Digital Commons Network^™

Collaboration Through Partnerships: A Review Of Six Michigan Communities, Cheryl Kay Sibilsky-Soule

Dissertations

The federal government supports the use of collaborative service planning for many federally funded programs. While there are anecdotal studies supporting community collaboration, its use has not been adequately evaluated. This study provides exploratory information regarding the relationship between successful collaboration and outcomes for children and families.

Data were collected from six Michigan communities using a survey tool sent to all members of the six community Family Coordinating Councils. The tool was designed to measure eight factors seen in successful collaboration. The respondents evaluated their own collaborative council on these eight factors.

Three of the communities were thought to be …

Evaluating Awareness Of Community Health And Human Services By The Hispanic Population In Lexington, Kentucky, Pilar Corbellini

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Over the past 10 years, Hispanics, predominately Mexicans, have become a notable component of immigration in Kentucky. At the same time, the city of Lexington has striven to increase and stimulate community efforts to help and support people in need. Over 2000 non-profit organizations exist in the city and surrounding areas that unite community support to assist people seeking help.

Among non-profit agencies, particularly the United Way of the Bluegrass, there is a perceived idea that people in need and seeking help are overwhelmed with information about available community human and health services. Notwithstanding this perception, a different reality seems …

Celebrating 4-H, Youth, And Technology: The Nebraska 4-H Cyber Fair, Patricia Fairchild, Diane Vigna, Jamie Fassett

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

What began as a meta search for 4-H curricula available on the Internet became a phenomenon that has served more than 18,000 Nebraskans in an amazing example of creating partnerships; blending resources; and celebrating 4-H, youth, and technology. Welcome to the Nebraska 4-H Cyber Fair. When the Nebraska 4-H Office conducted an extensive review of Web-based curricula and CD-ROMs created by Cooperative Extension and 4-H nationwide, it became apparent that considerable material was available for delivery by computer. Although some of the material discovered was Nebraska-based, it was not necessarily known to Nebraskans involved in 4-H programming. Nebraska youth in …

Family Group Conferencing In Child Welfare: Responsive And Regulatory Interfaces, Joan Pennell

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A regulatory approach compels the child welfare worker to make decisions according to set procedures and prevents responding flexibly to families. Differential response is a way that child welfare is departing from legal formalism. One means is convening a family group conference (FGC) to develop a plan. John Braithwaite's regulatory pyramid assists in concep- tualizing differential response. This article reports a factor analysis of data on achievement of FGC objectives to elaborate three interfaces for fostering responsive regulation. Each interface keeps the family group at the center of planning while firmly maintaining their connections with community and government programs.

Targeting Outcomes Of Programs: A Hierarchy For Targeting Outcomes And Evaluating Their Achievement, Kay Rockwell, Claude Bennett

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

Targeting Outcomes of Programs (TOP) focuses on outcomes in planning, implementing, and evaluating programs. TOP is based on a hierarchy that integrates program evaluation within the program development process. TOP uses this simple framework to target specific outcomes in program development and then to assess the degree to which the outcome targets are reached. Intended Audience: People who develop and administer information, education, and training programs on high priority problems or issues in today's society. TOP is based on a theoretically sound framework that has been tested, revised and refined, and widely used over the past 20 years (Bennett, 1975 …

Focal Point, Volume 18 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This issue highlights recent work at the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health in Portland, Oregon. The Center's work is guided by a vision of family–professional partnership within systems of care serving children with emotional or behavioral disorders and their families.

Focal Point, Volume 17 Number 02, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

The authors of the articles in this issue of Focal Point represent a spectrum of Wraparound's stakeholder groups—family members, service providers, trainers, and researchers. From their different perspectives, they discuss the issues of quality and fidelity. What is striking is the extent to which these perspectives converge in their descriptions of successful practice and implementation. This Focal Point issue is evidence that substantial progress is being made in bringing a clearer focus to the Wraparound vision.

Southwest Community Center : Syracuse Department Of Parks, Recreation, And Youth Programs, Syracuse University. Maxwell School. Community Benchmarks Program.

Community Benchmarks Program

This report presents observations and recommendations for the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Youth Programs at Southwest Community Center at 401 South Ave. in Syracuse, New York. The report is a description of the current registration and attendance practices of Southwest Community Center and suggestions for improvement.

Focal Point, Volume 17 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This issue of Focal Point offers insight on cultural reciprocity, clinical outcomes for diverse youth, culturally competent research practices for African-American communities, identifying behavioral strengths in Black children, and cultural competence in services.

