scholarly journals The Practice of Civic Tech: Tensions in the Adoption and Use of New Technologies in Community Based Organizations

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 57-68
Author(s):  
Eric Gordon ◽  
Rogelio Alejandro Lopez
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Small Organizations ◽  
Community Based Organizations ◽  
Civic Work

This article reports on a qualitative study of community based organizations’ (CBOs) adoption of information communication technologies (ICT). As ICTs in the civic sector, otherwise known as civic tech, get adopted with greater regularity in large and small organizations, there is need to understand how these technologies shape and challenge the nature of civic work. Based on a nine-month ethnographic study of one organization in Boston and additional interviews with fourteen other organizations throughout the United States, the study addresses a guiding research question: how do CBOs reconcile the changing (increasingly mediated) nature of civic work as ICTs, and their effective adoption and use for civic purposes, increasingly represent forward-thinking, progress, and innovation in the civic sector?—of civic tech as a measure of “keeping up with the times.” From a sense of top-down pressures to innovate in a fast-moving civic sector, to changing bottom-up media practices among community constituents, our findings identify four tensions in the daily practice of civic tech, including: 1) function vs. representation, 2) amplification vs. transformation, 3) grassroots vs. grasstops, and 4) youth vs. adults. These four tensions, derived from a grounded theory approach, provide a conceptual picture of a civic tech landscape that is much more complicated than a suite of tools to help organizations become more efficient. The article concludes with recommendations for practitioners and researchers.

“Airplanes Not Walls”: Broaching Unauthorized (Im)migration and Schooling in Mexico

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (8) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Sarah Gallo ◽  
Andrea Ortiz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
School Teacher ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Video Recording ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Fifth Grade ◽  
Educational Practices ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Grade Classroom

Background/Context This article builds on U.S.-based research on undocumented status and schooling to examine how an elementary school teacher in Mexico successfully integrates transnational students’ experiences related to unauthorized (im)migration into the classroom. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Drawing on a politicized funds of knowledge framework, we focus on an exceptional fifth-grade teacher's curricular, pedagogical, and relational decisions to provide concrete examples of how educators on both sides of the border can carefully integrate students’ politicized experiences into their classrooms. Setting This research took place in a semirural fifth-grade classroom in Central Mexico during the 2016–2017 academic year, when Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. Population/Participants/Subjects This article focuses on the routine educational practices within a single fifth-grade classroom in a highly transnational Central Mexican town. Participants included a binational student who had recently relocated to Mexico because of U.S.-based immigration policies, her peers from transnational families with ties to the United States, and their fifth-grade teacher. Research Design This school-based ethnographic study involved weekly participant observation and video recording of routine activities in Profe Julio's fifth-grade classroom during the 2016–2017 academic year. Observations were triangulated with additional data sources such as interviews (with educators, binational students, and binational caregivers) and artifacts (such as homework assignments and student writing). Findings/Results Through a close examination of a fifth-grade classroom in Mexico, we illustrate how the teacher brought students’ (im)migration experiences into school by leveraging openings in the curriculum, developing interpersonal relationships of care, and engaging in a range of pedagogical moves. Conclusions/Recommendations We discuss how this teacher's educational practices could be carefully tailored to U.S. classrooms within the current anti-immigrant context. These practices include building relationships of care, looking for openings in the curriculum, providing academic distance, prioritizing teachers as learners, and working with school leadership for guidance on navigating politicized topics under the current U.S. administration.

Urban Redevelopment Planning and Social Work Practice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie A. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Urban Redevelopment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Organizations ◽  
Inclusive Processes ◽  
Private Investors

Urban neighborhood disinvestment in the United States resulted in deferred maintenance of buildings and common social problems experienced by residents. Strategies to redevelop neighborhoods include collaboration among many subsystems seeking to collectively invest in places and people. Contemporary federal initiatives focus on incentivizing coordinated investments between existing local community-based organizations, local and federal government, and private investors. Public–private partnerships include anchor institutions with commitments to the long-term success of place-based initiatives who invest their financial, intellectual, social, and political capital. Social workers are embedded in local community-based organizations and relationships with residents in neighborhoods experiencing redevelopment. Social workers can help guide top-down and bottom-up approaches to neighborhood revitalization toward more equitable and inclusive processes and outcomes. Resident engagement in redeveloping neighborhoods takes many forms and requires differing skill sets for social workers. Urban redevelopment is a global trend with common critiques regarding relying on gentrification and market-driven strategies with private investors.

