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Civic and Community Engagement Commons™
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Articles 1 - 30 of 31
Full-Text Articles in Civic and Community Engagement
A Review Of Psychosocial Support And The Challenges Faced In Disclosing Hiv Positive Status To Children In Kibera, Katherine Lesyna
A Review Of Psychosocial Support And The Challenges Faced In Disclosing Hiv Positive Status To Children In Kibera, Katherine Lesyna
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
The AIDS pandemic has become an increasingly global problem as well as an everyday reality for most people living in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2009, an estimation of the number of adults and children living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa totaled around 22.4 million.1 The people that have been affected most by the pandemic are women and children.
In Kenya, about 1.5 million people are infected with HIV, about 180,000 of them being children.2 While a lot has been done to reduce HIV infections and treat those who are infected, children have been left behind until recently. There is still much …
La Integración De Los Inmigrantes: Una Sociedad Que Acoge, Weddy Worjroh
La Integración De Los Inmigrantes: Una Sociedad Que Acoge, Weddy Worjroh
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
The first truth that I stumbled across upon arriving in Granada is that immigration has and continues to have a great impact on the society as a whole. I have always been intrigued by immigration because both of my parents were immigrants. Coming from a country that was built by the hands of immigrants, I get irritated when people say offensive things about the immigrants of today. Ever since I was a child my parents have told me many stories about the struggles and adversities they overcame in order to obtain a better life. For this reason, when I look …
The State-In-Society Approach To Democratization With Examples From Japan, Mary Alice Haddad
The State-In-Society Approach To Democratization With Examples From Japan, Mary Alice Haddad
Mary Alice Haddad
How does an undemocratic country create democratic institutions and transform its polity in such a way that democratic values and practices become integral parts of its political culture? This article uses the case of Japan to advocate for a new theoretical approach to the study of democratization. In particular, it examines how theoretical models based on the European and North American experiences have difficulty explaining the process of democratization in Japan, and argues that a state-in-society approach is better suited to explaining the democratization process diverse cultural contexts. Taking a bottom-up view of recent developments in Japanese civil society through …
Preface, Jenna Toplin
Preface, Jenna Toplin
New England Journal of Public Policy
The preface of this journal speaks about the history of the Boston-Haifa Learning Exchange Network and how as teachers and learners, LEN members continue their learning and reflection in these pages. Their stories bring a diverse collection of voices, experiences, and perspectives and capture a shared vision of creating lasting, systemic change and bettering the communities in which we live.
Learning Beyond Borders, Alex Altshuler
Learning Beyond Borders, Alex Altshuler
New England Journal of Public Policy
I was involved in the Learning Exchange Network project mainly during the years 2007–2008, both as an active participant and as a member of the Social Justice and Civil Society committee, in the framework of the Haifa–Boston Connection. I was inspired by the spirit and commitment of both the Boston and Haifa leaders. At that time I coordinated recovery projects at the volunteer organization SELAH–Israel Crisis Management Center, which focused on immigrants in Northern Israel following the Israel-Lebanon war in 2006. SELAH’s core mission is providing essential assistance and emotional support to immigrants who face crisis situations; its involvement in …
Lessons From The Field, Mary Nee
Lessons From The Field, Mary Nee
New England Journal of Public Policy
Organizational growth can fundamentally undermine the social-change mission of a nonprofit organization if the adaptive responses to growth are not continually checked against mission and vision. As the executive director of a U.S. nonprofit created in response to the crisis of homelessness, I have observed that this danger is particularly acute when an organization evolves from advocacy to service delivery.
Nonprofit Leadership. Introduction: Miracle Workers At The Helm. New Ways Of Exercising Leadership, Kristen Mccormack
Nonprofit Leadership. Introduction: Miracle Workers At The Helm. New Ways Of Exercising Leadership, Kristen Mccormack
New England Journal of Public Policy
Leading a nonprofit organization in today’s world requires nothing less than a miracle worker at the helm. That could be the conclusion one might draw from reading the literature on the traits, skills, and characteristics required to lead a nonprofit organization. Today’s leaders should be honest, competent, forward looking, and inspiring as well as intelligent, fair-minded, broad-minded, courageous, straightforward, and imaginative. Leaders should be of high integrity, dedicated, magnanimous, humble, open, and creative while energizing others. Able to cope with change, leaders must establish direction, align people, motivate, and inspire while effectively communicating their story. He or she must be …
Foreword, Nancy K. Kaufman
Foreword, Nancy K. Kaufman
New England Journal of Public Policy
The “Haifa–Boston Connection” began twenty years ago under the auspices of Combined Jewish Philanthropies as a way to deepen the connections between people in the Greater Boston community and Israelis from the City of Haifa. The Mayors of Boston and Haifa signed a formal Memorandum of Agreement between their cities in 1999. The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston (JCRC) was charged with the responsibility of developing projects that would promote social justice and advance civil society, making Haifa a model for all of Israel. Working with the emerging nonprofit sector in Haifa, JCRC worked with the Council of …
Change From The Inside Out, Miriam Messinger
Change From The Inside Out, Miriam Messinger
New England Journal of Public Policy
In this article, I proffer that one way to build social change is to create organizations, lead, and build relationships that model and reflect the change being sought on a grander scale. Sometimes this necessitates burrowing deeper and focusing inward as a means to building sustainable change. I was engaged in this work for eight years at The City School of Boston. While The City School is a functioning, vibrant organization, I no longer work there and so will talk about the work I was a part of in the past tense.
