Societies

Editorial

7 pages, 717 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Enhancing the Role of Government, Non-Profits, Universities, and Resident Associations as Valuable Community Resources to Advance Equity, Access, Diversity, and Inclusion

by Ivis García and April Jackson

Societies 2021, 11(2), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc11020033 - 10 Apr 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4269

Abstract

Asset-based community development (ABCD) recognizes the value of six local assets: (1) individuals or community residents, (2) neighborhood resident associations (3) local institutions (e.g., government, non-profits, and universities) (4), physical space (e.g., parks, vacant lots, etc.), (5) economy and exchange (e.g., business development, [...] Read more.

Asset-based community development (ABCD) recognizes the value of six local assets: (1) individuals or community residents, (2) neighborhood resident associations (3) local institutions (e.g., government, non-profits, and universities) (4), physical space (e.g., parks, vacant lots, etc.), (5) economy and exchange (e.g., business development, barter, etc.), and (6) culture, history, and stories. ABCD draws upon these assets to build stronger and more sustainable communities [1] (see Figure 1) [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing the Role of Government, Non-Profits, Universities, and Resident Associations as Valuable Community Resources to Advance Equity, Access, Diversity and Inclusion)

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Research

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13 pages, 417 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Representations of Travellers in Public Policies in Ireland

by Claire Jane Snowdon and Leena Eklund Karlsson

Societies 2021, 11(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc11010014 - 20 Feb 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5287

Abstract

In Ireland, negative stereotypes of the Traveller population have long been a part of society. The beliefs that surround this minority group may not be based in fact, yet negative views persist such that Travellers find themselves excluded from mainstream society. The language [...] Read more.

In Ireland, negative stereotypes of the Traveller population have long been a part of society. The beliefs that surround this minority group may not be based in fact, yet negative views persist such that Travellers find themselves excluded from mainstream society. The language used in discourse plays a critical role in the way Travellers are represented. This study analyses the discourse in the public policy regarding Travellers in the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy (NTRIS) 2017–2021. This study performs a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the policy with the overall aims of showing signs of the power imbalance through the use of language and revealing the discourses used by elite actors to retain power and sustain existing social relations. The key findings show that Travellers are represented as a homogenous group that exists outside of society. They have no control over how their social identity is constructed. The results show that the constructions of negative stereotypes are intertextually linked to previous policies, and the current policy portrays them in the role of passive patients, not powerful actors. The discursive practice creates polarity between the “settled” population and the “Travellers”, who are implicitly blamed by the state for their disadvantages. Through the policy, the government disseminates expert knowledge, which legitimises the inequality and supports this objective “truth”. This dominant discourse, which manifests in wider social practice, can facilitate racism and social exclusion. This study highlights the need for Irish society to change the narrative to support an equitable representation of Travellers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing the Role of Government, Non-Profits, Universities, and Resident Associations as Valuable Community Resources to Advance Equity, Access, Diversity and Inclusion)

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28 pages, 6984 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Student Housing Choices and Neighborhood Change: Brown University 1937–1987

by Nathaniel Philip Pettit and Marijoan Bull

Societies 2020, 10(4), 85; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc10040085 - 8 Nov 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3910

Abstract

The formal ambitions and societal expectations of anchor institutions have shifted over time. Many universities have evolved from walled-off enclaves, to self-interested urban redevelopers, to mutual gain negotiators. Detailed accounts exist of universities, as anchor institutions, directly displacing low-income communities of color by [...] Read more.

