With the large growth in use of social media by teenagers, young adults and adults alike, there has also been a boom in the number of charitable nonprofit organizations that are adopting the medium to reach out to existing and potential supporters. But has social media been an effective tool in spreading out the word about a cause while retaining and recruiting donors and volunteers? This multimedia report aims at analyzing how three Austin-area nonprofits are using Facebook and Twitter to connect to constituents, as well as how online and offline constituents are responding to this relatively new approach. In order to do that, a series of interviews were conducted with nonprofit professionals, supporters, and industry and academia experts. In addition to that, constituents were surveyed about their engagement with the organizations both online and offline. To view this project in its entirety, including the video interviews, please visit http://evamenezes.com/mastersreport/. / text

This report studies the built environment of Civitan Park, located in Austin, Texas. Through studying and observing how park design can influence adults’ ability to engage in daily physical activity, alternative design recommendations are suggested for Civitan Park in order to create a park more able to be used by adults for physical activity and in turn, decrease obesity rates. / text

To meet ambitious upcoming state renewable portfolio standards (RPSs), respond to customer demand for “green” electricity choices and to move towards more renewable, domestic and clean sources of energy, many utilities and power producers are accelerating deployment of wind, solar photovoltaic and solar thermal generating facilities. These sources of electricity, particularly wind power, are highly variable and difficult to forecast. To manage this variability, utilities can increase availability of fossil fuel-dependent backup generation, but this approach will eliminate some of the emissions benefits associated with renewable energy. Alternately, energy storage could provide needed ancillary services for renewables. Energy storage could also support other operational needs for utilities, providing greater system resiliency, zero emission ancillary services for other generators, faster responses than current backup generation and lower marginal costs than some fossil fueled alternatives. These benefits might justify the high capital cost associated with energy storage. Quantitative analysis of the role energy storage can have in improving economic dispatch, however, is limited. To examine the potential benefits of energy storage availability, a generalized unit commitment model of thermal generating units and energy storage facilities is developed. Initial study will focus on the city of Austin, Texas. While Austin Energy’s proximity to and collaborative partnerships with The University of Texas at Austin facilitated collaboration, their ambitious goal to produce 30-35% of their power from renewable sources by 2020, as well as their continued leadership in smart grid technology implementation makes them an excellent initial test case. The model developed here will be sufficiently flexible that it can be used to study other utilities or coherent regions. Results from the energy storage deployment scenarios studied here show that if all costs are ignored, large quantities of seasonal storage are preferred, enabling storage of plentiful wind generation during winter months to be dispatched during high cost peak periods in the summer. Such an arrangement can yield as much as $94 million in yearly operational cost savings, but might cost hundreds of billions to implement. Conversely, yearly cost reductions of $40 million can be achieved with one CAES facility and a small fleet of electrochemical storage devices. These results indicate that small quantities of storage could have significant operational benefit, as they manage only the highest cost hours of the year, avoiding the most expensive generators while improving utilization of renewable generation throughout the year. Further study using a modified unit commitment model can help to narrow the performance requirements of storage, clarify optimal storage portfolios and determine the optimal siting of this storage within the grid. / text

Austin is the self-proclaimed “Live Music Capital of the World,” and its commitment to the practice of musical performance has created a unique environment for musicians and audiences. In particular, this paper focuses on the history of music in public places in Austin. This creative identity has helped encourage growth that creates stress on cultural and social relations. The conflict over amplified music is one front where this opposition plays out. Currently, the Austin noise ordinance is a decibel-based, quantifiable measurement, but everyone involved must make a greater effort to communicate and compromise in the social sphere. To cultivate a thriving live music scene, a strong commitment from venues, musicians, residents, and city hall is necessary. / text

In this thesis, the author draws upon data collected through in-depth interviews with twelve social justice activists and organizers in London, UK and Austin, TX to look at contemporary practices of feminist antiracist social justice work. Informed by the Civil Rights, feminist and antiracist social movements of 1960s and 70s, activists and organizers in the United States continue to build upon theoretical understandings of intersecting systems of oppression to build new practices of community and racial justice. / text

