Week 13: Reading Blog - Katherine

The article “Local Economic Development Policies” by Timothy Bartik considers both the logic and the success of a variety of local economic development programs found throughout the United States in order to better inform future endeavors to build local economies.  The author categorized economic development programs to include those that focused on specific businesses to generate development as well as macro level initiatives based on policy changes.
One major point that I got from this reading was how complicated local economic development is, making the formulation and implementation of policies incredibly difficult.  While the article begins with some discussion about what prevents programs from starting in the first place, the vast majority is a discussion on the many aspects that must be considered to have success, including an understanding of who benefits from development and unintended consequences,  a shift in the balance of imports and exports, greater productivity of the labor, utilization of local resources, a comprehensive strategy, targeting of businesses with the greatest potential, job training, and involvement of a variety of groups.  Each of these aspects is discussed in detail to explain how different local areas may see different levels of success, making results highly dependent on the specific factors of the area.  Additionally, research must be conducted before programs are implemented to gain a better understanding of the conditions as well as after implementation to understanding whether they have been effective.
I found this article to be useful in thinking about community because of the critical dependence on knowing the area.  The type of land, the groups interested in being involved in development, and so many other factors completely change the intervention approach, and success with an intervention in one area does not mean the same program would be successful in another.  It is critical for us as community-level social workers to have a full understanding of the areas we work with in order to help bring greater prosperity.  Additionally, an understanding of how anything from a small, independent business to government policy will impact the economic stability of the area.  Without some understanding of how each of these involved actors plays a role in development, we could completely overlook major flaws in the design for our community.  What local government policies has your community group run into that have impacted the area’s economic development?  Is economic development an aspect of community social work that you have thought about in your work so far this semester?  What obstacles might exist in your community that prevent further development?  Does it seem that there is a significant disparity in who benefits from development?

Week 13: Lit Review - Abby

Duke, N. N., Borowsky, I. W., Pettingell, S. L. (2011). Adult perceptions of
            neighborhood: Links to youth engagement. Youth & Society. 44(3), 408-430.

http://yas.sagepub.com.ezproxy.umsl.edu/content/44/3/408.full.pdf+html

Adult Perceptions of Neighborhood: Links to Youth Engagement is a study comparing adult perceptions of their own neighborhood to the amount of youth involvement in their community.  I found the comparison of the two to be incredibly interesting, because it is not something that I would immediately look towards comparing.  However, their findings appear to be very significant.  They found that higher adult perceptions were linked to higher youth involvement and lower adult perceptions were linked to low youth involvement. Neighborhoods with high youth involvement were thought to be safer, have better physical condition, and more resources than neighborhoods that had low youth involvement.

I believe this study gives great insight to how important youth can be in an overall community.  As we have discussed in class, perceptions are a large part of a community’s identity and their ability to succeed. This study shows how important youth involvement is and encourages those looking to change a community to begin with the neighborhood youth.

Did you find this article interesting or surprising in any way?  Can you see how youth involvement can impact a neighborhood’s perception?  Would this information help guide you in a community intervention?

Week 12: Reading Blog - Erin

Green, G.P. & Haines, A. (2008). The community development  process, pp. 41 – 66. In Asset building & community  development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

This week’s reading shares with us the ultimate goal of the Community Development Process, which is to enhance community assets, a key piece of a community assessment. The Community Development Process is discussed in this chapter, and it is broken down into four main components: Public Participation, Community Organizing, Community Visioning and Planning, and Evaluation and Monitoring. I will break down the text within these four topics of community development, and then present the class with a few questions.

Public Participation:
Who should determine a community’s future other than its residents? As we have learned in class, residents must claim control so they feel as if they have a voice in their own community.  This all begins with Public Participation, which the reading breaks down into four types; public action, public involvement, electoral participation, and obligatory participation. It is important to understand these types in order to understand the factors involved when reaching out to residents. There are barriers to participation we should consider when reaching out to the public: lack of childcare, transportation, accessibility, lack of advanced information, and communication (how do we reach people?). The reading presents us with techniques to battle this, including mediation planning, community surveys, drop-in centers, advisory boards and planning council/committees, public hearings, and task forces.

Community Organizing:
The focus of community organization is all about mobilization. We can do this by tackling community problems head-on. Problem Solving approaches presented in the text include; Mobilizing (involve people in direct action of the problem), service (focus on the individual, such as unemployment and poverty – does not challenge root cause), and advocacy (speak on behalf of the group or individual). It is also important to know the difference between CDC’s (community development corporations) vs. CBO’s (community based organization). These both use development models, but CBO’s use social action campaigns and focus on public participation, which may be more relevant to us as social workers.

