Music is more than a creative expression; it could represent the voice of a politically oppressed society. The potential power of music was recognized by Plato and is now confirmed by modern scientific inquiry. The majority of Jamaica’s people have been in a constant state of oppression to which they have responded, both individually and collectively, with resistance. One form through which resistance has taken place is music. Jamaica’s Reggae music was born in poor urban communities, evolved in the context of oppression, and are often commentaries on social conditions. The lyrics cover a range of related themes: past brutality and exploitation; present corruption; Marcus Garvey and his philosophy; a longing for the lost homeland and of hopes for repatriation in Africa. All fundamentally address the political, social and moral implications of the use of power from slavery to the present day. Using content analysis and a set of indicators of power, an examination of 30 of the leading Reggae songs of the past generation will be made to answer the question: “How does Reggae music explain Jamaica’s power dynamics in terms of Gaventa’s power dimensions?” The analysis aims to identify the existence of these dimensions of power, its potential for domination, its connections to the continued inequality of the country’s underclass, as well as avenues that the underclass can use to resist domination.
PhD Student, University of Louisville, School of Urban and Public Affairs
I received my bachelor’s degree in Management and Economics from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica and a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University College of the Caribbean, also in Jamaica. I attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United... Read More →
Since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, Germany has experienced social, political, and economic changes that have impacted the urban environments and the housing landscape. While Germany has one of the lowest homeownership rates in Europe (ca. 40%), and its housing system is often regarded as the most affordable and liberal in Europe, its urban areas face problems that are in some ways similar to the US, for instance gentrification and homelessness on one hand, as well as progressive initiatives such as environmentally sustainable housing on the other. This research uses primary and secondary data, including photography, observation, documents, and population demographic data to examine 3 major cities in Germany – Berlin, Hamburg, and Kӧln – with particular emphasis on: • the history of German housing policy and its effect on urbanization and suburbanization, • topics such as gentrification, homelessness, and environmentally sustainable housing development, • the role of urban planning and regional development, • the role of arts and culture, • the effects of population/demographic change, • the role of government in achieving stable and affordable housing in spite of the global recession and global economic pressure. Lessons learned from this exploration of German urban change, urban planning, and culture in general have currency for the U.S., especially given its chronic affordable housing crisis and urban problems.
Despite growing levels of family homelessness and concern about its effects on child well-being, there has been a general lack of qualitative research exploring mechanisms by which housing instability influences child well-being. Qualitative data may also suggest ways to parse differences between the effects of housing instability itself and the environments families are exposed to while unstably housed. Semi-structured interviews with 80 homeless mothers enrolled in a random assignment study of housing interventions are used to explore these relationships. Differences among families assigned to short-term housing subsidies, long-term housing subsidies, and transitional housing interventions compared to a usual care condition of continuing to work with shelter staff to locate housing are also explored. Coding and data analysis of an initial ten family subset from the subsidy and usual care groups identified influences of housing stability and environments on child educational, behavioral, and health outcomes as well as mothers’ strategies for reducing negative influences. Mothers experiencing high housing instability attempted to minimize school changes, but preventing out-of-home placements was prioritized. Mothers frequently reported increased child behavior problems when living in shelters and overcrowded doubled-up situations often, but mothers who obtained housing subsidies frequently reported behavior problems abating quickly once their housing was stabilized. Mothers also often reported heterogeneity in outcomes for children within the same family. Implications of these findings for future quantitative studies of housing stability and child well-being are also explored, suggesting a need for increased use of person-centered approaches.
As neighborhood revitalization and stabilization continue to be a major focus of planners, developers, and design professionals, it becomes ever more important to understand the visual impact of these objectives. To comprehend when these efforts have exceeded their purpose, it is likewise necessary to be able to recognize the physical appearance of gentrification. The ability to understand and visually compare stabilization, revitalization, gentrification, and the visual boundaries between these concepts can assist those initiating and implementing neighborhood renewal. Visual recognition of the design tropes associated with gentrification prior to its actualization allows decision makers and implementers time to make modifications and ensure neighborhoods stabilize to support a diversity of incomes, ages, housing styles, services, and amenities. This research project attempts to develop an understanding through visual study and qualitative analysis of the appearance and resident perceptions of these important neighborhood development concepts and apply them to a long-term stabilized neighborhood, a newly developed neighborhood, and a neighborhood in transition. The findings of this research will provide a visual context and potential strategies for neighborhood revitalization and stabilization through implementation of mixed-income communities rather than gentrification.
