Community Development Department Research Articles

Factors affecting openness of local government websites: Examining the differences across planning, finance and police departments

The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in public organizations increasingly holds the potential to improve transparency, accountability, and public participation, by providing a more effective and efficient disclosure of information to the citizens and organizations and by providing channels for interaction with the government. While transparency and interactivity features of government websites constitute two critical elements for public participation and democracy facilitated by web-based technologies, little research has been done to explain why some public organizations choose to deploy website technology more openly with these features. This paper aims to examine the managerial, organizational, and environmental factors that are related to variation in transparency and interactivity features of local government websites, which we believe are key dimensions to governmental website openness. The paper first develops a literature informed conceptual model of governmental website openness and then tests this model using data from a national survey of 850 government managers in 500 cities. The model results are compared across three different departments: community development, finance, and police department. Overall findings indicate that higher website openness is positively related to increased frequency of public participation in agency decision making and civil society influence, increased technical capacity, lower organizational control, and higher perceived usefulness of website technology. In addition, due to differences in the operating contexts of the departments, the effects of organizational control, technical capacity, environmental influences, and perceived usefulness of website technology on governmental website openness tend to differ by the type of department.

The Effectiveness of Sustainable Development of the Saving for Production Groups in Northeast of Thailand

This paper has the objective to describe the effectiveness of sustainable development has been significant to get the advantage of competitiveness and growth in the country’s economic, society and politics. The Saving for Production Groups (SPGs) in Northeast of Thailand had the significant role in developing the potential and capacity of people in local communities. Field trip survey was conducted for finding secondary data through concerning printed material. Primary data were obtained from in-depth interviewing of 4 saving groups and the samplings are leaders, members and stakeholders in Chaiyaphum, Kalasin, Nakhon Ratchasima and Ubon Ratchathani, this issue related in sustainable human capital development of SPGs. The Result showed that SPGs manage the group regulations more than learning activities for developing capabilities of the committees and members; but member have been able to provide security for members and lesser public activities. The management principles were significant to the success of saving groups, effected by the leaders experiences which composited the sustainable economy principles, the guidelines on management of the Community Development Department and the management principles according to situations. The learning provision, local wisdoms had been used for knowledge creation of their own saving groups, which could be considered as developing capabilities of man or human capital in communities at the same time. The effectiveness of learning promotion of members, via the social economy activities, aimed at the unofficial learning which should provide the economic activities content in conformity with the needs and sustainable economy was of life. The learning promotions, via persons for increasing human and social capital were done by using the local media effectively, and learning from the outside of communities.

Municipal Solid Waste Management in Russia: Practices and Challenges

It is annually produced 400 thousand tons of solid waste in the city of Rostov-on-Don, which is taken for disposal to landfill at the Northwest industrial area of the city. Nearly 60 tons of waste enters Rostov Material Recovery Facility every year for the sorting, extracting commercially attractive factions, pressing, briquetting and subsequent transportation of residue tail to the landfill. However, the percentage of recycling in Rostov (10%) remains low, as a result of the shortcomings of the system. Recently, the Administration of Rostov-on-Don has produced a development strategy of integrated municipal solid waste management to create a new system of waste management in Rostov-on-Don. The strategy focuses mainly at Resource efficiency, which is a blend of good infrastructure, collection and design, with a dash of innovation and a strong policy framework to back it up. For the successful implementation of the strategy it is necessary to introduce an integrated system of municipal solid waste management using GIS. The methodology of integrated system with using GIS was developed by specialists of City Planning and Community Development Department of the Rostov State University of Civil Engineering. It includes implementation of collection and storage of waste and environmental data along with vehicles navigation system through ArcGIS ESRI software. It helps to facilitate collection operations, to analyze optimal locations for transfer stations, to plan routes for vehicles transporting waste from residential, commercial and industrial customers to transfer stations and from transfer stations to landfills, to calculate amount of waste collection sites in accordance with the population density and volume of bins, to locate new landfills and to monitor the landfill. GIS is a tool that also provides a digital data bank for optimization of waste collection sites allocation according with implementation of General City Plan. The territory of Rostov-on-Don has been chosen for case study. GIS allowed to make situational (operational) decisions for implementing the strategic approach to the municipal solid waste management plan of the city and supported innovative accompaniment of the process of development and implementation of priority national projects, targeted programs of ecological reconstruction and strategic plans of socio-economic development of municipalities.

