Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

Communicating Crimes: Covering Gangs In Contemporary Canadian Journalism, Chris Richardson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this integrated-article dissertation, I examine representations of gangs in Canadian journalism, focusing primarily on contemporary newspaper reporting. While the term “gang” often refers to violent groups of young urban males, it can also signify outlaw bikers, organized crime, terrorist cells, non-criminal social groups, and a wide array of other collectives. I build on Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical framework to probe this ambiguity, seeking to provide context and critical assessments that will improve crime reporting and its reception. In the course of my work, I examine how popular films like West Side Story inform journalists’ descriptions of gangs. Though reporters have …

Positioning Of Volunteer Interpreters In The Field Of Public Service Interpreting In Spanish Hospitals: A Bourdieusian Perspective, Maria A. Aguilar-Solano

Maria Aguilar-Solano

This thesis sets out to investigate the field of public service interpreting in southern Spain, with a particular emphasis on the position of volunteer interpreters working at two different healthcare institutions. It looks at the power relationships that develop between agents that hold different degrees of control and autonomy, especially in a context where individuals hold different forms and volume of capital in each encounter. Drawing on Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice, the study offers an in-depth examination of a group of volunteer interpreters as legitimate agents of the wider field of public service interpreting and the sub-field of healthcare interpreting, …

Political Participation: Influences And Implications, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

From the understanding of topical issues to activism, education has been said to play a major role in promoting political participation. Past research has shown that the educated would display stronger tendencies to vote, join political parties and engage in civic activities. However, if education predicts political participation, why do some countries with lower education rates face higher chances of political unrest? For instance, the average schooling in East Asian countries exceeds the average for Latin American countries. Yet, Latin America experiences higher levels of political unrest.

Space And The City: Gender Identities In The Seventeenth-Century Norwich, Fiona Williamson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Influenced by interdisciplinary studies and the ‘spatial turn’ in social history, this article explores the relationship between space and the construction of gender identity amongst the poor to middling sorts of seventeenth-century Norwich. To this end I have considered gendered interaction in different ‘types' of space: domestic, private space, ‘borderline’ space – such as the alehouse or threshold – and, finally, the public space of streets and markets. Each section explores the relevance of recent spatial historiography in the Norwich context, and evaluates whether men and women inhabited different ‘worlds' in the city, not only in terms of their physical …

Mattapan United Community Questionnaire, Mattapan United, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Center for Social Policy Publications

In the winter and spring of 2012, the Steering Committee of the Mattapan United Resilient Communities/Resilient Families project undertook an assessment of community members’ attitudes and opinions for use in planning and program development.

The Committee was assisted in this endeavor by the Center for Social Policy (CSP), McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston. The work of CSP is supported by a grant from The Boston Foundation to provide analytical and evaluation assistance for its Fairmount Initiative along the Fairmount/Indigo Corridor of Boston.

The questionnaire was widely disseminated throughout Mattapan in hard copy and …

Educating And Empowering Elders: Improving The Health Of Senior Latino Diabetics Through Community Collaboration, G. D. Cleghorn, Jean Lussier, Martha Velez, Marianna Canovitch, Marilyn Licciardello, Sarah Stanlick

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death among Americans.1 As of 2005, estimates indicate 20.8 million people – 7 percent of the population – afflicted by diabetes, 6.2 million of which are undiagnosed. 1 While diabetes is a growing problem for the United States as a whole, older, poverty-stricken Latinos and other minority groups have felt the encumbrance of this trend most intensely.2 In Massachusetts, the burden of diabetes among Caribbean Latinos is 11.8 percent, which is 2.5 times greater than the prevalence for the majority of the population in the state …

The Transition Movement In Putney, Vermont: Building Social And Economic Resilience, With A Focus On Putney Farmers’ Market, Sombat Moontha

