Community Economic Development Dissertations
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The mission of the Community Economic Development program is to build better practices and policies that serve low-income and marginalized communities around the globe. Community economic development gives people control over their economic futures by developing leadership in the poorest communities and eliminating the apathy that can result from generations of poverty and neglect.
The dissertation collection is focused on original research and skills to shape policy at local, regional, national or international levels. Students specialized in one concentration in Community Economic Development (theory, policy, or management).
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Browsing Community Economic Development Dissertations by Subject "citizen participation"
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Item How organizations promote a sense of community and empowerment leading towards community participation: A view of the middle(Southern New Hampshire University, 2012-05) Fernando, Rukshan; Rivera, JolanCommunity Development Corporations (CDC) are organizations which develop affordable housing, jobs and small businesses in communities. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which staff and board of CDCs in Indianapolis, Indiana participated in the community because of a sense of community and empowerment within and outside a CDC. Much of the literature examined participation from the community member perspective. As such, the importance of this study was to understand the gap in the research literature surrounding community development professionals and their community participation. Little research has been conducted on the participation by organizational members in CDCs. Understanding the empowering processes within and outside a community organization might help to predict the participation of these organizational members. In addition to empowerment, the organizational sense of community that CDCs facilitated for their members can help predict participation of members. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between intra and extraorganizational empowering processes, sense of community and the citizen participation from the perspective of organizational members of CDCs. A survey of 78 CDC staff and board of the Indianapolis Coalition for Neighborhood Development was conducted. Scales measured the relationship between a member’s CDCs participation in the community and the perceptions of intraorganizational and extraorganizational empowering processes. A correlational analysis was conducted to assess the community organization sense of community, the processes of empowering organization and citizen participation. Analysis was conducted to understand the extent to which community organization sense of community and/or processes of empowering organization helped to predict the participation in the sample. Results suggested an association between the CDC’s sense of community and citizen participation. In addition, the results suggested an association between the extraorganizational empowering process, as measured by a number of social capital and community investment activities, and participation. Moreover, extraorganizational empowerment processes were able to predict the levels of board and staff participation. Findings suggested that processes outside the CDC contribute significantly to the participation of CDC board and staff members. Further exploration of policy, practice, education and research concerning the implications of the study is suggested. (Author abstract)Item 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, CatherineThe 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)