Blog Archives
Neighborhoods Matter: The Role of Universities in the School Reform Neighborhood Development Movement
Where you find distressed neighborhoods, you will also find poorly performing public schools. Yet many contemporary school reform efforts ignore neighborhood-level factors that undeniably impact school performance. The purpose of this study is to use a case study approach with social institutional and urban school reform regime frameworks to demonstrate why school reform and the re-creation and redevelopment of distressed neighborhoods should occur simultaneously. At the same time, researchers will examine the role of higher education in catalyzing partnerships with so-called anchor institutions for the explicit purposes of simultaneously improving neighborhoods and reforming schools. By focusing on a federal Choice neighborhood initiative, the study will not only make the case for connecting school reform and neighborhood development but also present a model that demonstrates how this can happen. The study will also make a strong case for the university’s unique role in fostering neo-collaborative structures fit to take on wicked problems of neighborhood distress and urban decline.
Back to the Future: Public Schools as Neighborhood Anchor Institutions—The Choice Neighborhood Initiative in Buffalo, New York
Social Transformation Theory, African Americans and the Rise of Buffalo’s Post-Industrial City
Universities as Anchor Institutions
Black in Buffalo: A Late Century Report
No More Ivory Towers: Connecting the Research University to the Community
The role of citizen participation and action research principles in Main Street revitalization: An analysis of a local planning project
This article examines the use of citizen participation techniques during the planning process for neighborhood revitalization in the Village of Depew which is an industrial suburb of Buffalo, New York. The article focuses on how action research principles can inform and enhance traditional approaches to citizen participation. In particular, we discuss our role as university-based consultants in the local planning process and how drawing from action research principles helped us remain focused on advocating for broad-based citizen participation. Our analysis was based on the application of action research principles and participant observation techniques. During the time that each of us was involved in the planning process for Depew’s neighborhood revitalization, reflexive field notes and other data were collected. The article critiques how citizen participation was used to plan for neighborhood revitalization in Depew, and discusses the degree to which action research principles can be applied to future citizen participation efforts.
A possible world and the right to the university – Reflections on higher education in the United States
Chapter 18 in the Higher education for diversity, social inclusion and community: A democratic imperative publication.