Brandi Blessett
Biographic Data
| ID | 151845 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brandi Blessett |
| GIVEN NAMES | Brandi |
| FAMILY NAME | Blessett |
| SIGNATURE | BLESSETT B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Rutgers Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6471-1317 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 146 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 21 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Decolonial processes to support youth mental health
In the 21st century, war, famine, genocide, and natural disasters have led to the highest levels of forced human migration in recorded history. Enduring global and local inequities rooted in racism and ethnocentrism shape youth well-being but are insufficiently considered in literature aiming to support youth mental health. This paper uses feminist decolonial and critical race theories to disrupt notions that Western perspectives on mental health…
The attack on the transgender community
A Black Feminist response to a retrenching administrative state
Dismantling racism and white supremacy in public service institutions and society
The field of public administration has long resisted admitting an uncomfortable truth. Public administrattion is culpable in creating and maintaining racist, white supremacist policies and institutions through which Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color disproportionately experience prejudice and discrimination and, therefore, inequities and injustices throughout public services and society. However, few have been willing to have this…
Predatory Policing, Intersectional Subjection, and the Experiences of LGBTQ People of Color in New Orleans
Much of the disparate outcomes experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other identities along the spectrum (LGBTQ+) people of color are directly linked to the practices of public actors and through institutional policies. This is perhaps no truer than for LGBTQ+ individuals of color in their interactions with police. This article argues that intersectional subjection fosters an environment prime for predatory policing and u…
Race, Racism and Administrative Callousness
This special symposium examines CRT across public and nonprofit spaces to better understand the effects of denying race and racism within the spaces they govern. Although ever present across public administration and nonprofit institutions, explicit discussions and/or initiatives designed to address racism, at the root level, are rare. While an increasingly growing area of interest, the study of public administration continues to avoid explicit c…
Urban Renewal and “Ghetto” Development in Baltimore
This article uses critical race theory to examine the implementation of one of the first full-scale urban renewal rehabilitation projects in Baltimore, Maryland. Using a race-conscious lens, the tools of government (e.g., economic, institutional, personnel, and linguistic) are examined to contextualize how administrative decisions produced racially disproportionate outcomes for Black residents in the Harlem Park neighborhood
Social Equity in Public Administration
This article presents a “Call to Action” Social Equity Manifesto developed at the Minnowbrook at 50 conference. The Social Equity Manifesto identifies several critical areas of emphasis that can help move toward the achievement of social equity in the research, teaching, and practice of public administration. Regarding research, we discuss the presence of social equity manuscripts in PAR, JPART, and ATP. Interestingly, the coverage of class inequ…
Rethinking Citizenship
Urban communities and people of color continue to be disparaged by any number of quality of life indicators in 2019 as were identified in 1968. This article examines the evolution of state-sponsored disenfranchisement in the United States and identifies faith and nonprofit institutions as progressive allies in the fight against systemic injustice for communities of color. First, the article uses the Kerner Report to contextualize the heightened s…
Rethinking the Administrative State Through an Intersectional Framework
This article was inspired by the special invitation to the Minnowbrook 50th Anniversary Conference: Rethinking the Administrative State. Participants were asked to write a concept paper discussing a critical issue or topic public administration, as a field, must address. As the legitimacy of the administrative state is constantly being threatened by systems of domination that seek to marginalize people with intersecting identities, public adminis…
Symposium on Cultural Competence, Accountability, and Social Justice
Public Administration, Diversity, and the Ethic of Getting Things Done
New public management, in its focus on outcomes and performance, provokes a question on whether there is a value-tradeoff between ethics and performance. The new–old creed of administrators have arguably been focused on a need to produce results—to get things done—to the extent that they could sometimes overlook unethical implications of their actions. This happens at a time when ethicists are looking at ways to emphasize non-teleological ethical…
To Imagine a World Where All Lives Truly Mattered
Any discussion of All Lives Matter is the antithesis of itself. If all lives truly mattered, the social and political discourse dominating society would not consistently demonize and depict as crim
Facilitating Difficult Dialogues in the Classroom
Counternarratives as Critical Perspectives in Public Administration Curricula
