Community development training - A comparative approach

Formal training in the area of community development is a relativelynew movement in education. While much training has occured informally,the role of educational and community organizations in thistraining has been less clear. The following paper considerscommunity development training in three different regions: Australia,Sri Lanka and Fiji, and with it the countries of the South Pacificthrough three regional organizations based in Suva. Some considerationis given to formal training through accredited courses, as wellas non-formal training, methods and enues.     

Community development and control in a state-local partnership in Aotearoa New Zealand

This paper is a case study of an attempt, using community developmentmethods, by local members of a state-local partnership to gainmore governance control in the face of central government dominance.The process highlighted in this case study was a community visioningexercise that built on existing networks at a local level todevelop the higher degree of active community involvement requiredto achieve more autonomy to meet felt community needs throughoutthe local district. The resources activated through the community development processenabled the partnership to successfully challenge central governmentdominance and develop local initiatives. It also raised issuesaround the autonomous development of mana whenua (the indigenouspeople of that place) initiatives and those of outlying ruralcommunities. The overall conclusion is one that supports a strategicapproach to local empowerment through the community developmentprocesses of enhancing local interactive multi-stakeholder networksand using leverage to negotiate change, in this case, by exploitingseemingly endemic structural weaknesses of the central government.     

The Potential of A College Town As A Retirement Community

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential of college towns as retirement communities. The uniqueness of college towns as potential retirement communities are identified and discussed. Differences between college towns and Sunbelt state retirement destinations regarding the factors that are most concerned by retiree migrants in their decision-making for relocation were compared. The results showed no differences between the college towns and the Sunbelt state retirement cities. Only a few differences existed among the college town subgroups. The findings are of value to the senior living industry, local government and chamber of commerce in their efforts in marketing college towns as prospective retirement communities.     

Community College Health Service Programs: A Progress Report

Abstract

What progress has been made in improving the health service programs available to the millions of students attending the nation's public community colleges? This question was investigated by sending a follow-up survey to deans of students in 1977; the original study was done five years earlier and resulted in a national profile of health service programs at public two-year institutions.

Some of the significant findings were: the percent of colleges offering health service programs has increased from 41.5% to 51.3%; the campus nurse continues to be the most common health professionals available to students; facilities are considered to be adequate and accessible; and a broad range of student health needs are met. New elements in the survey covered health education and mental health services, and these were positively evaluated.

On the basis of survey results it was concluded that community colleges have made considerable progress in improving student health services, but there is still much to be done.     

A longitudinal evaluation of government-sponsored job skills training and basic employment services among U.S. baby boomers with economic disadvantages

Job skills training is a cost-effective strategy for improving employment among individuals who have low income and employment barriers, but few U.S. government-sponsored employment program participants have received such training. To better understand long-term gains from job skills training, this study compared employment and earnings trajectories between program participants who received job skills training and those who received basic services only. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we estimated 33-year employment and earnings trajectories among U.S. baby-boomer cohorts while accounting for baseline group heterogeneity using inverse propensity score weighting. We found increases in employment rates over the life course, especially among Black women. Job skills training also increased earnings by up to 69.6 % compared to basic services only. Despite the long-term gains in employment and earnings, job skills training participation is not sufficient to address gender as well as racial and ethnic gaps in full-time employment. Findings reinforce the importance of incorporating job skills training as an essential service element of government-sponsored employment programs to improve long-term labor market outcomes among Americans with economic disadvantages.     

Project Homeless: A Model for Student Involvement in Community College

This paper describes the way students activated community awareness and involvement in the problem of homelessness in their rural area by participating in Project Homeless, a community organization and planning course. Students studied research and collected data by interviewing service providers to discover met and un-met needs, problems, and available resources. As a result of their findings, the community mental health center sponsored a task force on homelessness.     

