Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Service Organizations and Community Dynamics in Neighborhoods with High Levels of Illegal Activity

这个博士论文研究项目将调查社会服务组织在更广泛的动态中的作用，这些社区经历了高度的非法活动，特别是非法药物的销售和分销。以前关于城市社区非法活动的研究往往被关于全球毒品贸易和“打击毒品战争”的警务方法的较大文献所框定，而这个项目采用的方法是努力了解社区中个人和组织的全面互动和关系。该项目的理论基础试图描述和理解复杂的社会支持、互惠、权力和暴力网络，其中包括毒品交易和广泛的相关活动。这项工作探讨了个人如何参与非正式经济活动，以及他们如何以其他方式作为社区成员发挥作用。该奖项支持的研究项目将侧重于社会服务组织如何发挥作用，提供有效平息毒品经济的规划，通常是通过一系列就业准备计划，明确将人们从非正式和非法工作过渡到正式就业。这位博士生在费城南部一个与毒品相关的犯罪率较高的社区工作，他将与这些组织的员工和志愿者进行面谈，以便更深入地了解附近非法经济面临的外部压力。访谈将包括有关规划、使命、目标和成功衡量标准的问题，以及社区组织的经验、目标人群接受计划的方式，以及对毒品交易及其在社区中的角色的看法。通过这些访谈收集的信息将与以前通过人种学研究和口述历史收集的信息相结合，以便更全面、多层面地了解社会服务组织与在研究地点和类似社区互动的其他人之间的复杂互动。这个项目将提供一系列新的理论观点。它将有助于不断增长的学术机构，说明连接经济，社区和身份跨规模的联系。它将通过评估毒品经济参与者如何做出关于他们自己、他们的家庭、他们的社区和他们的城市的有意义的决定，来帮助完善考虑毒品经济参与者在家庭和社区关系层面上的决策战略的视角。它还将为从事非法活动的人和与之互动的人如何解释和使用社会服务计划提供新的见解。项目成果将帮助社区组织解决其社区中与毒品有关的问题，从而提供新的信息和见解，可能会改善他们的外联和教育工作。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

This doctoral dissertation research project will investigate the role of social service organizations within the broader dynamics of neighborhoods that have experienced high levels of illegal activity, especially the sale and distribution of illegal drugs. Whereas previous research on illicit activities in urban neighborhoods often have been framed by the larger literature on the global drug trade and the "War on Drugs" approach to policing, this project adopts an approach that strives to understand the full range of individual and organizational interactions and relationships in a community. The theoretical foundations of this project seek to describe and understand the complex social networks of support, reciprocity, power, and violence that include the drug trade and a broad range of related activities. That work has explored how individuals engage in informal economic activities as well as how they function as community members in other ways. The research project supported by this award will focus on the ways in which social service organizations function to offer programming that works to quell the drug economy, often through a range of job readiness programs that explicitly transition people from informal and illicit work to formal employment. Working in a neighborhood in south Philadelphia that has had high drug-related crime levels, the doctoral student will conduct interviews with employees and volunteers associated with these organizations in order to develop a deeper understanding of the external pressures on the illegal economy that are situated immediately in the neighborhood. Interviews will include questions about the programming, mission, goals, and measures of success as well as the experiences of organizations in the community, the ways programs are received by target populations, and perceptions of the drug trade and its role in the community. Information gathered through these interviews will be integrated with information previously gathered through ethnographic research and oral histories in order to develop more comprehensive, multi-dimensional knowledge about the complex interactions of social service organizations and others interacting in the study site and similar communities.This project will provide a range of new theoretical perspectives. It will contribute to the growing body of scholarship that illustrates the connections linking economy, community, and identity across scales. It will help refine perspectives that consider the decision-making strategies of drug economy participants at the level of household and community relationships by assessing how they make meaningful decisions about themselves, their families, their communities, and their cities. It also will provide new insights regarding how social service programs are interpreted and used by those engaged in illicit activities and those with whom they interact. Project results will assist community organizations in addressing drug-related issues in their neighborhoods, thereby contributing new information and insights that may improve their outreach and educational efforts. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.