Community-Based Learning Commons^™

Food Landscapes: A Case Study Of A Cooking And Art- Focused Program For Teens Living In A Food Desert, Jessica R. Norris

Theses and Dissertations

This study constructs themes and propositions about the experiences of youth participants in the fall 2013 Food Landscapes program at the Neighborhood Resource Center in Richmond, Virginia. During the program, youth participated in cooking-based volunteerism with adults with disabilities and created short videos about their experiences. In this study, I analyzed pre- and post-program participant interviews, twice-weekly program observations, and facilitator reflections to understand how Food Landscapes affected youths’ conception of community engagement and communication strategies. This case study offers insight into how youth experience after-school programming of this design. Based on my findings, youth develop and rely upon a …

Hip-Hop, Medellín And Social Change, Veronica Henao Posada

Master's Theses

This study explores the ways in which the Hip-hop movement is producing social change in Medellín, Colombia. Looking specifically at a Hip-hop school called Cuatro Elementos Skuela, which exists autonomously and with very little state support in the Medellín neighborhood of Aranjuez, I argue that young people are contributing to the reconstruction of the city’s social, cultural and economic fabric. I start by explaining the historical context of Medellín, describing the different sets of conflicts that unleashed high levels of violence and caused the fragmentation of the social, cultural and economic fabric. Moreover, I review the role of the …

Challenging Homelessness, Elizabeth D. Marshall

SURGE

I had been homeless for about 28 hours. I sat on a sidewalk in Georgetown with a friend holding a cardboard sign that read, “Put a Smile on Our Faces” with a Dunkin Donuts cup at our feet. In the two and a half hours we sat there, hundreds of people passed, hundreds of people avoided eye contact, hundreds of people detoured around the lamppost on the street side of the sidewalk. A few people glanced at our sign. [excerpt]

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 …

Red Drops For A Rainbow, Zakiya A. Brown

SURGE

Splashes of pool water licked my ankles, scenting my coffee-colored toes with chlorine. Bareback guardians, robed in red, hovered high as flocks of fleshy tangible innocence skipped jubilantly across the pool deck and disappeared into a wet square pocket of sapphire. [excerpt of poem]

Fearless: Nadejiah Towns, Nadejiah Z. Towns

SURGE

This week we would like to recognize Nadejiah Towns ’15 as a fearless fighter against poverty. This summer she has served as a Heston intern for the South Central Community Action Program (SCCAP) and has spent the majority of her time with the Work Ready program, a “welfare to work” organization that helps low-income community members gain the skills needed to by obtaining a reliable, professional job and become self-sufficient.

Fearless: Diversity Peer Educators, Center For Public Service

SURGE

The Diversity Peer Educators was started in the Fall of 2012 with the vision of starting conversations about and advocating for diversity issues and inclusion on this campus. Right off the bat, twelve students (of all different class years) were trained in how to facilitate those conversations and lead activities that make those conversations a little easier. Now, there are seventeen DPEs fearlessly making change at Gettysburg College. [excerpt]

The Characteristics Of Women Seeking Funding From The Dc Abortion Fund, Karin Elizabeth Bleeg

GW Research Days 2013

Objectives: To determine whether the population DCAF serves, based on current research, are those most in need of its financial services. Describe the population that DCAF is supports by age, race and ethnicity, poverty, educational attainment, union status, contraceptive method used, referral source, and number of prior pregnancies.

Methods: An adapted version of The Guttmacher Institute's National Patient Survey will be used to collect data from women who contact DCAF for financial assistance for their abortion (n=150). The data will be collected for one month and then analyzed in SPSS.

Results: Between January and March 2013 approximately 400 women contacted …

¿Mi Casa Es Su Casa?: Inmigración, Discriminación E Interculturalidad En Liceo Miguel De Cervantes Y Saavedra, Kathia Dumelle

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este estudio se trata de las dinámicas de inmigración, discriminación e interculturalidad en el Liceo Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra, establecimiento municipal, ubicado en la Región Metropolitana de Chile en la comuna de Santiago. Se propone conocer si lo que está pasando en la sociedad chilena, específicamente la discriminación contra los inmigrantes vecinos, se reproduce en la escuela, o si la escuela está cambiando las relaciones interpersonales entre los chilenos y los inmigrantes. Se investiga mediante una etnografía del liceo, realizando observaciones de la escuela, y entrevistas formales e informales con estudiantes inmigrantes, estudiantes chilenos, profesores y profesoras. Se observa …

Neither Slavery Nor Involuntary Servitude, Monti Narayan Datta

Political Science Faculty Publications

The sex trade grabs headlines, but modern-day slavery takes many forms across the globe, spreading like a cancer in the 21st century. Scholars estimate that there are as many as 27 million slaves today; the majority are not in forced prostitution, but instead in other heinous forms of exploitation (though rape and/or other forms of torture are often tools of coercion).