This article argues for the inclusion of critical perspectives in public administration curricula to explore the historical and contemporary processes that contribute to disparity and injustice. The counternarratives examined in the article include social construction, inclusive feminism, critical urban planning, and democratic cultural pluralism. Critical perspectives or counternarratives are presented as challenges to hegemonic scripts that wil…
Sharecropper Finance
Fines and fees charged to lower-income people, mostly African Americans, have long been a mainstay of the revenue stream for the city of Ferguson, Missouri, and other local governments. One outcome of this practice is financial dependency that limits the life-choices of the affected population. This current policy issue shares characteristics with the much older technique of sharecropping, suggesting a long-term pattern of financial exploitation …
Institutional Racism, Organizations & Public Policy
Institutional Racism, Organizations & Public Policy offers a critical yet thoughtful discussion of racism and discrimination within the context of public administration. In 10 chapters, Ward and Ri
African Americans and gentrification in Washington, DC
African Americans and Gentrification in Washington, DC analyses the impact of gentrification on African Americans in the nation's capital. Prince uses theories of racism and neo-liberalism to exami
Peeking Behind the Curtain
This article examines the operations and funding priorities of rural private foundations in Florida, using data from the U.S. Census, the Urban Institute’s National Center for Charitable Statistics, and interviews with foundation leaders. The study found that grantmaking by rural foundations is split between out-of-state and in-state giving, determined by the intent of a benefactor or the personal choices of a foundation founder and/ or family. T…
Inequality at the Intersection of the Defense of Marriage Act and the Voting Rights Act
(2014). Inequality at the Intersection of the Defense of Marriage Act and the Voting Rights Act. Administrative Theory & Praxis: Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 261-267
Aloofness or Dirty Hands
This article takes a critical look at the actions of American public administrators affecting African Americans in inner cities in the mid-twentieth century. It compares these actions to those of British imperialist functionaries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We argue that domestic American administrators and imperialist functionaries shared an ethos of serving expansion and capital, sometimes as a means to achieve what th…
Counternarratives as Critical Perspectives in Public Administration Curricula
This article argues for the inclusion of critical perspectives in public administration curricula to explore the historical and contemporary processes that contribute to disparity and injustice. The counternarratives examined in the article include social construction, inclusive feminism, critical urban planning, and democratic cultural pluralism. Critical perspectives or counternarratives are presented as challenges to hegemonic scripts that wil…
Facilitating Difficult Dialogues in the Classroom
Race, Racism and Administrative Callousness
This special symposium examines CRT across public and nonprofit spaces to better understand the effects of denying race and racism within the spaces they govern. Although ever present across public administration and nonprofit institutions, explicit discussions and/or initiatives designed to address racism, at the root level, are rare. While an increasingly growing area of interest, the study of public administration continues to avoid explicit c…
Rethinking the Administrative State Through an Intersectional Framework
This article was inspired by the special invitation to the Minnowbrook 50th Anniversary Conference: Rethinking the Administrative State. Participants were asked to write a concept paper discussing a critical issue or topic public administration, as a field, must address. As the legitimacy of the administrative state is constantly being threatened by systems of domination that seek to marginalize people with intersecting identities, public adminis…
Aloofness or Dirty Hands
This article takes a critical look at the actions of American public administrators affecting African Americans in inner cities in the mid-twentieth century. It compares these actions to those of British imperialist functionaries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We argue that domestic American administrators and imperialist functionaries shared an ethos of serving expansion and capital, sometimes as a means to achieve what th…
Inequality at the Intersection of the Defense of Marriage Act and the Voting Rights Act
(2014). Inequality at the Intersection of the Defense of Marriage Act and the Voting Rights Act. Administrative Theory & Praxis: Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 261-267
Predatory Policing, Intersectional Subjection, and the Experiences of LGBTQ People of Color in New Orleans
Much of the disparate outcomes experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other identities along the spectrum (LGBTQ+) people of color are directly linked to the practices of public actors and through institutional policies. This is perhaps no truer than for LGBTQ+ individuals of color in their interactions with police. This article argues that intersectional subjection fosters an environment prime for predatory policing and u…
Urban Renewal and “Ghetto” Development in Baltimore
