Community-Based Research Commons^™

Analyzing The Missing Meal Gap Beyond Elementary School, Timothy Loney, Samantha Milheiser, Brittney Wacholz

Public Sociology Publications and Projects

This paper examines ways in which Feeding Our Communities Partners (FOCP) can productively expand on its current work to alleviate hunger in Blue Earth County, Minnesota. This report contains a literature review addressing hunger and food insecurity, a needs assessment of hunger in Blue Earth County, case studies of existing programs, and qualitative interviews with professionals who work with the youth in these programs. We conclude by recommending three potential ways that FOCP can expand their current programs to address hunger among school-aged youth in Blue Earth County.

Successful Communities: What Is Desired And What Is Present In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska, 2014 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben

Nebraska Rural Poll

Rural Nebraskans are looking for many things in a community. The characteristics of a community that most believe are absolutely essential include social dimensions (sense of personal safety), economic dimensions (jobs/economic opportunities), some basic services (a quality school system, available medical services, affordable housing, quality housing and well maintained infrastructure) and environmental dimensions (a clean and attractive natural environment).

Unfortunately, when asked if these characteristics are present in their current community, some of these areas are lacking. One of the more extreme cases involves jobs/economic opportunities. Seventy-seven percent of the respondents say these are absolutely essential in order for them …

Perceptions Of Crime And Safety In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2014 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben

Nebraska Rural Poll

Most rural Nebraskans are not worried or not very worried about either crime in their community or about personally being a victim of crime. However, persons living in or near larger communities are more likely than persons living in or near smaller communities to be worried or very worried about crime. Furthermore, most persons living in or near communities with populations less than 10,000 are not worried or not very worried about crime in their community.

Trust also remains high in the rural areas. Most rural Nebraskans say they count on their neighbors to watch their property while they are …

Life In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: Perceptions Of Well-Being, 2014 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben

Nebraska Rural Poll

By many different measures, rural Nebraskans are positive about their community. Many rural Nebraskans rate their community as friendly, trusting and supportive. Most rural Nebraskans also say it would be difficult to leave their community. In addition, most rural Nebraskans disagree that their community is powerless to control its future.

Differences of opinion exist by the size of their community. Residents of smaller communities are more likely than residents of larger communities to rate their community favorably on its social dimensions. However, residents of larger communities are more likely than residents of smaller communities to say their community has changed …

6 Myths About The Future Of Small Towns, Heartland Center For Leadership Development

Heartland Center for Leadership Development Materials

Covered myths about the future of small towns.

Featured:

Nenzel, Nebraska • Located in the Sandhills • Population 13 (2014) • Competed for a grant to build a new community center and heritage museum • Public buildings are supposed to last 50 years

Wray, Colorado • Located on Highway 34 across the Nebraska border • Once a major thoroughfare but today only local traffic • New hospital, modern K 12 school, raised money for a recreation center • Won a National Civic League All America City Award, the first rural community to be honored

Accessing Healthcare: The Experience Of Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders In Maine, Alan Kurtz, Angie Schickle, Margaret Carr, Marnie Bragdon-Morneault, Susan Russell, Debra Rainey, Jill Downs, Nancy Cronin

Health and Well-Being

Previous research has revealed that children and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are significantly more likely to have both unmet healthcare needs than those with other disabilities. In addition, they are more likely to have difficulty accessing primary or specialized medical care. Minority status, living in a rural location, and low income can exacerbate these disparities. Other obstacles to effective healthcare for individuals with ASD include the following: (1) severity of symptoms associated with ASD; (2) lack of knowledge or skill by medical practitioners; (3) lack of access to comprehensive healthcare supports or a medical home; and (4) lack …

Family Self-Sufficiency Program: An Evaluation, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Center for Social Policy (CSP) serves as a strategic learning and evaluation partner to The Boston Foundation, relative to its collective investments in the Fairmount Corridor. The Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership’s (MBHP) Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program is one of TBF’s people-oriented Fairmount Corridor investments. The FSS program is part of a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program to promote economic advancement for families receiving housing assistance.

Hope Vi-Old Colony: An Evaluation, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Center for Social Policy (CSP) is continuing its ongoing evaluation role with HOPE VI, a federally funded program operated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. HOPE VI allows public housing authorities to apply for funding to redevelop severely distressed housing developments. The Old Colony development is currently the most physically distressed site in the Boston Housing Authority’s federal portfolio, with aged systems and infrastructure and high annual energy and water costs. This project began in January 2014.

Resilient Communities/Resilient Families, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Center for Social Policy (CSP) serves as a strategic learning and evaluation partner to The Boston Foundation (TBF). TBF’s investment and people and place-based initiatives seek to make sustainable, positive change through community and economic development in neighborhoods along the Fairmount-Indigo transit line in Boston. As part of the Resilient Communities/Resilient Families (RC/RF), CSP with Mattapan United and Millennium 10 (in Codman Square/Four Corners) to identify community priorities for neighborhood change. From 2013-2015, the Center team is evaluating these neighborhood change efforts, as well as other initiatives aimed at increasing economic well-being for neighborhood residents.

The Boston Foundation Retrospective Case Study, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Boston Foundation (TBF) seeks to improve the life trajectories for children and families living in Fairmount Corridor neighborhoods. The emerging Fairmount Strategy can be strengthened and achieve greater impact with rigorous information about how foundation activities and investments contribute to community change. To further this internal strategic learning, the Center for Social Policy (CSP) is conducting retrospective and prospective case studies of the Fairmount Strategy (2009-2015) focusing on one of the foundation’s central tenets: alignment.