Housing prices tend to be higher in city centers than elsewhere. This phenomenon is known as the urban rent. The cause of this observed difference kindled a yet unsettled scientific dispute between two opposing models: Does urban rent stem from global economic speculation based on a location advantage, or is urban rent the result of an actors-driven valuation of central neighborhoods that leads to the augmentation of housing prices? This controversy is epitomized by the debate surrounding gentrification, i.e. the replacement of lower income inhabitants by higher income ones in poor neighborhoods. Two main models of gentrification have been proposed: the economic exogenous approach integrates gentrification in macro-scale speculation and the geographic micro-scale approach considers the neighborhood effect of high valued houses. These models describe how gentrification might happen, but fail to explain why neighborhoods suddenly become attractive although their locations do not changed. I propose to test the role of urbanity in the gentrification process so as to address this shortcoming. I am building an index of urbanity based on empirical observations (pre-existing density, social diversity and functional variety) and on residents’ aspirations for urbanity (evaluated according to their political choices and interviews). Moreover, I am building a statistical model to test the interaction between urbanity (both actual, measured urbanity and preferences for urbanity), macro-scale market dynamics and micro-scale local valuation. This model will test the following hypothesis : the level of urbanity changes the relative role of market dynamics and local valuation. I will present the first results of this research and the maps of my field study: San Francisco Bay Area.
Abstract What is the socioeconomic impact of an urban housing project on relocated residents? I will examine the socioeconomic impact of an urban housing project in Izmir, Turkey. Kadifekale is a neighborhood in Izmir where low-income migrants from the eastern part of Turkey move to, due to an increase in violence in eastern Turkey. Kadifekale has a predominance of residents of Kurdish origin who come from the Mardin Province in eastern Turkey. These migrants lived in illegal, low-income settlements for the long time, until the local government forced them to move into assigned public mobility housing in Uzundere, a housing project in the southern part of the city. Based on my ethnographic observations and 15 in-depth interviews in Uzundere resettling low-income migrants from Kadifekale into public mobility housing is an economic development case with strengths and challenges. These socioeconomic challenges include the lack of employment opportunities, as well as the lack of transportation and community amenities. In this paper, I will highlight an urban housing project in Turkey, and I will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this housing project based on stories from residents of Uzundere. Keywords: Urban Transformation, Public houses, Race and ethnicity, Migration, Turkey.
The problem explored is if design can reduce opposition to affordable housing. Two hundred and nineteen people participated (99 men, and 120 women) in an on-line survey recruited through a snowball sample via social media. Most participants reported that they were Caucasian, a homeowner, married, well educated, with family incomes greater than $50,000. From the 186 respondents who reported their zip codes, I found that participants came from 34 states and Canada. The survey measured the participant’s willingness to allow affordable housing near them using a social distance scale. The survey also asked participants to choose which home they believed to be affordable between three market-rate homes and one affordable home. Half of the respondents completed the social distance scale as a pre-test, whereas everyone completed the social distance scale as a post-test. The research found that homeowners and higher-income individuals are less willing to have affordable housing near them than renters and lower-income individuals. Additionally, the research found that people are more willing to allow affordable housing near them after taking the survey. Therefore, under the right circumstances, providing a clear definition of affordable housing and building aesthetically pleasing and indistinguishable affordable housing can increase people’s willingness to allow affordable housing near them. This information proves valuable to developers, affordable housing agencies, and planners as the research has found that the architectural design of affordable housing could decrease stigma by participants being more willing to allow affordable housing near them. It is therefore, important for these actors to educate the community on who lives in affordable housing and how single-family affordable housing can be built indistinguishable from market-rate housing.
Narratives about Detroit are incredibly abundant. There are about 20 feature documentaries about Detroit that have been released in the last five years, along with many television reports and internet based video installations. These representations attempt to tell Detroit’s stories from many points of view. Here I review eight recent films to understand the points of view presented and how these films shape the narrative about Detroit’s crisis and possible strategies for revitalization. Recent scholarship has attempted to change the Detroit crisis plotline, notably Thomas Sugrue’s recent correction that Detroit’s crisis didn’t start with the Detroit uprising of 1967, but rather, was a reaction to a crisis that began in the late 1940s. This research required urban researchers to recalibrate “the origins of the urban crisis.” Detroit’s municipal bankruptcy and iconic visual representations of urban crisis have grabbed the world’s attention. This paper reviews both urban theories and film methods to explore how Detroit hi(stories) are represented. I review how consensus and or dissonance between academic historical and social science explorations and cinematic representations of Detroit’s decline and revitalization may matter in creating a more robust understanding of the complex problem of urban crisis. Here I include content analysis of eight films on Detroit, along with content analysis of major newspaper accounts of Detroit’s crisis – including its bankruptcy case – as well as blogs and other individual efforts to tell this story. I also compare this survey of recent films to recent surveys of books about Detroit and photography about Detroit. This paper contributes to our understanding of urban narratives and their effects on urban research and policy.
