Architecture informs the structure of society, determining how people move, whose paths cross, and which resources are accessible. By merging social justice initiatives and architectural design, buildings have the power to provide equity, strengthen communities, and encourage dialogue. Empowerment of residents and the disruption of mass incarceration are the goals of this proposal, implemented through community engagement techniques and a mixed-use program supporting employment, job training, housing, social networks, and healing. Located in Midtown Edmondson's neighborhood of West Baltimore, this social justice center restores a dilapidated parcel of land and former ice factory. The proposed food hall, community center, and garden invite fluid exchange between this hub of resources and the larger society. Simultaneously, current inmates will have the opportunity to engage with the development process through a construction and design apprentice program. Former inmates will find immediate resources to ease the transition back into their community upon release, with supportive networks contributing towards lower recidivism rates and the restoration of voting ability and voice. In a cyclical process, upward individual and communal growth will be redistributed back into the community. Alongside these individuals, local residents are also invited into the fabric of this social justice center. The project offers interdisciplinary and multi-scalar design from landscape to interiors, adaptive reuse, to new build architecture. By acknowledging history, actively listening, and designing with intention, this project meets current needs and offers a unique perspective on social architecture. With human rights at the forefront of design decisions, the final proposal reveals that design has the power to incite and actively work towards social justice and disrupt systemically racist institutions, like mass incarceration. / Master of Architecture / Design that disrupts, takes action and initiates social change against mass incarceration is the goal of this thesis. Through an interdisciplinary approach, engaging with the community through landscape, interior and built form, architecture has the power to interrupt current models of discrimination at the community level and provide platform for people to be empowered to work towards change. The Dr. Lillie Jackson Center for the Arts and Social Justice showcases an alternative means to incarceration, mass surveillance, and removal of voice in West Baltimore. This community center reinforces the idea that public land remain public and that employment, housing, and community networks be seen as a human right, freely accessed. This new model for community empowerment uses architecture to demand autonomy, where people determine the future of their cities and livelihoods. It showcases that the removal of racist institutions and policing policies is not only possible but imperative to attaining social justice. Built environments shape how people experience a city and the degree of safety, freedom, and power which is felt by each individual who occupies it. With this idea in mind, the Dr. Lillie Jackson Center states through its design moves, that mass incarceration must end and in its place, a new model for community driven, bottom-up initiatives which restore, heal and offer opportunities for growth.

Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, presents significant challenges due to rapid urbanization, population growth, and limited infrastructural capacities. This research aims to analyze the current MSWM practices in Colombo, identify the key challenges faced, benchmark these practices against international standards, and propose sustainable solutions for improvement. A mixed-methods approach was employed, integrating quantitative data from primary sources and qualitative insights from interviews with key stakeholders, including municipal officials, waste management professionals, and residents. Quantitative data analysis revealed that Colombo generates an average of 1200 tons of waste daily, primarily from residential sources (60%). The predominant waste disposal method is landfilling, which accounts for 75% of waste disposal, with significant challenges identified in infrastructure, funding, and public compliance. Qualitative data from municipal officials highlighted the importance of policies focused on waste segregation, mandatory recycling programs, and penalties for illegal dumping. However, enforcement of these policies remains problematic due to resource limitations and public resistance. The study identified several critical challenges in MSWM, including inadequate infrastructure, insufficient funding, and public apathy. Collaborative efforts between the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) and private sector stakeholders through initiatives like 'Zero Waste Colombo' have shown potential in addressing these challenges. Community engagement and educational programs have been implemented to promote waste reduction, recycling, and composting, but their success relies heavily on continuous support and participation from local organizations and residents. Future strategies for MSWM in Colombo include integrating advanced waste-to-energy technologies, expanding recycling facilities, and enhancing waste collection efficiency through smart technologies. Policy recommendations emphasize the need for stronger enforcement mechanisms, increased investment in waste management infrastructure, and continuous public education campaigns. This research contributes to the scholarly literature on urban sustainability and MSWM, providing actionable recommendations for policymakers, urban planners, and community stakeholders in Colombo. By addressing the identified challenges and leveraging the proposed solutions, Colombo can move towards a more sustainable and efficient waste management system.

