Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

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 …

Tracking A Lifelong Service Commitment In Alumni Of The College Of William And Mary, Emma C. Merril

VA Engage Journal

In order to better understand the development of a commitment to service, this paper explores the lives of alumni of the College of William and Mary as case studies. It is valuable to students and academic institutions alike to track a student‟s service commitment to see if his or her college experience was able to deepen that commitment. William and Mary is an exemplar in service-learning, which is why its alumni were interviewed and used as case studies. The College of William and Mary has an Office of Civic Engagement (OCE) that has connected students with community partners since 2009 …

Don Duine Is Lú, Léitheoireacht Abú, Geraldine French

Reports

Tá sé mar aidhm ag Rannán Leabharlann Chomhairle Contae Fhine Gall feasacht a spreagadh maidir leis an tábhacht a bhaineann le luathlitearthacht agus conas is fearr luathlitearthacht a leasú i gcomhpháirtíocht le gníomhaireachtaí breisoideachais áitiúla, eagraíochtaí a bhfuil leas acu sna blianta luathfhorbartha, suíomhanna luath-óige, scoileanna agus coláistí. Tá Leabharlanna Fhine Gall, dá bharr, ag forbairt gníomhaíochtaí áirithe chun an pobal a chur ar an eolas d’fhonn tacú leis an leanbh liteartha. Sonraíonn an doiciméad seo Straitéis Litearthachta Luathbhlianta Leabharlanna Fhine Gall (dá dtagraítear Straitéis anseo amach anseo). Tosaíonn sé le creat de Chontae Fhine Gall go ginearálta agus Leabharlanna …

Training Parent Volunteers As Effective Allies In Youth Empowerment Programs, Ria Shroff

Capstone Collection

Empowering adolescent girls is an effective and sustainable way to break the cycle of poverty and initiate a process of worldwide change. It is also extremely challenging, given the traditional perceptions of adolescents as reckless, carefree, incapable of assuming responsibility and unaware of their own needs for success and positive development. While organizations can provide many of the resources that adolescent girls need, the lack of parental support can be detrimental to both the overall development of the adolescent girl, her access to services, her mobility in society and the choices she will have in her future.

In order to …

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 …

Alpha Phi Omega Section 50 Conference, Katherine Klindworth

A with Honors Projects

The following is an assessment of my work as Conference Chair of the Alpha Phi Omega Section 50 Fall conference hosted by the Alpha Zeta Omega chapter right here at Parkland College. In addition to a reflection on the conference I have included photos from the event and the handout provided to conference attendees.

Tracking Onslow: A Community In Transition. Edition 1, 2012, Kayt Davies, Jasmine Amis, Jon Hopper, Claire Ottaviano, Aine Ryan

Tracking Onslow: a community in transition

Onslow, the town and community you live in, is in for a lot of changes over the next few years. Gas projects will bring new faces, while many old faces are leaving, and new money will buy new things. Will this mean that Onslow loses some of it’s ramshackle, rustic charm? Will it attract hordes of new tourists who’ll crowd out the old crew?

Maybe, maybe not — either way we want to know what you think.

This project is a collaboration between the journalism program at Edith Cowan University and the Shire of Ashburton and it’s all about tracking …

Team Las Vegas Solar Decathlon 2013: Quickfacts, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas. Solar Decathlon Team.

DesertSol: Planning and Design

This is a promotional pamphlet designed by Team Las Vegas for the 2013 Solar Decathlon competition. The pamphlet was used to gain support for the project and to offer some "quick facts" about the team, the project, and the competition.

Desertsol: Promotional Flyer, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas. Solar Decathlon Team.

DesertSol: Planning and Design

This is a promotional flyer prepared by Team Las Vegas to gain support in the Las Vegas community for the DesertSol project. The document contains brief information about the DOE 2013 Solar Decathlon competition and about Team Las Vegas.

How Porous Are The Walls That Separate Us?: Transformative Service-Learning, Women’S Incarceration, And The Unsettled Self, Coralynn V. Davis, Carol Wayne White

Faculty Journal Articles

In this article, we refine a politics of thinking from the margins by exploring a pedagogical model that advances transformative notions of service learning as social justice teaching. Drawing on a recent course we taught involving both incarcerated women and traditional college students, we contend that when communication among differentiated and stratified parties occurs, one possible result is not just a view of the other but also a transformation of the self and other. More specifically, we suggest that an engaged feminist praxis of teaching incarcerated women together with college students helps illuminate the porous nature of fixed markers that …

West Coast Antiwar Nonprofit Collaboration, Rosalind Sipe

Capstone Collection

While collaboration among nonprofit organizations is happening in both San Francisco and Los Angeles on issues ranging from breast cancer to saving the whales, and while 75% of Americans are opposed to the war in Afghanistan (CNN, 2010), the antiwar movement on the West Coast has come to a standstill. This paper examines the dynamics of West Coast antiwar nonprofits, whether or not they are collaborating, and the advantages and disadvantages of collaboration. A successful collaboration among several antiwar nonprofits, and the combined use of their resources, might stand a better chance of creating a sustainable antiwar movement on the …

The First Generation Community: What Does It Mean To Be A Youth Member?, Elissa M. Gallup

Capstone Collection

This paper examines the impact of being part of the First Generation community on the youth members. The context of Springfield, Massachusetts and the culture of First Generation are explained. The role of The Performance Project, the nonprofit through which First Generation operates, is also described, as it pertains to the context. A literature review, with other youth programs’ methodologies and findings of analyzing impacts in their programs, has been included.