The formal ambitions and societal expectations of anchor institutions have shifted over time. Many universities have evolved from walled-off enclaves, to self-interested urban redevelopers, to mutual gain negotiators. Detailed accounts exist of universities, as anchor institutions, directly displacing low-income communities of color by utilizing the higher education provisions of urban renewal. This case study of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, adds to this history by documenting the university’s contribution to the diminution of a working-class neighborhood of color specifically through student residency philosophies and policies, enrollment expansion, and real-estate decisions, during 1937–1987. Brown University’s choices played out in a neighborhood already scarred by interstate highway construction and urban renewal. Drawing from primary source materials on institutional decision-making this work examines the transformation of Brown University’s models of student housing amidst evolving community concerns about the demolition of historic properties and push back around increasing displacement pressures. Several issues and research directions for the new era of equity centered anchor work emerge from this historical recounting of an anchor institution’s student housing choices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing the Role of Government, Non-Profits, Universities, and Resident Associations as Valuable Community Resources to Advance Equity, Access, Diversity and Inclusion)

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15 pages, 2041 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Storytelling and Arts to Facilitate Community Capacity Building for Urban Planning and Social Work

by Crystal Taylor and Qinghong Wei

Societies 2020, 10(3), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc10030064 - 7 Sep 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 6191

Abstract

Creating social connections and fostering engagement in communities is a growing challenge for community work. Planners, social workers, and community activists are starting to look towards the arts and storytelling as a way to promote community capacity. A community in Lopez Island, Washington, [...] Read more.

Creating social connections and fostering engagement in communities is a growing challenge for community work. Planners, social workers, and community activists are starting to look towards the arts and storytelling as a way to promote community capacity. A community in Lopez Island, Washington, facing sustainable housing and agricultural issues brought in a two-day storytelling and theatre program to build capacity for their ecosocial work. This research describes facilitator engagement methodology and pilots a community capacity survey to evaluate the experience of workshop participants. Preliminary results show that the storytelling program makes strides in deepening connections to others and generating authentic dialogue. Participants reported both positive experiences of building trust and negative feelings of vulnerability. As funding can be a major barrier for community groups to incorporate arts programs, this research introduces a preliminary survey that communities can adapt and improve upon to help them start gathering evidence-based data for assessing measures of community capacity. Though the facilitators brought unique theatrical and choreographic skills to the programming, planners and social workers can take away for practice a simple storytelling exercise that participants enthusiastically expressed fostered listening, trust, and connection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing the Role of Government, Non-Profits, Universities, and Resident Associations as Valuable Community Resources to Advance Equity, Access, Diversity and Inclusion)

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24 pages, 18735 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Gown Goes to Town: Negotiating Mutually Beneficial Relationships between College Students, City Planners, and a Historically Marginalized African-American Neighborhood

by April Jackson, Tisha Holmes and Tyler McCreary

Societies 2020, 10(3), 61; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc10030061 - 17 Aug 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 6499

Abstract

University–community partnerships have long sought to develop interventions to empower historically marginalized community members. However, there is limited critical attention to tensions faced when community engaged courses support urban planning initiatives in communities of color. This article explores how three Florida State University [...] Read more.

University–community partnerships have long sought to develop interventions to empower historically marginalized community members. However, there is limited critical attention to tensions faced when community engaged courses support urban planning initiatives in communities of color. This article explores how three Florida State University planning classes sought to engage the predominantly African-American Griffin Heights community in Tallahassee, Florida. Historically, African-American communities have been marginalized from the planning process, undermining community trust and constraining city planning capacity to effectively engage and plan with African-American community members. In this context, there are opportunities for planning departments with relationships in the African-American community to facilitate more extensive community engagement and urban design processes that interface with broader city planning programs. However, mediating relationships between the community and the city within the context of applied planning classes presents unique challenges. Although city planners have increasingly adopted the language of community engagement, many processes remain inflexible, bureaucratic, and under resourced. Reliance on inexperienced students to step in as community bridges may also limit the effectiveness of community engagement. Thus, while community engaged courses create opportunities to facilitate community empowerment, they also at times risk perpetuating the disenfranchisement of African-American community members in city planning processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing the Role of Government, Non-Profits, Universities, and Resident Associations as Valuable Community Resources to Advance Equity, Access, Diversity and Inclusion)

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17 pages, 3598 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Preservation without Representation: Making CLG Programs Vehicles for Inclusive Leadership, Historic Preservation, and Engagement

by Andrea R. Roberts

Societies 2020, 10(3), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc10030060 - 11 Aug 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5712

Abstract

This article examines public historic preservation agencies’ ability to support social inclusion aims within the context of the Certified Local Government (CLG) program. Though administered by the Texas Historical Commission, Texas’ State CLG program is federally-funded and makes available special access to technical [...] Read more.

