Week 11: News Article - Cheri

Article: 2013 a Banner Year For STL Startups

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/people/maria-altman

March 22, 2014 by Maria Altman

           

A community requires tax revenue to provide services such as emergency response, schools, and personnel who attend to the needs within the community such as well maintained roads, housing, and  infrastructure support (gas, electric, water, sewage, & trash).  All of these things are dependent upon an area's wealth, which is driven by the area's economy.  After attending a recent community meeting in Ferguson, I realized Mayor James Knowles and the city council understood the importance of attracting businesses to Ferguson to stimulate their city's economy.  Mayor Knowles shared that people move away from their community when it no longer contains businesses that meet the everyday needs. Thus, this prompted me to read a business and economic article written by Maria Altman, 2013 A Banner Year For STL Startups."  From this article I learned about organizations whose focus is to strengthen and grow businesses within a region such as St. Louis city and county areas.

            Joy De Long is the St. Louis Chamber's Vice President of the "New Ventures & Capital Formation."  He shared with Maria Altman the successes of the St. Louis Regional Chamber during the past eight years, which resulted this year in a total of 52 new companies with 37 of those companies focusing on technology-based services.  Additional research on www.Forbes.com revealed that technology-based companies are highly profitable due to their ability to provide services to a large number of consumers, often anywhere in the United States and even overseas.  At www.stlregionalchamber.com, I learned that the goals of the Chamber are to unite very successful business leaders in the community who will help stimulate the local economy through the creation of:

·      New public policies to create a friendly business climate

·      Higher educational attainment in areas of need

·      Opportunities for entrepreneurship

·      Opportunities for businesses to move to St. Louis

·      Encouraging innovation and economic inclusion

·      Networks to financially sustain and begin new businesses

As I reflected upon the support offered by a city's chamber of commerce, I began to more fully understand the significance of its impact upon a community and how important it is for a social worker to become knowledgeable about their city's chamber of commerce.  For example, through the Chamber's website, I learned about a non-profit organization that has the potential to become a community resource.

             According to De Long, St. Louis has a unique non-profit nationally recognized organization called the Arch Angels Investment Group, which is comprised of members committed to buying stock in new companies and mentoring potential new business owners.  This has resulted in an investment of approximately 40 million dollars in the St. Louis area since 2006.  According to De Long, out of the 235 companies started since 2006, 200 are still successfully operating today.  Addition reading at www.fundingpost.com/angelgroup revealed that Arch Angels' investors help individuals with business planning, team building, fund raising (venture capital), and training on how to generate business contracts.  The support of Arch Angels Investment Group has the potential to help start successful community programs such as Angel Baked Cookies. 

            Our Code of Ethics states that we should empower individuals and connect them to resources.  Using a strengths perspective, I believe one of the most empowering services social workers can provide is to show individuals different ways they can become financially independent.  Have you ever thought about how an individual and/or community can become more financially secure?   How would you connect an individual or community to resources to help facilitate financial security?

Week 11: News Article - Danielle I.

http://www.austinweeklynews.com/News/Articles/3-28-2014/$500K-in-state-funding-coming-to-Austin-community-groups/

This article discusses how the Westside Branch NAACP and the Westside Health Authority in Austin, IL are planning to spend $500,000 they were appropriated, but did not ask for.  State representative, LaShawn Ford applied for the money unbeknownst to the two groups.

            The director of the branch of the NAACP in question said that the money will be allocated towards the ACT-SO program that helps high-school students.  The aim of this program is to recruit adult and student mentors for students in the community to help foster knowledge.  One of the activities yearly is a competition similar to a Quizbowl in which students get the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge they have gained.

            This type of program seems like it would be useful in Lemay as it allows students to learn in a constructive, while slightly competitive, environment and allows adults and other students in the community to help foster knowledge in others.  Furthermore, it helps the students in the community learn by example.

Ford was quoted as saying, "Some individuals believe we should stop spending and pay down our bills, but our communities are hurting. We should spend money where it's needed," Ford said. "We have to empower the West Side, especially our kids. We need to broaden the net and bring in more youth, and strengthen those programs that already exist.” 

This article was relevant to our classwork as it depicts a struggling community.  However, it was particularly relevant to my work in Lemay as it shows groups getting an influx of money and the process of determining how to appropriately spend it.  This is somewhat comparable to Lemay’s influx of dollars after the casino was built.

Ford also said, "Austin is struggling with the schools closing.  There's a lack of a YMCA and a lack of programs for kids to go to college and better themselves. In Austin, the kids are at-risk and we have to do something to keep them from becoming at-risk."  Again, this is relevant to much of our work in the community as there are many at-risk youth in all of the communities involved.  Ford aspires to provide resources for these youth.

            How do you think a program similar to the ACT-SO program would help your communities?  If you were in charge of allocating funds in your communities, which groups would you allocate funds to?  How do you think funds in your community would be best spent?  Do you think this is too much power for one or two individuals to have?

Week 11: Reading Blog - Alisha

Communities Revisited: The Best Ideas of the Last Hundred Years. by Suzanne Morse

Two important terms discussed in this article are prevention and sustainability. When working with communities, it is important to begin with initiatives that prevent problems versus making solutions for problems once they occur. Sustainability refers to programs that continue to address the issue over the course of time versus for a short period of time.

