Specialist in Education (Ed.S.), University of Dayton, 2016, School Psychology

Students typically reach higher levels of success academically when their parents are involved in the educational process. The purpose of this study was to explore the barriers that prevent the participation of impoverished, inner-city families in their children's education. Using semi-structured interviews, eight parents from an urban school district in the Midwestern United States were interviewed. Results demonstrated that economic factors, times constraints, communication, and institutional environments were barriers for the families. Other themes emerged, including: a) families expressing in unison that they wanted their children to complete their school careers with the necessary skills to be productive citizens, b) families expected schools and educators to partner with them in providing their children the academic skills required to reach their full potential, and c) families were inclined to utilize technology, such as e-mail, to be involved in their children's schools. Implications for educators are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, History

This dissertation explores roots of the current urban crisis in the United States. Most scholarly explanations associate the problem, particularly of high levels of African-American poverty, with deindustrialization, which has stripped cities of the factory jobs that once sustained working-class communities. My account deviates from the standard tale of black male unemployment by focusing on shifting patterns of African-American women's labor—both paid and unpaid. Using Baltimore as a case study, it argues that public rather than industrial-sector employment served as the foundation of Baltimore's post-World War II African-American middle and working classes. Women outpaced men in winning government jobs. Concentrated in social welfare agencies, they used their new influence over public policy to improve the city's delivery of public services. Black women's efforts to build an infrastructure for sustainable community development put them at odds in municipal policy-making battles with city officials and business leaders intent upon revitalizing Baltimore through investment in a tourism industry. The social services workers scored some important victories, helping to alleviate poverty by shifting to the government some of the responsibility for health, child, and elder care women earlier provided in the private sphere. The conservative ascendancy of the 1970s and 1980s, reversed many of the gains African-American public-sector workers had won. Intent upon resuscitating the United States' status in the global economy, American presidents, influenced by conservative economists and their elite backers, made macroeconomic and urban policy decisions that justified extensive public-sector retrenchment and cuts or changes to social programs. Public-sector workers and their unions, most notably the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), fought with limited success to prevent the transformation of American public policy. Neoliberal policies ero (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Environment and Natural Resources

Understanding the spatial distribution of socioeconomic well-being in the United States, and the disadvantage of rural areas relative to urban areas, is a core disciplinary concern of rural sociology. However, substantial demographic and economic changes in the U.S. over the past several decades have redistributed both people and economic influence towards urban areas. Both rural sociology's poverty and place framework and official rural-urban classification systems need to adapt their analyses to account for rural-urban relationships in their current context. The poverty and place framework has traditionally focused on rural socioeconomic well-being in its rural context. It emphasizes the need to understand the historical path a place has taken that has led to its current system of power relations manifested in its government, economic, and social institutions. The economically dominant influence of large cities over rural areas has been under-theorized. In this dissertation, I integrate the poverty and place framework with theories from economic geography and regional economics to account for the economically dominant influence of large cities. This provides for a more holistic approach to studying spatial patterns of socioeconomic inequality across the rural-urban continuum. I apply this approach to analyze and critique existing rural-urban classifications as well as develop a novel classification system with more nuanced categories to study places on the rural-urban boundary. First, I analyze the USDA ERS Rural Urban Continuum Codes (RUCCs), the most commonly used official classification system that moves beyond a rural-urban binary. The nine RUCC categories encompass a range of county types, from those part of the largest metro areas, to those without significant urban settlements. After controlling for other structural characteristics, I find that increased metropolitan size is associated with higher socioeconomic well-being, and much of the overall metro (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Management, Case Western Reserve University, 2022, Weatherhead School of Management

The companion pet overpopulation is mainly a social and organizational problem. Improvements achieved over the past twenty years by United States (U.S.) animal welfare organizations (AWO), including subsidized pet sterilization, foster pet programs, community engagement, and marketing innovation, are commendable. Despite progress, companion pet overpopulation persists, especially on a regional level. Research acknowledges human and companion pet attachment, but a paradox of adoption failures remains, and shelter pet inflows never abate. This mixed-methods research examines socioeconomic factors influencing the pet adoption process and pet retention, pet fostering and shelter collaboration. This is a novel and exploratory study involving qualitative interviews of 26 adapters and shelter/AWO leaders to examine drivers of pet adoption and retention. A quantitative study among 3,700 shelters is conducted to understand the role and impact of poverty, shelter type, shelter size, and receipt of transferred pets on live release rates for sheltered canines and felines. Together, these studies address the overarching research question: What socioeconomic and organizational factors affect and to what extent shelter live release rates?

