The push toward efficiency in higher education is occurring as increasing numbers of faculty and students are struggling with mental health concerns and the world appears progressively polarized. However, education, at its core, can foster hope and effect positive change. This chapter presents a pedagogy of authentic hope that relies on…

Communities experiencing rapid growth due to energy development have serious and predictable social and human service problems, especially concerning women, the aged, and other minorities. The Wyoming Human Services Project, a model of impact mitigation, might be emulated elsewhere to modify the effects of such growth now and in the future.…

Describes a year long graduate course in social work education that utilizes an experiential service learning framework. Illustrates how the graduate course could be adapted for teaching undergraduate sociology students about social problems within the community by linking fieldwork with a case study component. Discusses the undergraduate model in…

The Future Problem Solving Program has a noncompetitive Primary Division that challenges gifted children in grades K-4 to think creatively about society issues, develop research skills, interact as a team, develop oral and written communication skills, become interested in the future, think critically, and solve problems. (JDD)

Discusses the effects of the recent proliferation of casinos on Native American reservations. Suggests that supporters feel that the economic prosperity and availability of jobs associated with the casinos are crucial for providing for the needs of the reservation's residents, whereas opponents fear an increase in serious gambling addictions. (MAB)

This Spanish-language publication of the Association of Puerto Rican Executive Directors (APRED) presents recommendations for action by the New York State legislature to improve opportunities and services for the Puerto Rican and Latino community. The agenda for legislative action calls for the integration to the community in the social, economic,…

This publication of the Association of Puerto Rican Executive Directors (APRED) presents recommendations for action by the New York State legislature to improve opportunities and services for the Puerto Rican and Latino community. The agenda for legislative action, produced by the APRED Legislative Task Force, calls for the integration of the…

This report describes a preliminary methodology by which distressed communities may be identified using school districts as the basic unit for the presentation of data. Distress consists of a concentration of the following types of need: (1) economic; (2) social; and (3) educational. Distress was measured by an index that determined a district's…

Asserts that, although research can be a powerful resource in guiding and fueling grass-roots social change, the community-based research enterprise often is contentious. Recommends collaborative research studies in which the researchers and practitioners work together from the project's inception. (CFR)