Collaborations, Partnerships, Networks. Introduction: From The Personal To The Professional. Interorganizational Partnerships And Networks, Liron Peleg-Hadomi
Collaborations, Partnerships, Networks. Introduction: From The Personal To The Professional. Interorganizational Partnerships And Networks, Liron Peleg-Hadomi
New England Journal of Public Policy
Often, when I think about the nature of interorganizational partnerships and networks, I find myself thinking about the broader meaning of relationships, which form an integral part of our lives. What is it about relationships that make them so intricate, unique, mysterious, and full of opportunities? What are the components required for building a successful relationship that allows us to grow and develop in the complex world in which we live? Is it the ability to trust one another? Is it the ability to recognize one another’s needs and interests? Or maybe it is the belief that together, we can …
Transnational Social-Change Network Learning. Introduction: Shared Responsibility, Collective Reflection. Boston–Haifa Learning Exchange Network, Donna Haig Friedman
Transnational Social-Change Network Learning. Introduction: Shared Responsibility, Collective Reflection. Boston–Haifa Learning Exchange Network, Donna Haig Friedman
New England Journal of Public Policy
This LEN project has emerged as both experiential and active. The in-person learning exchange seminars, which since the project’s inception have been taking place once a year in Haifa, Israel, and once a year in Boston, Massachusetts, were planned and facilitated jointly by the NGO partners as well as by outside trainers. Dedicated staff time and collaborative, generous attitudes on the part of planners in both cities have been essential for power sharing, efficiency, and thoroughness in the planning processes. Preparation has been extensive, requiring the core planning team, a Haifa–Boston mix, to use conference calls and e-mail communications, months …
Challenges For Nonprofit Organizations. Introduction: A Theoretical Framework. Civil Society And Challenges Faced By Nonprofits, Amnon Reichman
Challenges For Nonprofit Organizations. Introduction: A Theoretical Framework. Civil Society And Challenges Faced By Nonprofits, Amnon Reichman
New England Journal of Public Policy
This introduction will tackle two issues. The first is theoretical: a framework will be proposed with which to approach the activity of nonprofit organizations within civil society in modern democracies. Whereas the traditional approach posits three sectors in a triangular setting (the top corner occupied by the government, the bottom-right corner occupied by the market, and the bottom left corner by the “third sector”), a better conceptualization defines civil society as a social space between the state (located above) and the individual or the private sphere (located below). This space is where for-profit organizations (usually clustered in one side of …
Management For Growth, Michal Dagan
Management For Growth, Michal Dagan
New England Journal of Public Policy
This article describes the Haifa organization and dealing with a missle crisis. This also deals with how the center took charge of a dire situation and helped many victims of the missle attacks. It talks about the work the organizers had done and the social impact of the organization.
Doing The Right Thing: Doing Things Right, Jane Matlaw
Doing The Right Thing: Doing Things Right, Jane Matlaw
New England Journal of Public Policy
I was privileged to be a part of the “birthing” of the Learning Exchange Networks (LENs) and am a veteran participant. I sat through many superb workshops and led a piece on social justice and advocacy. I had no idea that during year three of our endeavor, I would see how my world of work would so clearly intersect with the mutual learning that was happening with my colleagues in Boston and in Haifa. In my job as Director of Community Relations at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), I am responsible for the community relations activities of a 560-bed …
Kayan–Feminist Organization: Sustainable Grassroots Community Activism, Rula Deeb
Kayan–Feminist Organization: Sustainable Grassroots Community Activism, Rula Deeb
New England Journal of Public Policy
This article describes the process by which Kayan (Being) created the model for the Women’s Leadership Development and Sustainable Community Activism Program. The organizational model presented here was developed as a result of activities that began in 1998, during which Kayan worked with approximately 180 Arab women’s groups, with over 3,000 women from around fifty villages and towns across Israel. The model changed and solidified, through repeated evaluations and testing of the program’s goals in general, and through the program’s ongoing feedback specifically with groups of women involved. Evaluations were gathered from women participating in the groups and also through …
A Story Of Collaboration: Haifa Council Of Volunteer Organizations And Shatil, Hagit Sachar
A Story Of Collaboration: Haifa Council Of Volunteer Organizations And Shatil, Hagit Sachar
New England Journal of Public Policy
The present essay tells the story of a partnership between two organizations: the Haifa Council of Volunteer Organizations (CVO) and the Haifa branch of Shatil (The New Israel Fund’s Empowerment and Training Center for Social Change Organizations in Israel). They have cooperated for many years and, in the last two years, have further tightened their partnership. The first part of this essay presents a theoretical framework that serves as a basis for the case study discussed in the second part. The summary offers a number of open ended questions for further consideration and research.
