Digital Commons Network^™

Perspectives On The Global Financial Crisis From Emerging Managers And Public Policy Makers [Full Version], James L. Grant

Financial Services Forum Publications

This manuscript attempts to capture the perspectives of emerging managers and public policy makers as evinced in the perspectives of graduate students and others who were enrolled in my newly developed course on the global financial crisis—first offered in the 2010 Harvard Summer Economics Program—at a time when students were engaged in the midst and aftermath of the most severe U.S. and worldwide recession since the Great Depression of the early 1930s. The many perspectives gathered on the causes, consequences, remedies, and perhaps more importantly, a glimpse at student thoughts, concerns, and worries at the time—have been collected from the …

University Archives And Community Organizations: Ensuring Access Through Collaboration, Jessica R. Holden, Andrew Elder, Joanne Riley

Joseph P. Healey Library Publications

How can a university archives establish a successful ongoing relationship with a community organization? What are the benefits and challenges of such a collaboration? University of Massachusetts Boston’s Archives and Special Collections (UASC) explored these questions while working with The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA) to preserve and provide access to 79,000 mortuary records from the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters. Elements of the collaboration included shifting stewardship of the records from the Foresters to TIARA to UMass Boston, integrating TIARA’s efforts in processing and indexing the records into the Archives’ workflow, providing in-person and electronic access to the records, …

Social Actors Fight The Rising Tide Of Hiv In U.S. Southern Poor, Courtenay Sprague, Sara E. Simon

Center for Peace, Democracy and Development Publications

The greatest number of persons living with HIV in the United States are now living in the South, and they face poorer health outcomes and increased AIDS-related deaths as compared to the rest of the country. The southern United States has a disproportionate share of low-income individuals, with many lacking access to health care and health insurance. Health facilities are also comparatively fewer and more difficult to reach than in other areas of the United States. The impacts of this already poor health infrastructure on low-income people living with HIV in the South can be life-threatening.

This policy brief summarizes …

Service Provider Promising Practice: Job Squad, Inc. (West Virginia) - A Blog That Conveys The Importance Of Community Employment, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Job Squad is a medium-sized CRP that provides services to individuals in 13 counties within West Virginia. In 2005, responding to customer demands, executive director Brenda Hellwig and her staff received training from Griffin Hammis Associates to offer community employment services. Once trained, the career counselors at Job Squad found that their most successful jobs were matches between job seekers and small businesses that needed their skills and could provide natural supports. The team then started the Community Economic Development blog at http:// jobsquadinc.blogspot.com/. This is a platform to communicate with employers,

Lessons From Lived Experience: From Fresh Insights To Effective Action, Lisa Deangelis, Maureen A. Scully, Andrea Wight

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

The 34 fellows in the 2014 Emerging Leaders Program worked with community partners to generate the theme, “Learning from Lived Experience: From fresh insights to effective action." Each year, the projects draw upon a theme or lesson from the prior year. Last year and this year, fellows saw how the lived experiences of both their stakeholders and themselves generated nuanced and appropriate approaches to problem-solving. The fellows worked with six community partners, giving their time and professional skills to understand how to frame complex social challenges, engage new partners and resources, and sharpen strategic plans. They conducted surveys, interviews, open …

Congruence Across Levels Of Role-Taking In U.S. Foreign Policy, Paul A. Kowert, Stephen G. Walker

Political Science Faculty Publication Series

A psychosocial approach to national behavior, emphasizing the foreign policy roles selected by states, has proven to be a fertile source of insights into the ways states respond to their external environment. Disaggregating the phenomenon of role into several distinct processes—e.g., roletaking, role contestation, role enactment, and role transition—highlights interactions across different levels of analysis as part of a general process of role location. We focus in this paper specifically on the process of role-taking leading to role selection and conceive of this process as operating simultaneously at the state, domestic, and individual levels of analysis. Rather than assume that …

The Silent Crisis: Including Latinos And Why It Matters, Representation In Executive Positions, Boards, And Commissions In The City Governments Of Boston, Chelsea, And Somerville, Miren Uriarte, James Jennings, Jen Douglas

Human Services Faculty Publication Series

The Silent Crisis: Involving Latinos in Decision-Making & Why Latino Representation Matters provides a measure of the economic, social, and political inclusion of Latinos at mid-decade in three cities of the Commonwealth where about one fourth of the state’s Latino population lives. Often wrongly referred to as a “new population,” Latinos have been present in Massachusetts since the end of the 19th century, arriving in large numbers beginning in the 1960s and 1970s and growing to nearly 630,000 persons (9.6% of the population) by 2010. That same year, they accounted for 62.1% of the population of Chelsea, 17.5% of the …

Latinos In Massachusetts Selected Areas: Pittsfield, Phillip Granberry, Sarah Rustan, Mayara Fontes, Michael Berardino

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides a snapshot of selected economic, social, educational, and demographic indicators pertaining to Latinos in Pittsfield. It reflects a commitment by UMass Boston’s Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy to provide periodic updates on the Latino population in Massachusetts.