Yes / The importance of including members of the public has been accorded a significant position in health planning, service delivery and research. But this position masks a lack of clarity about terms that are used. This paper identifies terms that are in common use in the lexicon of community based involvement and engagement in health with the intention of clarifying meaning and thus reducing ambiguity. We define and distinguish between key terms related to inclusion, we consider the terminology attached to community processes and to the challenges of inclusion and we engage with the strengths and weaknesses of the commonly used metaphor of "a ladder of participation". We wish to contribute to the clear communication of intentions, challenges and achievements in pursuing varied forms of inclusion in health.

This study explores how hosting an international exchange youth influences families. Participants in the study took part in a four-week summer exchange by hosting a middle school aged Japanese youth through the Kentucky 4-H/Labo program. Labo is a Japanese club program that encourages youth to learn about American culture through international travel. As society becomes more globalized, the skills and abilities associated with international travel are increasingly important (Anderson, Lawton, Rexeisen & Hubbard, 2006). Hosting international youth through exchange programs is one method of developing these skills and abilities. This qualitative study uses thematic analysis to analyze three primary data sources. These were in-depth, semi-structured interviews (n = 20), program evaluation, and lifeline interview methodology graphs. This study explored the gap left by prior research by being concerned with families who have hosted an exchange youth for a short period of time. Previous research has focused on long-term exchanges, individuals and Americans traveling abroad. From this analysis, seven major themes were identified. These include (a) challenges of communication, (b) anxiety of program participants, (c) belief in a privileged experience, (d) personal growth, (e) familial relationship development, (f) feelings of loss upon departure, and (g) increased appreciation of home and foreign cultures. Two outlying themes of (a) father made a surprising contribution to hosting the exchange youth and (b) idealization of Japan were included for the additional context of understanding they provided. These findings offer insights into the efficacy of these programs as well as how they benefit the family. The findings, implications for program managers and potential areas for future research are discussed.