This article focuses on three ideas that have made a difference and stood the test of time. Those three ideas include the following:

·         creation and expansion of community development corporations (and their intermediaries)

·          the practice of asset-based community development

·          vehicles to provide affordable capital

These three ideas include the essential elements of any change strategy, which are a structure for change, a vision for change, and a strategy for change.

According to this article, in order to continue improving communities we must do the following steps:

·         Continue to invest in understanding what works and what actions are needed.

·         Engage the public at a deeper level in deliberating about the choices and possibilities before us

·         Match policy and funding to the outcomes of the first two.

In the future, a successful community will be one that can pull together and utilize the tools and resources to improve its own situation.

It is my opinion that this article provides the guidelines for any community leaders trying to improve their community. After reading this article, I wonder what other ideas are important to consider when working with communities. Considering how important capital is, I also wonder what is being done to make obtaining home loans and rehab loans accessible for low income residents. As a community leader, do you think these ideas are the most important to consider when working with communities? If so why? If not why?

Week 11: Lit Review - Danielle I.

Ghiso, M., Campano, G., & Simon, R. (2013). Grassroots Inquiry: Reconsidering the Location of Innovation. Language Arts, 91(2), 105-112.

In the article, Grassroots Inquiry: Reconsidering the Location of Innovation, Maria Ghiso, Gerald Campano, Rob Simon, discuss restructuring the concept of literacy and how to make a community competent in literacy.  The article analyzes the following questions:  Where do new ideas come from?  How can people change communities?  What roles can teachers and family members play?  The writers feel that all of these questions can be answered by using a grassroots approach to innovation in the classroom.

The article states, “In the field of literacy, the evolving nature of texts and practices to include multiple modes, media, and forms of interaction, coupled with the increasing diversity of student populations, has challenged educators and researchers to rethink school practices in ways that are more attuned to this multiplicity.”  This is particularly relevant to the communities we are studying in class as most of them have varied socioeconomic statuses and cultural difference.  The article emphasizes the importance of the idea that there are various forms of literary competency and schools as institutions need to uses these variations to their advantage. It says, “Literacy itself is not an autonomous technology that invariably leads to progress. Rather, there are multiple literacies related to issues of power, identity, and ideology that must be investigated in their local contexts.”

The article then goes on to define grassroots problem solving as such, “Problem posing and problem solving—processes that seek to make visible power dynamics and address inequitable conditions. In this sense, grassroots innovations are not discrete “fixes” but ongoing commitments to a broader vision of educational justice.” They also say that the fundamental belief of grassroots problem solving is that teaching and learning is best achieved through community input and needs to be relevant to the context of the community.

            The article also emphasizes that integration is not as important as acceptance.  The authors argue that it is less important for immigrants to be integrated into white culture and more important for those in the community to accept the unique qualities these immigrants have to offer.

            This article was particularly relevant to my studies in Lemay.  Lemay has a large Bosnian population and the two people I interviewed within the district (one the ELL director and one, the college counselor) said that fostering the inherently good qualities that cultural differences bring is imperative to the success of the Lemay community.  The ELL director also said that it is important to recognize that academic language is not the same for all cultures and it is important to recognize that different cultural competencies can impact the abilities of students to perform.

Week 11: Lit Review - Stephanie

Kubisch, A. C., Auspos, P., Taylor, S., & Dewar, T. (2013). Resident‐centered community building: what makes it different?. National Civic Review, 102(3), 61-71.

This article is very interesting as the content applies directly to what we are doing this semester. The article identified a set of ingredients that are needed for effective resident-centered community building. However, the article only provides the ingredients, not the recipe for the work as each community has its own unique history, conditions, capacities and potential.

The article stresses the importance of including residents in the community-building approach, which is an aspect of community work that is often left out. The authors of the article go on to explain that when residents are genuinely at the center of community building, a different process unfolds; relationships become the center of the work.

The article outlines that there are three types of relationships that must be built and maintained in resident-centered community building. Those relationships are:
1) Relationships among residents
2) Relationships between residents and neighborhood institutions
3) Relationships between residents and community change agents.

The article explains that relationship building is so important because the core of resident-centered community change work is about building personal relationships among people who live in the neighborhood. But why is relationships building so important? The truth is that relationships are the core of a vibrant community. As relationships are built, neighbors develop friendships, share information that useful and help each other out. Neighborhoods that are with a lot of trusting social relationships are high in “social capital” which is correlated with a pleasant, safe and nurturing community.

So, my question to the class is, how has your experience with building relationships in your community been this semester thus far? Difficult? Easy? Uncomfortable?  Has it unfolded at all? Has it been a simple task to include residents in the process of exploring your assigned community?