I have been a professor at Michigan State since 1997.My MA and PhD are in Sociology from UC Berkeley, and my BA is from Boston University in Sociology and Geography.
The U.S. Census Bureau predicts over twenty percent of the U.S. population will be over age 65 by 2030, raising questions about whether this segment of the population will age in the homes they currently occupy. As the Generation X and millennial population continue to move back into the urban core, gentrification of once- disenfranchised neighborhoods results in major socioeconomic demographic shifts in neighborhood composition, driving up housing costs for longtime residents. Central Atlanta, like many other urban cores, has experienced and continues to experience a large residential shift as those over age 65 are displaced by the Generation X and millennial population. Through a focus on Atlanta’s historic patterns, this paper examines how those aged 65 and older are impacted by gentrification over time. The study uses a gentrification change index, using factors such as property value, home ownership rates, and resident education level over time, to assess the change in the 65 and older population in urban core neighborhoods, emphasizing differences in neighborhoods that have gentrified slowly in comparison to neighborhoods that have gentrified rapidly. Informed by focus group analysis, findings highlight neighborhood-specific and general best practices to improve urban core neighborhoods without displacing those 65 and older, with applicability to other core city communities across the United States.
It is estimated that 65 million U.S. adults have criminal records, which equates to about one in four American adults. Of those incarcerated, more than half a million are released from prison annually. The ability to obtain stable employment is a primary factor in facilitating a successful transition to life after prison. However, studies show that Americans with criminal records face significant barriers to obtaining employment. One method to reduce barriers, such as hiring bias against job applicants with criminal records, involves legally barring employers from inquiring about criminal backgrounds on job applications. This method, commonly referred to as "Ban the Box," has been implemented among states and municipalities in the public sector, the private sector, or both. Ban the Box policies do not eliminate questions about applicants' criminal backgrounds, but simply delay questions until after job applicants have obtained an interview or a conditional job offer. Few studies have been conducted to examine the impact of Ban the Box policies on employers and job applicants. This pilot study uses a non-experimental design to examine employers' hiring experiences related to implementation of Ban the Box policies. An online survey of human resource departments in select states and municipalities where Ban the Box policies are in force was conducted. The goal of the research was to gather data about the type and extent of effects on hiring practices experienced by employers after implementation of Ban the Box policies. Anticipated outcomes are that few human resource departments will have experienced negative hiring impacts, such as increased costs, excess staff time, or increased workplace violence, after implementation of Ban the Box policies. The results of the pilot study will be presented via this poster presentation.
Doctoral Student / Grad Asst / HR Chapter Operations Director, Clemson University
I have professional experience experience in workforce development, career development, fund development and human resources. My research interests include employment issues facing lower income individuals. I am interested in asset-based community development that supports holistic... Read More →
Residential segregation is a growing problem here in America. When you look around your city, most often you notice that neighborhoods are grouped into housing typologies and segregated in some form or fashion, primarily by income. The underlying assumption is that the poor live with the poor and the wealthy live with the wealthy. The poor areas of town are most often located in and around the areas of the city that are considered less desirable uses such as warehouse districts and manufacturing districts and distanced from greenbelts and other public amenities. One of the leading causes for residential segregation is the practice of exclusionary zoning regulations. Regulations such as minimum lot sizes, specific building materials, minimum set-backs, high impact fees, and zoning maps that restrict housing typologies or place limitations in different zones. The question is: how do exclusionary land use policies play a part in the institution of residential segregation? This paper will examine in a mixed methods approach utilizing case studies and quantitative data in several Texas cities. By mapping zoning regions over a period of time and analyzing housing values within those zone it is believed that it will be determined that exclusionary land use policies are a major factor in the institution of residential segregation. The goal of this research is the suggestion policies at the state level to begin to blur the lines created by exclusionary land use policies.
My research is part of a larger comparative research project that looks into the relationships of contemporary security governance and the experience and enactment of citizenship in five different cities. More specifically, my research uses security as a case to expand our understanding of how and where new forms of citizenship are produced and existing ones reconfigured in the city of Miami. It departs from the understanding that citizenship is a social construct that can develop beyond the realm of the national state, for example in the relationships of rights and responsibilities between private security, neighborhood watches, and residents.