Thesis (MPhil (Sociology and Social Anthropology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Amidst debates over the transformation of South African (SA) Higher Education (HE), the core institutional function of community engagement is a possible means of bolstering the developmental role of HE in relation to community needs. The potential for community engagement, and more specifically service-learning, to contribute to community development is yet to be fully explored in the SA context. Broad policy mandates such as the Reconstruction and Development Programme (GNU, 1994) and the White Paper on Transformation of Higher Education (DoE, 1997) have created a policy environment supportive of community engagement as an institutional function of HE advancing the state’s developmental agenda. In the course of the national reorganization of the HE system, the Joint Education Trust (JET) / Community-Higher Education- Service Partnerships (CHESP) initiative undertook feasibility studies of community engagement in SA HE and consulted widely around community engagement. The main outcome has been service-learning’s promotion as an endorsed means of knowledge-based community engagement. Concerted efforts to build the institutional capacities for service-learning nationwide have since been conducted and service-learning is now an increasingly prominent means of community engagement in HE. The conceptual origins of service-learning suggest that mutual student and community benefits are achieved in the course of service-learning programmes, with significant research substantiating student learning outcomes. However, there is limited research available on community outcomes and a lack of empirical evidence on how the community is engaged in service-learning. Conceptualizations of service-learning partnerships in SA yield the introduction of a third party, the partner organization as the host of the service-learning modules in addition to the university and the community. The Triad Partnership Model applied at Stellenbosch University (SU) provides an opportunity to explore the experience of the third party, the partner organization, in what is conceptualized as a dyadic relationship between student and community. As a former student, representative of a partner organization and co-facilitator in a servicelearning module, the author explores the experiences of representatives of partner organizations of service-learning in HE. This dissertation presents the experiences of ten site-supervisors from nine partnering organizations of Stellenbosch University as evidence of some of the developmental outcomes of two service-learning modules. The study discusses the various stages in the process of partnership as it pertains to outcomes experienced by the sitesupervisors of the partner organizations. These experiences help clarify the developmental implications of the Triad Partnership Model for the partner organizations of the two service-learning modules studied. The dissertation concludes by making recommendations for future areas of study and makes some considerations for prospective service-learning modules at SU. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die kern institusionele funksie van gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid is te midde van die debate oor die transformasie van Suid-Afrikaanse (SA) Hoër Onderwys (HO), ‘n moontlike wyse om die ontwikkelingsrol van HO in verhouding tot gemeenskapsbehoeftes te bevorder. Die potensiaal van gemeenskapsontwikkeling, en meer spesifiek diensleer se bydrae tot gemeenskaps-ontwikkeling, is nog nie voldoende in die SA konteks ondersoek nie. As breë beleidsmandate het die Heropbou en Ontwikkelingsprogram (GNU, 1994) en die Witskrif oor die Transformasie van Hoër Onderwys (DoE, 1997) ‘n beleidsomgewing geskep wat ondersteunend is vir gemeenskapsinteraksie as ‘n institusionele dryfkrag van HO om die Staat se ontwikkelingsagenda te bevorder. Ten tye van die nasionale herorganisering van die HO stelsel het die Joint Education Trust (JET) / Community-Higher Education- Service Partnerships (CHESP) inisiatief volhoubaarheidstudies van gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid in SA HO gedoen en ook gekonsulteer oor verskeie aspekte rondom gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid in die breë. Die belangrikste uitkoms hiervan was die bevordering van diensleer as ‘n legitieme wyse van kennisgebaseerde gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid. Doelbewuse pogings is onderneem om die institusionele kapasiteit vir diensleer op nasionale vlak uit te bou, wat vandag ‘n toenemende prominente wyse van gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid in HO is. Die konsepsuele oorsprong van diensleer veronderstel dat gemeenskaplike student- en gemeenskapsvoordele deur die verloop van diensleermodules bereik word. Alhoewel daar heelwat navorsing gedoen is wat fokus op leeruitkomste vir studente, is daar weining navorsing beskikbaar oor gemeenskapsuitkomste, sowel as ‘n tekort aan empiriese bewyse van hoe die gemeenskap betrokke is by diensleer. Konsepsualisering van diensleer vennootskappe in SA sluit ‘n derde party in, die vennootskap-organisasie waar die diensleermodule gehuisves word, bykomend dus tot die universiteit en gemeenskap. Die Triad Vennootskap Model wat by die Universiteit van Stellenbosch (US) toegepas word, bied die geleentheid om ondersoek in te stel na die ervaring van ‘n derde party, die vennootskap-organisasie, oor wat gekonseptualiseer word as ‘n diadiese verhouding tussen student en gemeenskap. As ‘n vorige student, verteenwoordiger van ‘n vennootskap-organisasie en mede-fasiliteerder in ‘n diensleermodule, stel die outeur ondersoek in na die ervarings van verteenwoordigers van vennootskaporganisasies van diensleer in HO. Hierdie verhandeling stel die ervarings van tien supervisors van nege vennootskaporganisasies van die Universiteit van Stellenbosch voor, as bewys van sommige van die potensiële uitkomste van twee diensleer modules. Die ondersoeker bespreek die fases van die proses van vennootskap-vorming soos wat dit verband hou met uitkomste wat supervisors ervaar het. Hierdie ervarings help om die ontwikkeling implikasies van die Triad Vennootskap Model vir die deelnemer-organisasies van die twee diensleermodules wat bestudeer is, te verhelder. Die verhandeling word afgesluit deur aanbevelings te maak vir toekomstige studie-areas en oorweging te skenk vir toekomstige diensleermodules by die US.

Subaltern persons continue to be most negatively impacted by the hegemonic practices of institutions. Subaltern populations are the furthest removed from political agency, not only by the insecurities of their lived experiences, but also by academic and agency discourses that recreate the subaltern political citizen-subject in modes representing the “Other” through lenses of elite scholarship and high theory. The subaltern agent is not present in her own political making. The considerations of social justice require both the underpinnings of a global ethics of caring and a commitment to center the subaltern citizen subject’s account of herself as corresponding privileged record. This paper explores the marginalizing outcomes in the historiography of subaltern studies and defends both ethical cosmopolitanism and participatory democracy as modes that better respect diverse worldviews outside of neoliberal constructions. Advocacy on behalf of subaltern groups must include Community-Based Participatory Research and eco-cultural analysis that give priority to positive near stakeholder goals and outcomes for their communities. Subaltern self-representation is the needed checks and balances for 21st century policy making

