Lead Contacts     |     Issue Focus     |     Pilot Project Plan     |     Timeline     |     Progress Reports

 

 

Lead Contacts

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• Judy Owens-Manley, Associate Director for Community Research, The Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center, Hamilton College |  phone 315-859-4486
• Steve Ellingson, Associate Professor of Sociology, Hamilton College  phone 315-859-4876, sellings@hamilton.edu
• Jordan Davis, AmeriCorps VISTA Project Coordinator, Hamilton College  Phone 315-859-4899, jordan.p.davis@gmail.com

 

link to Hamilton College profile on Bonner Network Wiki

 

Issue Focus

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• International Issues: Refugees and Immigrants
• Environment and Natural Resources
• Youth Development

 

 

Progress Reports

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• Course Implementation Profile
• Semi-Annual Progress Reports
  • April 1, 2009 Progress Report
  • August 15, 2009 Progress Report
  • December 15, 2009 Progress Report
  • June 1, 2010 Progress Report

 

 

Pilot Project Plan

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1. Background

 

Hamilton College has strong partnerships in the community with local and regional government organizations and not-for-profit agencies.  We have Bonner Leaders currently who work in approximately 12 different agencies, several hundred students who volunteer, and more than 100 students each semester who participate in agencies each semester as a part of service-learning courses.  We were instrumental in starting a 501(c)3 in the Greater Utica area, Oneida County Communities That Care, a coalition of agencies that has served in an advisory capacity for our community-based work.  For this specific policy options work, we intend to establish a separate advisory committee with the engaged faculty and targeted community members such as the Director of the Refugee Center, the President of the Mohawk Valley Latino Association, the Director of Urban Renewal for the City of Utica, and others.

 

 

2. Student Engagement

 

A student hired for the spring semester this year will begin background research to support courses that can then alter their content or structure to join forces with our PolicyOptions Initiative.  We have worked in the past with local, regional and state government eg. the Cities of Utica and Rome, Oneida County Planning Department, the Oneida Lake Association, and several departments with the State of New York.  

 

Students will research be expected to publish their findings using the PolicyOptions.org website and to provide support for any local forums, conferences, or publications that result from this initiative.  We will encourage students to submit articles for Insights: The Best of Undergraduate Social Science Research, a Levitt Center-sponsored journal for Hamilton students or possibly publish a “special issue” on policy options. 

 

 

3. Faculty Engagement

 

Hamilton College has a close and productive partnership with the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees.  Judy Owens-Manley is past Board member and past President, and we have had a very successful service-learning project with them for the past 6 years.  A Bonner Leader is also placed at the Refugee Center.  Plans are being made with the Director of the Refugee Center, Peter Vogelaar to begin a policy options initiative with the spring semester through GOVT 202: Immigrants and Refugees in the U.S.  Mr. Vogelaar particularly requested our input in his role as a Regional Consultant with LIRS (Lutheran Immigration Refugee Services.)  LIRS is being asked to prepare issue briefs for the incoming administration in Washington D.C.  

 

In addition, another Government course, The Politics of Place, that will be taught in the Fall of 2009, will also focus on policy options and the impact of the implementation of policy on refugees and immigrants to the U.S. We are interested in the idea of hosting a conference, along with our local refugee center, to feature the work that has been done at the close of this grant, and this writer is working with our Development office on a idea to develop a radio podcast or radio broadcast on the issues facing refugee resettlement and immigration today.  

 

4. Deliberative Democracy Forum

 

What ideas or opportunities do you have for engaging in a deliberative democracy forum (e.g., issue forum, working group, or something similar)?

 

The Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees holds monthly forums on topics relevant to refugee resettlement locally, nationally, and internationally.  We agreed to provide the content for a monthly forum in the spring.  In addition, the students in GOVT 202 will host a "Think Tank" in the Levitt Center or another public forum to present the results of their podcasts and issue briefs in the spring.  

 

Update Fall '09  —  These two events did not happen, and a "Think Tank" scheduled for November had to be canceled.  A Think Tank event will be scheduled early in the spring semester. 

 

5. Editorial/Advisory Board 

 

Please describe how you would organize and who you would involve on your local PolicyOptions.org Editorial/Advisory Board?  What department or center will "house" your local PolicyOptions.org initiative?