Rather than departing from the a priori presence of a clear-cut dichotomy between public and private and client and threat, my research is based upon an empirical understanding of security assemblages. This means that I perceive these theoretical conceptualizations to be much more fluid and intertwined as security providers and residents can represent multiple and different roles simultaneously.
Following this line of thinking, I will study to what extent roles and relationships are constructed in security encounters, as well as analyze how security encounters produce spatial meaning and regimes of mobility in order to theorize the production of citizenships. After 1,5 month of fieldwork, I have selected Overtown, Wynwood and South Beach as my main research locations.
By adopting an ethnographic methodological approach, I will be able to explore how police officers, private companies, neighborhood watches, and residents encounter each other as inherent and sometimes inescapable part of daily urban life. This allows me to uncover the narratives, interpretations, and experiences that inform and follow from these interactions.
In the wake of the tragedies of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Ezell Ford and Trayvon Martin we are at an impasse in the way police function within the African American community. At one end of the spectrum police officers are responsible for maintaining law and order in society while still protecting themselves from harm. Simultaneously, the African American community feels unlawfully targeted by aggressive and unwarranted attacks by these same officers. With increased tensions building between the police officers and the African American community the problem must be addressed if we are to make any progress in mending the broken bound between the two. The most prominent quick fix to the current issue is for increased use of cameras. While this might have an immediate impact we want a solution that is lasting and uniform. This solution comes in the form of increased community policing in minority communities. Given the long-term solution proposed we must answer the question: How can we use community-policing tools to increase trust in minority communities? Previous community policing research has created theories but never advanced a framework that can be applicable in society. Through my study of case studies, ethnographic reports and community policing literature I will put together a framework that moves beyond theory and will be applicable and transparent in its use. This framework if applied correctly will be the catalyst for administrators to incorporate in their police force. This model will tackle the present issues facing the growing outrage between minority communities and the police force
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most common chronic blood borne viral infection in the United States. Over 4 million Americans suffer from HCV, yet 75% of them are unaware of their illness. Rates of infection are high among criminal justice clients with rates estimated between 20-40%, and Latinos report the highest HCV-related mortality of incarcerated individuals. The present study aims are two-fold: 1) to assess knowledge of HCV among Latino criminal justice clients according to their interest in being tested for HCV; and 2) to describe the association of drug use and being interested in HCV testing. Data collection is on-going; however, preliminary findings (n = 44) show 80% are male, the mean age is 33 years (SD=9). Sixteen percent did not finish high school, 34% completed high school/GED, and 50% had some college or more. Around 45% of participants were of Cuban origin. Around 80% of the participants were arrested more than once. Knowledge of HCV risk factors were generally not high in this sample. For example, around 57% did not know that drug use is associated with higher risk, only 45% were extremely certain that tattooing is a risk factor. However, over 75% recognized that having fewer partners is not an effective protective measure, and around 60% thought it can be transmitted by sharing razors and toothbrushes. The majority of the participants (70%) did not know whether there is an effective HCV vaccine or not. Around 60% of the participants were interested in receiving HCV testing, but those who reported one or more drug related arrests were less likely to want HCV testing. Implications of the findings will be discussed as it relates to improving HCV testing, as well as a description of a culturally-appropriate intervention that is being developed for this at risk population in Miami.
The prevailing literature on neighborhood segregation examines the location of a single ethnic, immigrant, or racial group within a focused place. This situation still applies in many instances, but there are other cases where more than one ethnic group shares the same space. Notions of superdiversity and multi-ethnicity have been addressed repeatedly in the literature but there are few models of how these conditions may operate on the ground. This poster proposes the development of such a schema which will be useful in conceptualizing multi-ethnic neighborhoods and positing the differences between them. Such a model will take into account the type of contact between ethnic groups inhabiting the same space, the degree and scale of clustering, the societal context, and the differences between residential and business clusters. This model will then offer case examples for each type. Further implications of what these different configurations may mean for ethnic cooperation, incorporation and advancement will be explored.
