How Scholarship Programs Facilitate First-Generation College Students’ Involvement, Maria C. Restrepo Chavez

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

As a first-generation college student, I am interested in the on-campus involvement and experiences of other first-generation college students. First-generation college students are those whose parents did not receive a university degree and tend to come from low-income families. This project explores programs designed to support and enrich the experiences of such students. The Centennial Scholars Program at James Madison University and the Presidential Scholarship Initiative at Virginia Tech aim to increase the socio-economic diversity on each campus. These programs provide students with full funding for four years, mentorship, professional development and social benefits, among others. In turn, students become …

Playing With Others: The Community, Motivations, And Social Structures Of The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Concert Band, Sarah E. Wilson

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore motivations for participation, how social structures influence the adult non-professional members of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Concert Band (HRCB), and identify the characteristics of community present in the band. The following questions framed the investigation within an interpretative phenomenological approach:

1. What motivates the band members to participate in the HRCB?
2. How do the institutional social structures influence the sense of belonging, development of social capital, and socialization of band members?
3. What characteristics of community are present within the HRCB?

Data was collected from long-term researcher observation and one-on-one semi-structured interviews with each participant. …

The Intersection Of Culture And Activism In The Filipino Community In Soma, Ericka J. Martynovych

Master's Theses

My research analyzes the intersection between culture and activism, through oral histories with participants and organizers of SoMa Pilipinas, the Filipino cultural heritage district in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco. I analyzed the impact of the establishment of the Filipino cultural heritage district on the Filipino community in the South of Market neighborhood. I examined what motivates members of this community to be politically active by organizing and attending protests and rallies, speaking at Planning Commission hearings at City Hall, attending planning meetings for SoMa Pilipinas, building relationships across organizations and fields, and providing resources for community …

Seeing Community Through The Trees: Characterizing Resident Response To Urban-Tree Planting Initiatives, Eli Goldman

Sustainability and Social Justice

Urban tree planting initiatives have become common across cities in the United States. In order to advocate for sustainable urban forests, managers of urban planting initiatives must adopt a strong community framework, which includes community values in reforestation efforts. Clark University researchers conducted interviews and surveys with residents in six central Massachusetts cities and towns to assess why residents value urban trees and to characterize public response to reforestation efforts. Results indicate residents had positive experiences with tree planting programs, are most likely to value urban trees for aesthetic reasons, and commonly associate change in neighborhood character with Asian Longhorned …

La Valorización De La Educación Superior Para Estudiantes Indígenas En Madre De Dios: Interrogando Discursos Y Acciones Del Estado, La Fenamad, Y Los Estudiantes Indígenas / The Valorisation Of Higher Education For Indigenous Students In Madre De Dios: Interrogating Speeches And Actions Of The State, Fenamad, And Indigenous Students, Sierra Houck

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta investigación explora cómo los estudiantes indígenas en Puerto Maldonado (que provienen de comunidades en Madre de Dios) valoran y pretenden usar la educación superior. Este informe compara estas perspectivas y deseos con las perspectivas y acciones de personas en los institutos superiores, miembros del gobierno, y miembros de la organización indígena FENAMAD. Además, esta investigación analiza tanto los desafíos que los estudiantes indígenas enfrentan al estudiar en Puerto Maldonado como los sistemas de apoyo que existen y se están desarrollando para los estudiantes indígenas.

La educación formal fue introducida en las comunidades indígenas de la región de Madre de …

Freedom And Unity: Examining The Individualized, Community-Based Process Of Restorative Justice In Vermont And What It Can Teach Other States, Through A Trainer's Lens, Megan Grove

Capstone Collection

How can communities and law enforcement embrace a cultural shift to address conflict in a way that restores relationships and makes amends instead of one that punishes and criminalizes certain behaviors and individuals? How can we create spaces where those who commit harm, those who are impacted by harm, and other affected parties can come together with equal voice, have their needs met, and communicate in healthy ways? This Course-Linked Capstone in Training, situated in Brattleboro, Vermont, looks at the power of restorative justice and restorative processes to heal relationships and empower communities to care for one another and address …

Twenty Reasons To Publish In Dignity, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Alice Paul Awards For Women Who Have Worked To Confront Men's Violence Against Women, Robert Brannon

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Climate Change In The Hudson River Estuary: Promoting Adaptation And Resilience Through Stakeholder Engagement In Design And Visualization, Gabrielle S.D. Weiss

