Focus on the “Why”: Using Catalytic Thinking to Reimagine the Future of Nonprofit Education

Youth-serving community-based educational non-profits support the myriad unmet needs of public school students in underfunded school districts. Through partnerships with public schools for their participating students and reliance on private philanthropy to operate, these organizations sit at the intersection of the public and private sectors. While research shows that these non-profits can provide positive, supplementary spaces, less is known about how their partnerships reveal the impact of the neoliberal turn on their work. This paper investigates the complex relationships that sustain one education non-profit. Drawing on resource dependency theory and a case study model, this paper uses interviews, focus groups, a virtual observation, and document analysis, to examine how a non-profit understands their relationships with their partners schools and private funders. Finding identify four types of complex relationships that reinforce the constantly shifting partnerships that both sustain and limit an educational non-profit.

Ten years have passed since the release of the final report of the World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH),1 a landmark document that provided a global blue‐print for the health promotion community and the stakeholders we work with. Three overarching recommendations were outlined, improving daily living conditions; tackling the inequitable distribution of power, money and resources; and measuring and understanding the problem and assessing the impact of action.1 The extent to which progress has been, and continues to be, made is contested. This editorial briefly reflects on what has been achieved over the past decade—in broad terms—about action on the social determinants of health (SDH) in Australia. We deliberately take a balanced view by highlighting the weaknesses and strengths in what has been achieved by governments, non‐government organisations, research institutions, peak bodies and civil society. We also reflect on the ongoing role that the Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA) has played in advancing our understanding about, and action on, the SDH.

The cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi can serve as useful examples of the journey cities can undertake toward radical inclusion for persons with disabilities in the context of rapid urbanization. The actions of these cities over previous decades provide examples of practical approaches to building more inclusion and belonging by design. The management, governance, and strategies they undertook demonstrate how consistent and measurable progress toward inclusion, equity, and accessibility can be effectively designed and executed. Two frameworks, the DisCo Policy Framework and the Iceberg of Inequality Model, can be used to complement these city-based case studies. The DisCo Policy Framework is a tool for evaluating inclusive urban development and has five interrelated criteria for assessment. The Iceberg of Inequality Model shows the hierarchical structure of primary rights and capabilities. These tools can be used to benchmark progress toward radical inclusion and form part of a multidimensional and cross-sectional toolkit for key stakeholders to undo decades old errors and omissions in broad based planning, policy, and design. The UN Habitat III Conference also highlighted six key areas for advancing equity, access, and inclusion in cities as well as the need for political commitment to inclusive urbanization.

The essay aims to foster reflection and discussion on the institutionalization of undergraduate nonprofit education. Undergraduate nonprofit programs (certificates, minors, and majors) have been developing at a slower pace than their graduate counterparts. This essay focuses on the development of these programs and identifies particular challenges in the administration of four undergraduate programs selected as case studies. Common concerns include (1) development of programs broad enough to allow students to pursue multiple career and educational paths after graduation, which forces a curriculum development that differs from the path laid out at the graduate level, and (2) misconceptions and lack of knowledge about nonprofit careers in prospective students, parents, and high school counselors. The discussion is contextualized in broader trends of nonprofit education.

Innovative approaches and modalities of instruction in online teaching and learning have had major implications in higher education including nonprofit education. This article proposes a new form of blended learning not yet described in the literature called multimodal instruction. Multimodal instruction provides students with the autonomy to dictate their own terms of a blended course. Students in a multimodal course choose on a weekly basis whether to participate in learning activities synchronously online, asynchronously online, or face-to-face. The article identifies how multi-modal instruction aligns with current trends in higher education that are also affecting nonprofit education. The article presents a case study illustration of how multimodal instruction can be applied. The article concludes with a discussion on the implications of multimodal instruction for students, faculty, and institutions. Subscribe to JNEL

