Community Problem Solving Research Articles

Broadening participation in community problem solving: a multidisciplinary model to support collaborative practice and research.

Over the last 40 years, thousands of communities-in the United States and internationally-have been working to broaden the involvement of people and organizations in addressing community-level problems related to health and other areas. Yet, in spite of this experience, many communities are having substantial difficulty achieving their collaborative objective, and many funders of community partnerships and participation initiatives are looking for ways to get more out of their investment. One of the reasons we are in this predicament is that the practitioners and researchers who are interested in community collaboration come from a variety of contexts, initiatives, and academic disciplines, and few of them have integrated their work with experiences or literatures beyond their own domain. In this article, we seek to overcome some of this fragmentation of effort by presenting a multidisciplinary model that lays out the pathways by which broadly participatory processes lead to more effective community problem solving and to improvements in community health. The model, which builds on a broad array of practical experience as well as conceptual and empirical work in multiple fields, is an outgrowth of a joint-learning work group that was organized to support nine communities in the Turning Point initiative. Following a detailed explication of the model, the article focuses on the implications of the model for research, practice, and policy. It describes how the model can help researchers answer the fundamental effectiveness and "how-to" questions related to community collaboration. In addition, the article explores differences between the model and current practice, suggesting strategies that can help the participants in, and funders of, community collaborations strengthen their efforts.

ETHICS AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS: AN UPDATED COMMUNICATION PERSPECTIVE

The use of persuasive mass communication techniques by public relations and advertising practitioners, rather than abating in influence as early theorists hoped because of more widespread education, is an increasing component of both private and government communication. In an information environment, persuasion serves a public interest when it assists social utility, but there has been no “macro‐ethical” consistency by practitioners. Indeed, today's global business environment demands an ethically conscious corporate attitude since various publics expect business organizations to take on a greater role in solving community problems—they want to see corporations be ethical in word and act. However, the lack of a single common framework for deciding what is ethical and what is not thus ultimately influences the outcome of public policymaking and the reputation of public relations. This article argues that business ethics matter for the bottom line, with ethical practice and openness in communication the keys to survival in the 21st century. Amoral leadership, exemplified by situational management theories, is outdated (and worse, increasingly ineffective). Change, however, also requires action and a willingness to be open to communication to many constituencies and cultures. Old internal divisions in firms also must be dissolved, with more flexible structures and communications interplay encouraged. Experienced international public relations practitioners must be part of this change.

Community Problem Solving Works for Middle Level Students

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsJann E. BohnenbergerJann E. Bohnenberger is the executive director of the Action Based Learning in Education (ABLE) Program, Knoxville, Tennessee. E-mail: ablejb@aol.comAlice W. TerryAlice W. Terry is an assistant professor of secondary and middle grades education at Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia. E-mail: aterry@kennesaw.edu

Globalising Democracy Without a State: Weak Public, Strong Public, Global Constitutionalism

The usefulness of Dewey's conception of a public for contemporary International Relations (IR) theory lies in its explication of an expanding network of problem-solving communities (`deliberative democracy'). The idea of a weak and deliberative public endowed with growing moral influence fits well with the globalisation of communicative media and attention to human rights. Still, inclusive discussion and deliberation combined with political protest movements do not amount to egalitarian democracy. The latter presupposes not only the right to free expression but also constitutional access to processes of representation and decision making. Against the emerging background of global law, this article investigates the question of whether global society has a constitution, and gives a twofold answer. While global society can be said to have a constitution with respect to constitutive core elements of equal rights, it lacks a strong public as well as a democratic constitution. However, the existing global weak public can be optimistically interpreted as a `strong public in the making'. This interpretation corrects the institutional and legal weakness of Deweyan pragmatism, lending his notion of a public some new relevance for IR.

