School of Business

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Southern New Hampshire University offers a full range of undergraduate & graduate programs in business.

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Browsing School of Business by Subject "African American"

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    Trusting neighbors : work-readiness and work-based learning project
    (Southern New Hampshire University, 2001) Alexander, Shirley A.; Lett, Woullard
    Despite St. Paul's robust economic growth, many households and communities are not experiencing positive growth. Serious gaps show by ethnicity that impact family and community stability and the overall progress of the City's economy. In particular, African-American young people between the ages of 14-21, who live in the Summit-University Community, are lagging behind in becoming a productive and skilled labor force. In 1999, the City of St. Paul's Summer Employment Program employed 127 African-Americans young people but 2200 lived in Summit-University community; thereby, showing a need to provide more job/career opportunities. In addition, the lack of family stability and serious disparities by race and ethnic origin in family income and social outcomes add to the plight of African-American young people. Some examples of other negative local indicators are the following: 50% of African American students graduate from high school on time, over 40% percent drop-out, over 65% receive subsidized school meals, 47% are homelessness. Also, African-American young people disproportionately have higher teen-pregnancy, delinquency and incarceration rates than other racial and ethnic populations in St. Paul. Without appropriate prevention and intervention strategies, the conditions will grow worse as time goes on for African-American young people in St. Paul. As an effort to address some of the issues, Trusting Neighbors initiated a Work-Readiness Training and Work-Based Learning Project that incorporated the support of a cross-section of stakeholders. Trusting Neighbors is a community-based organization, comprised primarily of African-American residents, who live in the Summit-University community. The organization's mission is to provide community-based development and social service related activities that foster a sense of community support, empowerment and self-sufficiency for disadvantaged African American, children, youth, adults and families, As a result of implementing the new project, outcomes were improved for individual participants, families, Trusting Neighbors, businesses, the broader community and the City of St. Paul. (Author abstract)
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    Where do we go from here? Community participation and empowerment in the empowerment zone : Atlanta, 1994-2002
    (Southern New Hampshire University, 2009) Jackson, Deborah A.; Hotchkiss, Charles; Karush, Gerald; Reilly, Catherine
    The concepts of community participation and community empowerment have been the focus of several federal programs, such as the Empowerment Zone (EZ), that were designed to alleviate some of the causes of poverty found in urban areas. This research examines what impact those concepts had on conditions within targeted communities from the perspective of community representatives whose voice is not often heard. The study analyzes the impact the EZ program had on strengthening the community’s ability to take control of and/or influence decisions affecting its quality of life. The research proposes a conceptual framework of community participation as empowerment and demonstrates the need for a more holistic approach to comprehensive planning initiatives. The framework identifies the factors that are needed to make participation meaningful or effective – exercise of power; access to resources; and identification of results or benefits for the community. This dissertation uses a case study research design and qualitative data collection methods to examine four neighborhoods of the Atlanta Empowerment Zone (AEZ) that were also part of the Model Cities Program in the 1970’s. Although there was strong emphasis on the importance of community participation and community empowerment as key components of the strategy, no clear definition or guidance was provided as to how the participation requirement would be implemented. Likewise, it was unclear what was intended by empowerment. The research findings show the community representatives encountered significant barriers to their participation in the decision-making processes. Among these were the absolute control exercised by the mayor’s office thwarting community recommendations; and the lack of adequate resources to support independent actions by the community. The research identifies that the real issue is about power: Who has power? How can a more equitable distribution of power be attained? The overall findings also demonstrate that even where the factor of race is not an overt driving force, the institutionalization of the historic effects of racism, which is directly tied to the conditions of persistent poverty and the lack of power, must be addressed; or there will be no significant change in the conditions of communities affected by poverty. (Author abstract)