Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

Equity + Catalyst Framework Guide, Naomi M. Silas

Culminating Experience Projects

There has been a shift in society, in light of Covid-19 and the global pandemic, more people have begun to recognize the structural and institutional injustices that exist in this country. Social innovation allows collaboration between people from different sectors, disciplines, industries, and backgrounds; in order to create sustainable change to complex social issues. Design thinking is an iterative process used in business to create innovation and products; it’s also used for social impact.

The goal of the Equity + Catalyst Framework is to bridge concepts that include design thinking, and embodiment, as well as lived experiences and community care …

Organizing For Power: Understanding Changing Conceptions Of Power In Rural Community Organizing, Evan R. Morden

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Community organizing is a practice of building and utilizing collective power, often initiated by groups who have little or no preexisting social or economic power. By acting together in a disciplined, organized, and targeted fashion, organizing is used to exert influence in the public square to achieve policy outcomes, provide mutual aid, and reweave the fabric of social relations in communities, frequently in direct opposition to existing power structures. Thus, creating a shared understanding of power that is fundamentally liberative is key to the success of organizing efforts and moreover, to creating lasting community cohesion that can continue to mount …

The Process To Political Mobilization In Five College Capitalism: Forms Of Antiracism, Personal Reflection And Community-Building, Caitlin B. Homrich

Masters Theses

The town of Amherst, Massachusetts is home to the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College, and Hampshire College, institutions that have greatly influenced the town’s prolific history of political activism as well as the high educational attainment and economic status of the majority of its residents. Often hailed as a liberal utopia, research on the political mobilization occurring in this town provides insight into the process and limitations of ally politics: when most of the residents of Amherst are White, how do they engage in racial justice activism? When most of the residents are wealthy and/or highly …

Addressing Islamophobia In Greene County, Virginia, Kayla Barker

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This paper provides a summary of a day-long seminar organized in a rural community following another local seminar endorsed by the community’s Sheriff concerning the “Muslim Threat.” The Sheriff’s event was held just days before the 2016 U.S. presidential election. During the campaign and in the aftermath of the election, many politicians employed anti-Muslim rhetoric. This seemed to bring to the surface many Islamophobic opinions of elected officials and their electorates which were grounded in fear and misinformation.

A report published by the Pew Research Center states, “Older Americans and those with relatively low levels of educational attainment…tend to be …