Social Work Commons^™

Effectiveness Of Community Development Organizations In The St. Louis Metropolitan Area, Kyle Pitzer

Brown School Theses and Dissertations

Concentrated poverty has been a core issue in urban America for close to half of a century. The consequences of living in these neighborhoods are also dire. These "neighborhood effects" are defined as the effects of living in concentrated poverty over and above individual circumstances, which have been tied to a number of important life outcomes. One approach to addressing these issues is community development, and perhaps the most salient vehicle of community development is the community development corporation (CDC). This current study sought to address three aims: 1), understand the effects of CDCs on population-level outcomes; 2), understand the …

Financial Well-Being Of Frontline Healthcare Workers: The Importance Of Employer Benefits, Mathieu Despard, Sophia Fox-Dichter, Haotian Zheng, Grace Anderson, Olivia Borland, Kourtney Gilbert

Social Policy Institute Research

Frontline healthcare workers – especially direct care workers (DCWs), such as home health aides, struggle due to low pay, lack of benefits, and difficult working conditions. The need for these workers is growing. Unless frontline healthcare jobs improve, positions may be difficult to fill, and care for vulnerable members of society may be compromised.

In this study, we surveyed 2,321 frontline healthcare workers and conducted in-depth interviews with 30 of these workers concerning pay, benefits, work conditions, and financial well-being. Key survey findings included:

• Only 39% of workers were eligible for at least four out of five major benefits (e.g., …

Global Child Development Accounts: A “Moon Shot” To Develop Every Child And The Planet, Michael Sherraden, Li Zou

Center for Social Development Research

The early 21st century has been marked by several global stresses. Effective responses, note Michael Sherraden and Li Zou, require large, bold solutions. In this concept note, they propose a global Child Development Account initiative, a global project for building assets for all children to invest in their full development. The times require audacity, Sherraden and Zou assert, but big changes are possible.

Democratizing The Economy Or Introducing Economic Risk? Gig Work During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Daniel Auguste, Stephen Roll, Mathieu Despard

Social Policy Institute Research

Though the growth of the gig economy has coincided with increased economic precarity in the new economy, we know less about the extent to which gig work (compared with other self-employment arrangements and non-gig work) may fuel economic insecurity among American households. We fill this gap in the literature drawing on a sample of 4,756 workers from a unique national survey capturing economic hardships among non-standard workers like app-and platform-based gig and other self-employed workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results from generalized boosted regression modeling, utilizing machine learning to account for potential endogeneity, demonstrated that gig workers experienced significantly greater …

Usage And Impact Of Benefits Among Frontline Healthcare Workers, Mathieu Despard

Social Policy Institute Research

We completed a study about frontline healthcare workers – the benefits they get through work and how they are doing financially. This brief provides highlights from our survey to 2,321 workers and interviews with 30 workers.

Combatting Rising Healthcare Costs For Healthier Adults, Alejandra Muñoz-Rivera

Social Policy Institute Research

In 2020, healthcare expenditures averaged $12,530 per person, up 9.7% from 2019. In 2018, 19% of U.S. households had medical debt with $2,000 being the median amount owed. Over half of adults between 18 to 64 years of age are estimated to experience some form of medical financial hardship including medical bills or debt, stress about medical bills, and delaying or forgoing treatment specifically due to cost. In a 2022 survey of 140 Medicaid and Marketplace members by researchers from the Social Policy Institute (SPI) and the Centene Center of Health Transformation, one-third of respondents reported having unpaid medical bills. …

Social Capital And Mental Health Among Chinese Older Adults, Yuekang Li

Brown School Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to develop our understanding of social capital by exploring the dimensions and profiles of social capital among Chinese older adults and the factors and health conditions associated with social capital in later life. The approach was secondary analyses of the China Family Panel Study (CFPS), a nationally representative survey of the Chinese population. It is the intent of this work to offer applicable guidance on policy and project design regarding health promotion for the aging population through social intervention. Aim 1 explores the dimensions and associative factors of social capital of Chinese older adults. It was found …