Public administration as an academic discipline provides nonprofit students with a foundation of public values essential to the preparation of capable public servants. The faculty in the Department of Public Administration at University of North Texas have been supportive of the department’s new undergraduate Nonprofit Leadership Studies degree and bring with them a blend of academic backgrounds and interdisciplinary and intersectoral perspectives to our approach to a nonprofit education. Our relatively new nonprofit degree is built on four overarching values: passion, participation, professionalism, and performance. Our use of the 4-P approach adopts the instrumental and the expressive assumptions from Frumkin’s (2002) framework to construct our own framework for designing and critiquing our curriculum in the Nonprofit Leadership Studies degree. Students learn that nonprofits are important collaborators with government, the private sector, and with the community as they seek out innovative solutions to complex social issues. This reflection essay presents a class case study example to highlight the academic disciplines that inform effective student learning.

This case study describes collaboration between business executives and superintendents to influence local/regional K–12 educational change. Specifically, we examine participant like-mindedness about the ethics and appropriate focus of K–12 intermediary collaboration, the extent of democratic functioning, and key individuals to involve. Data sources consist of existing semistructured interviews with 6 superintendents and 28 business executives involved in intermediary organizations (i.e., chambers of commerce, business– education roundtables, educational nonprofits) within a metropolitan area of the U.S. Southwest. Furman's (2004) ethic of community frames the analysis. Participants narrate common moral purpose motivated by civic duty for the public good over profit-driven interests. Moreover, deficiencies in democratic collaborative processes formed divergent views on how this should be operationalized and thus caused some voices to be silenced. Superintendent inattention to democratic processes reinforced deficiencies despite the enabling potential of certain business executives.

The Sierra Leone National Policy on Radical Inclusion in Schools is the first attempt by the Government of Sierra Leone to provide a roadmap for the day-to-day work of schools and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. Disadvantaged student refers to vulnerable, marginalized, and excluded children from accessing free, quality, and inclusive education. This study explores the challenges disadvantaged students face, specifically marginalized learners from low-income families. The study participants were marginalized male and female students from low-income families and their classroom teachers. The data for this study was obtained from primary and secondary sources. Secondary data sources for this study were obtained from published and unpublished sources. From the results, it was concluded that marginalized students from low-income families are significant in inclusion education. The result also indicates that more female participants are taking part in the study, marginalized students from low-income backgrounds are faced with challenges attending school and attending lessons, faced with challenges in participating in lessons, completing homework or exams, feel left out, and unsafe in school. It was recommended that School authorities make the school safe by declaring and ensuring zero tolerance to the use of canes, School Related Gender-Based Violence, train teachers in inclusive learning, boost female students to attend school, participation by including all marginalized students, and decrease exclusion, ensure that girls have the opportunity to receive free primary and secondary education, improve on electricity across the country, and enforce total ban on extra lessons, school picnic, and other activities that could be possible barriers to impede students learning.

This paper presents preliminary findings of a work‐in‐progress, a project operating in the overlap of virtual reality technology and the traditional role of libraries, archives, and museums in the preservation of archives, records, and cultural heritage materials. Currently in its third year of operation, the Radical Inclusion project has been utilizing consumer grade technology to capture, preserve, and disseminate unique cultural and historical experiences in immersive VR & 360‐degree video format. Presented as a case study, detailed examples include workflows associated with the capture, post‐processing, and dissemination of content associated with large‐scale artwork installations: from in‐depth exchanges and documentation of projects in the process of construction, to experiential vignettes from the Burning Man event that occurs in the Black Rock Desert. Archival collections are shared more broadly to “radically include” individuals and to preserve the experience for the future so that people can study and better understand thoughts and inspirations of the artists and fellow participants. Associated detail includes specific workflows developed and software; ethical considerations and practice surrounding the capture, sharing, and sustainability of the collection; and the potentially novel hybrid use of use of Islandora and Kaltura as web platform for distribution.

