Barbara Ferman - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Barbara Ferman

Cruz. He is co-editor of Precarity and Belonging: Labor, Migration, and Noncitizenship (2021). Hi... more Cruz. He is co-editor of Precarity and Belonging: Labor, Migration, and Noncitizenship (2021). His community-initiated student-engaged research focuses on low-wage work, affordable housing, and mixed status immigrant families.

Journal of Urban Affairs, Apr 15, 2020

The onslaught of neoliberal policies, practices, and thinking has resulted in the privatization o... more The onslaught of neoliberal policies, practices, and thinking has resulted in the privatization of many public goods and services, a reframing of systemic inequities as individual failings, and a weakened capacity for collective action. Together, these trends have contributed to growing inequality in the U.S. However, there is strong resistance, most of it coming from young people. This article explores the use of social justice frameworks in youth activism. I argue that social justice frameworks can be powerful tools for countering these neoliberal trends. Social justice frameworks provide a vehicle for connecting seemingly disparate issues, policies, and institutions, thereby replacing single issue politics with broader agendas. They also provide alternative explanations of how the world works, thus challenging the narratives espoused by proponents of neoliberalism. Finally, the emphasis on intersectionality helps bridge barriers such as race, class, and gender. Through case studies of youth activism, I illustrate what these approaches look like in practice, some of the challenges and how to address them, and the critical role of adult allies. during the Great Depression, those on the margins have vastly increased in numbers (Stanford Center for Poverty and Inequality, 2011). Absent the ability to forge a large movement to challenge these inequities, they will most likely remain on the margins. Despite the onward march of neoliberalism, we are seeing strong signs of resistance, much of it coming from young people: the global climate strike on

Review of Policy Research, Aug 1, 1983

During a time of dwindling resources, Boston Mayor Kevin White acquired a significant amount of p... more During a time of dwindling resources, Boston Mayor Kevin White acquired a significant amount of power. This was in contrast to the experiences of other mayors during the 1960s and 1970s and to the predictions for mayoral leadership in general. Examining the paradox of White's administration underscores the need for politically skillful executives. Effective political skills include the ability to perceive resource opportunities, to select the appropriate strategies and to choose the best arena in which to operate. While all mayors have access to resources, they do not always use them effectively. Resources must be conserved, protected, and pyramided. Focusing on White's role as a power accumulator, his use of federal money, and his shift from audience and media politics to constituent and organization politics, this article examines how a mayor expands his political capital in an environment of limited resources. The major themes that emerge are the importance of political skills and political organization to strong mayoral leadership.

Review of Policy Research, Dec 1, 2001

Journal of Urban Affairs, Mar 16, 2023

Review of Policy Research, Sep 1, 1987

Journal of Political Science Education, Jul 1, 2012

ABSTRACT

SAGE Publications, Inc. eBooks, May 15, 2012

Urban Affairs Review, Jul 15, 2019

In this final article, I sum up the major comments, respond to the questions, and address the cri... more In this final article, I sum up the major comments, respond to the questions, and address the critiques of the contributing authors. I also examine some key developments that occurred after the publication of the book, particularly the rash of teacher strikes in red states and the nationwide student movement against gun violence. What might these events portend for large-scale coalition building to preserve education as a public good?

IGI Global eBooks, 2021

Recently, scholars have begun exploring the benefits and challenges of using college students to ... more Recently, scholars have begun exploring the benefits and challenges of using college students to help develop Kindergarten-12th Grade (K-12) students' civic engagement capacities, specifically through action civics programs. However, much of the literature focuses on the political and social knowledge obtained by the K-12 students. By contrast, the authors explore the dispositions that college students need to effectively facilitate such learning with K-12 students, culled from grounded coding of four cases. They argue that action civics facilitator training programs should focus on action civics dispositions because dispositions underpin the knowledge and skills facilitators need to access to support complex civic work with K-12 students. Specifically, training programs should include dispositional work, valuing student-led projects, multiple perspectives, the development of relationships in contexts, and social justice. In this way, the values that drive Dewey's concept of democratic life can continue to underpin students' future civic work.

Economic Development Quarterly, Aug 1, 1999

This review essay explores economic development initiatives and practices from the regional, city... more This review essay explores economic development initiatives and practices from the regional, city, and neighborhood level. Taken together, the three books discussed here provide a holistic account of urban realities and, in particular, of urban economic development. These books deepen our understanding of how structural, political, organizational, and individual factors and decisions interact to shape economic development initiatives and outcomes. In so doing, these books provide a refreshing antidote to the more typical scenario of urban dualities—for example, agency versus structure, global versus local, public versus private—that constrains much of the literature on urban economic development.