The Impact of Direct Democracy on Governance: A Replication and Extension

DOI 10.1515/cjpp-2012-0021 Calif. J. Politics Policy 2013; 5(1): 30–46 Ly T. Lac and Edward L. Lascher Jr.* The Impact of Direct Democracy on Governance: A Replication and Extension Abstract: Does the state ballot initiative process affect American states’ ability to meet widely accepted standards of “good governance?” This question is rel- evant in many places, but especially in California which makes the heaviest use of the popular initiative. While much recent non-academic work suggests the process has ill effects in the Golden State and elsewhere, there has been little systematic scholarly investigation of this topic; the notable exception is R.J. Dalton’s work in 2008. Building on, updating, and extending his study, we examine whether the presence and extent of ballot initiative use affects Govern- ment Performance Project grades. Controlling for many other variables, we find a generally negative relationship between initiative use and such grades. This has worrisome implications for governance. Keywords: direct democracy; initiative process; government performance; quan- titative analysis. *Corresponding author: Edward L. Lascher Jr., Department of Public Policy and Administra­tion, California State University, Sacramento, CA, USA, E-mail: tedl@csus.edu Ly T. Lac: Department of Housing and Community Development, State of California, Sacramento, CA, USA 1 T he Impact of Direct Democracy on Governance: A Replication and Extension In their recent book advocating a drastic restructuring of California government, Joe Mathews and Mark Paul (2010, pp. 170–171) attribute much of the blame for the state’s woes to the initiative process. They claim that ballot measures have hamstrung the legislative process, led to an inflexible taxing and spending system, and reduced accountability. They write: “California has the most powerful – and thus the most inflexible – initiative process in the world. The legislature has no constitutional power to stop an initiative from reaching the ballot. Nor does the governor or any member of the executive branch… Such an inflexible system has many problems. Budget priorities can be locked in easily, and they persist even when revenues

The Use of Artificial Neural Networks to Prioritize Impact Factors Affecting Thai Rural Village Development

This paper aims to prioritize impact factors which affect Thai rural village development. The basic village-leveled information database (NRD-2C) of the Community Development Department (CDD), Ministry of Interior, Thailand, was applied with Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to measure the amount of impact for each factor affecting Thai rural village development. According to results, the top 5 impact factors are “Land Possession”, “Electricity”, “Communication”, “Educational Level”, and “Household Industry” with 17.88, 15.35, 14.02, 12.06, and 10.57 score of impact respectively with 95.60 percent of estimated accuracy.

Peace Strengthens Human Prosperity

This conference, organized by the Faculty of Usuluddin at Sultan Sharif AliIslamic University (UNISSA), was held on 24-25 February 2010 at theRizqun International Hotel in Gadong, Brunei. The 119 local and 40 internationalparticipants presented 78 working papers. Local and internationalmedia outlets and representatives of government bodies, as well as officersfrom the Department of Community Development, the Ministry of ReligiousAffairs’ Syariah Affairs Department, and the Brunei Economic DevelopmentBoard, also attended. One of the main objectives was to clear upmisconceptions about Islam in order to bridge the gap and strengthen relationshipsand cooperation between Muslim and western countries.Abdul Muthalif Afuwardeen (conference co-chairman; dean, Facultyof Usuluddin, UNISSA) welcomed the audience and spoke of the importanceof religion and peace and how Islam and Muslims have been wronglyportrayed as symbols of terrorism, underdevelopment, and mockery. UstazHj Abdul Aziz Juned (state mufti) opened the event on behalf of SultanHas-sanal Bolkiah and urged participants to spread the truth about Islamworldwide. Keynote speaker Ismail Ibrahim (chariman of Islam Hadhari,National University of Malaysia), analyzed how many westerners considerIslam a religion of violence, war, and suppression due to their misunderstandingof jihad. He also called for mutual understanding among allparties ...

