A Community Schools Approach to Accessing Services and Improving Neighborhood Outcomes in Manchester, NH

This brief uses data collected by the Manchester Health Department in 2013 and analyzed by the Carsey School of Public Policy in the Bakersville, Beech Street, and Gossler Park neighborhoods in Manchester, New Hampshire, to provide information about how barriers to various dimensions of well-being differ by place and also across race/ethnicity, foreign-born status, and age. Survey data and focus groups also gave residents a voice in the implementation of the Manchester Community Schools Project—a partnership between the Manchester Health Department, city elementary schools, philanthropists, neighborhood residents, and several nonprofit agencies—to improve and enhance educational achievement, economic well-being, access to health care services, healthy behaviors, social connectedness, safety, and living environments. A key element of this project is to make elementary schools in the Bakersville, Beech Street, and Gossler Park neighborhoods centerpieces of community life for all residents, not just those with children. Author Justin Young reports that one-quarter of residents surveyed in 2013 in the Manchester neighborhoods of Bakersville, Beech Street, and Gossler Park say that difficulty in finding services is a major hindrance, especially to economic stability, health, and social connectedness. Focus group data suggest that the city’s foreign-born residents, especially Hispanics, have the most trouble finding and accessing services. Cost is an obstacle to accessing health care services, and older and younger focus group participants, as well as immigrants, say the cost of transportation is a barrier to accessing services. He concludes that the neighborhood in which one lives shapes a variety of outcomes related to well-being, and that a place-based approach like the community schools model can improve outcomes not only for residents of the Bakersville, Beech Street, and Gossler Park areas but for all Manchester residents

It takes a community: civic life and community involvement among Coös County youth

This brief explores the extent to which Coös County youth are involved in a variety of civic-related activities, with particular attention to the demographic and attitudinal factors associated with such participation. Author Justin Young reports that approximately 75 percent of Coös County youth report involvement in at least one type of civic-related activity. The types of activities varied by year in school. Eighth grad¬ers were more involved in 4-H, Scouts, church groups, and community center events, while twelfth graders volunteered more often and participated in community-service clubs. Forty percent of youth volunteered within the past year, and a third are part of a community service club. He concludes that engaging youth in local civic activities is an important part of integrating them into the community and providing them with a set of civic skills they can draw on in adulthood

Underemployment in urban and rural America, 2005-2012

Author Justin Young reports that underemployment (or involuntary part-time work) rates doubled during the second year of the recession, reaching roughly 6.5 percent in 2009. This increase was equally steep in both rural and urban places. By March of 2012, underemployment was slightly lower in rural places (4.8 percent) compared to urban places (5.3 percent). Prior to the recession, however, underemployment was slightly higher in rural America. Workers under age 30, as well as women, black, and Hispanic workers, continue to experience higher levels of underemployment. Underemployment is strongly linked with education, with the least educated workers experiencing higher rates of underemployment compared to more highly educated workers. This relationship is somewhat weaker in rural places

Social Connections, Safety, and Local Environment in Three Manchester, New Hampshire, Neighborhoods Survey of Residents’ Perceptions

This fact sheet uses data from a survey of Bakersville, Beech Street, and Gossler Park residents in Manchester, New Hampshire, to draw attention to the current state of connectedness, trust, and perceptions of the local environment in these three neighborhoods. Author Justin Young finds that residents of these neighborhoods report that they generally feel safe during the day, that they are comfortable reporting crimes to the police, and that they are hopeful that if a child was hurt or scared, there would be a trustworthy adult nearby to help. Only about half of respondents in these neighborhoods felt there was anything they could do to prevent crime. A majority in all neighborhoods feel that residents help each other out, especially in the Bakersville neighborhood

Continuity and change in Coos County: results from the 2010 North Country CERA survey

This brief from Chris Colocousis and Justin Young uses the most recent North Country CERA survey to focus on change and continuity in Coos County between 2007 and 2010, and then makes comparisons of the present conditions across the three study counties. The authors examine such topics as community problems, environmental and economic concerns, and community cohesion and confidence in the local government. They report that Coos County residents remain highly concerned about the lack of economic opportunities in the region, and their concern about population decline has increased in recent years. Coos residents see the economic future of their communities primarily tied to both recreation and traditional forest-based industries, though they have become somewhat more polarized with respect to levels of support for economic development versus environmental protection. The authors conclude that challenges stemming from the economic restructuring of the past decade have been deepened by the most recent recession, and issues of limited economic opportunities, financial hardship, and population decline have become more pronounced. As the North Country moves into the future, one of its primary challenges will be working out a balance between what can sometimes be conflicting demands on the region’s substantial natural resources