 

The Levitt Center will house the PolicyOptions.org initiative and will include the Director of the Refugee Center, Peter Vogelaar; Alan Cafruny, Govt. Professor and past president of the Board of Directors of MVRCR; Stephen Lockwood, local attorney and past president of the Board of Directors of MVRCR; Judy Owens-Manley, Associate Director of the Levitt Center and past president of the Board of Directors of MVRCR; Edward Walker, Christian A. Johnson Distinguished Professor of Global Political Theory and former U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Israel; Gary Wyckoff, Professor of Public Policy and Hamilton College students.

 

Update Fall '09  — The Advisory Board has not come together in a meeting and will be unlikely to do so now.  

 

 

Timeline

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Spring 2009

• Pilot course on Immigrants and Refugees in the U.S. taught by Owens-Manley to begin draft issue briefs. 
  • Government 202: Immigrants and Refugees in the U.S.
    • Just concluded and a website with podcasts completed by three students is ready to be viewed at http://academics.hamilton.edu/s09refpod/.  The links have not been made to the PolicyOptions page yet because that is not quite completed; but, upon completion, those links will be included on the website.  Issue briefs completd are on behalf of the Mohawk VAlley  Resource Center for Refugees.
      • Refugee Resettlement - USA
      • Refugee Resettlement - New York
      • Refugee Resettlement - Utica, NY
• Presentation by students in the community and/or on campus
  • Think Tank scheduled for spring 2010.
  • Student is hired and will begin on June 1. for summer. She is a world politics major and very enthusiastic about the project.  Job description will include:
    • supplementing existing issue briefs on refugrees and immigrants
    • adding to podcast website
    • working with faculty to build groundwork for Fall courses.  
  • In addition, Isabelle will link with Refugee Center and our current projects there to:
    • provide local data for Utica issue brief
    • outreach to the neighborhood center and BOCES, two other agencies working with local refugees.

 

Summer 2009

• Summer intern planning for fall courses on Environment and another course on immigrants/refugees. Student further developed wiki on refugee resettlement and researched issues on emerging problem for 17-20 year-old refugees who are not funded to attend Adult Education ESOL classes.  In Utica, they are in a special ESOL class (full day) and summer classes are offered, but they are isolated from the regular body of high school students, and they will not receive a high school degree.  This will be the policy focus for the fall.  Isabelle will work as a Bonner Leader this year and complete policy work on this issue. 
• Complete work from spring semester 
• Meet with policy group and plan targets for next year. 
• This group was scheduled to meet once and has not yet met due to cancelations.
• Planning for faculty to incorporate policy options for 2 courses
• Both courses planned for fall were rescheduled for a later date due to faculty members being given other responsibilities.   However, the Environmental policy wiki will be developed through a project with a sociologist at Hamilton who does research on Religious Environmentalism.  This project is beginning Sept. 09 and will be a multi-year project. Main issue areas are Climate Change, Wilderness Preservation, Environmental Health Toxins, and Food/Sustainable Agriculture. 

 

Fall 2009

• Hosted Community-Based Research Roundtable
  • We hosted a Community-Based Research Roundtable on Friday, Nov 6.    
• Implement two courses
  • One course implemented.  The second course, on environmental issues, pulled from schedule due to insufficient faculty and need to teach basic courses.  Faculty instead instituted project on environmental issues, and one student hired to do policy options portion of a larger proposed project on religious environmentalism. 
  • Work is being done on the Youth Development issue through our AmeriCorps VISTA worker and the Bonner Leaders, specifically looking at after-school programming for area youth.
• Hire student for fall semester
  • Student, Isabelle Van Hook, continued from summer internship to work through fall on refugee resettlement issues, focused now on 17-20 year-old transition.
• Hire Bonner Leader to replace Bonner at Refugee Center
  • Isabelle Van Hook playing dual role with refugee work as Bonner and policy options work.
• Work with Pulitzer Center for speaker on campus to support courses.
  • New Levitt Center Director does not support journalist as invited speakers.  Working with student to become Pulitzer campus liaison.  Working to engage other faculty interest.
• Select Campus Liaison for Pulitzer Center and create venue or forum for his/her work.
  • In process and not complete.

 

Spring 2010

• Implement two courses. 
• Hire student for spring if not continuing from fall.
• Work with Pulitzer Center for speaker on campus to support courses. 
• Create venue for Campus Liaison to present work