The last two decades of public sector reform have ushered in a new paradigm of client-citizens expecting better governmental performance at lower costs. Two distinct, but not unconnected, forces have been at the heart of this transformation: the drive towards applying “New Public Management” (NPM) techniques in public sector administration, and the shift to a “Governance” view in rule making and political action. The City of Austin has been at the forefront of these movements, and The City Auditor’s Office (COA) rests at their nexus. This report is a study of the City Auditor Integrity Unit (CAIU), the investigative arm of COA, and more specifically, the CAIU’s system of performance measurement. The report explores the challenges of designing and using a performance measurement system within CAIU to achieve more socially optimal outcomes for the City of Austin. The analysis in the report draws on a number of theoretical perspectives, most significantly on Complex Adaptive Theory (CAS). / text

Habitat fragmentation and isolation can result in decreased occupancy and reproductive success within songbirds, particularly for species inhabiting urban environments where suitable habitat may be limited. The golden-cheeked warbler (Setophaga chrysoparia) is a federally endangered songbird that inhabits oak-juniper (Quercus spp.- Juniperus spp.) across central Texas. Past research on this warbler has indicated decreased patch occupancy near urban areas and negative reproductive effects associated with decreased distance to edge and decreased canopy cover. A rural study indicated warblers occupy patches ≥3 ha, and warblers in patches ≥20 ha are more likely to successfully fledge young. There are no thresholds yet identified for this warbler within urban environments, where effects of habitat fragmentation on reproductive success are more pronounced than within rural environments. I monitored patch occupancy, territory establishment, pairing success, and fledging success of warblers in an urban environment. I determined minimum patch-size thresholds for productivity measurements, and also monitored effects on productivity from canopy cover, woodland composition, distance to and size of the nearest habitat patch, and distance to the nearest habitat patch >100 ha. I compared my results to those from a similar study conducted in a rural system. I compared territory size and territory density between an urban and rural system. Warblers occupied 24% (n = 63) patches surveyed; the smallest patch occupied was 3.5 ha. The smallest patch with an established territory was 10.7 ha, and 10% (n = 63) of habitat patches had at least one established territory. Warblers successfully fledged young in 3 patches, the smallest of which was 26.5 ha. I found patch-size was predictive for territory establishment and pairing success with warblers requiring 13 ha (95% CI: 10.0 – 16.8 ha) and 19 ha (95% CI: 15.7 – 22.6 ha) habitat patches, respectively. I found a minimum threshold of approximately 66% canopy cover (95% CI: 65.2 – 66.4%) required for patch occupancy, and found no warblers established a territory in a habitat patch >25 m from the next nearest patch. I found higher minimum thresholds within an urban system for territory establishment and pairing success than those seen within a rural system. I suggest preserving warbler habitat patches >22 ha that are in close proximity to other habitat patches. This will help to enhance warbler habitat within urban areas and maintain reproductively viable habitat patches, while not halting development completely.

