Digital Commons Network^™

How Can School Districts In Shrinking Regions Remake Themselves To Support Their Communities? Policy And Operations Analysis For A Massachusetts School District, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Community-Engaged Operations Research: Trends, New Frontiers And Opportunities, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Community Data Analytics: Localized Data Analysis And Decision Modeling In The Era Of ‘Big Data’ And ‘Smart Cities’, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Success Measures For Local Economic Development: Project Final Report, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Sandeep Jani

Michael P. Johnson

No abstract provided.

Measuring Success: Community Analytics For Local Economic Development, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Sandeep Jani

Michael P. Johnson

An Agenda For Diversity And Inclusion-Related Research Within Or/Ms/Analytics, Michael P. Johnson Jr., George Chichirau

Michael P. Johnson

Estimating Strategic Impacts Of Foreclosed Housing Redevelopment Using Spatial Analysis, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Decision Modeling For Housing And Community Development: #11;A Methodology For Evidence-Based Urban And Regional Planning, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Measuring Success: Community Analytics For Local Economic Development, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Sandeep Jani

Michael P. Johnson

Community-Based Operations Research: Data Analytics And Decision Modeling For Community Development And Social Change, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

How Can Value Elicitation In Adult Basic Education Support Learners’ Success In Goal-Setting Policy?, Alma H. Biba, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Smart Engagement: Planning And Decision-Making In Distressed Urban Neighborhoods, Justin Hollander, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Eliza D. Whiteman

Michael P. Johnson

Course Syllabus: Ppol-G 742 Community-Based Operations Research, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Community-Engaged Decision Modeling For Local Economic Development, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Sandeep Jani

Michael P. Johnson

This presentation contains current results from a research project to identify success metrics and decision opportunities for Boston Main Streets organizations. It represents an application of qualitative decision analytic methods for values and objectives design

Decision Science For Housing And Community Development: Localized And Evidence‐Based Responses To Distressed Housing And Blighted Communities: Wiley Interview, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Jeffrey Keisler, Senay Solak, David A. Turcotte, Armagan Bayram, Rachel B. Drew

Michael P. Johnson

This is an interview with staff at John Wiley & Sons regarding my book "Decision Science for Housing and Community Development: Localized and Evidence‐Based Responses to Distressed Housing and Blighted Communities" that was published by Wiley in 2015. It describes the motivation for the book, essential knowledge my co-authors and I would like each reader to take away from the book, and our assessment of the book's contribution to research and practice.

Decision Science For Housing And Community Development: Localized And Evidence‐Based Responses To Distressed Housing And Blighted Communities, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Jeffrey Keisler, Senay Solak, David Turcotte, Armagan Bayram, Rachel B. Drew

Michael P. Johnson

Data And Analytics For Neighborhood Development: Smart Shrinkage Decision Modeling In Baltimore, Maryland, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Justin Hollander, Eliza D. Whiteman

Michael P. Johnson

Many older cities in the United States confront the problem of long-term decline in population and economic activity resulting in blighted conditions that make conventional revitalization initiatives unlikely to succeed. Smart shrinkage, a planning approach that emphasizes alternative land uses while preserving quality of life, offers a way for cities to remain desirable places to live and work. However, there is little research on empirical methods to support planning decisions consistent with smart shrinkage. We present results from two studies with planners from the City of Baltimore that provide novel insights regarding ways in which planners can perform vacant property …

Data And Analytics For Neighborhood Development: Smart Shrinkage Decision Modeling In Baltimore, Maryland, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Justin Hollander, Eliza D. Whiteman

Michael P. Johnson

Researching What Matters With Community Members: Session Introduction, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Data and technology can and do change people’s lives, but most often they are conceived as market-driven entities, where changes in people’s lives arise from consumption of goods and services they pay for. Of course, government is a big user of technology and data, but impacts are usually aggregate in nature, not usually targeted at specific communities. Yet, with inequality and structural barriers to economic and social progress quite high in the U.S., can there be a way to think of data and technology as a means to support individual and group opportunity, engagement, action for social justice? The purpose …

Community Development Analytics: From Data To Decisions For Boston Main Streets, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Sandeep Jani

Michael P. Johnson

A successful Main Street organization should be able to identify community strengths and deficits, to formulate a range of potentially effective local initiatives for economic and neighborhood development, to implement select initiatives using the best mix of volunteer and paid resources, to share data and best practices among all Boston Main Street districts, and to communicate project progress and outcome measures with the Office of Business Development. This project seeks to help Boston Main Street DIstricts operate more effectively by articulating values, identifying performance metrics and choosing decision opportunities. We present preliminary study results from a survey of Boston Main …

Reconstructing Neighborhoods: Case Studies In Foreclosed Housing Acquisition And Redevelopment By Community Development Corporations, David A. Turcotte, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Emily Vidrine, Rachel B. Drew, Felicia M. Sullivan

Michael P. Johnson

Community development corporations (CDCs) play a central role in addressing the foreclosed housing crisis in America’s urban neighborhoods. The success of CDCs, however, is closely tied to market forces, neighborhood characteristics, and policies at multiple levels, as well as factors internal to CDCs. What factors support or impede the success of CDCs that operate in such complex environments? We examine the experiences of two CDCs serving two small, ethnically diverse cities in Massachusetts regarding resources, policy, practices and local markets related to neighborhood revitalization. We derive lessons about the factors internal and external to these CDCs that affect their ability …

