Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

Contesting The North Williams Traffic Operations And Safety Project, Amy Lubitow, Thaddeus R. Miller

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The North Williams Traffic Safety Operations Project, overseen by the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), was proposed in 2010. With an initial budget of $370,000, the project was designed to reduce conflict between buses, bicycles and motor vehicles on North Williams Avenue and improve the overall safety and accessibility of the street. As is common practice, PBOT’s first step in this project was to organize a stakeholder advisory committee (SAC) of interested business owners, neighborhood association representatives, residents, and key stakeholders living or working along North Williams Avenue who would be tasked with advising the city on the project. However, …

Sharing What Works Through South-South Cooperation: The Case Of The Risk Reduction Management Centre Replication Project, Rachel M. Cohn

Capstone Collection

The Risk Reduction Management Centre (RRMC) Replication Project, an initiative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), aims to take a Cuban best practice in disaster risk reduction and adapt it to the local context of five other Caribbean countries. This project differs from most development projects in that the individuals and institutions providing the assistance (in this case technical training and know-how) are themselves from a developing country (Cuba). This model, wherein developing countries provide resources, information, and training to other developing countries, is known as South-South Cooperation (SSC).

This capstone uses the case of the RRMC Replication Project …

Eliminating Sexual Harassment Of Adolescent Girls In Bangladesh: A Comparative Analysis Of Multi-Level Strategies, Kristan Bakker

Capstone Collection

As a result of civil society and the government of Bangladesh’s commitment to reach universal education and gender equality, great strides have been made in secondary school enrollment with the number of girls attending now on par with that of boys. However, a consequence of the increased mobility of adolescent girls in public places is increased incidences of sexual harassment. In 2009 and 2010 there was a rash of suicides. Adolescent girls who had been victims of sexual harassment took their own lives to escape the pain and shame brought on by a culture that blames girls for men’s unwelcomed …

The Third Sector Is Missing, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This article offers a detailed critique of Antonin Wagner's (2012) discussion of market, state and the intermediate institutions of civil society. It was one of 7-8 articles critiquing Wagner's previously published piece. It is argued that Wagner's perspective dissolves the third sector into a set of phenomena subordinate to markets and states; that the third sector essentially dissolves into market and state components. The article also offers an outline for a broader, multi-faceted third sector.

Emotion, Community Development, And The Physical Environment: An Experimental Investigation Of Measurements, George E. Boone

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

A wide range of research fields have studied how emotions and behavior are affected by the physical environment. This gestalt theorist approach of experimental research as well seeks to measure emotion (using the valence-arousal scale) and micro-scale community development interactions when weighted physical environment factors are adjusted. Community development (CD) interactions at the micro-scale have received but slight attention from scholars in the CD research field and this study aims partially to investigate developing objective measures from social observations. CD interactions from recordings along with self-reported emotion through surveys in four quasi-experimental groups (where the environments were constructed based on …

Service Learning Students’ Perceptions Of Citizenship, Audrey Falk

Education Faculty Publications

This study examines the conceptions of citizenship held by students engaged in a service learning course. Open-ended responses to instructor-developed surveys were analyzed. Results indicated that students primarily viewed good citizenship in terms of community service; however, their ideas about service were limited to passive kinds of service such as helping others and volunteering, rather than active kinds of service such as community organizing. Results were compared with conceptions of citizenship held by students engaged in another course with a smaller volunteering component. Opportunities for broadening service learning students’ understanding of citizenship are discussed.

Forum Magazine, Orientation Issue

Forum Magazine

No abstract provided.

Social Work, Yoga, And Gratitude: Partnership In A Homeless Shelter, Jennifer Davis-Berman, Jean Farkas

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

This narrative explores the personal lessons learned about life and practice from YogaHome, a yoga program for homeless adults. The yoga program, taught in partnership by a social worker/professor of social work (Jenny) and a yoga teacher (Jean) with 17 years of experience, exemplifies the merging of social work and yogic practices , but also illustrates the evolution of these two professionals in their chosen fields as many of their traditional views, values, intentions, and expectations unraveled and led to a re-revaluation of their professional practices, transforming their personal perspectives on life. This reflection is based on the YogaHome program, …

Untangling Neoliberalism’S Gordian Knot: Cancer Prevention And Control Services For Rural Appalachian Populations, George F. Bills

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

In eastern Kentucky, as in much of central Appalachia, current local storylines narrate the frictions and contradictions involved in the structural transition from a post-WWII Fordist industrial economy and a Keynesian welfare state to a Post-Fordist service economy and Neoliberal hollow state, starving for energy to sustain consumer indulgence (Jessop, 1993; Harvey, 2003; 2005). Neoliberalism is the ideological force redefining the “societal infrastructure of language” that legitimates this transition, in part by redefining the key terms of democracy and citizenship, as well as valorizing the market, the individual, and technocratic innovation (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999; Harvey, 2005). This project develops …

The Impact Of Colorism On Historically Black Fraternities And Sororities, Patience Denece Bryant

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation study was conducted in order to examine and gain an insight on two topics that are considered to be highly under researched: American historically black fraternities and sororities and colorism within the back American community. The purpose of the study was to examine the impact that colorism has had on black American collegiate Greek letter organizations. Using the qualitative phenomenological approach, 18 graduate or alumni members, two from each of the nine historically black Greek letter organizations that make up the National Pan-Hellanic Council were interviewed using open ended questions to see what impact (if any) colorism has …

Take Pride In America Phase Iii - Further Development Of A Local Litter And Desert Dumping Cleanup Program: Project Compendium, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

