Community Engagement Model Development plans

So, I want to spend some time learning about community engagement.  Since I began this final internship of my graduate education, this seems to be a huge part that's missing in community change efforts.  I want to know what I can learn from the research out there - what are well-researched methods? what are best evidence-based practices? what "should" we be using in our change projects? when is best to poll the community?  in the beginning, before we start, as a check-up on progress, to gain satisfaction rating on the job we're doing, in the end as an evaluative measure?  ALL OF THE ABOVE?  How can we partner with communities and their members, the people who are actually affected most by these changes, and the ones who probably know best (despite our best efforts at studying them)?  How can we act as community members' consultants, instead of what usually happens that we end up doing things to them?

Below is a mind map of some of the thoughts I have on the issue, and where I want to go with these ideas.  Ultimately, I'd like to continue the work that I'm doing at my internship -- collaborating with other community planning staff on unique ways that we can do this as social scientists, ways that including use of the many tools available to us on the Internet, and ways that make partnering with community representatives and stakeholders as painless, inexpensive, and rewarding as possible.

I don't know if anyone will read this, but I'm looking for people to partner with to work on this project.  I have an idea to start us off with that I believe would be effective. 

If you think you might be interested, please let me know.  Eventually, I want to publish a paper about the development of the model and the data collected about its effectiveness during testing.  At the least, I want to publish it in the "grey literature" (websites and other self-publishing media).

Lifehacker: Breakfast in a mug in one minute (and why are we only giving it ONE minute?)

Well, breakfast IS the most important meal of the day.  I think so many of us just don’t have the time, or maybe we aren’t hungry, yet?  I think caffeine in the coffee has a lot to do with suppressing the appetite when you get started with it early every morning.  I find that my appetite doesn’t come around until 10am after having coffee. Anyway, the evils of coffee and caffeine, no matter how good they taste, aren’t the point of this post.  The positive, that breakfast is important, healthy, and yes necessary, is the point. 

Here’s an article on Lifehacker.com that talks about how to do it quickly.  As mentioned, you can add any numbers of ingredients to spruce up the meal and make it even more healthy.  Getting something in your stomach in the mornings is putting you ahead of the game, anyway, though!

Interestingly, though, the comments part of the article is (as usual) one of the most interesting things about it,  There’s a debate about whether or not reducing breakfast to one minute means that we seriously need to consider how packed, filled, and fast-paced our lives has become.  This is what I am putting my money – we need reset our priorities when it comes down to needing tips like this, eh?  It’s not that we don’t want to do things that are quick and easy, but there’s something to be said for Quality of Life and taking our time with such essential things as our health and having healthy bodies and minds.

So, here’s my compromise:  I was a cook in the Army and have been cooking for 25 years.... I liked this idea enough to read the article, but the commenters are mostly right I think.  I don't seem to have time to eat in the mornings.  It does ONLY take two minutes to cook an egg in a pan and it tastes better.  Many here have mentioned cleaning the pan and how long that takes, but for my life it makes sense to simply put the pan back into the oven (with the spatula as well) so that you can take it out again the next day or the day after.  Wash it once a week, at most.  Either cast-iron, or non-stick, you're only talking about some oil left in the pan, which doesn't mean it's "dirty."  And, it doesn't go bad or make you sick.  So, that's even easier. 

As an after thought, I just want to add here that for my life, I want to be more healthy, eat the breakfast even if I’m not hungry – or, at least, change some things so that a normal hunger is what I wake up with!  so, maybe it’s time to prioritize things like rest, going to sleep earlier, trying to resist the natural inclination of a student to stay up later and later at night.  The morning is such a beautiful and peaceful time.  The night can be peaceful, too, so I vacillate between which is more peaceful.  The point is that I need and love peace and quiet.  I need to move to the woods :-)

Technorati Tags: health,food,mh,school,student,pub_health

Mental Health News | PTSD diagnosed in 6 of 14 soldiers examined at Walter Reed | Seattle Times Newspaper

12 out of 14 soldiers diagnosed with behavioral conditions or PTSD! 86%

PTSD diagnosed in 6 of 14 soldiers examined at Walter Reed | Seattle Times Newspaper:

The Walter Reed review concluded with six soldiers receiving PTSD diagnoses, while another six were diagnosed with behavioral conditions other than PTSD.

'via Blog this'

LGBT , GLBTQ, i?

Today, someone inquired whether it was more correct to use GLBT or LGBT?  She mentioned that GLBT was an older initialism.


I think this was the case before people realized they were continuing to dis-empower women by placing them (L) after men (G).


I think LGBT is more appropriate.  What do you think about it?

Social Work--THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER Online--Magazine for Social Work Students and Recent Graduates--Articles, Jobs, & More - Social Work Web Links

THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER Online--Magazine for Social Work Students and Recent Graduates - Social Work Web Links:

Resources
A-Z and MORE

'via Blog this'

Oppression of Women as a Minority Group - Tipped Over the Edge – Gender Inequity in the Restaurant Industry

In what I plan to be a continuing series, I want to address what I see as the ambiguity over the statement: "Women are an oppressed minority class."

