this collaborative study is to develop a psychometrically sound measure of youth leadership and examine its relationship to community outcomes such as retention, civic engagement, entrepreneurial activity and community attachment. This program, entitled the Rural Civic Action Program (RCAP), is designed to engage undergraduate “fellows” with rural middle or high schools to facilitate a service learning project intended to address locally identified needs.

Housing Diversity In Children’S Literature, Carla Earhart

Charleston Library Conference

Previous studies have examined diversity in children’s literature: Gender diversity, racial diversity, religious diversity, and diversity in family composition. This project examines an often overlooked diversity issue in children’s literature: Housing diversity. In the stories they read and the accompanying images, children need to see a variety of housing environments and need to see the settings and the people portrayed in a positive manner.

Renting an apartment is an increasingly popular housing option for many families. However, many children’s books glamorize living in a traditional house. Using a rubric designed by the course instructor, students in a university immersive learning …

The Torch (October 2017), Crtp

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

Civic and Community Engagement | Civil Rights and Discrimination | Education | Gender and Sexuality | Inequality and Stratification | Politics and Social Change | Public Policy | Race and Ethnicity

Recommended Citation

Baldwin, Brandon and Civil Rights Team Project, "Torch (August 2013)" (2013). Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter. 58. http://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/torch/58

Geopolitical Relations: Uganda’S Role In The Development Of The River Nile, Jordan Williams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examined the geopolitical relations of the Nile Basin by looking at Uganda as a case study, and analyzed Uganda’s use and development of the River Nile. It reviews the history of transboundary politics and treaties along with Uganda’s development projects in the region. The paper then discusses modern relations and agreements, with a focus on the most recent agreement between the Riparian States, the Cooperative Framework Agreement, and how Uganda fits into them with regards to their interest in hydropower development within their borders on the Nile. It then explores possible future developments on the river and the …

Community Management And Governance Of Comatsa-Sud New Protected Area (Ambalamanasy Ii Commune), Allison Tennant

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Community-based natural resource management is an increasingly more popular choice for governments to delegate power back to local communities to conserve the resources they rely on. In Madagascar, where much of the rural population provides for their livelihoods by using natural resources, this governance structure, in cooperation with delegated manager for assistance, presents an opportunity for economic development in cooperation with conservation efforts. This paper aims to better understand the role of community, NGO, and governmental actors in creating and executing community management structures. Through Participatory Rural Analysis and structured and semi-structured interviews, it explores what management transfers look like …

Community Engagement As A Form Of Participatory Governance, Ijlal Naqvi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Singapore government increasingly conducts a wide-rangingvariety of community engagement, which involve some degree ofpublic participation in government decision-making. These range fromOur Singapore Conversation, a wide-ranging discussion of whatSingaporeans want for their future, to the Colour Your Busescampaign in which citizens could vote on whether public buses shouldbe red or green. While these engagement processes typically informand consult, or occasionally involve deliberation and co-creation, theyrarely — if ever — empower citizens to make consequential decisionsin the manner of Archon Fung and Erik Olin Wright’s concept ofEmpowered Participatory Governance (2003).

Land Insecurity In Gulu, Uganda: A Clash Between Culture And Capitalism, Zachary Slotkin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper presents the causes and consequences of land insecurity in Gulu, Uganda. In order to address this important and often sensitive issue, the paper analyzes the role of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency and the government’s policy of forced encampment during the insurgency in contributing to land insecurity, causing widespread displacement among former internally displaced persons (IDPs). It further explores the importance of land ownership in providing economic productivity to rural landowners, as well as the nature of customary land tenure in Acholi culture and the government’s efforts to privatize communal land, to give a background on the …

Convivendo Na Lagoa Do Mineiro: An Education In Living And Loving With, Daniela Aldrich

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

One of Brazil’s most pressing issues is unequitable land distribution and agrarian land reform. Movimento Sem Terra (MST) is at the forefront of this struggle and has redistributed land to approximately 1,250 families so far. As well as access and right to land ownership, MST addresses issues from youth development, to education, to ecology and more with the mission to create a more just and inclusive Brazil by training its future leaders. This vision includes moving away from the capitalist system that currently enables hierarchies of power to control Brazil at the expense of many of its citizens and natural …

When Knowledge Flows: A Case Study Of Village Health Workers’ Motivations In Jamkhed, Selaem Hadera

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Across the field of global health, there have been many attempts to cater to the health needs of the most marginalized populations. Community health workers (CHWs) are individuals that live in the communities they serve and are typically low-­‐income women with little to no formal education. After a period of training by their program, they enter their communities equipped as a bridge between the community and the health system. Although CHWs do play a substantial role in health delivery and education, the structure of CHW programs varies widely, but a common characteristic of these programs is that the CHWs are …

