Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- Massachusetts (7)
- Poverty (7)
- Policy (6)
- Economics (5)
- Government (4)
-
- New England (4)
- Politics (4)
- Society (4)
- Community (3)
- Community action (3)
- Corporate governance (3)
- Economic development (3)
- Homelessness (3)
- Public policy (3)
- Rhode Island (3)
- United States (3)
- Communities (2)
- Community programs (2)
- Devolution (2)
- Employment (2)
- Family (2)
- Greenhouse Compact (2)
- Job market (2)
- New federalism (2)
- Political participation (2)
- AFL-CIO (1)
- Affordable housing (1)
- Affordable housing development (1)
- Alternative expenditure patterns (1)
- Amazon (1)
Articles 1 - 30 of 50
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Nutria That Roared: How Building Coalitions Can Empower The Small To Drive Great Change, Michael Hecht
The Nutria That Roared: How Building Coalitions Can Empower The Small To Drive Great Change, Michael Hecht
New England Journal of Public Policy
Hurricane Katrina saved the New Orleans economy. To be clear, Hurricane Katrina was not “good”—it was a devastating event, the most destructive storm in American history, costing thousands of lives and billions of dollars in damage. But when the books are written, and the story is told, the conclusion will be inescapable: Hurricane Katrina marked a profoundly positive inflection point in the New Orleans economy.
Money And Morality: Pathways Toward A Civic Stewardship Ethic (2012), Marcy Murninghan
Money And Morality: Pathways Toward A Civic Stewardship Ethic (2012), Marcy Murninghan
New England Journal of Public Policy
Based on a plenary presentation made at the Ninth Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance, held at Harvard Law School in 2010, less than two years after the 2008 financial crisis, this article argues for the restoration of ethical values and civic commitments in capitalism and economic enterprise, drawing on traditional religious, theological, and philosophical principles regarding the civic moral obligations associated with building and managing wealth. The article is divided into three main parts. It begins with an overview of reform measures emanating from the financial debacle, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and an …
Equity Culture And Decent Work: The Case Of Amazon (2017), Marcy Murninghan
Equity Culture And Decent Work: The Case Of Amazon (2017), Marcy Murninghan
New England Journal of Public Policy
Every year, publicly traded companies hold annual meetings at which management presents a summary of the year’s accomplishments and shareholders vote on a slate of ballot issues, referred to as “proxy resolutions,” that are placed there by either management or shareholders. As in public life, in theory this form of corporate governance relies on a division of authority and checks and balances among shareholders, the board of directors, and company management. In theory, shareholders function much like registered voters, boards serve as their elected representatives, and management operates much like the executive branch to carry out the mandates accorded to …
Undimmed By Human Tears: American Cities, Philanthropy, And The Civic Ideal (1992), Marcy Murninghan
Undimmed By Human Tears: American Cities, Philanthropy, And The Civic Ideal (1992), Marcy Murninghan
New England Journal of Public Policy
Commissioned by the Council on Foundations in 1992 at a time when urban concerns had fallen off the national agenda, this article contains summary recommendations of an investigation into the response of grantmakers and urban policy experts after the deadly violence that occurred in Los Angeles that spring. An April 29 state-court acquittal of police officers accused of using excessive force against Rodney King had sparked two days of burning and looting throughout South Central Los Angeles, an area hard-hit by job loss and plant closings that over the previous twenty years had become demographically and economically transformed. Once an …
Trusting Harvard: The Cost Of Unprincipled Investing (2014), Marcy Murninghan, Robert A.G. Monks
Trusting Harvard: The Cost Of Unprincipled Investing (2014), Marcy Murninghan, Robert A.G. Monks
New England Journal of Public Policy
This article provides a framework for answering two questions: How can Harvard fulfill its fiduciary obligation as an investor in ways that advance its beliefs, values, and commitments? How can Harvard take the lead in creating a curriculum for students, professionals, and the general public about the civic moral obligations of wealth? While aimed at Harvard, the issues covered are relevant to other universities and tax-exempt institutional investors, because they have a special duty to advance the public interest. Commissioned and co-authored by the noted corporate governance and responsible ownership guru Robert A. G. Monks, it calls on Harvard to …
Corporate Civic Responsibility And The Ownership Agenda: Investing In The Public Good (1994), Marcy Murninghan
Corporate Civic Responsibility And The Ownership Agenda: Investing In The Public Good (1994), Marcy Murninghan
New England Journal of Public Policy
This article seeks to provoke broader public discussion about ways in which human and ecologic dignity, prosperity, and the civic ideal can be advanced through a revitalized and principled ownership agenda that features greater levels of corporate accountability and civic virtue. It draws from portions of what then was called an “Occasional Paper,” part of a series emanating from the early days of the University of Massachusetts Boston’s McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies. Written in 1994, it introduces a new paradigm for corporate governance called the “corporate covenant,” which casts ownership within the framework of citizenship. These …
The Economic Context: Growing Disparities Of Income And Wealth, Chuck Collins
The Economic Context: Growing Disparities Of Income And Wealth, Chuck Collins
New England Journal of Public Policy
In the last few years, poverty rates have remained constant in the New England states. The effort to reduce poverty in New England and the United States has been thwarted by trends of growing income and wealth inequality. Since the late 1970s, the real incomes for the majority of U.S. households have remained stagnant or fallen. During the same time, asset ownership has become dramatically more unequal, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few has increased. The causes of this accelerated inequality are complex, but underlying the picture are a series of rule changes, both public …
Devolution: The Retreat Of Government, Judith Kurland
Devolution: The Retreat Of Government, Judith Kurland
New England Journal of Public Policy
Devolution as practiced in much of the world is decentralization of program authority and responsibility to achieve greater administrative efficiency or program standards. Devolution as practiced by the Bush administration and the Republican Congress is not that, nor is it a diminution of federal power and the strengthening of states’ rights. Rather, it is a radical restructuring of government to prevent the expenditure of funds for traditional Democratic programs of the New Deal and the Great Society, and to prohibit states from being either more generous in social programs or more stringent in regulating industry than this administration desires.