The Take Pride in America in Southern Nevada project began as a collaboration of four federal agencies committed to working together to combat the litter and desert dumping problem on the nearly seven million acres of public lands in Southern Nevada. In 2005, with funding from the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act (SNPLMA), SNAP created an interagency anti-litter and desert dumping team and developed a partnership with the Public Lands Institute (PLI) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. SNAP and PLI managed the Take Pride in America in Southern Nevada project and launched the Don’t Trash Nevada messaging …

Yogahome: Emotional, Physical And Social Impacts Of A Yoga Program On Community Homeless Shelter Residents, Jennifer Davis-Berman, Jean Farkas

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

This article reports on a qualitative analysis of semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with 12 women and 2 men who participated in a community-based yoga program, run by a certified yoga teacher and a social worker, at a homeless shelter in a medium-sized city in the Midwestern United States. This restorative yoga program was developed in the shelter in response to the severe stress of being homeless and the chaotic nature of shelter life. Based on an analysis of transcribed interviews, the following themes were generated and discussed: Yoga as Relaxation, Stress Relief, Pain Relief, and Future Practice. The challenges and …

15th And 16th Tshl Supporting Documents, Texas Silver Haired Legislature Foundation, Texas Silver-Haired Legislature

Texas Silver-Haired Legislature

Supporting documents of the 15th and 16th TSHL sessions, 2013-2017

Engaging The Homeless Through Technology And Information Literacy, Fannie Cox

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The University of Louisville (U of L) Libraries' outreach mission is to encourage the development of information literacy (IL) and critical thinking in individuals. In March 2010, a community engagement partnership began between Ekstrom Library and the Wayside Christian Mission for the libraries to provide a basic computer skills class to its clients (referred to as students), many of whom had never used a computer. Now in its fourth iteration, the class named Wayside 100 provides students an opportunity to develop skills that may assist them with increasing their educational level, succeeding in college, as well as overcoming homelessness.

The World Is Not Yet Completed: Moral Imaginaries And Everyday Politics In Progressive Religious Communities, Todd Nicholas Fuist

Dissertations

How religion shapes political and civic engagement has been a consistently fruitful question for American social theorists. Religion has often been understood as providing the moral underpinnings of civil society, traditionally in ways that promote cohesion or preserve the status quo. Despite this, there has been a long tradition of progressive religious engagement in American civic and political life, including the abolitionist movement, civil rights movement, and anti-nuclear movement. Through an ethnographic examination of six politically progressive religious communities, including two communes and four congregations, I examine how religion is put towards progressive ends. Through this, I develop the concept …

Being Prepared And Staying Connected: Scouting’S Influence On Social Capital And Community Involvement, Edward C. Polson, Young-Il Kim, Sung Joon Jang, Byron R. Johnson, Buster Smith

Faculty Publications - Department of Sociology

Objectives

In recent years, scholars have become concerned about the effects that declining levels of social capital are having on community life in the United States. Data suggest that Americans are less likely to interact with neighbors and less likely to participate in community groups than they were in the past. Nevertheless, researchers have found that participation in some types of organizations has a positive impact on social capital and civic involvement. Each year, millions of American youth participate in programs designed to promote positive youth development. Here, we examine the effect that participation in one of the largest youth …

Bonding Alone: Familism, Religion, And Secular Civic Participation, Young-Il Kim, W. Bradford Wilcox

Faculty Publications - Department of Sociology

This study examines the influence of familism, religion, and their interaction on participation in secular voluntary associations. We develop an insularity theory to explain how familism and religion encourage Americans to avoid secular civic participation. Using data from the first wave of the National Survey of Families and Households, this study finds that familism reduces participation in secular organizations. Moreover, religion moderates the effect of familism: specifically, religious involvement tends to increase the negative effect of familism on secular civic participation. Although religious involvement in and of itself fosters secular civic participation, strong familism tends to dampen positive impacts of …

Generations Apart: A Mixed Methods Study Of Black Women’S Attitudes About Race And Social Activism, Carolyn D. Love

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Since the beginning of slavery in the United States, Black women have been actively involved in the creation and formation of Black civil society. The abolitionist, Black women’s club, and civil rights movements challenged White supremacy and created institutions that fought for political, social, and economic justice. Historically, Black women have engaged in the struggle for group survival while at the same time fighting for institutional transformation to eliminate or change discriminatory policies, practices, and procedures. With each passing generation, Black women have led efforts of resistance against racial discrimination, gender bias, and class exploitation. However, with each passing generation, …

Diversity And Equity...Community Building Strategies In Public Libraries For Multicultural Communities, Rajeswari Chelliah

Research outputs 2013

The research project focused on the community building potential in the public library due to increasing diversity in multicultural groups. Diversity in Australia and the world at large, is challenged by groups with backgrounds of traditionally embedded mind-sets, civil unrest, war, intolerance and poverty, and who live within the socio-cultural framework of the host culture. Building cohesion and integration among the residents is vital for all nations. The exploratory research project investigated the current level of public library services to Multicultural groups to obtain library staff views. The views of Multicultural individuals about their local public library experiences and information …

The Psychological Benefits Of Participating In Group Singing For Members Of The General Public, Marianne D. Judd, Julie Ann Pooley

Research outputs 2013

The last decade has produced a growing number of studies examining the potential psychological benefits of singing in a choir. Studies have tended to focus on the benefits for groups that might be described as marginalized or criminal. In contrast, the current study focused on members of the general public who regularly participate in choral singing. An in-depth qualitative design was utilized to explore the meaning and importance of group singing for 10 participants. Thematic analysis based on an interpretive approach was utilized to analyse the data. Psychological benefits emerged as two themes: individual and group. A third theme, mediating …