Youth Participation and Community Change
Youth Participation and Community Change

Author: Barry Checkoway

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-11-12

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 1136449310

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Empowered youth CAN and DO make a difference! Young people become empowered by their participation in the institutions and decisions that affect their lives—which in turn can lead to real positive change in the community. Youth Participation and Community Change presents leading authorities providing the latest research and effective approaches on how young people can be drawn to participate in organizations and communities. The diverse perspectives discuss youth participation in today’s society, the models and methods of its practice, the roles of youth and adults, and the future of youth participation and community in a diverse democracy. Approaches include those which promote participatory community-based research and evaluation, and involve youth groups in poor and racially segregated areas. The mainstream view of much of today’s youth is that of being victims of society rather than a being a possible positive influence on society as a whole. Youth Participation and Community Change seeks to shift the viewpoint from youth as being problems to empowering them to enact positive social change. The book explores community agency efforts to involve young people, and the process by which youth civic engagement promotes empowerment. Social work and public health approaches are examined, with cogent discussions on conceptual and theoretical issues. Empirically based case studies illustrate best practices and interdisciplinary work that draws upon psychology, sociology, social work, public health, education, and related academic disciplines and professional fields. Topics in Youth Participation and Community Change include: key dimensions of critical youth empowerment a case study of youth leadership development in Hawaii—the Sariling Gawa Youth Council the Lexington Youth Leadership Academy—a leadership development and community change program a new model for youth civic engagement in Hampton, Virginia three projects that engage urban youth in community change through participatory research youth engagement strategies and the benefits of youth participation in health research ten projects which used photovoice to represent, advocate, and enhance community health a participatory action research process with youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina the Growing Up in Cities project of UNESCO training students as facilitators for the Youth Empowerment Strategies (YES!) project four characteristics of engagement in the research literature and a school-community-university project differences in developmental outcomes among youth organizing, identity-support, and traditional youth development agencies Youth Participation and Community Change is thought-provoking, enlightening reading that is perfect for organizers, planners, policymakers, advocates, youth service workers, agency administrators, educators, students, and professionals in psychology, sociology, social work, urban planning, public policy, and public health.

Communities in Action
Communities in Action

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-04-27

Total Pages: 583

ISBN-13: 0309452961

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

Decolonizing Wealth
Decolonizing Wealth

Author: Edgar Villanueva

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Published: 2018-10-16

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 1523097914

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Decolonizing Wealth is a provocative analysis of the dysfunctional colonial dynamics at play in philanthropy and finance. Award-winning philanthropy executive Edgar Villanueva draws from the traditions from the Native way to prescribe the medicine for restoring balance and healing our divides. Though it seems counterintuitive, the philanthropic industry has evolved to mirror colonial structures and reproduces hierarchy, ultimately doing more harm than good. After 14 years in philanthropy, Edgar Villanueva has seen past the field's glamorous, altruistic façade, and into its shadows: the old boy networks, the savior complexes, and the internalized oppression among the “house slaves,” and those select few people of color who gain access. All these funders reflect and perpetuate the same underlying dynamics that divide Us from Them and the haves from have-nots. In equal measure, he denounces the reproduction of systems of oppression while also advocating for an orientation towards justice to open the floodgates for a rising tide that lifts all boats. In the third and final section, Villanueva offers radical provocations to funders and outlines his Seven Steps for Healing. With great compassion—because the Native way is to bring the oppressor into the circle of healing—Villanueva is able to both diagnose the fatal flaws in philanthropy and provide thoughtful solutions to these systemic imbalances. Decolonizing Wealth is a timely and critical book that preaches for mutually assured liberation in which we are all inter-connected.