Worker Centers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice B. Gates
Keyword(s):  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Planned Change ◽  
Community Practice ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Settlement Houses ◽  
Worker Centers ◽  
Community Based Organizations ◽  
State And Local

This entry describes worker centers as new sites of community practice. Worker centers are community-based organizations focused on the needs of low-wage and immigrant workers. This new organizational form emerged most prominently in the United States since the mid-1990s, largely in response to concerns about workplace abuses in low-wage and informal sectors. Drawing on multiple traditions, including labor unions, settlement houses, and ethnic agencies, worker centers offer a hybrid approach to planned change: They support workers organizing for collective action, provide direct services, and advocate for policy change at state and local levels. In the last decade, worker centers have led the efforts to pass legislation protecting domestic workers and helped low-wage workers win millions of dollars in lost or stolen wages from employers. These and other notable examples of U.S. worker centers’ contributions to community practice and social justice will be discussed.

scholarly journals Homelessness during COVID-19: Challenges, Responses, and Lessons Learned from Homeless Service Providers in Tippecanoe County, Indiana

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia M. Rodriguez ◽  
Alexa M. Lahey ◽  
Justin J. MacNeill ◽  
Rebecca G. Martinez ◽  
Nina E. Teo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Community Based Organizations

Abstract Background: The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare some of the United States’ most devastating health and social inequities faced by people experiencing homelessness. Homeless populations experience disproportionate rates of underlying health conditions, stigma and marginalization that often disenfranchise them from health and social services, and living conditions that potentiate the risk of COVID-19 transmission and adverse outcomes. Methods: Guided by the socio-ecological model, this community-based participatory research study examined the impacts of the COVID-19 public health crisis on people experiencing homelessness in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, and the ways in which homeless service providers prepared for, experienced, and responded to the pandemic. Eighteen (18) semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of 15 community-based organizations, including shelters and other homeless service providers.Results: Qualitative content analysis revealed multilevel challenges and responses to COVID-19 impact mitigation in this community, including the implementation of diverse safety measures, policies and novel service delivery innovations.Conclusions: Community-based organizations, including homeless shelters, are uniquely qualified to inform pandemic response and disaster risk mitigation in order to respond appropriately to the specific needs of people experiencing homelessness. Many of the emergency measures put in place by homeless service providers in Tippecanoe County, Indiana created opportunities for innovative solutions to longstanding challenges faced by homeless populations that can inform better service delivery moving forward, long after the COVID-19 pandemic. The lessons learned and shared by homeless service providers on the frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic have important implications to improve future disaster response for homeless and other vulnerable populations.

It’s Alive! Sounds for the Vault

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-95
Author(s):  
Lewis Kawahara
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Pacific Islander ◽  
The United States ◽  
Collections Management ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Organizations ◽  
The Status

A questionnaire was sent to 93 Asian American Pacific Islander organizations and museums throughout the United States. The questionnaire queried the status of Asian American Pacific Islander sound collections that are housed by Asian American Pacific Islander community-based organizations and museums. The questionnaire asked the Respondents basic questions as well as the types of formats used, storage of sound-related materials, and collections management questions. In conclusion recommendations were made on caring and maintaining an Asian American Pacific Islander sound collection.

Applying Systems Thinking Approaches to Address Preventive Health Factors through Public Parks and Recreation Agencies

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Penbrooke ◽  
Michael Edwards ◽  
Jason Bocarro ◽  
Karla Henderson ◽  
J. Aaron Hipp
Keyword(s):  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
The United States ◽  
Preventive Health ◽  
Delphi Panel ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Parks And Recreation ◽  
Health Factors

Within the United States parks and recreation agencies (P&R) manage public facilities, spaces, lands, and recreation programs. Public health (PH) evidence has increasingly pointed to local public P&R agencies as critical for promoting preventive health. Programs and strategies are available, but most P&R agencies have limited resources and lack local knowledge on which to base actions. However, the research base is growing. The global research question has shifted from asking IF P&R agencies can positively affect PH factors, to HOW they can best do so with limited resources.This research adapted a systems theory approach to how local public P&R agencies are addressing health factors. Methods included a literature review along with iterative exploration through a three-stage Delphi panel study with 17 P&R agency Expert Panelists in the U.S and Canada. Panelists were identified through a waterfall selection process. Each had at least three years of senior administration experience with interest in addressing PH factors.The study explored which preventive factors appear to be most modifiable by P&R. Results indicated increased physical activity, improved nutrition, enhanced safety or perception of safety, increased social and parental engagement, improved transportation and access to locations (especially nature), and cessation or reduced overconsumption of tobacco and alcohol. However, the priority of factors varies by community, and the continuing challenge is determining the priority of the factors for agencies and their partners to address. Community-specific data are not typically readily available to P&R agencies. Programs, strategies, internal methods, policies, and documents utilized by agencies were collected. Thirty-one related national initiatives (programs) were identified and ranked by the panelists.Key common strategies for P&R were identified. Results indicated a need to focus strategies on leadership and adequate funding to create a strong organizational culture of systematic assessment for addressing PH through allocation of P&R staff and financial resources. Systems thinking analysis and strategies can improve outcomes for cultural ethics of inclusion and equity, equitable access to assets and programs, collaboration with other partners, utilization of crime prevention and environmental design strategies, increased health promotions and education, and centralized tracking and evaluation of feasible measures.Implications for research include needs for additional validation and dissemination of research, evidence-based tools, and proven methods. There continues to be a strong need to help address gaps in knowledge transfer between research and practice realms. Management implications suggest methods for practice to enhance systems-thinking approaches for better preventive health outcomes through P&R in communities.

