COLL 210: Foundations of Service Learning

"In Twenty Years of Life, Suzanne Bohan exposes the disturbing flip side of the American dream: your health is largely determined by your zip code. The strain of living in a poor neighborhood, with sub-par schools, lack of parks, fear of violence, few to no healthy food options, and the stress of unpaid bills is literally taking years off people's lives. The difference in life expectancy between wealthy and distressed neighborhoods can be as much as twenty years. Bohan chronicles a bold experiment to challenge this inequity. The California Endowment, one of the nation's largest health foundations, is upending the old-school, top-down charity model and investing $1 billion over ten years to help distressed communities advocate for their own interests. This new approach to community change draws on the latent political power of residents and is driving reform both locally and in the state's legislative chambers. If it can work in fourteen of California's most challenging and diverse communities, it has the potential to work anywhere in the country."

"Moral Laboratories is an engaging ethnography and a groundbreaking foray into the anthropology of morality. It takes us on a journey into the lives of African American families caring for children with serious chronic medical conditions, and it foregrounds the uncertainty that affects their struggles for a good life. Challenging depictions of moral transformation as possible only in moments of breakdown or in radical breaches from the ordinary, it offers a compelling portrait of the transformative powers embedded in day-to-day existence. From soccer fields to dinner tables, the everyday emerges as a moral laboratory for reshaping moral life. Cheryl Mattingly offers vivid and heart-wrenching stories to elaborate a first-person ethical framework, forcefully showing the limits of third-person renderings of morality."

"As the great American work-benefit experiment erodes, companies are increasingly asking people to take responsibility for managing their own health. There's no question work and health are intertwined. But what effect does an intensely productive, globally connected, high-tech work environment have on a population largely entrusted with overseeing their own health needs? In California's Silicon Valley, a distinctive and medically diverse health culture has emerged. Being and Well-Being explores this health culture, detailing the biomedical, countercultural, and immigrant-based beliefs and practices that shape ideas about working, care-giving, and what it means to be healthy."

"Post examines how coalitions build power in the policymaking arena. She focuses on interorganizational partnerships, internal capacity building, and claims-making, and shows that multi-organizational alliances can be intermediary mechanisms for promoting interests and realizing political gains. With case studies from Massachusetts and California between 2004 and 2007, Post investigates how statewide, health policy coalitions incorporate immigrant interests in organizing strategies for policy change. The analysis supports a theoretical framework of how mediating institutions can facilitate the incorporation of interests in a broader policy context. This framework may serve as a practical guide for immigrant-based and community organizations interested in strengthening their capacity for policy change and political action."

"Health literacy is the degree to which individuals can obtain, process, and understand the basic health information and services they need to make appropriate health decisions. According to Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion (IOM, 2004), nearly half of all American adults-90 million people-have inadequate health literacy to navigate the healthcare system. To address issues raised in that report, the Institute of Medicine convened the Roundtable on Health Literacy, which brings together leaders from the federal government, foundations, health plans, associations, and private companies to discuss challenges facing health literacy practice and research and to identify approaches to promote health literacy in both the public and private sectors. On November 30, 2010, the roundtable cosponsored a workshop with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles. Improving Health Literacy Within a State serves as a summary of what occurred at the workshop. The workshop focused on understanding what works to improve health literacy across a state, including how various stakeholders have a role in improving health literacy. The focus of the workshop was on presentations and discussions that address (1) the clinical impacts of health literacy improvement approaches; (2) economic outcomes of health literacy implementation; and (3) how various stakeholders can affect health literacy."

"By drawing on the experience of trans people who are affected by physical disability, chronic illness and mental illness, this book is the definitive guide on providing best practise in approaches to health and care policy.Suggesting solutions to areas where understanding and care provision is poor, Kermode gives advice on topics such as transitioning with a disability, sex-specific service provision and fertility and reproduction. The book also examines how health and care professionals can adapt to cater for transgender and non-binary people's needs and can support those who must use health services due to their condition.Written in an accessible and comprehensive manner, Supporting Transgender and Non-Binary People with Disabilities or Illnesses is an essential guide for practitioners in health and social care positions."

"Pediatric Collections offers what you need to know - original, focused research in a snapshot approach.Youths who are negatively affected by social determinants of health suffer adverse effects like increased risks of chronic health conditions and mental health issues. Part 1 of this series describes many underserved communities and the various ways their status affects their health. Members of these vulnerable communities include foster children, runaway youths, immigrants, Black, Latinx, Native American, and other children from minority racial groups, LGBTQ+ youths, and children living in poverty. This collection describes the challenges faced by each of these populations and how that adversity shapes their present and future health."