Following months of work with First Generation and the literature research, qualitative interviews were crafted and conducted with members of the group. These anonymous interviews allow some insight into …

What Rocks The Vote? Citizens' Views Of Community Leaders And Political Engagement, Cecil J. Shelton

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

Political engagement has an established body of research. However, one key area that has not been investigated in the field is the relationship between political engagement and type of community lived in. This study explores this relationship between type of community, past political engagement, perceptions of community leaders, attitude about political engagement, and socieodemographic characteristics. A conceptual model was developed based on existing literature. Utilizing a statewide survey conducted in 2009 that yielded 1,154 respondents with a response rate of 30.2% was used to explore these relationships. Using statistical procedures that test correlation were utilized to investigate the relationship between …

Mexican-Americans In Los Angeles: Strengthening Their Ethnic Identity Through Chivas Usa, Stephanie Goldberger

CMC Senior Theses

A large Mexican-American population already exists in Los Angeles and, with each generation, it continues to rise. This Mexican-American community has maintained its connection to its heritage by playing and watching soccer, Mexico’s top watched sport. In this thesis, I analyze how Major League Soccer's Chivas USA serves as an outlet through which many Mexicans in Los Angeles have developed their ethnic identities. Since the early twentieth century, Mexicans in Los Angeles have created separate residential communities and sports organizations to strengthen their connections with one another.

To appeal to Mexican-Americans, Chivas USA has branded itself closely to its sister …

Karen Burmese Refugee Youth And Facebook: The Influence On Sense Of Community And Belonging, Beth Hazelden

School of Psychology and Social Science Presentations

There are currently over 42.5 million displaced persons worldwide, with 15.2 million identifying as refugees. The Karen Burmese are a persecuted ethnic group forced to flee to refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border. Australia plays host to 22170 Burmese, with 80% identifying as Karen. For the Karen and other refugees, involuntary migration is a difficult experience. Refugees face many challenges when resettling into a new community, and refugee youth experience additional challenges. It is important for psychosocial wellbeing to have a sense of community (SOC) and belonging (SOB), but this may be disrupted for refugee youth. One way that young …

Public Libraries : Celebrating Diversity, Rajeswari Chelliah, Justin A. Brown, Barbara Combes

Research outputs 2012

No abstract provided.

Working Together: A Values Approach For Strengthening University/Community Partnerships, John Christensen, B. J. Reed, Deborah Smith-Howell, Sara Woods

Presentations

Conference: Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU)

The Management Of Feral Pig Socio-Ecological Systems In Far North Queensland, Australia, Gabriela Shuster

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The development of management programs for socio-ecological systems that include multiple stakeholders is a complex process and requires careful evaluation and planning. This is particularly a challenge in the presence of intractable conflict. The feral pig (Sus scrofa) in Australia is part of one such socio-ecological system. There is a large and heterogeneous group of stakeholders interested in pig management. Pigs have diverse effects on wildlife and plant ecology, economic, health, and social sectors. This study used the feral pig management system as a vehicle to examine intractable conflict in socio-ecological systems. The purpose of the study was …

Show And Tell: Using Restorative Practices And Asset Based Community Development To Address Issues Of Safety And Violence, Tera Lynn Mcintosh

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore how restorative practices could help increase the social fabric within communities in order to help solve complex community problems. Although literature on restorative practices is bountiful for the purposes of restorative justice and restorative practices in schools, there is little literature on how to use restorative practices to create more restorative communities or neighborhoods. For the purpose of this study I looked at the issue of violence and safety within a particular community and implemented a framework of restorative practices that focused on asset based community development and building healthier relationships. I …

Formative Research And Community Resilience: A Case Of Under Addressed Youth Problem Gambling, Michea Caye

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The overarching research topic for this study is the issue of effectively engaging and informing community and government decision makers about health issues that can negatively impact a community's resilience. The question guiding this study is how can formative research engage and inform community and government decision makers about the under addressed issue of youth problem gambling (YPG) in Windham County, Vermont? The study has two aims: 1) to develop a formative research conceptual framework and evaluate its effectiveness in addressing the public health issue of youth problem gambling, and 2) to use the formative research methodology to develop a …