This …
When Half The Neighborhood Is Missing, Gus Newport
When Half The Neighborhood Is Missing, Gus Newport
New England Journal of Public Policy
Local nonprofits too often compete with each other for power, turf, and funds. The author, formerly director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, advocates for a collaborative process that engages the local community in defining and executing new initiatives. Governance for the good of the people must rely on sound research, sound principles and values, and the understanding and support of the community.
Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley
Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley
New England Journal of Public Policy
In this issue, special guest editors, Elaine Werby and Donna Haig Friedman, assemble an array of distinguished scholars, policymakers, community activists and political advocates to examine the interaction of the economic, political, and social “flows,” the undercurrents of history that stymied the war on poverty. Their articles and essays chart the beachheads that must be secured before the war can be successfully resumed; No war, they collectively remind us, is won without some battles being lost. You do not secure the future of the country if you abandon the principles of equity and equality for all, the bedrock of the …
Essay On Community, Hubie Jones
Essay On Community, Hubie Jones
New England Journal of Public Policy
Family and community are human organisms that are the bedrock of any society. They provide the sustenance, values, direction, and protection that make it possible for individuals who live in a defined location to prosper and thrive singularly and collectively. Community is the social structure that mediates between the individual resident and the state and private elites, guiding social transactions between these different worlds to advance and protect the interests and needs of individuals and groups within neighborhoods or local communities.
Interrupted Progress: Forty Years Of Child Poverty, Deborah Weinstein
Interrupted Progress: Forty Years Of Child Poverty, Deborah Weinstein
New England Journal of Public Policy
In the last forty years since the beginning of the war on poverty, the condition of poor children has improved and the percentage of children living in poverty has declined. Children and their families made the greatest gain when there was a good economy and an increase in government supports. But when such investments shrink, as they have in recent years, progress is impeded. Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) must be reauthorized by Congress. The legislation now under discussion does not encourage states to replicate programs that have increased work and family income and helped children.
Saving Capitalism From Itself: Whither The Welfare State?, Mimi Abramovitz
Saving Capitalism From Itself: Whither The Welfare State?, Mimi Abramovitz
New England Journal of Public Policy
The U.S. welfare state has been under attack from both sides of the aisle since the mid-1970s. Using the lens of history, the following pages will argue that neither the rise of the welfare state in the 1930s nor the current attack were merely accidental. Instead, each was a response to a particular crisis of profitability because the institutional arrangements that had created the conditions for profit-making in the prior fifty years had deteriorated. The policies no longer worked for the powers-that-be and had to be “reformed.”
Moving Target: The Dilemma Of Serving Massachusetts Poor Families, Randy Albelda
Moving Target: The Dilemma Of Serving Massachusetts Poor Families, Randy Albelda
New England Journal of Public Policy
While Community Action Agencies’ original mission of serving the poor has changed little over the last three decades, government commitments to the poor, the population of poor individuals and families, and women’s economic expectations have changed considerably. This article documents the trends in family structure, women’s employment patterns, and poverty policies in Massachusetts between 1970 and 2000. The increase in poor, single-mother families and poverty policies that emphasize employment present dynamic challenges for Community Action Agencies (and others who serve the poor), but also create some new organizing opportunities.
