due in 16 hours

 Guided Response: Challenge your peers on how they would have approached the case from a different planning perspective. Ask probing questions. 

Prescriptive Approaches

Prescriptive approaches are based on various identifiable dimensions, all of which relate to one another in ways that result in problem resolutions. 

I believe that the political influence got in the way of problem-solving that is technically and professionally grounded.  

Involvement

The Mayor (The Mayors Wife)        

The Street Educators                                                     The Poor Community

The Children’s Street  Education Program Subcommittees

The mayor’s wife’s objective was to prove to the community that her husband, the mayor, was improving their community by serving “The Children’s Street Education Program.”  The mayor’s wife knew that with her involvement in showing interest in the community, he would win the votes of the poor.  The mayor’s wife knew that votes from the poor community would gain enough votes for reelection.  The way political influences got in problem-solving was technically and professionally grounded, not thinking so much about the children’s street educators programs, but to gain votes from, subcommittees that showed interest within poor communities.  The mayor’s wife wanted to improve votes with little concern for The success of the Street Educators helping the children of the community.  

From a planning perspective, I would have approached this case with a more persistent traditional plan, rational planning, and reverse-order of planning that would allow me to establish goals to arrive at my selected goals.  I would not allow any political involvement or influence from the votes of the poor community to influence any decisions made but focus on what is in the best interest of the stakeholders(the community itself). 

I would also use Logic Models to demonstrate any theories of action behind the program and why the program should identify the problem.  

Resources/Inputs—-> Thoughput/Activites—>Outputs—–Outcomes—–Impact/Goals

I would figure out the causes of the problem, refine the problem, focus on alternatives to the problem, strategies(form hypothesis to the problem), objectives to follow, and the community’s needs to gain the best perspective outcome.

Netting, F. E., O’Conner, M. K., & Fauri, D. P. (2008). Comparative approaches to program planning. Wiley.

CARMEN’S POST:

Prescriptive Approaches

The case and the chapter both are intended to get you thinking about not just rational planning, but also prescriptive approaches.

I really like how the book gave key concept on how to view the rational and prescriptive approaches. I feel that rational is the way of thinking and viewing things. Similar to viewing the pros and cons. Prescriptive approach on the other hand, is more of the ways one goes about it or the behavior. If I do A the outcome is B. This help me get a sense of these two effective approaches and how they work for problem-solving.

In this instance, do you believe that the political context is vital, or do you believe that the political influence got in the way of problem-solving that is technically and professionally grounded?

The mayor and the street educator is a sad case, but a reality factor that most human service professionals might endure. The fact that the educators were able to get the wife’s interest in this problem was phenomenal. I believe this is one of the first step in problem-solving, having the ability to have a group with the same interest is vital. This allows the educators to get into the door to engage with policy makers and politicians. In this instance, I feel that political context is vital because it a source of funding. It allows educators to get heard and lobby for the need of the community and the children. However, in this case I feel that political influence got in the way of problem-solving due to greed and votes. The solution was nowhere near what the ultimate goal was intended. The outcome was to provide resources for youth through educating them on effective life skills such as health, self-care, and much more. In turn the mayor’s interest was to remove the children from the street and place them in detention facilities because ultimately, they will end up in jail. His negative view towards street children was to keep him close minded. He wanted to address the issue without damaging his reputation. The mayor was listening to businesses who complain of the children making the city look bad, but the mayor refused to do anything because he knew he needed the votes of the poor. This is so sad but a reality, in which politicians and policymakers become blind and lose professionalism to continue to have power or a sense of control. Overall, political influence can be a problem and have no resolution or clarity.

how would you have approached this case from a planning perspective?

I would utilize a prescriptive approach with evidence base practice. I feel the educators had all the data but little was done with it. They had data from the previous year that would have given justification that more needed to be done. Through evidence-based practice I would have shown how the numbers of children in the street continue to grow, how homelessness is now another dilemma and how all this would give the mayor a bad look as he has done little to help the community address this problem. I would have discussed more about the pros and cons of placing children in detention facilities rather than helping them get housed, and how he is labeling and categorizing the children as a bad outlook to the community. I would advocate that more needs to be done and he has a group of individuals that are willing to go above and beyond to help the community which will in turn give him a better reputation. To conclude, I would also utilize a incremental theoretical approach and offer the pilot program on helping educate and place children in residential apartments rather than detention facilities. As mention in our text Netting et. al. (2008) pilot projects would allow decision makers to agree and support a temporary pilot project rather committing to a long-term program (p.17). In addition, this will allow time for bargaining and demonstrating the needs of the program which would be beneficial in this case presented.  

References

Netting, F. E., O’Conner, M. K., & Fauri, D. P. (2008). Comparative approaches to program planning. Wiley.