A Community Schools Approach to Accessing Services and Improving Neighborhood Outcomes in Manchester, New Hampshire

In the several years since the Great Recession, New Hampshire, like the nation, has witnessed and experienced growing economic disadvantage. The state's poverty level stands at 8.4 percent, and child poverty increased from about 8 percent in 2000 to nearly 10 percent in 2012. Some areas of the state have been hit harder than others. In the state's largest city of Manchester, for instance, the poverty rate rose from 10 percent in 2000 to 14 percent in 2012, and within Manchester some neighborhoods have become poorer than others (Figures 1 and 2). Increases in poverty and educational disadvantage are steepest among minorities and immigrants, the city's fastest-growing demographic groups.The vulnerabilities to which people are exposed as a result of poverty can have devastating consequences. Children living in poverty are less likely to graduate from high school, and they have worse educational outcomes overall; one study found that living in a high-poverty neighborhood is equivalent to missing a year of school.4 Poverty-afflicted children are also more likely to live in poverty as adults. In an era when a state's economic health depends more than ever on the physical health and educational capital of its residents, stakeholders across New Hampshire have a vested interest in alleviating the growing poverty in Manchester and the wide disparities between Manchester and the rest of the state.To engage in this challenge, the Manchester Neighborhood Health Improvement Strategy Leadership Team launched the Manchester Community Schools Project (MCSP)—a partnership between the Manchester Health Department, city elementary schools, philanthropists, neighborhood residents, and several nonprofit agencies—to improve and enhance educational achievement, economic well-being, access to health care services, healthy behaviors, social connectedness, safety, and living environments.

First-Year Composition and the Common Core: Educating Teachers of Writing Across the High School-College Continuum

This article will discuss the implications of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) on the education of writing instructors at the college level. The article suggests that, with the adoption of the CCSS, the most effective models of the training of writing teachers in higher education will now include collaboration with educators at the K-12 level. A model for this kind of collaborative work is described, based on an effort the author is currently leading as the Director of English Composition at my institution. A brief overview of the CCSS, and the shifts in the teaching and learning of English Language Arts at the K-12 level they suggest, is provided. The article then discusses how this collaborative model of K-16 teacher education can help us understand the strengths and weaknesses of beginning college writers, from the perspectives of both high school and college teachers, and how this understanding should then inform the instruction of first-year composition teachers. Finally, the article will suggest that it is essential that the education of secondary and post-secondary writing teachers is grounded in current theories and practices of the field of composition and rhetoric, and more specifically, the paradigm of academic literacies as developed by Mary Lea and Brian Street

Social Connections, Safety, and Local Environment in Three Manchester, New Hampshire, Neighborhoods

As part of its Neighborhood Health Improvement Strategy, the Manchester Health Department is implementing the Manchester Community Schools Project (MCSP) in the Bakersville, Beech Street, and Gossler Park neighborhoods. The community-school model recognizes that schools are vital neighborhood institutions for all residents. This collaborative effort will strengthen links between local government, schools, nonprofit service agencies, and residents. The holistic approach intends to improve a variety of outcomes using numerous strategies. In particular, the Health Department and its partners seek to improve outcomes related to: educational achievement, economic wellbeing, access to health services, health-related behaviors, supportive living environments, and social connectedness/safety. Elementary schools in Bakersville, Beech Street, and Gossler Park will play a key role by providing after-school programming and serving as sites where residents can find information about programs and services through care coordinators. Schools might also host events like block parties and neighborhood watch groups, thereby better connecting residents to one another. This fact sheet uses data from a survey of Bakersville, Beech Street, and Gossler Park residents to draw attention to the current state of connectedness, trust, and perceptions of the local environment in these three neighborhoods. This survey is a mechanism for residents to provide input; data also set benchmarks to measure the MCSP's success when residents are surveyed after the project's implementation