Access to post-secondary education for welfare recipients has been profoundly curtailed by social and welfare policies. However, many low-income mothers know that post-secondary education is the best means to escape poverty. This article focuses on five "student mothers" who have persisted in fulfilling their dreams of a college education with the…

The ascendency of neoliberal ideas in education and social policy in the 1980s and 1990s was succeeded in the new millennium by a "new" social democratic commitment with emphases on community empowerment, building social capital and a "whole of government" approach to partnering with civil society to meet community needs. In…

The American Library Association encourages public libraries to extend their services to people in jails and detention centers, but there is little research that shows exactly how many libraries do so. Research shows that 54% of juveniles arrested are not sent to residential facilities but instead receive court ordered probation into an Intensive…

School-community partnerships make a difference in student achievement. Synthesizing 35 years of research to provide insight into "what works in schools," Robert Marzano (2003) concluded that community involvement is a critical factor. Though community involvement takes many forms, generally organizations such as libraries, museums, parks, zoos,…

After five years with no public schools in their community, residents and neighborhood organizations of the Near Westside of Indianapolis advocated for the opening of George Washington Community High School (GWCHS). As a neighborhood in close proximity to the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, the Near Westside and campus…

In 1996, United Way of America (UWA) developed and began disseminating the most widely used approach to program outcome measurement in the nonprofit sector. Today an estimated 450 local United Ways encourage approximately 19,000 local agencies they fund to measure outcomes. The authors first describe and then assess the strengths and limitations…

Individuals of color with disabilities and/or their family members need access to services and supports that will assist them with daily life and a way to advocate for these services. Disability organizations, whose core mission is advocacy, have had difficulty attracting and maintaining persons of color with disabilities or their family members…

Although women make up over half of the U.S. workforce, they continue to encounter difficulties, including male domination as well as inequities in pay, benefits, and other rewards (Bierema, 2001). Billett (2002) suggests opportunities to advance are "subject to workplace practices that reproduce inequities through contested workplace relations."…

The effectiveness of a multidimensional Canadian sex education programme was evaluated using 240 Grade Nine students. The intervention was offered by representatives from various community groups and involved instructional classes on anatomy/physiology of the reproductive system and sexually transmitted infections, a video and group discussion on…

The research on early childhood education is clear: Programs must be of high quality to produce positive outcomes for children. In recent years, educational economists have refined their analysis of "high quality" and identified the core components of successful prekindergarten programs: They employ qualified teachers who are properly…

Understanding the behaviors and attitudes of at-risk populations is fundamental to controlling the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The problem of nonresponse among these populations, however, plagues survey research designed to address these issues. Previous work undertaken to map out the dynamics of nonresponse--both noncontacts and…

This article describes a mixed-methods needs assessment, or developmental evaluation, that was conducted for the providers and stakeholders of Oklahoma's community-based organizations (CBOs). The needs assessment, which was the first phase in developing training on outcome monitoring for their HIV prevention programs, relied on three evaluation…

A study of participatory evaluation by learning teams at 10 rural sites of the Empowerment Zones/Enterprise Communities program showed the importance of separating indicators of participation from project impacts. Evaluation of three categories was recommended: citizen participation (process indicators), impact of participation on individuals and…

This report presents the findings and conclusions from the first phase of a two-phase study of education and work councils (community organizations of business leaders, school officials, and representatives of other institutions, formed to ease the transition of youths from school to work). The report describes the education and work councils…

Routes to economic development attract considerable attention in community and rural sociology. Social scientists draw increasingly on studies of social capital and environmental surroundings as they examine the factors that facilitate and inhibit economic development. However, few empirical analyses exist that analyze the impact of the…