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Press Kit and Resources
The following information answers
frequently asked questions
about the Institute on Family
and Neighborhood Life. Additionally,
summaries of our current projects
and grants are included. If
you have general questions
about the Institute, please
call 864.656.6271 and a staff
member will help direct your
call. If you are a media representative,
please call Kerry Coffey, Director
of Public Information at 864.656.0312.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
ABOUT THE
Institute on Family and Neighborhood
Life
WHAT
IS OUR MISSION?
WHO
ARE WE?
WHAT
IS OUR RELATION TO CLEMSON UNIVERSITY?
HOW
ARE WE FUNDED?
WHAT
ARE OUR PRINCIPAL AREAS OF STUDY?
WHAT
DO WE DO?
HOW
ARE WE ORGANIZED?
WHAT
IS OUR RELATION TO THE GOLDEN STRIP
FAMILY AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER?
WHO
ADVISES US?
WHAT
ARE THE CURRENT PROJECTS AND GRANTS OF THE INSTITUTE ON FAMILY
AND NEIGHBORHOOD LIFE?
WHAT IS OUR MISSION?
IFNL's mission
is to generate, share, and
apply the knowledge needed to strengthen ties between families
and communities. We
believe that help is most acceptable,
efficient, and effective when
it is "built in," so that it is a part of everyday
life. Therefore, we are interested in the everyday experience
of children, youth, and adults in neighborhood institutions, such
as schools, workplaces, religious organizations, civic organizations,
and courts. We seek to provide the knowledge necessary to enable
those institutions to ensure respect for individual dignity, enhance "natural" social
assistance, build a sense of community, promote civic participation,
and foster family and neighborhood responsibility. We also strive
to understand ways that public policy supports or hinders families
and neighborhoods in these tasks and to offer alternatives that
foster the creation of neighborly ("family-friendly")
communities.
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WHO ARE WE?
Approximately
30 professionals are members
of IFNL's faculty or staff (exclusive of graduate assistants).
We are issue-centered,
not discipline-based in our approach.
We never recruit new faculty
members by discipline, and we do not organize our work in such
a manner. Several faculty members
have formal education in multiple
disciplines, and all are interdisciplinary—non-disciplinary
may be a better descriptor—in their work. The graduate education
of our faculty and professional
staff has been in diverse fields:
agriculture, communications, counseling, education, foreign affairs,
gerontology, law, nursing, psychology,
public health, public policy,
religion, social work, and sociology.
The faculty and staff are
also diverse in ethnicity (approximately
20% minorities), and most of
the faculty have substantial international experience.
Several of our faculty have received prestigious national awards
for distinguished public service and scholarship. Even more have
served as officers of national and international professional
organizations.
This point is illustrated by the accomplishments of the Institute's
principal administrators. IFNL Director Gary Melton recently completed
seven years as president of Childwatch International, a global
network of child research centers. He is now president of the
American Orthopsychiatric Association (the principal multidisciplinary
organization of mental health professionals), and he is a past
president of the American Psychology-Law Society and the American
Psychological Association (APA) Division of Child, Youth, and
Family Services. The author of approximately 300 publications,
he has received distinguished contribution awards for public service
from APA (twice), two of its divisions, the American Psychological
Foundation, Psi Chi, and Prevent Child Abuse America. His work
has been cited by U.S. courts at all levels, and he has served
on faculties in education, law, pediatrics, psychiatry, psychology,
and women's studies.
Associate Director Susan Limber is the 2004 recipient of APA's
Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public
Interest and a former recipient of the American Psychology-Law
Society's Saleem Shah Award for early career contributions. She
is also chair of the APA Committee on Children, Youth, and Families.
Limber's work on prevention of bullying has been independently
placed on lists of exemplary programs by agencies in the U.S.
Departments of Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services.
Consistent with Clemson's goal to increase international activities,
IFNL is a Key Institution in Childwatch International. It is also
the founding center in the Global Network for Family and Community
Studies. Formal collaboration agreements are in place with universities
in the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, South
Africa, and Thailand. Leading faculty from these institutions,
among others (for example, universities in India, Israel, and
Norway), are active collaborators in IFNL's work. In 2004-05,
we will host a distinguished visiting professor from Hebrew University
in Jerusalem; we expect to continue an annual international fellowship
insofar as funding (primarily from external sources) permits.
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WHAT IS OUR RELATION TO CLEMSON
UNIVERSITY?
IFNL is a Public Service Activity of Clemson University. The
Institute's director reports to the Vice President for Public
Service and Agriculture. A leader in Clemson's expansion of public
service, sponsored research, and international programs, IFNL
is a major contributor to studies of Family and Community Living,
one of the University's eight emphasis areas.
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HOW ARE WE FUNDED?
For every dollar of state funds appropriated for Clemson University
for IFNL, five dollars are generated in gifts, contracts, and
grants, mostly from private foundations and federal agencies.
Although a small percentage of the Institute's budget comes from
state appropriations to Clemson University, it is critical to
the Institute's ability to generate the external funds and to
serve the people of South Carolina. It serves as match for grants,
it provides the faculty time needed to generate the external funds,
and it enables participation in activities that are not directly
grant-supported. The amount that IFNL directly transfers to community
organizations in South Carolina through subcontracts and subgrants
substantially exceeds the state funds that IFNL itself receives
through Clemson University.
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WHAT ARE OUR PRINCIPAL AREAS
OF STUDY?
In Clemson
University's quest to become
one of the Top 20 public universities in the United States,
units have been encouraged
to identify niches in which they
are or soon can become world-class.
In that regard, IFNL's distinguished International Advisory
Council
has concluded that "IFNL is becoming a national and international
leader in building models that
are sustainable in the real world
and transportable across communities and social issues."
