Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Struggling Recovery And Economic Policy Uncertainty: Testimony Before The Joint Revenue Hearing, House And Senate Ways And Means Committees, Massachusetts State House, Boston, Ma, Christian Weller

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

The U.S. economy is in the fourth year of a recovery that started in June 2009. The fact that the economy is in recovery, even modestly, is something of a miracle given how stacked the deck is against it.

This is absolutely unique in American economic history: There has never been a recovery without the housing market expanding substantially as well; There has never been a recovery with state and local governments shrinking for three years in a row; There has never been a recovery with households owing, on average, well more than 100 percent of their after-tax income in …

Funding Health-Related Vr Services: The Potential Impact Of The Affordable Care Act On The Use Of Private Health Insurance And Medicaid To Pay For Health-Related Vr Services, Robert Silverstein

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

One of the myriad of issues affecting the administration of the vocational rehabilitation (VR) program by State VR agencies under Title I of the Rehabilitation Act is how to maximize access to and use of all available funding sources to pay for VR services and supports for VR applicants and clients. In March 2010, Congress passed and the President signed into law the "Affordable Care Act" (ACA). 1 On June 28, 2012, the United States Supreme Court upheld all of the provisions of the ACA, with the exception of provisions mandating Medicaid expansion. The Supreme Court held that if a …

The National Elder Economic Security Standard Index, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gerontology Institute Publications

The Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) is a new tool for use by policy makers, older adults, family caregivers, service providers, aging advocates, and the public at large. Developed by the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW), the Elder Index is a measure of income that older adults require to maintain their independence in the community and meet their daily costs of living, including affordable and appropriate housing and health care. The development and use of the Elder Index promotes a measure of income that respects the autonomy goals of …

Town Of Cohasset Senior Center Study, Jan Mutchler, Hayley Gravette, Caitlin Coyle

Gerontology Institute Publications

The Town of Cohasset is considering the construction of a new Senior Center that will provide the opportunity for expanded programming within a dedicated building. In support of planning efforts by the Town of Cohasset, a study was conducted by the Gerontology Institute of the McCormack Graduate School at UMass Boston. The study addresses the need for, and probable utilization of, a new Senior Center, and includes consideration of the recreational, educational and health-related programs that are likely to be offered through the new Center. Results of the study presented in this report respond to three questions: First, what are …

Supporting Healthy Lives And Vibrant Places: Learning About And Living The Collaborative Leadership Model, Lisa Deangelis, Maureen A. Scully, Andrea Wight

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

The 31 fellows in the 2012 UMass Boston Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) worked with community partners to investigate the theme, “Supporting Healthy Lives and Vibrant Places.” They worked in peer self-managed teams, in order to learn collaborative leadership skills first-hand, while engaging with stakeholders and issues where collaboration makes a difference. Their team projects addressed: best practices in corporate wellness initiatives, outreach to support health care access for homeless people, ways to grow awareness of the wide need for affordable housing, ideas for arts-based local economic development, broader funding sources to support innovative research on poverty, and ways to continue …

Will Women Gain Seats?: The 2012 Election And The Representation Of Women In The Massachusetts Legislature, Paige Ransford, Meryl Thomson

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston released this fact sheet just prior to the November 2012 general election. Currently, just less than one quarter (24.5%) of Massachusetts legislators are female, putting Massachusetts behind all other New England states when it comes to the election of women to state legislative office. Vermont has the highest percentage (38.9%) of women in its legislature in the New England region.

Organization And Efficiency Study Of Town Hall Departments: Town Of Carlisle, Massachusetts, Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center For Public Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

The Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management (the Center) was retained by the Town of Carlisle to conduct an analysis of government operations for departments located at Town Hall. This analysis included the following departments.

• Town Accountant
• Treasurer/Collector
• Assessor
• Town Clerk
• Council on Aging
• Recreation
• Planning Board
• Conservation Commission
• Building Commissioner
• Housing Authority
• Board of Health

This report presents the results of the study, which began in June 2012, and was designed to provide an assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of Town operations, identifying strengths and improvement opportunities relating to organization, staffing, and management.