The Cost Of Child Support: Policy Design And Father Identity, Lara Markovitz

Brown School Theses and Dissertations

Child support policy is one of the key forces in the lives of families in the U.S., where 1 in 4 children and half of African American children live apart from their fathers (Carlson et al., 2017; Grall, 2020; U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). Most unmarried fathers of newborns express a strong desire and commitment to their children (Carlson & McLanahan, 2002; England & Edin, 2007). However, by the time their children turn five, fathers'; involvement (caregiving and time, provision of child support) diminishes greatly (Turner & Waller, 2017). This decrease in father involvement among low-income NRFs is thought to be …

Trauma Exposures Across The Life Course For Individuals Who Experience Incarceration, Maria Morrison

Brown School Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, with 2.2 million people currently behind bars, 60% of whom are people of color. At the same time, there is an unprecedented political consensus to develop strategies for reducing the incarcerated population and safely returning the majority of incarcerated individuals to society. While there has been a substantial research focus on the potential of this population to commit acts of violence post-release, this tells only half the story. This dissertation hopes to provide a more complete picture of the role of violence in the lives of individuals released …

Child Development Accounts Reach Over 15 Million Children Globally, Li Zou, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

First proposed in 1991, inclusive asset-building policy for each child, policy that begins at birth, has now been tested and implemented in settings across the globe. This brief documents the emergence of Child Development Accounts and estimates their scope, focusing on policies in Singapore, the United Kingdom, Korea, Canada, Israel, and the United States.

Experimental Evidence On Consumption, Saving, And Family Formation Responses To Student Debt Forgiveness, Jason Jabarri, Stephen Roll, Mathieu Despard, Leah Hamilton

Social Policy Institute Research

As policy-makers grapple with whether or not to forgive student debt, for who, and how much, it is important to explore how student debt forgiveness would relate to intended household decisions and behaviors. We conducted a survey experiment that asked participants with student debt to imagine a scenario in which the federal government forgave a certain amount of student debt. We then had these participants report on how this would affect their decisions and behaviors. 1,053 participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions that offered $5,000, $10,000, $20,000, and complete debt forgiveness. Our results indicate that student debt …

Financial Facts: Seed Ok Child Development Accounts At Age 14, Margaret M. Clancy, Sondra G. Beverly, Mark Schreiner, Jin Huang, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

This Fact Sheet presents financial outcomes as of December 31, 2021, when children in the SEED for Oklahoma Kids (SEED OK) experiment were about 14 years old. SEED OK is a large-scale policy test of universal, automatic, and progressive Child Development Accounts (CDAs). The essential feature of the CDA in SEED OK is a state-owned Oklahoma 529 College Savings Plan (OK 529) account, which was automatically opened for newborns in late 2007 with an initial deposit of $1,000 and which has now grown to about $2,300.

Economic Security From An Asset Perspective, William Elliott Iii

Center for Social Development Research

hat is economic security, and what policies can help more families achieve it?

In talking about the New Deal, President Franklin Roosevelt provided a vision for what economic security should look like in America, a vision that CSD Faculty Director William Elliott III elaborates in this essay. To be secure, Elliott notes, families require enough to live by and something to live for; that is, they require income and assets. Elliott makes the case that policy has a vital role to play in creating and sustaining this security.

This Perspective presents remarks given by CSD Faculty Director William Elliott III …

Choice And Opportunity: Examining Housing Relocation And Organizational Partnerships Within Federal Mixed-Income Community Development Initiatives, Andrew Scott Foell

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, residential segregation by race and class has resulted in the creation and growth of geographic areas of concentrated poverty, or the concentration of mostly poor families of color into extremely poor neighborhoods. Due to the durability of concentrated poverty, along with the numerous adverse effects of living in neighborhoods characterized by concentrated poverty, deconcentrating poverty has been a prominent focus of urban poverty policy and housing and community development practice. Mixed-income development initiatives have emerged as promising strategies that focus on assisting low-income families living in distressed public housing while simultaneously investing in housing and neighborhood …

Protecting Native Motherhood: A Longitudinal Investigation Of Interpersonal Violence Among Alaska Native Women, Autumn Asher

