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

本博士论文研究项目将调查社会服务组织在经历了高水平的非法活动，特别是非法药物的销售和分销的社区更广泛的动态中的作用。 而以前的研究在城市社区的非法活动往往是由全球毒品贸易和“禁毒战争”的警务方法的更大的文献框架，这个项目采用的方法，努力了解在一个社区的个人和组织的互动和关系的全方位。 该项目的理论基础旨在描述和理解支持，互惠，权力和暴力，包括毒品交易和广泛的相关活动的复杂社交网络。 这项工作探讨了个人如何参与非正规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重点关注社会服务组织如何提供旨在平息毒品经济的方案，通常是通过一系列就业准备方案，明确将人们从非正式和非法工作过渡到正式就业。 在费城南部一个与毒品有关的犯罪率很高的社区工作，博士生将与这些组织的员工和志愿者进行访谈，以便更深入地了解非法经济的外部压力。 访谈将包括有关方案编制、使命、目标和成功措施的问题，以及社区组织的经验、目标人群接受方案的方式，以及对毒品贸易及其在社区中的作用的看法。 通过这些访谈收集的信息将与先前通过人种学研究和口述历史收集的信息相结合，以便对社会服务组织和其他人在研究地点和类似社区中的复杂互动进行更全面，多维度的了解。该项目将提供一系列新的理论视角。 它将有助于越来越多的学术机构，说明跨尺度连接经济，社区和身份的连接。 它将有助于通过评估毒品经济参与者如何对自己、家庭、社区和城市做出有意义的决定，完善在家庭和社区关系层面考虑毒品经济参与者决策战略的视角。 它还将提供关于社会服务计划如何被从事非法活动的人以及与他们互动的人解释和使用的新见解。 项目成果将协助社区组织解决其社区内与毒品有关的问题，从而提供新的信息和见解，可能改善其外联和教育工作。 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的研究生涯。

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.