Week 11: Reading Blog - Ella

Communities Revisited: The Best Ideas of the Last Hundred Years. by Suzanne Morse

In “The Best Ideas,” Suzanne Morse, a Professor at the University of Virginia explains that when exploring ideas on community development it can be hard to know which strategy to use.  She pointed out that legislative strategies and policies are usually our initial thought, as well as specific examples of places and projects that have changed the future for communities.  Even within the best examples are things that could have gone better or didn’t work out quite as they should.  An example given was the housing and financial policies of the early Federal Housing Administration (FHA).  With this policy in place there was still redlining and a lack of support for home ownership for minorities which contributed to the decline of urban neighborhoods.

Professor Morse believes that as we look toward the next hundred years of work in and with communities we must use strategies that prevent problems rather than react to them.  She also wants us to include the “gold standard” of best practices when creating program initiatives.  Best practices include ideas that have stayed with the issue for the long run, not being deluded by the positive and negative ebbs and flows that all social issues encounter.

According to the reading Professor Morse strongly believes that our lack of progress as a nation has rested less on political infighting over values and philosophy and more on our lack of consensus that the systemic issues of day-poverty, education attainment, and environmental quality-require by definition strategies for prevention and long term action.

She gave three ideas that she believes incorporate prevention and the ‘gold standard.”  They encompass necessary elements of any change strategy: a structure for change, a vision for change, and a strategy for change.

1. Creation and expansion of community development corporations, CDC (and their intermediaries) – they understand community involvement, shared power, systemic issues, and holistic development from an individual and local perspective to a national reality.  A critical piece of the CDC process is when residents see their neighbors as problem solvers, not just problems.

2. The practice of asset-based community development – this practice disassociates place and circumstance from individual capacities.  It thinks of new creative ways to incorporate the capacities of people, the culture of the community, and the existing building and space.  This concept challenges communities to think about and build on what they have,  not what they don’t have; it helps people have “new eyes” about themselves and their surrounding; and it shifts the conversation from thinking of citizens as objects to fix to assets to tap.

3. Vehicles to provide affordable capital – is critical to: all phases to self sufficiency and that our financial support system be affordable, fair, and accessible, (particularly for women and minorities).  One vehicle is micro lending, the notion that small loans can lead to big results has been a paradigm shift in the development world.  

Professor Morse says that these three elements move us closer to Margery Austin Turner’s concept of place-conscious development.  This approach thinks about how to revitalize the places in which people live, how to enable people to take advantage of opportunities that are located in different places around the region, and how to make connections between where they live and regional opportunities.

I was enlightened after this reading.  I agree with the critical piece of the CDC process in that this approach/attitude will unite communities and increase positive outcomes for residents and their neighborhoods.  I didn’t ask residents in the Ferguson community how they can see their neighbors as problem solvers, not just problems.  Their answers may have redirected my ideas on community development.  Social workers can use these ideas to strengthen their clients who can then strengthen their communities.

Questions: What strategy can you use in your assigned community to help your residents see their neighbors as problem solvers, not just problems?  Do you believe that by providing vehicles to affordable capital people and communities will become self-sufficient?  Why/Why not?

Week 9: Lit Review - Jennifer

“Strategic Geographic Targeting in Community Development: Examining the Congruence of Political, Institutional, and Technical Factors” by Dale E. Thomson.

http://uar.sagepub.com.ezproxy.umsl.edu/content/47/4/564.full.pdf+html

My assigned community this semester is Ferguson, and one setback that I have heard fairly consistently from residents concerns the vacant houses in Ferguson.  The article I chose deals with a project undertaken in Detroit Michigan, in which Strategic Geographic Targeting (SGT) was attempted.  SGT is basically the process of allocating and targeting a large number of resources to a specific area.  A selected area is chosen when the area is believed to maximize multiplier, interaction, focus, and neighborhood spillover effects.  A multiplier effect occurs when investment in the community triggers other private investments.  An interaction effect occurs when investment in the target community interacts with supplementary investments.  A focus effect occurs when key members working in the community realize the needs of the community.  A neighborhood spillover effect essentially facilities investments in other close neighborhoods due to the magnitude of impact in the target community.  Efficiency-based SGT (EB-SGT) takes this a step further by factoring in necessary demographic data that would maximize these aforementioned factors to stimulate economic development in other communities around the city.  This criteria often points to “middle neighborhoods” — neighborhoods that are not ridden with poverty, dilapidated, or rich and affluent.

Basically, the author of the current study did what we are doing now — he conducted 40 interviews with key government officials, staff from community development agencies, nonprofits, and analyzed numerous documents to determine what factors were responsible for the failed EB-SGT.  The author surmises that, although Detroit was a prime city to study, “political, institutional, and technical factors” (Thomson, 2011) impeded the success of the project.  Specifically, government officials did not use the appropriate methods to find optimal EB-SGT communities, and the focus of many agencies was on “high-need,” or impoverished communities.

When I began to read this article, I was thinking of just Ferguson, but I now think that this EB-SGT approach might be more applicable to all of St. Louis.  It is interesting to consider what neighborhoods/municipalities would be “targeted communities” that would have multiplier, interaction, focus, and neighborhood spillover effects that might lead to economic growth in nearby, lower-income communities.  The article also reports that EB-SGT was attempted in other cities such as Baltimore, Dallas, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, etc.  I wonder what the results were and if those cities saw success…  I guess that’s an area of future research!