Bard Center for Environmental Policy

In response to the growing risk to communities from climate change impacts, Professor Cerra at the Cornell University School of Landscape Architecture developed the Climate Adaptive Design (CAD) program. CAD is being implemented as a partnership between the Hudson River Estuary Program (Estuary Program) and Cornell that utilizes participatory design and visualization to engage communities about planning for future climate impacts. The goal of CAD is to build climate resilience, galvanize community participation and education, and build links to external sources of support including local institutions of higher education. This thesis outlines background for the development of the program and …

Public Perception Of Environmental Programs In The Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, Landa De Matamoros, Queretaro, Mexico, Danielle Marie Salisbury

Bard Center for Environmental Policy

Biological or ecological corridors have recently been sought out as a solution to biodiversity loss due to habitat fragmentation. In eastern Mexico, the Mexican and German governments are collaborating to connect fragmented landscapes and Natural Protected Areas (NPAs) over five states across a Madrean Pine-Oak biodiversity hotspot through the implementation of the Ecological Corridor of the Sierra Madre Oriental (CESMO). One of the ways the CESMO is accomplishing its conservation goals is by extending environmental programs that are currently in place within NPAs to other areas within the corridor, but outside of NPA borders. However, the success of the corridor …

Hot Topics And Happenings In Social Innovation, Florian Parzhuber

Social Space

WALK THE TALK Do you take your ability to speak, sing or swallow for granted? For individuals with speech impediments, simple actions like taking a sip of tea or saying hello can be diffi cult, or even impossible. However, speech therapy can help strengthen the muscles responsible for making sounds and swallowing, and equips affected persons with strategies to improve verbal communication, and to make eating and drinking safer. To combat Cambodia’s lack of speech therapy and therapists, Australia-born Weh Yeoh founded OIC Cambodia, a charity dedicated to making speech therapy available to the local people. Himself a professionally trained …

Cumu Annual Conference, Jennifer Early, Catherine Howard

Division of Community Engagement Resources

The VCU Division of Community Engagement mobilizes university-community partnerships that generate innovative solutions to societal challenges and prepares the engaged citizens of tomorrow; they host the CUMU Conference (Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities) annually. Students, faculty, and community partners collaborate to effect positive change in social, organizational, and economic impact. Value Propositions are created to clearly summarize the value that students add to an organization, and the relevance and distinction. This information is complied through assessment, development, and communication.

Nasis 2017: Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey Questionnaire, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS)

We need your help to learn about how Nebraskans think, feel, and live. Researchers from the University of Nebraska and across the state are counting on your help to learn about a variety of issues. Your responses will help shape program and policy development in Nebraska now and into the future.

125 questions; 16 pages

Cultivating A Culture Of Food Justice: Impacts Of Community Based Economies On Farmers And Neighborhood Leaders In The Case Of Fresh Stop Markets In Kentucky, Heather Hyden

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

In this thesis, I focus on two tensions within the alternative agro-food movement. First is a question of who/what community is allowed to define food systems problems and then implement solutions. For example, food desert metaphors rely discursively on defining communities as being “without”, which perpetuates needs-based narratives, in which only professional “experts” know how to solve problems of food access. These representations ignore the creativity, agency, and resiliency of everyday food justice mobilizations happening at the grassroots level. Second, what form can solutions take within hegemonic constructions of development? I build a theoretical model based on Black geographies (McKittrick, …

Happiness In Communities: How Neighborhoods, Cities And States Use Subjective Well-Being Metrics, Laura Musikanski, Carl Polley, Scott Cloutier, Erica Berejnoi, Julia Colbert

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

This essay, the fourth and last of a series published by the Journal of Social Change, is intended as a tool for community organizers, local policy makers, researchers, students and others to incorporate subjective well-being indicators into their measurements and management of happiness and well-being in their communities, for policy purposes, for research and for other purposes. It provides case studies of community-based efforts in five different regions (São Paulo, Brazil; Bristol, United Kingdom; Melbourne, Australia; Creston, British Columbia, Canada; and Vermont, United States) that either developed their own subjective well-being index or used the Happiness Alliance’s survey instrument …

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (Nasis) 2016-2017 Methodology Report, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS)

2016-2017 NASIS Methodology Report

Contents

Introduction 3

Mode Selection 3

Design and Item Selection 3

Sampling Design 4

Experimental Design Treatment 4

Data Collection Process 4

Response Rate 5

Data-Entry Training, Supervision, and Quality Control 5

Processing of Completed Surveys 5

Data Cleaning 5

NASIS Sample Weights 6

Design Effects 6

Questions 6

Estimate of Sampling Error 9

Appendices 10

Appendix A: Cover Letters 10

First Mailing – Version 1 (Long version with incentive) 10

First Mailing – Version 2 (Short version with incentive) 11

First Mailing – Version 3 (Long version with no incentive) 12

First Mailing – Version …

Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors, Please: Transit Equity, Social Exclusion, And The New York City Subway, Taylor Novick-Finder

