New Visions for Public Affairs Volume 6 

 Articles
  •  Advocating for Justice and Equality: An Interview with Ashley Biden  /  Author: M. Kristen Hefner
    • Abstract

      With her father the sitting Vice President and her brother Delaware’s Attorney General, Ashley Biden grew up in a political family. Instead of entering politics, however, she has chosen to dedicate her career to improving the lives of others. Biden earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010 and previously worked for the West End Neighborhood House in Wilmington, Delaware and the Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth, and their Families. Biden is Associate Executive Director of The Delaware Center for Justice (DCJ), a non-profit agency whose work aims to improve justice and safety for Delawareans. The activities of the DCJ include implementing programs and services, educating the public, conducting research and engaging in advocacy. Initiatives of the non-profit organization include a Truancy Reduction Program, an Adult Victim Services Program, a School Diversion Program, a Community Reentry Services Program, a Gun Violence Intervention Program, and Project Reach – which works with incarcerated women and their children. The DCJ collaborates and establishes partnerships with other agencies and organizations to address policy issues facing Delawareans. Partners include the Delaware Department of Justice, the Delaware Department of Correction, faithbased organizations, and community-based agencies. In the following interview1, Ashley Biden discusses factors that have influenced her interest in improving the lives of others and how that interest manifests itself in the current work of the Delaware Center for Justice. The editorial board of New Visions for Public Affairs would like to thank Ashley Biden for taking the time to participate in this discussion, and for providing an example of successfully combining personal passions with creating a more equitable world in which to improve the lives of others.

  •  A Half-Century of Service and Scholarship: The Disaster Research Center at UD  /  Author: Adria Buchanan
    • Abstract

      The political and cultural landscape took on dramatic color during the 1960s, and academia responded. Nationally, universities and academics developed, enhanced and sharpened their tools for investigating new phenomena. Two sociologists in particular, E.L. Quarantelli and Russell Dynes at Ohio State University, found their way into natural disasters, eventually leading to the establishment of the Disaster Research Center (DRC). The Center’s subsequent research would break existing molds for understanding human behavior and provide the basis for worldwide disaster inquiry. The Center began with a number of funded projects from the Office of Civil Defense and Air Force Office of Scientific Research to investigate human behavior during a disaster as a possible threat to national security and preparation. Despite its niche in human behavior, the DRC’s permanence at the University of Ohio was uncertain. Fortunately for the University of Delaware, the stars aligned to bring the DRC stability midway through its 50-year history. In the context of new inventions, political and social revolutions, pop culture sensations, and unfortunate tragedy, the DRC has evolved. Other centers have since emerged, yet this article depicts those characteristics that have contributed to the DRC’s longevity by chronicling its history in a global and domestic context, discussing what makes it unique in the ongoing body of disaster science, and presenting current projects with perspectives from staff and students to celebrate its 50 year anniversary.

  •  Civic Hacking: A Motivation Framework (NECoPA Special Feature)  /  Author: Tanya Stepasiuk
    • Abstract

      Civic hackers are a newly emerging community, working to bridge the gap between technology and government. They gather together to work on projects using publicly available data and technological expertise to devise apps, programs, and data presentations for the benefit of the community. I use primary data collected from ten semistructured interviews with current participants as well as observations of civic hacking events and grounded theory to answer the question, “what are the motivations of people who participate in civic hacking?” I then suggest a framework. The framework includes unique identities and motivations of this particular community. Motivations are divided into three typologies: “hackers,” volunteers, and activists. The typologies correspond to motivations that are intrinsic and extrinsic in nature. While exploratory in nature, this study takes a preliminary look at this new form of social engagement and the reasons that people participate. This newly emerging phenomenon is of interest to public administrators and scholars as it suggests ways to partner with this community to achieve the benefit of a technologically savvy community that would like to contribute to civic causes.

  •  Technopolitical Regimes and Climate Change: A Transcript of an Interview with the Carbon Cycle  /  Author: Philip Barnes
    • Abstract

      Despite the urgent response that climate change demands, debate over climate change policy goes round and round without showing signs that it can rest long enough for action to be taken. Meanwhile, the situation with the atmospheric commons continues to deteriorate. In a desperate attempt to constructively contribute to the climate change debate and break through the morass, this paper engages with Actor Network Theory which affords practitioners the freedom to dialogue with the non-human. The result is a transcription of an interview with The Carbon Cycle. Using the concept of the technopolitical regime, The Carbon Cycle identifies two broadly defined philosophies that humans use to frame climate change policy. The two technopolitical regimes, what The Carbon Cycle calls the Interventionists and the Egalitarians, are informed by conflicting values. According to The Carbon Cycle, humans will need to face the difficult challenge of negotiating a policy response to climate change that lies somewhere between the interventionist and the egalitarian strategies. Depending on the policy approach taken, the implications for society-nature relationships and democratic governance are radically different and are teased out in this conversation.

  •  Neoliberal Urbanism: Socio-Spatial Fragmentation & Exclusion  /  Author: Rachel Beatty
    • Abstract

      This paper takes a critical approach to urbanism in the United States with a focus on how the socio-political ideology of neoliberalism influences our urban spaces. I review literature that addresses the role of neoliberalism in urban development and describe the ways that neoliberal urban development, as a governance and growth project, has negative consequences on our urban communities by fragmenting space and reinforcing and normalizing socio-economic disparity through exclusionary policies and projects. I advocate for greater attention to “actually existing neoliberalism” and its implications by contemporary policy-making professionals as they work to improve our urban spaces and the lives of the people who inhabit them.

  •  Foster Youth Mentoring Program: Assisting with and Connecting the “Aging Out” Challenges in Delaware  /  Author: Leann Moore
    • Abstract

      Delaware has made great strides providing and improving services for the state’s foster youth “aging out” of the system. However, even in light of new legislation and enhanced community-based programs, Delaware youth in foster care face many challenges when aging out of the foster care system. Potential outcomes for youth aging out of the foster care system, such as higher rates of incarceration, homelessness, unemployment, and teen pregnancy, as well as lower rates of high school graduation, can cost taxpayers up to $300,000 per youth in incarceration costs, public assistance support, and lost wages. However, Delaware’s supportive services infrastructure has potential to address these problems. The Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative put forth six specific policy and practice recommendations for successful transitions (deemed the Ready-By-21 campaign), and, to date, the only one of these not directly addressed is permanency. The Delaware Youth Opportunities Initiative (DYOI) is the Delaware agency working to address each recommendation. One of the best ways of achieving all of these goals is to establish a statewide and inclusive mentoring program for foster youth beginning at age 14 through age 21. There are many ways to implement this: through a resource guide, a school-based program, or by reframing the Court Appointed Special Advocate’s (CASA) role and training. When considering cost, timeline, feasibility, and the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative’s recommendations, the CASA role reframing option best fits Delaware’s current atmosphere. This option achieves permanency within a one-to-one adult relationship.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email