Artium Baccalaureus (AB), Ohio University, 2021, History

The Model Cities Program was an initiative a part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty that created local programs for impoverished inner-city neighborhoods, many of them had an African American majority population. These "Model Neighborhoods" formulated policy to improve many aspects of everyday urban life, such as transportation, housing, and health, along with promoting citizen participation. This work analyzes the Model Cities Program through Toledo and Columbus, Ohio and argues the program had many successes, but also faced some failures and external problems, especially urban renewal. However, the successes of the Model Cities Program showcase the need for citizen participation in cities, especially for impoverished neighborhoods.

Doctor of Management, Case Western Reserve University, 2010, Weatherhead School of Management

Understanding microfinance's (MF) impact on poverty is a challenge in the research literature and in practice. This thesis closes gaps in the research on poverty measurement, microfinance and collaboration. It develops two new models: one describing how microfinance affects poverty, the other describing how practitioners collaborate to extend their assistance of poor households beyond a mere loan. The thesis extends the research on the impacts of microfinance through quantitative research confirming the moderated nature of MF impact. It also carries out a qualitative study to develop further the theory of collaboration for relief organizations that can alleviate poverty. The findings include practical suggestions for how microfinance in future can better reduce poverty.

PHD, Kent State University, 2016, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Geography

This dissertation provides the socio-economic weight of poverty in Cleveland history. Since the current geographical form of poverty is conceptualized based on the NEO- CANDO/CANDO dataset in 1993, the reliance of Cleveland welfare policy on this concept is significant. NEO-CANDO/CANDO dataset is a basis of Housing Opportunity for People Everywhere (HOPE VI) program of Cleveland; its demographic data collection became a framework to conceptualize/question what current geographical form of poverty of Cleveland is. This geographical context gives us two historical questions; first, the history of conceptualization of poverty, and second its impact in the history of Cleveland. Considering Cleveland was founded in 1796, it is possible to infer that the concept of poverty is transformative; it influences the shape of the urban environment. It is necessary to investigate the geographical correlation between the history of conceptualization of poverty and its impact to the change of urban environment. The study traces people's historical dialogues about poverty and how they applied their dialogue to shape Cleveland geographically from 1796 to 1991.

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2014, Anthropology

This dissertation explores the everyday lives of Xhosa mothers in a township near Cape Town, South Africa. It focuses on Xhosa mothers' emotional experiences during pregnancy and after childbirth in order to demonstrate how their subjectivity is shaped by Xhosa cultural structures and values, the material scarcity and dangers of township life, and the norms and practices of mothering. It challenges the presumed universality of the diagnosis "perinatal depression" by demonstrating that only by focusing on broader realms of maternal experience in local contexts can we understand if and why perinatal depression is a meaningful illness category for a given culture. This dissertation employs longitudinal, person-centered, ethnographic methods, including structured and open-ended interviews with 38 Xhosa women, standardized psychiatric questionnaires, and observations of mothering, family activities, and community life. Xhosa women do not perceive life in the township as wholly problematic, but food insecurity, violence in public and private spaces, and the intersections of HIV and motherhood create widespread suffering. Xhosa concepts and ideals of motherhood include inimba, maternal empathy. Inimba is a complex concept at the heart of a multi-dimensional social role; it provides Xhosa women with a way of understanding a tension between the cultural imperatives of mothering all children and mothering one's own children--a tension exacerbated by poverty. Pregnancy is often joyful, but some find it fraught with anxiety about disclosure and the impending social transformation of woman to mother. Pregnant Xhosa women demonstrate an acute awareness of the liminality (in-between-ness) of pregnancy as they (re)negotiate relationships to secure social support. Xhosa mothers describe a process of "coping" with distress that involves sharing, empathizing, collectivizing, and, finally, "releasing." The process invokes Xhosa cultural concepts ubuntu and inimba. Becaus (open full item for complete abstract)

