Matching Items (7)
Filtering by
- Creators: School of Community Resources and Development
- Creators: School of Sustainability
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Description
The town of Guadalupe, Arizona has a long history of divided residents and high poverty rates. The high levels of poverty in the town can be attributed to numerous factors, most notably high rates of drug abuse, low high school graduation rates, and teen pregnancy. The town has named one of its most pressing issues of today to be youth disengagement. There are currently a handful of residents and community members passionate about finding a solution to this issue. After working with Guadalupe's Ending Hunger Task Force and resident youth, I set out to create a program design for a Guadalupe Youth Council. This council will contribute to combating youth disengagement. The program design will assist the task force in creating a standing youth council and deciding on the structure and role the council has in the town. I will offer learning outcomes and suggestions to the Task Force, youth council staff, and the youth of the youth council. This study contains an analysis of relevant literature, youth focus group results and data, and how the information gathered has contributed to the design of the youth council. The results of this study contain recommendations about four themes within the program design of a youth council: size, recruitment, activities and engagement, and adult support. The results also explore how the youth council will impact the power, policy, and behavior of Guadalupe youth.
ContributorsBalderas, Erica Theresa (Author) / Wang, Lili (Thesis director) / Avalos, Francisco (Committee member) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
In my exploration of the expectations of customer service that people have in regards to their visits at Starbucks retail stores, I will utilize Laswell's Model of Communication and the theory of symbolic interactionism to guide my findings. These overarching ideas provide a foundation for understanding the communication process as a whole, and will therefore allow us to extract meaningful information from regular interactions between Starbucks employees and consumers. Additionally, my goal is for these discoveries to produce insight in regards to critical customer service qualities that other businesses should incorporate into their own customer service programs in order to find success.
ContributorsRomero, Felipe Antonio (Author) / Martin, Judith (Thesis director) / Robinson, Jennifer (Committee member) / Propes, Rebecca (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
The institutionalized environments of government aid, void of architectural creativity, are regular sights in Native American communities. Meanwhile, the community falls victim to obesity, diabetes, addiction, and many other maladies. I believe that the design of a community's buildings can greatly affect the health of the community. This thesis focuses on the social aspects of design. How might we enhance the social capital of Native communities through the built environment?
ContributorsValenzuela, Kristina Marie (Author) / Brandt, Beverly (Thesis director) / Shraiky, James (Committee member) / Zingoni, Milagros (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
In light of the intensifying environmental, social, and economic challenges facing the world, sustainable development is more necessary than ever. Approaching sustainability problems through Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) programs involving music is unconventional, but holds potential for grand results. An examination of various existing community development projects, from the Playing for Change Foundation to the Arizona State University Barrett Choir, shows that music-related activities are highly effective at fostering community development. Once a foundation of community connectedness is created, other issues such as social injustices or natural disasters can be more effectively addressed and overcome. Music and other fine arts can contribute, in a variety of ways, to the health of communities. This should be recognized and utilized in the pursuit of sustainable community development to preserve the health of the planet and its inhabitants.
