Community entrepreneurship: A framework for social change leadership

This article describes a leadership approach to social change that takes into account actors' differing interests, strategic alliances, and events in a dynamic, interorganizational community setting. The leadership and development concepts are drawn from took place in the Philadelphia area in the mid-1980s. As reflective practitioners, the authors developed and applied a new framework for proactive leadership to achieve social change.     

The Development of Green Infrastructure Policy in the North West Region of the UK 2005–2010

ABSTRACT

This article examines the development of green infrastructure policy-making in the North West region of the UK 2005–2010, through the articulation of three phases. Drawing on a conceptualisation of discourse coalitions, it is argued that this instance of the green infrastructure policy-making process became a way of bringing together various stakeholders around a shared goal. The activities that took place and how green infrastructure was conceptualized ensured that a range of policy interests was represented, and consequently, a stable discourse coalition was formed around economic priorities.     

A general causal model to guide alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug prevention: assessing the research evidence

The problems associated with the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD) extract a significant health, social, and economic toll on American society. While the field of substance abuse prevention has made great strides during the past decade, two major challenges remain. First, the field has been disorganized and fragmented with respect to its research and prevention practices; that is, there are often separate ATOD prevention "specialists." Second, both the prevention researchers who test the efficacy of specific prevention strategies and the practitioners who implement prevention efforts often lack an overall perspective to guide strategy selection. To address these limitations, we present an ATOD causal model that seeks to identify those variables (Domains) that are theoretically salient and empirically connected across alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs. For the researcher, the model demonstrates important commonalities, as well as gaps, in the literature. For the practitioner, the model is a means to recognize both the complexity of the community system that produces ATOD problems and the multiple intervention points that are possible within this system. Researchers and practitioners are thus challenged to work synergistically to find effective and cost-effective approaches to change or reduce ATOD use and associated problems.     

Programa shortstop: a culturally focused juvenile intervention for Hispanic youth

Culturally sensitive juvenile delinquency and substance abuse interventions are relatively limited and unavailable to many first-time Hispanic juvenile offenders. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a culturally focused juvenile and substance abuse intervention program for first time Hispanic youth offenders. The intent of the program was to decrease juvenile recidivism and increase substance abuse resistance. Programa Shortstop is a family based intervention designed for Hispanic youth ages 9-17. The intervention was delivered to 352 youth and at least one parent/caregiver over the 5-year study period. For intervention youth, the results of the recidivism study (n = 321) indicated that 89% of youth participating in Programa Shortstop between 1995 to 1997 were not rearrested within one year of completing Programa Shortstop. Additionally, statistical paired t-test analysis found that the intervention model had a positive effect on legal knowledge and school related factors associated with substance abuse and delinquency. Parent participants demonstrated significant increases in knowledge related to substance abuse and the legal system.     

Challenging intolerance

Social identity is multilayered and complex. Schools, communities, and nations can implement structures and approaches that help youth to understand one another and respect differences.     

A look at an interactive classroom-based drug abuse prevention program: interactive contents and suggestions for research

Interactivity has been shown to be a critical element of effective drug abuse prevention programs. This study examined the contents of Project Towards No Drug Abuse, a program that has revealed strong effects only when delivered in a highly interactive version. Types of teacher and student interactive messages were identified. It is speculated that explicit action on the part of the teacher to have students make statements and ask questions of one another may be the essence of effective drug education program delivery. Suggestions for future research on interactivity were made.     

Older women's experiences with chronic pain: daily challenges and self-care practices

The subjective nature of chronic pain leads to challenges in describing, treating, and accommodating pain. Twenty older women, who engaged in focus groups, and eight of whom also participated in individual interviews, discussed the influence of chronic pain on their perception of self as well as daily functioning. Managing pain forced many of the women to withdraw from social activities that they valued and interfered with sleep patterns, household tasks and recreational activities. Varied acceptance by social network members added to the challenge of adjusting to complications associated with pain. Self-care practices that supported independence contributed to women's perceived success in daily functioning.     

Working 'Between the Idea and the Reality': Ambiguities and Tensions in Care Managers' Work

Correspondence to Karen Postle, School of Social Studies, University College Chichester, Bishop Otter Campus, College Lane, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 6PE, UK. E-mail: k.postle{at}ucc.ac.uk Summary Social work began, and has continued to exist, in a state ofambiguity and tension, experiencing the difficulties inherentin exercising both compassion and control, and mediating betweenthe state and the individual. This article draws on recent researchundertaken with care managers working with older people in twosocial services offices to argue that this uncertain and uncomfortableposition has been exacerbated by changes since the inceptionof the NHS and Community Care Act 1990. Care managers are, forexample, trying to reconcile spending more time on paperworkand computer work with having less time for making and workingwithin relationships with people. While their work is becomingincreasingly complex, many of the processes for dealing withit are becoming increasingly reductionist. The author arguesthat this increase in tension and ambiguity influences caremanagers' working conditions, thus contributing to increasedstress levels and resultant staffing problems and affectingthe quality of service given to older people. Some possibilitiesfor optimism exist in re-evaluating the importance of the corenature of the social work relationship and reconsidering linksbetween training and practice.     

Strategies for start-ups

The article contains an empirical analysis of the strategy processes followed by new small firms to achieve speedy growth and success. It draws upon new evidence gathered by face-to-face semi-structured interviews with owner-managers of small firms. These interviews followed an agenda which investigated firm strategies in terms of environmental scanning, strategy implementation and evaluation and control. The article refers to 17 case studies of firms, constructed using this framework. Cluster analysis was used to split firms into groups of high, medium and low performers, using measures of growth, profitability and productivity. This primarily qualitative analysis is augmented by longitudinal quantitative evidence from the 150 firms from which the sub-sample of cases was selected. So the qualitative work is supported by statistical inferences from the larger dataset. This new empirical evidence supports the main hypothesis that even very young firms, who proactively use formal strategic planning, will tend to perform better than those who follow a more ‘visionary’ or reactive approach to running the business.