Digital Commons Network^™

The Portrayal Of Caseworker Turnover In New York State Foster Care Assessment Documents, Shelby S. Cover-Lapomarede

Student Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines how caseworker turnover is portrayed in New York State foster care assessment documents published between 2014 and 2024. Utilizing a qualitative content analysis (QCA) approach informed by Margrit Schreier’s methodology, this study evaluates publicly available government reports, assessment documents, policy documents, and audit reports to identify how turnover is represented, what causes are highlighted, and what consequences are downplayed. The data reveals that turnover is often framed as an administrative issue rather than a workplace welfare crisis with extensive emotional and relational impacts on caseworkers, children, and families. Burnout, heavy caseloads, inadequate mental health care, low pay, …

Calculated Risks: The Power Of Predictive Risk Models To Regulate Families Of Color, Ashleigh Washington

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines predictive risk modelling (PRM) in New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS), specifically exploring AI-enabled design features, practices, and encoded and racialized assumptions about risk in child welfare prevention services. Guided by Critical Race Theory and the Algorithmic Ecology framework, this study traces how PRM in ACS evolved from a service termination tool into a broader, largely internal surveillance apparatus that leverages families’ personal information, including health information, to assess risk of future maltreatment and to evaluate contracted service providers. Drawing on analysis of public records and in-depth interviews with Black parents, the findings describe how …

The Experiences Of The Transfer Of Learning Path: Msw's Perceptions Of Organizational Influences, Alexis Howard

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Public child welfare agencies make substantial financial and organizational investments to support workforce members returning to school to obtain advanced degrees, most notably the Master of Social Work (MSW); however, challenges remain in ensuring that newly acquired knowledge and skills are effectively and continuously applied into practice settings, a process known as transfer of learning. The work environment plays a critical role in shaping organizational conditions that either support or impede successful transfer of learning, yet empirical research remains limited in guiding public child welfare organizations to develop strategies that sustain educational investments and contribute to improved outcomes for children, …

Good Mothers: Black Disabled Mothers & The Family Policing System, Siobhan Pokorney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Good Mothers: Black Disabled Mothers & the Family Policing System is a qualitative study utilizing 16 in-depth individual interviews with mothers who broadly identified as Black, disabled mothers who had at least one interaction with the family policing system as adults in or around NYC. The study examines the work these mothers engage in to navigate their identities and strategically present themselves as good mothers while facing state surveillance and oppressive systems (specifically the family policing system) which automatically frame them as “unfit mothers.” It traces their experiences and the identity work that they engage in through the anticipatory trauma …

Why We Stayed, Why We Left: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study Of Hispanic/Latino Child Welfare Professionals’ Experiences Of Organizational And Safety Culture, Cynthia Franco

Theses and Dissertations

This hermeneutic phenomenological study examines the lived experiences of Hispanic/Latino child welfare professionals who were formerly employed at a large urban public child welfare agency. Despite the growing representation of Hispanic/Latino children and families in child welfare systems and the strong vocational commitment of Hispanic/Latino professionals, this group remains underrepresented in the workforce and experiences notable patterns of early attrition. Grounded in safety science and psychological safety frameworks, this study explores how organizational culture, leadership practices, and identity-related dynamics shape professional meaning-making, well-being, and decisions to remain in or leave the field.

Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and …

Community Safety Innovations: New York State Initiatives To Strengthen Public Safety, Justice D. Evans, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Rebecca Balletto, Kathleen A. Tomberg, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

This report presents findings from researchers at the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College (JohnJayREC) regarding the impact of state investments in community safety. The report highlights key initiatives such as the SNUG program, Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE), Project RISE, and Crime Analysis Centers (CACs). Through interviews with State agency staff and initiative leaders, the research team gathered valuable insights into the goals, challenges, and implementation of these programs. The findings suggest that these efforts may contribute to reduced violence and enhanced neighborhood safety, though further, more robust evaluation could help refine and expand these efforts for …

A Seat At The Schoolhouse Table: Reimagining Education Through Afrofuturist And Womanist Theory, Natasha M. Capers