Of the 10,074 housing units in Ferguson, 1,211 are vacant!  Thus, this data supports the concerns of Ferguson residents.  I would be interested to hear from those of you assigned to other communities… Are vacancies also a problem?  How do your numbers specific to housing compare to the Ferguson statistics?

Also, do you think that this approach is in accordance with social work?  Is the middle-class under-prioritized due to a focus on lower-income populations?

Week 9: Lit Review - Erin

Reece, C., Staudt, M., & Ogle, A. (2013). Lessons learned from a neighborhood-based collaboration to increase parent engagement. School Community Journal, 23(2), 207-225.

In St. Louis, we have seen a pattern in the development of youth initiatives, particularly in city schools. During our visit to the JeffVanderLou neighborhood, we heard about the success of Angel Baked Cookies (http://angelbaked.org/).  In an effort to engage youth, lower crime, and prevent gang membership, this community has provided a program for youth to actively participate in the welfare of the neighborhood and prepare themselves for college. I have seen this similar concern for youth engagement in my assigned community, University City. After interviewing both the U. City Police Sergeant and the Director of Student Services in the University City School District, it became apparent that programs are needed to keep students out of trouble after school and during the summers.  Business owners claim that the youth overcrowd “the Loop” district, thus inhibiting economic advancement. The School district has also gone to a no tolerance policy on gang related activities, and while it has shown success there are a number of students who were permanently removed from the school who could have been helped with prevention strategies. In this literature review, I will share an example of program implementation in another community that has shown effectiveness with urban youth utilizing an innovative family focused intervention.

Studies have shown that increased parent engagement, within their children’s schooling and in the community, has a significant impact on the academic success of students. To address the issues of academic performance and parent involvement, organizers in the community of Knoxville, Tennessee implemented the "Neighboring Project Parent Empowerment and Volunteer Readiness Program”, a collaborative project known as the Neighboring Project. This program is supported by the local Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams), a national education initiative, and the local public housing authority. Residents who participate in public housing services are required to engage in community service, and these participants are typically low-income, urban parents. In the Neighboring Project, parents can complete their service requirements by volunteering in their children’s school communities, attending education programs to support local initiatives, and developing an individualized family plan which supports academically stimulating home environments. Additionally, within this program parents gain an increase in confidence in talking to teachers and administrations, and in turn can help to educate other members of the community. According to the authors, “findings from focus groups and anecdotal information reveal the Neighboring Project had lasting impact on participants and led to increased involvement in school and neighborhood. “ (Reece, Staudt, Ogle, 2013).

Lastly, I leave you with some questions to think about, and appreciate your comments:     

-          What other barriers (community factors, economic factors, etc.) do you believe inhibit students’ abilities to thrive in an academic setting?

-          Should we look at this issue from a family intervention model, such as the Neighboring Project, or from a student intervention model, such as Angel Baked Cookies?

-          What other programs have you found to be effective in your community (or assigned community), and how can we use these other findings to improve our programs?

Week 9: Reading Blog - Cheri

Building Support for the Proposed Change

  The social worker is challenged to decide what specific factors have revealed a current need by analyzing everything previously learned about a community through data, interviews, research, and assessment of assets.  Students within this class are nearing the end of this phase. Careful analysis with others allows a hypothesis to be created correlating cause and effect for each specific factor that has led to the current identified need, revealing strengths and weaknesses.  This hypothesis should be further developed with the help of a person or group from the community who first identified the problem (Initiator).  This person/group may have attempted past resolutions and are already personally invested in the identified need.  This will hopefully enable the social worker through education and research to lead them to a feeling of empowerment and willingness to invest their time and resources to help develop a steering committee, which will become the change agent system.  The change agent system consists of individuals who may be willing to take a leadership position to:
• personally invest in the issue
• influence people in other systems to network with the committee
• identify resources within and outside the community
• research the issue to see if it has been successfully resolved elsewhere
• draft a letter seeking permission to address the issue
Knowledge gained will lead to the development of an intervention hypothesis and outcome for each target population, client system, identified as needing help due to a stated specific problem.  The client system may consist of one or more individuals, a group, agency, institution, organization, etc.  The steering committee will also:
• Identify the client system and who will benefit primarily and secondarily from the intervention.
• Identify the support system(s) consisting of
 Individual volunteers, local groups, county, state, or national organizations.
• Identify the controlling system who have the authority to approve intervention proposal
 elected official(s), agency or corporation board, delegated official(s)
• Identify the host system who will
 sponsor by providing resources/services
• Identify implementation system who will provide intervention(s)
 employees/volunteer
• Identify target system(s) where changes are needed to facilitate success, which is different than population group.  This system identifies how the change will be approached, who needs to agree to changes, which may be outside or within the controlling system, host system, or implementation system.  Examples of these target "how" changes are:
 policy, program, project, personnel, practice approach,
 individual, structure, legislation, education, philosophy, value, attitude
Now,  long-term commitments from individuals in the steering committee, support system, controlling system, host system, and implementation system will facilitate the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the intervention hypothesize to affect a change.  During this time it is most likely that the systems will overlap.  All of these individuals will be referred to as the coordinating committee who will assess and plan for:
• Readiness of target population to receive intervention
• Commitment levels of  committee members to accomplish goal
• Plan responses to positive and negative responses from outside the committee
• Evaluate resources and available skills
• Evaluate proposed Intervention and expected outcome
• Facilitate implementation of intervention
• Ongoing assessment of intervention
• Develop a plan for assessing outcome and follow-up

The information within this chapter gave me a better understanding about how a hypothetical intervention plan is created, which I believe is the community intervention proposal due at the end of this semester. What conclusions and insights did you gain from this chapter?  May an intervention proposal be an extension of an existing service, a change within an agency to improve a current program, or a new service that does not exist within the community?

