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Date: November 25, 2024 Mon
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Results for urban neighborhoods
6 results foundAuthor: Windsor, Liliane Cambraia Title: Substance Use and Treatment in Newark: Voices from African-American Distressed Communities Summary: Community distress and substance abuse are often conjoined social problems. An exemplar where this exists is Newark, a large city located in Essex County, New Jersey. The average annual income in Newark is $13,009; 42% of residents 24 and older do not complete high school; and 54% are African-American. Newark’s African-American residents consistently show poorer health and socio-economic outcomes when compared to the neighboring areas. Newark has the highest prevalence rates for substance use and HIV/AIDS in the State of New Jersey. Heroin represents the most significant narcotic problem in Newark and accounts for more admissions to treatment centers than all other substances combined. The Newark Eligible Metropolitan Areas HIV Planning Council in a 2005 survey of 221 substance abusers reported that as many as 44% of the sample was HIV positive. African-Americans represent 78% of persons living with HIV/AIDS in Newark. Young adults abuse heroin at a rate twice as high as the national average, and heroin accounts for 90% of substance abuse intervention admissions. Unlike New York State, syringe exchange programs are scarce, underfunded, and stigmatized in New Jersey, creating significant barriers to clean syringes without a prescription. Such barriers have significant implications for HIV and Hepatitis infection risks. In fact, HIV and Hepatitis infection rates among injection drug users (IDU) are substantially greater in Newark than in New York City. In light of the harmful and disproportionate consequences of substance abuse in Newark’s distressed neighborhoods, it is important to understand community views regarding substance use and treatment when developing policies and culturally-tailored interventions to reduce substance use and HIV risk behaviors. The current study, supported by the Center on Behavioral Health Science & Criminal Justice Research, proposed to engage individuals from low-income African-American communities in Newark (from here on “Newark” refers to Newark’s distressed neighborhoods) to develop a framework that can inform the development and/or adaptation of substance abuse treatment and HIV prevention programs in ways that are culturally relevant for low-income African-Americans. In this study distress means high poverty levels, low educational attainment, large numbers of liquor stores in the neighborhood, presence of a significant street drug market, high drug related violence, and presence of dilapidated buildings. The study aimed to: (1) examine the role of alcohol and other drug use among Newark’s distressed neighborhoods and (2) identify these communities’ needs related to alcohol and drug treatment. Details: New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Behavioral Health Services & Criminal Justice Research, Rutgers University, 2010. 4p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Brief: Accessed October 5, 2011 at: http://cbhs.rutgers.edu/pdfs/Policy_Brief_Sept_2010.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://cbhs.rutgers.edu/pdfs/Policy_Brief_Sept_2010.pdf Shelf Number: 122989 Keywords: African AmericansDrug Addiction and AbuseDrug TreatmentSocio-Economic ConditionsSubstance Use and Abuse (New Jersey)Urban Neighborhoods |
Author: Seekings, Jeremy Title: Socio-Economic Conditions, Young Men and Violence in Cape Town Summary: People in violent neighbourhoods attribute violence in public spaces to, especially, poverty and unemployment, but agree that social disintegration, disrespect, drinking and drugs and the weaknesses of the criminal justice system also contribute substantially. However, data from a panel of young men in Cape Town provide little support for the hypothesis that unemployment and poverty are direct causes of violence against strangers. Growing up in a home where someone drank heavily or took drugs is, however, a strong predictor of violence against strangers in early adulthood. A history of drinking (or taking drugs) correlates with perpetration of violence, and might also serve as a mechanism through which conditions during childhood have indirect effects. Living in a bad neighbourhood and immediate poverty are associated with violence against strangers, but being unemployed is not. Overall, heavy drinking – whether by adults in the childhood home or by young men themselves – seems to be a more important predictor of violence than economic circumstances in childhood or the recent past. Heavy drinking seems to play an important part in explaining why some young men have been more violent than others in circumstances that seem to have been generally conducive to rising violence, for reasons that remain unclear. It seems likely that few young people in South Africa in the early 2000s come from backgrounds that strongly predispose them against the use of violence. Details: Brighton, UK: MICROCON, University of Sussex, 2011. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: MICROCON Research Working Paper 49: Accessed December 4, 2012 at: http://www.microconflict.eu/publications/RWP49_JS_KT.pdf Year: 2011 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.microconflict.eu/publications/RWP49_JS_KT.pdf Shelf Number: 127121 Keywords: Alcohol AbusePovertySocio-Economic Conditions and CrimeUnemployment and CrimeUrban NeighborhoodsViolent Crime (Cape Town, South Africa)Youth Violence |