The Council further noted that our most important niche may
be our approach, which is distinctive. We are both basic and applied,
both humanistic and scientific. Almost uniformly, our initiatives
consist of:• legal,
philosophical, and theological analysis to identify matters
of central concern,
- the generation of policy
alternatives for examination,
- the collection of data
to support
decision making, and
- collaboration with community
leaders to
create systems of support for family life.
The Council also identified
four niche areas of
study in which IFNL has achieved
substantial
national and international
recognition:
- the roles of
primary
community organizations
(e.g.,
churches; schools) in building
social
capital
("wealth" in
relationships),
fostering informed
civic engagement,
and strengthening
democracy;
- the
importance of law in facilitating
the development and sustainability of community assets;
- the
psychological meaning and
importance of human rights, especially as they protect
relationships
important in
family life and child
development;
- international
studies of child and family policy and application of insights
from
diverse societies
to programs
and policies to
strengthen families
and communities.
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WHAT DO WE DO?
With scores of grants and contracts received
since the Institute's inception in 1999,
the projects
implemented by IFNL are too numerous
to list. Among
the largest initiatives that the Institute
is currently undertaking are the following:
- STRONG COMMUNITIES, a long-term
effort supported by The Duke
Endowment (currently $1.4
million per year) to
design, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive effort
to prevent child abuse and neglect
in communities in southern Greenville County and adjoining sections of Anderson
and Laurens counties;
- The Rural Communities Compassion
Fund, a grant from the U.S. Administration for Children
and Families to provide
subgrants and technical assistance to faith- and community-based organizations
in South Carolina;
- Federally funded community
coalitions in Chesterfield and Sumter
counties for prevention of substance abuse
and violence;
- With funding by various
federal agencies, adaptation,
evaluation, replication, and national
dissemination of the
Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, originally developed in Scandinavia;
- With federal funds administered
by the South Carolina
Department of Social Services, a statewide
effort to revitalize
child care through the South Carolina Task Force on Quality Early
Care and Education.
As a general rule, the Institute
does not undertake demonstration
projects,
as that
term is usually
understood. Instead, IFNL works
to create sustainable
systems that build on existing
community assets.
Further, the Institute gives
substantial attention to
ensuring that information
is brought to communities
in easily accessible
and useable form. Hence,
not only does IFNL make considerable
use of mass media (e.g.,
op-eds;
a weekly public radio segment;
video conferences),
but we also build on research
on diffusion of knowledge
to make effective
and efficient
use of local,
state,
and national issue networks—in
effect, capitalizing on word
of mouth.
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HOW ARE WE ORGANIZED?
The Institute consists of five
centers: the Center for Neighborhood
Development
(Kathleen
Wilson,
director); the Center for Youth
Participation and Human
Rights (Susan Limber, director);
the National Center on Rural
Justice and
Crime Prevention
(Robin Kimbrough-Melton, director);
the Southeastern Center for Family
Support
and Parent Leadership
(James McDonell, director);
the South Carolina
Center
for Grassroots and Nonprofit
Leadership (Richard Campbell,
director). Building
on research
on learning
organizations, IFNL has a flat
organizational structure,
with most faculty and staff reporting
directly to the Institute director.
The centers
provide organizing themes for
programmatic development; they
are not
collections of people. The center
directors are leaders in building
the relevant
programs of research
and public service.
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WHAT IS OUR RELATION TO THE GOLDEN STRIP FAMILY AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
CENTER?
A United Way agency, the Golden
Strip Center is a model family
resource center
serving
families
in southern Greenville County.
Building on the
work of individual
volunteers, voluntary organizations,
and education, health, and social
service agencies,
the Center
is directed by an IFNL Extension
associate,
Linda Smith,
and governed by a volunteer board,
with facilities provided by the
Greenville
County Schools.
The Center is the base for the
STRONG COMMUNITIES initiative,
and it serves as a site for other
externally supported projects
generated by IFNL
faculty, who have been
partners in setting
the vision for the
Center since
its inception.
In several other communities,
IFNL has worked in a sustained
way to
generate
external funding
and
to apply state-of-the-art
principles for community
development to assist local residents
in leveraging resources for community
development.
For example, IFNL currently has
multiple grant
projects in each of the following
counties: Anderson, Beaufort,
Chesterfield, Colleton, Georgetown,
Greenville,
Greenwood, Hampton, Jasper, Spartanburg,
and Sumter counties.
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WHO ADVISES US?
IFNL regularly invites external
review and consultation.
Two bodies—international
and state advisory councils—provide
this service on an ongoing
basis, with periodic site
visits. Particular
projects
include additional structures
for consultation and evaluation.
Chaired by Janis Jacobs, vice-provost
for undergraduate studies and
international programs at The
Pennsylvania
State University,
the International Advisory
Council consists of a distinguished
panel of academicians who are
experienced in
the policy arena. Among the eight
members are
the past
rector (president) of the University
of
Oslo, the psychosocial advisor
for the Christian
Children's Fund,
the executive director of the
Child Welfare League
of America, and the principal
investigator in the landmark
Harvard Project
of Human Development
in Chicago
Neighborhoods. The IAC provides
expert assistance in the Institute's
academic
development.
The State Advisory Council facilitates
the implementation of IFNL's
work in communities in South
Carolina
and the broader
Southeastern region.
Chaired
by Frank Wideman, president of
the Self
Family
Foundation, the SAC consists
of 12 members who are leaders
in business,
education,
law, the mass media,
and state and local government.
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WHAT
ARE THE CURRENT PROJECTS AND
GRANTS OF THE INSTITUTE ON
FAMILY AND NEIGHBORHOOD LIFE?
Strong
Communities
South Carolina Rural Communities
Compassion Project
Olweus Bullying Prevention
National Bullying Prevention
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