Transformative Sustainable Development
Transformative Sustainable Development

Author: Kei Otsuki

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-12-05

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 1136179488

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Recent debates about sustainable development have shifted their focus from fixing environmental problems in a technocratic and economic way to more fundamental changes in social-political processes and relations. In this context, participation is a genuinely transformative approach to sustainable development, yet the process by which participation leads to transformation is not sufficiently understood. This book considers how the act of participating in sustainable development projects can bring about social transformation that is considered to be fair and just by the participants and non-participants in a broader societal context. Drawing on ideas from social theory and applied anthropology, the book proposes a reflexivity-based framework to analyse participation as a type of social action underpinned by primary experience. Development projects have a transformative effect when participants are given the opportunity to reflect on their experience, share the reflection with others, and open new space for collective deliberation and change. The book applies this framework to assess community-based participatory projects in the Amazon, African slums and rural settlements, and disaster stricken areas in Japan. It also outlines potential institutions of governance to institutionalize the change by referring to current food governance, drawing out lessons with international relevance. This book will be of interest to students of sustainable development, environmental policy and development studies, as well as practitioners and policy-makers in these fields.

Power, Process and Participation
Power, Process and Participation

Author: Rachel Slocum

Publisher:

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Offers innovative, accessible tools to enable facilitators to empower those people who are frequently omitted from decision-making processes. Focuses on participatory capacity building in ways that address the practical needs and strategic interests of the disadvantaged and disempowered. Also examines how differences in class, ethnicity, race, cast, religion, age and status can also lead to the politics of exclusion.

Participation, Community, and Public Policy in a Virginia Suburb
Participation, Community, and Public Policy in a Virginia Suburb

Author: Patricia Farrell Donahue

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2017-09-25

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1498529771

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Participation, Community, and Public Policy in a Virginia Suburb: Of Our Own Making challenges the conventional wisdom about participation in modern American communities through the story of Pimmit Hills, Virginia—one of the first federally-financed subdivisions built for World War II veterans. Its story will be familiar to the millions of baby boomers who grew up in middle-class suburbs. This book argues that every community is the sum of all of the different types of participation—positive, negative, formal, informal, direct, and indirect—and not just the few participation activities that social surveys have tracked over the past few decades, such as voting or attending religious services. At the same time, Pimmit Hills’s story is unique. Its proximity to Washington, D.C., meant its residents had front-row seats to—and sometimes supporting roles in—the creation of policies that continue to shape the America we live in today, such as childhood vaccinations, discrimination, and information technology.

Processes of Community Change and Social Action
Processes of Community Change and Social Action

Author: Allen M. Omoto

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2014-04-08

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1135628823

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume--an outgrowth of the annual meeting of the Claremont Symposium on Applied Social Psychology--focuses on examples of social change and community action, and the processes at work in creating change. The presenters engaged each other and the audience in thinking about how best to create and sustain social change. This volume represents a product of their cumulative insight, research results, and perspectives, including chapters from each of the symposium presenters, as well as a few selected chapters from other noted scholars. Taken as a whole, the volume is highly accessible and presents findings from provocative and programmatic research that offer illuminating lessons for anyone interested in attempts at community change, civic participation, and social action. Processes of Community Change and Social Action provides cutting-edge and complementary approaches to understanding the causes and effects of broad civic participation. The contributors to this volume are all distinguished researchers and theorists, well known for their work on different aspects of processes of community change and social action. They address topics related to service learning, social movements, political socialization, civil society, and especially volunteerism. This unique interdisciplinary collection appeals to social, personality, community, and developmental psychologists, sociologists, and public health researchers. It also should be of considerable interest to practitioners of social action and individuals working to create social change.

Collective Impact and Community Development Issues
Collective Impact and Community Development Issues

Author: Norman Walzer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-10-30

Total Pages: 167

ISBN-13: 1351623451

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Collective Impact is intended to help community leaders effectively engage participants in strategic planning initiatives and achieve desired results. It is a logical extension of, and builds on, earlier efforts that experienced difficulties helping groups implement actions identified in the planning processes. This book examines successful practices that apply Collective Impact principles to a variety of community development issues including reducing poverty, and similar topics. Contributing authors also examine techniques used in working with local groups to facilitate effective changes in their communities. The discussions focus on settings in which Collective Impact efforts are likely to succeed using a variety of case studies that vary by intent, purpose, and location. Discussions of involvement by community and campus partnerships, regional planning organizations, and other groups can affect the ways in which Collective Impact principles are applied and how well they work. The discussions conclude with transformational changes within Collective Impact, moving from the individual to the system and future directions for Collective Impact approaches. Practitioners and scholars alike will find the discussions of various approaches and outcomes using Collective Impact useful in designing future efforts to bring about community change. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Community Development.