Do Latinos Still Support Immigrant Rights Activism? Examining Latino Attitudes A Decade After The 2006 Protest Wave, Chris Zepeda-Millán, Sophia Jordán Wallace

Latino Public Policy

The historic and primarily Latino 2006 immigrant rights protest wave occurred in response to proposed federal anti-immigrant legislation (H.R. 4437). Research on the unprecedented series of demonstrations suggests that the draconian and racialized nature of the bill helps explain why it incited large-scale collective action. Utilizing a new survey with a considerable oversample of Latino respondents, the 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (CMPS), this paper investigates contemporary Latino support for immigrant rights activism. We examine several factors that influence support such as linked fate, knowing undocumented people, perceptions of anti-immigrant sentiments, concerns about immigration enforcement policies, political party identification, and …

Ua41 University College Connection, University College

UC Publications

Newsletter created by and about WKU University College.

• George, Dennis. Message from the Dean
• Jennifer Brinkley Travels to Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Sara McCaslin Provides Workshop
• School of Professional Studies BIS
• Diversity & Community Studies
• New DCS Assistant Professor - Dana Cuomo
• African American Studies
• Gender & Women's Studies
• Center for Citizenship & Social Justice
• School of University Studies - Embedded English Tutors
• LAC Tutors - Alice Rowe Learning Assistance Center
• WKU 2017 Part Time Faculty Award Recipient - Diana McQuady
• University Experience Research Awards
• Student Support Programs Summer Early Entry

Talking The Walk: An Autoethnography Of Pedestrianism In Chicagoland, Andrew Kuka

Student Research – Stevenson Center

This autoethnographic account of pedestrianism in Chicagoland aims to remind us of the sensory, social, and emotional experiences walking can provide, and how an environment centered around automobiles affects those experiences. It utilizes participant observations and refers to literature from a wide range of disciplines to construct a story of walks in downtown Aurora and Chicago, Illinois that illuminates factors at play in the shaping of the pedestrian experience in urban areas.

The Effects Of Employment On Recidivism Among Delinquent Juveniles, Leigh Kassem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current research indicates an association between intense adolescent work (twenty hours or more per week) and delinquent behavior. It has been widely speculated that this relationship is spurious, occurring only as a result of other factors which are common to both offending and intense employment. The current study attempts to fill a gap in the literature by utilizing the Pathways to Desistance dataset to examine the evolution of the relationship between work and self-reported offending in a longitudinal sample of juvenile offenders. Work intensity and consistency, social capital, and expectations for success were analyzed as potential predictors of recidivism or …

Flyer: Cross Creek Wilderness Safaris Bird List And Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Ephemera, Cross Creek Wilderness Safaris

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Bird checklist for Lake Lochloosa and Cross Creek. Includes supplemental files: MKR Society nametags, Society Results, National Historic Landmark bookmarks, print of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings home, newsletter, an invitation to a tribute to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings on the 50^th anniversary of her death, flyer for Cross Creek Wilderness Safaris, and a flyer for Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Stamp.

#Nowareyoustartingtogetit?: A Case Study Of 'Stop Charters In Ky' Advocacy Campaign, Rachel Trontz

Capstone Collection

The United States is experiencing a sweeping neoliberal education reform agenda. The marketization of education is the latest trend in this neoliberal education agenda, and it finally took in hold in Kentucky. Charter schools are understood as being part of the marketization of education, which comes with lower accountability standards and a siphoning of public funds away from traditional public schools. Kentucky has a history of education reform policies that have resulted in an improvement in the quality of public education. However, public education has seen a decline in the allocation of state resources over the past decade. This steady …

Growing Up With Porn: The Developmental And Societal Impact Of Pornography On Children, Gail Dines

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

The First Special Issue Of Dignity, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Factors That Make Public Participation Effective In Health Policy And Planning: A Realist Synthesis, Celso P. Pagatpatan Jr., Paul R. Ward

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

Although researchers argue for the importance of involving the public in developing health policy, there has been little focus on central research questions – such as what techniques of public participation work, in what circumstances, and why. This paper presents a realist synthesis which identifies and explains the underlying mechanisms and specific contextual factors that lead to effective public participation in health policy and planning. Peer-reviewed, English language literature was searched, which resulted in 77 articles for review and synthesis. This synthesis uncovered the underlying mechanism of ‘political commitment’ that generates public participation effectiveness. The other three possible underlying mechanisms, …

Amazonia In The Anthropocene: Peoples, Soils, Plants, Forests, John Ben Soileau

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.