‘Research Comes Before Policy’: The Origins of UPR. A Conversational Interview with Jeremy Reynolds

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of Urban Policy and Research, Margo Huxley talks to Jeremy Reynolds, one of a group of like-minded public servants, policy workers and academics who, in the early 1980s, had an idea for starting a journal. Jeremy came to Australia in the early 1970s from his job with Hackney Borough Council (in the days of the GLC), just as the Whitlam federal Labor government was infamously sacked. He worked for the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, and subsequently through all the permutations of Government Departments with responsibilities for planning and urban and regional policy. He is currently Manager of Demographic Research in the Victorian Government Department of Planning and Community Development. This interview is an edited and much-condensed version of a wide-ranging conversation conducted by phone between Sheffield and Melbourne in September 2007. We chatted about many, many more people and events than can possibly be included here. But even if—regrettably—they haven't been mentioned, everyone who was ever involved in the early days can feel justifiably proud of helping to get this show on the road. Who would have thought it would still be going 25 years later!

Non-Formal Training among Adults in Rural Malaysia

This article discusses the goals and challenges of adult education in Malaysia. In addition, it reports on the evaluation of two programmes – Computer Literacy and Civic Development – offered by a government agency called the Community Development Department (KEMAS) to rural communities. In both programmes, the respondents scored high in cognitive and behaviouristic aspects but average in the affective domain. In terms of the teaching and facilities, the participants were less impressed by the teaching methods, resources and infrastructure of the Computer Literacy Programme. Thus, it is suggested that a comprehensive assessment should be conducted by KEMAS in order to keep up with current demands. Finally, it is recommended that government agencies, the private sector, NGOs and the wider community should work together to support adult learning, especially in rural areas.

Radon awareness in the provincial capital Lahore of Punjab province of Pakistan

In order to assess the degree of radon awareness in the general public in the provincial capital Lahore of Punjab province of Pakistan, a survey was conducted in all nine municipal towns of Lahore city. In this regard, volunteers from three Universities and six Colleges were deputed to collect data from hospitals, educational institutes, business points, markets, residential areas, public offices and private sector organisations. About 400 un-educated and educated persons of various educational background from each municipal town participated in this survey and their responses were recorded on the questionnaire prepared for this purpose. In this way, a total of 3600 persons participated in this survey. Results of this survey imply that on average, only 30.9% participants were scientifically aware of radon. These results suggest that a nationwide mass media campaign may be launched by the Federal Ministry of Environment, Provincial Environment Protection Agency and Community Development Department to educate the general public in this respect at the union council level about hazards of radon to avoid its harmful effects.

Rolling Back the African State: Implications for Social Development in Ghana

AbstractThe New Policy Agenda of the Reagan and Thatcher years has profoundly influenced aid flows from the industrialized countries of North America and Western Europe to the developing nations of sub‐Saharan Africa. The application of neo‐liberal principles to the disbursement of multilateral and bilateral aid for social development has resulted in the diversion of donor funding away from the public sector towards non‐governmental organizations. The consequences of relegating the role of the public sector in social development is explored through qualitative research conducted in Ghana with state‐employed community development workers. The study exposes how severe financial constraint within the state sector distorts the targeting of beneficiaries and social development activity. This differs from findings revealed by interviews with social development workers employed by international non‐governmental organizations. These indicate that such agencies are able to sustain effectively resourced fieldworkers who are in a position to form positive working relationships with beneficiaries. The circumstances of the Department of Community Development and its relationships with non‐governmental agencies in Ghana are used to explore the effects on state‐building of the New Policy Agenda in the sub‐Saharan region.