Concluding Synthesis: Lessons Learned. A Complex Web: A Collective Process To Advance Social Justice, Donna Haig Friedman, Jennifer Cohen, Amnon Reichman, James Morgan
Concluding Synthesis: Lessons Learned. A Complex Web: A Collective Process To Advance Social Justice, Donna Haig Friedman, Jennifer Cohen, Amnon Reichman, James Morgan
New England Journal of Public Policy
In Blessed Unrest, referenced by the opening quotation and several essay authors, Paul Hawken uses the metaphor of the immune system to describe the connectivity of organizations and activists across the world fiercely working to realize local and global social, economic, political, and environmental justice. Just as the invisible but interconnected parts of the body’s immune system jump into concerted action to restore health to an ill body, this social-change movement is organizing from the bottom up and emerging as an extraordinary and creative expression of people’s unstoppable need to reimagine their relationships to the environment and to one another. …
Service And/Or Advocacy: Nonprofit Sector In The Twenty-First Century, Nancy K. Kaufman
Service And/Or Advocacy: Nonprofit Sector In The Twenty-First Century, Nancy K. Kaufman
New England Journal of Public Policy
In both Israel and the United States over the past twenty years, there has been an explosion in the number of nonprofit organizations that live in a space somewhere between government agencies and for-profit companies. While the growth of these organizations may have been stimulated by different factors in each country, there is much to be learned through a cross-cultural exchange like the one between organizations in Haifa and in Boston. In order to analyze some of the challenges facing nonprofit organizations across a wide spectrum of mission, purpose, and size, I have categorized the type of organizations being discussed …
The Haifa Council Of Volunteer Organizations: Challenges And Dilemmas Of An Umbrella Organization, Yael Abada
The Haifa Council Of Volunteer Organizations: Challenges And Dilemmas Of An Umbrella Organization, Yael Abada
New England Journal of Public Policy
This paper reviews the challenges faced by the Haifa Council of Volunteer Organizations (CVO) as the umbrella organization of third-sector organizations working in Haifa, Israel. It will review challenges that affect our everyday decisions and shape the council’s activities. Most likely, some of these challenges affect other umbrella organizations as well, while some are unique to the CVO and are the result of local, historical, structural, and organizational factors.
The Power Of Peer Learning, Fannette Modek
The Power Of Peer Learning, Fannette Modek
New England Journal of Public Policy
My contact with the Boston–Haifa Project started at about the same time that the Seniors Lobby–Haifa saw the light of day. I was fortunate to have participated in the very first Seminar for NGOs in Haifa, held in January 2005. Several representatives of Haifa’s NGOs joined a group of leaders of Boston NGOs for a three-day seminar that put social-change issues on the table: Leadership, Organization, the Social Sector, Advocacy, and Conflict Management. The Power of Vision closing session generated a statement that by 2015, fifteen groups of U.S. social workers and gerontologists would visit Israel to study community-based services …
Global Learning Partnerships, Margaret Leonard
Global Learning Partnerships, Margaret Leonard
New England Journal of Public Policy
The title of this section is profoundly significant to those of us who have experienced global partnerships. Our experience has revealed to us that there is a profound organic integrity to these five words, Transnational, Social Change, Learning, Networks, and together they are revelatory of an emerging future we are stretching to envision and realize in the twenty-first century. In this brief essay I would like to share with you five core experiences of global learning partnerships that I have had over the past half decade. From these experiences I have learned volumes about the organic relationships of these five …
Nonprofits And Social Change. Introduction: An Anchor. Reshaping The Relationship, Jennifer Cohen
Nonprofits And Social Change. Introduction: An Anchor. Reshaping The Relationship, Jennifer Cohen
New England Journal of Public Policy
In response to a variety of internal and external forces, including the recent economic downturn, nonprofit organizations in both Israel and the United States have increasingly been called upon to provide a safety net and serve as central players in the development, strengthening, and maintenance of civil society. These shifts include the privatization of services, blurring of the sectors and their traditional roles in providing services, reduced funding from traditional sources, welfare reforms including devolution, opening of new markets, enhanced role of faith-based people and organizations in service provision, intensified dependency and connectedness of policy makers and stakeholders, and the …
We Make A Difference: Balancing Advocacy And Service, Marina Zamsky
We Make A Difference: Balancing Advocacy And Service, Marina Zamsky
New England Journal of Public Policy
The present essay deals with the problem of balancing community service provision and social-change advocacy, as well as other strategies, from various aspects: efficacy in achieving short-term and long-term goals, necessary resources, the benefits for society as well as for individuals, empowerment, and empowerment deficit.
