Book Review: Soul Care: Christian Faith and Academic Administration

Soul care: Christian faith and academic administration. Edited by Heie, H. and Sargent, M. (2012). Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press. As the editors of this book state in the introduction, little has been written about how to provide effective academic leadership to a Christian institution of higher education. This collection of essays was written for an audience of academic administrators under the assumption that most individuals who find themselves in such a role have very little formal preparation for their responsibilities. Furthermore, academic leaders in Christian higher education in particular generally come into such positions with a great deal of experience in their respective fields, but with very little theological preparation needed to make day to day decisions in a faith-based environment. The 16 essays in this 17-chapter book are written by practitioners in the field of academic administration in Christian higher education and are designed to offer new and prospective academic administrators insight into the highly complex and nuanced field of academic leadership set within a Christian context

Supporting Teen Parents and Their Children

Abstract The purpose of this action research project was to explore pregnant and parenting teens. The focus is a skill building foundation to help teen mothers and fathers develop self-sufficiency to enable them to become successful and engaging parents. The study includes relative research related to teen pregnancy, the role teen parent programs serving pregnant women and their children under the age of three, personal experiences, case studies, and interviews to support a better understanding of teen pregnancy and parenting. Research shows the positive impact of teenage parents and pregnant women enrolled in an Early Head Start program. By reflecting on personal experiences with each of the participants in an Early Head Start Program and applying current research, program processes, outcomes, and areas for improvement were explored

Embracing a Deweyan Approach to Punishment

Kant’s retributive theory of punishment, resting on the notion of desert, i.e., deserved reward or punishment, assumes responsibility of the moral agent. On the contrary, a Deweyan approach to punishment does not assume responsibility, but rather, aims to cultivate it. These two different approaches ground two very different theories of punishment. In this essay, I compare these two divergent approaches, emphasizing their conflicting notions of what it means to treat criminals as moral agents. Ultimately, I demonstrate that moral responsibility is not to be assumed, but rather, is something to be cultivated. The point of punishment should not be to punish merely because one deserves to be punished, for upon investigation, the notion of desert proves fruitless. The point of punishment should be to morally cultivate

Advancing Culturally Responsive Evaluations for Boys and Men of Color

The field of culturally responsive evaluations (CRE) and comprehensive efforts to improve outcomes for boys and men of color (BMOC) are in their infancy. Yet attention to the development of the knowledge base and expansion of practice is needed due to the groundswell of interest in both areas in recent years. For instance, in 2014, President Obama established the My Brother's Keeper (MBK) Task Force. MBK is a coordinated federal effort with private philanthropic organizations and communities to address persistent opportunity gaps faced by BMOC and to ensure that all young people can reach their full potential. While BMOCs are the targets of many social programs and interventions, a dearth of high-quality culturally responsive evaluations exist on the effectiveness of various gender- and population-specific approaches for BMOCs to achieve measurable results

Mental Health Counseling: A Phenomenological Study of Afro-Caribbean Christian\u27s Help-seeking Tendencies

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the help-seeking tendencies of Afro-Caribbean Christians. The use of social support systems and the impact of generational status on asking for and seeking help is the central phenomenon of the study. Study participants include 10 members selected from a Philadelphia church. The theory guiding this study is social support as it explains the relationship between social support and the use of professional mental health services. Study participants were interviewed using a semistructured interview process, transcribed interviews were analyzed in NVivo a qualitative data analysis software used for data management and analysis. Through NVivo themes and common concepts are developed from the interviews as well as addressing the central research questions

Strengthening Cultural Competency in California's Domestic Violence Field for High-Need, Underserved Populations

In 2012, The Blue Shield of California Foundation (BSCF)'s program area Blue Shield Against Violence (BSAV) launched a project called "Strengthening Cultural Competency in California's Domestic Violence Field for High-Need, Underserved Populations" (BSAV CC) to support and promote promising culturally competent practices within the domestic violence field. BSCF enlisted RDP Consulting (RDP) to manage the $2.6 million initiative and to provide capacitybuilding services, and provided two-year grants to 17 community partners across the state of California. The BSAV CC Project specifically sought to support domestic violence-related outreach to Tribal communities, African Americans, and recent immigrant populations.Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) received a grant from BSCF to support the learning and evaluation of this project. Over the two years of the evaluation, SPR conducted 78 phone interviews with community partners, RDP consultants, project-level evaluators, and field leaders. SPR also conducted one-day visits to 11 programs—visits that included interviews with executive directors, board members, outreach staff, key program partners, and clients. Finally, SPR attended project convenings and events, reviewed project documentation (e.g., proposals, reports), and administered two rounds of a social networking survey to all community partners. This Final Report highlights the outcomes of the two-year evaluation, at both the organizational and field levels