Civic Autonomy in Journalism Education: Applying Expertise to Political Action

A contingent of student editors seethed in disdain, unbeknownst to me, as I lectured about the responsibility of the press in a participatory democracy. In retrospect, the public journalism course invited resentment from the first day of class. My intent in this essay is to make something good out of a failed class by describing a largely unrecognized problem of instruction as an influence on professional socialization. The news topic for the course was student retention and programs to alleviate the high dropout rate at our university. The undergraduate students conducted a survey to document faculty views, wrote indepth stories for the campus newspaper, and held a town hall forum to promote discussion. The class included editors and reporters of the newspaper along with mass communication students who were more interested in theory than professional skills. The latter group seemed to accept the goals of the class, but during the ninth week of the semester, two editors approached me after a class to deliver a legalistic document. In terse language, it outlined the independence of the paper as a student-run publication, and the lack of a guarantee that any article from the class would be published. I struggled the rest of the semester to convince the editorial staff that public journalism could be practiced without violating the autonomy of the press, and without jeopardizing the independence of the campus paper. I will argue in this essay that reform advocates have not appreciated adequately the dynamics of professional socialization that predispose college students to resist public journalism. While students in the early stages of anticipatory socialization might support the goals of public (or civic) journalism, the increasing importance of autonomy that comes with professional identification tends to erode this support. Unless instructors can promote an expanded view of autonomy - a conception that accommodates both conventional and reformist views of autonomy - public journalism is likely to fade away as an impetus for curriculum reform. After explicating the process of professional development that engenders a commitment to independence, I propose an instruction strategy based on a model of civic-oriented autonomy. This approach promotes public journalism goals while preserving autonomy - and recasting it as reflective judgment directed at civic activation. Student Resistance Professional autonomy refers to the relative freedom of practitioners to make and implement choices associated with occupational duties.1 Inside the newsroom, journalists value autonomy as the capacity for discretionary judgment despite the constraints of bureaucratic routine. Outside the newsroom, journalists value professional independence as an orientation that provides some insulation against partisan influences and other threats to credibility.2 Public journalism is dismissed by many in the press as an unacceptable threat to professional detachment. Public journalists set out to improve the conditions for discursive democracy so that citizens might participate in discussions that explore options for solving community problems. But independence is compromised, according to critics, when news organizations make connections with local institutions to activate the citizenry. Specific reporting techniques, rather than the lofty goal of civic empowerment, seem to elicit the most antipathy from practitioners.3 My understanding of autonomy as an outcome of professional development is derived from a case study intended to identify factors that predict levels of support for public journalism among undergraduate students.4 The setting for the survey was a large city in the Southwest, where we interviewed 317 students with varying degrees of interest in journalism as a career. Students tended to be critical of conventional reporting, and this disposition helped to account for their approval of public journalism. …

Citizen-Led Watershed Projects: Participatory Research and Environmental Adult Learning Along Iowa's Maquoketa River

The state of Iowa is first in the United States in corn, soybean, and hog production. It also has some of the most nutrient-rich rivers and streams in the world, which means that the waters are polluted with nitrogen and phosphorous, directly attributed both livestock and crop production. This nonpoint source of pollution is thought be a major contributor the Gulf of Mexico's hypoxia region--a dead zone of approximately 7,000 square miles where plant nutrients from the Mississippi River have depleted the Gulf's dissolved oxygen, which is necessary for fish and other aquatic life (Libra, 1998). These water quality create much tension between efforts enhance water quality and maintain the livelihood of farmers in Iowa. This tension is particularly keen among Iowa producers who tend be independent family farmers with smaller operations and limited resources. For example, recently proposed government regulations on small feedlots intended protect the environment will create financial hardships for family farmers, thereby strengthening the competitive advantage of large corporate feedlots by accelerating the consolidation of the beef and dairy industries in particular (ISU College of Agriculture, 2001). Iowa's Maquoketa River Basin typifies rural landscapes with family farms and small rural communities; 61,048 people live within its 1,879 square miles. The Maquoketa River is one of the largest sources of excess nutrients and sediment among the 13 major rivers along the upper Mississippi. In an effort heighten citizen awareness and participation in developing a comprehensive plan address these environmental problems, the Maquoketa River Project was initiated in 1997 promote citizen-led watershed councils in each of the river basin's 25 sub-watersheds. In 1999, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region VII Water Quality Cooperative Agreement Funds were allocated to develop local leadership with long-term vision and commitment deal proactively with nonpoint source pollution issues (Maquoketa Quarterly Report, 1999, p. 1). Nonpoint source pollution tends be systemic within an ecosystem; therefore, it is much more difficult address than point source pollution. For example, within a watershed most, if not all, farmers are using fertilizers or other chemicals that contribute the degradation of the water system. In contrast, point source pollution might be a single factory that is dumping effluent into a stream. This type of pollution is easily identified in comparison nonpoint source pollution. The streams and creeks that comprise these sub-watersheds cross many farms involving many landowners. These farms and their enterprises often look dramatically different from each other. One farm may raise only corn and soybeans, another may have a dairy, a third might generate most of its income from a cow-calf operation, a fourth might include a small feedlot where 700-pound calves are finished 1,200 pounds ready for market, while a fifth may raise hogs. The purpose of the citizen councils is bring together all residents within these sub-watersheds through a participatory research and environmental adult education process so they can build and articulate their knowledge about their local ecosystem through data collection, problem identification, priority setting, and strategic action. As a group, these residents partner with technical staff from state and federal government agencies and Iowa State University Extension evaluate the problem, then collectively develop possible solutions land-use problems that are sources of water pollution. This article presents a phenomenological case study of the Maquoketa River Project. Our framework for community problem solving is different from the traditional expert-driven, technical solutions model typically offered by government agencies and universities. …