Speaking Up And Taking Charge, Urban Teens, Claudio Martinez
Speaking Up And Taking Charge, Urban Teens, Claudio Martinez
New England Journal of Public Policy
The beginning of this article will describe an authentic youth-led organizing effort is a model of social change that has developed at the Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF) over the past decade in our work with urban youth. We believe that members of this segment of the population are critical change agents, those with the potential to have a major impact on the future cultural and political development of our society.
Joining Forces In Boston: Community Development Corporations, Carl Nagy-Koechlin
Joining Forces In Boston: Community Development Corporations, Carl Nagy-Koechlin
New England Journal of Public Policy
In 2005, the Jewish Community Relations Council organized a Learning Exchange in which a group of Boston antipoverty leaders traveled to Israel with the goal of fostering cross-fertilization between the Boston delegation and their counterparts in Haifa. The Exchange achieved that goal remarkably. At the time, I was the director of a Boston-based community development corporation (CDC) that faced challenges related to rapid neighborhood change, and my experience spurred me to seek out opportunities for cross-fertilization and collaboration within greater Boston of the type we experienced in Haifa. Specifically, I brought colleagues together to share our experiences leading CDCs in …
Adaptive Capacity And Social Change. Introduction: A Conceptual Framework. Organizational Learning And Long-Term Stability, Nancy Strichman, Fathi Marshood
Adaptive Capacity And Social Change. Introduction: A Conceptual Framework. Organizational Learning And Long-Term Stability, Nancy Strichman, Fathi Marshood
New England Journal of Public Policy
If there is one kind of certainty for social-change nonprofits such as those participating in the Haifa–Boston Learning Exchange, it is that they will continually be challenged to cope with periods of instability and possible crises. The ability to adapt to changing environments, learn from experience, and perform in conditions of uncertainty are considered critical tools for organizations in order to ensure sustainability. Developing this “adaptive capacity” is a particular challenge for nonprofits at the start-up or growth phase of their organizational development, as are many of the Haifa–Boston Learning Exchange participants. This discussion presents a conceptual framework for adaptive …
Leadership As Legacy, Elias Sussan
Leadership As Legacy, Elias Sussan
New England Journal of Public Policy
I joined the House of Grace twenty-three years ago when I was looking for a job as a social worker and, very soon after, I found myself taking part in important and fulfilling social and community work, in an ever-renewing and developing institute — a house that is a home for people in distress. I chose social work and not one of the professions because I had a strong desire and a need to do something for the community: to work with prisoners, women survivors of violence, the homeless — with underprivileged and disadvantaged people. In my childhood and youth, …
Hope In The Room, Cheri Andes
Hope In The Room, Cheri Andes
New England Journal of Public Policy
The most powerful moment of the learning exchange for me was a discussion that Haifa and Boston leaders had about violence and post-traumatic stress syndrome during my second trip to Haifa. Quite a bit of relational work had already been done that allowed this discussion to occur. This was no theoretical discussion, but rather a deep sharing of personal experience.
Raising The Gaze, Mary Coonan
Raising The Gaze, Mary Coonan
New England Journal of Public Policy
This article describes how our challenge is to move beyond our current vision. We must move beyond sharing our impressions of the elephant to seeing the elephant within its broader context. This kind of vision requires our joint effort and a willingness to live with uncertainty until clarity emerges through the chaos because we have been willing to look.
From Undemocratic To Democratic Civil Society: Japan's Volunteer Fire Departments, Mary Alice Haddad
From Undemocratic To Democratic Civil Society: Japan's Volunteer Fire Departments, Mary Alice Haddad
Mary Alice Haddad
How do undemocratic civic organizations become compatible with democratic civil society? How do local organizations merge older patriarchal, hierarchical values and practices with newer more egalitarian, democratic ones? This article tells the story of how volunteer fire departments have done this in Japan. Their transformation from centralized war instrument of an authoritarian regime to local community safety organization of a full-fledged democracy did not happen overnight. A slow process of demographic and value changes helped the organization adjust to more democratic social values and practices. The way in which this organization made the transition offers important lessons for emerging democracies …