This article uses critical race theory to examine the implementation of one of the first full-scale urban renewal rehabilitation projects in Baltimore, Maryland. Using a race-conscious lens, the tools of government (e.g., economic, institutional, personnel, and linguistic) are examined to contextualize how administrative decisions produced racially disproportionate outcomes for Black residents in the Harlem Park neighborhood
Public Administration, Diversity, and the Ethic of Getting Things Done
New public management, in its focus on outcomes and performance, provokes a question on whether there is a value-tradeoff between ethics and performance. The new–old creed of administrators have arguably been focused on a need to produce results—to get things done—to the extent that they could sometimes overlook unethical implications of their actions. This happens at a time when ethicists are looking at ways to emphasize non-teleological ethical…
Sharecropper Finance
Fines and fees charged to lower-income people, mostly African Americans, have long been a mainstay of the revenue stream for the city of Ferguson, Missouri, and other local governments. One outcome of this practice is financial dependency that limits the life-choices of the affected population. This current policy issue shares characteristics with the much older technique of sharecropping, suggesting a long-term pattern of financial exploitation …
Dismantling racism and white supremacy in public service institutions and society
The field of public administration has long resisted admitting an uncomfortable truth. Public administrattion is culpable in creating and maintaining racist, white supremacist policies and institutions through which Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color disproportionately experience prejudice and discrimination and, therefore, inequities and injustices throughout public services and society. However, few have been willing to have this…
Symposium on Cultural Competence, Accountability, and Social Justice
To Imagine a World Where All Lives Truly Mattered
Any discussion of All Lives Matter is the antithesis of itself. If all lives truly mattered, the social and political discourse dominating society would not consistently demonize and depict as crim
African Americans and gentrification in Washington, DC
African Americans and Gentrification in Washington, DC analyses the impact of gentrification on African Americans in the nation's capital. Prince uses theories of racism and neo-liberalism to exami
Peeking Behind the Curtain
This article examines the operations and funding priorities of rural private foundations in Florida, using data from the U.S. Census, the Urban Institute’s National Center for Charitable Statistics, and interviews with foundation leaders. The study found that grantmaking by rural foundations is split between out-of-state and in-state giving, determined by the intent of a benefactor or the personal choices of a foundation founder and/ or family. T…
Rethinking Citizenship
Urban communities and people of color continue to be disparaged by any number of quality of life indicators in 2019 as were identified in 1968. This article examines the evolution of state-sponsored disenfranchisement in the United States and identifies faith and nonprofit institutions as progressive allies in the fight against systemic injustice for communities of color. First, the article uses the Kerner Report to contextualize the heightened s…
Aloofness or Dirty Hands
This article takes a critical look at the actions of American public administrators affecting African Americans in inner cities in the mid-twentieth century. It compares these actions to those of British imperialist functionaries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We argue that domestic American administrators and imperialist functionaries shared an ethos of serving expansion and capital, sometimes as a means to achieve what th…
Peeking Behind the Curtain
This article examines the operations and funding priorities of rural private foundations in Florida, using data from the U.S. Census, the Urban Institute’s National Center for Charitable Statistics, and interviews with foundation leaders. The study found that grantmaking by rural foundations is split between out-of-state and in-state giving, determined by the intent of a benefactor or the personal choices of a foundation founder and/ or family. T…
Inequality at the Intersection of the Defense of Marriage Act and the Voting Rights Act
(2014). Inequality at the Intersection of the Defense of Marriage Act and the Voting Rights Act. Administrative Theory & Praxis: Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 261-267
Institutional Racism, Organizations & Public Policy
Institutional Racism, Organizations & Public Policy offers a critical yet thoughtful discussion of racism and discrimination within the context of public administration. In 10 chapters, Ward and Ri
African Americans and gentrification in Washington, DC
African Americans and Gentrification in Washington, DC analyses the impact of gentrification on African Americans in the nation's capital. Prince uses theories of racism and neo-liberalism to exami
Facilitating Difficult Dialogues in the Classroom
Counternarratives as Critical Perspectives in Public Administration Curricula
This article argues for the inclusion of critical perspectives in public administration curricula to explore the historical and contemporary processes that contribute to disparity and injustice. The counternarratives examined in the article include social construction, inclusive feminism, critical urban planning, and democratic cultural pluralism. Critical perspectives or counternarratives are presented as challenges to hegemonic scripts that wil…
Sharecropper Finance