PurposeThis paper aims to evaluate the evolution, development and endurance of the Equality Act 2010, providing a critical overview of influence and key legal principles, demonstrating how the Act has impacted strategic organisational and human resources policy and practice in the UK.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on a systematic review of relevant professional and academic literature, alongside an evaluation of the Act itself. The subject focus is seen as timely with the return of a Labour Government in the UK – the architects of the Equality Act – for the first time in 14 years. Due to word limitations, the treatment is condensed to provide a selective overview that will be of interest to practitioners and academics in strategic organisational management and human resources. The author is a socio-legal studies academic and non-practising barrister, with expertise in the corporate organisational field.FindingsThe Equality Act 2010, though now established, owes its historical inception to civil rights activism and a radical turn in legislative drafting and ambition – points frequently missed when discussing its scope and influence. A highly unusual anomaly is that having been created by an outgoing Labour Government its stewardship immediately passed to a Conservative administration. In particular, the principles consolidated and introduced by the Act have greatly impacted the workplace, crucially organisational behaviour and human resources practices, leading to greater responsibility and interpretive power being directed from employment lawyers towards organisational policy and professional practice.Originality/valueThe Equality Act 2010 is usually discussed as an artifact rather than a radical creation and developing entity. This short paper approaches the Act as a “living” object with an eye on future reform.

Systems-Based Practice: Time to Finally Adopt the Orphan Competency.

Optimal dynamic pricing of mobile data plans in wireless communications

The rising cost of tuition, coupled with the insufficiency of aid and income, has made it more likely for college students to face financial challenges. The result for too many students is food insecurity or the lack of reliable access to sufficient quantities of affordable, nutritious food. Although the issue of food insecurity is prevalent among college students in general, community college students struggle at higher percentages than students at 4-year institutions. Yet, many of the responses of 4-year institutions to their students' food insecurity are not available to community college students or are too costly for community colleges to implement. The purpose of this instrumental case study was to explore the Food Campaign (pseudonym) of a community college in the Mid-Atlantic region. The Food Campaign focuses on reducing food insecurity among students with its "three A's:" acceptance, access, and awareness. The goals of the study were to inform the institution as it continues to address food insecurity on and off campus and to inform the development of similar programs at community colleges across the nation. The research questions that guided the study were: (a) In what ways, if any, does the Food Campaign foster acceptance, as evidenced by vision, commitment, and responsibility? (b) In what ways, if any, does the Food Campaign foster access, as evidenced by providing affordable, sufficient, nutritious food? And (c) In what ways, if any, does the Food Campaign foster awareness, as evidenced by communication? The research was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, utilizing individual interviews with 10 students, a focus group with seven students, and individual interviews with four faculty and six staff. The researcher also analyzed artifacts and kept a researcher's journal for fieldnotes and to bracket out her own bias. Analysis of data revealed five themes: (a) a village mentality, (b) an affirming culture, (c) radical inclusion, (d) meeting students where they are, and (e) communication and promotion. The researcher identified four results: (a) food security is necessary for students' physical, cognitive, and academic well-being; (b) the three A's (acceptance, access, and awareness) make the Food Campaign design a comprehensive approach for addressing food insecurity at colleges and universities; (c) food insecurity among students in community college during a pandemic/economic crisis has no respect of person, color/ethnicity, family structure, or affluence; and (d) regarding food insecurity, students at RCC are achieving levels of the hierarchy of need in non-hierarchical ways. Given the findings and results, the researcher offered recommendations for practice and for future research.

Online enrollments in U.S. higher education programs continue to grow, a trend that is also seen in LIS education where in some cases entire MLIS programs are being offered online. Synchronous online seminar-style courses present interesting challenges for both radical inclusion and innovation. This qualitative case study explored the effectiveness of a synchronous, online seminar conducted via Google Hangout in an online program. The findings revealed similarities and differences between a face-to-face seminar and a synchronous online seminar. Factors such as meaningful interactions, group collaborations, and technology literacy—hallmarks of a social constructivist learning environment, play critical roles in optimizing the experience. These findings emphasize the need for a stronger pedagogical framework to guide online LIS education.

Digital Learning through Dynamic Strategic Planning: A Case Study of Bahrain Training Institute