This article examines public historic preservation agencies’ ability to support social inclusion aims within the context of the Certified Local Government (CLG) program. Though administered by the Texas Historical Commission, Texas’ State CLG program is federally-funded and makes available special access to technical assistance, grants, and loans to qualifying communities contingent on compliance. Program surveys the state staff administered to city and county historical commissions with the CLG designation indicate challenges around diversifying their leadership and identifying training opportunities. This article reviews those surveys to detect insights into how the state CLG program can create spaces in which local commissions can increase their “representativeness” through changes in assessment and training content. Specifically, I analyze two government assessment tools used to evaluate local CLGs’ ability to meet federal and state training and participation expectations. I compare these survey results to self-assessment activities and questionnaires collected during a pilot training on implicit bias, outreach, and cultural resource surveying I conducted with multiple CLGs in Gonzales, Texas. Findings suggest more creatively designed training and capacity building is necessary around inclusion, identifying structural barriers to participation, and foundational knowledge of historic preservation and planning practice, and ethics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing the Role of Government, Non-Profits, Universities, and Resident Associations as Valuable Community Resources to Advance Equity, Access, Diversity and Inclusion)

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15 pages, 1088 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Asset-Based Perspective of the Economic Contributions of Latinx Communities: An Illinois Case Study

by Ivis García and Zafer Sönmez

Societies 2020, 10(3), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc10030059 - 29 Jul 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3739

Abstract

The study aims to measure Latinx share of economic activities and highlight and its increasing role in the economic future of their state. As a methodology we use input-output model-based IMPLAN to calculate the economic footprint of Latinx in Illinois. We demonstrate how [...] Read more.

The study aims to measure Latinx share of economic activities and highlight and its increasing role in the economic future of their state. As a methodology we use input-output model-based IMPLAN to calculate the economic footprint of Latinx in Illinois. We demonstrate how this labor force has allowed the state to expand production and purchasing power. In the conclusion we discuss how this line of investigation allows us to explore what decision makers can do to facilitate a Latinx action agenda from the asset-based perspective. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing the Role of Government, Non-Profits, Universities, and Resident Associations as Valuable Community Resources to Advance Equity, Access, Diversity and Inclusion)

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15 pages, 1181 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bridges Don’t Make Themselves: Using Community-Based Theater to Reshape Relationships: Rethinking the Idea of Abundance in ABCD

by Zechariah Lange

Societies 2020, 10(3), 54; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc10030054 - 21 Jul 2020

Viewed by 3289

Abstract

Community-based theater has a variety of manifestations, and the plurality with which these manifestations are occurring is increasing. As such, the diversity and complexity derived from these social sites of public engagement requires further understanding. This article is based upon a multi-case study [...] Read more.

Community-based theater has a variety of manifestations, and the plurality with which these manifestations are occurring is increasing. As such, the diversity and complexity derived from these social sites of public engagement requires further understanding. This article is based upon a multi-case study of two community-based theaters: one in Middle Appalachia, and the other on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Together these sites of performative expression are acting as social interventions for differing reasons within their respective contexts. Through intensive and communicative processes, the theaters provide examples of how co-created performances at the community level simultaneously catalyze relationships and alter how relationships are experienced to engage community members in discussion and performances. As a complex behavioral interaction, the two theaters simultaneously manifest dimensions of ‘abundance’, as well as expand upon normative conceptions of asset-based community development. Through process and contextual modeling, the work provides in-depth exploration to these interpersonal endeavors to assist in how socio-cultural differences as well as narrative reconstruction co-join to enact the individuality of identity across working groups as an overall discursive process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing the Role of Government, Non-Profits, Universities, and Resident Associations as Valuable Community Resources to Advance Equity, Access, Diversity and Inclusion)

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17 pages, 299 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Welcome to Canada: Why Are Family Emergency Shelters ‘Home’ for Recent Newcomers?

by Katrina Milaney, Rosaele Tremblay, Sean Bristowe and Kaylee Ramage

Societies 2020, 10(2), 37; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc10020037 - 7 May 2020

Viewed by 9613

Abstract

Although Canada is recognized internationally as a leader in immigration policy, supports are not responsive to the traumatic experiences of many newcomers. Many mothers and children arriving in Canada are at elevated risk of homelessness. Methods: This study utilized a community-engaged design, grounded [...] Read more.