Rhetoric, Service, and Social Justice

This article looks at how the discipline of rhetoric may be helpful when thinking about methods for social justice. Specifically, it explores how rhetoric and composition can help those interested in social justice to construct knowledge that is both multidisciplinary and intercultural, to view the constructive processes of research participants, and to develop reflective research methods. One such method may be the Community Problem-Solving Dialogue, a rhetorically strategic method for sharing and building knowledge between the community and university. Specifically, this article studies how students in graduate policy courses both successfully and unsuccessfully used the strategies in the Community Problem-Solving Dialogue in community-university collaborations.

The Making of a Community Policing Officer: The Impact of Basic Training and Occupational Socialization on Police Recruits

This study examines the impact of basic training, field training, and work environment on shaping police recruits' attitudes and beliefs related to community policing, problem-solving policing, and police public relations. A multiple-treatment, single-case pretest-posttest design was used to survey 446 police recruits from 14 successive basic-training academy classes at the Phoenix Regional Police Training Academy. The sample of police recruits was followed through the 606.5-hour, 16-week basic-training program and then through field training and the completion of a 1-year probationary period. Over 16 months, they were surveyed at four points and times. Findings reveal that although the training academy has a positive impact on police recruits' attitudes related to community policing and problem solving, over time, those positive attitudinal changes dissipate as police recruits proceed to their respective police agencies where they are assigned a field training officer and are exposed to the work environment and organizational culture.

The Structural Determinants of Mortality in Japanese Prefectures

This cross‐sectional multivariate analysis of age‐ and sex‐standardized mortality for the 47 Japanese prefectures explores and tests the hypotheses that structural pluralism and differentiation, interpreted as dimensions of “social problem solving capacity”, determine lower mortality rates, controlling on the availability of medical facilities. The postulated explanatory principle is that participation in community problem‐solving optimizes the biological functioning of the residents, which fosters better health. A factor analysis generated two factors (plus a third index of medical facilities) that measure the structural dimensions. Regression analysis showed that pluralism predicted lower mortality for both males and females, but differentiation gave contradictory results. Surprisingly, medical facilities predicted higher male mortality. A control on the more recently industrialized and the hyper‐urbanized prefectures refined the analysis so that the differentiation factor predicted consistently and the spurious correlation between medical facilities and male mortality dissolved.

Editors, Educators Agree on Outcomes but Not Goals

A survey of AEJMC Newspaper Division members and U.S. daily newspaper editors shows that they hold significantly different views on public journalism goals–listening to readers, initiating discussion about and solving community problems.

Powerful Partnerships

ABSTRACT Using a multi-cultural, inter-generation partnership model, undergraduate students participated in a service learning collaborative project with immigrant and refugee youths. Recognizing the multiple issues facing newcomers to this country, the collaborative attempted to teach community problem solving and cross cultural leadership skills while promoting civic participation. The youths from Cape Verdian, Haitian, and Somalian community agencies identified a problem area: the public education system, specifically, accessing services and knowing one's rights. Both groups of students worked as partners conducting needs assessments, researching information and creating a booklet for use by parents and students. In addition to meeting specifically identified needs, the project heightened ethnic pride and inter-generational understanding for all participants.

Planner's Notebook: Community Policing and Planning

Community policing programs are being embraced by police departments across the country, and this has important implications for planners. Community police officers are being asked to engage in broad-based community problem solving and are adopting many of the goals and methods of community development planning. This article presents a definition of community policing and provides examples of community policing programs in two cities, Asheville and Greensboro, North Carolina. It also identifies the benefits of cooperation between planners and community police officers and presents findings from a research project on the implementation and impacts of community policing in the cities studied. Specific examples of how planners and community police officers have worked together to improve the quality of life in urban neighborhoods are also provided. The article concludes with a discussion of some of the obstacles to cooperation between planners and community police officers and how they can be overcome.

What Does "Smart Growth Mean for Community Development?

Sprawling patterns of dispersed residential and commercial development are seen as wasteful of land, expensive to service, automobile-dependent, environmentally harmful, and, ultimately, community-defeating. The state of Maryland has enacted a package of "Smart Growth" programs to promote more compact development by targeting public infrastructure and providing financial incentives in designated growth areas. It is hoped that this strategy will result in less sprawl, higher density development, greater use of mass transit, a pedestrian orientation, more closely-knit communities, and a higher quality of life. But smart growth will succeed only if people in designated growth and redevelopment areas are able to improve the economic, social, and physical aspects of their communities. Smart growth must build the capacity of community residents to undertake land use planning and solve community problems. Otherwise, additional policies will be needed to link smart growth and community development.