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2010, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Community Planning

Sport for development is a new field in international development that has emerged, due in large part to partnerships between institutions such as the United Nations and the International Olympic Committee. The creation of a global framework and development of policies have together mobilized resources for the operation of organizations that utilize sport as a tool for development. Sport is the key instrument these organizations use to implement socioeconomic development projects and programs that work to help achieve the MDGs. This is a study of those organizations. This study examines the extent to which the selected organizations use sport as a tool and ascertains whether there is a prevalent approach to development among them. The reason for comparing the organizations is to find out more about how this idea works and how organizations are using sport to contribute to development. The comparisons made among 42 selected organizations assess the similarities and differences in terms of development type; scope of organizational support and level of operational outreach; and effect. The selection criterion for this research is any organization that uses sport as a tool for development. The search was conducted via the Internet using keyword searches with combinations of “sport,” “tool,” and “development.” The analysis of these organizations indicates common characteristics manifested as social capital, which this study concludes is the key to understanding this concept. The programs and activities of these organizations work to expand social networks and increase the number of connections within them. The content of the websites for the organizations is analyzed for each organization's mission, goals, type of development, scope of organizational support, and level of operational outreach. The types of development identified by this study in organizations that use sport as a tool for development are: conflict resolution, political, institutional, educational, soci (open full item for complete abstract)

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2007, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Architecture (Master of)

The contemporary American city faces incredible problems. Most notable are persistent socio-economic inequality and the environmental destruction caused by urban activity. In particular, the impoverished urban neighborhood suffers greatly from environmental injustice, but also from the decay of historic structures, poor health, feeble community support systems and the pressures of gentrification. Too often, these problems are addressed in isolation. To truly improve the city, it is incumbent upon us to integrate the goals of many fields in order to find more effective trans-disciplinary solutions. Many are now looking for methods by which we might integrate the goals of urban revitalization, environmentalism and historic preservation. This thesis explores urban agriculture as an integrated solution to many crises faced by cities. Research culminates in a project attempting to beautify and revitalize the impoverished urban neighborhood through the creation of a new urban realm, adapting rooftops into a network of public agricultural gardens.

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2006, International Studies - Latin America

For this thesis I study a particular community garden in Brazil, and I examine in detail how a community garden functions. In particular, I sought to address the question of how different constituencies, including the government, social activists, and community members interact in the process of running a community garden. Additionally, I examine the obstacles that a new community garden may be faced with and I consider how these obstacles may be overcome. In order to answer these research questions I did a fieldwork study where I collected and analyzed information from different sources, including documents, survey/questionnaires, interviews, and observations. I believe that this study will help to promote new community gardens in Brazil to decrease the amount of social exclusion.

Doctor of Education (EdD), Ohio University, 2013, Educational Administration (Education)

This study analyzes the academic performance of White students in urban settings, relative to Minority peers, and investigates structural variables that might exacerbate or attenuate differences. The investigation is motivated by and extends qualitative work investigating the experiences of middle school students in Texas (Morris, 2006). Research on the academic achievement of impoverished urban White students is limited. The present study investigates achievement gaps that are probably a function of student demographic characteristics, and achievement equity (i.e., the influence of school-level demographic and structural characteristics on student achievement and on distributions of student achievement among schools). The use of a multilevel regression model is appropriate for this type of study. The OAT data used in this study are hierarchical in nature because students are nested within schools. The use of a multi-level model (MLM) addresses the challenge of students nested within schools. The predictor variables of Ethnicity and Poverty exhibit a strong relationship with achievement linked to both of the dependent variables of reading and math. The analysis showed a significant relationship as evidenced by student Poverty was -9.42 for reading and -7.63 for math representing the average decrease in score for impoverished students from the average mean score. Ethnicity predictor variable showed the mean score for Minority students in math was 15.54 points lower than for White students and the reading for Minority students was 9.84 points lower than for White students. The gap for impoverished White is larger than for economically disadvantaged Minority (7.34 points more than for economically disadvantaged Minority students- 22.41 points to 15.07 points) in the dependent variable of reading. This finding is consistent for the dependent variable of math also: the gap for economically disadvantaged White is larger than for impoverished Minority (6.59 points la (open full item for complete abstract)