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a significant public health problem with an estimated 19 million new STIs each year in the US. STIs disproportionately affect the non-Hispanic black community in the United States. Previous research has detailed how community factors influence STI transmission as well as individual behavior. Racial residential segregation is a community factor previously associated with several negative health outcomes. The objective of this study was to examine the association between racial residential segregation and risky sexual behavior among non-Hispanic blacks. Study data were from the US Census and the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), a nationally representative continuous survey of men and women 15-44 years of age in US households. Risky sexual behavior was defined as having two or more partners within the last 12 months and no condom use during last sex. Racial residential segregation in core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) was measured using five different dimensions of segregation. Of the 3,643 non-Hispanic black study participants, 15% engaged in risky sexual behavior. After controlling for covariates, the centralization [aOR (95% CI): 2.07 (2.05-2.08)] and concentration [2.05 (2.03-2.07)] dimensions were found to be most strongly associated with risky sexual behavior. The associations between risky sexual behavior and two of the other dimensions – unevenness [1.16 (1.15-1.17)] and exposure [1.04 (1.03-1.05)] – were statistically significant but smaller in magnitude. The association between risky sexual behavior and racial residential segregation was stronger for females than males. The study findings suggest that racial residential segregation or factors associated with it may increase the prevalence of risky sexual behavior. Future research should examine mechanisms such as male-female ratio, incarceration rates, drug use, and discrimination by which racial residential segregation influences risky sexual behavior.
Art museums have traditionally been viewed as spaces that contribute to urban spatial inequality, because they are designed for and serve the agendas of urban elites. However, many in the museum community see art museums as enriching spaces for everyone in the city, not just elites. My research looks at how one particular art museum, the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, fits into this discussion by studying how it influences who uses, and how people use the mixed-income neighborhood space in and nearby the museum. For this research, I am piloting an Instagram-based method to understand who uses and how someone uses public space in and nearby the museum. Instagram offers an objective account of how and when someone uses space, and it can also be used to estimate the socio-economic status of the person. While my research also uses interviews with people to describe their activities and socio-economic statuses, this evidence depends on the truthfulness and subjective experience of the interviewee. More specifically, my Instagram method compares publicly available, anonymous Instagram photographs taken when the museum is closed versus open and when the museum is free versus when the museum charges admission. The photographs are analyzed for content and the Instagram users’ home census tracts are geolocated and joined with 2010 US Census data using QGIS. The resultant evidence is used to test whether each condition (closed versus open, free versus not free) attracts significantly different people and/or influences significantly different activities. The findings of this research will help community members, city boosters, museum staff, and city planners create more egalitarian places in and around existing art museums by understanding how the institution attracts diverse community groups versus elite groups, local groups versus outside groups, as well as how it influences certain neighborhood activities.
PURPOSE: The objective was to examine underlying cause of death for HIV-positive Latinos by neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), rural/urban status, and racial/ethnic composition. METHODS: Florida HIV surveillance records for Latinos diagnosed between 2000-2011 were analyzed. Vital status and cause of death was obtained by linkage with Florida Vital Records. Zip code at time of HIV diagnosis was used to link neighborhood SES variables and racial/ethnic composition from the American Community Survey to each case. The Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) codes were used to determine rural/urban status. RESULTS: Of 14,210 HIV-positive Latinos, 96.8% resided in an urban zip code. Of 1,899 deaths, 58.7% were HIV-related, 28.2% other medical (e.g. cancer, stroke, diabetes), 6.1% external (e.g. homicide, suicide, unintentional injuries), and 7.1% unknown. In the bivariate analysis, cause of death differed by year of HIV diagnosis (p-value
The “It City” moniker presents Nashville as a booming market, open for business and ready for development. Alternative narratives posit the emergence of a “second” Nashville alongside the prosperous one that is characterized by economic inequity, social injustice, and gentrification. Indeed, this second Nashville exemplifies place as a creation of global capitalism, racism and patriarchy (Smith 1996; Lefebvre 1974; Harvey 1996; Massey 1994). While this structural lens provides important context and is critical to our understanding of the city system, its writing of the city under-represents its permeability, multiplicity, and unfinished nature, and possibility for its reimagination (Massey 1994; Gibson-Graham 2006). As spatial theories offer, cities are made and remade, assembled, and the fluid creation of its constituents (Neely & Samura 2011; Soja 1996; Deleuze & Guattari 1987). The present study considers this third place-making process and traces it through the discourse and behaviors of residents and stakeholders in a Nashville neighborhood. Adopting a critical place inquiry lens (Tuck & McKenzie 2014) using depth interviews, participant observation, and document analysis, I explore the ways that these actors preserve and create place in the context of urban change. Specifically, I ask, what are resident and stakeholder place meanings and attachments in relation to the neighborhood and what behaviors do they enact that reflect these definitions and relationships. Further, I consider how the process of everyday place making reflects the construction of, following the framework of Neely and Samura (2011), racial space. This research intends to contribute to a deeper understanding of urban systems, reframe residents as generators of place not simply inhabitants of gentrifying neighborhoods, and offer an alternative approach to conceptualizing the booming but fragmented city.