Community Visioning and Planning:
A community vision is all about how a community should move into the future, mainly by promoting broad public participation. A formal vision and plan allows for expansion, pro-action, and innovation. Models include: comprehensive-rational planning, advocacy planning, and strategic planning. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. While a strategic planning model may be good for local nonprofits, it is actually do-able when attempting to work with members of the community? Also, with advocacy planning, you may be able to focus on a certain issue, but does it prepare the community in a comprehensive way? Visioning is an alternative to formal planning models.  A visioning perspective focuses on assets rather than needs. This approach is similar to the video we watched in class. Plan and vision for the community with a “cup is half full” approach, once again reiterating that vision methods are the way to go. The reading also provides steps for the visioning method, which can be found on page 53, Table 3.2.

Evaluation and Monitoring:
It is essential that communities monitor their progress during and after development. The reading highlights why it is important, and strategies to consider in evaluation. Mainly, it is important to monitor and evaluate your efforts to keep people motivated, focused, and to show other communities and organizations around you that you are having an impact. Evaluations should focus on the progress, actions and successes. This is similar to the scientific method. In order to show results you must quantify what you have. Take the positive work you have done and show how it is bettering the community you are working in. This can also be done through research, including participatory action research (community-based) and survey research. The more personal you get with residents, the better!

Further questions to consider:
Discuss the different models of community development. What are the similarities, differences, strengths, or weaknesses?
What can we do to battle barriers to public participation within the community development process and increase our reach in the community?
Which type of organizing is best for your assigned community (Service, mobilizing, advocacy, or a combination of both)?

Week 12: Lit Review - Crystal

http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umsl.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=07b8ea87-b3ad-4b00-b032-fcb1f72d6a68%40sessionmgr113&vid=2&hid=127

Change can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing. The most important thing about change is that to be aware that there may be resistance and arguments, but if you have the backing of the community with change, you will have an easier process.  According to (Dean-Coffey and Farkouh, 2012) The Dimensions of Change Model has five discrete dimensions that are imperative to change.  They are structure, parameters, intention, approach, and most importantly participants.

            The structure portion is important because it gives you an idea of what the change may be as well as the funding for the change.  Next you have the parameters portion. This is important because this will focus on the size of the population you will be working with, the length of how long the plan will take, and implications that it may have.  Then you have the intention portion. This is important because you need to know what your expected outcomes are regardless if they change along the way or not. It is important to have some sort of expectations and be able to effectively document the on going change.  Once of these things have been established you move forward with the approach portion. Approach is important because you need to know who, what, and how this change is going to be initiated. The final portion of the model would be the participants. According to (Dean- Coffey and Farkouh, 2012) you need to know the role of the residents, the skills needed to empower the change that has been initiated, and if there are outsiders needed for this change. It is apparent that change is a step by step process that takes effective planning, research, and communication. When change is needed in a particular community there tends to be a consistent amount of movement within the community of people coming and going. With a constant turn-over of community members initiating chance can be a difficult task if you cannot get enough people on board with the change initiative. Being able to identify and move forward and develop a plan based on this model would be imperative for effective change.

I felt this article was relevant to our class because we are currently in the communities trying to find an effective intervention. This is a model I think we can all follow within our community work to help develop effective and efficient change.

Do you feel this model would be effective within the community you are working in?  What model are you using for your community? What do you like and dislike about this model and if you have never used it would you consider using it to initiate change?

Week 12: Reading Blog - Danielle C.

The Community Development Process
Green & Haines Article

I found this article very interesting to how to map out the process of beginning community development.  The article outlines four kinds of public participation; public action, public involvement, electoral participation, and obligatory participation.  It suggests there is a ladder of participation and as you step up on each rung participation and power increase.  The idea here is to learn what motivates individuals to participate and develop strategies based on this information to get them involved and excited.  The article discusses different models of community organizing.  Picking the right model is key and should be based on factors such as context, resources, and circumstances specific to the project.  The main point of this article is that planning takes constant monitoring, evaluate, and revision until project completion.  This is something many people do not want to put the time in to doing, but is the only way to keep the project on track for the desired end result.  The article acknowledges the debate between whether the process is the most important versus the outcome.
Personally, I thought this debate was the most interesting part of the article.  I think when working with communities there is never really an end in sight.  There are always aspects that need help and can be improved at all times in a community.  As far as I am concerned this makes the process so much more important.
What information will you use from this article to help plan your community intervention?  What aspect of promoting community involvement would have the biggest impact on you in your own community?

