Search

Copyright of Journal of Planning Education & Research is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The network of Cooperative Extension professionals across the United States offers fertile ground for the development of intergenerational partnerships in communities. Cooperative Extension programming prioritizes implementation of evidence-based curricula. This paper provides a reflection of an intergenerational program that adapted evidence-based preschool nutrition education for an intergenerational setting by collaborating with Virginia Cooperative Extension. Specifically, we detail how Cooperative Extension personnel are valuable community partners for implementing evidence-based practices in intergenerational programming via curriculum adaptation. Integrating evidence-based curricula and intergenerational practices can support program sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Louisiana consistently ranks as one of the most corrupt states in the nation. In fact, the Pelican State is the most corrupt state when looking at the most common indicator of corruption: corruption convictions per 100,000. What is less clear about Louisiana is how the state became corrupt. This paper seeks to provide the missing link. I argue that the high levels of corruption in the state can be explained by its origins in French civil law. This historical influence has perverse and persistent effects on the state, despite occurring over 200 years ago. Through these origins in civil law, corruption in Louisiana impacts its economic institutions. These institutions then lead to a variety of other bad outcomes in the state such as a high dependency on oil and low incomes. This argument implies that resource dependency is bad for development only when institutional quality is low. By linking legal origins to corruption, institutions, and economic outcomes, I seek to offer a clearer explanation for why Louisiana sets itself apart from other states in its politically corrupt environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arts-based community development practices have received newfound prominence over the past decade under the auspices of "creative placemaking." In 2010, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) published a white paper titled "Creative Placemaking" and launched a new granting program focused on this practice called Our Town. Today, creative placemaking is burgeoning yet its precise definition remains fuzzy. This article uses content analysis to systematically analyze the 569 Our Town grants awarded by the NEA since the program's inception to inductively define creative placemaking based on the values embedded into project proposals, comparing these values with the NEA's stated Our Town goals. I find that creative placemaking, at least as funded in the U.S. through Our Town, can be defined as public or community-based art that includes values of place-specificity, collaboration, and participation, and which results in three forms of community development outcomes: economic development, bolstering social capital and participation, and improved cultural infrastructure. As creative placemaking evolves, equity is increasingly a concern, shifting focus toward the latter two outcomes as more measurable and desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creative placemaking has become a popular strategy to revitalize distressed neighborhoods. Who is empowered to participate in these projects and in what capacity? Do such efforts reduce or reinforce existing race-class inequities in community development? Drawing on three years of participant observations, interviews with stakeholders, and analyses of project reports, we use Archon Fung's "Democracy Cube" framework to evaluate a creative placemaking initiative in one of the most segregated cities in the United States. We find that over the course of the project, participation patterns shifted from highly diffuse across many individuals with varied roles to highly concentrated, such that only a few individuals maintained knowledge of ongoing developments in the project. We argue that this shift was not inevitable and discuss strategies that funders and organizations can use to increase equity in placemaking and community development endeavors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses a familiar topic, teaching shortages across the United States. To situate our study, we explore the impact that Grow Your Own (GYO) programs are making across K-12 schools and within communities in the Middle Atlantic region of the United States. Then, we share the perceptions of teacher candidates who participated in a GYO effort at our public university. Findings suggest that academic, social, and professional opportunities, as well as community engagement, such as field trips to educational settings in the area, were key to candidates' wanting to remain in the program. Implications specific to diversifying the teacher pipeline are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives There is growing interest in better understanding the sectoral reach of age-friendly community practice. Action across a wide range of actors is central to achieving age-friendly societal change, according to the World Health Organization and required for governmental participation in its Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the scope of sectoral reach by age-friendly communities. Research Design and Methods We used qualitative inquiry to assess sectoral efforts reported by American age-friendly communities that completed a 5-year cycle of participation (n = 40). We employed directed content analysis using a priori indicators by sectoral actors: public (i.e. government), private (i.e. business), and civil society, including nonprofit