Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Counting On Care Work: Human Infrastructure In Massachusetts, Randy Albelda, Mignon Duffy, Nancy Folbre

Center for Social Policy Publications

In Massachusetts, as in every other place in the world, all children need to be cared for and educated, everybody has physical and mental health needs that require attention, and some individuals need assistance with the daily tasks of life because of illness, age, or disability. The labor of meeting these needs – which we call care work – is a complex activity that has profound implications for personal, social and economic well-being. Care work is not just a cornerstone of our economy – it is a rock-bottom foundation. Care work provides the basis for our human infrastructure, and we …

Unaffordable “Affordable” Housing: Challenging The U.S. Department Of Housing And Urban Development Area Median Income, Michael E. Stone

Center for Social Policy Publications

There is no such thing as “affordable” housing. Affordability is not a characteristic of housing: It is a relationship between housing and people. For some people, all housing is affordable, no matter how expensive. For others, no housing is affordable, no matter how cheap.

Massachusetts Adult Basic Education And Esol Distance Learning Programs: How To Assess Student Readiness For Distance Learning?, Berna Kahraman, Amelia Mallona, Donna H. Friedman, Sarah Kuck Jalbert

Center for Social Policy Publications

This report presents the findings from the pilot screening process prepared by the Center for Social Policy (CSP) and implemented during December 2008-March 2009 by the adult basic education (ABE) online learning programs in MA which are funded by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE). The purposes of the pilot process were:

• To determine the effectiveness of screening tools in assessing participant characteristics, such as the skills, demographics, and life circumstances that are associated with success in online learning;
• To identify supports and interventions which students need in order to persist and succeed in online learning.

At the …

Shelter Poverty In Massachusetts, 2000-2007: An Overview, Michael E. Stone

Center for Social Policy Publications

Nearly half of all renter households in Massachusetts - 415,000 households - are "shelter poor." After paying for their housing, they do not have enough resources left to meet their non-shelter needs for food, clothing, medical care, transportation, etc., at even a minimal level of adequacy. The median income of these shelter poor renters in Massachusetts is only $14,000 a year. This is just 16 percent of the median family income for Metro Boston (AMI). Shelter poverty is a more realistic approach to assessing affordability than the conventional 30 percent of income standard because it takes into account the cost …

Poverty In The Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Community, Randy Albelda, M.V. Lee Badgett, Alyssa Schneebaum, Gary J. Gates

Center for Social Policy Publications

In 2007, 12.5% of Americans were officially counted as poor by the United States Census Bureau. People from every region, race, age, and sex are counted among our nation’s poor, where ―poor‖ is defined as living in a family with an income below the federal poverty level. In contrast, lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people are invisible in these poverty statistics. This report undertakes the first analysis of the poor and low-income lesbian, gay, and bisexual population. The social and policy context of LGB life provides many reasons to think that LGB people are at least as likely—and perhaps more …

Massachusetts' System Redesign To End Homelessness: An Overview And Assessment, Donna H. Friedman, Ghazal Zulfiqar

Center for Social Policy Publications

The Clayton-Mathews and Wilson 2003 analysis of Massachusetts’ expenditures of state and federal dollars to address family homelessness documented a serious system misalignment of public resources: that is, 80% of state and federal resources were tied up in shelter provision, while only 20%, including rental assistance, were designated for homelessness prevention (Clayton-Matthews and Wilson, 2003). Their analysis demonstrated what many had long suspected: if homelessness is to be ended in Massachusetts, fundamental changes would be needed to shift the state system from shelter-oriented toward prevention-oriented. Both the Romney and the Patrick administrations have clearly prioritized this objective with broad-based support …

Immigrant Workers In The Massachusetts Health Care Industry: A Report On Status And Future Prospects, Ramon Borges-Mendez, James Jennings, Donna H. Friedman, Malo Hutson, Teresa Eliot Roberts

Center for Social Policy Publications

Given the vital picture of foreign-born health care workers, this study has the following objectives:

1. To document the labor market position of foreign-born workers in the sector at various levels (national, statewide, sub-regional) including patterns of occupational concentration during the last decade or so, prospects for occupational mobility, wages, geographic concentration, employment by type of establishment (hospitals, community health centers, etc.) and workforce development opportunities;
2. To document, whenever possible, the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of foreign-born workers in the sector, including country of origin and gender among others;
3. To document the qualitative contribution of foreign-born workers in the health care …

Advancing The Fiscal Health Of Low-Income Families: A Public And Community Health Approach, Doreen Treacy