ContributorsPaonessa, Carlotta Colleen (Author) / Schildkret, David (Thesis director) / Manuel-Navarrete, David (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Public participation is lauded as a keystone of sustainability policy and community development. Sustainability issues span all sectors of society and are best addressed at the local level, which makes community involvement and participation necessary for building local sustainability strategies. But do public participation events actually foster meaningful connections among those who attend? How can we as sustainability experts empower communities to share their knowledge about the place where they live? This project starts by considering at gaps in public participation processes that prevent members of a community from building a sense of trust. Major gaps identified in the public participation process include a lack of attention to underlying power dynamics, unaddressed social tensions, and a lack of focus on the co-creation of knowledge. These gaps lead to a lack of trust between facilitators and participants, and prevents participants from feeling invested in the process and forming meaningful connections with their fellow participants. Based on the gaps identified in public participation processes, the second part of this project focused on hosting a workshop that would bring people together in an effort to rebuild trust. The workshop centered around the meaning of community and sense of place, as these topics are relevant to the health and relationships of communities. The event was hosted on Arizona State University's Tempe campus, and the participants were all connected to the university in some way (student, faculty, or alumni). A pre-workshop survey was sent out to participants to gauge favorite places on campus and what made those places meaningful. The workshop itself was broken into two parts: Part One focused on the building a trusting space for the workshop and unpacking the definition of community in a group discussion. Part Two included two mapping exercises that engaged participants in how the land around ASU's Tempe campus had changed over time, followed by a discussion about how the history of land affects communities. A post-workshop survey was sent out two weeks after the event to see how participants had incorporated lessons from the workshop, if at all. The workshop process brought up several interesting areas for further research. One outcome of the discussion in Part One of the workshop was that the participants tended to think of community in terms of relationships rather than place. People also interacted differently based on how confident they were in their knowledge of the topic at hand, whether expert or informal. Public participation workshops like this have implications for how governments, businesses and schools approach stakeholder engagement. With the right balance of power and co-creation of knowledge, public participation events can become places for members of a community to rebuild trust in each other and the institutions that govern them.
ContributorsBaker, Hailey Louise (Author) / Cloutier, Scott (Thesis director) / Morrison, Beth Ann (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This study examines how a commitment to service can impact and come to exemplify a company’s brand image, customer loyalty, and overall organizational success. It examines the history and evolution of customer service, as well as what commitment to service looks like in present-day businesses. It differentiates companies that have attained a reputation for superior service and companies that have struggled to overcome service failures. Trader Joe’s, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Chick-fil-A, Southwest Airlines, and The Walt Disney Company are identified as five companies that have attained a reputation for remarkable service. This study includes five analyses to understand each company’s mission, history, leadership, employee engagement, and organizational culture. This study synthesizes how an unwavering commitment to customers, emphasis on employee empowerment, and ability to embed service in culture are common themes that can significantly contribute to a company’s ability to develop a reputation for remarkable service.
ContributorsBarr, Chandler Wallace (Author) / Desch, Timothy (Thesis director) / Shick, Jennifer (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The purpose of this public space toolkit is to provide the knowledge people need to transform public spaces within their community. Public spaces are a major part of cities that people use everyday. The problem is that many open public spaces, like vacant lots, are not effectively used. Meanwhile, communities face issues including social isolation, food scarcity, etc. Therefore, transforming public spaces using community gardens will help address these matters. Methods used for this toolkit include using research databases, examining scholarly journals, and using primary experiences to navigate topics. Results show that there are numerous social benefits obtained when public space management strategies and best practices are properly implemented. This toolkit outlines the strategies and guidelines to consider when starting a garden and what has been proven to be effective for other gardens.
These gardens facilitate community development, build social capital, and address food insecurity. Local Phoenix community gardens, Phoenix Renews and The TigerMountain Foundation, are analyzed. The TigerMountain Foundation was able to demonstrate the power of Asset Based Community Development and how community gardens provided a way for people to invest in their community and gain skills. The Phoenix Renews garden showed the importance of selecting the right space for a garden, and the downsides when certain considerations are not made. Conclusively, community garden can be a catalyst for people to transform their communities. This tool kit provides a starting point, with the knowledge and background information, for people to improve their communities through transforming public space using community gardens.
These gardens facilitate community development, build social capital, and address food insecurity. Local Phoenix community gardens, Phoenix Renews and The TigerMountain Foundation, are analyzed. The TigerMountain Foundation was able to demonstrate the power of Asset Based Community Development and how community gardens provided a way for people to invest in their community and gain skills. The Phoenix Renews garden showed the importance of selecting the right space for a garden, and the downsides when certain considerations are not made. Conclusively, community garden can be a catalyst for people to transform their communities. This tool kit provides a starting point, with the knowledge and background information, for people to improve their communities through transforming public space using community gardens.
ContributorsLe, Anita (Author) / Shockley, Gordon (Thesis director) / Goodman, Rebekka (Committee member) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05