Disproportionate burdens of environmental hazards and gentrification effect of brownfields revitalization have imposed unequal quality of living conditions on people of color with relatively low economic status. The concept of Equitable Development in planning academia and practice focuses on this issue through community-based redevelopment that emphasizes community engagement in planning process and building partnerships among diverse stakeholders. However, government agencies such as Environmental Protection Agency demands guidance to effectively work with local/grass root initiatives representing local communities’ need. Community involvement strategies need systematic and active intervention. This paper has two research questions: (1) what factors of brownfields neighborhoods should be considered as criteria to define environmentally and socioeconomically burdened population? (2) What type of partnership can be a model to facilitate equitable brownfields revitalization? And what kind of constituent should consist of such partnership to be sustained? Southeast Florida region – Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties – consists of 65-percent people of color and has the largest number of brownfields/Superfund sites in Florida; thus, the region’s way to reach sustainable development heavily depends on the capability to embrace diversity of population and get abandoned properties back to productive use through community-based revitalization. Therefore, this study selects this region as a case study area and will conduct research to develop criteria to define environmentally disadvantaged population in this region and collect best brownfields revitalization practices, which have similar context to this region.
As a regional leader and energy producer, Brazil’s geopolitical role in the emerging post-carbon global energy landscape is likely to grow. The current international energy system is challenged by constraints on available resources and the rise of new players. Local availability of clean secure energy sources is critical in not only protecting against volatility in international energy trade, but also in supporting municipalities that are straining under the pressure of increasing urban growth and demands on basic services. Rising demand for energy further exacerbates the challenges that climate change poses to urban areas. While the infrastructure costs of transitioning to more sustainable energy service systems can be great, adoption of generation sources such as photovoltaic and wind allows small economic actors to develop new innovative energy projects that meet local needs with local resources. This research explores the potential for urban distributed energy generation facilities in Brazil, the growth of which positions the country to be a leader in the emerging reconfiguration of energy supply and demand. Distributed generation facilities redefine how urban energy services are planned and executed while also eroding established patterns in the global flows of energy and the accompanying energy oriented capital investments.
The presence of food trucks in Oklahoma City has increased rapidly over the past few years, and food trucks appear to play a role in the revitalization efforts of several commercial districts in Oklahoma City through the use of regular street festivals. One monthly event in particular has even been titled “America’s Largest Food Truck Festival.” However, Oklahoma City’s food trucks have worked to overcome restrictive ordinances and the concern of local public health officials, including an armed raid by local health officials on a street festival in 2011. This study seeks to identify the regulatory barriers for food trucks in Oklahoma City, and how the city’s food truck operators perceive, manage and overcome these barriers. Qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews with local food truck operators and participant observation of food truck sites and street festivals, are used in this study to examine how these regulations play out in public spaces. Initial findings have shown an active community of food truck operators who have worked with local officials to change several restrictive policies. Another finding has shown commercial district organizations and business improvement districts as key partners in securing permission to use public space and mitigating tensions with brick and mortar restaurants. Though current literature on food trucks and street vending in the United States has generally argued for a more laissez-faire approach to regulating food truck vendors, this study has shown Oklahoma City food trucks to successfully operate within a formalized network of permits, inspections, and dialogue with local officials.
The nation is facing a crisis with nearly 4 million unfilled jobs due to unqualified candidates to secure specific occupational duties. According to the 2010 U.S. Census data, the state of New Jersey is aiding the crisis. There are approximately 1.1 million high school dropouts living in New Jersey, which is more than 12.3 percent of New Jersey’s population. This means that millions of citizens residing in New Jersey lack the skills and knowledge these jobs require to succeed in the job market of today. Over the years, research has illustrated that the General Education Development Test (GED) is becoming more and more popular amongst teenagers who drop out of New Jersey public high schools. The reasons why youth are opting out of high school into GED programs or alternative schools can be perceived as a community development problem. It could be that urban public school personnel did not properly inform students of the GED program or alternative school option before shifting them out. Other suggestions may reveal that youth are unaware of how human resource managers could scrutinize their GED education prior to securing employment. Some may also say youth are unaware of certain senior university’s strict policies that require GED students to graduate from a junior college first, before entering into the senior university. These misconceptions amongst youth about the GED test may be due to some organizational issues within the public school district. If so, research could potentially lead to a revision within the urban public school districts, not the GED test.
Danielle Davis is a graduate student in the Master’s of Public Administrations (MPA) program at Rutgers University, Camden campus.