Center for Social Policy Publications

For decades, health researchers have documented the links between individual and household income/wealth and clinical health outcomes. The research and literature consistently point to both income inequality (i.e. individual household income/wealth as compared to other households in the same state) and individual household income as predictors of diminished health and morbidity. And yet the current framework for providing financial education, disseminating asset building information, and overall responding to the financial health of individuals and households takes no cues from public health and community health best practices. Further, the documented links between financial stress and compromised physical health are compelling enough …

Why It’S Harder (And Different) For Single Mothers: Gender, Motherhood, Labor Markets And Public Work Supports, Randy Albelda

Center for Social Policy Publications

This paper focuses on low-wage work and single mothers. I begin with a typical example of early 20th century research on low-wage workers as it helps provides both an historical explanation for women’s earnings and employment situation over much of the 20th century and important insights into new directions for research and advocacy. Following that, I tease apart the distinctions between having low wages and being low income, particularly as these apply to single mothers. I then detail the resource base for single mothers which entails the complex relationship between family structure and obligations, earnings and employment benefits, and public …

An End In Itself And A Means To Good Ends: Why Income Equality Is Important, Arthur Macewan

Center for Social Policy Publications

In recent years “poverty reduction” has become the watchword in development agencies, in international lending institutions, and among development economists generally. The focus on poverty reduction reached a high point perhaps with the articulation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and with the extensive analytic work that has accompanied the MDGs. Yet, much of the discussion of poverty reduction and economic development in low and middle income countries has either ignored the issue of income distribution or has tended to view income distribution only in terms of its impact on economic growth.

Poverty and inequality, however, are intimately bound up …

Brokering Up: The Role Of Temporary Staffing In Overcoming Labor Market Barriers, Françoise Carré, Brandynn Holgate, Helen Levine, Mandira Kala

Center for Social Policy Publications

Alternative Staffing Organizations (ASOs) are social-purpose businesses created by community-based organizations and national nonprofits to “broker up” job seekers, starting with temporary assignments and forming bridges to better jobs. Funded by the C. S. Mott Foundation, the Alternative Staffing Demonstration examined four ASOs around the country for a three-year research project, with 18 months of close monitoring, exploring, and assessing the ASO model. The Center for Social Policy studied how ASOs structure the services they provide, handle day-to-day management issues, and sell their services. We found the ASO model was variously adapted to generate short-term employment, build work experience, provide …

Maturing Subsidized Mortgages: The Next Frontier Of The Expiring Use Crisis, Emily Achtenberg

Center for Social Policy Publications

Over approximately the next decade, close to 17,000 affordable housing units could be lost in Massachusetts as their federally- and state-subsidized mortgages mature, terminating all associated use and affordability restrictions. Most of this housing, developed 30-40 years ago under various federal and state mortgage subsidy programs, is only partially assisted with project-based Section 8 rental subsidy; but 100% of the units are affordable due to budget-based (and tiered) rent restrictions.

To the extent that the properties have Section 8 assistance, the maturing mortgage crisis overlaps with larger crisis of expiring Section 8 subsidy contracts. However, the unique characteristics of this …

Single Mothers And Other Low Earners: Policy Routes To Adequate Wages, Hilda Kahne, Zachary Mabel

Center for Social Policy Publications

This paper addresses the employment environment within which poor single mothers and other low-wage earners work, and identifies policies to foster economic advancement. Low-wage status, often resulting from minimal education and skills, is reinforced by irregular work schedules and more frequent unemployment periods. Despite recent rises in national productivity, low-wage advancement opportunities remain limited and inequality in family income distribution is growing. New policies are needed to extend low-earner career potential.

The paper highlights particularly effective experience of three approaches that enhance earnings of single mothers and other low-wage earners – workforce intermediaries that promote specific job advancement programs, community …

Public-Private Partnerships: Lessons Learned From A Partnership: Consolidated Contractors Company And The Morganti Group Inc. (Ccc/Morganti), Al-Balqa’ Applied University (Bau)/Al-Huson University College (Ahuc) And The Usaid Jordan Economic Development Program, Hussien Al-Wedyan, Terry S. Lane, David Lowther, Gwen El Sawi

Center for Social Policy Publications

This paper describes a Public-Private Partnership that brings together: Al-Balqa’ Applied University/Al-Huson University College (AHUC); Consolidated Contractors Company and the Morganti Group Inc. (CCC/MORGANTI); Al-Huson Career Development Center (CDC); and USAID Jordan Economic Development Program (SABEQ). The Partnership enhances CCC/MORGANTI with its corporate responsibility initiative in Jordan as well as addressing CCC/MORGANTI’s labor force needs from Jordan and in the MENA Region. The lessons learned from the process of developing this partnership may be applied to other potential and emerging partnerships in other sectors. The paper draws on principles and best Education and Training Public/Private Partnerships Improved Workforce Demand-Driven Skills …