Week 9: Reading Blog - Barissa

Chapter 9: Building Support for the Proposed Change

The reading for this week included a lot of information and provided a framework for planning change on the macro level. The reading was broken into three key components including designing an intervention, building support and selecting an approach to change.
Important points from the reading and questions to think about when creating our own proposals will be highlighted in each section.
Designing an intervention
• Study and analyze the problem, population, and/ or arena – This is similar to what we have already done with our community profiles
• Define what is the cause of the intervention (reduce or eliminate the problem) in our communities?
• What results can be expected from the interventions we implement in our communities? Think of success stories and problems in our communities
This section is a good framework on how to begin figuring out what you want your focus to be in your community.

Building Support
• This section focuses on who is involved /participants- In our case right now involvement includes classmates & possibly anyone we have encountered in the community that is willing to help
• History- Who first recognized the problem and are they able to be involved in your intervention?
• Identify who is coordinating the intervention
• Identify who the intervention will benefit
• Who has control/ authority to approve the proposal?
• What organizations will be involved?
• What needs to be changed for this intervention to be successful?
• Who will be the leader in charge of moving the change toward implementation?
** Some of these questions and points will overlap**
Having support from the community is an important agent in implementing effective and positive change in the community. Without support it will be difficult to propose a change because the community may not be ready and or in agreement with the change.

Capacity & Approach to Change
• Evaluate the readiness to support the proposed change
- Availability of resources, openness, commitments, abilities, degree of outside residence
• Identify the approach to change
- Policy- format statement /course of action
- Program- structured activities
- Project- smaller, time-limited, flexible, & adapted into the need – This is the approach I think most of our proposals will be
- Personnel- change at the personal level (communities & organizations come together
- Practice- a way to carry out a basic function
What stage are you currently in with your intervention proposal? What information do you still need? Out of the three categories, which seems to be the most important and which seems to be the most difficult?

Week 9: News Article - Rachel

Crouch, E. (2014, March 14). Normandy seventh-graders march in support of their district. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved from http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/normandy-seventh-graders-march-in-support-of-their-district/article_b2a78271-0872-5946-bd2a-c07b258f9853.html

  When was the last time you heard, or were a part of a conversation about the current generation of youth?  Were there exclamations of concern for the future?  Accusations that students nowadays simply do not care as much as they used to or that they do not wish to make a positive impact on our world?  Concerns that there is more callousness, cruelty, and apathy among children and teens than ever before? How do you feel about such powerful statements and concerns and have you ever found yourself thinking them?
  To be honest, this topic is something that I have been concerned about before.  I am guilty of worrying about the children and in particular, the teens, of today.  Meeting the youth at Ferguson Corner Coffee House, however, and articles such as Elisa Crouch’s give me hope.  In her piece, Crouch details a rally held by over 150 Normandy students on March 13, 2014.  They came together holding signs such as “#NormandyStrong” or “Stand Up.”
  The gathering took place during what would have normally been lunch hour for the students and involved an approximately mile-long march. The purpose? To raise awareness to their school district and the challenges it will face in the future.  Due to a school transfer law, close to 2,200 students have been relocated to other school districts, ones that are believed to be higher performers. The Normandy school district had to pay for both tuition and transportation costs. Now, with a task force designed to decide its fate and a significant loss of funds, the Normandy school district’s future seems uncertain.
  When I first sat down to write my news article blog, I had originally picked a different article.  I had already completed a paragraph of my reflection on it when I decided to switch to this one.  So why did this article in particular captivate me to the point of discarding my former work?  For starters, the students were inspired by past civil rights campaigns and the power children and teens can have in sparking change.  They showed a level of bravery, involvement, and dedication I did not have as a 7th grader.  Furthermore, the events of this article take place within our own backyard.  The students marched down Natural Bridge Road, a road that has great meaning and personal significance to me as it is one I have now driven on quite a few times.
  One of the discussions I have heard held within our Community Practice and Social Change class is how it feels as though we are outsiders within some of the communities we have been exploring.  In the case of Normandy, however, that is our academic community, our house so to speak.  The Normandy school district is right nearby the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL) and yet, when I spoke to a close friend in another department she mentioned she was surprised there had not been more projects in place linking the two.  She has been volunteering for UMSL events for a while now but said she could not recall any programs where UMSL students tutored or mentored Normandy students and felt that was an oversight on the part of certain UMSL groups.
  Why do you think we do not have more association with the Normandy school district?  Would you be interested in getting involved if there were a project in place that linked Normandy students with UMSL students? Do you feel that as older students in the same area, we ought to lend our voices to the Normandy student’s cause or do you feel that would be intrusive or meddlesome? What sort of power do students have in inciting social change and how should it be used (or should it be used at all)?

