This study was a comparison of the perceptions of directors of and participants in senior centers with regard to needs of the elderly and delivery of services to them. The sample consisted of a random selection of 200 of the 741 centers in the state of Texas. Responses were received from 111 center directors and 609 elderly participants. An instrument that used a Likert-type scale to measure the importance of needs and frequency of delivery of services was devised to survey needs in the areas of health, nutrition, recreation, education, and transportation. No statistically significant differences were found between perceptions of directors and participants with regard to needs, delivery of services, or the differences between needs and actual delivery of services at the centers. When participants were grouped on the basis of gender, age, and ethnicity, males and minority groups rated both needs and delivery higher than did females and the majority ethnic group. The sixty to seventy age group rated education needs significantly higher than did the older age groups.

Within the U.S. there is a growing interest in the case of female adolescents being coerced into the sex industry (Bernstein, 2010; Estes & Weiner, 2001; Soderlund, 2010; Williams and Frederick, 2009). This interest, which emerged due to U.S. involvement in the international trafficking phenomena and grassroots organizing, has resulted in a movement to end commercial sexual exploitation of children (also known as "child trafficking)". Feminist activists have mobilized around this issue seeking recourse for youth who have been victims of exploitation. This thesis presents a study of a prevention/early intervention program, the "Girls Coalition," founded for adjudicated girls who are deemed "high risk" for commercial sexual exploitation. The Youth Resource Center, a non-profit organization, began the Girls Coalition in order to prevent exploitation by empowering the youth to better their lives. While not an openly identified feminist organization, the Girls Coalition does espouse feminist goals and its mission emulates feminist processes. Through qualitative methods my study explores how the staff understand their role in the lives of the youth they serve as well as the organization in which they work. Findings reveal themes centered on feminist management and organizational functioning, which includes the processes and dynamics present within the running of the organization. Results also reveal themes that include how participants enact ethics of care and empowerment of the youth whom the Girls Coalition serves. / Graduation date: 2012

A literature review and qualitative study was undertaken to ascertain the influence of violence on social youth club activities, and youth as individual members of society. The purpose was to determine the involvement of youth in the ongoing political violence as well as to ascertain youth's needs and anxieties during periods of violence. Politically aligned, social and church youth groups were studied. Group discussions were held with different groups in an effort to probe into youth's activities and personal lives during periods of violence. The researcher also relied upon perusal of media, unobtrusive observation of youth's behaviour during incidents of violence, and informal discussions with the parents. The study found that political violence hinders the activities of youth, but that politically aligned youth feel empowered by their involvement in the liberation struggle. Youth referred to their own acts of violence as counterviolence against the violence of apartheid. They saw themselves as victims of violence, rather than perpetrators of violence. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Science (Mental Health))

Abstract not available

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2001.

This dissertation examines the participation of women and NGOs in a rural development and empowerment project in India. The World Bank initiated Rural Women’s Development and Empowerment Project was funded with the primary objective of working towards women’s economic and social empowerment through the formation of self-help groups. Within the framework of Gender and Development (GAD), women’s development and participation has to fulfil both practical and strategic gender needs in order for them to gain, share and exercise power. In women’s development, the economic cannot be understood apart from the social and the political. Transformative or genuine participation for women involves a process of partnership where one or more forms of power are attained through social capital and the participants are able to surmount structural barriers. Genuine participation can be achieved only through the processes of partnership and control, that is, through the building of equitable relationships among the primary beneficiaries themselves and between the primary beneficiaries and external agents. The incentives to participate and the pattern of participation are influenced by the material expectations and the social reality of women. (For complete abstract open document)

A literature review and qualitative study was undertaken to ascertain the influence of violence on social youth club activities, and youth as individual members of society. The purpose was to determine the involvement of youth in the ongoing political violence as well as to ascertain youth's needs and anxieties during periods of violence. Politically aligned, social and church youth groups were studied. Group discussions were held with different groups in an effort to probe into youth's activities and personal lives during periods of violence. The researcher also relied upon perusal of media, unobtrusive observation of youth's behaviour during incidents of violence, and informal discussions with the parents. The study found that political violence hinders the activities of youth, but that politically aligned youth feel empowered by their involvement in the liberation struggle. Youth referred to their own acts of violence as counterviolence against the violence of apartheid. They saw themselves as victims of violence, rather than perpetrators of violence. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Science (Mental Health))

The purpose of this study is to discover and report the history of the Green Jacket Club of the North Texas State Teachers College from its origin to the present time, to find out how many similar clubs have been organized by Green Jacket members in the secondary schools of Texas, and to show how the club is organized compared with the original Green Jacket Club. The following conclusions were made: 1. The members of the Green Jacket Club of the North Texas State Teachers College were a representative group of girls, for the eighty-two studied had majored or minored in sixteen of the nineteen major departments offered by the college. 2. The Green Jacket members surveyed were a professional and progressive group of girls, since exactly fifty per cent have continued their education by doing graduate work. 3. The members of the Green Jacket Club have expressed their loyalty to North Texas State Teachers College by their return to the Teachers College campus to do their graduate work. 4. More than half of the Green Jackets surveyed were still in the teaching profession, which indicates their success in this line of endeavor. 5. Membership in forty-six different clubs indicated that Green Jackets make good club women. 6. Further evidence of the professional spirit of the Green Jackets was shown by their large membership in the Texas State Teachers Association, Parent-Teacher Associations, and National Education Associations. 7. The belief that Green Jacket members were largely leaders was verified by the fact that twenty-six of the eighty-two Green Jackets studied had sponsored sixty-three clubs. 8. The influence of the Green Jacket Club has been felt not only on the campus of North Texas State Teachers College but in at least twenty-four towns and cities in Texas. 9. These twenty-four clubs were found to be similar to the Green Jacket Club in type of organization, number of members, requirements for membership, types of uniforms, initiation procedures, and serveries rendered in the respective communities. 10. Most of the clubs organized similar to the Green Jacket Club have been a pleasant experience for the Green Jacket sponsor, probably because she was so impressed by the far-reaching influence of the Green Jacket sponsor and wished to follow her example. 11. The attitudes of the administrators and student body of the schools in which these clubs were organized were similar to the favorable expressions of the administrators and student body of the North Texas State Teachers College. 12. The attitudes of the communities toward the clubs was also favorable due probably to the various services these clubs rendered to these communities.

However, from a political view, the YWCA is underestimated because it failed to lead the Chinese women to the final liberation through a revolutionary way. This dissertation attempts to represent the YWCA history in Modern Chinese from a gender perspective and emphasize its meaning to Chinese women's development which is beyond the body liberation. In addition, it is hoped to present a case study that reveals the evaluation bias that women movement and women organizations have to face up today. Recognizing the obstruction and the shackles of male hierarchy should benefit the independent construction of women's development model. / The Young Women's Christian Association originated in England and the United States in the latter half of the nineteenth century was introduced into China in 1890. Via its various works, the YWCA took root in Chinese women of different ages, different nationalities, and different religious beliefs. Equipped with the advanced achievements of western women's movement, the YWCA also focused on the Chinese women's real needs and interests. Through its professional services, the organization helped Chinese women improve their survival capabilities and life skills, inspire them to shape the national consciousness and lead the public life. It provided Chinese women with the means to work out real conception of womanhood, which was of great significance to Chinese women's emancipation and the raise of social status. / 曲宁宁. / Adviser: Ying Fuk-tsang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 180-201). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Qu Ningning.