Prior to starting her graduate studies, Danielle received her Associates degree in Paralegal studies at Berkeley College. After completion, she transferred... Read More →
Rania Ahmed, University of San Francisco; Alicia Lehmer, University of San Francisco
Cities have turned to urban agriculture (UA) as a means of revitalizing neighborhoods and addressing unmet food needs of urbanites. Farming in the city has gained momentum and has become an impactful force on urban social landscapes, economics and health. However, UA has also sparked debates over the appropriate development of highly valuable private spaces in order to achieve public good. In 2014, the City of San Francisco created a tax incentive to encourage property owners to use undeveloped lands in UA that can provide increased food access to local communities. This tax incentive represents the political prioritization of UA in the City of San Francisco to meet a pressing residential need. Nonetheless, opposition to the tax incentive raises significant questions: What is the role of UA in a global city with a severe housing crisis? What institutional support does incentivizing UA need to address a public demand on extremely scarce urban land? This paper examines these questions through the analysis of qualitative data gathered through interviews with impacted San Francisco residents, nonprofits, and landowners; the analysis of public documents; and a review of the existing literature on the costs and benefits of UA in the United States. Existing literature indicates that UA can help revitalize disinvested neighborhoods and provide supplemental nutrition and food access to low-income residents suffering from food insecurity. In addition to these community benefits, we posit that public policies that incentivize UA benefit urban residents by providing a unique opportunity for cities to reframe the relationship between the public and private spheres in shaping the urban landscape. Findings include policy structures that make UA a favorable land use for public officials, landowners, and residents alike to create new public/private dynamics, promote public good, health, and cultivating social,rather than private, capital within the city.
Evidence points to non-biologic social factors as the principal determinants of health. The US health care system spends more than any other health care system in the world, yet this results in poorer health outcomes in the US compared with other industrialized nations. Many have noted that clinical services in the US are poorly organized, while social services are under-funded compared with other industrialized countries. Green Family Foundation NeighborhoodHELP™ is a new model of care initially developed to train interprofessional teams of FIU students, comprised of medical, social work, law, nursing, public health, and education. The program employs a socio-medical approach to improve health at the household level. The outreach team combines the health service support of community health workers and the social service support of health navigators. The outreach team recruits and engages community partners and households; provides community, health, and social navigation services, and referrals for health, legal, educational and/or social services, based on household needs. The outreach team also works with partners to leverage local community assets to meet the needs of community partners and households. An initial evaluation of our curricular model demonstrated that outreach services could reduce the use of ER as a usual source of care. This outreach model is now being formalized, expanded and integrated with the broader FIU health network targeting the Triple Aim: improving the patient experience of care; improving health; and reducing costs. To prospectively evaluate the impact and value of outreach services, we carefully analyzed workflows. We are building a data management system to accurately reflect the activities and outcomes of this new outreach team. This poster will present workflows, evaluation data elements, and the analysis framework for prospective and ongoing evaluation of costs and outcomes of integrating sociomedical outreach into clinical care.
There is a pressing need for effective and engaging strengths-based prevention models that promote resilience among at-risk urban youth. Music education is a promising vehicle, though often less available and underfunded in high-poverty, disadvantaged schools. Youth involvement in musical training appears to enhance the development of critical life-skills such as discipline, self-control and perseverance. Such life skills are linked to lower rates of substance use, and improved GPA, self-confidence, and conduct. To examine these issues, the Ware Foundation funded “Project TREBLE” (Testing Resilience in an Ensemble-Based Learning Environment), a collaboration between the Florida International University’s Community-Based Intervention Research Group (C-BIRG) and the Miami Music Project (MMP). MMP, founded by world-renowned conductor James Judd, is an innovative music education program that provides free after-school ensemble-based musical instruction to urban minority youth across Miami-Dade County. The purpose of Project TREBLE is a rigorous examination of how participation in MMP impacts the lives of youth. Incorporating a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach, we successfully engaged the MMP community and met recruitment goals for year 1. Students (n= 59), their parents, and their MMP music teachers were followed over the course of the school year. Preliminary results are interesting. Project TREBLE student participants were age 8 to 17 years old, 44% female, 83% Hispanic, and 27% foreign born. Most parents (> 80%) reported noticeable improvement in their child’s life skills across a variety of domains including confidence, concentration, time management, creativity, self-esteem, communication and leadership. Parents attributed these gains to their children’s participation in MMP. Preliminary results suggest that involvement in this innovative and accessible music education program has a powerful positive impact on youth life skills.