Volunteer Work Day in Ferguson at the Old Ferguson West Community Garden

Week 8: Reading Blog - Crystal

Chapter 6: Assessing Communities

What is a neighborhood school? Neighborhood schools "lost its identity and now is simply what remains once magnet schools, charter schools, contract schools." However neighborhood schools use to be a place where parents and students knew the teachers and other administrators involved. Now there is no "community" involvement. The lack of interaction within the schools causes the schools to fall below what they are capable of.

Partnerships built between schools and the local community resources makes it easier to form a relationship amongst members within the community. "The community environment in which a school is located has sets of preexisting complexities that school operators must navigate. But once relationships are established and continually cultivated, these relationships support school recruitment (in the case of charter schools), after-school programming, student safety, parental involvement, and student achievement."

The asset based community development also known as ABCD has been studying issues amongst the community and the schools. The attributes that community members can bring is a solution that nothing from the outside can produce. The six attributes are 1-individuals, 2-associations, 3-institutions, 4-economy, 5- stories, and 6- the physical environment. If you combine all of these things it is a great building block to create something big.

One thing ABCD mentions as a useful tool in building relationships in communities would be listening campaign questions. This is lots of questions developed to get input from all of those that are within the community. The listening campaign was conducted on Calumet High School in Chicago.

"Calumet High School in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on Chicago‘s South Side was in need of a radical turnaround. Drop-out rates and reports of violence at Calumet High School, the largest public school serving the youth of Auburn Gresham, were increasing, and the number of students graduating with high school diplomas was decreasing. Chicago Public School (CPS) administration recognized that Calumet High School needed change. "This addressed fears and concerns and even people's values of what is important. There were children afraid to walk to school.

"(GADC) concerns itself with business development along the 79th Street corridor in Auburn Gresham. It is especially influential in this regard as it is the lead organization for the New Communities Program (NCP)." Having these conversations allowed for them to build relationships and become aware of the community assets that can build the community from within and expand out. When schools build partnerships in community it allows the teachers to expand the knowledge about the resources to the families who will benefit the most. In the end everyone will benefit from the combined relationships.

Why is it important to do this in every community? Why would we not try this in St. Louis? How can we as future social workers who will be working in the community initiate these positive goals? How we begin these lasting relationships that will benefit all and really they all start from within.

Week 8: Lit Review - Lindsay

Lawson, Laura. The South Central Farm: dilemmas in practicing the public. Cultural Geographies. Oct2007, Vol. 14 Issue 4, p611-616.

Since we spent time Monday learning about a local example of community intervention in the form of community gardens and many of us are planning to participate in a garden work day this Saturday, I thought it would be appropriate to examine some of the literature written on the subject. I chose the above article by Lawson because I felt it highlighted the challenges and benefits of community gardening in easily understandable terms through a case study.

The article centers around the South Central Farm, which was a thriving 14-acre community garden in an impoverished area of Los Angeles. The garden was originally a project proposed by the regional food bank to increase access to nutritious foods and provide a positive point of interaction for neighbors. The project gained widespread support from public and private sources and the city even donated a piece of land near the food bank to be used. In 1993 local residents as well as individuals from neighboring areas rented plots and the garden grew quickly. Soon it became the place that neighbors gathered to not only garden, but to buy and sell goods, get to know one another, and express themselves.

Unfortunately, debates around whether or not the city actually had the right to allow a community garden on the property arose and eventually, despite massive protests, the city had to sell the land the garden was on and it was bulldozed in 2006. The damage to the community was great, since they had invested so much time, effort, and pride in the garden and had to see it destroyed. Even though the city offered another site for the farmers to cultivate, it never reached the success the original garden had.

The article highlights one of the concerns often raised by critics of community gardens- longevity. Like our speaker Monday pointed out, without long term planning community gardens can quickly go bad. In the South Central Farm situation, local agencies, the city government, and residents were so caught up in the potential benefits of the garden that they failed to consider what it would take to maintain it long term.

 I was pleased to hear from our speaker Monday that there is an organization in St. Louis which actually helps communities who want to begin a garden go through a process of long term and succession planning in order to help build a strong foundation and avoid possible pitfalls. From what she said about the process they went through in order to choose their current garden location, it sounds like the Old Ferguson West Garden site was chosen with a long term plan in mind.

Despite the potential challenges addressed, the article also highlights some of the characteristics of community gardens at their best. During the 13 year life of the South Central Farm it served as a gathering place for individuals to meet and share their culture as well as a place that provided nutritious food and a local marketplace. The author suggests that at their best, community gardens can be a source of local pride. She points out that community gardens do not need to be limited to growing produce, but can become meeting places and can hold community events and festivals in order to bring whole communities together. I loved that the article highlighted some of the same things we heard our speaker mention on Monday and I’m looking forward to hearing more about the Old Ferguson West Garden.

I would also love to hear about any experiences classmates have had with community gardens. What have you seen that works and what doesn’t?