In this concluding …

Breakfast And Lunch Participation In Massachusetts Schools, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts Budget And Policy Center, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, Eos Foundation

Center for Social Policy Publications

The Center for Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston (CSP), the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget), and the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI), with support from the Eos Foundation, established a research team to examine school food and related programs in Massachusetts.

While the team developed an overview of all federally funded food programs in Massachusetts, the focus of our work was on school meal programs and several aspects of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). The full project is composed of several individual pieces of research and analysis, most of which were primarily undertaken by one …

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.

Women’S Political Leadership In Massachusetts, Paige Ransford, Meryl Thomson, Sarah Healey

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPPP) at UMass Boston’s McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies has been tracking the election of women at the municipal level in Massachusetts since 1996. In 2003, the Project expanded to include all New England states. CWPPP remains the only research center in the United States that regularly tracks women’s political representation at the local level.

Is Dismissing The Precautionary Principle The Manly Thing To Do? Gender And The Economics Of Climate Change, Julie Nelson

Julie A. Nelson

Many public debates about climate change now focus on the economic "costs" of taking action. When called on to advise about these, many leading mainstream economists downplay the need for care and caution on climate issues, forecasting a future with infinitely continued economic growth. This essay highlights the roles of binary metaphors and cultural archetypes in creating the highly gendered, sexist, and age-ist attitudes that underlie this dominant advice. Gung-ho economic growth advocates aspire to the role of The Hero, rejecting the conservatism of The Old Wife. But in a world that is not actually as safe and predictable as …

Brief 6: Environmental Emergencies: Challenges And Lessons For International Environmental Governance, Rene Nijenhuis, Carl Bruch

Governance and Sustainability Issue Brief Series

This brief examines the strengths and weaknesses of existing instruments and institutions and addresses the efforts to improve coordination among the international sectors of environmental emergency response. Potential operational, capacity-building, and legal options for strengthening prevailing mechanisms are identified and discussed, including the need for stronger political mandates, the need for a stronger framework to address fragmentation, and the need for procedures to support and facilitate environmental emergency responders. The lessons from this discourse can improve the field of environmental emergency response, while also informing advancements in broader context of international environmental governance.

Management Assessment Of The Public Works Department: City Of Lowell, Massachusetts, Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center For Public Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

This report presents the results of the management assessment of the Lowell Public Works Department conducted by the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Collins Center for Public Management.

The project team conducted a comprehensive organization and management analysis of the Department's existing operations, service levels, infrostructure management, organizational structures and staffing levels. The analysis was to be fact-based and include all aspects of service provision by the Department.

Influences Of Health Insurance And Primary Care On Breast And Cervical Cancer Screening Among Black Women In Boston, Gail Barlow Gall

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Healthy People 2010 promoted breast and cervical cancer screening to reduce cancer among all women and reduce disparities in cancer deaths between Black and White women. The REACH 2010 program targeted improving screening rates among Black women and funded a demonstration project to provide outreach, screening, patient navigation and case management for Black women in Boston. The purpose of this study was to describe associations between health insurance and primary care (having a primary care provider [PCP], quality of communications and relationship with PCP) on differences in breast and cervical cancer screening reported by Black women born in the United …

Mattapan United Community Questionnaire, Mattapan United, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Center for Social Policy Publications

In the winter and spring of 2012, the Steering Committee of the Mattapan United Resilient Communities/Resilient Families project undertook an assessment of community members’ attitudes and opinions for use in planning and program development.

The Committee was assisted in this endeavor by the Center for Social Policy (CSP), McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston. The work of CSP is supported by a grant from The Boston Foundation to provide analytical and evaluation assistance for its Fairmount Initiative along the Fairmount/Indigo Corridor of Boston.

