Urban Friendships And Community Youth Practice

There is no denying that friendship, however narrow or broad the definition, is dynamic and highly responsive to socio-cultural and environmental factors. Urban Youth Friendships and Community Practice highlights the greater importance of friendships in circumstances where youth have been marginalized and have limited access to instrumental resources that restrict geographical mobility or curtail their movement to limited public spaces (in which they are validated, and even liked or admired). Youth friendships are not limited to peer-networks; they can cross other social divides and involve adults of all ages. Indeed, community practice and asset assessment approaches are increasingly focusing on the relevance of strong peer relationships and networks as strengths upon which to build. Friendships, therefore, are a community asset and as such could be included as a key aspect of community asset assessments and interventions. Community organizations, schools, religious institutions, and other less-formal groups provide practitioners with ample opportunities to foster urban youth friendships. This book seeks to accomplish four goals: (1) provide a state of knowledge on the definition, role, and importance of friendships in general and specifically on urban youth of color (African-American, Asia and Latinos); (2) draw implications for community practice scholarship and practice; (3) illustrate how friendships can be a focus of a community capacity enhancement assets paradigm through the use of case illustrations; and (4) provide a series of recommendations for how urban friendships can be addressed in graduate level social work curriculum but with implications for other helping professions. Urban Youth Friendships and Community Practice is a must-have for community practitioners, whether their focus be social work, recreation, education, planning, or out-of-school programming.

Enhancing existing green spaces, such as parks and gardens, or introducing them where they do not through conversion of lots, has taken center stage in urban communities of color as a means of addressing a range of social problems, including reducing various forms of violence. Written for urban-focused researchers, practitioners, and academics, Urban Gun Violence: Empty Lots, Green Spaces, and Other Ecologically Focused Interventions uses case studies and grounding research to inform gun violence reduction interventions.

Community Practice and Urban Youth is for graduate level students in fields that offer youth studies and community practice courses. Practitioners in these fields, too, will find the book particularly useful in furthering the integration of social justice as a conceptual and philosophical foundation. The use of food, environmental justice, and immigrant-rights and the book’s focus on service-learning and civic engagement involving these three topics offers an innovative approach for courses.

This book demonstrates the potential of after-school activities ranging from from sports to the visual and performing arts and the humanities to transform young lives. Case studies of exemplary organizations and innovative communities within urban centers throughout the U.S. round out the work.

While crime is down around the country, many inner city youth continue to die as a result of violence, drugs, AIDS, and other causes. In response to the deaths of its young members, many urban communities paint memorial murals to pay homage to the deceased and express the grief of an entire community. Here, Delgado explores the use of memorial murals for counseling the bereaved friends and family members of urban youth whose lives were cut short. He proposes that employing such approaches can help a community address the problems inherent in their societies while remembering and celebrating the lives of their most vulnerable members. Delgado begins by reviewing the key concepts and practice principles that are essential in any form of urban community social work practice. He details the incidence and nature of the phenomena of death at an early age, and describes the cultural aspects of grief and bereavement in general and as they pertain to the urban communities he observes. Throughout his discussion of the use of memorial murals in social work practice, he provides case studies about real communities and the ways in which they have used the murals to work through the grieving process. The book concludes with a framework and theoretical model for social workers who work with urban populations. This unique work addresses a common urban issue in the context of healing and outreach in a way that will especially appeal to social workers, community leaders and organizations, psychologists, urban sociologists, and students and scholars interested in the ways people deal with death and dying.

The study of and interest in adolescence in the field of psychology and related fields continues to grow, necessitating an expanded revision of this seminal work. This multidisciplinary handbook, edited by the premier scholars in the field, Richard Lerner and Laurence Steinberg, and with contributions from the leading researchers, reflects the latest empirical work and growth in the field.

Out in Public addresses, and engages us in, the new and exciting directions in the emerging field of lesbian/gay anthropology. The authors offer a deep conversation about the meaning of sexuality, subjectivity and culture. Affirms the importance of recognizing gay and lesbian social issues within the arena of public anthropology Explores critical concerns of gay activism in a variety of global settings, from the U.S., the European Union, Singapore, Nigeria, India, Nicaragua, and Guadalajara Offers a unique focus on the politics of being gay and lesbian - in cross-cultural perspective Deals with broad-ranging issues that affect human sexuality and human rights globally Winner of the 2009 Ruth Benedict Prize in the category of "Best Anthology"