Research Centers and Initiatives

CENTER FOR CHILDREN AND CHILDHOOD STUDIES
Myra Bluebond-Langner, Director

As the Center for Children and Childhood Studies is about to mark its third year, we take pride in many accomplishments. The Center received $292,750 in internal and external grants, from sources including the Johnson and Johnson Family of Companies, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Kurr Foundation, and Campbell’s Soup. We continued our seminar series in Childhood Studies for Center Associates as well as the Camden Campaign for Children’s Literacy. In addition, we offered the first regional seminar series and fellowship program in Childhood Studies, “Rethinking Childhood on the Twenty-First Century.” The first book in the Rutgers University Press series in Childhood Studies was published and four additional titles are under contract.

The Center organized an ongoing series of seminars at which the faculty discussed their research and solicited comments from colleagues. This year’s seminars included: Patrick Markey, “Behavioral Manifestations of the Five-Factor Model among Preadolescents;” Holly Blackford, “Beyond Identity Politics: How Girls Produce Meaning from Stories;” Naomi Marmorstein, “Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Psychopathology: Associations with Later Substance Abuse;” Charlotte Castro Markey, “Personality and Pubertal Development as Predictors of Girls; Health: Developmental Trends;” Dan Hart and Bob Atkins, “Youth Bulges: Do Large Cohorts of Children Endanger Civic Life?;” Joseph Barbarese, “The Secret Garden: A problem Text;” and Kathy Frame, “The effect of a support group on perceptions of scholastic competence, social acceptance and behavioral conduct in preadolescents diagnosed with ADHD.”

The Center organized a series of seven monthly seminars to bring together scholars from a variety of disciplines working in the area of childhood studies to discus their work and directions for future research. The theme of the series of 2002-2003 was “Rethinking Childhood in the Twenty-First Century.” The Center solicited junior and senior fellowship applications; fellowship recipients presented a paper on their current research. Senior Fellows included: David Rosen, Professor of Anthropology and Law, Farleigh Dickinson University, “Children at War: Cultural and Legal Models of the Role of Child Soldiers in Contemporary Warfare;” Enid Schildkrout, Division Chair and Curator of African Ethnology, American Museum of Natural History, “Children’s Art and Cultural Heritage;” and Annie Steinberg, Assistant Professor Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, “Should Legal Standards Dictate the Relevance of Attachment and Child Well Being? A Comparison of Child-Centered Decisions in the Child Welfare System and in Child Custody Disputes.” The Junior Fellows included: Cynthia Dell Clark, Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, Penn State University, “How Imagination Aids Children’s Coping: Ethnographic, Experimental and Clinical Evidence;” Cynthia Connolly, Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University School of Health and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, “Prevention through Detention: The Pediatric Tuberculosis Movement in the United States, 1909-1945;” and Sharon Hines Smith, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Rutgers University, “HIV/AIDS Affected Children Parented by Grandparents: Challenges Posed for Case Management.”

The Camden Campaign for Children’s Literacy (CCCL) has been designed to meet the needs of Camden’s children and families in the area of literacy. The Campaign recognizes that the first 1,000 days of a child’s life are critical to language development. The Center, in cooperation with the Camden community, works to address this challenge through six comprehensive initiatives. The CCCL provides collaborative, community-driven, child-focused programs that synthesize and extend literacy and educational resources on behalf of Camden’s children. Already, in less than two years, the CCCL has touched the lives of over 20,000 children and more than 5,000 adults. More specifically, through its various initiatives, the CCCL has brought together over fifty key stakeholders in the area of children’s literacy to assist in the development of its six key initiatives; strengthened established Reach Out and Read programs in Camden and provided assistance to new sites applying for national status; distributed over 30,000 new books and 3,000 gently used books; offered fifty-eight programs complete with storytellers, games, and arts and crafts projects in Camden libraries; conducted eighteen programs for parents and health care providers regarding the importance of reading to infants, toddlers, and preschoolers; and held thirty-eight childcare training seminars for home and center-based childcare workers. In addition, the CCCL has distributed an average of fifty books to each Camden childcare center as the start of their lending libraries; referred sixty-eight parents to local adult literacy training programs; and used a new approach to enroll children in Abbott preschool programs, increasing enrollment by 22% and providing important resources for the children as well as the city of Camden. Angela Connor-Morris, the coordinator of the CCCL, received the Literacy Volunteers of America Community Award in May 2003.