scholarly journals Measuring Efforts of Nonprofit Hospitals to Address Opioid Abuse After the Affordable Care Act

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 215013271986361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berkeley Franz ◽  
Cory E. Cronin ◽  
Alexandra Wainwright ◽  
José A. Pagán
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression ◽  
The United States ◽  
Opioid Abuse ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Nonprofit Hospitals ◽  
Community Based Organizations ◽  
Risk Education ◽  
The Affordable Care Act

Objectives: To assess the strategies that nonprofit hospitals are adopting to address opioid abuse after requirements for community engagement expanded in the Affordable Care Act. Methods: We constructed a dataset of implementation activities for a 20% random sample of nonprofit hospitals in the United States. Using logistic regression, we assessed the extent to which strategies adopted are new, existing, or primarily partnerships. Using negative binomial regression, we assessed the total number of strategies adopted. We controlled for hospital and community characteristics as well as state policies related to opioid abuse. Results: Most strategies adopted by hospitals were new and clinical in nature and the most common number of strategies adopted was one. Hospitals in the Northeast were more likely to adopt a higher number of strategies and to partner with community-based organizations. Hospitals that partner with community-based organizations were more likely to adopt strategies that engage in harm reduction, targeted risk education, or focus on addressing social determinants of health. Conclusions: Community, institutional, and state policy characteristics predict hospital involvement in addressing opioid abuse. These findings underscore several opportunities to support hospital-led interventions to address opioid abuse.

Conceptualizations of Domestic Violence–Related Needs among Women Who Resettled to the United States as Refugees

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 207-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Wachter ◽  
Jessica Dalpe ◽  
Laurie Cook Heffron
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
The United States ◽  
Culturally Competent ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Organizations ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract Despite robust evidence of the myriad consequences associated with intimate partner violence (IPV), social services in the United States may not adequately account for and respond to variations in how women resettling as refugees conceptualize service and support needs. With this study, the authors sought to develop a more nuanced understanding of needs as expressed by women resettling to the United States as refugees. Researchers conducted in-depth interviews and focus groups with refugee women who resettled to the United States (n = 35) and social services providers (n = 53), including those working in refugee resettlement or domestic violence agencies or community-based organizations. The research team used structural coding and thematic analysis to examine the data, through which they identified four themes: (1) living with enduring consequences of IPV, (2) “I just want them to help me,” (3) “I need you to talk to my husband,” and (4) “How will I pay the rent?” The study findings point to broader structural concerns shaping women’s resettlement experiences, as well as areas of incongruence between women’s conceptualizations of needs and established practice approaches. Implications for culturally competent and survivor-centered practice are discussed.

E-Civic Engagement and the Youth

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 87-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kheir Al-Kodmany ◽  
John Betancur ◽  
Sanjeev Vidyarthi
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Low Income ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
After School ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Community Based Organizations ◽  
Wide Range

This article explores how community-based organizations working in low-income residential neighborhoods of U.S. cities employ e-tools and social networking platforms to engage the youth. The authors interviewed representatives of community organizations that work with young adults from lower-income groups in Chicago to comprehend their actual usages and perceptions of electronic tools. These organizations facilitate a wide-range of initiatives including political and after-school education, gang-free spaces, crime intervention and prevention, and arts and media. They found that the organizations have internalized the idea of employing e-Engagement techniques to enhance communication with their constituents but use new technologies and social media in multiple ways. Many respondents posit that the presently available e-tools enable certain forms of civic engagement but require sustained resources. Also stressed is the roles of face-to-face communication, offline-meetings, and other traditional means of interaction to ensure the commitment and quality of effective engagement in this age of e-participations.

Both sides of the Paycheck: Recommending Thrift to the Poor in Job Readiness Programs

2020 ◽  
pp. 089692052096453
Author(s):  
Brian Hennigan ◽  
Gretchen Purser
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Economic Order ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Job Readiness ◽  
Target Populations ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Wage Employment

This article documents how job readiness programs—as anchors of the devolved organizational landscape of neoliberal poverty governance in the United States—endeavor to instill within the poor not simply the virtue of work, but the virtue of thrift, and thus orient them to “both sides of the paycheck.” Using a comparative ethnographic study of two community-based, government-funded nonprofit job readiness programs, we show that this pedagogic focus on budgeting is central to the overall goal of conditioning clients to embrace and endure a degraded labor market. Recognizing that most participants will remain poor with or without low-wage employment, these programs suggest that it is as crafty consumers that participants may retake control of their lives. Despite the programs’ differing target populations and racialized and gendered logics, both attempt to accommodate participants to the dictates of the neoliberal economic order: jobs are hard to find and, even if you get one, wages will not be enough.

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