TreePeople is a Los Angeles based non-profit organization that uses environmental education, initiatives, and programs to engage with the greater community to work towards the goal of a sustainable future for Los Angeles. The Fruit Tree Program is one of TreePeople’s longest running programs of 29 years, which distributes free bare-root fruit trees to economically disadvantaged communities as a source of fresh fruit and the other environmental benefits that trees offer. This paper is a comprehensive report detailing the history of the program and the impacts it has had on communities across Los Angeles County. Looking at three communities in Los Angeles and interviewing key community members from these communities, I identified the impacts that the program has had on addressing important urban environmental concerns and facilitating community development.

The pervasiveness of sexual violence on college campuses poses a significant problem for students and administrations that seek to promote healthy, safe, and equitable access to higher education. Although federal legislation under Title IX prohibits sexual violence as a form of gender discrimination, cultural climates that promote sexual violence—or rape cultures - continue to inform student experiences on college campuses. This thesis roots the discourse on campus sexual violence in the specific localized context at Scripps College. As a women’s college situated in a small, interconnected consortium of co-ed liberal arts colleges, the case of Scripps College raises critical questions about the ways in which gender and sexism play out on women’s bodies, and influence students’ experiences with embodiment on campus. In this thesis, I present a feminist analysis of the current institutional policies that address sexual violence on campus, in addition to the perspectives of eight student activists currently involved in gender justice work at Scripps College. Due to the fact that each of the Claremont Colleges, including Scripps, is currently in the process of re-evaluating their policies and grievance procedures that address sexual violence on campus, now is a key time to reflect on the past, present, and future of the Claremont Colleges and the role that these institutions play in either deconstructing or reinforcing patriarchal structures of power.

There are significant mental health disparities in Aboriginal communities in Canada as a result of historical assimilation policies (Health Canada, 2012). One approach to mitigating these mental health concerns is through prevention programs that include a wilderness component. Wilderness based programs for Aboriginal youth are informed by cultural wisdom and empirical research that connects immersion in nature with psychological well-being. The goal of this study was to collaborate with two community partners (Nala Winds canoe family from the Heiltsuk First Nation, and Victoria Native Friendship Centre) to develop an evaluation tool that will satisfy mainstream funding standards as well as community, cultural standards. This tool-kit was designed to reflect the youth experience and mental health consequences of Tribal Journeys, an annual canoe journey program for Coastal First Nations peoples. The findings were shared with community partners and may be helpful in facilitating the creation, maintenance, and evaluation of other Aboriginal youth programs. / Graduate / 0620 / 0347 / 0621 / tansmethurst@gmail.com