The Will and the Way: Local Partnerships, Political Strategy and the Well-being of America's Children and Youth

In an era of devolution in much social policy, a growing number of initiatives aim to improve the well-being of children, youth, and their families through locally governed, data-driven of various kinds. Broadly stated, the aims of these partnerships are not limited to savvy technical reform of policies or programs. Their aims target systems of a much more daunting variety - a change in political will, policy agendas, and policy implementation arrangements, all driven by broad and sustained local movements on behalf of our children. Part of a larger research project on how community problem-solving is evolving around the globe, this paper takes a critical look at what such locally-based efforts actually do and at the key strategic challenges they confront. It emphasizes the distinct dimensions of political work implied in an era of partnership-driven problem-solving, explores the roles of coalition building in local politics, and analyzes the special challenges that partnerships face when they are, at once, interest-driven coalitions that ensure political support and operational alliances through which players seek to jointly produce the better outcomes they seek. Special attention is given to the roles of intermediary players that help other players navigate these challenges and to the multiple demands made of grassroots and grasstops (elite) stakeholders.

Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine.

Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine.

Reflections on the Program for Community Problem Solving

National Civic ReviewVolume 89, Issue 2 p. 155-160 Reflections on the Program for Community Problem Solving Jarle Crocker, Jarle CrockerSearch for more papers by this author Jarle Crocker, Jarle CrockerSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 July 2003 https://doi.org/10.1002/ncr.89204Citations: 1AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume89, Issue2Summer 2000Pages 155-160 RelatedInformation

Complex community development projects: collaboration, comprehensive programs, and community coalitions in complex society

Community development programs are becoming increasingly complex as a result of societal complexity and our greater appreciation of the difficulty of solving community problems. Case studies of successful community development organizations suggest that they cope with complexity by developing specialized projects that are (1) multi-organizational collaborations among intervention organizations and resource providers; (2) multi-functional or comprehensive efforts at integrated problem solving; and (3) multi-jurisdictional coalitions of diverse communities working together. The organizations examined in this paper show that well-designed projects can manage complex tasks. However, the organizational cost of complexity in terms of administrative time and coordination is unnecessarily high.

Does Community Policing Generate Greater Numbers and Different Types of Citizen Complaints than Traditional Policing?

Recent policing literature suggests that community policing and problem solving will generate additional ethical dilemmas at the officer and organizational levels. As a result, several scholars have argued that police agencies might see an increase in the generation of citizen complaints. Using official departmental complaints data collected for all graduates of a recent Philadelphia Police Academy class, the authors examine the effects of role assignment (i.e., community vs. traditional policing) and other individual-level variables on complaint generation for a period of 3.5 years after graduation. The authors test the hypotheses that the proportion of officers assigned to community policing roles and traditional policing roles who have generated (a) citizen complaints, (b) different types of complaints, and (c) multiple complaints is equal. The results suggest that both groups generate complaints in equivalent proportions. The authors then shift to individual-level predictors of complaint generation in the same cohort of officers. Logistic regression results indicate that several individual-level variables are significantly related to complaint generation, whereas role assignment is not. Implications for police policy and future research directions are discussed.

Teaching an Earth Aware Generation

Earth Force has made this my best year of teaching ... and it has changed the way I teach, says Leighann Forbes, an eighth grade instructor at Iroquois Junior-Senior School in Erie, Pennsylvania. Many of her colleagues in 59 (mostly middle) schools and community partnership sites at four CAPS (Community Action and Problem Solving) projects in Denver; Concord, Massachusetts; and West Palm Beach would probably identify with that assessment. Listening to Earth Force teachers is like grabbing the business end of an exposed wire; there is plenty of voltage to keep the conversational needle pegged on High Enthusiasm.

An Approach to Community Facilitation Using Mediation Techniques: Skills for the Sociological Practitioner

Current community organization literature calls for a focus on the identification of community assets, not community deficits. This includes building relationships in the community to identify and solve community problems. In addition, the asset approach to community development redefines the role of the outside expert as one who is concerned with the process of community development, instead of the content of what needs to be changed. The shift to an asset-based approach calls for a new set of practice skills to be employed by the sociological practitioner. The authors suggest integrating specific skills from the mediation literature with the current community organization model as a first step in developing the practice skills necessary to being an effective community facilitator.