Depuis ses débuts, l’industrie hollywoodienne utilise des stéréotypes dépréciatifs des Latinos pour construire une série de personnages menaçants qui cristallisent les peurs de la société américaine. Cette recherche se concentre sur le festival de cinéma latino Cine Las Americas (Austin, Texas) et questionne les stratégies explicites et sous-jacentes mises en œuvre pour déconstruire ces stéréotypes. Dans un premier temps, il s’agit de faire émerger les phases qui ont permis à Cine Las Americas de s’institutionnaliser entre 1998 et 2017. En se concentrant sur une année type (2012), la recherche met également en lumière la synergie avec Austin, ville créative « excentrique » (weird) de façon à montrer en quoi elle est un terrain fertile pour le festival. Elle place également Cine las Americas dans le contexte historique des festivals de films latinos pour en comprendre l’émergence au tournant du millénaire et les spécificités. Dans un deuxième temps, après avoir fait un état des lieux des stéréotypes latinos véhiculés par Hollywood et des stratégies cognitives utilisées pour les construire, le contenu des films des quinze premiers festivals (1998-2012) est analysé dans le but de mettre en évidence les contre-stéréotypes correspondants, notamment à travers l’image du migrant, figure centrale d’un groupe de films sur la frontière. L’analyse fait émerger les thèmes fédérateurs, les contre-récits et questionne l’héritage Chicano de Cine Las Americas. Dans un dernier temps, la thèse s’intéresse à la place de Cine Las Americas dans les réseaux transnationaux et locaux de ses débuts à 2017. Il s’agit de déterminer comment les films « des Amériques » sont utilisés pour articuler la mission anti-stéréotype et faire émerger la figure collective des Indigènes, démontrant ainsi comment Cine Las Americas est devenu un « événement configurateur de champ » (Field-Configuring Event). Cette stratégie confirme le rôle moteur d’Austin et permet de voir les organisateurs comme des diplomates culturels. / From the beginning, Hollywood has used disparaging stereotypes about Latinos to create a series of threatening characters that give shape to the fears of the American society. This research focuses on the Latino film festival Cine Las Americas (Austin, Texas) and questions the explicit and underlying strategies used to deconstruct such stereotypes. First, the study analyzes the different phases that have allowed Cine Las Americas to become an institution between 1998 and 2017. The research also highlights the synergy with the city of Austin, « weird » Creative City, to show how it represents a fertile ground for the festival. It also situates Cine Las Americas in the historical context of Latino film festivals in order to understand their emergence at the turn of the millenium and their specificities.Second, after going over the Hollywood stereotypes about Latinos, the content of the movies from the first fifteen festivals (1998-2012) is analyzed to shed light on the corresponding counter-stereotypes, especially through the image of the migrant, the central figure of the movies about the border. The analysis sheds light on the unifying themes and the counter-narratives and questions Cine Las Americas’s Chicano heritage. Last, the research seeks to consider Cine Las Americas’s position in international and local networks from the beginning to 2017. It seeks to determine how the movies from « the Americas » are used to implement the anti-stereotype mission and to bring forth the collective figure of the Indigenous people, thus demonstrating how Cine Las Americas has become a Field-Configuring Event (FCE). This strategy confirms Austin’s driving force and portrays the organizors as cultural diplomats.

Since the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) has been a major source of affordable housing provision for low to middle-income families. Meanwhile, growing concern about potential decrease of property value in neighborhoods has been the main obstacle for most of the affordable housing projects. As a result, LIHTC projects are facing backlash from neighborhoods near the potential affordable housing projects – NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard). However, during decades, it has been always controversial whether LIHTC is actually affecting neighborhood property value in negative way. This study tests the hypothesis that the LIHTC projects affect negatively on neighborhood single-family home property value in Austin, Texas. Single-family homes within 2000-feet radius from the selected LIHTC projects were analyzed based on the Travis County Appraisal District annual appraisal values between 1993 and 2008. / text

Since 2007, the number of street food vendors in Austin, Texas has more than doubled. Food trucks in the urban environment have three fundamental roles. They are entrepreneurial start-ups, interim and mobile land uses, and cultural expressions. In these roles, street food vending particularly impacts urban neighborhoods undergoing change. By occupying underutilized lots, activating streetscapes, promoting commercial activity and disseminating culture, mobile food vendors represent an innovative and low cost revitalization tool. In an effort to “catch-up” with the rapidly growing phenomenon, the City of Austin has had know choice but to implement policy and regulation reactively. By conducting in depth interviews and context analysis, this research attempts to answer the question: how might cities proactively leverage the beneficial impacts of mobile food vendors? The thesis culminates in a conceptual demonstration project for Birmingham, Alabama; a city on the cusp of a street food explosion. / text