Communities in Action

Communities in Action PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309452961
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 583

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Book Description
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

Communities in Action

Communities in Action PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309452961
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 583

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Book Description
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

The State and Community Action

The State and Community Action PDF Author: Terry Robson
Publisher: Pluto Press (UK)
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
In this controversial book, Terry Robson shatters the myth that the current community development movement has the potential to change the nature of society. Robson criticises community development organisations for losing touch with the very communities they are seeking to serve. Against a background of continuing civil and political conflict, Robson examines case studies in Ireland, Britain, Romania and the United States.

Community Action and Planning

Community Action and Planning PDF Author: Gallent, Nick
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1447315170
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
Analyses the contexts, drivers and outcomes of community action and planning in the global north: from emergent neighbourhood planning in England to the community-based housing movement in New York, and from active citizenship in the Dutch new towns to associative action in Marseille.

Community Action and Organizational Change

Community Action and Organizational Change PDF Author: Brenton D. Faber
Publisher: SIU Press
ISBN: 9780809324361
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Faber (technical communications, Clarkson U.) examines issues relating to the process of organizational change and the process of researching such change, including how people cope with, create, adapt to, and resist change; how people research and talk about it, and the links created and severed between theory and practice, the researcher and the researched, and the academic and the community. The text combines theoretical discussions of these issues--drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, Anthony Giddens, and Pierre Bourdieu--with Faber's firsthand experiences in the study and implementation of change. For academics, businesspeople, not-for-profit organizations, and community action groups interested in a sustained examination of change. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Development, Social Policy and Community Action

Development, Social Policy and Community Action PDF Author: Leila Patel
Publisher: HSRC Publishers
ISBN: 9780796925510
Category : Cities and towns
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"How do citizens in poor communities benefit from and perceive state interventions? How do citizens in poor communities interact with others in the community to promote the well-being of themselves and their families? What are the implications of the above for community based research, policy and practice? Development, Social Policy and Community Action: Lessons from Below addresses these questions based on rigorous and multi-faceted research conducted in the poor, urban area of Doornkop, Soweto, using a range of different methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives that all broaden our understanding of citizen-community-state interactions indisadvantaged, urban communities in Soth Africa. Solutions to poverty and inequality are often designed, implemented and evaluated in a topdown manner, thereby disregarding the views and agency of the poor citizens themselves. Addressing this gap, the authors explore how government assistance, through social grants and services, as well as community support mechanisms provide solutions to citizens in poorcommunities and the ways that the citizens perceive and make use of such interventions. This research study points to the need for more nuanced policy strategies and interventions pertinent to local challenges which also resonate with the global search for solutions in similar contexts. With a fresh perspective that addresses the interconnections between state interventions, community and citizens in sustainable social development, this book provides a case for the importance of conducting community-based research that effectively encourages research findings to support communities to effect positive change."--

Making Change

Making Change PDF Author: Jeanne L Hites Anderson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000073947
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 556

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Book Description
Every community has issues or opportunities that need to be addressed. The expert knowledge of community members could be the key to creating lasting change. By making community members into facilitators, Making Change: Facilitating Community Action suggests they can guide community members through the process of making change and to help them determine their goals and methods. The aim of this book is to enable facilitators to identify concerns and address, enable and foster change at the local level through effective facilitation. This book follows a six-stage model for creating change. Beginning with issue awareness, it continues through getting to know the team they are working with, seeking information on the issue and community, through facilitating the planning and community development through evaluation. This book focuses on the human side of the change process while also teaching the practical skills necessary for individuals to reach their goal. Making Change is for people interested in making change to improve their community, including students, community activists, local government and educational leaders.

Israeli Community Action

Israeli Community Action PDF Author: Paula Kabalo
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253050782
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
A fascinating history of how average citizens banded together to cope and rebuild in the wake of the 1948 War. When the 1948 Israeli War of Independence broke out, population centers were rocked by sniper fire, bombings, and roadside ambushes. As the fighting moved out of the cities into desert areas, private citizens and community organizations left behind organized to revitalize and restore life in their devastated communities. In Israeli Community Action, Paula Kabalo presents a vivid portrait of these civilians who strove to help each other cope with the realities of war. Kabalo explores how civilian militias were recruited, how neighborhoods were protected, how older populations were enlisted into the war effort, and how women were organized to provide medical aid or establish refugee centers. She demonstrates that each phase of the war brought along new challenges to the population of the young state of Israel, but she also illuminates how the engagement of Israelis in community efforts brought them together and shored them up to face the future in their new country.

