Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

On Solid Ground: Building Opportunity, Preventing Homelessness, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center For Public Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Center for Social Policy Publications

This paper presents many of the factors that contribute to family instability; identifies the gaps in programs meant to serve low-income families; documents the role of federal and state rental subsidy programs; and demonstrates the interconnected roles of rental assistance, childcare, and employment assistance in increasing family incomes. The coalition of agencies undertook both quantitative and qualitative research for this paper. The coalition held focus groups with numerous stakeholders across the Commonwealth—families who have experienced or are at risk of homelessness, service providers, and public employees. On Solid Ground thanks the many participants who shared their experiences, as well as …

How Youth Are Put At Risk By Parents’ Low-Wage Jobs, Lisa Dodson, Randy Albelda, Diana Salas Coronado, Marya Mtshali

Center for Social Policy Publications

In this report, we present a first-ever overview of what is known about the relationship between the status of youth and their parents’ low-wage jobs. Of the 20 million adolescents with working parents, 3.6 million (one out of every six) are in low-income families where parents have low-wage jobs. We identify several ways that young people are harmed by their parents’ low-wage, low-quality jobs that point to the urgency of this issue.

Advancing The Fiscal Health Of Low-Income Families: A Public And Community Health Approach, Doreen Treacy

Center for Social Policy Publications

For decades, health researchers have documented the links between individual and household income/wealth and clinical health outcomes. The research and literature consistently point to both income inequality (i.e. individual household income/wealth as compared to other households in the same state) and individual household income as predictors of diminished health and morbidity. And yet the current framework for providing financial education, disseminating asset building information, and overall responding to the financial health of individuals and households takes no cues from public health and community health best practices. Further, the documented links between financial stress and compromised physical health are compelling enough …

Impact – Information Management, Public Access, Community Transformation: Final Evaluation Report, Oscar Gutierrez, John Mcgah

Center for Social Policy Publications

In 2000 the Department of Commerce awarded the Lake County (IL) Department of Planning, Building and Development a Technology Opportunity Program (TOPS) Grant to implement Project IMPACT. The project’s goals were “to improve access to and delivery of human services for low-income residents, strengthen community planning and resource allocation, and enhance understanding of data on homelessness that can be gathered and aggregated on local and national levels to accurately capture the scope of the problem and the effectiveness of efforts to ameliorate it.”

The Center for Social Policy (CSP) at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies, University of Massachusetts …

Technology Goes Home Evaluation – Executive Summary, Donna H. Friedman, Michelle Kahan, Tatjana Meschede, Consuela Greene

Center for Social Policy Publications

Technology Goes Home (TGH) is an innovative program designed to bridge the digital divide by bringing technology into low-income families’ homes. This Boston Digital Bridge Foundation (BDBF) program strives to prepare adults for employment opportunities and to help children improve academic performance by offering computer training and equipment to families in Boston neighborhoods and schools. Classes are offered in groups, with parents and children learning together in order to strengthen families and build community as well as skills. Neighborhood programs are operated in six communities through Neighborhood Technology Collaboratives, coalitions of community-based organizations. These coalitions select participating families, and provide …

Impact – Information Management, Public Access, Community Transformation: Year Two Evaluation Report, September 1, 2001 Through August 31, 2002, Oscar Gutierrez, John Mcgah

Center for Social Policy Publications

The goals of the IMPACT project are “to improve access to and delivery of human services for low-income residents, strengthen community planning and resource allocation, and enhance understanding of data on homelessness can be gathered and aggregated on local and national levels to accurately capture the scope of the problem and the effectiveness of efforts to ameliorate it.”

The Center for Social Policy (CSP), McCormack Institute at the University of UMass Boston was commissioned to produce a series of evaluation reports of the IMPACT project; this is the second of three reports covering year two activity of the IMPACT. The …

Impact – Information Management, Public Access, Community Transformation: Year One Evaluation Report, September 1, 2000 Through August 31, 2001, Oscar Gutierrez, John Mcgah, Donna H. Friedman

Center for Social Policy Publications

The goals of the IMPACT project are “to improve access to and delivery of human services for low-income residents, strengthen community planning and resource allocation, and enhance understanding of how data on homelessness can be gathered and aggregated on local and national levels to accurately capture the scope of the problem and the effectiveness of efforts to ameliorate it.”

The first year of the IMPACT project was one of infrastructure development in a broad sense. It involved primarily the development and modification of innovative information technology tools as well as the identification, selection and deployment of other information systems designed …