A Framework For Quality Assurance In Child Welfare, Mary O'Brien, Peter Watson

Faculty, Staff, and Alumni Books

This guide outlines a framework for implementing quality assurance programs for child welfare services. The components are based on federal requirements, national standards, and child welfare research. Five steps are described: select outcomes and standards, integrate quality assurance goals and procedures throughout the agency, collect data about outcomes, analyze data, and improve systems as indicated by evaluation findings. Specific topics include the role of the quality assurance system in the Child and Family Services Review process, communication of quality assurance practices, and staff participation in analysis. The manual describes each step of the quality assurance system and reviews the tasks.

Comprehensive Community Initiatives (Cci): A Comparison Of Community Implementation Plans, Teri L. Perkins

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

People in crisis often require multiple community services. A homeless person may need medical health care and behavioral health care, along with shelter. A woman who is the victim of domestic abuse may need help with childcare, transportation, food, and emergency housing. Comprehensive community initiatives (CCIs) attempt to provide this interrelated range of community services.

CCIs developed as a part of community building efforts in the late 1980’s (Kubisch, 1996; Stagner and Duran, 1997). “Comprehensive” can either refer to an initiative that incorporates social, educational, cultural, physical, and economic development in a community or to an initiative whose purpose is …

Comprehensive Community Initiatives (Cci): A Comparison Of Community Implementation Plans, Teri Perkins

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

People in crisis often require multiple community services. A homeless person may need medical health care and behavioral health care, along with shelter. A woman who is the victim of domestic abuse may need help with childcare, transportation, food, and emergency housing. Comprehensive community initiatives (CCIs) attempt to provide this interrelated range of community services.

CCIs developed as a part of community building efforts in the late 1980’s (Kubisch, 1996; Stagner and Duran, 1997). “Comprehensive” can either refer to an initiative that incorporates social, educational, cultural, physical, and economic development in a community or to an initiative whose purpose is …

The Cresset (Vol. Lxiv, No. 5, Easter), Valparaiso University

The Cresset (archived issues)

No abstract provided.

Coalition Formation: Governmental Practices To Resolve Social Issues, Delshanna Jones

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Small groups have formed to resolve social issues since the beginning of time. It is the village concept where activists meet in the center of town to discuss a concern and together work toward a solution to a problem. This is represented in the town of Plato’s Republic and how they handled its dilemma with Socrates disrespect and disruptions to their way of ruling/ their culture. People met at a central location, discussed the issue, agreed on a solution and, together, enforced the resolution. Thus, first governments used groups to find solutions to community problems (Bell and Smith, p.1). Citizens …

Focal Point, Volume 14 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

FROM THE EDITORS. It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to the premiere collaborative issue of Focal Point. The joint effort between the Center For Effective Collaboration and Practice and the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children’s Mental Health exemplifies a larger partnership initiative put forward by the Center for Mental Health Services’ (CMHS) Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program. The goal of an enhanced partnership is to promote improved services that lead to better outcomes for youth and their families. Along these lines we hope you find the fruits …

City Of Tualatin Youth Development Plan, Holly Hendricks, Matt Michels, Alison Mielke, Justin Patterson, Jon Skidmore, Jason Tuck, Jason Wachs

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

This project evaluated the recent construction of a public skatepark located in Tualatin Community Park. The skatepark is unique because a group of underrepresented youth initiated the idea of constructing it and helped bring it to fruition. The city has expressed a desire to see this level of energy and commitment duplicated in other youth-oriented initiatives, but needs to have a better understanding of how the skatepark project served as a positive youth development tool. In support of young people, the Tualtin City Council recently named youth issues as a "first tier" priority.

Focal Point, Volume 14 Number 02, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

Young people are assuming more, and more empowered roles in systems of care. They participate actively in planning for their own services and treatment, setting policy, and evaluating programs. This issue includes a discussion of resources that have been developed to help in the process of developing youth-adult partnership in these areas.

April 1999 - Advisory Council Minutes

ALEC Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

Philosophy And Purposes Of Distance Education, Dr. Janet K. Poley, Mr. Erik France

Nebraska Network 21: Publications

In considering how best to tackle this topic, I ultimately decided that in Nebraska the "best" approach is usually the "most straight forward" one. Given that much of the conversation about distance education is filled with myth and marketing hype, I decided what we could best contribute to the conversation would be the facts. While some of the other authors may have a better in-depth grasp of distance education opportunities and realities in Nebraska, Erik and I come as native Nebraskans with a good understanding of the history, economy, communities and cultures in our home state. My early faculty career …

Focal Point, Volume 12 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

Much of the family member involvement that is happening at the state and local level is due, at least in part, to the efforts by the federal government to institutionalize family involvement in policymaking. In 1985 Child and Adolescent Service System (CASSP) staff added a family goal to the program. This goal translated into a requirement that state applications for CASSP funds describe how families would participate in service planning efforts at the child and family, program, and system levels. In 1986 Congress passed the State Mental Health Services Comprehensive Plan (Public Law 99-660), which mandated family member participation in …

Research To Practice: Disability Organizations' Perspectives On The Needs Of Youth With Disabilities Who Are Runaway Or Homeless, David Temelini, Sheila Fesko

Research to Practice Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Findings from a national survey of state-level disability organizations on issues regarding runaway or homeless youth who have disabilities.