Author: Gordon, Rachel Title: Urban Resilience in Situations of Chronic Violence Case Study of Managua, Nicaragua Summary: This report explores the ways in which citizens of Managua cope with and adapt to dynamic security conditions in their daily lives as well as the interactions among institutions, actors and spaces that enable and constrain strategies of resilience. Despite the Nicaraguan government’s oft-touted assertion that it is the safest country in Central America, relatively little empirical research exists to shed light on residents’ quotidian experiences of insecurity or senses of agency regarding conditions of violence in their immediate surroundings. How are experiences and perceptions of insecurity shaped by the spatial and social configurations of urban life? How are they mediated by state institutions and non-state actors? What strategies enable resilience? Underlying this case study is the observation—herein regarded as sufficiently accurate—that Managua has thus far avoided the dire urban security challenges facing many of its neighbors, particularly those to the north: Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. It does, however, face the same mounting security difficulties as all of its neighbors in the region: a spiraling struggle against corruption, narco-trafficking and other organized crime, a dearth of economic opportunities, and the legacies of intra-state conflicts. While the legacy of civil war is an oft-cited factor underlying chronic violence, the correlation may be a spurious one. In fact, a central argument of this study is that the multi-layered legacy of the 1979 Sandinista revolution is not anathema to, but is the basis of, citizen resilience to current, entwined economic and security challenges. Such resilience is manifest in localized spatial and social loyalties that contribute to strong neighborhood identities, at the expense of a single broad urban identity. Resilience is defined here as residents’ ability to absorb, cope with, and adapt to the realities of insecurity and violence such that their lives are not consistently disrupted by it. The main focus of this study is on how social and spatial factors interact to determine resilience: how and why a strong neighborhood identity – itself a fusion of social and spatial characteristics – is central to citizens’ ability to cope and adapt in various ways. It is noted that all resilience strategies are not necessarily “positive.” The actions people take to enable the survival and security of themselves and their families in the face of an array of daily threats are what those individuals see as necessary; that does not make them necessarily positive in the long run. Instead, they must be understood to spring from inevitably imperfect sets of options under invariably constrained circumstances. In a hypothetical final accounting, they might prove to be at least as detrimental to security conditions as they are beneficial. Resilience, however, like history, has no such end point toward which human beings, communities and governments can plan. Instead, they must constantly confront multiple stressors and constraints utilizing various dynamic options and strategies. It is also noted that research inevitably offers only snapshot, a momentary freezing of the frame outside of which these various processes continue their constant cycles. While there exists a great volume of political and philosophical polemics on Nicaragua’s historical and modern development, relatively few scholars—in either Spanish or English—have reliably documented current chronic security challenges. The lack of reliable crime statistics and the confusing and inconsistent manner in which crimes are categorized place significant limitations on this and other analyses. In addition, the dearth of specific and non-politicized data and analysis regarding broad physical and livelihoods security factors—including infrastructure, social services, economic activity and opportunities, and vulnerability to hazards and shocks—makes Managua ripe but particularly challenging for analysis. It is explicitly assumed that ideology always shapes discourse, and that all analysis is inherently subjective. That said, the role of ideology in shaping discourse both within and related to Nicaragua is particularly outsized. This study attempts depoliticized analysis to the greatest extent possible, recognizing that such an extent may not be very great given the politicized nature of nearly all discourse in and related to Nicaragua today and throughout the past several decades. This study takes five parts. First, it locates Managua within its national and regional context, describing the physical and social development of the city itself and mapping key socio-historical events onto the geo-spatial layout of the city. Second, it describes current data and perceptions of violence, primary security actors, and the nature of state intervention. This section introduces the role of the National Police force, itself deeply rooted in the 1979 revolution, as a key mediator of security and resilience. Third, it explores spatial and social aspects of resilience, focusing on strong neighborhood identity—a legacy of geological and political upheaval—as a primary source of resilience. This section discusses the reaches and limitations of overt state intervention, as well as the implications of politicized organizing in diverse neighborhood contexts. Fourth, it examines enabling and constraining factors of resilience in greater depth, including poverty and inequality, narco-trafficking, the “youth bulge,” and the gendered dimensions of violence. This section posits a distinction between “public” and “private” spheres of violence by which some types of violence are deemed socially problematic while others—namely, “domestic” violence against women and children—are treated as ordinary and commonplace. Fifth and finally, it offers a brief analysis of the sustainability of resilience in the Managua context. Details: Cambridge, MA: Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012. 61p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 7, 2012 at: http://www.urcvproject.org/uploads/Managua_URCV.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Nicaragua URL: http://www.urcvproject.org/uploads/Managua_URCV.pdf Shelf Number: 127138 Keywords: Urban AreasUrban NeighborhoodsUrban ViolenceViolenceViolent Crime (Managua, Nicaragua) |