Pitzer Senior Theses

The history of transportation planning in New York City has created disparities between those who have sufficient access to the public transportation network, and those who face structural barriers to traveling from their home to education, employment, and healthcare opportunities. This thesis analyzes the legacy of discriminatory policy surrounding the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and city and state governments that have failed to support vital infrastructure improvement projects and service changes to provide multi-modal welfare to New York’s working poor. By exploring issues of transit equity as they pertain to the New York City subway system, this thesis raises the …

Community Partnerships For The Prevention Of The Worst Forms Of Child Labor Among Migrant Children In Samut Sakhon, Thailand, Tsz Ki K. Tang, David Engstrom, Sompong Srakaew

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This policy note examined the child labor prevention model employed in Samut Sakhon, Thailand, which aims to prevent migrant children from entering the worst forms of child labor in the seafood processing industry. The model consists of transitional education and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The analysis examines the context of child labor and explores the challenges and opportunities to make anti-child labor efforts more effective.

Voices Of Cully: A Case Study Of The Living Cully Weatherization And Home Repair Project 2.0, Lucy J.T. Cultrera

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The Cully neighborhood is situated in the Northeast quadrant of Portland, Oregon. It is 2.75 square mile plot of land and home to roughly 13,000 people. In addition to being one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Portland, it is the most densely populated, with the smallest amount of parkland per capita. Over the last two decades, home value has increased 203% in Cully, compared to a 90% citywide increase. Amidst these development trends are stories of incredible resilience, resistance and activism from the affected community. My project is a case study of one anti-displacement initiative, which was developed and …

Recovery From Design, Cassandra J. Ellison

Theses and Dissertations

Through research, inquiry, and an evaluation of Recovery By Design, a ‘design therapy’ program that serves people with mental illness, substance use disorders, and developmental disabilities, it is my assertion that the practice of design has therapeutic potential and can aid in the process of recovery. To the novice, the practices of conception, shaping form, and praxis have empowering benefit especially when guided by Conditional and Transformation Design methods together with an emphasis on materiality and vernacular form.

Uncovering The Processes And Consequences Of Egyptian Immigrant Parental Involvement In Their Children’S Education: Bridging Cultural Differences, Hend Shalan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Abstract

For more than a decade, researchers have concluded that immigrant parents face several barriers to becoming involved in their children’s education. All studies agree that language and cultural differences are the most significant barriers to immigrants’ involvement in their children’s education, yet we know little about what these cultural differences are and how these cultural differences influence the school involvement of immigrant parents. This study integrates theories of cultural differences, acculturation, and culture shock and the corresponding literature to investigate the lesser involvement of immigrant parents in school-related activities.

A focused ethnographic design was employed and a thematic analysis …

Different Names For Bullying, Marco Poggio

Capstones

“There's all different forms of bullying,” says Steven Gray, a Lakota rancher and former law enforcement officer living in South Dakota. In this look into Gray’s life, we learn about two instances of bullying: the psychological and physical harassment that pushed his son, Tanner Thomas Gray, to commit suicide at age 12; And the controversial construction of an oil pipeline in an ancient tribal land that belongs to the Lakota people by rights of a treaty signed in 1851, which Gray sees as an institutional abuse infringing on the sovereignty of his people. Gray is involved in the movement that …

The Role Of Liberian Community Organizations In The Integration Of Liberian Immigrants: A Case Study Of Immigrants In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Solomon M. Muin

Capstone Collection

Immigrants that settled in a dominant new culture face challenges during the process of acculturation. Though minority culture is always at the disadvantaged end of acculturation in most cases, most research done on acculturation in the West mostly focused on the impact of immigrants on their societies, or on ways of strengthening integration in the host countries. As this continues, the dominant culture role and importance of the majority culture is what influence most narratives and not much is seeing from the minority culture. Most research on acculturation in the United States, for example, placed more emphasis on the Hispanic …

Fortaleza's Immigrant Song: Portrait-Narratives And An Identity Needs Analysis Of Recent Immigrants' Lived Experiences, Carl Weitz-Santiago

Capstone Collection

This inquiry sheds light on the personal stories and lived experiences of a group of recent immigrants currently living in Fortaleza, the sprawling capital of the Northeastern state of Ceará, Brazil. Utilizing a theoretical framework guided by “Epistemologies of the South,” ethnographic principles, and constructivist grounded theory, this capstones presents five first person portrait-narratives highlighting intimate details of project participants’ lives prior to immigrating, and uncovers four persistent and recurrent themes expressed by project participants: (1) language and communication, (2) professional opportunity, (3) personal growth, and (4) “saudade” and belongingness.