The report on Pittsfield is part of a larger series that covers cities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with a significant population of Latinos. This report analyzes data from the 2008-2012 American Community Survey (ACS), conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. We obtained the data from the American Factfinder website in tabular form and transformed …

Latinos In Massachusetts Public Schools: Springfield, Michael Berardino

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides a snapshot of current educational outcomes of Latino students in the city of Springfield. It is based on publicly available data from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MADESE) that have been analyzed by the Gastón Institute for a community meeting in Springfield. This report uses the ethno-racial categories assigned by MADESE. It focuses on the evolving demographic trends and the most recent educational outcomes of Latino students relative to other ethno-racial groups in the school district and to students statewide. The first section illustrates the demographic shift occurring in the Springfield Public Schools, with …

Social Networks, Decision Aids, And Patient Decisions Regarding Knee-Replacement Surgery, Francis G. Caro, Susanne Hoffmann, Alison Gottlieb, Iris Kesternich, Joachim Winter

Gerontology Institute Publications

Objective: Examine how information from social networks is associated with patient decisions in the presence of information from multiple professional sources including decision aids.

Methods: We conducted a stated-choice experiment in which respondents made recommendations for hypothetical patients about whether full knee-replacement surgery should be performed to treat knee osteoarthritis. In addition, we administered a background questionnaire in which we explicitly asked respondents about the experience of people in their social network with knee osteoarthritis and possible treatment options. We examined the manner in which respondents’ recommendations for vignette persons were associated with the experiences of members of …

Economic Trends Report, Prepared For The Town Of Winthrop, Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center For Public Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

This Economic Trends report provides a multi-decade look at the economy of the Town of Winthrop. It is hoped that the report will serve as a reference guide for residents, business persons, and policy makers seeking to grow the local economy, using facts and data to help identify strategies and goals for the future.

The report contains information on change in resident population, since residents oftentimes are a natural market for the goods and services provided by businesses within the community; they can also serve as a ready workforce for those businesses. It also looks at the number and type …

Latinos In Massachusetts Public Schools: Pittsfield, Michael Berardino, Valerie Watson

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides a snapshot of current educational outcomes of Latino students in the city of Pittsfield. It is based on publicly available data from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MADESE) that has been analyzed by the Gastón Institute for the 2014 Latinos in Massachusetts Regional Meeting in Pittsfield. This report uses the ethno-racial categories assigned by MADESE. It focuses on the evolving demographic trends and the most recent educational outcomes of Latino students relative to other ethno-racial groups in the school district and to students statewide. The first section illustrates the demographic shift occurring within the …

Effective Supervision And Career Advancement Of Individuals With Idd, John Kramer, Jean Winsor, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

As professionals in the disability field, we are in a unique position to support the career goals of individuals with IDD who want to work as researchers. While the literature contains rich knowledge of how employment service providers can support individuals with IDD and employers, there is limited literature directed towards employers themselves.This poster highlights our experiences supervising individuals with IDD who are employed in the field of research and who receive both individualized supported integrated employment services and natural supports at the workplace.

Fiscal Stress In American Municipalities: An Analysis On The Role Of The State As It Relates To Municipal Financial Health, Yong-Hua He

Public Affairs Capstones Collection

While municipal bankruptcy as a whole is rare in the United States, since the Great Recession, fiscal distress in municipalities is common. This is due to the compounding of decreased state aid, declining property values and increased need of services. In these fiscally and administratively challenging times, where the U.S. government is ripe and saddled with political discord, high debt/legacy costs, and decreased economic stability, can cities walk the stringent financial tightrope without falling head first? This research paper addresses the causations leading to municipal fiscal stress, role of the state as it relates to municipal financial health and best …

Snap: An Evaluation Of How Families In A Low Socioecnomic Bracket Decide What To Eat., Kate-Marie Roycroft

Public Affairs Capstones Collection

The purpose of this research paper is to look at the major factors that influence how SNAP recipients make decisions about food purchases. The secondary purpose of this paper is to touch upon whether or not SNAP recipients suffer disproportionally from food insecurity and obesity-related chronic diseases. Three sets of interviews helped to inform this study: interviews with employees at the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), interviews with researchers who have studied SNAP recipients extensively as part of their work, and interviews with nonprofit coordinators that work with SNAP recipients after they are approved for their benefits. Additional data was …

