Monon neighborhood livability study

Local Development & Society · 2024-02-27

This livability study is a comprehensive investigation into the Monon Neighborhood's well-being in order to support evidence-based decision making at the city level and by the Faith Community Development Corporation. We aim to provide a holistic picture of the livability of the Monon Neighborhood, located in Lafayette, Indiana, by understanding the factors that make up well-being for the residents of the neighborhood. We have gathered information about each of these factors from sources including interviews with residents, oral histories, neighborhood and property condition surveys, census data, and other data sets, especially the Polk Directory. Some practicable goals set by the implications of this study include the generation of a neighborhood association, an increase in resident retention, and identification of physical areas of improvement within the city that future funding could solve.

Learning by evaluating as an interview primer to inform design thinking

International Journal of Technology and Design Education · 2024-09-25

Connecting communities through Student-led service-learning approaches: Perspectives from students in action coaches and an illustrative team case study

Local Development & Society · 2024-04-11 · 1 citations

Service-learning is an educational approach combining theoretical skills and hands-on project applications, crucial for younger generations who play an essential role in the future of their communities. Students in Action (SIA) is a program implemented within K-12 schools to foster service-learning through student-led service projects facilitated by advisors, typically teachers. SIA identified the need for a near-peer mentor role to enhance K-12 students' service-learning experience and create a liaison between advisors and students. We addressed this need by having college students take on a mediator role as SIA coaches in four schools within the community. From our work, we aimed to create a framework by outlining our experiences, providing a multi-perspective case study, and demonstrating the utility of a University and K-12 partnership in a service-learning context for other SIA organizations nationally to replicate this role and create a stronger sense of unity within communities.

Learning by Evaluating: An Exploration of Optimizing Design-Based Instruction

Journal of Technology Education · 2024-01-01 · 1 citations

The Journal of Technology Education is an international platform for scholarly discussion intended to advance thinking on technology and engineering education philosophy, theory, and practice. To this end, the journal publishes peer-reviewed research, theoretical, and positional articles addressing topics related to the PK-12 curricular area of technology and engineering education (T&EE), and its teacher education. The implementation of PK-12 T&EE promotes learning of both content and practice through student engagement in minds-on/hands-on, design based, problem-solving experiences. T&EE is a subject area fostering technological and engineering literacy where students learn about the full range of technologies from material processing, energy, biotechnologies, and robotics to construction, transportation, communications, electronics, and computational technologies. As a PK-12 curricular area, T&EE is intended for all students, regardless of their future career aspirations.

Utilizing property conditions surveying to improve wellbeing: An analysis of the Lincoln neighborhood in Lafayette, Indiana

Local Development & Society · 2023-03-30 · 1 citations

The purpose of this study was to support the City of Lafayette’s (Indiana) neighborhood revitalization and housing initiatives by completing a hands-on evaluation of the Lincoln neighborhood. This evaluation was done by manually surveying the neighborhood with standardized property surveys to provide an accurate representation of key neighborhood issues. With the data collected, suggestions for short- and long-term improvements could be made. The Lincoln neighborhood was chosen because it is statistically one of the poorer neighborhoods and has one of the highest numbers of low-income residents in Lafayette. A lot of the infrastructure comprising the Lincoln neighborhood was found to have fallen into disrepair. It is hoped that the suggestions detailed in this report will be given consideration by the City of Lafayette and will lead to structured improvements of roads, sidewalks, and lighting as well as the creation of public spaces to revitalize the Lincoln neighborhood.

A Cross-Sectional Examination of Evictions in Lafayette, Indiana in August 2020 During a Gap in Federal and State Eviction Moratoria

Local Development & Society · 2023-07-03

To curtail housing instability secondary to financial hardship during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many states as well as the federal government issued eviction moratoria. Unfortunately, the effective period of federal and state eviction moratoria briefly did not overlap in the state of Indiana. This study examines the overall eviction count, geography of evictions, and amount of money owed in each eviction within Tippecanoe County, Indiana, from 14 August 14 August to 4 September 20204 September 2020 and compares those metrics to their levels during the same time period in 2019 by utilizing public court records of the Tippecanoe County Fourth Superior Court. Overall, the number of evictions increased by 28% year over year, with evictions increasing by 500, 700, and 1,000% in Census Tracts 4, 11, and 2, respectively. The average amount owed at the time of eviction increased from $1389.12 in 2019 to $2802.36 in 2020.