Cut and Paste this in browser to access article (or look in academic search premier database):

<a href="http://ezproxy.umsl.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=28056275&site=ehost-live&scope=site">Cultural geographies in practice: The South Central Farm: dilemmas in practicing the public.</a>

Week 8: Lit Review - Camille

When I thought about reading and blogging for this Lit Review, I immediately started thinking about what, in Lemay (my designated community) would be interesting to delve deeper into.  My first thought was education and school district, but then I realized  how affected the place of Lemay, and subsequently the school district is due to River City Casino coming about in 2010.  After putting together the community profile for Lemay, we found that 54% of the Hancock School District funding came from River City Casino.  So, how does a casino coming into a struggling place like Lemay have an affect?

Casinos, Gambling, and Economic Development: An Introduction to the Special Issue

by Michael Wenz (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.umsl.edu/doi/10.1111/grow.12037/pdf) is an interesting peer-reviewed article in that it culminates eight other articles to discuss this exact issue - Economic Development and Casinos coming in to a community. 

Putting aside the personal implications casinos, and having such entities in one's community would have, the question of what research exists and how such research and findings affect casinos and economic development currently.  Wenz pulls from Canada's "The Social and Economic Impacts ofGambling: Final Report" which concludes there is no widely accepted framework or conclusion in terms of helping or hindering community development.  I would venture to say that while there can be positive economic implications for a community, there can also be negative social aspects for said community.

Later in that same Jornal, Wenz explores casinos in local community in

Valuing Casinos as a Local Amenity (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.umsl.edu/doi/10.1111/grow.12036/pdf)  He explores quality of life outlook of casinos, concluding that having a community-casino does very little to improve quality of life.  While Native-American casinos have proved to have economic progress, the same is not true for non-Native Amercian entities.  Metz discusses the difficulty in calculating social costs verses private costs. 

It's interesting to read a study that much of the research points to a casino such as River City in Lemay having either negative or no affect on quality of life for residents, when we see these staggering numbers in support of the school district, and revitalization efforts in the area, as a result of the casino and it's increased business to the community.  Personally, I'm not one-hundred percent sure of the findings, but suppose there is much more research to be done.  Does anyone have any thoughts  on this?  What is your take of the casino in Lemay, and it's affect on quality-of-life for community members?

Week 8: Lit Review - Barissa

Grogan, Paul (2000). Can the Cities Come Back? Journal of Housing & Community

 Development, 57(6), 19.

The article I reviewed was by Paul Grogan the Vice President of Government, Community and Public Affairs of Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts. Grogan discussed the current conditions of urban communities specifically cities. He placed a lot of focus on eliminating poverty throughout the article. He begins by highlighting the negative aspects of the city that has became the norm being  “poverty, racial isolation, and a gap between urban haves and urban have-nots” which I believe gentrification contributes to. Grogan also mentions the issues of “industrial obsolescence, physical rot, riots, crime, poverty, and the serial failure of big federal rescue missions” as the cause of the downfall of cities. In response to the issue of poverty in these areas he discusses the current attitudes about poverty and urban communities. Perspectives he discussed had similar attitudes of the community, he stated how metropolitans dismiss reviving urban communities because they feel there are too many obstacles and it is easier to ignore them. On the other side of the issue those that are in poverty feel it is irreversible due to factors they are unable to control.

Although at times I did not like the tone of this article, I can agree with the issue Grogan is addressing and the issues he highlighted specifically poverty, crime, and racial isolation. Many if not all of the issues going on in urban communities I can identify in my community. From my own observation in the JVL community and from talking to residents many just see the community as it is and do not foresee any change for the better. Although the mentality of hopelessness bothers me, outsiders of the community have to understand that people often know best only from what they experience and if their experiences are negative its hard to change that.

Grogan highlights four treads that will constitute recovery at the end to give hope to this issue.  

1.     A revitalization movement in America

·      His big point of this tread was as he said to “nurse old wounds” meaning to build on what is there and build productive partnerships

2.     The rebirth of functioning private markets

·      The point being to create more jobs and commerce to cities

3. Dropping crime

·      Resulting to rebuilding confidence and commerce

4.     The release of the inner-city life from bureaucracies

·      Particularly he mentioned the welfare system, public housing authorities and public schools

The treads I can take away from the most from this article is the idea of “nursing old wounds” and dropping crime. These two treads have been ideas I have thought about in regards to the JVL community and as we have read from others it is important to involve the community and work with them. The tread of dropping crime is always something to strive for, but I believe understanding of all the factors that contribute to the crime is the source of the issue and is where to begin in addressing it.

In closing I want to pose these questions for thoughts and discussion.

How does gentrification affect the community?

What do you believe are the source(s) of communities with high crime rates? What are the ways to decrease crime in these communities?

Do urban communities have hope to be revitalized?

Week 8: News Article - Valerie

Support Grows to Save Lewis & Clark Library by Chris Naffziger

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2014/03/lewis_clark_library_architecture.php

This article talks about how the St. Louis County Public Library wants to demolish the Lewis & Clark branch just because the appearance is not attuned to today’s society expectations and is “structurally unsound”.  In a protest against destruction of the Lewis & Clark branch, residents and architects are petitioning to save the Lewis & Clark Library branch, one of the oldest libraries operating under the St. Louis County Public Library.