The Center plans to continue and extend these activities in the 2003-2004 academic year, combining academic inquiry with community activism to focus on the needs and experiences of children locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.

CENTER FOR STATE CONSTITUTIONAL STUDIES
Alan Tarr, Director

In 2002-2003, the Center expanded its international activities, also extending its presence in states across the country. Listed below are highlights of the Center’s year.

State Constitutions for the Twenty-First Century
The Center, with funding from the Ford Foundation, has continued its initiative in charting directions for the reform of American state constitutions. The Center has entered into a contract with SUNY Press for publication of the three volumes emanating from the project.

Global Dialogue on Federalism
The Center has been selected to serve as Theme Coordinator for “Constituional Origins, Structure and Change,” the first component of the Global Dialogue on Federalism. Sponsoring the Global Dialogue are the International Association of Centers for Federal Studies, of which the Center is a member, and the Forum of Federations, which is associated with the Canadian Government. The aim of this collaborative project is to promote solutions to common problems afflicting federal systems through interchange among officials and scholars from those countries. As part of this project, a series of books on comparative federalism will be published, with the first coedited by Alan Tarr, Director of the Center, in 2004.

Global Dialogue Conference
In March, 2003, the Center hosted a conference sponsored by the Forum of Federations in Philadelphia. Attending the conference were public officials and scholars from twelve federal democracies: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States. The conference was designed to stimulate discussion about constitutional arrangements in various federal systems and about alternative constitutional solutions for the problems confronting them.

Separation of Powers Conference
In December, 2002, the Center co-sponsored a one-day conference on the separation of powers under state constitutions. The event, held in Manchester, New Hampshire, attracted the state’s Governor, five New Hampshire Supreme Court justices, more than eighty members of the New Hampshire Legislature and members of the general public. It explored the meaning of the separation of powers under state constitutions, the inter-branch tensions that often accompany the separation of powers and the approaches that states have employed to mitigate inter-branch conflict.

American Constitutionalism Conference
In November, 2002, the Center hosted a conference on American constitutionalism and federalism, sponsored by the Forum of Federations. The conference, held at Rutgers University-Camden, included scholars, practitioners and youth from across the nation. Congressman Rob Andrews gave a luncheon address on constitutional federalism from the congressional perspective.

Lectures/Presentations
In November, 2002, Alan Tarr and Robert Williams, the Center’s Director and Associate Director, delivered a paper on “Subnational Constitutional Space: A View from the States, Provinces, Lander, and Cantons” at a meeting of the International Association of Centers for Federal Studies in Innsbruck, Austria.

In September, 2002, Alan Tarr delivered the keynote address, “The Montana Constitution in National Perspective”, at a conference in Missoula, Montana.

In August, 2002, Robert Williams lectured and led discussions on state constitutional law at the American Bar Association’s Appellate Judges Seminar in Stowe, Vermont.

In July, 2002, Robert Williams lectured and led discussions on state constitutional law at The Institute for Judicial Administration’s Seminar for Appellate Judges in New York City.

Publications: The Center for State Constitutional Studies (Greenwood Press) and “Subnational Constitutions” (Kluwer Law International). Between them, the Director and Associate Director of the Center published three books and five articles in legal periodicals in 2002-2003.

THE MID-ATLANTIC REGIONAL CENTER FOR THE HUMANITIES

Howard Gillette, Director

Working under the first full year of a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Rutgers-Camden’s regional center, in a partnership formed with Temple University, laid the foundations for activities intended to advance understanding and appreciation of the rich heritage of the Mid-Atlantic area. Charged with serving the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia as well as New Jersey, the center combined an aggressive electronic communications strategy with a range of training activities and public programs. Backed by its first substantial individual gifts, the center moved towards its goal of establishing an endowment to secure its long-term operation. Joining the History Department’s Howard Gillette, as the Rutgers-Camden director this past year, was the English Department’s Tyler Hoffman as associate director. Highlighting the year were:

Beyond the Liberty Bell: Charting Future Cultural Practice for the Greater Philadelphia Area
Drawing together scholars, curators, archivists, and community activists, this conference held in Philadelphia May 16th used the controversy surrounding the interpretation of the new Liberty Bell pavilion and the former site of the President’s Mansion at Independence National Historical Park to assess current modes of historical interpretation and to suggest new directions. At issue was the capacity to deal with difficult historical issues such as slavery in ways that are inclusive and accurate as well as engaging. A panel of experts, including Independence Park’s new superintendent, scholars, and community activists, pointed to a broader discussion of practice in South Jersey as well as Southeast Pennsylvania. Breakout sessions on such topics as advocacy, civic engagement, and research and marketing set an agenda for future dialogue. Center staff plan a report back to the larger community of public humanities scholars in the coming year.

People and Place Resource Guide
A central part of the regional center’s new web site launched this spring is a data base encompassing individual and organizational practice in the Mid-Atlantic states. Fully searchable, this powerful tool assists practitioners in a variety of fields to remain current with best practice in the region. Easily updated and capable of incorporating electronic links as well as images and attachments, this resource allows exchange of information and ideas without intervention of the center itself. Supplemented by case studies of especially exemplary innovations, the data bank provides a building block for planning future conferences and workshops around issues of mutual interest throughout the region. It can be accessed at www.march.rutgers.edu.

Training
Building strong ties to cultural organizations throughout the Mid-Atlantic advances the goal of providing first-rate public history programs in the region. Two years ago, as part of the planning process for the new center, Rutgers and Temple entered an agreement to share responsibility for staffing a series of courses in public practice, in museums, archives, and other associated cultural organizations. Students at both institutions take these classes with adjunct faculty and fill internships in area institutions as well as getting the proper grounding in American history and its applications on their own campuses. In addition, this year Rutgers-Camden offered the first teacher training workshops of their kind, directed especially at incorporating the region’s rich cultural resources into K-12 classroom practice. Topics covered the environment, literary sites such as the Whitman and Poe historic homes, ethnicity, and women’s history. Teachers remained in contact with their instructors after the courses as they developed lesson plans inspired by the sessions. These will be posted on the new web site for the use of other area teachers.

Public Programs
Since its inception, the regional center has worked with the Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts to develop programs around exhibits and programs. In the past year, the regional center supported a talk by Rutgers’s Michael Rockland on the history of the New Jersey Turnpike in association with an exhibit on the same topic. The two organizations also participated together on plans for a series of exhibits scheduled to open across New Jersey in the spring of 2004 on the state’s ethnic diversity. The regional center also supported Loraine Cary as the keynote speaker at the campus’s annual writers conference. Cary’s historical novel, The Price of a Child, about reactions to slavery in Philadelphia, was used as common reading for Philadelphia’s “One City, One Book” experiment in developing a common reading program. The center also hosted Harvard University’s Lizabeth Cohen, to speak about her new book about post-war consumer culture based in large part on the New Jersey experience.

CENTER FOR STRATEGIC URBAN COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP
Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, Director

During 2002-2003, the Center continued to focus its efforts in six areas: PreK–16 initiatives/program development; leadership training programs; advocacy and policy analysis; research/academic innovations; grantsmanship/development; and scholarly activities. It concentrated its efforts on three major initiatives: the Rutgers/LEAP initiative, the development and sponsorship of new leadership and professional development programs, and the development of a graduate Educational Policy and Leadership track within the graduate program in Public Policy and Administration. The Center received $3,926,267 in grants from private and governmental sources, including the Camden Board of Education; the New Jersey Departments of Community Affairs, Education, and Human Services; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the United Stated Department of Education; the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; the Fund for New Jersey; the Knight Foundation; and the New Jersey Council on the Arts. At its annual fundraising gala, the Center raised $485,000, including $225,000 in Commerce Bank shares awarded by Vernon Hill, the Leadership Award recipient.

The staff of the Center grew during the year to accommodate new program needs generated by grants and initiatives. Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, a Distinguished Service Professor with the Department of Public Policy and Administration, founded and directs the Center. The Center has twenty-four full-time employees, making it one of the largest units supported by external funds on the campus.