The questionnaire was widely disseminated throughout Mattapan in hard copy and …

An Alternative To Temporary Staffing: Considerations For Workforce Practitioners, Linda Kato, Françoise Carré, Laura E. Johnson, Deena Schwartz

Center for Social Policy Publications

As the national economy inches toward recovery, risk-averse employers are increasingly turning to temporary workers to fill their hiring gaps. In fact, the temporary staffing industry has been a fixture of the US economy for decades. But the industry added a striking 557,000 jobs from June 2009 to November 2011 — more than half of the jobs created during that period. Growth is likely to continue: A 2011 McKinsey survey of 2,000 firms of differing sizes and across various sectors found that more than a third foresaw their companies increasing their use of temporary workers over the next five years. …

Investigating The Role Of An Understudied North Atlantic Right Whale Habitat: Right Whale Movement, Ecology, And Distribution In Jeffreys Ledge, Kathryn Longley

Graduate Masters Theses

The critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) consistently visits five major habitats throughout the year; however, they are known to visit additional habitats. This project examines the role of Jeffreys Ledge as an additional habitat of importance for this species by investigating three aspects of its distribution and ecology. I first addressed the relationship of Jeffreys Ledge to a known significant right whale feeding ground, Cape Cod Bay, by quantifying the movement of right whales between the two habitats and comparing demographic characteristics of right whales seen in these habitats. Secondly, I measured the quality of the zooplankton …

Evaluation Of Lift Up Your Voice! Advocacy Training For Older Adults And Their Caregivers: Executive Summary, Alison Gottlieb, Nina M. Silverstein, Kelli Barton

Gerontology Institute Publications

The Lift Up Your Voice! (LUYV) training, a component of Community Catalyst’s effort to support the Campaign for Better Care (CBC), is designed to mobilize grassroots advocacy structures of vulnerable older adults by directly engaging and empowering older adults and their caregivers. The goal of the evaluation is to assess the effectiveness LUYV in recruiting potential advocates, educating them about the health care reform, empowering them via advocacy skills training, and engaging them in state-based CBC activities.

Evaluating The Performance Of The U.S. Social Safety Net In The Great Recession, Keith Gunnar Bentele

Center for Social Policy Publications

The following provides an assessment of the performance of both individual safety net programs and the cumulative impact of all safety net benefits and tax credits on household incomes in the early years during and following the 2007-09 recession. Specifically, I examine the extent to which various benefits and tax credits have moderated the impact of earnings losses for households in different positions in the income distribution, with special attention to the experiences of low-income households. In addition, I examine whether these moderating impacts differ for households of various racial/ethnic compositions, female-headed households, and residents of states with more and …

Pathways To Family Success Final Evaluation Report, Berna Kahraman, Ghazal Zulfiqar, Donna H. Friedman, Alice Carter

Center for Social Policy Publications

This report presents findings from the second year of the evaluation of the Pathways to Family Success Programs (PFS) funded by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) and conducted by the Center for Social Policy (CSP) for the period September 2010 through June 2011. The 2010-2011 evaluation aimed to determine the extent to which PFS activities and interventions were effective in supporting learning outcomes and goal attainment for participating families and their children, and to identify strengths and areas of growth for the PFS Programs and partners. There were four Program sites implementing the PFS indepth project during …

Jumpstart At Umass Boston, Jheanell West

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Jumpstart is the only national supplemental preschool program of its kind, leveraging adult-child relationships to deliver a carefully designed curriculum that builds the key language and literacy skills children need to succeed. Jumpstart’s program works with preschool children because we know that intervening early is critical and will result in the best long-term benefits for our nation’s children. Jumpstart’s program prepares children for kindergarten to ensure greater success in elementary school and in life. In fact, the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child at Harvard University states that “Addressing significant inequalities in opportunity, beginning in the earliest years of …

Diversity In Public Administration And Public Management: Representation And Public Service For A Changing Country, Michael Ahn, Michael Johnson

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Public managers and agencies in the U.S. face the challenge of serving communities that differ by race, gender, ethnicity, cultural backgrounds, sexual orientation and other characteristics. This project addresses the changes to the diversity in the workforce and the challenges that people may face.

