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 "community development corporations"
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Item Brownfields redevelopment : voices from the community economic development movement(Southern New Hampshire University, 2006) Omwenga, Marucha; Clamp, Christina; Swack, Michael; Barresi, PaulThis was research was undertaken to understand the framing of brownfields redevelopment issues from the point of view of community economic development (CED) practitioners. The research specifically interviewed staff of community development corporations (CDCs), which form part of the larger CED movement. The investigation sought to reveal why CDC staff consider brownfields as being problematic and to what or to whom they attribute the problem (diagnostic framing), the solutions they offer to the problems (prognostic), and the justification they give for calling to action the redevelopment of brownfields (motivational framing). Essentially the research sought to understand the collective action frame that community development corporations (CDCs) do or do not articulate with respect to the redevelopment of brownfields, by analyzing views expressed by various CDC staff that participated in the interviews. Understanding CED practitioners' perceptions is fundamental to the practice of CED and to the process of influencing policies that will support the CED practice. CED is an important link of social and economic development and one of the ways the practices can begin to effect change in society is through making its values explicit. This research contributes towards this goal. The major findings of the research are that CDCs as organizations are motivated to redeveloping brownfields so as to achieve the following goals: affordable housing; neighborhood revitalization; to mitigate against safety, crime and drug issues; and to address health concerns. But there was little consistency in patterns to suggest that CED practitioners were actively engaged in recruiting adherents, constituents, bystander publics, or antagonists to get involved in the redevelopment of brownfields. (Author abstract)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 The social change role of community-based development corporations : a quiet transformation of private lives and local institutions(Southern New Hampshire University, 2006) Dorius, Noah Eric; Aricanli, TosunThis dissertation examines the critique that contemporary CDCs have abandoned their 1960s commitment to empower poor communities. By asking CDC directors how their organizations accomplish social change, this research seeks a more nuanced description of the transformative intent of their work. These practitioner perspectives are then placed in the context of Post WWII new social movement theory in order to discover the conceptual basis for an alternative explanation for the social change role being played by today's CDCs. This study finds that a majority of today's CDC practitioners expect to achieve social change by implementing local projects and programs. CDC directors provide rich qualitative descriptions of how they transform the private lives of individuals and influence the social commitments of local institutions. These qualitative themes yield a normative theory of how CDCs practice social change that is substantially different from the public policy remedies their critics expect them to pursue. Rather than abandoning their commitment to empower the poor, this investigation finds that CDC practitioners share a common motivation to help oppressed populations achieve social outcomes not available in a market economy. When the social change explanations of CDC practitioners are compared to empirical evidence of the continuing activism of former 1960s student protestors and new social movement theories, this study finds that the 'localized' empowerment objectives of CDCs substantively correspond with contemporary concepts of social change activity like civic learning and a re-emerging associationalism. This research concludes that the conceptualization of social change underlying the perceptions of CDC directors has a different ideological footing than that embraced by its critics. Instead of top-down government solutions, CDC's employ bottom-up self governance strategies. This difference in ideology means that instead of marginalizing the local empowerment strategies and cooperative partnerships formed by today's CDCs, these practices should become a central focus of empirical research and theoretical analysis. This alternative explanation means that university curriculums should recognize the relevance of new social movement theory and that government and philanthropic funders should focus on current CDC practice in order to measure the success of their investments in poor communities. (Author abstract)