Submitted by Mateus Ferreira (mateus5588ferreira@hotmail.com) on 2017-06-30T16:49:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Mateus Ferreira (2017).pdf: 2637694 bytes, checksum: 925e175f51f97eb724e4c4d792a9f218 (MD5) / Rejected by Maria Tereza Fernandes Conselmo (maria.conselmo@fgv.br), reason: Mateus, boa tarde. Efetuar os ajustes e submeter a biblioteca digital novamente. Inserir data de aprovação Inserir Resumo antes do Abstract Att. Tereza - SRA on 2017-06-30T18:53:28Z (GMT) / Submitted by Mateus Ferreira (mateus5588ferreira@hotmail.com) on 2017-06-30T18:59:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Mateus Ferreira (2017).pdf: 2637208 bytes, checksum: 72d86778b24ee6f41ebbb06fd605a123 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Tereza Fernandes Conselmo (maria.conselmo@fgv.br) on 2017-06-30T19:04:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Mateus Ferreira (2017).pdf: 2637208 bytes, checksum: 72d86778b24ee6f41ebbb06fd605a123 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-30T20:00:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Mateus Ferreira (2017).pdf: 2637208 bytes, checksum: 72d86778b24ee6f41ebbb06fd605a123 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-27 / Academic research has suggested that social media can improve corporate reputation, sales, return on investment, positive word-of-mouth and create value for consumers. Playing the central role in this relational process, consumer or customer engagement (used interchangeably in this context), emerged as one of the main constructs explaining the success and failure of brands on social media. Considering engagement as a multidimensional construct composed of cognitive, emotional and behavioral dimensions that varies according to the subject (e.g., customer or employee), focal object (e.g., brand, product or advertising), and context (e.g., retail or online), in this dissertation we make a specific field cutting in order to discuss consumer engagement (subject) with brands (object in Article 2 and 3) or brand communities (object in Article 1) on social media (context). As a general aim of the dissertation, we analyze consumer engagement in different nomological networks, prioritizing its antecedents and mediating role (Article 1) or consequences and its relationship with another measure of engagement (Article 3), in addition to perform a comparative analysis of different scales developed to measure it (Article 2). In the Article 1, we show that the Vivek, Beatty, Dalela, and Morgan (2014) consumer engagement scale, originally developed for application in multiple contexts, can also be applied to multiple objects. We validate this scale in a nomological network with perceived homophily and brand involvement as antecedents and corporate reputation as consequence. Our results show that besides having a direct positive effect on corporate reputation, consumer engagement has a strong mediating role. In the Article 2, our goal is to compare some of the main scales developed to measure consumer engagement: Dessart, Veloutsou, and Morgan-Thomas (2016), Hollebeek, Glynn, and Brodie (2014) and Vivek et al. (2014). To do this, we propose a procedure for the comparative analysis of scales that involves i) the selection, ii) standardization and iii) analysis of measures. We replicate three selected scales with the same object (brand) and context (social media), considering that most of the developed scales were applied to the same object and context. Based on the Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis, our results show similarities, differences, and advantages of applying each scale. In Article 3 we jointly analyze two streams of consumer engagement studies by considering brand engagement in self-concept (BESC) as a measure of engagement with brands in general (Sprott, Czellar, & Spangenberg, 2009) and consumer engagement with a specific brand Vivek et al., 2014), and how the latter impacts the perceived value of consumers and corporate reputation. By means of the multigroup analysis with samplings carried out in Brazil and the United States, our results showed that in addition to excellent adjustment, both at the model level and at the path level there was no difference between the groups, which indicates the cross-cultural invariance in the structural model. Finally, in Chapter 5 we synthesize the conclusions of the dissertation. / Pesquisa acadêmicas sugerem que as mídias sociais podem melhorar a sua reputação corporativa, vendas, retorno sobre o investimento, boca-a-boca positivo e criar valor para os consumidores. Desempenhando o papel central neste processo relacional, o engajamento do consumidor ou cliente (usados como sinônimos neste contexto), emergiu como um dos principais construtos que explicam o sucesso ou fracasso de marcas nas mídias sociais. Considerando o engajamento como um construto multidimensional composto por dimensões cognitiva, afetiva e comportamental que varia de acordo com o sujeito (ex. consumidor ou empregado), objeto focal (ex. marca, produto ou propaganda) e contexto (ex. varejo ou online), nesta tese nós fazemos um corte mais específico do campo e para discutir o engajamento do consumidor (sujeito) com marcas (objeto no Artigo 2 e 3) ou com a comunidade de marca (objeto no Artigo 1) em mídias sociais (contexto). Como objetivo geral da tese, nós analisamos o engajamento do consumidor em diferentes redes nomológicas, priorizando seus antecedentes e papel mediador (Artigo 1), ou consequentes e sua relação com outra medida de engajamento (Artigo 3), além de realizar uma análise comparativa de diferentes escalas desenvolvidas para medi-lo (Artigo 2). No Artigo 1, nós mostramos que a escala de engajamento do consumidor da Vivek, Beatty, Dalela e Morgan (2014), originalmente desenvolvida para aplicação em múltiplos contextos, também pode ser aplicado a múltiplos objetos. Nós validamos esta escala em uma rede nomológica com homofilia percebida e envolvimento com marca como antecedentes e reputação corporativa como consequente. Nossos resultados mostram que além de ter efeito positivo direto na reputação corporativa, o engajamento do consumidor tem um forte papel mediador. No Artigo 2, o nosso objetivo é comparar algumas das principais escalas desenvolvidas para medir o engajamento do consumidor: Dessart, Veloutsou e Morgan-Thomas (2016), Hollebeek, Glynn e Brodie (2014) e Vivek et al. (2014). Para fazer isso, nós propomos um procedimento para análise comparativa de escalas que envolve i) a seleção, ii) padronização e iii) análise das medidas. Nós replicamos três escalas selecionadas com um mesmo objeto (marca) e contexto (social media), considerando que a maioria das escalas desenvolvidas foram aplicadas para este mesmo objeto e contexto. Baseado nas análises da Teoria Clássica dos Testes (TCT) e na Teoria de Resposta ao Item (TRI), nossos resultados mostram similaridades, diferenças e vantagens da aplicação de cada escala. No Artigo 3 nós analisamos conjuntamente duas correntes de estudo do engajamento do consumidor ao considerar engajamento com marca no autoconceito (BESC) como uma medida de engajamento com marcas em geral (Sprott, Czellar, & Spangenberg, 2009) e engajamento do consumidor com uma marca específica (Vivek et al., 2014), e como o último impacta no valor percebido dos consumidores e na reputação corporativa. Por meio da análise multigrupo com amostragens realizadas no Brasil e Estados Unidos, nossos resultados mostraram que além de excelente ajuste, tanto no nível do modelo como no nível de caminho não houve diferença entre os grupos, o que indica a invariância intercultural dos grupos no modelo estrutural. Por fim, no Capítulo 5 nós sintetizamos as conclusões da dissertação.

Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN), a collaborative initiative in Multnomah County, Oregon, combines the increasingly popular community school model with an innovative organizational structure to further two key goals: sustainability as an initiative and furthering racial equity. This thesis situates SUN within the context of American public education reform and existing literature on the positive outcomes, organizational structures, and leadership components of community schools. Building on past reviews of SUN and its outcomes, I use results from qualitative interviews with key stakeholders to provide insight into how its organizational structure contributes to the goals of sustainability and racial equity. I discuss the current state of SUN, future directions, and the relevancy of findings to other community schools initiatives and more generally, public education reform efforts.

Using the frames of analysis and language of political whiteness and anti-migrant hegemony, this paper examines the narrative of liberal immigration reformers transforming California’s political landscape within the period of 1994 to 2017. Taken as case studies the following articles of legislation are analyzed: Proposition 187 in 1994, the California Dream Act in 2010, the Trust Act in 2014, up to the present Senate Bill 54 in 2017. The paper finds that while California has experienced a recognizable shift in racial liberalism in rhetoric and legislation, its overall policy continues to work within the framework of anti-migrant hegemony that functions through criminalization and detention. The paper ends with the conclusion, informed by Gonzales’ writing in Reform without Justice, that the shift California has experienced is indicative of anti-migrant hegemony reconfiguring itself in changing social and political norms.

PhD / Department of Public Health / See the attached abstract

This research aimed to find strategic methods in community engagement related to regional sustainable development, specifically within the context of regions in Europe and North America that are applying for the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve designation. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development was presented as a planning framework that can fill gaps in the current Biosphere Reserve planning process. A tool for assessing community engagement based on the five Process Characteristics of transparency, cooperation, openness, inclusiveness, and involvement was created and used to explore community engagement practices in six UNESCO Biosphere Reserve regions in Sweden and Canada. The assessment of methods used in those six regions yielded a list of nine methods which stood out in contributing to community engagement.

Human society as a whole has a reached a tipping point in its relationship with the socio-ecological systems upon which it depends. All sectors of society need to be involved in addressing this crucial challenge through a raised awareness of the issues and pro-active solutions to it. This research focuses on small urban towns and cities, where half the world’s urban population lives, and looks at the ways in which local government in these key areas can play an active role in leading sustainability through education and training. Municipalities and communities that use the framework for strategic sustainable development (FSSD) were investigated, and the conditions were identified that helped and hindered training to be really effective. Effective training, in its many forms, was found to be essential in fomenting a common language of sustainability, engaging the community, and bringing concerted strategic actions that together could foster a culture of sustainability. / <p>jpbaronb@yahoo.co.uk, rifat.pal@gmail.com, quynhvan86@gmail.com</p>

Currently, southern Louisiana faces extreme land loss that could reach an alarming rate of about one football sized swath of land every hour. The combined effect of land subsidence and predicted sea level rise threaten the culture and livelihood of the residents living in this region. As the most vulnerable coastal population in Louisiana, the communities of south Terrebonne Parish are called to adapt by accommodating, protecting, or retreating from the impacts of climate change. For effective preparation planning, the state of Louisiana needs to 1) understand the adaptation preferences and responses of these residents and 2) involve these vulnerable communities in adaptation related decision making. The study uses a survey-based methodology to analyze current adaptation preferences. Findings suggest that protection is the preferred adaptation response. The present study additionally uses participatory techniques to develop a land loss awareness mobile application to illustrate the importance and benefits of community collaboration.