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alaska Native mothers and their children are continually impacted by present day disparities resulting from decades of historical oppression. Indigenous women face a substantially greater risk for experiencing violence during pregnancy. Further, Alaska Native children are disproportionately represented in the child welfare system, including both overrepresentation in out of home care, and underrepresented in preventative and restorative services in comparison to the general population. The present work utilizes data from the Alaska Longitudinal Child Abuse and Neglect Linkage Project (ALCANLink) which follows children of Alaska mothers originally sampled in the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). The ALCANLink is a …

Iceberg Del Pensamiento Sistémico: Buceando Bajo La Superficie, Clarissa Gaona Romero, Laura Guzmán Abello, Carmen Quinteros-Reyes, Paraskevi Seferidi, Antonio Bernabe-Ortiz, Lindsey Pawlowski, Ellis Ballard

Social System Design Lab

El iceberg es una metáfora clásica que se aplica en diversas disciplinas más allá del pensamientosistémico. La metáfora describe una situación en la cual solo se observa la punta del iceberg, es decir solouna pequeña parte de la totalidad que no se puede ver en la superficie (la gran masa de hielo escondidadebajo de la superficie). En el pensamiento sistémico, se usa la metáfora del iceberg para pensar sobre loque está “bajo la superficie” impulsando los eventos que observamos (punta del Iceberg): (1) Patrones decomportamiento a lo largo del tiempo, (2) Estructuras del sistema que dan lugar a estos patrones …

Modelos Mentales, Clarissa Gaona Romero, Katherine Curi-Quinto, Laura Guzmán Abello, Carmen Quinteros-Reyes, Paraskevi Seferidi, Antonio Bernabe-Ortiz, Lindsey Pawlowski, Ellis Ballard

Social System Design Lab

Un principio central de la perspectiva del pensamiento sistémico es que las estructuras del sistema están respaldadas y permanecen por nuestras creencias, formas de pensar, y objetivos subyacentes (Ver Serie de Informes de Métodos 1.08). Por lo tanto, para transformar y rediseñar los sistemas también debemos transformar nuestra mentalidad. El propósito de este breve documento es introducir el concepto de modelos mentales y discutir cómo las herramientas de dinámica de sistemas se pueden usar para identificarlos, negociarlos y transformarlos.

Acumulaciones Y Diagramas De Niveles Y Flujos, Clarissa Gaona Romero, Laura Guzmán Abello, Carmen Quinteros-Reyes, Paraskevi Seferidi, Antonio Bernabe-Ortiz, Lindsey Pawlowski, Ellis Ballard

Social System Design Lab

Existen varias características de los sistemas complejos que dificultan la creación de cambios en la salud de la comunidad, los cuales incluyen los siguientes: retrasos entre la intervención y el resultado, respuestas inesperadas o confusas a intervenciones, y diferencias en las formas en que los individuos y los grupos experimentan el mismo sistema. El concepto de “acumulación” brinda información importante sobre la forma en que se generan las percepciones erróneas, retrasos y respuestas contradictorias al sistema dentro de los esfuerzo de la salud que se llevan a cabo. Los diagramas de niveles y flujos son herramientas que sirven para identificar …

An Overview Of Platforms To Support Online Gmb, Lucy Chin, Min Hu, Allie Farrell, Lindsey Pawlowski, Ellis Ballard

Social System Design Lab

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in the new reality of remote working and learning, forcing group model building practitioners to make an abrupt shift to online workshops. Like our peers, the Social System Design Lab (SSDL) at Washington University in St. Louis confronted this challenge by exploring what tools existed for adaptation and continued collaboration. The shift has not been easy, but it has revealed new insights that suggest areas to leverage the strengths of online GMB long after the pandemic comes to an end.

