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This dissertation analyzes the ways that race, class, and gender intersect in specific spatial contexts to shape access to opportunity and influence families' neighborhood decisions and experiences. I add to existing research by examining the initial processes of adjusting to new neighborhoods, focusing especially on the components of neighborhood transitions that are significant for low-income women and their children. I use in-depth qualitative interview data that was collected by Northwestern University's Institute for Policy Research between 2002 and 2005 with a randomly chosen sample of adults and youth in 91 families who participated in the Gautreaux Two housing mobility program in Chicago. This analysis assesses the various factors that influenced the range of program outcomes in order to understand the social processes involved. The results of this analysis show that respondents had complicated perspectives about moving out of public housing. Most respondents were eager to move out of their baseline neighborhoods, especially for the sake of their children. However, many also cited things they missed about the neighborhood once they moved. Many faced severe obstacles in locating an eligible unit. Some of these obstacles related to the poor implementation of the Gautreaux Two program, as well as to the tight rental market in Chicago at the time. After moving through the program, many families experienced hassles with landlords, substandard unit quality, distance from kin and support networks, and difficulty in creating new social ties in placement neighborhoods resulting in social isolation and transportation and financial difficulties. Other respondents had supportive relationships with landlords, good quality units, were able to maintain ties with kin, and developed relationships with new neighbors. Participants generally valued the racial diversity of their Gautreaux neighborhoods, and many emphasized the importance of having their children live in racially diverse areas. While some respondents' children faced discrimination in their new neighborhoods and schools, this was not the primary impetus for making subsequent mobility decisions. Policy implications include the need for further pre-move housing counseling for families in mobility programs, as well as continued program assistance to build and maintain strong social networks and connections to resources. / Sociology

This dissertation addresses the critical role of landlords in implementing the Housing Choice Voucher program. Housing choice vouchers provide tenant-based rental assistance to low-income families so that they can have greater opportunities to select apartments and locations than under other rental housing assistance programs. Vouchers provide a renter with more location, quality and housing type options than project-based subsidized housing. The program's ability to increase choice depends heavily on the decisions of private landlords to accept voucher tenants. This research examines the factors influencing housing choice voucher acceptance by owners, or their agents, specifically property profitability, owner strategies, and perceived majority tenant prejudices. One previous study attempted to identify the factors that affect landlords' acceptance of vouchers, and was restricted to landlords participating in the voucher program. This dissertation expands our understanding of landlords' decisions to accept voucher tenants in two key ways: empirical modeling of voucher acceptance using a national sample of rental properties; and qualitative studies of landlords within a single market area. This research has implications for improving the future performance of the voucher program and the housing quality of low-income renters. By understanding the factors influencing voucher acceptance, public policy makers can utilize this information and direct their efforts to successfully market the program, expand voucher knowledge, and increase non-participating owners' acceptance of vouchers. Furthermore, policy makers can determine if additional legislation is needed to enhance the protection of voucher holder's rights and maintain the supply of eligible units. Such efforts will enhance the effectiveness of housing agencies and thus, help achieve the goal of providing low-income renters with better housing options. / Ph. D.

Providing improved access to farmers markets and other local food outlets for low-income audiences is an increasingly popular nutrition intervention strategy to promote consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables and address obesity. The USDA encouraged more farm to fork initiatives and efforts to connect low-income populations with fresh and healthy, local foods through farmers markets through the implementation of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Nutrition Education (SNAP-Ed) provisions of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The purpose of this research was to assess the perceived barriers to farmers market access and strategies for overcoming those barriers for low-income individuals and families participating in Cooperative Extension nutrition programming. Data collection procedures included a survey of SNAP-Ed and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) program assistants, focus group discussions with SNAP-eligible individuals, and a photo elicitation study with mothers of young children. Results from these studies provide insight on how to structure program assistant trainings to encourage the inclusion of an optional farmers market orientation lesson in SNAP-Ed and EFNEP curricula; low-income individuals' perception of healthy food, access to and perception of local foods, benefits and barriers to shopping at farmers markets, and the impact of local foods on diet quality; and how to address perceived barriers through Cooperative Extension nutrition programming for the SNAP-Ed and ENFEP target population of SNAP-eligible mothers of young children. Working with farmers markets is an opportunity to form greater synergy between the arms of Extension (Family and Consumer Sciences, Community Viability, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and potentially 4-H) related to supporting local food systems while forming collaborative relationships with local farmers markets and community members. / Ph. D.