Foreword, Elaine Werby, Donna Haig Friedman
Foreword, Elaine Werby, Donna Haig Friedman
New England Journal of Public Policy
Interspersed throughout this issue are Voices of Community Action — the voices of executive directors, board members, and staff. Some are personal reflections; others describe their work or tell of the struggles of those who live with poverty. All speak to the commitment of service and change, to personal development and growth, and to the worth of their work. Their stories are 10 matched in the testimony of those who have received services or participated in community action programs. All of these stories bear witness to the importance of what happens on the front lines among leaders, board members, staff, …
Child Care: Four Decades Of Growth And Change, Bruce Hershfield, John Sciamanna
Child Care: Four Decades Of Growth And Change, Bruce Hershfield, John Sciamanna
New England Journal of Public Policy
Child care has grown and changed over the past four decades. The federal government now has two major early education programs, Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant. Although Head Start was enacted in 1965 and has had mostly bipartisan support, it took the federal government until 1990 to enact a national child care program. Massachusetts, led by an active advocacy community and strong leadership in the state legislature, has been a leader among states in support for child care funding and policies. It is its support for strong licensing, periodic increases in reimbursement rates, parental choice, …
The Community Action Principle: Subjects Not Objects, Barney Frank
The Community Action Principle: Subjects Not Objects, Barney Frank
New England Journal of Public Policy
Deals with the impact of community action programs in the international and domestic economic policies. Influence of political participation on the application of democratic principles in politics; Background of economic policies by former U.S. Presidents regarding the free enterprise system; Relevance of community action on the formulation of international economic policies.
The Economic Context: Growing Disparities Of Income And Wealth, Chuck Collins
The Economic Context: Growing Disparities Of Income And Wealth, Chuck Collins
New England Journal of Public Policy
In the last few years, poverty rates have remained constant in the New England states. The effort to reduce poverty in New England and the United States has been thwarted by trends of growing income and wealth inequality. Since the late 1970s, the real incomes for the majority of U.S. households have remained stagnant or fallen. During the same time, asset ownership has become dramatically more unequal, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few has increased. The causes of this accelerated inequality are complex, but underlying the picture are a series of rule changes, both public …
Devolution: The Retreat Of Government, Judith Kurland
Devolution: The Retreat Of Government, Judith Kurland
New England Journal of Public Policy
Devolution as practiced in much of the world is decentralization of program authority and responsibility to achieve greater administrative efficiency or program standards. Devolution as practiced by the Bush administration and the Republican Congress is not that, nor is it a diminution of federal power and the strengthening of states’ rights. Rather, it is a radical restructuring of government to prevent the expenditure of funds for traditional Democratic programs of the New Deal and the Great Society, and to prohibit states from being either more generous in social programs or more stringent in regulating industry than this administration desires.
Challenging The Policy Establishment, Alice O'Connor
Challenging The Policy Establishment, Alice O'Connor
New England Journal of Public Policy
Among the many challenges community action faces after four decades, none cuts more deeply into its central mission than the political and ideological transformation reflected in the rise of the conservative right. Based on a potent combination of grass roots and institutional organizing, coalition-building, ideological mobilization, and inter/intra party politics, the right-wing takeover has empowered a political and policy establishment that is hostile not only to the ideas that animated the War on Poverty but to the very idea of public action against social and economic inequality. While this transformation has kept community action on the defensive, confronting the challenge …
Higher Education And The Promise Of Opportunity, Robert L. Woodbury
Higher Education And The Promise Of Opportunity, Robert L. Woodbury
New England Journal of Public Policy
The article portrays the passage of the Higher Education Act of 1965 as a watershed event, much like the Morrill Land Grant Act and the G.I. Bill, in the history of opening higher education to a broader range of citizens. What had once been a largely private enterprise for the elite became an increasingly public commitment to make a college and university education accessible to anyone qualified to take advantage of the opportunity. In the last two decades, however, that promise has faded as costs have escalated, financial aid has become less available to the needy, federal and state support …
Ideas Of Reform: Like Buddhist Souls, Peter Marris, Martin Rein
Ideas Of Reform: Like Buddhist Souls, Peter Marris, Martin Rein
New England Journal of Public Policy
In 1967 Martin Rein and Peter Marris wrote an important book exploring the projects leading to the development of community action and related programs of the Great Society. In it they describe reform as a diffuse process in which preferences clash and evolve. Purposeful reform rarely has the intended consequences. The selection below is taken from the concluding remarks of their book, The Dilemmas of Social Reform, copyright University of Chicago Press, and is reprinted here with permission.
What Kind Of Labor Market Awaits Low-Income Workers?, Françoise Carré
What Kind Of Labor Market Awaits Low-Income Workers?, Françoise Carré
New England Journal of Public Policy
This essay highlights changes in the context of the labor market for low-income people, particularly mothers. It briefly reviews labor market trends and policies. It then highlights the challenges faced by such workers. The essay argues for a shift in thinking and policy advocacy to encompass the world of work, and its domination by business imperatives and language, and thus better represent poor people’s concerns in the policy world.
