The Setting of the Play Trifles One vital aspect of a play that communicates the overall message and connects to the audience is its setting. This is not a general assumption, but a requirement of every play. It is indeed true that play Trifles by Susan Glaspell meets this requirement. Every component of the setting plays a role in the achievement of this objective. For instance, in terms of the place setting, Trifles is set in a cold, lifeless, winter that characterizes isolated traditional American farms. This elicits the feeling of loneliness. Indeed, it is true that Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Hale lived some distances apart, so close yet so lonely. A cold winter and a lonely place also convey some message of fear and possible danger. With this kind of arrangement it is not easy to deny the occurrence of death as it is evident in the play. Mr Wright has died; the county Sheriff and attorney are at the place investigating the cause of death. Trifles employs a time setting that easily unites with the nature of the characters and place. The time is set in 1900s. This was a time when a majority of Americans were farmers. However, the subject of gender roles dominated the lives of the people. Mrs Hale comes to see a woman, Mrs Wright who is not only lonely, but also in torn old clothes. An arrangement that gives implication of male dominance, where women would remain at home taking care of house chores and children, while men would fend for their families in farms (Angel, 1997). However, the loneliness of Mrs Wright could also portray another message altogether. She could have possibly strangled her husband to free herself from the eminent domestic oppression. References Angel, M. (1997). Susan Glaspell's Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers: Woman Abuse in a Literary and Legal Context. Buff. L. Rev., 45, 779. Running Head: THE HARLEM CHILDREN’S CASE STUDY ANALYSIS 1 THE HARLEM CHILDREN’S CASE STUDY ANALYSIS 6 The Harlem Children’s Case Study Analysis Xavier University affiliation Date Harlem children's zone is a non-profit organization that takes care of children that come from underprivileged families by providing free education programs, parenting workshops, health program, and three charter schools. The organization was founded by Geoffrey Canada who is an American educator and activist in 1970 and its headquarters are in New York. The institution cares for thousands of children as well as poverty-stricken families. Over the years the institution has been trying to secure more funding sources and this is a major transition since its creating so that it can continue impacting positively on the community. This essay will give a case study analysis of Harlem Children Zone by identifying the major issues affecting it and how they are being solved as well as recommending a change to these situations. Case Overview and facts about the case study Over the past years, HCZ organization underwent through changes that led to the adoption.

1. The Setting of the Play Trifles
One vital aspect of a play that communicates the overall
message and connects to the audience is its setting. This is not a
general assumption, but a requirement of every play. It is
indeed true that play Trifles by Susan Glaspell meets this
requirement. Every component of the setting plays a role in the
achievement of this objective. For instance, in terms of the
place setting, Trifles is set in a cold, lifeless, winter that
characterizes isolated traditional American farms. This elicits
the feeling of loneliness. Indeed, it is true that Mrs. Wright and
Mrs. Hale lived some distances apart, so close yet so lonely. A
cold winter and a lonely place also convey some message of
fear and possible danger. With this kind of arrangement it is not
easy to deny the occurrence of death as it is evident in the play.
Mr Wright has died; the county Sheriff and attorney are at the
place investigating the cause of death.
Trifles employs a time setting that easily unites with the nature
of the characters and place. The time is set in 1900s. This was
a time when a majority of Americans were farmers. However,
the subject of gender roles dominated the lives of the people.
Mrs Hale comes to see a woman, Mrs Wright who is not only
lonely, but also in torn old clothes. An arrangement that gives
implication of male dominance, where women would remain at
home taking care of house chores and children, while men
would fend for their families in farms (Angel, 1997). However,
the loneliness of Mrs Wright could also portray another message
altogether. She could have possibly strangled her husband to
free herself from the eminent domestic oppression.
References
Angel, M. (1997). Susan Glaspell's Trifles and A Jury of Her
Peers: Woman Abuse in a Literary and Legal Context. Buff. L.
Rev., 45, 779.

2. Running Head: THE HARLEM CHILDREN’S CASE STUDY
ANALYSIS 1
THE HARLEM CHILDREN’S CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
6
The Harlem Children’s Case Study Analysis
Xavier
University affiliation
Date
Harlem children's zone is a non-profit organization that takes
care of children that come from underprivileged families by
providing free education programs, parenting workshops, health
program, and three charter schools. The organization was
founded by Geoffrey Canada who is an American educator and
activist in 1970 and its headquarters are in New York. The
institution cares for thousands of children as well as poverty-
stricken families. Over the years the institution has been trying
to secure more funding sources and this is a major transition
since its creating so that it can continue impacting positively on
the community. This essay will give a case study analysis of
Harlem Children Zone by identifying the major issues affecting
it and how they are being solved as well as recommending a
change to these situations.
Case Overview and facts about the case study
Over the past years, HCZ organization underwent through
changes that led to the adoption of the name Harlem Children