Although Canada is recognized internationally as a leader in immigration policy, supports are not responsive to the traumatic experiences of many newcomers. Many mothers and children arriving in Canada are at elevated risk of homelessness. Methods: This study utilized a community-engaged design, grounded in a critical analysis of gender and immigration status. We conducted individual and group interviews with a purposive sample of 18 newcomer mothers with current or recent experiences with homelessness and with 16 service providers working in multiple sectors. Results: Three main themes emerged: gendered and racialized pathways into homelessness; system failures, and pre- and post-migration trauma. This study revealed structural barriers rooted in preoccupation with economic success that negate and exacerbate the effects of violence and homelessness. Conclusion: The impacts of structural discrimination and violence are embedded in federal policy. It is critical to posit gender and culturally appropriate alternatives that focus on system issues. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing the Role of Government, Non-Profits, Universities, and Resident Associations as Valuable Community Resources to Advance Equity, Access, Diversity and Inclusion)

20 pages, 278 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Three Local Organizing Strategies to Implement Place-Based School Integration Initiatives in a Mixed-Income Community

by April Jackson

Societies 2020, 10(1), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc10010013 - 27 Jan 2020

Viewed by 2782

Abstract

This paper explores two policy efforts to revitalize public housing communities: education reform and HOPE VI. Chicago underwent transformation of housing and schools from 2000 to 2014. I examine school integration planning efforts of three local actors in a Chicago neighborhood and ask [...] Read more.

This paper explores two policy efforts to revitalize public housing communities: education reform and HOPE VI. Chicago underwent transformation of housing and schools from 2000 to 2014. I examine school integration planning efforts of three local actors in a Chicago neighborhood and ask how do actors make integration strategies work? This research investigates how efforts to remedy existing segregation in a Chicago neighborhood combined housing and school integration efforts through a single case study approach comprised of 20 in-depth interviews. Findings show that two approaches encouraged fairness in the residential mix, but did not promote an integrated educational experience. The third approach shows how a purposeful integration strategy works as part of a place-based effort. This study provides a lens to understand ongoing local community organizing efforts supporting education reform in a Chicago neighborhood and offers lessons learned by local actors about effective approaches to address the barriers to building mixed income communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing the Role of Government, Non-Profits, Universities, and Resident Associations as Valuable Community Resources to Advance Equity, Access, Diversity and Inclusion)

Other

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20 pages, 10738 KiB

Open AccessConcept Paper

Pushing Back on Displacement: Community-Based Redevelopment through Historically Black Churches

by Branden Born, Rachel Berney, Olivia Baker, Mark R. Jones, Donald King and Dylan Marcus

Societies 2021, 11(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc11010010 - 26 Jan 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4967

Abstract

Gentrification and subsequent displacement are common problems in cities, and result in the removal of poor communities and communities of color from urban areas as they move to cheaper locations in the metropolitan region. Here we describe a community-based approach to redevelopment by [...] Read more.

Gentrification and subsequent displacement are common problems in cities, and result in the removal of poor communities and communities of color from urban areas as they move to cheaper locations in the metropolitan region. Here we describe a community-based approach to redevelopment by historic Black churches that seeks to counter such displacement and cultural removal. We explain the history of a historically Black neighborhood in Seattle and the founding and rationale for a church-led project called the Nehemiah Initiative. Our perspective is that of participants in the work of the Nehemiah Initiative and as faculty and students from a local university partner supporting it. We conclude with policy strategies that can be used to support such redevelopment in Seattle, with understanding that some may be broadly applicable to other cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing the Role of Government, Non-Profits, Universities, and Resident Associations as Valuable Community Resources to Advance Equity, Access, Diversity and Inclusion)

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