Student Theses

“A Seat at the Schoolhouse Table: Reimagining Education Through Afrofuturist and Womanist Theory” critically examines how curriculum, even when well-intentioned, can perpetuate harm by excluding the lived experiences of marginalized communities—especially Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQIA+ students. Using a real middle school immigration assignment given to the author's son as a case study, this capstone deconstructs the structural biases embedded in curriculum design and proposes a radical reimagining through the liberatory lenses of Afrofuturism and Womanism. Blending scholarly inquiry, personal narrative, and community-based interviews, this project offers a restructured assignment that centers joy, identity, and speculative storytelling as tools for educational …

Investing In Maryland Safety: Engaging Public Resources And Community Partnerships To Prevent Crime And Violence, Jeffrey A. Butts, Rebecca Balletto, Patricia A. Cobar

Publications and Research

The Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice conducted a review of two innovative initiatives developed by the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services: The Thrive Academy (TTA) and the Safer Stronger Together (SST) intervention strategy. The study involved document analysis, online resource review, and interviews with agency staff and leadership. These efforts aimed to understand the design, implementation, and alignment of TTA and SST within Maryland’s broader public safety and crime prevention strategy. Key themes included program effectiveness, operational progress, and community-level impact, providing valuable insights into the Department’s evolving approach to juvenile justice and public …

Community Safety Investments: Violence Prevention Initiatives Across New York State, Rebecca Balletto, Jeffrey A. Butts, Sheyla A. Delgado, Justice D. Evans, Gina Moreno, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Kathleen A. Tomberg, Michael Rempel, René Ropac

Publications and Research

At the request of New York State's Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), researchers from John Jay College of Criminal Justice conducted an assessment of over a decade of state-funded violence prevention initiatives implemented at the county level. Beginning in 2010 and expanding significantly after 2021, these initiatives were adopted by nearly two dozen counties by 2014. Research teams from the Research and Evaluation Center (JohnJayREC) and the Data Collaborative for Justice (DCJ) analyzed county-level trends in serious and violent crime between 2010 and 2023 to assess the potential impact of these investments on community safety outcomes. The study aimed …

Let’S Talk About Quality: How Equitable Funding And Program Structure Impact Academic And Social Outcomes In Supplemental Education Programs, Inayah Ansari

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although many studies have highlighted how high–quality supplemental education programs (early childhood education and after-school programs) help children and adolescents reach developmental milestones faster, very few studies focus on how programs are structured to create the quality that produces positive outcomes. In this paper, I define quality as equitable funding and program structure and interrogate how this conception of quality determines cognitive and social-emotional benefits, particularly for programs in New York City. Using fiscal data and study reviews, I illuminated the impact of budget cuts on programs and the importance of funding. Using a thematic analysis of six interviews conducted …

Assessing The Predictive Validity Of The Network Inventory Of Risk, Victories, And Needs Assessment (Nirvana) For Youth Receiving Prevention Services., Michael T. Baglivio, Kevin T. Wolff, Katherine Jackowski

Publications and Research

The current study assesses the predictive validity of a newly-developed holistic risk/needs assessment for youth receiving prevention services. Employing a multiyear statewide sample of over 17,000 prevention youth, multivariate and Area Under Curve techniques are used to examine predictive validity in predicting future formal juvenile justice system involvement (new law violations) across sex, race/ethnicity, and multiple youth age ranges. Furthermore, predictive validity across the severity of the subsequent offense type (misdemeanor, non-violent felony, violent felony) was examined. Findings demonstrate large effect sizes for static risk only, dynamic risk only, and total risk plus protective scores on future offending. Sex and …

What's It Like To Vote Without Privacy?, Cullen Fagan

Capstones

My capstone is an audio and data project focusing on voting rights for people with disabilities in the United States — specifically how accessibility in voting has changed over time and how it rights have been violated in the recent past. The audio component is a podcast episode I co-produced with another student. It tells the story of how Kathy Collins and Dr. Sharon McLennon Wier, two disability and voting rights activists, have voted over the years, leading up to the 2024 election. The data component is a table detailing the history of disability voting rights cases in the United …