Week 12: Lit Review - Ella

What influences perceptions of procedural justice among people with mental illness regarding their interactions with the police?
Community mental health journal vol. 50, issue 3, p281-287

The article discusses Perceived Procedural Justice Theory (PPJ); a central factor shaping perceptions about authority figures and dispute resolution processes is whether an individual believes they were treated justly and fairly during personal encounters with agents of authority.  It talks about how the role of police officers and other agents in authority are perceived by people with mental illness.  Although the article is a community-based research study examining perceptions of people with mental illness, I believe this theory could be applied to the general public, and in particular to my assigned community, Ferguson Missouri.  It points out the cornerstone of policing is front line patrol officers, whose ability to carry out their duties effectively are impacted by how they are perceived by the community.

According to this theory, a central factor shaping perceptions about authority figures and dispute resolutions processes is whether an individual believes they were treated justly and fairly during personal encounters with agents of authority.  Unjust and unfair treatment by agents of authority is likely to produce negative evaluations.  The theory stipulates that PPJ regarding agents of the law (e.g., police officers, judges, correctional officers) is important for shaping beliefs regarding whether legal authorities can be entrusted with the responsibilities of performing their duties, which in turn determines levels of compliance, cooperation, and law-abiding behavior.  The article states that numerous studies have found that members of the general public who feel treated in a procedurally just manner by the police are more likely to: (a) evaluate the encounter positively, (b) view the police as legitimate agents of social intervention, and (c) cooperate with the police.  I agree with the study in that the degree to which community members are willing to engage proactively and cooperate voluntarily with the police is also integral to the efficacy.

Procedural justice theory provides a framework for understanding how perceptions about authorities, such as the police, are created, maintained and transformed.  The article examined the influence of selected factors on how people with mental illness perceive their interactions with the police.  The semi structured interview guide contained detailed questions regarding participants’ lifetime and most recent police encounters, and included several scales from the “Police Contact Experience Scale” (PCES).  The PCES is a measure for assessing situational, procedural, and interpersonal aspects of interactions between people with mental illness and the police.  Residents in Ferguson Missouri almost sixty three percent black, have a negative perception about authority there.  The judicial structure in Ferguson is predominately white.

Findings indicate that participants’ evaluations of police interactions were greatly influenced by how they perceived police officers’ behavior on aspects of fairness, respectfulness, and kindness.  Overall participants’ interactions with police were viewed as positive.   They reported the police acted, for the most part, in a procedurally just manner.

Would a sample of your assigned community agree that their interactions/outcomes with police would be based on quality of treatment by police, quality of police decision-making, and police performance?
Could communities lower their crime rate if they had greater cooperation and acceptance of agent’s authority?

Week 12: News Article - Barissa

St. Louis turns to data to guide development

January 29, 2014 12:00 pm  - By Tim Logan tlogan@post-dispatch.com 

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/st-louis-turns-to-data-to-guide-development/article_88e96f4f-7f8f-5f31-b4a3-50f73df0b28d.html

This article discusses the use of data to supplement the way development spending has been determined and be used as a tool for redevelopment in the city of St. Louis. The idea is to use this method to make better use out of federal money and hope to get private money to redevelop projects.  It is hoped and can possibly be a way to recognize the city’s resources by supplementing the previous way of analyzing the city with the use of wards or neighborhoods. Instead of break the city up into wards and neighborhood, breaking the city into 360 sections and sorted into 9 areas will be used. Within these areas 10 data points will be collected such as home prices and amount of vacant land to provide information on the city’s housing market.

Aldermen and those involved with neighborhood development met at a conference to put this method to use to break down the data in St. Louis.  The results found that “neighborhoods south of I-44 and west of Kingshighway reflect mid-market home prices and high homeownership. St. Louis city neighborhoods surrounding Martin Luther King Drive and Natural Bridge Avenue reflects low home prices and high vacancy. Far north city neighborhoods reflect high homeownership, but also a high foreclosure rate. The final areas of Lafayette Square and the Central West End reflected pricey home prices and ownership.” These results reflect that in many parts of the city specifically north city the housing market is struggling. It also reflects that in some areas a street can separate high market to low market value.

I found this article interesting because with my research in the JVL neighborhood I can see some of the issues this article is bringing up and the benefits of the use of data. Our first step in planning our community initiatives was to find out the data in our communities. Without data it is difficult to truly understand and compare neighborhoods. The JVL neighborhood is low in the housing market, along with other north city areas. Initiatives have been put in place to help revitalize the JVL neighborhood, and hopefully more money will get put in place in these areas with the use of this data analysis method.

What are the strengths and what are the weaknesses of the use of data?

Can the use of data analysis be effective in any areas of your community?

Do you think this data analysis method will be used and benefit St. Louis city neighborhoods?