Agile supply chain transformation matrix: a QFD-based tool for improving enterprise agility

Under today's volatile business environment, companies are reaching the point where they need to be more agile intelligent, fast, flexible, and responsive to changes. Leveraging supplier-buyer relationship to create an agile supply chain is one of the strategies that can help companies make a successful transition to an agile enterprise. Here we introduce a model that can be used to successfully transform a business: the Agile Supply Chain Transformation Matrix (ASCTM), a tool based on the Quality Function Deployment (QFD), and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). More specifically, we have created a tool that can relate the business changes with the appropriate approaches for supply chain configuration and supplier-buyer relationship establishment and determine the business processes and the infrastructures needed to support agility. This tool is built upon the concepts developed through the Agility Programme at Lehigh University in partnership with company project sponsors and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

The meaning of peer harassment in the United States

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. In addition to this book, see Juvonen and Graham (2001 Juvonen, J. and Graham, S. 2001. Peer Harassment in School: The Plight of the Vulnerable and Victimized, New York: Guilford. [Google Scholar]) and Sanders and Phye (2004 Sanders, C. E. and Phye, G. D. 2004. Bullying: Implications for the Classroom, San Diego, CA: Elsevier. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 2. For example, based on information provided by their respective school districts for the 2002–2003 school year, the Hartford, Connecticut (53% Latino, 40% African American, 6% White, 1% Asian), Denver, CO (57% Latino, 20% White, 19% African American, 3% Asian, 1% Native American), and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (37% African American, 30% White, 25% Latino, 5% Native American, and 3% Asian) school districts no longer have White‐majority student populations. 3. Topeka, Kansas (54% White, 22% African American, 13% Asian, 9% Latino, 2% Native American); and Anchorage, Alaska (59% White, 13% Alaskan Native, 11% Asian, 8% African American, 6% Latino, 3% Multi‐racial). Additional informationNotes on contributorsAdrienne NishinaThe book reviewed here is D. L. Espelage and S. M. Swearer (eds), Bullying in American Schools: A Social‐Ecological Perspective on Prevention and Intervention (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004), xxi + 385 pp., US$99.95 (hbk), ISBN 0‐8058‐4559‐3, US$45.00 (pbk), ISBN 0‐8058‐4560‐7. Adrienne Nishina is a clinical psychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Human and Community Development at the University of California, Davis, Davis CA 95616, USA; anishina@ucdavis.edu Her research interests include the psychosocial, physical, and academic correlates of peer victimization; policy and practice related to school mental health; and ethnic diversity and cultural contexts in schools.Amy D. BellmoreAmy Bellmore is an APA/IES Postdoctoral Education Research Training Fellow in the Department of Education at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research interests include the academic and psychological consequences of peer victimization and aggression; the significance of ethnicity and ethnic contexts for social development during adolescence; and the development of inter‐personal perception within peer relationships.

Students “at Risk”: Dilemmas of Collaboration

Students “at Risk”: Dilemmas of Collaboration

The Communication Glue that Binds Employees to an Organization: A Study of Organizational Identification in Two Thai Organizations

Organizational communication scholars have paid scant attention to the motivations of people who choose careers in social service organizations. This study examined organizational identification in the context of two Thai social service organizations: government-run Community Development Department (CDD) and non-governmental Population and Community Development Association (PDA). The degree to which CDD members identified with CDD and PDA members identified with PDA was assessed by using the Organizational Identification Questionnaire constructed by George Cheney (1982). Comparison of CDD and PDA scores on Cheney's OIQ provided findings that mirror those of previous studies of organizational identification. Specifically, the level of organizational identification among employees who work for the non-governmental privately-run social-cause organization (PDA) was significantly higher than for employees who work for the government organization (CDD). Thus, the non-governmental organization appears to be more effective than the government organization in fostering employee identification. Interestingly, a factor analysis of Thai responses to the Cheney instrument revealed three dimensions that were different from the three dimensions theorized by Cheney (1982). While Cheney's conceptualization of identification included employees sense of membership, similarity, and loyalty to their organization, the Thai dimensions reflected life values (‘pride in membership’), social values (‘fit with organization’), and personal values (‘comfort zone’). These findings hold important implications for communication scholars who study employee motivation in non-Western organizational contexts.

