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Sample of Past Research
Job Access Center - Client Evaluation
The Job Access Center seeks to increase the job opportunities and prospects for career development for residents of the Bronx by holistically preparing clients for employment through services such as interview training, career planning and development, professional resume writing, and one-on-one job search assistance. The purpose of this study is to obtain a client-based evaluation of the services rendered by the Job Access Center. This information will (a) better acquaint JAC with its clients especially as it relates to their employment and job readiness needs, (b) provide JAC with information that can be utilized to enhance their outreach capabilities, allowing them to access more individuals who would benefit from their services and retain clients, as well as (c) generate suggestions for development and overall improvement of the program.
Market Expansion Strategy for Women Business Owners: Jamica, Queens
ACCION New York, Inc. is a non-profit microfinance institution that provides loans from $500 to $50,000 to individuals and small groups that lack access to traditional forms of credit. In 2003, ACCION New York began the Women's Microenterprise Initiative which seeks to "empower low-income female microentreprenuers to become successful business owners and attain financial security by providing micro-loans and business assistance to those women who do not have access to traditional forms of credit." The aim of this report is to provide a short-term strategy for market expansion that targets women in the secondary market segment of Jamaica, Queens. It also attempts to shed light on gender issues and how they can significantly affect business operations but also how a better understanding of gender differences can be a more effective marketing strategy.
The Implication of Neighborhood Democracy to the Strategic Commercial Development in Metropolitan Cities: A Case of Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan
This paper examines the West Side Development Project in Manhattan, New York City to map the interplay of forces that operated in particular situations. My objective is to discover the dialectic mechanisms of up-scale commercial development of old manufacturing neighborhoods in metropolitan cities. This research examines how the local neighborhood reacts and participates in the local land use decision-making process. Considering the interconnectivity of neighborhood interests, the scope of this examination expands to the political coalitions of various civic organizations, business groups and local elected officials. Specifically, it is to find what kind of opportunities and limitations the neighborhood and the coalition have, to identify their objectives, to understand their values and to determine what influence they have in planning decision making. In particular, it is pursued by examining the political tension between power elites and the local neighborhood in the face of the external economic development pressure and top-down land use plan. This research contributes to the literature on the economic development and urban spatial transformation in global cities.
Sex, Love and Real Life Scenarios: An Evaluation of the Impact of Youth Filmmaking on Peer Audiences
The Scenarios USA screenplay writing contests for young adults revolve around sex, love and the intimate lives of teenagers. Every year winning young screenplay writers are partnered with professional film directors to make short films shot in the writers' hometowns and neighborhoods. A peer-based impact evaluation was designed and implemented in New York City during the summer of 2003 through collaboration between Scenarios USA and Cath Kane of the Cornell University's Graduate Urban Scholars Program. Over 100 young people watched and discussed Scenario's films in a range of typical settings in community groups, schools, clubs, and juvenile halls. These young viewers filled out anonymous questionnaires on basic demographic information, the types of venues in which the students discuss love and sexuality, and their opinions on the films and the discussions they inspired.
Theory-Based Mixed-Methods Evaluation of Youth Media Programs: A Case Study of the LIFT Project
The advent of digital video cameras and desktop computer editing software has put the capability of producing videos within the reach of a broadening array of non-profit and community-based organizations. With this technological advance has come an explosion in the number of youth programs offering training in video production. As this proliferation continues, funders are faced with a wide array of claims on a limited pool of resources to support such programs. Program evaluation has thus become increasingly crucial to documenting and comparing the aims and outcomes of various youth video programs. In this paper, I will describe a mixed-methods, "theory-based" program evaluation model that I developed in partnership with The LIFT Project, a New York City-based summer youth media workshop.
Housing or Industry: Which Does Mott Haven Need More? Who Should Occupy 672 East 136th Street?
This project is a compilation of reports written while Chris was working at the Cherry Tree Association, Inc. (CTA) from June to August, 2004. This set of reports comments on the need for housing in the Bronx, the need for establishments like the Mustard Seed Nursery in the Bronx, and his recommendations on what should happen to the building at 672 East 136th Street from a legal, financial, and quality of life perspective.
The Effects of Inadequate, Overcrowded Housing on Children
The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between inadequate, overcrowded housing and children's well-being. In particular, we look at the physical structure of living units, the conditions of its facilities, the number of people who live in those units, the number of rooms per unit, and their relationship to a child's physical well-being. The study takes place in Williamsburg/Greenpoint in Brooklyn, New York. This area is chosen because of its low- to middle-income status and close proximity to The Southside Community Mission where many of the local tenants and residents receive social services.
The East New York Farms! Initiative: Putting East New York on the Map
The East New York Farms! Initiative was developed in order to strengthen the local economy, provide opportunities for youth development and engagement with the community, preserve green space, provide access to fresh fruits and vegetables thus contributing to community food security, and provide an outlet for meeting the nutrition needs of East NY residents. This primarily ethnographic qualitative research report is focused on the ways in which a community-based food system can act as a conduit for community development, as well as how it functions as a mechanism for the establishment of networks that can increase the health and vitality of inner cities.
Automated City Register Information (ACRIS): Its Past, Present and Future
Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS) is an Internet-enabled database, operated by the New York City Department of Finance (DOF), which stores real estate transaction information. ACRIS was designed to be used by city property owners and a variety of title insurers, recorders, and banking professionals and went into effect on January 2, 2003. Despite the greater accessibility of real property records and related documents that ACRIS promises to provide, the City Council Committee on Technology in Government recently became aware of several areas of concern in the system. This report seeks to understand the history of ACRIS, how it works, and the nature of the complaints lodged against the system in an effort to determine how ACRIS can be improved to allow the government of New York City to more effectively serve its citizens.
Action Research Proposal - A Role for Appreciative Inquiry: An Interview Assessment of Past Community Collaboration Efforts
This project explores the recent organizational experiences of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Taskforce, an unincorporated association founded in 1998. Using participatory action research, the author and the Taskforce explore the dynamics that permit organizations to go beyond the present limits on creative, cooperative action. In so doing, the Taskforce seeks to develop a set of conditions and organizing tactics that would encourage a new sense of organizational achievement.
Planning for Child Care in New York City: The Effect of Race and Ethnicity on Child Care Utilization Patterns in Brooklyn
This report examines the effect of race and ethnicity on child care utilization patterns in New York City, with a focus on Brooklyn. Specifically, this report examines the following question: do race and ethnicity affect the type of care parents choose to enroll their children in? It is the author's belief that the effect of race and ethnicity on child care utilization patterns in New York City, as well as in Brooklyn, is larger or more important than is reported in current research on national utilization patterns. The goals of this report are to: indicate that race and ethnicity affect utilization patterns in Brooklyn as well as to foster the creation of an arena for discussion in which race and ethnicity are accepted as important variables for child care utilization in New York City.
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