Capstone Collection

The Transition Movement is an internationally acclaimed and innovative movement which focuses on building community resilience to resolve the problems of climate change, natural resources depletion, and economic instability. Transition Town Putney (TTP) is an organization working on promoting Transition initiatives in a small town called Putney, Vermont, USA. This paper explores how TTP contributes to building community economic and social resilience in the town. This study employed conceptual frameworks of Avina’s (2004) NGO life cycle model and the Model of Effectiveness Value based on Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1983). For data collection, several stakeholders who have been involved with TTP …

Homelessness: An Outcome Of Structural Cruelty, Bharat Rathod

Capstone Collection

In the current capitalist economic models, poverty and homelessness are an epidemic situation across the world. This research focused on the underlying causes of homelessness and poverty in India and the U.S., as well as developing suggestions to resolve the issues of homelessness in India. For this research I used literature reviews and interviews of the homeless; the interviews were conducted in Ahmedabad (India) and Brattleboro (U.S.). To analyze the data all the responses were entered into Excel format to discover patterns, themes and trends. The data was primarily qualitative in nature which led me to create three categories. According …

Linkedin To Facebook And Twitter: The Role Of Social Media In Developing Community For Non-Profits, Elizabeth Weaver

Capstone Collection

Social Media technology is providing nonprofits with a new platform for connecting to the masses. Most nonprofits are using these platforms to spread their message, fundraise and gain notoriety, but few are utilizing such sites for community building purposes. Online community building-especially on Facebook and Twitter-is an emerging concept with little existing literature and research available. Exploration in this field provides valuable information to nonprofits on effective ways to develop their accounts in a way that fosters an interactive and engaged community of participants. The question directing this study is: How can nonprofits create, build, and develop a community, online …

Planning And Designing A Sustainable Volunteer Based Organization: The Putney Food Shelf, Annik Yvette Paul

Capstone Collection

There are many reasons why issues of food insecurity and hunger exist. Individuals, families, and households have various barriers to food security, often facing more than one at a time. Barriers include limited fixed incomes, minimum wage not equaling a livable wage, unemployment and underemployment, poverty, lack of personal transportation and/or access to public transportation, limited access to shopping areas (food deserts), and health and medical issues.

Considering the current statistics listed below, combined with the ever-increasing cost of food, more households will be struggling to meet their basic nutritional needs. Food insecurity and hunger is a problem faced by …

The Vital Role Of Social Workers In Community Partnerships: The Alliance For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender And Questioning Youth, Michael P. Dentato, Shelley L. Craig, Mark S. Smith

Michael P. Dentato

The account of The Alliance for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (GLBTQ) Youth formation offers a model for developing com- munity-based partnerships. Based in a major urban area, this university-community collaboration was spearheaded by social workers who were responsible for its original conceptualization, for generating community support, and for eventual staffing, administration, direct service provision, and program evaluation design. This article presents the strategic development and evolution of this community- based service partnership, highlighting the roles of schools of social work, academics, and social work students in concert with community funders, practitioners and youth, in responding to the needs …

Reversing The Brain Drain, Milan Wall

Heartland Center for Leadership Development Materials

Reversing the Brain Drain, presentation slides.

Includes a summary of demographic research conducted by Ben Winchester of the University of Minnesota, including information about the "newcomer trend." Also covers Buffalo Commons research conducted by Randy Cantrell or the University of Nebraska.

A Lone Nut In Compton:Lessons In Community Engagement With Treepeople In South Los Angeles, Jason Schlatter

Capstone Collection

The following study was conducted as an exploration of the community engagement practices of the Los Angeles based nonprofit organization, TreePeople. The intention of this study was to foster a deeper understanding about the theories and practice of the “outsider” TreePeople’s community engagement initiatives in the region of South Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on the communities of Compton, Inglewood, and historic South Central. I attempted to synthesize a collective narrative about the way TreePeople interacts with its constituents and community partners by drawing upon the experiences and perceptions of TreePeople staff, community partners, and community members. The individual experiences …