Data, Analytics And Community-Based Organizations: Transforming Data To Decisions For Community Development, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

The past ten years have seen a revolution in two disciplines related to operations and strategy design. “Big Data” has transformed the theory and practice of producing and selling goods and services through methods associated with computer science and information technology. “Analytics” has popularized primarily quantitative models and methods by which organizations and systems can measure multiple aspects of performance. As these fields rely on information technology to collect, store, process and share data, we refer to the collection of knowledge and applications associated with Big Data and analytics as “data analytics and information technology.” The impacts of data analytics …

Value Focused Thinking For Community-Based Organizations: Objectives And Acceptance In Local Development, Jeffrey Keisler, David A. Turcotte, Rachel B. Drew, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

A multi-site case study applies value-focused thinking methods in a community engaged research framework within three organizations. All three organizations are community development corporations (CDCs), a type of community based organization (CBO) who direct assets and efforts toward housing stock and neighborhood improvement. Objectives hierarchies were developed for the three sites. A set of common aspects of these structures suggest ways to operationalize the generic mission of CDCs. Other aspects which vary across sites can be related to specific characteristics of the organizations and the communities in which they operate. The process of applying value-focused thinking is also compared across …

Electronic Supplement: Value Focused Thinking For Community-Based Organizations: Objectives And Acceptance In Local Development, Jeffrey Keisler, David A. Turcotte, Rachel B. Drew, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

This is an electronic supplement to the manuscript "Value Focused Thinking for Community-Based Organizations: Objectives and Acceptance in Local Development", published by the EURO Journal on Decision Processes.

Community Impacts Of Decision Modeling For Foreclosed Redevelopment, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Alvine Sangang, Buki Usidame

Michael P. Johnson

Community development corporations purchase distressed housing to rehabilitate for renter or owner-occupancy. These mission-driven organizations, skilled in the business of housing development, often lack analytic expertise to determine which acquisitions to pursue that would maximize social impact. This paper presents results, using actual purchase data from a Boston-area CDC, to assess the potential social benefits associated with using a decision model as compared to conventional practices.

Data And Analytics For Neighborhood Development: Smart Shrinkage Decision Modeling In Baltimore, Maryland, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Justin Hollander, Eliza D. Whiteman

Michael P. Johnson

Many older cities in the United States confront the problem of long-term declines in population and economic activity in certain neighborhoods have resulted in blighted conditions that make conventional revitalization initiatives based on increased residential and commercial development unlikely to succeed. Planning scholars have developed a theory of smart shrinkage in which emphasis is placed on non-residential land uses that can maintain and improve quality of life while positioning some land for future growth-oriented activities (Hollander and Németh 2011). Smart shrinkage research and practice involves application of methods from information technology and decision science to identify vacant and abandoned parcels …

Strategy Design For Community Response To Distress And Decline Using Data Analytics, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

The foreclosure crisis in the U.S. has resulted in immense economic and social losses for individuals and neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods face long-term declines in population and economic activity that have been compounded by the foreclosure crisis. How can government and non-profit organizations design responses to neighborhood distress that reflect distinctive community characteristics and are consistent with long-term policy and planning goals? In this talk, I discuss alternative decision modeling strategies that support neighborhood health. Where foreclosure responses are likely to ensure that neighborhoods remain vital places for residential housing, productive strategies may include property acquisition and redevelopment. Other neighborhoods, however, …

Data, Analytics And Community-Based Organizations: #11;Transforming Data To Decisions For Community Development, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Big data and analytics for community-focused nonprofits can improve analytic capabilities and increase impact. However, Community-based organization needs do not match well with conventional notions of data and analytics. Decentralized model for data-driven research may be preferred, but centralized model is dominant. CBOs can articulate data needs, but are often not yet able to access relevant data easily and use data effectively. Finally, certain values maximize impact of big data and analytics

Stochastic Models For Strategic Resource Allocation In Nonprofit Foreclosed Housing Acquisitions, Armagan Bayram, Senay Solak, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Increased rates of mortgage foreclosures in the U.S. have had devastating social and economic impacts during and after the 2008 financial crisis. As part of the response to this problem, non-profit organizations such as community development corporations (CDCs) have been trying to mitigate the negative impacts of mortgage foreclosures by acquiring and redeveloping foreclosed properties. We consider the strategic resource allocation decisions for these organizations which involve budget allocations to different neighborhoods under cost and return uncertainty. Based on interactions with a CDC, we develop stochastic integer programming based frame- works for this decision problem, and assess the practical value …

Parcel-Level Redevelopment Strategies For Distressed Neighborhoods, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Justin Hollander

Michael P. Johnson

Certain distressed neighborhoods cannot support traditional residential-focused development. For these communities, we develop decision models for acquisition and redevelopment of chronically vacant lands and structures for primarily non-residential and greening uses. We address social benefits and costs of redevelopment strategies, parcel clustering to exploit economies of scale, and conflicting values among stakeholders. We illustrate our models using data from Baltimore, MD.