Challenges Facing Massachusetts Agencies, Richard Ferrari

Public Affairs Capstones Collection

For many residents of Massachusetts corrections is a part of the public sector that remains hidden behind tall walls topped with barbed wire. These walls do not just keep the inmate population on the inside, but keep the public out. This capstone provides a view from inside the walls of our corrections facilities. Interviews with high ranking corrections administrators throughout Massachusetts give an insiders perspective into the challenges facing Massachusetts corrections agencies. Over a billion dollars is spent on corrections in Massachusetts alone. This capstone looks at how that money is spent and the policies that dictate how our corrections …

Family Cap: An Evaluation Of Child Exclusion Policies In Massachusetts, Gregory Ashe

Public Affairs Capstones Collection

Between 1992 and 1998, 24 states including Massachusetts adopted provisions specifically designed to reduce the fertility rates of welfare recipients. These adopted measures became known as Family Caps. Under Family Cap, families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance would not receive increased aid for having another child. Proponents of this measure believe that by eliminating the financial incentive to have additional children, individuals on welfare would subsequently have smaller families. In this paper, I have used the most up-to-date TANF national data file to determine if an association between states with a family Cap provision and the …

How Will Public Health And Primary Care Come Together In Massachusetts?, Javier Crespo

Public Affairs Capstones Collection

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aims to place public health and prevention practice closer to the clinical care delivery system by mandating basic preventive services and creating a national prevention plan. The Massachusetts health care system has a number of elements that can help foster closer linking of public health practices in the primary care setting. This research set out to examine whether the current healthcare system in Massachusetts will enable public health and primary care integration as intimated upon by the Affordable Care Act. This study will assess the current connection between public health and primary care …

Chief Executive Structure In Massachusetts Towns: The Relationship Between Authority Levels And Leadership Opportunities, Maureen A. Thomas .

Public Affairs Capstones Collection

Throughout Massachusetts towns and cities there are various organizational and chief executive structures that dictate levels of authority and leadership opportunities. Drawing mostly from the literature on city forms of government, this research explores the authority-level variations among town administrators and town managers in Massachusetts and examines how authority levels relate to leadership opportunities. A mixed methods approach is used via a survey instrument to the 215 Massachusetts town administrators and town managers, 7 in-depth interviews, and secondary data review. Levels of chief executive authority and leadership were found to vary widely among the 94 survey respondents. While quantitative results …

An Analysis Of Employment Barriers Facing Blind People, William O'Donnell

Public Affairs Capstones Collection

Blind people, the target population being analyzed, possibly face higher rates of unemployment or underemployment compared to others with disabilities. They face higher poverty rates than any other minority group or group of people with disabilities. Typically, various statistics cite that 70% of working-aged blind people are not in the workforce. Federal acts have been implemented to increase employment outcomes in an attempt to improve employment outcomes for all with disabilities. The ADA and ADAAA been implemented to mitigate and/or eliminate barriers. This study used qualitative research to analyze data from participants to investigate whether or not they were employed …

Financial Aid Administration: Effect And Innovation, Brendan Williams

Public Affairs Capstones Collection

As college costs continue to rise, the importance of financial aid to create equitable access to higher education has also risen. This increase in importance of financial aid has coincided with an increase in the complication of the financial aid process. This paper explores challenges of financial aid administration, the effect of financial aid, and potential innovations in the field. Through one-on-one interviews with administrators, students, college access organization employees and a college access researcher the common themes are explored highlighted. The qualitative analysis of these interviews revealed the financial aid process to be complicated and burdensome for everyone involved, …

Health And Wellness Programs In Massachusetts' Public Sector, Andrew Sullivan

Public Affairs Capstones Collection

This paper analyzes the availability of workplace health and wellness programs among Commonwealth of Massachusetts and municipal employees within the state. In addition, it evaluates the decision-making process that goes into building such a system as well as the benefits and limitations of health and wellness programs at both the municipal and state level. Within the employee base, the decisions related to healthy living are investigated, such as eating habits, exercise frequency and priority of living a healthy lifestyle. When compared between groups, it was found that municipal employees have a higher likelihood of living a healthy lifestyle compared to …

A Case Study Of The Regulations Imposed Upon Massachusetts' Prescription Monitoring Program, Meredith Rodman

Public Affairs Capstones Collection

This case study focuses on the effectiveness of the recent regulations imposed upon Massachusetts’s prescription monitoring program. Abuse and/or misuse of prescription opioids is becoming increasingly problematic within the United States and as a result many policy makers are looking for ways to combat the problem. In Massachusetts, the OxyContin and Heroin Commission was established to investigate the impact of both OxyContin and heroin on the state. The Commission delivered recommendations that eventually led the state legislature to make changes to Massachusetts’s prescription monitoring program. This study targeted five major stakeholder groups and asked a series of questions through interviews …