Interfacing African American Churches With Agencies And Institutions: An Expanding Continuum Of Care With Partial Answers To Welfare Reform, Barbara W. Rogers, Douglas Ronsheim

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It is unrealistic to presume that churches and other private charities can fill the void resulting from welfare reform (Sider,1995; Conniff, 1997); yet there are ways to structure an effective church- and community-based continuum of care that will help to do so. In this article African-American churches are viewed as major players. An explanation of the systems theory of isomorphic replication provides a key to understanding the success of this collaborative model, which addresses issues facing communities while building on their strengths and assets and reckoning with the challenges of working collaboratively. Recurring issues of race, culture, trust, and control …

Four Commentaries: How We Can Better Protect Children From Abuse And Neglect, Leroy H. Pelton

Social Work Faculty Research

The fundamental structure of the public child welfare system is that of a coercive apparatus wrapped in a helping orientation. Agencies ostensibly having the mission to help are mandated to ask whether parents can be blamed for their child welfare problems, and these agencies have the power to remove children from their homes. Thus, the public child welfare agency has a dual-role structure: On one hand, the agency attempts to engage in prevention and support, and to promote family preservation; on the other hand, it also has the task of investigating complaints against parents and removing children from them. This …

Focal Point, Volume 11 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

In the discussion on the issues of juvenile crime, the nation has ignored the prevalence of mental disorders among youth who commit crimes, and it has failed to provide policy directives on how state systems should respond. With the nation’s attention riveted on youth violence, the issue of prevalence has began to emerge, with the realization that many of the violent acts are committed by a small percentage of young people. Policymakers are beginning to ask questions about the conditions that contribute to a young person’s tendency toward delinquency acts.

Reasonable Efforts, Unreasonable Effects: A Retrospective Analysis Of The 'Reasonable Efforts' Clause In The Adoption Assistance And Child Welfare Act Of 1980, Wendy Whiting Blome

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Hidden in the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 are two words that came to summarize the expectations of the law, typify its vagueness, and predict its controversy-"reasonable efforts." This article explores five factors to clarify the policy implications of the reasonable efforts phrase: " the disproportionately large effects of the requirement for "reasonable efforts;"

• the unanticipated consequences of the clause;
• the shift in the locus of control from social service agencies to court authorities;
• the reduction in discretion for direct and administrative social work personnel; and
• the social, political, and economic realities that framed the reasonable efforts …

Purchase Of Service Contracting Versus Government Service Delivery: The Views Of State Human Service Administrators, Peter M. Kettner, Lawrence L. Martin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Purchase of service contracting (POSC) as a mode of human service delivery is based largely on untested normative grounds. This article presents the results of a national study comparing the views of state human service administrators on the relative merits of POSC versus government service delivery in four issue areas: (1) service costs, (2) service quality, (3) bureaucracy and red tape, and (4) effect on government employees. The study results provide some support for POSC in three of the four issues areas. The study finds that geography plays no role in the views of state human service administrators, but that …

Southern Appalachian Settlement Schools As Early Initiators Of Integrated Services, Eloise H. Jurgens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This historical-descriptive study examined Southern Appalachian settlement schools as early initiators of integrated health and social services with education from the 1900s through the 1970s. Three schools were studied: Hindman Settlement School (KY), Pine Mountain Settlement School (KY) and Crossnore School, Inc. (NC). The purpose of the study was to determine the type and extent of services provided, the relationship of the settlement schools with their respective county public school system, and the transfer, if any, of integrated services from the settlement schools to public schools as the public schools took over educational responsibilities once offered by the settlement schools. …

Nebraska Pact Action Plan To Prevent Youth Violence, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Publications

Nebraska is one of four jurisdictions selected to participate in Project PACT (Pulling America's Communities Together). Nebraska PACT is a state- federal initiative to empower communities to reduce crime and violence. Through this program, the state and federal governments will assist communities as they build coalitions to develop broad-based, fully-coordinated initiatives to reduce violence by and against youth.

The Cresset: Icons Of American Protestantism, Valparaiso University

The Cresset (archived issues)

No abstract provided.

Ideology. Public Policy And Homeless Families, Padmini Gulati

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper was originally presented at the session of Ad hoc Committee on Housing and the Built Environment of the World Congress of Sociology held in Madrid. July 1990.