Paso Robles South Downtown Urban Design Concept

In the Spring 2004, this second-year BCRP studio class embraced a community outreach project as a response to a request from the Community Development Department of Paso Robles, California. Damaged by the San Simeon 2003 earthquake, the city wanted the class to develop an urban design scenario for the revitalization of an important area of its historic downtown.

Heritage Protection: Seeking a Middle GroundWho Owns Native Culture? By Michael F. Brown. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. 315 pp.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBooksHeritage Protection: Seeking a Middle Ground Who Owns Native Culture? By Michael F. Brown. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. 315 pp.Stephen B. BrushStephen B. BrushDepartment of Human and Community Development, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, U.S.A. ([email protected]). 5 vi 04 Search for more articles by this author Department of Human and Community Development, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, U.S.A. ([email protected]). 5 vi 04PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 45, Number 5December 2004 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/425639 Views: 45Total views on this site Citations: 1Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Joe Watkins THROUGH WARY EYES: Indigenous Perspectives on Archaeology, Annual Review of Anthropology 34, no.11 (Oct 2005): 429–449.https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.34.081804.120540

Journeys from childhood to midlife: risk, resilience, and recovery.

The latest report from the Kauai Longitudinal Study addresses 2 fundamental questions of interest to pediatricians and health care professionals: 1) What are the long-term effects of adverse perinatal and early child-rearing conditions on individuals’ physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development at midlife? 2) Which protective factors allow most individuals who are exposed to multiple childhood risk factors to make a successful adaptation in adulthood?1 The Kauai Longitudinal Study has monitored the impact of a wide array of biological, psychological, and social risk factors on the lives of a multiracial cohort of 698 individuals who were born in 1955 on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, from the perinatal … Reprint requests to (E.E.W.) Department of Human and Community Development, University of California, Davis, CA 95616. E-mail: eewerner{at}ucdavis.edu

South County Government Area in Arroyo Grande - Concept Plan

This quarter long class project was developed in the Project Planning Lab (CRP-553) with instructor Vicente del Rio, during the spring quarter 2003, in collaboration with the City of Arroyo Grande’s Community Development Department. The project was the recipient of the 2003 Academic Award from the California Chapter of the American Planners Association - Central Coast Section.

Journeys from childhood to midlife: risk, resilience, and recovery

The latest report from the Kauai Longitudinal Study addresses 2 fundamental questions of interest to pediatricians and health care professionals: 1) What are the long-term effects of adverse perinatal and early child-rearing conditions on individuals’ physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development at midlife? 2) Which protective factors allow most individuals who are exposed to multiple childhood risk factors to make a successful adaptation in adulthood?1 The Kauai Longitudinal Study has monitored the impact of a wide array of biological, psychological, and social risk factors on the lives of a multiracial cohort of 698 individuals who were born in 1955 on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, from the perinatal … Reprint requests to (E.E.W.) Department of Human and Community Development, University of California, Davis, CA 95616. E-mail: eewerner{at}ucdavis.edu

Home Remediation for Respiratory Health: A Feasibility Study

This study examined the feasibility of conducting home remediation interventions that would lower allergen levels among low-income, inner city households in Birmingham, Alabama. The primary objectives were to use established neighborhood infrastructure to identify households for remediation, and to conduct inspection and remediation activities to potentially prevent or control asthma symptoms related to indoor air environmental contaminants. This study was undertaken in conjunction with the Department of Community Development (DCD) of Birmingham, Alabama. The intervention was successful, although many tasks would be performed differently and with different emphases in the future. Dust mite allergen levels were clearly lowered with impermeable mattress covers and by replacing carpets with nonporous floor coverings. Findings from this study should provide baseline information and improve the chances for success in future studies.