American Political Science Review, Jun 1, 1987

Outstanding studies in the past decade have illuminated the sources o f ineffective implementatio... more Outstanding studies in the past decade have illuminated the sources o f ineffective implementation and thus have suggested what not to do. To learn more about what to do, we analyzed a broad range of cases o f effective implementation of youth employment programs in eight cities. The goal was to build an impressionistic model of the conditions contributing to flective implementation. We found that executives in the successful process and protecting and correcting their programs, especially through coalition building and constant intervention in administrative detail. Some executives created patterns of interest convergence among the relevant actors, using incentives to turn mild interests into active support. They thus provided the public sector's missing 'political hand," analogous to the market's "invisible hand." Abstract programs often acted as "fixers," repairing the implementation In the early 1970s, the implementation problems of the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), as well as other programs such as Model Cities, New Towns-in-Town, and federal aid to education, were considered to be largely the result of overly ambitious social engineering by liberal Democrats. It was often said that these liberal plans were immodest and that the liberals themselves were both too optimistic and uninterested in the actual details of implementing their "bright ideas." By the end of the 1970s decade, experience suggested that such diagnoses of the problems of implementation probably missed the mark. Domestic policies of conservative Republican administra-* We wish to thank Frank Levy, Tom Glynn, Gene Bardach, Aaron Wildavsky, and Martin Shapiro for their invaluable comments on an earlier draft. Support for the preparation of this article came from the James Gordon Foundation of Chicago and the Office of Youth of the Department of Labor.

Journal of Urban Affairs, Jun 1, 2004

Responding to both the proliferation of higher-education-community partnerships and the paucity o... more Responding to both the proliferation of higher-education-community partnerships and the paucity of studies that report the perspective of the community partners in such relationships, we interviewed community leaders to learn about their motivations for and experiences of participating in higher-education-community research partnerships. The article reports community leaders' assessments of the benefits and challenges of engaging in such partnerships, shares their advice for both community and university-based actors considering involvement in such partnerships, and explores the larger institutional and structural issues that bedevil higher-education-community partnerships.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any ... more All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by information storage and retrieval systems, without the written permission of the Ford Foundation, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Printed in the United States of America The Howard Samuels Center engaged in an evaluation of the Ford Fund for Community Organizing Initiative over the course of the entire program, from its inception in 2000 to its conclusion in 2007. The initiative was established to support community organizing and the first round of funding went to three sites, Los Angeles, Chicago and the South. For the initial round of the evaluation, the project team was comprised of three investigators: Marilyn Gittell, professor of political science at the City University of New York Graduate Center and director of the Howard Samuels Center; Cathy Cohen of the University of Chicago; and Jocelyn Sargent, then-deputy director of the Howard Samuels Center. Collectively the team was responsible for the development of the research protocols; however, each investigator was responsible for the primary data collection and reporting in one site and worked with a locally based research assistant. Gittell focused on Los Angeles and was assisted by Phil Harris. Cohen focused on Chicago and was assisted by Dorian Warren. Sargent focused on the South and was assisted by Kimberly James. For the second round of the evaluation, Barbara Ferman from Temple University joined the team at the Chicago site and was assisted by Jon Rogers. Charles Price from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, joined the team in the South and was assisted by Phil Hasset. Gittell continued on the team in Los Angeles and was assisted by Giannina Perez. This second team also evaluated the two additional sites, Denver and Florida, which were funded by the initiative in 2005. This executive summary publication is based on the evaluation work described above.

Over the last fifty years, institutions of higher education have served as anchor institutions in... more Over the last fifty years, institutions of higher education have served as anchor institutions in cities’ broader neoliberal efforts to generate new economic sectors, attract the creative class, and build amenities that stimulate market-oriented redevelopment. These activities, combined with universities’ own neoliberal restructuring, including diminishing housing support for students and staff, have contributed to gentrification and displacement in neighborhoods surrounding universities, creating the context for interrelated struggles for the right to the city and the right to the university. Using Temple University in Philadelphia, and University of California Santa Cruz as case studies we examine how students, faculty, and other university actors are joining with organizations and movements in surrounding communities to resist restructuring and displacement. In doing so, these emerging coalitions are transcending the more divisive town/gown narrative, forging new solidarities tha...