Building Networks, Producing Spaces For Play: Local Geographies And National Organizing In The History Of Adventure Playgrounds In The United States, 1949-1999, Reilly B. Wilson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation provides an historical analysis of repurposed material adventure playgrounds in the United States between 1949 and 1999. Three microhistories of adventure playgrounds (The Yard, in Minneapolis, M.N., and several playgrounds in New York City, N.Y., and Houston, T.X.) are framed against the wider socio-economic changes that shaped more than thirty-five adventure playgrounds in the United States over the period of study. By focusing on the relationships mobilized by adventure playground advocates at different scales and across different points of view, and how these networks shaped the local production of spaces for play, this dissertation's method underlines the importance …

Entrypoints For Integrating Computing And Tech Into Teacher Education: Addressing Problems And Opportunities With The Encite Framework, Sara E. Vogel, Aman Yadav, David Phelps, Aankit Patel

Publications and Research

To coherently integrate computing and digital technology into teacher education, stakeholders at teacher preparation institutions must grapple with a complex landscape of problems and opportunities. This paper’s literature review maps that landscape into problems and opportunities that are (1) technological, (2) pedagogical, definitional / (3) ideological, (4) political, and (5) developmental in nature. While existing frameworks respond to particular aspects of these areas (e.g. the popular TPACK framework zooms in on technological and pedagogical questions), stakeholders engaged in curricular planning must think more holistically about how to prepare future teachers. We share EnCITE (Entrypoints to Computing Integrated Teacher Education), a …

Policing With A Double-Edged Sword: The Associations Between Neighborhood Deprivation, Coping & Substance Use Among Black & Latiné Families, Neil M. Allicock

Dissertations and Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated systemic racial inequities among Black and Latiné communities, increasing daily stressors such as exposure to violence, racial discrimination, and negative perceptions of the police. Social constraints from quarantining and social distancing have weakened community relationships that previously provided relief from these stressors. Persistent poverty and racial discrimination further strain community ties and challenge the well-being of marginalized communities. Negative experiences with the police are unique stressors for Black and Latiné youth, potentially increasing their risk for substance use. The erosion of community ties may heighten psychological stress and lead to less adaptive coping methods, such …

“They Act Like We Are Going To Heaven”: Pre-Arrival Information Experiences, Information Crafting And Settlement Of Immigrants In Canada, Nafiz Z. Shuva

Publications and Research

Purpose

Although there is a growing body of work on immigrants' information behavior, little is known about the pre-arrival information experiences of immigrants who consult formal information sources such as immigration agents. Drawn from a larger study on the information behavior of immigrants, this paper mainly reports the semi-structured interview findings on the pre-arrival information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants who used formal information sources with discussion on how that affected their post-arrival settlement into Canada.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used a mixed method approach with semi-structured interviews (n = 60) and surveys (n = 205) with participants who arrived in Canada …

Conservative And Cultural Clashes With Comprehensive Sexuality Education, Bryan Z. Anderson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis analyzes the multifaceted debate over the use of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in United States public schools, while also emphasizing the ways in which withholding CSE is a strategy to uphold the white supremacist patriarchy. The work begins by historically framing the evolution of sexuality education through the United States’ history. This leads to the current discourse around CSE and the ways in which it is the optimal support for American youth today. After setting this foundation, the thesis looks at conservative figures and groups who are seeking to prevent public school adoption of CSE standards, as well …

Permanent Shelter In The Empire City: Youth Experiencing Family Homelessness And Navigating The Homeless Industrial Complex With A Narrative Inquiry Approach, Henry O. Love

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Many studies have examined unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness; however, a relative silence persists about the lives of youth and young adults (YYA) while in family homeless shelters. This study aims to fill the gap in the literature about the lives of youth residing in family shelters and to learn about successful transitions from adolescence to young adulthood while experiencing family homelessness. This transition interacts with various social collectives (family, peers, community), political institutions (municipal, state, and federal), and an overwhelming economic system (global racial capitalism). These complex perspectives are considered with a narrative activity-meaning system research design to understand the …