Through the lens of Johan Galtung’s Basic Needs Approach, …

The Captivity Of Opportunity: The Conversation Surrounding Church-Going Hispanic Immigrants, Nicolet Hopper Bell

Master's Theses

Immigration is a long-standing topic of discussion in the United States. Hispanic immigrants, or families of Hispanic immigrants, living in America face unique challenges. Through focus group interviews, participants from a predominantly Hispanic Protestant church narrated their experience of living in the United States. Guided grounded theory data analysis revealed three categories and 14 subcategories, or themes of conversation, surrounding this hot topic. Participants shed light on the distinctive challenges they faced, how these challenges affected them, and how they attempted to overcome these difficulties. By exploring these results through the lens of social stigma theory (Goffman, 2009) and intergroup …

Sexual Victimization Of Male Refugees And Migrants: Camps, Homelessness, And Survival Sex, Rachel E. Mcginnis

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This report focuses on sexual violence against and exploitation of males as a human rights violation committed during armed conflict or as an indirect outcome of armed conflict. It identifies the difficulty refugees and migrants experience inside refugee camps and what happens to young men and boys who are on the streets. By looking at the current crisis in Athens, Greece I expose the implications of failed policies for refugees. In addition, I challenge the world to redefine our understanding of sexual violence as a gender issue.

Chemical Reactions: Marijuana, Opioids, And Our Families, Denise A. Hines Ph.D, Staci Gruber Ph.D, John F. Kelly Ph.D, Kathleen M. Palm Reed, Hilary Smith Connery M.D., Ph.D.

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

Chemical Reactions: Marijuana, Opioids, and Our Families is the seventh Massachusetts Family Impact Seminar. This seminar was designed to emphasize a family perspective in policymaking on issues related to the legalization of marijuana and managing the opioid abuse crisis in the Commonwealth. In general, Family Impact Seminars analyze the consequences an issue, policy, or program may have for families.

Sentido De Comunidad: Conectando La Teoría Con La Práctica En El Sector La Mariscal, Quito, Ecuador / Sense Of Community: Connecting Theory With Practice In The Mariscal Sector, Quito, Ecuador, Matthew Sant-Miller

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En este ensayo, analizaré las maneras en que la teoría del sentido de comunidad se traduce en la práctica. Para cumplir con este análisis, me enfoco en una organización barrial, Operación Urbana Sostenible (OPUS) – La Mariscal, que se ubica en un barrio al norte de Quito, Ecuador. Después de repasar la literatura académica actual y presentar el marco teórico, proveo información básica de fondo tanto del barrio La Mariscal como de la organización OPUS. Luego, considero la temática de la aplicación de la teoría del sentido de comunidad a través de un análisis de tres temas principales que OPUS …

Continuing Efforts To Alleviate "Orange Pain" An Internship With The Da Nang Association Of Victims Of Agent Orange/Dioxin, Loan Heilner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This year marked the 55th anniversary of Vietnam’s Agent Orange Disaster. Decades after the end of the war, Vietnamese people are still largely being affected by the remnants of the United States’ Agent Orange herbicide sprays. Dioxin chemical has now been confirmed detrimental to human and environmental well-being, but unfortunately it still remains in high concentrations in certain areas of Vietnam. Dioxin chemical is passed on through genetics to new generations, but one of the leading causes of dioxin-related health defects today are due to environmental residue. In Da Nang, Agent Orange was stored and loaded at the local airbase …

Live And Dead Coral Cover On Three Reefs And Public Perceptions Of Degradation Around Almirante Bay, Bocas Del Toro, Phoebe Thompson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Almirante Bay is a lagoonal body of water off the western Caribbean coast of Panama. The islands within the bay are popular tourist destinations, drawing visitors from around the world to explore beaches and coral reefs. However, the reefs in Almirante Bay are continually exposed to both natural and anthropogenic stressors, such as temperature inversions, boat pollution, sedimentation from dredging, and chemical runoff from coastal banana plantations. Because the economy of the area is heavily dependent on tourism, this creates an interesting dynamic in that the main source of income (tourism) could be detrimental to a main attraction of the …