Latino Leadership Initiative (Lli): A Partnership With The Harvard Kennedy School Center For Public Leadership And The University Of Massachusetts Boston Since 2010, Albis Mejia, Liliana Mickle, Shannon Seaver

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Latino Leadership Initiative (LLI), annually serves up to 50 of the nation’s most promising undergraduates with demonstrated interest in serving the Latino(a)community. The first two colleges and university cohorts represented are Miami Dade College, UMass Boston, Texas A&M, UC Merced, University of Texas-Pan American, Loyola Marymount and the University of Houston. The objectives of this program are to enhance the leadership capacity of students committed to serving the Latino community, to help participants form a strong and durable bond among themselves and with other leader and to inspire participants to view their own possibilities for leadership and professional achievement …

Center For Rebuilding Sustainable Communities After Disasters, Adenrele Awotona, Center For Rebuilding Sustainable Communities After Disasters, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters (CRSCAD) cultivates alliances with local, national, and international agencies, government and academic institutions, NGOs, and for-profit and not-for-profit bodies which share common interests in the area of post-disaster reconstruction globally.

Give Us Your Poor: A National Public Education Campaign Addressing Homelessness, Barbara L. Graceffa, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The objective of this campaign to create awareness that the Government alone cannot solve homelessness. The campaign also creates awareness that corporations need to be involved to help bring to scale solutions as well as promote innovation. The aim of the project is to create an awareness that collaboration between government, non-profits, academia, corporations, faith communities, and individuals is key to solving the issue.

Building Bridges: Fostering Dialogue & Shared Understanding Between Communities & Government Agencies, Eben Weitzman, Darren Kew

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Professors Eben Weitzman and Darren Kew of the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance are facilitating ongoing conversations among state and federal agencies and minority community representatives in Massachusetts as a means for fostering shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities inherent to their relationship. Working with the BRIDGES program, they are applying theories around group dialogue in order to help stakeholders build lasting, productive connections.

Project Hope; Negotiation To Unify Advocacy For Successful Passage Of Foreclosure Legislation To Protect Low Income Households In Massachusetts, Donna Friedman, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Project Hope is a multi-service agency at the forefront of efforts in Boston to move families beyond homelessness and poverty. It provides low-income women with children with access to education, jobs, housing, and emergency services; fosters their personal transformation; and works for broader systems change. The Center for Social Policy was asked by Project Hope to carry out collaborative action research to help them identify viable employment pathways, accessible in the neighborhood or through use of public transportation, for parents with children who have limited workforce experience and education. Together, the research involved: working with agency staff to survey families …

Geographic Information Systems Facilitate Youth, Youth Workers And Community Stakeholder Efforts, Helenmary Hotz

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

A large population of underserved students and residents in the City of Boston suffer from behavioral and/or discipline problems, as well as substance and/or alcohol abuse. A side effect of this behavior is the increasing instance of trash such as cigarette butts, condoms, syringes and packaging being discarded in public areas. The South Boston Youth Action Center (SBYAC) is tackling this problem by making the community aware of the locations and probable sources of this problem. The SBYAC is implementing an effort to rid South Boston parks, playgrounds and areas frequented by children of refuse associated with substance abuse. And, …

Identifying Success In Schools And Programs For English Language Learners In Boston Public Schools, Miren Uriarte, Michael Berardino, Jie Chen, Virginia Diez, Faye Karp, Sarah Rustan, Rosann Tung, Laurie Gagnon, Pamela Stazesky, Eileen De Los Reyes, Antonieta Bolomey, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Gastón Institute collaborates with government agencies, community organizations and foundations in applied research aimed at evaluating the impact of policies, programs and practices. This poster describes a three-way collaboration among researchers and practitioners from Boston Public Schools (BPS), the Gastón Institute and the Center for Collaborative Education (CCE) which yielded two comprehensive studies: 1. The enrollment and outcomes of English language learners in BPS; 2. Best ELL practices in four schools that were consistently high performing or steadily improving with respect to ELL student outcomes.

Veterans Upward Bound: A Federally Funded Trio Program, "Preparing Veterans For College At Umass, Boston Since 1973", Linda Mitchell

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Veterans Upward Bound Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston provides a unique opportunity for men and women veterans of all ages to acquire the academic skills required for entry into higher education and/or to acquire the equivalent of a high school diploma. This is federally funded TRIO program.