A mixed-method exploration of functioning in Safe Schools/Healthy Students partnerships

This paper presents a mixed-method approach to measuring the functioning of Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative partnerships. The SS/HS national evaluation team developed a survey to collect partners’ perceptions of functioning within SS/HS partnerships. Average partnership functioning scores were used to rank each site from lowest to highest. Sites with the most favorable perceptions of partnership functioning were defined as having average scores in the top 10% (n = 10) and sites with the least favorable perceptions of partnership functioning were defined as having average scores in the bottom 10% (n = 10). Qualitative data for these 20 sites were inductively open coded for emergent themes and analyzed for patterns using grounded theory approach. Six themes emerged that distinguished sites reporting the most favorable and least favorable perceptions of partnership functioning: partner engagement, facilitators, barriers, shared decision making, partnership structure, and sustainability. Sites reporting the most favorable perceptions of partnership functioning effectively utilized collaboration processes that facilitate coalition building, such as shared decision making, effective communication, and developing a clearly defined structure. Qualitative themes from this analysis provide evidence of validity for the partnership functioning scale used and illustrate distinguishing features between sites with the most favorable and least favorable perceptions of partnership functioning.     

PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION: NAVIGATING THE EMOTIONS OF PARTNERSHIPS

This paper describes the processes involved in evaluating a Sure Start programme in one inner city area. The evaluation was set up in the spirit of participatory action research in which the researchers aimed to work in partnership with key stakeholders to both enable and sustain supportive evaluative processes. The evaluation supported the aspirations espoused by the national Sure Start agenda to improve the lives of children under four, their parents and communities through an expressed commitment to partnership working. The paper draws on ethnographic reflections to describe and analyse the processes involved in setting up the evaluation over two years. Issues of trust, ambiguity and conflict associated with partnership working are explored. In particular the emotional components of relationships required to work in partnership are described as a means of managing ambiguity and conflict and promoting trust. Emotional labour is taken as a conceptual starting point to analyse the relationships and the organisational conditions required to sustain partnerships. Further psychoanalytic and sociological studies are drawn upon to aid the analysis and in particular to understand the emotional components of partnerships in the relatively uncharted waters of inner city regeneration work.     

We're GRAND: a qualitative design and development pilot project addressing the needs and strengths of grandparents raising grandchildren

Custodial grandparents play a significant role in sustaining healthy families, but the caregiving is demanding. A social research design and development process informed a school district‐university partnership project responding to the needs of a group of custodial grandparents. Three phases of the project are described: (i) needs assessment; (ii) design and implementation of a psychoeducational group facilitated by social work faculty and a school district administrator; and (iii) evaluation of programme impact. Major themes from the needs assessment and evaluation are presented. Discussion highlights the need for school and family engagement, recognition of the significant changes in family role required for grandparents, and viewing custodial grandparents as leaders and engaged caregivers. The meaning of diversity in group intervention for this population is also explored.     

How Families Learn:

No abstract available for this article.     

Aging in (Privatized) Places: Subsidized Housing Policy and Seniors

The market-based approach of delivering affordable housing has led to a net loss of traditional public housing and an increase in alternative subsidized housing options. For poor, physically frail older adult residents, subsidized housing and its associated services and support provide an important safety net. This article explores the implications and consequences of this movement for low-income seniors. Specifically, we look at the past and current housing policies, the focus on public-private partnerships, and the transition toward mixed-income communities. The article ends with suggestions for protecting vulnerable older adult populations in a market-driven arena.     

Roles of Organizers and Champions in Building Campus—Community Prevention Partnerships

Objective: A campus—community partnership can be an effective vehicle for launching environmental strategies to prevent college alcohol-related problems. In this study, the authors' primary aim was identifying key factors that facilitate or impede colleges' efforts to build campus—community partnerships. Participants and Methods: From fall 2004 to summer 2006, administrators at five 4-year colleges participated in a multisite case study. Level of partnership development was the primary outcome. Results: Three interrelated factors facilitated higher-developed partnerships: college staff assigned to facilitate the partnerships who worked as community organizers, higherlevel college administrators who served as aggressive champions, and community initiation of the partnership. The authors did not observe this trio of factors among the less-developed partnerships. A lack of administrative support made it more difficult for a champion to emerge, a college administrator who staunchly advocated for a campus—community partnership, and for those assigned to facilitate the partnership to carry out their work. Conclusions: Colleges should appoint higher-level administrators to serve as champions, while also ensuring that those assigned to facilitate a partnership can apply community organizing skills.     

Advancing Evidence-Based Practices for Juvenile Justice Reform Through Community Development

There is a general agreement in the literature concerning what works and what does not work in reducing delinquent behavior with juvenile offenders in communities; however, this knowledge has had limited penetration into general public, political, and policymaking venues, as it is reported that less than 10% of juvenile offenders are afforded evidence-based community services. This article describes how Louisiana, through a combination of state, local, university, and national partnerships, adopted a community development model that has led to a 27% increase in juvenile-justice-involved youth having access to evidence-based services while the state witnessed a simultaneous 46% drop in juvenile arrests between 2006 and 2010.     

University-Community Partnerships Promoting Anti-Oppressive Action on Behalf of Latino/a Youth

ABSTRACT

This article emphasizes the effect university-community (UC) partnerships can have on addressing the oppression and discrimination of disenfranchised groups. It will present a process-outcome level, Freirian-inspired and Latino culture-focused UC partnership that seeks to promote anti-oppression strategies that benefit Latino/a youth. The model presented is based on the work of Connecticut United for Latino/a Children (CUPNL), a UC partnership created to advocate and promote changes on behalf of Latino/a youth. The value and usefulness of CUPNL is discussed through the example of its most longstanding initiative, the Escúchenos conference. Partnerships like CUPNL can serve as a mechanism for social workers to engage in and promote anti-oppression action.