I start with this article and plan to post further vivid and scientifically-accurate examples of the ways that the above statement is true and not, as some younger generations seems to believe, a condition that exists in the past.

Tipped Over the Edge – Gender Inequity in the Restaurant Industry | Restaurant Opportunities Centers United:

February 13, 2012: Our new report, “Tipped Over the Edge” was released today on Capitol Hill by , U.S. Representative Donna Edwards and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, and other major research and advocacy organizations, including Family Values @ Work, HERVotes Coalition, the Institute For Women’s Policy Research, MomsRising, National Coalition On Black Civic Participation’s Black Women’s Roundtable, National Council For Research On Women, National Organization For Women, National Partnership For Women & Families, National Women’s Law Center, Wider Opportunities For Women, Women Of Color Policy Network (NYU Wagner), and 9to5 National Association for Working Women.

DOWNLOAD EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT

The report shows that women who work in the industry face systematic discrimination, poverty wages, a lack of sick days, and five times more harassment than the general female workforce. One major cause of poverty for these working women is that restaurant lobbyists have succeeded in keeping the federal minimum wage for servers and other tipped workers frozen at only $2.13 per hour for the past 20 years.

Findings in the report include the following…

Profiting from poverty.

• Since 52% of all restaurant workers are women, but 66% of tipped workers are women, the lower minimum wage for tipped workers is essentially creating legalized gender inequity in the restaurant industry. In most industries, the gender wage gap is due to employer discrimination, but in the restaurant industry, it’s also a matter of law.

Seven of the 10 lowest-paid occupations in the United States are restaurant occupations. Most of these occupations are majority female and pay median wages below the poverty line.

Servers – of whom 71 percent are female – are almost three times more likely to be paid below the poverty line than the general workforce and nearly twice as likely to need food stamps as the general popula tion.

Despite having the same poverty rate for the overall workforce of 6.7 percent, states that follow the federal tipped subminimum wage have a much higher poverty rate for servers than states without a subminimum wage (19.4 percent vs. 13.6 percent), and this burden of poverty falls mostly on women.

Discrimination by design.

• The industry follows a conscious business model of confining women to the lower-paid positions within restaurants. Women are hired for only 19 percent of chef positions, for example, even though traditionally most women are more likely to do a majority of the cooking at home.

In addition, women are confined to the lower-paying segments of the industry such as quick-serve and family style rather than the highest-paying fine dining segment. So even within the same job classification of server, full-time, year-round female servers are paid just 68 percent of what male servers are paid ($17,000 vs. $25,000 annually). Over a work career, that means the industry takes an extra $320,000 from each female server – money that might otherwise make it possible to buy a home or car or send children to college.

Five times more sexual harassment.

• Nearly 37 percent of all sexual harassment charges filed by women with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) come from the restaurant industry - more than 5 times the rate for the general female workforce.

Food handling while sick.

• While only 31 percent of U.S. employers don’t provide health coverage for employees, 90 percent of restaurant workers surveyed nationwide reported not being provided employer-paid sick days or health benefits. Two–thirds reported having to cook, prepare, and/or serve food while sick because they could not afford to take unpaid time off.

Unpredictable scheduling.

• Restaurants typically choose not to provide workers with predictability and more than a few days’ advance notice of schedules, a burden that falls hardest on women juggling child care or elder care arrangements.

DOWNLOAD THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT

'via Blog this'

RESOURCES: Research Links and Resources - Planned Parenthood - Heartland

Research Links and Resources - Planned Parenthood

Research Links and Resources

We've compiled a list of links to useful websites for educational information, statistics and research materials below.

Abortion

• The Alan Guttmacher Institute
• Planned Parenthood Federation of America
• National Abortion Federation
• National Abortion Rights Action League

---

Abstinence

• Advocates For Youth
• National Coalition to Prevention Teen Pregnancy
• Sexuality Information & Education Council of the US (SIECUS)

---

Contraception

• SIECUS
• Alan Guttmacher Institute
• Planned Parenthood Federation of America

---

Disability & Sexuality

• Spinal Cord Injury Information Network
• Enable Link

---

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT)

• Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network
• A Guide to LGBT Health Resources
• The National Coalition for LGBT Health
• Youth Resource
• World Professional Association for Transgender Health
• Susan's Place Transgender Resources
• Hudson's FTM Resource Guide
• American Civil Liberties Union

---

Parenting Information

• Talking with Kids about Tough Issues
• Advocates for Youth
• Planned Parenthood Federation of America

---

Planned Parenthood Information & History

• Planned Parenthood Federation of America

---

Reproductive Issues

• Center for Reproductive Rights
• Women’s National Law Center

---

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI’s)

• The Center for Disease Control & Prevention
• American Social Health Association
• SIECUS

---

Sexuality Information for Teens

• Sex Etc.
• Scarleteen
• Teenwire
• I Wanna Know
• My Sistahs

---

Teen Pregnancy Information

• National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
• The Alan Guttmacher Institute
• National Center for Health Statistics
• SIECUS
• Resource Center for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention

'via Blog this'