Rising healthcare costs have become a topic of discussion in recent years among policy makers, researchers, and practitioners. Aside from the unsustainable trajectory of costs in light of fiscal crises, the burden has dampened the reach of economic recovery efforts in distressed post-industrial cities such as Camden, New jersey. Over time, the city’s hospital emergency departments have seen a disproportionate number of people reporting with conditions most efficiently treated and best suited for a primary care setting. A fragmented and ill-incentivized system of care has lead to patients lost in navigating their way through what is simultaneously the most advanced and costliest healthcare system in the world. This study will attempt to analyze and evaluate a local grass-roots initiative charge lead by the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers (CCHP). In particular, CCHP’s Care Management Program targets the so-called “high service utilizer” population across Camden City. Predominantly lower income and minority, these individuals (and their families) face a variety of medical and environmental hardships. As a result, a relatively narrow subsection of patients account for the highest proportion in E.R. visits throughout the city, in great part due to haphazard and uncoordinated care patterns, to the detriment of municipal finances. Initial findings show that the program has resulted in a meaningful reduction in unnecessary E.R. visits since its inception in 2007. Furthermore, the paper delves into finding a more meaningful conceptualization and measurement of the level of self-empowerment and health capital creation within selected neighborhoods targeted by the CMP program. The paper ends with public health policy implications by elucidating some of the ways intervention models or high-patient-impact approaches achieve better health outcomes through better data utilization (and GIS tools) while leading to a sustaining downward bend in the healthcare cost curve.
PhD Candidate, Public Affairs (Community Development track), Rutgers University - Camden
I am interested in community-level health care delivery; studying the impact of health care initiatives and programs targeted at vulnerable populations in the distressed urban environment. I like using GIS mapping software in portraying trends and patterns relating to health care... Read More →
A socioecological perspective argues that social environment can influence health outcome. In fact, previous research on food deserts and individual health outcomes supports that the built environment influences the dietary habits of residents. Our initial research explores prevalence of food deserts, diabetes, and obesity to determine if there is a significant relation between the incidence rates at the county-level. This differs from previous examinations into food deserts and health outcomes. The question that we seek to answer is does the presence of food deserts represent a tacit policy approach to (re)development that jeopardizes the health outcomes of residents outside of food deserts. Using the variables provided by the Partnership for Southern Equity’s Metro-Atlanta Equity Atlas, our findings were that there is a statistical relationship between high levels of low-income food deserts and high incidence of diabetes. There is also a statistical relationship with high prevalence of captive mobility food deserts and obesity. From these results, we believe that low-income served as a proxy variable for food insecurity, which complicates compliance with diabetic dietary restrictions, and that captive mobility reflected a policy approach to public transportation and neighborhood planning. Our subsequent investigation will analyze the relevant county policies. Specifically, for captive mobility, we will include measures of walkability, sidewalk connectivity, and methods of community to work. In assessing the connection between food deserts and health outcomes, it is important to investigate the policies and regulations that led to the creation of food deserts. In this way, we can prevent further desertification of neighborhoods. Moreover, emerging research has shown that there is a link between negative health outcomes and food deserts; therefore, using the presence of food deserts may serve as an indicator of overall community health.
The explication of “healthy places” is a fragmented endeavor, split along three axes. The first dichotomy exists in the anthropocentric vs. biocentric philosophies to defining healthy places. The second rift is evident in the reductionist methods and metrics employed to evaluate contextual impacts on human health. The third gap is with respect to scale. While there is abundant research investigating health and the built environment at the neighborhood scale, connections at the regional scale remain largely unexplored. This research creates a consistent, scalable approach for incorporating health considerations into regional land planning for metropolitan areas. A prototypical framework is presented for the Atlanta metropolitan region. Determinants of healthy places from Social/Landscape Epidemiology, Urban Planning and Landscape Ecology are incorporated into defining landscape pattern metrics. Key research objectives are to — 1) provide a new method to measuring urban form and health relationships through the use of landscape metrics 2) analyze urban form to understand optimal configuration, mix, spatial distribution, complementary juxtapositions and proportions of land uses and socioeconomic factors that can support better health outcomes. Methodologically, this research examines associations between landscape patterns at multiple scales (metro, county and tract) with health outcomes measured by mortality rates across numerous chronic conditions. Two primary research questions are explored— 1) Are landscape patterns significant determinants of mortality rates? 2) At what scale do landscape patterns matter for reduced mortality rates? Descriptive analyses include the use of clustering techniques to identify spatial dependencies and signatures. Hierarchical impacts of regional land use patterns on local health outcomes is examined through multilevel modeling. The aim is to present a succinct set of landscape metrics for sustainable land use planning in the long term.