3. Zone. In 1970, HCZ had the name Rheedlen an institution that
was concerned about efforts to prevent truancy. Geoffrey
Canada took over leadership in 1990 and during this time the
organization served up to 1500 children in the region who had
strong personal relationship amongst themselves and with the
staff. At this time the funding stream program was disjointed
but an opportunity for funding was realized in 1999 which
required a developed an effective business plan. The
organization was able to manage a budget of $9 million serving
over six thousand children. Using the strategy consulting firm,
the business was able to come up with aligned programs,
performance measures and management structural changes for
the organization. The business plan planned that in ten years the
network would achieve a $46 million in revenue and expand to
serve 24,000 people. But after completion of the plan in 2000,
the organization got over $7 million in funding to serve for
three years and later changing its name from Rheedlen to
Harlem Children’s Zone (Whitehurst & Croft, 2010).
With available funding streams, the network started to
implement the business plan to achieve the mission of "creating
significant positive opportunities and outcomes for all children
living in a 24-block area..." The first process was to measure
performance using strategized data collection methods. Thus
they came up with an information tracking system that was able
to collect demographic data on participant’s locations, survey,
and frequency of visits. Also to validate the efficiency of
services at the organization, student’s report cards were
analyzed. Second, new positions were created and the structure
of the staff was changed this was to have staff that was centered
on the evaluation systems of the business plan.
The Major Issue: Measurement of Performance
The desire of wanting to measure effectiveness triggered some
incentives and motivations within the business plan that led to a
major problem of the case. Several directors raised concerns on
the performance measuring where feedback was found to be of
utmost importance among the leaders to visualize the strategies

4. for measuring these performances (Whitehurst & Croft, 2010).
How Information Tracking System was developed
Information tracking system was applied where participants
were placed in a zone and this led to the collection of lots of
data, entry of data, and calculations of zone penetration and
child improvement manually. Incomplete tracking information
system is a problem as it leads to inconsistent and inaccuracy
during the collection of data. Another issue is the lack of a
program focus as the success of the agency was manipulated by
the freedom of the directors who followed their own interest. In
addition to the information system, the directors showed their
concerns regarding the excessive application of data demands.
Based on this case study, the methods to collect data appear to
be quantifiable thus missing out on factors that show success
but are not quantifiably measured. The conclusion of Canada
was that investing more in the agency would significantly
improve child literacy.
Addressing the Issue of Performance Measurement and
Recommendations for the Program
There two significant organizational and human relationship
within attributed to the issue of performance measurement. The
quality, nature, and type of relationships directly affect people’s
experience and the quality of outcomes for any human
enterprise. The relationship between the funding sponsors and
HCZ is very crucial as the sponsors and supporters of the plan
are highly placing demands on data. According to this case, the
staff fails to comprehend the important and required numbers
and this inadequacy in communication impact the future funding
of the agency. Therefore, the investors are required to
understand the culture of HCZ that will not impede the
productivity of the program.
Considering the relation between the children and the staff,
which is vital as it is the base for the development of the
program. The staff requires enhancing respect and trust for
every child where they can share their own experiences and
allow them to participate in the program. Assuming that the

5. pressure of investor leads to the change of staff and the
program, then HCZ could anticipate changes for the program
and for children (Whitehurst & Croft, 2010). Fortunately, the
staff at HCZ is dedicated and willing to help children in the
agency and therefore would not think of leaving the
organization at the implementation process of the business plan.
At a global level, one of the rising cross-cultural issues is that
the new business plan to act as a replicable model for delivering
social service for children and advocating for their rights
throughout the country. The previous sentence states that there
exist other child problem worldwide and across the country that
the agency can advocate for. For example the Save the Children,
an organization that advocates for children have twenty-seven
functional centers in New York, Brussels, and Japan. Assuming
the business plan for HCZ worked and this could eventually
benefit most agencies such as Save the Children as well as other
global agencies that wish to succeed using the HCZ. This could
be considered as the best course of action as the investors will
gain more trust in the agency as well as the sponsors thus
expanding its territory and improving the provision of services.
In conclusion, Harlem Children Zone is a well-established
social service with a potential of expanding and improving its
base as it has stable funding through multiple funding streams.
In regards to measuring performance using the performance
measurement programs, led to HCZ stepping into the unfamiliar
base. The investors were really concerned of the future of
funding for this agency thus they had to demand data associated
with performance for them to carry out their evaluation on the
level of investment. The mission the organization is important
for both staff and the investors as they have high prospects of
influencing and improving the relationship of the community.
References
Whitehurst, G. J., & Croft, M. (2010). The Harlem Children's
Zone, Promise Neighborhoods, and the broader, bolder approach
to education. Brown Center on Education Policy, The Brookings

6. Institution.