PAIA Student: Amy Goodall-Ayres presents at Eastern Sociological Society

Amy Goodall-Ayers, MPA, June 2014

Even with the intensity of their studies, Maxwell PAIA students are extremely active beyond the classroom.  Take for instance, one of our current Snow Fellows in Non-Profit Management, Amy Goodall-Ayers.  In February she was selected to present at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society in Baltimore, MD. Her presentation was on National Patterns in Community Initiatives.

ABSTRACT: National Patterns in Community Initiatives
We examine the growing role of community initiatives across the nation. This includes such enterprises as the Campaign for Grade Level reading, Promise Neighborhoods, Choice Neighborhoods and other programs meant to address intractable community problems (also known as wicked problems) such as poverty and failing schools. Specifically, we will examine the degree to which such community initiatives correspond with the level of social capital that a community displays. We hypothesize that communities with higher levels of social capital will be more likely to embark on such community initiatives and to form coalitions and other forms of civic collaborations. We do this by looking at a range of community initiatives across the country and how they correlate with an index of social capital measures.

Even with our programs running on a condensed calendar, each year I am amazed at the capacity of our students to take what they are learning well beyond the classroom.  Congratulations Amy!