From Our Blog, Ripples & Wipeouts
Our friend Amy Krentzman recently published her doctoral dissertation on an intriguing topic, spirituality and racial differences in alcoholism treatment outcomes between blacks and whites. We summarize Amy’s study here. You may download a pdf of the complete article from Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly by clicking on the link below. Please use appropriate citations if you quote from or reference the article.
The Study
In the alcoholism treatment field, the health and socioeconomic disparities between black and white patients at intake suggests that blacks will fare more poorly than whites. However, in a randomized control trial designed by Project MATCH — a multisite clinical trial of alcohol treatment — blacks and whites achieved equivalent drinking outcomes. Using the Project MATCH Public Use Data Set, Amy R. Krentzman explored religiousness and spirituality as strengths in the African American community that may account in part for the favorable drinking outcomes. Krentzman’s study hypothesizes that as spirituality and religiousness increase, blacks will be more likely to achieve favorable drinking outcomes than whites. Krentzman,_Farkas,_Townsend_2010.pdf
It is well established that the mainstream print media industry has its share of challenges keeping its audience during this mass transition to digital publishing. We were curious to know how this is playing out in the realm of nonprofit and industry-specific media, such as The Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE) and The Chronicle of Philanthropy (CoP) both of which are required reading at Make Waves. CHE/COP Publisher, Mireille Grangenois, shared some of her views on that and other trends with Make Waves partner, Joan Grangenois-Thomas, her sister.
Previous Entries
view archives|rss- Personal Branding in Social MediaMay 08, 2010
- On LeadershipMar 30, 2010
- Gender Studies Conference at The New SchoolMar 02, 2010
What We're Reading
My interest in Haiti shouldn’t be a surprise to regular visitors to this site. If you’re a new visitor, read my blog from September 2008. At that time, Haiti had been pummeled by back to back hurricanes. The topography had been decimated by years of stripping and as a result the impact of these storms was even harsher. Adding insult to injury, the stripping of trees was a survival tactic. The trees and the charcoal that was made from them were the only products many Haitians had to sell at market. The very thing that helped them feed their families killed them or left them with even less than they had prior to the storms.
I was at a loss as to what I could do to help. Fast forward two years and on January 12, 2010, Haiti was struck by a massive earthquake. Shortly thereafter, I began meeting with some people who I knew were connected to an Episcopal church that was doing a lot of work in Haiti building schools. We talked about how we could keep Haiti at top of mind once the telethons were over and the news cameras left. A member of this group recommended that I read Tracy Kidder’s book to help me understand the conditions there.
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SmartTransportation.org
SmartTransportation.org, a coalition of nonprofits dedicated to increasing awareness and availability of green transportation in the U.S., retained MAKE WAVES to help garner media attention for the coalition’s role in securing Mayor Bloomberg’s new mandate for New York City’s ‘black cars’ to transition to low-emissions vehicles. (Black cars are hired, private limos.) MAKE WAVES was asked to create a comprehensive outreach plan to include all New York City media and national progressive outlets.