Learning Together in Highland Park to Build Civic Capacity

This thesis examines the work of nonprofit organizations collaborating with communities to build civic capacity in North Highland Park, a neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia. Place-focused planning strategies during the twentieth century diminished civic capacity in the community and fostered isolation. Today, collaborative community work in Highland Park is incorporating the assets, resources and knowledge held in the community into strategies to improve quality of life using collaborative learning. A case study approach closely analyzes community engagement and revitalization processes in North Highland Park between 2011 and 2017. Nonprofit organizations mobilized and led a group of community-based collaborators, including nonprofit staff members, government officials, nonprofit funders, and residents. In Highland Park, nonprofit organizations collaborate with communities, emphasizing shared ownership and collaborative learning, to build civic capacity in the community

My Community, Their Community Our Community: Musings on Development

This reflection explores the collision of anthropology and civic engagement, a combination that has come to define my senior research. My fieldwork at educational NGOs in Northern Richmond and Northern Ghana caused me to question the local relevancy of NGO management strategies. How can white, middle class teachers appropriately improve educational outcomes for low-income black students in Richmond? Is compulsory education appropriate training for Ghanaian farmers? Academic theories criticize “development” for furthering power against the oppressed, while the qualitative work of NGOs is quantified to fit the needs of grant writers. I find policy can never prescribe perfectly. In order for the management plans of educational NGOs to reflect local community perspective, teachers must self-identify as part of the community. My work as an ethnographer has caused me to reprioritize my identity as a citizen

Case Study: NGO Staff Implement Educational Goals in Northside Richmond

The Richmond non-profit organization, Kid\u27s House, complements imperfect educational models with creative and flexible community-based programs. In Northern Richmond, children living in oppressed communities have diminished educational opportunities and outcomes. I use the term oppressed to describe these communities because it highlights various political, social, and economic power that has historically been exerted in the process of creating poverty. An NGO\u27s staff is effective in reaching poor students and parents when they are attuned to local social processes. Kid\u27s House teachers negotiate an uneasy existence as mediators between the spheres of structural bureaucracy and local poverty. This ethnographic study culminated in a senior thesis project. The author spent one summer completing participant observation, and three years mentoring and teaching weekly at Kid\u27s House. While Kid\u27s House continually works to develop legitimacy in Northside, its daily implementation of program goals shows an interest in fostering sustainable solutions to urban poverty

The Broadway Girl

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/4582/thumbnail.jp

Bedford Springs Resort: A Political and Social Annex of Antebellum America: 1840-1860

Antebellum America has been described as a period of turbulence for the nation as the North and the South grew farther apart through sectionalism. While voters relied upon the increasing partisan press to inform them of debates in Washington and the often-deliberate decision to forgo the ultimate decision on slavery, in private politicians forged friendships through social events such as parties and dinners. When the Congressional session ended in early summer, politicians often accompanied by their families would travel north to Saratoga Springs or west to the much cooler climates of the mountain resorts: Bedford Springs, White Sulphur Springs, Warm Water Springs, or Berkeley Springs. Over the course of three to four weeks or the whole season, politicians would relax and enjoy the camaraderie of the company which included members of both the Northern and Southern elite. At Bedford Springs particularly, the resort provided the environment necessary for politicians of all parties to interact with members of the Northern and Southern gentry. Through their conversations and often annual meetings, local, state, and national politics were discussed and planned. As a result, the resort became synonymous with political patronage, especially that of James Buchanan. With a documented forty visits, the Pennsylvanian statesman made the resort his summer White House in 1857-1860, propelling Bedford Springs to the height of her popularity. Much like a spiderweb, the summers spent at Bedford Springs and its competitors not only strengthened the ties between members of the Northern and Southern elite but politicians as well. In contrast to the reporting of the partisan press, the discussions held at Bedford Springs between representatives of all parties were peaceful and productive, built on decades of friendship ignoring sectionalist differences

Emerging role of the KCNT1 Slack channel in intellectual disability

The sodium-activated potassium KNa channels Slack and Slick are encoded by KCNT1 and KCNT2, respectively. These channels are found in neurons throughout the brain, and are responsible for a delayed outward current termed IKNa. These currents integrate into shaping neuronal excitability, as well as adaptation in response to maintained stimulation. Abnormal Slack channel activity may play a role in Fragile X syndrome, the most common cause for intellectual disability and inherited autism. Slack channels interact directly with the Fragile X Mental Retardation protein (FMRP) and IKNa is reduced in animal models of Fragile X syndrome that lack FMRP. Human Slack mutations that alter channel activity can also lead to intellectual disability, as has been found for several childhood epileptic disorders. Ongoing research is elucidating the relationship between mutant Slack channel activity, development of early onset epilepsies and intellectual impairment. This review describes the emerging role of Slack channels in intellectual disability, coupled with an overview of the physiological role of neuronal IKNa currents