The Empty Promise, Elaine Werby
The Empty Promise, Elaine Werby
New England Journal of Public Policy
This article reviews the federal role in providing rental housing for low-income households. It suggests that reliance on the private market has characterized the variety of programs designed to meet the housing needs of this population group. Despite some progress, millions of low-income households still lack stable, secure housing that they can afford, and the major current program of rent subsidies is under attack.
Industrial Policy: Federal, State, And Local Response, Zenia Kotval
Industrial Policy: Federal, State, And Local Response, Zenia Kotval
New England Journal of Public Policy
During the past twenty years, many economists and policymakers have strongly advocated that the United States formulate a national industrial policy to improve the competitiveness of American firms in the global marketplace. These proposals call for both direct and indirect assistance to specific industrial sectors. Some would contend that U.S. industrial policies are being challenged by newer growth theories that shift the focus from the nation as the basic unit of industrial geography to regions and municipalities. There is little argument about the need for industrial policies that tie national, state, and local initiatives together. However, confusion and disagreement exist …
Latinos Need Not Apply: The Effects Of Industrial Change And Workplace Discrimination On Latino Employment, Edwin Meléndez, Françoise Carré, Evangelina Holvino
Latinos Need Not Apply: The Effects Of Industrial Change And Workplace Discrimination On Latino Employment, Edwin Meléndez, Françoise Carré, Evangelina Holvino
New England Journal of Public Policy
The objective of the research described here is to assess how recent changes in the organization of industry and discrimination in the workplace affect the employment of Latinos. One of the most important developments in labor markets during the past two decades is the erosion of internal labor markets. Employers are responding to intensified competitive conditions that developed during the 1980s: increased international competition in domestic markets and deregulation in telecommunications, banking, insurance, and other industries. The development of information technologies and the diffusion of secondary and postsecondary education have enabled organizations to cut labor costs. In particular, firms are …
Persistence Of Poverty Across Generations: A Comparison Of Anglos, Blacks, And Latinos, Anna M. Santiago, Yolanda C. Padilla
Persistence Of Poverty Across Generations: A Comparison Of Anglos, Blacks, And Latinos, Anna M. Santiago, Yolanda C. Padilla
New England Journal of Public Policy
Utilizing data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study examines the impact of children's growing up in poverty on the probability of their remaining in poverty during young adulthood. The primary goals of the research are to examine racial, ethnic, and gender differences in patterns of persistent poverty and to identify predictors of poverty status in young adulthood. The results suggest that both women, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or adolescent poverty status, and black men who grew up in poverty are more likely to be poor as young adults than Anglo men. Logistic regression analyses reveal that …
Economic Growth Issues In Massachusetts Rural Areas And Small Cities, Nancy Goff
Economic Growth Issues In Massachusetts Rural Areas And Small Cities, Nancy Goff
New England Journal of Public Policy
In developing a strategy for economic development, state government must consider the special needs of its small cities and rural areas. Well-meaning policies crafted for metropolitan areas have unintended and often negative consequences when applied statewide. This article is a revision of the author's topical discussion paper for the August 6, 1992, Conference on Rural and Small City Development at Mount Wachusett Community College, Gardner. It was used by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Affairs and the University of Massachusetts in developing a statewide economic development strategy.
Access To Capital And Technical Assistance, Richard J. Ward
Access To Capital And Technical Assistance, Richard J. Ward
New England Journal of Public Policy
This article summarizes and analyzes the views of select leaders in business, labor, banking, the government, and academia with regard to the constraints, obstacles, and recommendations to achieve economic growth in Massachusetts. The role of the state government in addressing these issues receives special attention. Access to capital and technical assistance had been regarded by many as the key constraint, particularly during the recession of the early 1990s. The author analyzes inconvenient government systems, bottlenecks, and bureaucracy as throttling the flow of capital to small-business entrepreneurs. The analysis concludes, however, that unless the state cum federal government finds ways to …
Improving Education And Training For Economic Development, Joan Mcrae Stoia
Improving Education And Training For Economic Development, Joan Mcrae Stoia
New England Journal of Public Policy
This article explores the connections between workforce quality and economic prosperity, as well as the role of the Massachusetts education and training system, in developing and preserving that quality and supporting the state's key industries. It includes a review of the most recent employment trend and projection data available from the Massachusetts Department of Employment and Training, information about several business-based workplace education models, and a discussion of the specific education and training needs of workers across the age/skill continuum. For the purpose of this discussion, the education and training system are broadly defined to include existing public, private, and …