Rhetorics for Community Action

Rhetorics for Community Action PDF Author: Phyllis Mentzell Ryder
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739137689
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
Rhetorics for Community Action: Public Writing and Writing Publics, by Phyllis Mentzell Ryder, offers theory and pedagogy to introduce public writing as a complex political and creative action. To write public texts, we have to invent the public we wish to address. Such invention is a complex task, with many components to consider: exigency that brings people together; a sense of agency and capacity; a sense of how the world is and what it can become. All these components constantly compete against texts that put forward other public ideals_opposing ideas about who really has power and who really can create change. Teachers of public writing must adopt a generous response to those who venture into this arena. Some scholars believe that to prepare students for public life, university classes should partner with grassroots community organizations, rather than nonprofits that serve food or tutor students. They worry that a service-related focus will create more passive citizens who do not rally and resist or grab the attention of government leaders or corporations. With carefully contextualized study of an after-school arts program, an area soup kitchen, and parks organizations, among others, Ryder shows that many so-called 'service' organizations are not passive places at all, and she argues that the main challenge of public work is precisely that it has to take place among all of these compelling definitions of democracy. Ryder proposes teaching public writing by partnering with multiple community nonprofits. She develops a framework to help students analyze how their community partners inspire people to action, and offers a course design that support them as they convey those public ideals in community texts. But composing public texts is only part of the challenge. Traditional newspapers and magazines, through their business models and writing styles, reinforce a dominant role for citizens as thinking and reading, but not necessarily acting. This civic role is also professed in the university, where students are taught writing that extends inquiry. Phyllis Mentzell Ryder's Rhetorics for Community Action: Public Writing and Writing Publics turns to the rhetorical practices of nondominant American communities and counterpublics, whose resistance to 'good' public speech and 'proper' public behavior reveals alternate modes of composing and acting in democracy.

Community Action Leaders

Community Action Leaders PDF Author: Beverly Bunch
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317191870
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 371

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Book Description
Nationwide, approximately 1,000 Community Action agencies advocate for the poor and provide diverse but critical services such as (but not limited to) emergency food and shelter, energy bill assistance, weatherization, education, job training, transportation, housing, and health services. In the face of dynamic environments and shifting poverty needs, Community Action agencies are constantly seeking innovative ways to effectively address poverty in their communities while building their internal capacity to ensure sustained impact and outcomes. This book focuses on the major leadership roles and responsibilities of the Community Action leaders, the types of challenges they face, and how they address those challenges, covering questions such as: How do Community Action leaders identify the needs of low-income people and use that knowledge to tailor programs to meet those needs? In what ways are low-income people involved in Community Action agencies (e.g. board or advisory council members, volunteers, employees, advocates)? What are the advantages and disadvantages associated with their participation? How do the leaders and their staff assess and demonstrate the effectiveness of their organizations and programs? What challenges do they encounter in assessing and communicating performance? What approaches are Community Action leaders using to diversify their revenues? What are the advantages and challenges associated with those approaches? How are the leaders developing their staffs and preparing for leadership succession? How do the leaders benefit from an affiliation with state and national associations? Through original and comprehensive research undertaken by the Center for State Policy and Leadership at the University of Illinois Springfield and the Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies (IACAA), this book is designed to inform and enhance leadership in Community Action agencies and other nonprofit or government organizations with similar missions. It is written in a nontechnical manner and includes a chapter on the history and evolution of Community Action agencies for readers who are unfamiliar with Community Action and the War on Poverty. It will be required reading for professionals working at the frontlines of income inequality, as well as university professors and their students in the fields of public administration, nonprofit management, and social work.

Maximum Feasible Misunderstanding

Maximum Feasible Misunderstanding PDF Author: Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company
ISBN: 9780029220108
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description