In partnership with the Camden Board of Education, the CSUCL planned and established the Leadership Academy for Principals and the new track in the MPA program. This joint effort is part of the Board of Education’s improvement plan and will contribute significantly to the transformation of the district’s schools into high performing schools. The initiative has been endorsed by the Commissioner of Education and is an important component of the district’s Title I and Title II plans. The Educational Policy and Leadership track will train a cohort of fifteen individuals currently working in the Camden school district, who have shown the potential and motivation to assume the responsibilities of a school principal; they will be trained during a two year program of coursework, mentoring, and internship experiences. The Leadership Academy for Principals will target thirty-four principals to provide school administrators with the capacity, skills, and knowledge to provide leadership in PreK–12 schools and other educational settings.

The Rutgers/LEAP Initiative continued to expand its programs. LEAP Academy University Charter Schools now serves 648 students in grades PreK through 10th grade. Plans are underway for breaking ground on a permanent facility to open at 6th and Cooper Streets in Spring 2005. Through the Rutgers Centers of Excellence, the Center for Strategic Urban Community Leadership was successful in securing funding for a variety of programs to support the LEAP Academy, including: a contract to operate a full-day pre-school program for 3 and 4 year olds in the lower level of the LEAP Academy through the Abbott legislation; the Rutgers/LEAP Even Start Family Literacy Program, which provides early childhood education, adult literacy and basic skills and parenting education to families and children at the LEAP Academy; Institute for Academic Placement and Excellence, designed to prepare 8th through 12th grade students to pass the Advanced Placement examination in key curricular areas, as well as prepare them for the rigors of higher education and for professional career opportunities; the services offered by our Health Center and to expand services under the areas of prenatal care and mental health services.

Central to the Rutgers/LEAP Initiative is the efforts for replication of best practices for teaching and parent engagement into schools in Camden City and other states. Through the replication efforts, the Center is engaging other partners and practitioners in a public discourse and national dialogue about collaboration and partnership building to improve urban education. These efforts are also being discussed internationally through the development of partnerships with institutions in Cuba and South Africa. Last year, the Center met with the University of Havana officials to begin formalizing projects for academic exchanges of faculty and students. In addition, the Center hosted a delegation from the Ministry of Education in South Africa, who visited for a week-long Institute. Programs under this initiative include the Teacher Development and Performance Institute, the Institute of Best Practices and Innovations in Urban Education, and the Early Childhood Literacy Initiative.

The efforts of the Rutgers/LEAP Initiative have created many opportunities for inter-disciplinary, inter-campus, and inter-institutional collaboration. Rutgers students are actively involved in the LEAP Academy through academic internships and fellowships. Through the LEAP Honors Internship and the Urban Practicum of the Teacher Preparation Program, Rutgers students observe, tutor, and mentor elementary and high school age students in the classroom, while learning new strategies. Under the leadership of Professor Robert Williams and Traci Overton, the School of Law coordinates the School Based Law Clinic and provides classroom projects for students to enhance their knowledge about legal and constitutional issues. Faculty and students from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey are also engaged as partners with the Center. Through a unique collaborative effort, UMDNJ supports the Health and Human Services Centers and provides the time of a Family Practitioner to provide medical supervision to our Nurse Practitioner and Midwife. Medical students complete internship rotations at the LEAP Health Center, as well as engage in specialized programs such as the HOP Clinic, a free clinic for LEAP families who are uninsured.

Leadership and professional development programs bring together a diverse group of individuals in leadership positions in order to provide them with training in professional and organizational skills through the South Jersey Regional Leadership Institute, while the Latino Leaders Fellowship Institute provides opportunities for training and experiential learning to Latino college students, while encouraging them to pursue policy level positions in New Jersey, where Latinos represent the second largest majority.

The Center Director, Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago has continued to serve the state as a policy expert for various programs and initiatives, including amendments to the charter schools law and the administrative code governing charter schools. Dr. Santiago’s work in the area of policy analysis and development included development of legislative proposals, formulation and implementation of legislative strategies, preparation and presentation of expert testimony, and, technical assistance in the amendment and implementation process.