Nothing About Youth Without Youth: Involving Youth In Participatory Action Research Conducted With Health Departments, Vivian Cortes

Dissertations and Theses

Background: Health departments are vital to community-partnered public health efforts and research and are positioned to influence community or policy level systems that impact population health. However, while some health departments partner with community members in their programming, not much is known about health departments partnering with community youth. From 2018-2019 the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) implemented a youth participatory action research (YPAR) project to develop a public awareness campaign in partnership with youth and adult community stakeholders for a federally funded program. It was the first participatory research conducted by the agency …

Legal Financial Obligations In The United States: A Review Of Recent Research, Angela Lascala-Gruenewald, Leslie Paik

Publications and Research

In the United States, legal financial obligations (LFOs) include many types of monetary sanctions. For example, fines are tied to specific offenses and imposed at conviction and fees charge people for the “use” of courts, prisons, and other public services. With the rise of mass incarceration, millions of people across the U.S. owe billions of dollars in LFOs. Yet despite the widespread use of monetary sanctions, it was not until the last decade that research began to uncover the vast system of LFOs embedded throughout U.S. laws and understand their far-reaching socioeconomic consequences. This paper reviews recent research on LFOs …

Parent-Child Relationship Quality, Emotion Reactivity, And Suicide Ideation Among Adolescents, Deborah Schaeffer

Theses and Dissertations

The rate of teenage suicide has increased markedly in recent years, highlighting the need for greater understanding of the factors that underlie such behavior. While separate studies have established significant associations between the quality of the parent-child relationship and suicide ideation, and between emotion reactivity and suicide ideation, no prior research has examined the interaction of these variables. The current study used survey data collected from 111 youth recruited in emergency departments and inpatient units to measure parent-child relationship quality (the PACHIQ-R scale) and emotion reactivity (the ERS) as predictors of severity of suicide ideation at three months into the …

Transforming Afterschool Programs Into "Engines Of Development": A Policy Analysis Of The Federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Jane Quinn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although schools receive most of the attention in discussions of and research about educational policy, an equally important—and under-investigated—arena is the non-school hours. American students spend more time outside of school than in school, and a host of studies have shown that the ways young people spend their discretionary time can greatly influence their short-term and long-term outcomes. Issues of educational equity are deeply embedded in the topic because opportunities to participate in high quality out-of-school learning experiences are not evenly distributed in American society. The single most important policy target in this aspect of student life is the federal …

Indigenous Mexicans In New York City: Immigrant Integration, Language Use, And Identity Formation, Leslie A. Martino-Velez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As indigenous Mexican immigrants migrate, settle, and raise families in the United States, parents, particularly women, and their children increasingly have contact with community institutions, such as schools. Despite their growing numbers in U.S. schools, indigenous children, youth, and their parents are often invisible due to their ethnolinguistic identities and undocumented status. Understanding what parents do to help their children is essential to understanding the first generation's integration and their children, the second generation.

To better understand this, I conducted an ethnographic research study at a bilingual Head Start program in New York City, in East Harlem, where many undocumented …

Hostile, Quick-Tempered, And Exposed To Dangerous Environments: Exploring The Link Between Temperament And Street Code Adherence, Kevin T. Wolff, Sharron Spriggs, Jonathan Intravia, Michael T. Baglivio, Matt Delisi

Publications and Research

Although Elijah Anderson’s (1999) code of the street thesis has received a great deal of scholarly attention, fewer studies have examined the characteristics associated with its adoption. Existing evidence is supportive of Anderson’s initial observations, however, less is known about the association between personality and emotional characteristics and adopting street code norms. The current study assesses the role of Delisi and Vaughn’s difficult temperament index in the adoption of the street code among a sample of juvenile justice-involved youth. Results indicated youth with more difficult temperaments, characterized by lower levels of effortful control and higher levels of negative emotionality, were …