Author: Barnsley, Ken Title: Report to Salford SRB 5 Executive. Integrating and Sustaining Communities Salford's SRB 5 Final Programme Evaluation Summary: This document presents Quaternion's evaluation of the Salford SRB Round 5 Programme, Integrating and Sustaining Communities. The overall purpose of the evaluation was to look at the initial conditions of the area, covering the issues the programme set out to tackle; the schemes, objectives and strategy; an analysis of the outputs and outcomes of the programme; the process of regeneration and neighbourhood renewal; the overall achievements of the scheme and the main lessons learned that can be taken forward for future regeneration in Salford. The programme aimed to target Seedley and Langworthy and to address economic and social needs across Salford. At the time of the bid Seedley and Langworthy was a small residential area with a concentration of 3000 or so terraced houses, with significant problems of decline in the housing market, high levels of unemployment, high crime and anti-social behaviour. Other parts of inner city Salford experience similar issues in terms of high levels of unemployment, poor educational attainment and high levels of social exclusion and poverty; these areas being targets for the Social Inclusion programme. In addition to these issues there was a need to provide support to local businesses and ensure that people from deprived communities were able to benefit from job opportunities in Salford and the surrounding labour market; issues that were tackled through the Economic Development Programme. The programme had five strategic objectives and achieved most of the significant outcomes it aimed for in 1999: - Reducing unemployment and increasing business growth, improving educational attainment as the contribution to SO1: Enhancing Employment Education and Skills - There was a reduction in poverty across the City and positive impacts on communities experiencing exclusion as the contribution to SO2 Tackling Social Exclusion - The programme set about and achieved the start of sustainable regeneration in Seedley and Langworthy, introduced new methods of managing the housing stock and innovative approaches to improving the environment for SO3: Sustainable physical regeneration - It assisted in the stabilisation of the housing market in Seedley and Langworthy and helped businesses to grow and invest as part of SO4: Economic Growth - It increased the confidence to report crime and reduced both crime and the fear of crime as its contribution to SO5: Improving Community Safety In addition to making progress towards the outcomes, the programme more than achieved in terms of target outputs: with more than twice as many jobs created as set out in the bid; many more community and voluntary organisations supported; almost 250 new businesses established and thriving and many more people than anticipated benefiting from community safety initiatives. Some of the most dynamic impacts and achievements have been realised in Seedley and Langworthy and key stakeholders cited improvements to the physical fabric of the area in terms of the housing and environment and equally important, improvements in community spirit and the involvement of local people in their area. Details: Manchester, UK: QUARTERNION, 2007. 155p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 10, 2014 at: http://www.salford.gov.uk/d/srb5-evaluation1.pdf Year: 2007 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.salford.gov.uk/d/srb5-evaluation1.pdf Shelf Number: 134310 Keywords: Community SafetyCrime PreventionNeighborhoods and Crime (U.K.)Socioeconomic Conditions and CrimeUrban Neighborhoods |
Author: MacDonald, John M. Title: Do Schools Cause Crime in Neighborhoods? Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the Growth of Charter Schools in Philadelphia Summary: This paper examines the impact of schools on crime in urban neighborhoods. The change in the public educational landscape with the rise of charter schools in Philadelphia provides a natural experiment to examine the effects that school locations have on crime rates. In this paper, we use data on the location and opening of charter and public schools to estimate the effect that school openings had on neighborhood crime patterns between 1998 and 2010. We estimate the change in crime counts in areas surrounding schools before and after their opening compared to areas where schools are always open. We find that crime in general goes down when schools open. The findings suggest that school locations play a minimal role in neighborhood crime production in Philadelphia. Details: Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2015. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: U of Penn, Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper No. 2015-11.0 : Accessed August 19, 2015 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2641096 Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2641096 Shelf Number: 136454 Keywords: Charter SchoolsNeighborhoods and CrimeSchools and Crime Urban Neighborhoods |
Author: Gupte, Jaideep Title: Key Challenges of Security Provision in Rapidly Urbanising Contexts: Evidence from Kathmandu Valley and Terai Regions of Nepal Summary: We know that urban violence not only affects people's health and wellbeing, it has a devastating impact on the social fabric and economic prospects of entire cities. It can also set recursive cycles of vulnerability in motion - violence-affected individuals find it increasingly harder to be gainfully employed, while poverty is sustained through inter generational transfers. However, the mechanisms through which violent crime and urbanisation are interconnected are not straightforward. While higher rates of violent crime are generally seen in the larger urban centres, not all urban centres experience similar degrees of violence. That is, the security and insecurity outcomes in a city are the result of a complex range of socioeconomic, political and demographic factors, which can vary temporally, spatially, as well as be significantly different for different individuals or groups. Importantly, rapid urbanisation also brings with it a unique set of challenges, which has the potential to overwhelm key government services, including policing and security provision. Details: Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies, 2014. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Addressing and Mitigating Violence, IDS Evidence Report No. 69: Accessed August 24, 2015 at: http://www.ids.ac.uk/publication/key-challenges-of-security-provision-in-rapidly-urbanisig-contexts-evidence-from-kathmandu-valley-and-terai-regions-of-nepal Year: 2014 Country: Nepal URL: http://www.ids.ac.uk/publication/key-challenges-of-security-provision-in-rapidly-urbanisig-contexts-evidence-from-kathmandu-valley-and-terai-regions-of-nepal Shelf Number: 136569 Keywords: Urban CrimeUrban NeighborhoodsViolent Crime |