Study purpose. The study examined race and racial diversity in community gardens located in Southern urban food deserts, as well as the capacity of community gardens to generate social capital and promote social justice. Methods. A mixed-methods approach was used to describe characteristics of gardeners and community gardens located in urban food deserts, and test Social Capital Theory hypotheses. A convenience sample of 60 gardeners from 10 community gardens was obtained. Data was collected using surveys and semi-structured interviews. Analyses. Univariate and bivariate statistics were used to describe gardeners and gardens. Leader rationales for garden characteristics were analyzed using thematic analysis. Cross-level analyses were used to examine individual and organizational characteristics on gardeners’ social capital in multivariate regression models. Results. Gardeners were racially diverse across the sample; however most community gardens were racially segregated. The majority of gardeners also appeared to be middle-class. This study indicated that community gardens could indirectly enhance community food security, largely through the efforts of people of color, and less so directly as few gardeners involved were food insecure. Community gardens also exhibited limited potential to advance social justice, based on the few resources that could potentially be exchanged between gardeners. Implications. This study calls for: greater dialogue around gentrification concerns; the development of culturally appropriate engagement sensitive to historical trauma rooted in slavery; increased focus on entrepreneurial opportunities; and, obtaining the missing voices – those from non-participating low-income residents – to better understand how to create community gardens located in food deserts that benefit multiple communities.

This research is focused on understanding the ways in which the community orientation of the Kazak ethnic community in Istanbul, Turkey have contributed to their economic success which in turn encourages strong community, and the nature of their community-based support networks for providing material and cultural support. It examines the role of social capital and cohesion in maintaining the community with its positive implications for the continued building of wealth or sourcing of funding on a community level. The theoretical concepts relevant to this project are based on the ideas that the shared values of a community are a positive force that allow communities to achieve common goals and is particularly important in the context of an economy that favors cheap labor and a highly mobile workforce, both factors that negatively affect the asset building and place-based rootedness that communities require for their stability. Key community entrepreneurs and leaders were the main sources of information for this research. The findings of this thesis suggest that it is a combination of factors such as the failure of the community to maintain its stable economic position through unfortunate business practices and choices coupled with external market forces that slowed this community economic development and disabled its continued growth.

How we develop cities in the twenty-first century remains a subject of contentious debate worldwide. As neoliberal strategies are implemented in redevelopment projects, public safety nets are reduced and low-income communities of color in declining urban neighborhoods become particularly vulnerable. This multiple case study seeks to understand the experiences of post crisis urban redevelopment for low-income communities of color in 5 major U.S. cities. The data I analyzed include 101 short videos from the interactive documentary platform Land of Opportunity, documenting the process of post-crisis urban redevelopment in New Orleans, New York, Chicago, Detroit, and San Francisco. In doing so, I discovered that residents' experiences vary greatly based on redevelopment strategy that was employed and the level of resident involvement in the redevelopment process.

This study was made in attempt to identify the characteristics of a troop program in which tenth grade girls had been involved and to determine why they did or did not continue in Scouting. A survey instrument was devised and pretested to validate and improve upon the questionnaire. The questionnaires were distributed through the mail to 190 girls who had been registered in the Kentuckiana Council Scouting program in 1981. All girls, despite their present status in Scouting were asked to complete and return the survey. The questions pertained to such areas as years involved in Scouting, frequency of meetings, most and least enjoyable activities, family involvement, reasons for remaining in Scouting and reasons for dropping out of the program. The responses of 131 girls who returned the questionnaire to the researcher were tabulated. The data were accumulated and analyzed. The survey indicated that the Kentuckiana Girl Scout Council had a high Cadette/Senior retention rate for this period of time. A profile of the Scouting program of a girl who had remained in the program was made with recommendations, based on the analysis of the study, to encourage the retention of older girls. It was suggested, according to the findings of the study, that in order for girls to continue into the upper levels of Scouting, they needed to be recruited at a young age, involved in program planning, and feel as though Girl Scouting is fun. Leader retention and uniforms were not found to be significant factors in retention or dropping out of Scouting. Additional research was recommended by simultaneously comparing two or more Councils.