organizations and volunteers. We classify sectoral actions by type (i.e. intersectoral and multisectoral) and by clustered domain community foci (i.e. built, social, and service). Results Our study identifies the extent and types of sectoral actors and actions reported by age-friendly communities with the greatest efforts reported in the public sector, and while similarly distributed across all the domains, slightly more efforts were noted in the built environment. We also found greater intersectoral efforts (i.e. explicitly working toward shared goals) than multisectoral (i.e. not necessarily in collaboration on shared goals), particularly across government. Discussion and Implications While our study substantiates the breadth of actions toward age-friendly change, additional research is needed to examine the ways in which the public and other sectoral actions are further linked to outcomes in communities in the United States and in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are an integral component of US community economic development policy. These organizations differ in structure and client base, but they all seek to promote sustainable and equitable growth at the local level. By injecting capital into under-served markets, CDFIs facilitate development that may not otherwise occur. Attempts to measure and evaluate CDFI performance have often yielded disparate results. A systematic review of the literature reveals that capacity constraints have resulted in CDFI evaluations with wide variance in scope and rigor. Making comparisons across these institutions is difficult because there are few standardized performance metrics that could inform evaluations. Major CDFI funders in the philanthropic and public sectors often have competing demands and do not consistently use evaluations to guide their decisions. To incrementally advance CDFI research and promote a more accurate understanding of their impact, we recommend a shift towards utilization-focused evaluations (UFEs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Academic Social Science Studies is the property of Journal of Academic Social Science Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Native communities in the United States have been persistently underserved by traditional financial institutions. To fill this gap, in recent years both Native and Non-Native Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) have emerged on or near American Indian reservations. Yet to date, no comprehensive evidence exists on the effect of CDFIs on credit outcomes in Indian Country. We combine a large-scale dataset on individual-level credit bureau records with Census block group-level measures of CDFI activity to explore how the presence of Native and Non Native CDFIs affects Indian Country residents' credit risk scores, a key summary measure of individuals' credit performance and creditworthiness. Using multiple empirical approaches and addressing endogeneity concerns, we uncover a positive association between Native CDFI presence and credit risk scores for the subsample of individuals initially deemed least creditworthy. We do not find consistent evidence of a similar effect due to Non-Native CDFIs. To the extent that CDFIs have indeed causally impacted individuals' credit risk scores, our findings indicate that the corresponding improvements have arisen primarily because of Native, rather than Non-Native, CDFI activity. Our analysis thereby offers the first systematic empirical evidence suggestive of the importance of a cultural fit for credit outcomes in Indian Country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of international students in U.S. higher education has increased in recent years. Many of these students face English language challenges, but we know little about what faculty across the disciplines are doing to support their linguistic needs. This article presents findings from a qualitative study comprised of interviews with 15 faculty members at one institution to answer two questions: a) To what extent do faculty across the disciplines recognize the role of socialization in second language learning? and b) What practices do faculty across the disciplines claim to use to linguistically socialize international students into local communities? Findings indicate that most faculty in the study recognize basic tenets of language socialization and claim to enact pedagogies to support international students' socialization experiences. However, a smaller number of participants are resistant to acting as language socializers. The authors offer suggestions to administrators and faculty interested in supporting international students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communities with high levels of social capital enjoy an array of positive economic and community development outcomes. We assess the role of several key community characteristics, including the strength of government institutions, in explaining local social capital variation. The analysis draws on data from United States counties and includes regression modelling and a Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition to explore differences in social capital across an area's metropolitan status and region. The data show social capital determinants vary by place both due to the endowment levels of these determinants and the productive value of their coefficients. For example, the coefficient productive values of government capacity explain some differences in social capital levels across metropolitan status (but not across region). Concurrently, variations in government capacity endowment levels help explain some differences in social capital levels across region (but not across metropolitan status). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]