The Academic And Cultural Adaptation Of Chinese International Students At Umass Boston: The Struggles And Progress From The Perspectives Of Students And Professors, Pingping Chen, Theodora Chocos, Lorena Fuentes

English Faculty Publication Series

This panel will articulate the struggles and progress of Chinese international students in their learning processes at UMass Boston. Additionally, the challenges some professors have faced in teaching Chinese international students and the pedagogical practice they have used to engage these learners in their courses will be addressed.

This panel was presented as part of the 2014 8th Annual University Conference on Teaching, Learning, and Technology on May 15, 2014. The theme of the conference was "Teaching both What and How for Deep Learning at Every Level."

Merced College: An Online Library Presence, Joselle L. Merritt

Instructional Design Capstones Collection

Merced College has a number of courses being taught on line and that the number continues to grow. The college is currently implementing online courses that meet the requirements of California SB520, passed in May of 2013, requiring all California students to have access to online classes at any California community college. This applies only if the classes they need are not available at their home institution. Added to this is the requirement from the accrediting agency for California Community Colleges that all students, both distance and face-to-face have equal access to library resources. As more and more classes go …

Natural Gas Safety For First Responders, Aimee Levy

Instructional Design Capstones Collection

Natural gas leaks and explosions are growing problems across the country. Recommended Practice (RP) 1162, a federal regulation, requires pipeline operators to implement public awareness programs. One key stakeholder audience includes first responders and fire departments.

This training was developed for a Utility Company, who is a regional pipeline operator, to teach first responders response protocols of different types of natural gas incidents. The module not only helps the Utility Company meet its RP 1162 outreach requirements but also fills educational gaps of firefighters.

To design this training, a team of subject matter experts was assembled to develop the content …

Slow Edtech: Pedagogical Principles, Collaborative Explorations, And Persistent Challenges, Peter Taylor, Felicia Sullivan, Jeremy Szteiter

Working Papers in Critical, Creative and Reflective Practice

This article describes two “Slow EdTech” initiatives, using this label to denote a focus on learning and the development of capacities for learning along with a mindful approach to the uptake of new digital tools that become available. One initiative, dating from 2001, is a set of guidelines about specific situations and specific ways in which specific educational technologies are of significant pedagogical benefit. The other, dating from 2013, is online Collaborative Explorations (CEs) for moderate-sized open online collaborative learning. The tools and processes used in CEs for inquiry, dialogue, reflection, and collaboration are designed to be readily learned by …

Understanding Hiv Care Delays In The Us South And The Role Of The Social-Level In Hiv Care Engagement/Retention: A Qualitative Study, Courtenay Sprague, Sara E. Simon

Center for Peace, Democracy and Development Publications

Introduction: In a significant geographical shift in the distribution of HIV infection, the US South - comprising 17 states - now has the greatest number of adults and adolescents with HIV (PLHIV) in the nation. More than 60% of PLHIV are not in HIV care in Alabama and Mississippi, contrasted with a national figure of 25%. Poorer HIV outcomes raise concerns about HIV-related inequities for southern PLHIV, which warrant further study. This qualitative study sought to understand experiences of low-income PLHIV on the AIDS Drug Assistance Program in engagement and retention in continuous HIV care in two sites in Alabama. …

Port Of Gloucester, Ma: Groundfish Port Recovery And Revitalization Plan By The City Of Gloucester, Urban Harbors Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, City Of Gloucester, Massachusetts

Urban Harbors Institute Publications

This plan represents another step forward by the City of Gloucester to confront the challenge of declining groundfish stocks and subsequent management measures which have had a profound effect on the fishing industry, the community, and its economy. The plan’s strategies include both short-term recommendations to address the immediate direct impacts on harvesters, fresh fish processors, and associated support businesses, as well as longer-term proposals to bolster and support the industry as it recovers, and proposals to create new economic opportunities built upon Gloucester’s maritime assets, skills, and intellectual capital, and old and new partnerships. The Plan lays out the …

Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network: Boston Regional Office And Minority Business Center, Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network, Boston Regional Office & Minority Business Center

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Hosted by the College of Management, we are part of a statewide business assistance program providing FREE one-on-one counsel to entrepreneurs, seeking help with business growth, financing, loan assistance, strategic marketing and operational analysis. Our services are available to the public and members of the University of Massachusetts Boston community, including students, faculty, and staff. We also offer workshops on a variety of topics targeted to the needs of small business.