Teaching Sociology in Community College: Balancing Ideals with Institutional Constraints

Many professionals experience conflict between personal ideals about the meaning and importance of their work, and the structural limitations of the workplace. This conflict presents professionals with the challenge of how to hold true to their ideals within a non-supportive or even hostile environment. In this paper, I describe my experiences balancing my ideals about teaching, learning, and the purpose of a college education with the institutional constraints of a community college. There are three main sections in this paper. First is a discussion of the reasons I chose a career in community college teaching. The second section focuses on the institutional constraints I have encountered over the first 5 years of my career. In the third section, I explain how I have attempted to balance my ideals with the structural limitations of the college where I teach. Throughout the paper, I blend personal narrative with the relevant literature. In doing so, I intend to use my personal experience as a lens for discussing the challenges and possibilities that characterize community college teaching in general.     

Winnicott and clinical social work: A facilitating partnership

This article examines the applicability of D. W. Winnicott's theoretical concepts to clinical social work practice with clients whose psychosocial well-being has been compromised by environmental deprivation and related developmental vulnerabilities. This examination is organized around three questions: (1) Why is Winnicott relevant for social work? (2) Which of his concepts are most useful for social workers? (3) How can these concepts be put into practice with social work problems and populations? The translation of theory to practice is illustrated with case material.     

Combining key elements in training and research: Developing social work assessment theory and practice in partnership

This paper is based on a joint project between staff from a university department of social work and a local social services department and is jointly written by the four people involved. It reports on the development of a package of training and research over the past 5 years designed to improve standards of assessment in the work of child and family social workers employed by the authority. It analyses the positive reception given to the project both from practising social workers and from management. It contends that this model of combining theory, training, research and practice can and should be used more widely as a basis for supporting and developing professional social work. It discusses the introduction of a theoretical framework which anticipated the new national framework for assessment, but which has been used to critically assess it (as well as other models of assessment), and has involved experienced workers in their evaluation.     

Women and plant closings: Unemployment,re-employment,and job training enrollment following dislocation

Major changes in the U.S. economy are leaving blue collar women vulnerable to extended unemployment, permanent job loss, or re-employment at lower wage and benefit levels. Consequently, retraining for other jobs may be a virtual necessity. Information about factors associated with women's employment status after job loss may be useful to policy makers and program planners providing assistance or training to dislocated women. This study of women workers, who are dislocated from jobs in textile and apparel plants in Georgia, identifies the differences between women who are unemployed, re-employed, or enrolled in job training programs following job loss. Findings suggest that stage of the family life cycle and the demands of combining production work and family responsibilities contribute to women's experience of unemployment and their labor market participation.     

Growing with youth: A lifewide and lifelong perspective on youth-adult partnership in youth programs

Youth-adult partnership (Y-AP) shows promise for positive youth development, yet research seldom examines how youth programs employ Y-AP as a developmental practice. This paper provides a developmental ecological perspective on Y-AP in programs and communities with data collected across a mid-sized city. In Study 1, interview data suggest adult practitioners hold three distinct goals for Y-AP: voice, decisionmaking, and leadership. We identify program practices for carrying out YAP including building positive adult-youth relationships, engaging youth in first-hand learning, and addressing developmental progression; i.e., gradually increasing opportunities and responsibilities as youth age. In Study 2 we investigate this practice of supporting developmental progression with a case study focused on adolescent opportunities and supports in a multi-age program. Study 2 findings present a picture of YAP opportunities highly integrated into program operations; in particular, integrated into the multiage context. These studies offer insight into strengthening program and community capacity for Y-AP.     

Sexual and Reproductive Health Behaviors of California Community College Students

Abstract

Objective: To explore the sexual and reproductive health behaviors of students from 13 community college campuses in California. Participants: Heterosexual college students, ages 18 to 24, who have had sexual intercourse (N = 4,487). Methods: The American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) survey was administered in class to randomly selected classrooms at 12 institutions and electronically to randomly selected e-mails of students at 1 institution from March through April 2007. Results: This sample of community college students reported higher rates of risky sexual behaviors, unintended pregnancy, emergency contraception, and sexually transmitted diseases, and lower rates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing, than the overall ACHA-NCHA reference group. Those who had been tested for HIV reported more sexual partners, and lower rates of condom use. Conclusions: The data provide justification for broader educational programs and access to family planning services, condoms, and HIV testing on community college campuses.     