The purpose of this brief is to review a number of online platforms that group model …

Definición De La Dinámica De Problemas, Clarissa Gaona Romero, Katherine Curi-Quinto, Laura Guzmán Abello, Carmen Quinteros-Reyes, Paraskevi Seferidi, Antonio Bernabe-Ortiz, Lindsey Pawlowski, Ellis Ballard

Social System Design Lab

Las herramientas de dinámica de sistemas nos ayudan a descubrir las estructuras del sistema que producen los problemas que nos importan para que podamos identificar mejores soluciones.Como ilustra esta cita, el primer paso, y posiblemente el más importante, en cualquier proceso de resolución de problemas es definir claramente el problema que se desea resolver. En otras disciplinas científicas, esta definición de un problema puede ser estática, o instantánea, ya que analiza un problema particular en un momento dado. Esto puede parecer un único punto de datos, resultado o evento. En la dinámica de sistemas, sin embargo, definimos los problemas como …

Online Gmb: Challenges, Opportunities, And Barriers, Lucy Chin, Allie Farrell, Min Hu, Lindsey Pawlowski, Ellis Ballard

Social System Design Lab

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in the new reality of remote working and learning, forcing group model building practitioners to make an abrupt shift to online workshops. Like our peers, the Social System Design Lab (SSDL) at Washington University in St. Louis confronted this challenge by exploring what tools existed for adaptation and continued collaboration. The shift has not been easy, but it has revealed new insights that suggest areas to leverage the strengths of online GMB long after the pandemic comes to an end.

The purpose of this brief is to provide some general points of comparison between in-person and …

Facilitation Team Roles In Online Gmb, Allie Farrell, Min Hu, Lucy Chin, Lindsey Pawlowski, Ellis Ballard

Social System Design Lab

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in the new reality of remote working and learning, forcing group model building practitioners to make an abrupt shift to online workshops. Like our peers, the Social System Design Lab (SSDL) at Washington University in St. Louis confronted this challenge by exploring what tools existed for adaptation and continued collaboration. The shift has not been easy, but it has revealed new insights that suggest areas to leverage the strengths of online GMB long after the pandemic comes to an end.

The purpose of this brief is to compare facilitation team roles in traditional, in-person GMB sessions …

Policy Design For Child Development Accounts: Parents' Perceptions, Sondra Beverly, Jin Huang, Margaret M. Clancy, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

In the SEED for Oklahoma Kids experiment, which features of Child Development Account (CDA) policy do study participants perceive as important for increasing the number of children who earn a college degree or trade school certificate? Which features do participants view as important for encouraging parents to save for their children’s postsecondary education?

This brief presents findings from a 2020 survey of parents in the experiment, when their children were about 13 years old. Results are for 1,666 parents (those whose children received the CDA in SEED OK and those whose children did not) and for subgroups defined by household …

Financial Capability And Asset Building In Social Work Practice, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Acknowledging the potential benefits of training social workers to offer clients guidance on financial matters, the China Association of Social Work Education created the Financial Social Work Commission in 2020. This new unit within the association was designed to serve as a hub for research and insights to facilitate the development of financial capability and asset holding in vulnerable populations. The Commission promotes the training of social workers with the knowledge and skills required to integrate financial capability services into social work practice.

This Perspective presents the keynote address given by CSD Founding Director Michael Sherraden as part of “Theory …

Preparing Social Workers To Improve People’S Finances, Margaret S. Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

In 2020, the China Association of Social Work Education created the Financial Social Work Commission, acknowledging the potential benefits of equipping social workers to guide their clients in financial matters. But what do social workers need to know about finances, and how will they learn it?

In this Perspective, Margaret Sherraden shares an address given during “Localization of Financial Social Work Education: Goals, Textbook, and Strategies,” a panel discussion convened as part of Theory and Practice for Financial Social Work: Promoting Common Prosperity, the first national Forum of the Financial Social Work Commission, Beijing, China, January 8, 2022. Panelists discussed …

Disparate Financial Assistance Support For Small Business Owners, Sophia Fox-Dichter, Daniel Auguste, Mathieu Despard, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Social Policy Institute Research

Small business owners experienced a drastic economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Government pandemic assistance failed to reach many small business owners, especially those historically underserved by financial institutions. Drawing on a 2021 survey of 246 small business owners, the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis descriptively examined the extent to which small business owners sought and received business assistance, and whether applications and approval of government assistance varied by race and ethnicity. We find that though Hispanic and Black business owners applied for government assistance at a higher rate than white business owners, Black business …