Slavery permeates northern India, where children, to help pay off their family's exorbitantly high debts to corrupt local businessmen, hunch over in the dark for hours at a stretch as they weave carpets on looms until their small, delicate …

Pushing The Boundaries: What Youth Organizers At Boston's Hyde Square Task Force Have To Teach Us About Civic Engagement, Meredith L. Mira

Democracy & Education

Across the United States, researchers and youth workers alike have identified an increasing number of civically engaged youth who are organizing to improve their communities and schools. By taking an action-oriented approach, these youth are speaking back to the notion that they are uninvolved in society. This interview-based study explores the meaning-making experiences of youth organizers at Boston’s Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF) to better understand how they engage. Findings suggest that HSTF is engaging two broad groups of youth by focusing on both their personal development and their sense of community awareness. The study introduces an organizing model of …

From Toxic Tours To Growing The Grassroots: Tensions In Critical Pedagogy And Community Development, Celina Su, Isabelle Jagninski

Publications and Research

Structural inequalities in American public education are inextricably tied to deep-seated patterns of racial and economic segregation. Children in poor neighborhoods are less likely to have the household resources, neighborhood institutions, or school amenities necessary for a good, challenging education. In response, a growing number of organizations have launched initiatives to simultaneously revitalize neighborhoods and improve public education, emphasizing youth participation as an essential component in their efforts. We draw upon ethnographic data from two such organizations to examine their practice of place-based critical pedagogy in community development. We focus on how they engage marginalized, “hard-to-reach” youth via (1) experiential …

Managing The Polarities Of Democracy: A Theoretical Framework For Positive Social Change, William J. Benet

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

People around the globe have embraced democracy to bring about positive social change to address our environmental, economic, and militaristic challenges. Yet, there is no agreement on a definition of democracy that can guide social change efforts. The Polarities of Democracy model is a unifying theory of democracy to guide healthy, sustainable, and just social change efforts. The Polarities of Democracy model consists of ten elements, organized as five polarity pairs: freedom & authority, justice & due process, diversity & equality, human-rights & communal-obligations, and participation & representation. In this model each element has positive aspects and negative aspects and …

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.

‘Boys Boys’ Talk, ‘Girls Girls’ Talk: Gendered Approaches And Strategies Towards Modern Contraceptive Use In Urban Kumasi, Yasmin Boakye

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Objective: The objectives of this project were three-fold:

1. How do men and women in the urban area of Kumasi come to understand the major forms of contraception available in Ghana?

2.Are there significant differences in the ways that men and women come to understand contraceptive methods, and are these differences influenced by region, religious affiliation, age, and socioeconomic level?

3. How are these understandings either reinforced, shifted, or broken down by the Ghanaian government’s reproductive health efforts, the work of NGO’s focused on family planning, religious beliefs, and social relationships?

Methodology: During the 30 day long research period I …

Ua41 University College Connection, Dennis K. George, Dean, Wendi Kelley

UC Publications

No abstract provided.

My Community, Their Community Our Community: "Musings" On Development, Grace Leonard

VA Engage Journal

This reflection explores the collision of anthropology and civic engagement, a combination that has come to define my senior research. My fieldwork at educational NGOs in Northern Richmond and Northern Ghana caused me to question the local relevancy of NGO management strategies. How can white, middle class teachers appropriately improve educational outcomes for low-income black students in Richmond? Is compulsory education appropriate training for Ghanaian farmers? Academic theories criticize “development” for furthering power against the oppressed, while the qualitative work of NGOs is quantified to fit the needs of grant writers. I find policy can never prescribe perfectly. In order …

Study Guide For United In Anger: A History Of Act Up, Matt Brim

Open Educational Resources

The United in Anger Study Guide facilitates classroom and activist engagement with Jim Hubbard’s 2012 documentary, United in Anger: A History of ACT UP. The Study Guide contains discussion sections, projects and exercises, and resources for further research about the activism of the New York chapter of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). The Study Guide is a free, interactive, multimedia resource for understanding the legacy of ACT UP, the film’s role in preserving that legacy, and its meaning for viewers' lives.

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 …

Alliances Et Cultures: Cap Nord, Stacey Fitzpatrick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En essence, Alliance et Culture est un endroit où les gens peuvent rencontre et apprennent comment de vivre ensemble. Cette association, officiellement crée en 1987, avait la mission de répondre à problèmes d'intégration sociale par des actions collectives, et le développement d’une vie social dans les quartiers. Pour réaliser cet objectif ils offrent des activités et services ouvrent à tout le monde comme l’accompagnement à la scolarité, les ateliers, les cours d’alphabétisation et de Français, et les ludothèques et plus. Il y a trois centres en Toulouse dans diffèrent lieux qui contribuent aux les gens dans les quartiers des Mirail, …

Ua23 Spirit Of Engagement 2011, Aurelia Spaulding, Alive Center, Western Kentucky University

ALIVE Center Publications

No abstract provided.

The Diffusion Of Innovations: A Review And Explication Of Central Concepts, Thomas D. Skill

Communication Faculty Publications

The study of the diffusion of innovations attempts to understand how new things or ideas, after a period of time, become widely adopted throughout a group or society.

Everett Rogers (1983), one of the pioneers in this area of research, sees the diffusion process as essential to understanding social change. Diffusion, as Rogers sees it, is essentially a communication activity. Accordingly, social change consists of the introduction of something new - invention, followed by the process of diffusing the invention - this is done through all forms of communication, and finally the process ends with some type of "consequence," or …