“The level of connectedness we have with our faculty is invaluable.” Alyssa Yackle and Beatrix Jackson, together with Ailec Vega, M.S., co-authored a new report, Bridge of Knowledge – Linking Intergenerational Exchange and Mental Stimulation: A Community Pilot Project for the Elderly in Old Havana Cuba. The research for the report was coordinated under the auspices of the Rutgers-Camden Community Leadership Center and the direction of Center Director, Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, and DPPA Professor, Dr. Eduardo J. Gomez.
Public Affairs Ph.D. candidate Ashley Nickels was interviewed about her research at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Association for Public Policy and Management held in Baltimore, Maryland.
MPA students Geoconda Idrovo (middle, in red dress) and Natasha Young (on right, in white shirt) are doing their overseas service in Puerto Rico at the Centro para Puerto Rico (the programmatic arm of the Sila M. Calderón Foundation).
They are working on two projects. The first is a feasibility study for a Rutgers MPA on the island, to focus on community development. They have done data collection and are helping to produce a lengthy proposal for program accreditation.
The second project is to expand the center’s Green Market initiative (Mercado Verde). The project gives women in agriculture a space for selling and marketing their products. The project also includes a focus on sustainable agriculture, including workshops to promote urban farming, the sharing of new techniques, and encouraging consumption of locally grown food. This project has given Natasha and Geoconda the chance to collaborate with community organizations, university professors, technical experts, and local business owners to develop a strategy for accomplishing the goals of the project.
When not hard at work they’re at the beach of course – enjoying the year round sunshine and contemplating how life could possibly get any better.
Patricia Ciorici (Public Affairs Ph.D. candidate) and department chair Patrice Mareschal, presented a co-authored paper: “Against All Odds: Civic Engagement and Power Building in an Invisible Workforce,” at the International CRIMT (Research Centre on Globalization and Work) Conference, in Montreal, Canada, October 2012. This paper examines how home care workers in Oregon, a predominantly female, geographically dispersed, and economically under-valued workforce were brought together to experience the power of direct political action, shape public policy, and extend their reach beyond the union to other civic and social groups.