SENATOR WALTER RAND INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Richard Harris, Director

For the period of July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003 the Walter Rand Institute (WRI) significantly expanded its research and public service activities in the areas of regional/community development and non-profit technical assistance, while maintaining its commitment to providing research support to Rutgers-Camden faculty and applied research and professional development experiences to graduate and undergraduate students on campus. We also have begun to provide significant assistance to municipalities, drawing on the resources of the MPA program and the Forum for Policy Research. The WRI attracted approximately $1.5 million in new grants from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, the New Jersey Office of Attorney General, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. In addition, the Institute raised $36,000 in scholarships for our students at our annual Celebration of South Jersey Fundraiser at which we honored as South Jerseyans of the Year: Ambassador William Hughes, U.S. Representative Frank LoBiondo, and N.J. State Senator Wayne Bryant. WRI also regularized its annual state funding in the Rutgers system at the level of $175,000.

These successes have allowed us to support thirteen students (ten graduates and three undergraduates) to work on various research and public service projects. We also continue to fund three Walter Rand Faculty Fellowships ($4,000 each), the 2002-03 three awards going to Dr. Jeffrey Dorwart (History), Dr. Patrice Mareschal (Public Policy & Administration), and Dr. Chester Spell (Business).

On the regional/community development front, the WRI is completing its DCA-funded smart growth project for Camden County (the Camden HUB Plan) and is in the process of working with the 14 participating municipalities and the County Improvement Authority to identify specific projects consistent with the Plan and worthy of state funding. Based on our experience with this project we have reached agreement with Atlantic County to provide the public participation component for their smart growth plan. In a larger, regional context, the WRI is extending its study of development in the seven southern counties of the state by developing a GIS-based forecasting model; this effort builds on our linear projection model completed last year. The WRI also served as the lead unit on a successful Rutgers-Camden community development grant of $450,000 with Wachovia (First Union) Bank to open a community development office in the Fairview neighborhood of Camden and develop a neighborhood plan for the community. Finally, the Institute was awarded a $137,000 contract with the Camden County United Way to provide a strategic assessment of the County’s assets and social service needs, the final report to serve as a planning tool for the United Way to make better funding decisions.

This year, the WRI has been awarded two major grants from the State to assist the City of Camden. The first is a $420,000 grant for phase I of a project to help build the governmental capacity of the City, define positions and hire nonpartisan staff for City Council, analyze the City’s information technology and organizational systems. In this effort four MPA professors (Drs. Bonilla-Santiago, Brenner, Garnett, and Gramby-Sobukwe) and several graduate students are working with senior WRI staff. Phase two of the project will be to implement a four-year training and development program for the City In addition, the Institute will receive a $99,000 grant from the State Attorney General’s Office to serve as the facilitator/convener for a Camden program in a statewide project, Safe Cities. The project brings together all elements of the law enforcement community and nonprofit leaders to better define underlying public safety issues and develop customized initiative to address them. In this project we will be drawing on the expertise of a Criminal Justice professor, Dr. Drew Humphries, and funding a Criminal Justice student.

On the non-profit development front, our major activities were derived from a variety of sources designed to increase the capacity of non-profit organizations in Camden and southern New Jersey. Under the stewardship of Dr. Deborah D. Wright, the unit’s on-going relationship with the Annie E. Casey Foundation resulted in an expanded role from convener and facilitator of the Camden Asset Building Coalition (CABC) to co-site coordinator for the overall Camden asset development campaign. The CABC represents a collaboration of key Camden non-profit organizations, financial institutions and the Internal Revenue Service to promote financial literacy, earned income and other tax credits, free tax preparation and asset development for low income Camden families. In addition, we established fee-for-service contracts with several non-profit organizations, such as American Community Partnerships, Catholic Charities, Aids Coalition of Southern New Jersey and New Jersey Department of Human Services, to provide grant development, training, longitudinal program assessments, program evaluations, executive coaching and related services. The unit increased its collaboration with other University offices and departments, such as the Provost’s Office and the Department of Public Policy and Administration (for the purposes of increased service and funding opportunities through grants and coordination of the International Public Service and Development community placements, respectively). Finally, the non-profit development unit continued to deliver the Rand Roundtable and related non-profit capacity development services to Camden’s non-profit community. At the close of the fiscal year, the unit established active training and technical assistance relationships with approximately 100 non-profit organizations.