The Associations Of Out-Of-Home Placement With Penile-Vaginal Intercourse, Age Of Sexual Debut And Pregnancy Among Child Welfare Involved Youth: A Cross-Sectional Study Using The National Survey Of Child And Adolescent Well-Being (Nscaw) Ii, Gabriela S. Betancourt

Dissertations and Theses

Background: Studies of youth in out-of-home (OOH) care and adults with histories of OOH placements have found evidence of poorer sexual and reproductive health (SRH) compared with their counterparts in the general population, including inconsistent use of male condoms and contraceptives, higher prevalence of adolescent pregnancy, and history of unwanted sexual debut. However, within the population of youth involved in child welfare, the effects of OOH placement on SRH have been difficult to establish. The overall goals of the current study were to compare SRH indicators (ever having penile–vaginal intercourse; early age of sexual debut; reported pregnancy) among youth involved …

Childhood Maltreatment And Lead Levels In Middle Adulthood: A Prospective Examination Of The Roles Of Individual Socio-Economic And Neighborhood Characteristics, Anthony Carpi, Valentina Nikulina, Xuechen Li, Cathy Spatz Widom

Publications and Research

Background Lead is a common environmental hazard because of its past use as an additive to gasoline and household paint. Some evidence suggests that children with histories of child abuse and neglect are at elevated risk for residence in communities and households with less desirable characteristics and high levels of exposure to environmental hazards and toxins.

Objectives To understand whether childhood maltreatment leads to higher levels of household dust lead and blood lead in adulthood and the extent to which characteristics of a person’s physical environment or individual level socio-economic status (SES) (based on unemployment, poverty, and receipt of public …

Ny Food 20/20: Vision, Research, And Recommendations During Covid-19 And Beyond, The Hunter College Nyc Food Policy Center, The Laurie M. Tisch Center For Food, Education & Policy, The Cuny Urban Food Policy Institute

Publications and Research

The public health and economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic to the New York City (NYC) food system have been tremendous. In the six months since March 2020, when the pandemic reached NYC’s 5 boroughs, the number of food-insecure individuals has nearly doubled from 1.2 million to 2 million;1 diet quality for many individuals has decreased;2 the local food workforce has lost more than two-thirds of its workers;3 and more than 1,000 NYC restaurants and food retail outlets have closed,4 some never to re-open.

Too often the impacts of a crisis such as COVID-19 are not measured until long after …

The Contribution Of Trait Emotional Intelligence To The Relationship Between Childhood Adversity And Pscyhiatric Symptoms In Adulthood, Aura-Maria Morales

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Trait emotional intelligence (TEI) has been found to be an important predictor of and protective factor against psychopathology, including psychopathology in the context of trauma (Hofman et al., 2016; Rudenstine & Espinosa, 2018). The long-established empirical investigation of the relationship between trauma and psychopathology has brought attention to the significance of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Similarly, recent literature has honed in on how important aspects of a person’s development such as their attachment style and the culture within which their development is embedded, can mutually inform their development of TEI. This dissertation is an attempt to derive a greater understanding …

What Happened To This Child? Identifying Factors That Influence The Identification And Categorization Of Child Maltreatment In The United States, Erika Tullberg

Dissertations and Theses

Background: Research has shown that adverse childhood experiences are strongly linked with health outcomes over the life course, and that child maltreatment – generally defined as physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional maltreatment and neglect – can have an immediate, negative impact on child health and development and a longer-term impact on adolescent and adult health, including the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the U.S. With such significant consequences, the accurate identification of child maltreatment is critical.

Child welfare caseworkers are charged with protecting the safety and fostering the well-being of children who have been identified as maltreated or …

Partnering For Social Justice: Social Work Students’ Placement At Public Libraries, Sarah C. Johnson

Publications and Research

While the collaborative trend among professional social workers and librarians is garnering much deserved attention, literature about social work students partnering with public libraries is virtually nonexistent. Public librarians can advocate for social justice by initiating partnerships with master-level social work (MSW) students to enhance small- and large-scale programs to address the unique needs of patrons. In this chapter, I highlight existing collaborations among public libraries and student social workers to raise awareness of possibilities.