In the United States context, there is a particularly prevalent dialogue about the transformative power of an engineering degree for underserved students. Long positioned as a mechanism for moving up the social ladder, engineering education is often discussed as a mechanism for upward mobility, promising underserved students the opportunity to climb. However, a critical examination of who enrolls and persists in engineering degree programs suggests not everyone can equitably leverage the transformative power of an engineering degree, with persistent inequities for underserved students. Though literature highlights systemic barriers faced by underserved engineering students, much less is known about how underserved students navigate barriers to pursue an engineering bachelor's degree. Accordingly, the purpose of my study was to explore how students from underserved backgrounds navigate their educational trajectories, focusing on the interplay between structures and agency. Using a Bourdieusian lens, my study was guided by the overarching research question: In their narratives, how do students from underserved backgrounds describe navigating their educational trajectories towards a bachelor's engineering degree? I used a single case study methodology with embedded units of analysis to explore this research question. My primary data sources included narrative interviews with 32 underserved engineering students and geospatial community-level data extrapolated from students' home zip codes. My results indicate that underserved engineering students describe a variety of strategies to enact agency by planning, optimizing, and, at times, redirecting their educational trajectories. This study also highlights the influence of family, community, economic, and political environments on the educational journeys of underserved engineering students, as students described navigating and adapting to these various social environments. Students also describe their environments as dynamic, with trajectories changing based on critical incidents such as a parent illness or loss of work. Lastly, students' narratives highlight a diverse range of reasons for pursuing engineering, which often extended beyond private goods approaches to engineering education. My results present implications for engineering education, the most notable of which is that underserved students are not a monolithic group and represent a diverse range of lived experiences. My results also highlight agency as a collective endeavor, challenging popular notions that agency is operationalized at the level of a single individual. Lastly, students' lived experiences with material hardship highlight the dynamic and multidimensional nature of economic disadvantage. Such insights compel engineering educators to reexamine how we conceptualize and measure economic disadvantage in higher education. Ultimately, this research highlights opportunities to increase access and equity in engineering education for underserved students. / Doctor of Philosophy / In the United States, engineering is often viewed as a transformative career for underserved students. Long positioned as a mechanism for moving up the social ladder, engineering education is positioned to underserved students as an opportunity to climb. However, inequities in engineering education persist, with low income and first generation students underrepresented in engineering. The purpose of my study was to explore how students from underserved backgrounds navigate their educational trajectories, focusing on the interplay between societal forces (i.e., structures) and individual decision-making (i.e., agency). My study was guided by the overarching research question: In their narratives, how do students from underserved backgrounds describe navigating their educational trajectories towards a bachelor's engineering degree? My primary data sources included narrative interviews with 32 underserved engineering students and geospatial community-level data. My results indicate that underserved engineering students describe a variety of strategies to plan, optimize, and, at times, redirect their educational trajectories. This study highlights the influence of family, community, economic, and political environments on the educational journeys of underserved engineering students. Additionally, students describe their environments as dynamic, with trajectories changing based on critical incidents such as a parent illness or loss of work. Lastly, students' narratives highlight a diverse range of reasons for pursuing engineering, which often extended beyond private goods approaches to engineering education. My results highlight agency as a collective family endeavor, challenging popular notions that agency is operationalized at the level of a single individual. Lastly, students' lived experiences with material hardship highlight the dynamic and multidimensional nature of economic disadvantage. Such insights compel engineering educators to reexamine how we conceptualize and measure economic disadvantage in higher education. Ultimately, this research highlights opportunities to increase access and equity in engineering education for underserved students.

The feasibility and effectiveness of video instruction as an alternate means of delivering nutrition education to low-income homemakers were examined in this study. Demographic and mediating variables that may affect the success of video instruction were also investigated. Consenting EFNEP and SCNEP homemakers (N=105) were randomly assigned to receive either video lessons with follow-up telephone discussions and intermittent home visits (Video Group) or face-to-face home visits/small group sessions (Traditional Group). Assessments of locus of control and cooking reinforcement values (RVs) were conducted at baseline. Dietary and food-behavior changes were assessed using 24-hr recalls and a 14-item behavior checklist questionnaire, respectively. Questionnaires were used to assess the Program Assistants' (PAs) and participants' perceptions of video instruction. Analytic measures included multivariate analyses of variance, analyses of variance, <I>t</I>-tests, chi-squared tests, and frequency calculations. Experiment-wise significance was set at <I>p</I> < 0.05 with correction using the Bonferroni method. Seventy-three participants completed the study. For both groups, significant improvements were seen from pre to post intervention in vitamin C intakes, the number of servings consumed from the Fruit Group, and food behavior checklist scores. The Traditional Group also increased their intakes of vitamin A, vitamin B₆, calcium, and fiber. There was no difference in the change of dietary intakes and behavior checklist scores between the two groups. No effects were found for race, age, residence, locus of control, or cooking RV. Video instruction was well received by most participants and PAs and was substantially less expensive than traditional instruction. Due to the effectiveness and acceptability of video instruction, it should be considered when delivering nutrition education to low-income homemakers. / Master of Science