While the appearance is not attuned to present-day society’s expectations, it is proven to be a very functional library. The Lewis & Clark Library broke through the stereotypes of a stuffy and gloomy library by providing an open-space concept and natural light from windows built around the building. The open floor concept welcomes a casual social environment for residents of all age. At the same time, the library can be easily converted into a large room for civic meetings. On top of all of that, Lewis & Clark Library is still in a solid condition because people took very good care of it since it was built in 1963. This says that the Lewis & Clark Library is a priceless and historical building for residents in North County.

Below are the some of the reasons I found from another article about why Lewis & Clark Library should be saved:

(6 Reasons Why to Save the Lewis & Clark Library by Toby Weiss)

http://www.beltstl.com/2013/10/6-reasons-why-to-save-the-lewis-clark-library/

1.       Legacy is important: This branch is the only historical building that is operated under St. Louis County Public Library. Destroying the library for newer and modern building sends a message that history is not important.
2.       Part of North County’s History: Lewis & Clark Library was designed “with a grace and beauty reflecting the power and aspirations of a new town in a far-flung locale” (Weiss). The landmark library grew as the community got bigger and the residents that grew up in that area have an emotional attachment to the library. Once Lewis & Clark Library is gone, the history in North County will be gone.
3.       Old vs. Historical: The library is old. However, it is still very functional and structurally sound. It has a history with the residents in North County. There is a line between old and historical. Last time I checked, old does not mean it must be destroyed.

Obviously the residents in North County have a strong attachment to the library. In addition to the North County residents, the architects that value historical architecture also want to keep the library from being destroyed.  With that being said, an organization, ModernSTL and North County residents came together to fight for preserving Lewis & Clark Library. ModernSTL has all the resources and higher power of influence to advocate for the library. The North County residents have emotional attachments to the Lewis & Clark Library and have established an online petition and Facebook page to call for supporters to keep the library open.  The St. Louis County Public Library is having a board meeting on March 17^th and the residents are invited to attend and express the importance of keeping the Lewis & Clark Library open.

Talking about saving a library is not grabbing your attention, is it? What really grabbed my attention was the locals’ ambition to keep the Lewis & Clark Library open. The residents in all cities in North County and ModernSTL as an organization put their differences aside and came together to fight to keep a historical building open.  On top of that, the St. Louis County Public Library is willing to work with the North County residents to work something out such as building a new addition for additional library resources (i.e. – computer room).

I looked into the online petition (http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/save-lewis-and-clark) and it is almost at its goal of 500 signatures. A Facebook page was created to raise awareness and importance of the Lewis & Clark Library. It is amazing to see how one historical building brings in everyone in and out of the community and bond over the fight to save the Lewis & Clark Library.

If a historical building in your community is about to be destroyed, how do you want to bring the community together to fight for it? Do you want to bring in the outsiders based on their power of influence? Do you want to bring in residents that have emotional attachment to the building? Or both?

Week 8: News Article - Stephanie

Editorial: Unify St. Louis and stop the ‘slow drain’ of economic power

By: The Editorial Board

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/the-platform/editorial-unify-st-louis-and-stop-the-slow-drain-of/article_4dc0cd99-d57c-52a9-9c37-88b741eeb6eb.html

For this weeks’ news article blog I read an editorial in The Post-Dispatch about the discussion surrounding a possible City of St. Louis and St. Louis County merge.

The idea of unifying the city and the county is one that is very interesting to me, especially in context of information presented and discussed in our class, Community Practice and Social Change.

The idea of “city’ and ‘county” makes me think of division I experienced in high school. I did not go to a high school the consisted of students that lived in one general part of the St. Louis region. Rather, students came from all parts of St. Louis, including Illinois, to attend school. I distinctly remember girls identifying as a ‘”city girl” or a “county girl.” We simply were not “St. Louis girls,” or even simpler, students of the same school, and this divided us into two groups of students. Even more notably, this made us perceive ourselves as different from each other. But, were we? Sadly, with division comes groups and with groups comes the comparison of better and worse.

In terms of the two groups, city and county, the county is usually perceived as better. It is perceived as safer, as having better schools, so and so forth. Individuals and families have fled the city of St. Louis in pursuit of “a greener pasture” to the county for years. And with the pursuit went money, jobs and investment in community.

But doesn’t this perception that the county is better and the city is worse affect all of us that live in St. Louis, not just city residents? In terms of class, and the community of JeffVanderLou that I am working in this semester, I like the quote from economist Richard Voith that “Central city decline is likely to be a long-run, slow drain on the economic and social vitality of the region” referring to the idea that the relationship between suburbs and urban cores and that the blight in an inner city can have a direct economic effect on its suburbs.

So, in my opinion, the answer is yes. The division of the city and county, and the perception of better or worse that comes along with that division, affects our entire City and all the city’s residents.

But, I would like to know what the class thinks. Would a merger be beneficial to all?  Or does anyone see a merge as a hindrance to one of the groups?   Should the City of St. Louis merge with St. Louis County?