Engaged Research
COPC Community Scholars
2007-08 Scholars
Kenzie Riesselman
Bio:
Kenzie has a bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has worked in Southern California as a designer for nearly four years, and is currently pursuing a Master’s of Urban Planning in the Department of Planning, Policy and Design at UC Irvine. Her interests in planning include urban design, community building, and sustainability.
Community Scholars Research Report Description:
My research report is an evaluation study of community building activities conducted by the San Clemente Community Outreach Committee. Special attention will be given to examining the “social capital model” of community building and its effectiveness for advancing and sustaining organizational and leadership capacity development efforts by the SCCOC. The client for this report is Ms. Iliana Soto Welty, Director of Community Building for the Orange County Human Relations Commission.
Erin Kent
Bio:
Erin Kent is a third year doctoral student in Environmental Health Science and Policy, with an emphasis in Epidemiology. Her research interests are in socio-environmental influences on chronic disease. She is particularly interested in the interactive effects of individual and neighborhood level health drivers, such as indicators of socioeconomic position. Her dissertation work focuses on the experiences of hematopoetic cancers (leukemia’s and lymphomas) in adolescents and young adults, with particular attention to the decreased five-year survival rates individuals between 15 and 30 experience as compared to younger or older age groups. She is also interested in community- collaborative research.
Community Scholars Research Report Description:
My research report is a qualitative assessment of baseline health, longitudinal health trends, and evaluations of health interventions informed by residents and community leaders in the Valencia/Richman neighborhood area of the City of Fullerton. Using "círculos de acción,", a methodology that builds upon the traditional focus group model, this report will provide my client, Dr. Barry Ross, Vice-President for Community Outreach at St. Judes Medical Center, with an improved assessment of health for the agency’s service population in this community.
Tim Goddard
Bio:
Tim Goddard is a doctoral student in the Department of Criminology, Law
and Society in the School of Social Ecology at UCI. He earned a B.A.
in Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley in 2001.
Prior to moving to Irvine, he worked for three years as a research
assistant conducting ethnographic observations and interviews of
undergraduate students for a longitudinal study that followed the
academic careers of engineering students at two colleges and two
universities in Massachusetts. His research interests include
community contexts of crime, protective factors against criminal
involvement, and law and social change.
Community Scholars Research Report Description:
The title of my Community Scholar research report is Neighborhood Risk
Factors and the Community Youth Programs of Costa Mesa. The study will
examine and assess factors contributing to delinquent youth behavior
and efforts by youth development agencies to provide anti-delinquent
services which mitigate such behavior(s) in the City of Costa Mesa. The
results of this study will be used to inform recommendations for
increasing the effectiveness of youth serving programs in this
municipality. This study builds upon a parallel effort I am working on
in the City of Long Beach which is examining the needs and "risks" of
youth in response to crime control strategies issued by the State of
California. My client for the Costa Mesa study is Mr. Tom Eagan a long
time resident in the City of Costa Mesa and member of the Newport-Mesa
Unified School District.
Sarah McKearnan
Bio:
Sarah McKearnan is a second year Masters student in Urban and Regional
Planning at the University of California, Irvine. Originally from Portland, Oregon, she completed her undergraduate degree in History and African Studies from McAlester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her interests in planning include housing and community development. Sarah is also Vice President of the Planning Student Organization at UCI. She currently works for the City of Fullerton as a Planning Intern.
Community Scholars Research Report Description:
My research report involves evaluating housing affordability in the City of Long Beach The growing disparity between home prices and wages has created an affordable housing crisis in the City of Long Beach. Across California cities are required to plan for a variety of housing opportunities in their Housing Element sa part of their General Plan. This report will help inform the work of affordable housing advocates in the City of Long Beach by offering a housing needs assessment of the local population and an analysis of the city’s Housing Element process.
Arlene Granadosin
Bio:
Arlene Granadosin is a second year graduate student in the Department of Planning, Policy and Design at the University of California, Irvine and holds a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Born in the Philippines, her undergraduate concentration focused on international development with a specific focus on informal settlements and land tenure policies. After completing an internship with Neighborhood Housing Services of Orange County her areas of interest in planning have shifted to domestic housing policy, affordable housing issues, and non-profit real estate development.
Community Scholars Research Report Description:
My research report, “Housing Mayhem: The impact of Rising Foreclosure Trends on Orange County Neighborhoods” examines the impact that foreclosures are having on communities throughout Orange County. The current downturn in the housing market is greatly affecting Orange County’s low to moderate income neighborhoods and presents new challenges for proponents of homeownership preservation. This project examines the private and social costs of foreclosures in Orange County focusing on low- to moderate-income neighborhoods. Specifically, the report examines the role of housing non-profits such as the Neighborhood Housing Services of Orange County (NHSOC), my research report client, to mitigate the effect of foreclosures on these neighborhoods by administering intervention outreach and service programs.
Nick Poggiolo
Bio:
Nick Poggioli was born and raised in rural Illinois and comes to UCI by way of an undergraduate education in anthropology at the University of Illinois. He approaches urban and regional planning as applied anthropology in which decisions about the use of space and resources are made in accordance with and informed by local culture. Nick's Professional Report project is a "Social Network Analysis of Labor and Community Organizations in Orange County." His client for this project is Eric Altman, Executive Director of Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development (OCCORD).
Community Scholars Research Report Description:
"Social Network Analysis of Labor and Community Organizations in Orange County". This project will examine efforts by labor, community, and other organizations representing low income communities efforts in Orange County to build and sustain coalition efforts organized around issues (e.g., housing, child care, and self-sufficiency) of mutual concern. Specific attention will be given to identifying points of connection between organizations as a way of understanding existing relationships, how those relationships have changed, and how organizational networking can enhance coalition planning and action.