Reinforcing The Safety Net: A Collaborative Survey With The Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, Heather Macindoe, Lindsay Morgia, Erynn Herman

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The more than 35,000 nonprofit organizations in Massachusetts employ 20% of the state’s workforce and serve as a vital part of the social safety net. Many of these organizations face challenges concerning fiscal sustainability. Funding often covers current services with little surplus to address organizational capacity issues. Successful public-nonprofit partnerships are key to building a resilient nonprofit sector. This study contributes to the nonprofit sector’s knowledge of how best to engage with policymakers at the state and local level.

Thrive In 5 Boston Initiative, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Center for Social Policy (CSP) is the external evaluator for Thrive in 5 Boston. As part of the initiative, CSP is helping to identify, implement, and evaluate community interventions designed to increase the readiness of Boston children for success in school at kindergarten age.

Thrive in 5 is transforming Boston into a city that values and proactively nurtures young children’s school readiness, and envisions a city where families, educators, providers, business leaders and communities come together with the knowledge, skills, and resources to prepare children for success in school and beyond.

Moving Home: An Evaluation, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Center for Social Policy (CSP) is carrying out an analysis of data on the housing situations of participants in the Moving Home program, which is run by the Bowery Residents’ Committee (BRC) in New York City (NYC). BRC is one of the largest, most comprehensive social service agencies in NYC, offering a client-focused continuum of 27 programs that serve 2,600 individuals daily. Launched in 2007, BRC’s Moving Home initiative applies an individualized, low-threshold model to transitioning chronically homeless men and women from the streets to permanent housing.

New Lease For Families: An Evaluation, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Center for Social Policy (CSP) was hired by the New Lease for Homeless Families to conduct an evaluation measuring specific outcomes of the unique housing interventions in their pilot program. New Lease for Homeless Families will connect 400 or more homeless families to affordable housing units provided by private and non-profit property owners over a two-year period. The infrastructure will then be in place to continue matching homeless families coming out of shelter to affordable housing units, which may change the larger systems of reducing family homelessness in Massachusetts.

“Documenting The Untold Stories Of Feminist Activists At Welfare Rights Initiative: A Digital Oral History Archive Project.”, Cynthia Tobar

Publications and Research

This chapter recounts the creation of a digital oral history archive documenting the Welfare Rights Initiative (WRI), a grassroots student activist and community leadership training organization located at Hunter College. The author examines, through these oral history interviews, social movement activity at the level of a grassroots organization as exemplified by WRI, which was developed to aid student welfare recipients to become agents of social change and actively involve them with policymaking. The project depicts the experiences of members in this feminist grassroots organization and provides us with new insights to the origins of advocacy, documenting the singular historical importance …

Limits To Literacy: The Perceived Relationship Between Functional Literacy And Political Empowerment Amongst The Forest-Dwelling Van Gujjars, Nicola Soekoe

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The failure of countrywide basic literacy campaigns to enhance social mobility has led to the promotion and development of localized, comprehensive functional literacy campaigns. These campaigns are particularly applicable to marginalized groups; as they aim to empower communities by providing them with the necessary skills to navigate their socioeconomic and political environments. This qualitative study examines the long-term impact of one such functional literacy campaign on the semi-nomadic pastoral Van Gujjar community. I use the Assets, Opportunity Structure, and Degrees of Empowerment (DOE) method to investigate community members’ perceptions of the level of political empowerment that followed their participation in …

Earning A Living In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2014 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben

Nebraska Rural Poll

Most rural Nebraskan households have full-time employment and many employed households derive part of their household income from self-employment. Self-employment is more prevalent in smaller communities. Most rural Nebraskans living in or near the smallest communities have self-employment in their household.

Some rural Nebraska households also have multiple job holding by members of the household. Again, this is more likely to occur in the smallest communities.

Most self-employed rural Nebraskan households get less than one-half of their total household income from self-employment. However, over one-quarter (29%) of self-employed rural Nebraskans get almost all of their household income from self-employment. Many …

Behavioral And Mental Health In Nevada, David Caloiaro, Luana Ritch

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Until recently, the Nevada Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services (MHDS) was the public provider of mental health, substance abuse and developmental services. On July 1, 2013, the delivery of the mental health, substance abuse and developmental services in Nevada was restructured on several levels. With this reorganization, Developmental Services for persons with intellectual disabilities was transitioned into the Aging and Disability Services Division (ADSD), while mental health and substance abuse services were integrated to become Behavioral Health. Behavioral Health was then merged with the public health from the State Health Division to form the new Division of Public …

Life In Hampton Roads Survey Press Release #4: The Changing Transportation Picture: Tolls And Traffic, Social Science Research Center, Old Dominion University

Life in Hampton Roads Survey Report

This report examines regional and sub-regional measures of transportation perceptions from the 2014 Life In Hampton Roads survey (LIHR 2014) conducted by the Old Dominion University Social Science Research Center.

Exploring The Effects Of Ex-Prisoner Reentry On Structural Factors In Disorganized Communities: Implications For Leadership Practice, G. Michael Davis

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study is to explore the way(s) in which the disproportionate return of ex-prisoners to socially and economically disadvantaged communities impact(s) specific community structural factors identified in the study. After three decades of withstanding the enduring effects of the mass incarceration, communities stand at the edge of a new era. Economic realities, and the failure of policies designed to deter crime through imprisonment are rapidly ushering in an era of mass prisoner reentry. The complexity of the challenges surrounding the successful integration of offenders to communities requires a new leadership paradigm for justice leaders. This study posits …