Lafayette affordable housing study

Local Development & Society · 2023-03-20 · 1 citations

The greater Lafayette metropolitan area located in north-central Indiana is home to over 100,000 residents. It is an hour north of Indianapolis, Indiana, and roughly two and a half hours south of Chicago, Illinois. The area is home to Purdue University, the Wabash River, and numerous parks and nature areas. According to city officials, one of the biggest challenges facing the area involves getting low-income residents to plant permanent roots in their neighborhoods: fostering improved quality of life as well as community and economic growth in the process. Arguably the biggest obstacle preventing this from happening is the lack of affordable housing within Lafayette and West Lafayette. Housing that is deemed affordable refers to any housing arrangement costing no more than 30% of a given household’s monthly income. In conjunction with the city of Lafayette, our research group examined the livability of six different Lafayette neighborhoods (Lincoln, Hanna, Vinton, Monon, St. Lawrence McAllister, and Historic Jefferson) through the context of housing affordability. Whether or not someone can afford a home, reasonably commute to work, or earn enough money to support their families are all important criteria that determine how “livable” someone’s environment is: thereby contributing to how likely a person is to remain in a given area. To study this, random samples were collected from roughly 80 properties throughout the six neighborhoods. This information regarding the home’s value and the demographics of the owner(s) was initially found using databases such as Zillow.com and the Polk Directory. From here, six separate “affordability maps” were created in order to compare home value and net income/assets to create a large picture overview of how affordable a given neighborhood is. This data was then passed to the city of Lafayette to detail which neighborhoods are unrealistic for its inhabitants to live in. This information will serve to help city leaders make more informed choices to make these houses more affordable, improve the overall quality of life, and spur economic stability and growth.

Exploring the Impact of the Habitat for Humanity Home-Building Process on Partner Families' Holistic Well-Being

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement · 2022-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate how participating in the Habitat for Humanity house-building process influenced participants’ purpose well-being, social well-being, community well-being, physical and mental well-being, and financial well-being, and how effective Habitat for Humanity is in aiding neighborhood revitalization within the Greater Lafayette area. The research project resulted in a presentation of quantitative data and a testimonial video that highlighted the stories of families that had worked with Habitat for Humanity. Quantitative data was gathered through a survey that addressed respondents’ levels of satisfaction within the various categories of well-being mentioned above. Testimonial information was gathered from interviews with respondents to gain a more personal insight into their stories. The majority of respondents indicated their satisfaction with the overall Habitat for Humanity process and noticeable positive impacts on all aspects of their well-being. Responses were more varied to questions regarding a sense of community within their neighborhoods and a sense of safety. Respondents also indicated occasional dissatisfaction with the inadequate level of homeowner-related education provided through the Habitat for Humanity house-building process. Habitat for Humanity might consider focusing more attention on neighborhood revitalization initiatives including a focus on a general sense of community, overall safety, and periodic check-ins with those who have previously participated in the house-building project.

Impacting Community Well-Being in Lafayette, Indiana, in the Midst of a Pandemic

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement · 2021-01-01

For the past five years, Dr. Jason Ware has centered community-based research and service-learning courses around local community partners’ needs as they focused collectively on community well-being issues. The nature of their work has prioritized qualitative research methods such as narrative inquiry via in-depth interviews and ethnography via immersive observations within varying service-providing institutions such as the Hartford Hub and the Hanna Community Center. COVID-19 and the constant threat of its transmission meant that Dr. Ware, his students, and their community partners had to approach their work differently. They responded with a pivot. They turned to mining large publicly accessible and proprietary data sets, such as United States Census data, Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data, the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data, and the Polk Directory data. The pivot served as a direct response to the City of Lafayette’s need for useful data that could inform decision-making related to neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing, and homelessness intervention. This different approach impacted the co-authors’ learning and scholarly development and provided the community partners with useful data. The co-authors experienced increased autonomy in pursuing data-specific questions, extracting data, analyzing, and visualizing it. One of the co-authors taught himself Python to import, statistically analyze, and visualize the data, and then presented the findings to the City of Lafayette. The co-author’s initial work — a pilot study — led to a scaled-up project that resulted in five significant outputs for three different community partners with a direct impact on six neighborhoods in the north end of Lafayette. Another co-author, who focused on scholarship during the pandemic, led an effort to develop a comprehensive literature review focused on the effect of community-based robotics programs on minority youth. The co-author also had presentations accepted at the local, national, and international levels while working on multiple publications. The third co-author is partnering with the other authors to create an automated system that will support the collection, extraction, and analysis of secondary data that will facilitate sustainable data analysis into the future.

Situating Critical-Constructive Didaktik to Analyze Undergraduate Students’ Humanization

Innovations in higher education teaching and learning · 2020-08-07

This chapter provides a didactic analysis of a course-based service-learning research experience. The author explores undergraduate honors college students’ development of self-determination, co-determination, and solidarity vis-á-vis a Humboldtian theory of human bildung – cultivation of humanity. This particular analysis provides a case study for using course-based service-learning research experiences with undergraduate students in larger research-intensive universities. It provides students with an opportunity to learn and practice qualitative research methods and analysis, and provides time and space for them to make a difference in the world, which they seem so keen to do.