Fines and fees charged to lower-income people, mostly African Americans, have long been a mainstay of the revenue stream for the city of Ferguson, Missouri, and other local governments. One outcome of this practice is financial dependency that limits the life-choices of the affected population. This current policy issue shares characteristics with the much older technique of sharecropping, suggesting a long-term pattern of financial exploitation …
Public Administration, Diversity, and the Ethic of Getting Things Done
New public management, in its focus on outcomes and performance, provokes a question on whether there is a value-tradeoff between ethics and performance. The new–old creed of administrators have arguably been focused on a need to produce results—to get things done—to the extent that they could sometimes overlook unethical implications of their actions. This happens at a time when ethicists are looking at ways to emphasize non-teleological ethical…
To Imagine a World Where All Lives Truly Mattered
Any discussion of All Lives Matter is the antithesis of itself. If all lives truly mattered, the social and political discourse dominating society would not consistently demonize and depict as crim
Rethinking the Administrative State Through an Intersectional Framework
This article was inspired by the special invitation to the Minnowbrook 50th Anniversary Conference: Rethinking the Administrative State. Participants were asked to write a concept paper discussing a critical issue or topic public administration, as a field, must address. As the legitimacy of the administrative state is constantly being threatened by systems of domination that seek to marginalize people with intersecting identities, public adminis…
Symposium on Cultural Competence, Accountability, and Social Justice
Social Equity in Public Administration
This article presents a “Call to Action” Social Equity Manifesto developed at the Minnowbrook at 50 conference. The Social Equity Manifesto identifies several critical areas of emphasis that can help move toward the achievement of social equity in the research, teaching, and practice of public administration. Regarding research, we discuss the presence of social equity manuscripts in PAR, JPART, and ATP. Interestingly, the coverage of class inequ…
Rethinking Citizenship
Urban communities and people of color continue to be disparaged by any number of quality of life indicators in 2019 as were identified in 1968. This article examines the evolution of state-sponsored disenfranchisement in the United States and identifies faith and nonprofit institutions as progressive allies in the fight against systemic injustice for communities of color. First, the article uses the Kerner Report to contextualize the heightened s…
Urban Renewal and “Ghetto” Development in Baltimore
This article uses critical race theory to examine the implementation of one of the first full-scale urban renewal rehabilitation projects in Baltimore, Maryland. Using a race-conscious lens, the tools of government (e.g., economic, institutional, personnel, and linguistic) are examined to contextualize how administrative decisions produced racially disproportionate outcomes for Black residents in the Harlem Park neighborhood
Race, Racism and Administrative Callousness
This special symposium examines CRT across public and nonprofit spaces to better understand the effects of denying race and racism within the spaces they govern. Although ever present across public administration and nonprofit institutions, explicit discussions and/or initiatives designed to address racism, at the root level, are rare. While an increasingly growing area of interest, the study of public administration continues to avoid explicit c…
Dismantling racism and white supremacy in public service institutions and society
The field of public administration has long resisted admitting an uncomfortable truth. Public administrattion is culpable in creating and maintaining racist, white supremacist policies and institutions through which Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color disproportionately experience prejudice and discrimination and, therefore, inequities and injustices throughout public services and society. However, few have been willing to have this…
Predatory Policing, Intersectional Subjection, and the Experiences of LGBTQ People of Color in New Orleans
Much of the disparate outcomes experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other identities along the spectrum (LGBTQ+) people of color are directly linked to the practices of public actors and through institutional policies. This is perhaps no truer than for LGBTQ+ individuals of color in their interactions with police. This article argues that intersectional subjection fosters an environment prime for predatory policing and u…
The attack on the transgender community
A Black Feminist response to a retrenching administrative state
Decolonial processes to support youth mental health
In the 21st century, war, famine, genocide, and natural disasters have led to the highest levels of forced human migration in recorded history. Enduring global and local inequities rooted in racism and ethnocentrism shape youth well-being but are insufficiently considered in literature aiming to support youth mental health. This paper uses feminist decolonial and critical race theories to disrupt notions that Western perspectives on mental health…
Sociology (20 works) · Political science (19 works) · Law (13 works) · Public Administration (12 works) · Gender Studies (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Public Administration (10 works) · Gender Studies (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Racism (7 works)