Book Review: Clean and White: A History of Environmental Racism in the United States

Zimring, C.arl A. (2016). Clean and White: A History of Environmental Racism in the United States. New York, New York: NYU Press. 275 pages, $35

Northern peripheries

Guest editors' introductio

Ready4Work In Brief: Update on Outcomes; Reentry May Be Critical for States, Cities

This issue of P/PV In Brief provides updated data from the Ready4Work prisoner reentry initiative, with a focus on the prison crisis occurring in many cities and states. While much more research is needed to understand the true, long-term impact of prisoner reentry initiatives, outcomes from Ready4Work were extremely promising in terms of education, employment and program retention, with recidivism rates among Ready4Work participants 34 to 50 percent below the national average.Funded by the US Department of Labor and the Annie E. Casey and Ford foundations, Ready4Work was a three-year national demonstration project designed to address the needs of the growing ex-prisoner population and to test the capacity of community- and faith-based organizations to meet those needs. Ready4Work programs provided employment services, case management and mentoring in 11 adult sites around the country (data from seven juvenile sites are being analyzed separately)

Reaching Through the Cracks: A Guide to Implementing the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership

In 1999, the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership (YVRP) was launched by a group of key stakeholders in Philadelphia -- including the district attorney's office, adult and juvenile parole, other city agencies and community organizations. Its goal is to steer young people, ages 14 to 24 and at greatest risk of killing or being killed, away from violence and toward productive lives. To accomplish this, YVRP provides participants with a combination of strict supervision and ongoing support. Each participant is assigned to a team that includes a probation officer and a community streetworker, who maintain intensive contact with the young person to make sure that he (and less often she) not only stays out of trouble but starts on a path toward responsible adulthood.Reaching Through the Cracks draws upon lessons learned from seven years of experience in Philadelphia to describe how cities and other jurisdictions can plan and carry out an initiative like YVRP. It includes an overview of the key elements of YVRP; steps in planning the initiative; roles and training of staff who work with the participants and details about the supervision and support these staff provide; essential practices for maintaining and strengthening YVRP; and an exploration of the costs and other issues involved in making decisions about expanding the initiative

Mustering the Armies of Compassion in Philadelphia

The role of faith-based organizations in meeting the most pressing needs in America's poorest neighborhoods has been the subject of national debate over the past several years. However, few reports have carefully examined these organizations' performance. Mustering the Armies of Compassion in Philadelphia takes a detailed look at a group of faith-based organizations running a literacy program, Youth Education for Tomorrow (YET). Mustering examines the programs' start-up, relatively consistent classroom results, and their many reactions to partnership with a secular organization. Ultimately, the YET Center program shows that with a clear model and sufficient support and oversight, a large and diverse group of independent faith-based organizations can collectively provide a demonstrably effective service

Distributed earth model/orbiter simulation

Distributed Earth Model/Orbiter Simulation (DEMOS) is a network based application developed for the UNIX environment that visually monitors or simulates the Earth and any number of orbiting vehicles. Its purpose is to provide Mission Control Center (MCC) flight controllers with a visually accurate three dimensional (3D) model of the Earth, Sun, Moon and orbiters, driven by real time or simulated data. The project incorporates a graphical user interface, 3D modelling employing state-of-the art hardware, and simulation of orbital mechanics in a networked/distributed environment. The user interface is based on the X Window System and the X Ray toolbox. The 3D modelling utilizes the Programmer's Hierarchical Interactive Graphics System (PHIGS) standard and Raster Technologies hardware for rendering/display performance. The simulation of orbiting vehicles uses two methods of vector propagation implemented with standard UNIX/C for portability. Each part is a distinct process that can run on separate nodes of a network, exploiting each node's unique hardware capabilities. The client/server communication architecture of the application can be reused for a variety of distributed applications