Southwest Nebraska Community Builders, Graduate Reunion Meeting, May 1, 2012, Craig Schroeder

Heartland Center for Leadership Development Materials

Introduction:

2012 marks 20 years since Dr. Bob Manley brought Community Builder to Southwest Nebraska, as the region emerged from the devastation of the 1980's Ag Crisis. On May 1st, a group of former participants from communities through out the region came together to reflect on the impact Community Builders had on them personally, and on their communities and the region overall. Based upon this reflection it was unanimously determine that a new generation of emerging leaders would greatly benefit from Community Builders. The group then went through the process of evaluating what had been most valuable in the original …

Towards Self-Emancipation In Ict For Development Research: Narratives About Respect, Traditional Leadership And Building Networks Of Friendships In Rural South Africa, Kirstin Krauss

The African Journal of Information Systems

In this paper, the author contends that if the outsider-researcher involved in Information and Communication Technology for Development really wants to make a difference and honestly address the emancipatory interests of the developing community, social transformation will have to occur on both sides of the “development divide.” This statement implies both an understanding of the researcher’s own ethnocentrism, prejudice, assumptions and inabilities as well as local concerns, needs, expectations and realities. Using critical social theory as a position of inquiry and learning from the enculturation phases of critical ethnographic fieldwork in a deep rural part of South Africa, the paper …

The New American Conservation Movement: New Strategies, Focus And Organizations For The 21st Century, Amy Deanna Northrup

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation provides evidence of the emergence of a new conservation movement in the United States. The strategic, tactical and organizational approaches of traditional conservation efforts, which began in the early 1900s, have shifted during the last two decades. Specifically, the new conservation movement is characterized by three distinct changes. First, many of the well-established conservation organizations, such as the Sierra Club and National Audubon Society, have largely abandoned their traditional focus on increasing the number of acres preserved; instead more defensive and fragmented forms of conservation now reign. The second change to the conservation movement involves a dramatic expansion …

Improving The Quality Of Life Of A Homeless Person Using Co-Design And Paul Polak's 12 Steps To Practical Problem Solving, Nana Ama Ofei-Tenkorang

Senior Honors Projects

Improving the Quality of Life of Homeless Persons using Co-Design and Paul Polack’s

12 Steps for Practical Problem Solving

Nana Ofei-Tenkorang

Sponsor: Vinka Oyanedel-Craver, Civil and Environmental Engineering

The Stewart B. McKinney Act (1994) defines a homeless person as one who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence; and has a primary night time residency that is (A) either a publicly or privately supervised operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations, (B) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings and, (C) an institution that provides a …

Torch (May/June 2012), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Seattle's Orchards: A Historic Legacy Meets Modern Sustainability, Audrey L. Lieberworth

Scripps Senior Theses

European immigrants introduced orchards to the U.S. in the early 1600s. As they began to establish settlements and migrate west, they brought orchard cultivation with them, creating an extensive network of orchards spread across the U.S. However, over time many of these orchards were lost due to urban development, which is what makes Seattle’s historic orchards significant. Early Seattle settlers planted orchards in the 1800s and early 1900s, and their remnants still exist today, despite urban development. Over the years, many of the orchards have been incorporated onto City Department-owned land, but they have not been maintained to the extent …

The Californians Against Sexual Exploitation (Case) Act: A Case Study In Policy Advocacy, Bailey Mannisto-Ichés

Capstone Collection

In any given year in the United States of America at least 100,000 domestic youth are sexually exploited through the commercial sex industry. Current national and state laws do not adequately protect these children from being groomed, pimped, and exploited over and over again in their young lives. A majority of these children are trafficked from, into or within the nation’s most populated state of California. In 2003 the FBI identified three of the country’s 13 high-­‐intensity child sex trafficking cities as being in California. The cycle of violence these children endure is not being brought to justice through the …