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Dr. Tera McIntosh is a 2012 graduate of the PhD Program in Leadership and Change at Antioch University.
Keywords
action research, study circles, restorative practices, restorative justice, soical capital, asset based community development collaboration, communicative space, appreciative inquiry, positive deviance, Pittsburgh, Hill District, violence, safety
Document Type
Dissertation
Publication Date
2012
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore how restorative practices could help increase the social fabric within communities in order to help solve complex community problems. Although literature on restorative practices is bountiful for the purposes of restorative justice and restorative practices in schools, there is little literature on how to use restorative practices to create more restorative communities or neighborhoods. For the purpose of this study I looked at the issue of violence and safety within a particular community and implemented a framework of restorative practices that focused on asset based community development and building healthier relationships. I utilized action research to conduct intentional gatherings of communicative space that were supported by a study circle framework and collected data in ways that included interviews, pre-post surveys, and mapping documents, as well as documentation of all observed outcomes in relation to the study circles. The findings proposed that when communities are given the opportunity to intentionally gather to communicate in a restorative context, citizens learn about new opportunities or assets, and relationships spill over from study circles processes causing actions to occur directly and also on a "second degree level." These new actions can assist communities in rationing together better ways of solving complex community problems. The electronic version of the Dissertation is accessible in the open-access Ohiolink ETD Center http://etd.ohiolink.edu.
Recommended Citation
McIntosh, T. L. (2012). Show and Tell: Using Restorative Practices and Asset Based Community Development to Address Issues of Safety and Violence. https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/4
Author's Introduction to Dissertation
Included in
Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Criminology Commons, Social Psychology Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons
Comments
Tera Lynn McIntosh is a 2012 graduate of the PhD Program in Leadership & Change at Antioch University. An author's introduction video file accompanies this dissertation and is embedded in this page.