高校思想政治工作进学生社区研究

思想政治工作进学生社区是当前高校思想政治教育工作面临的新课题,面临着观念缺乏、工作模式、工作难度与服务差距等诸多挑战。本文拟从思想政治工作进学生社区的思想观念、组织形式、管理机制、方法手段等方面的创新作进一步的探索,以增强学生社区思想政治工作的创新性和实效性。     

On‐the‐job training in Europe: Determinants and wage returns

Using data from the European Community Household Panel on six countries over the period 1995–2001, this article investigates the determinants of workers’ participation in training activities and the effects of training on wages. Based on measures of four distinct training types, the authors find that while OLS estimates yield significant wage returns to training for nearly all of the countries, fixed‐effects estimations show returns to be not statistically different from zero. This suggests that wage returns to training might be overstated due to failure to take adequate account of the correlation of training with confounding factors that affect wages.     

Household job search: A theoretical and empirical model

This article links the literature on family decision making and the economics of job search by examining job search by an unemployed individual within a household context. A theoretical model was developed which demonstrates the interdependence of the utility of household members when one is searching for work. The costs of search are borne by all household members while the benefits are captured in the searcher's expected future wage. A reservation wage was shown to be determined by household financing options, and the perception of relevant labor market parameters. An empirical model of the reservation wage for a sample of unemployment insurance recipients was estimated using two-stage least squares. Results, reported for male and female subgroups, support the hypotheses derived from the household job search model. In particular, the reservation wage was shown to depend on unemployment duration, labor market conditions, increased labor force participation of other household members, use of household assets to finance search, existence of dependents, and unemployment insurance benefits.     

A Welfare Trap? The Duration and Dynamics of Social Assistance Use among Lone Mothers in Canada

À la fin des années 1990, la politique de l'aide sociale canadienne s'est transformée, pour se concentrer sur la diminution de la «dépendance» ou de l'aide sociale à long terme. En utilisant des données de l'Enquête sur la dynamique du travail et du revenu (1996–2001) et l'analyse historique des événements, l'auteur étudie la durée de l'aide sociale chez les mères monoparentales et autres chefs de ménage. Ses résultats montrent que l'instruction des mères monoparentales et leur expérience du marché du travail constituaient des prédicteurs moins importants de la durée de l'aide sociale que leur histoire conjugale. Quoique les prestations qu'elles recevaient duraient généralement peu de temps, l'auteur a trouvé la preuve d'une dépendance néfaste, ou du «piège de l'aide sociale», après un contrôle de l'hétérogénéité non observée. C'est un exemple démontrant que recevoir de l'aide sociale est non seulement le résultat de trajectoires de vie particulières, mais façonne aussi la vie. In the late 1990s, the Canadian social assistance policy changed to focus on reducing “dependency” or long‐term receipt. Using data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (1996–2001) and event history models, we investigate the duration of social assistance receipt for lone mothers and other household heads. We find that lone mothers' education and labor force experience were less important predictors for their duration on social assistance than their previous marital history. Although receipt was generally short term, we find evidence of negative duration dependence, or a “welfare trap,” after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. This indicates one way in which a welfare receipt is not only the result of particular life course trajectories but also shapes lives.     

Validation of the Individual and Community Empowerment Inventory: A Measure of Rap Music Engagement among First-Year College Students

Amid robust debates about the impact of music on the lives of young people, empirically validated measures of music engagement are absent. The present study builds on the construction of the Individual and Community Empowerment (ICE) inventory, a measure to capture different types of empowerment and different types of risk potential from rap music engagement. The scientific intent of the scale development and the present validation study was to test the simultaneous presence of empowerment and risk associated with music engagement and its application to the individual and community. A unique sample existed for the present study in comparison to the original, with the bulk of respondents being first-year college students and White. Results of the present study suggest that the ICE inventory is an effective and comparative measure of risk and empowerment. Major findings about the instrument’s utility were replicated, but results were divergent from original research on certain demographic trends with respect to gender, age, and race/ethnicity. Empowering and risky music engagement scale means were higher among male and younger respondents. White respondents had significantly lower mean scores than all other groups on empowerment scales, and African Americans had lower scores on the individual risk scale than other groups. Each result suggests the need for additional research. The validation of the ICE inventory offers promise for helping to collect, organize, and interpret new data on associations between music engagement and desirable health and well-being outcomes.