Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Fits & Starts: The Difficult Path For Working Single Parents, Rebecca Loya, Ruth J. Liberman, Randy Albelda, Elisabeth Babcock

Center for Social Policy Publications

With dramatic shifts in the economy in recent years, it has become increasingly difficult for families to move into or stay in the middle class without access to higher education and skills training. Government-sponsored work supports help by providing direct assistance to working families to meet basic needs, such as child care, food, and housing. Yet, many supports do not reach low-wage working families in Massachusetts because of low eligibility thresholds, inadequate funding, limited availability, limited awareness, and numerous barriers to accessing such supports. Even for low-wage workers who do receive key work supports, such as subsidized child care and …

Operational Services Brief: 311 In Massachusetts, Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center For Public Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

Non-emergency constituent phone service (also known as “311”) is a growing nationwide trend among municipalities looking to provide more efficient services and improve communications with their citizens. According to an ICMA report, about 15% already use such a system, and another quarter are considering one. As an example of 311’s effectiveness, 43% of local governments reported a significant decrease in non-emergency 911 calls following implementation of a centralized customer service system.

In Massachusetts, 311 is just starting to gain popularity. It currently exists in at least five places (i.e., the cities of Somerville, Springfield, Boston and Worcester; and Dukes County), …

Young Professionals And Philanthropy, Patricia Neilson

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

Seven teams of young professionals presented what they learned from their projects with 7 organizations from the nonprofit and donor sector over the past year. Their experiences and insights address two related questions:

• What is the role of philanthropy in retaining young professionals in the Boston region?

• How can young professionals leverage their leadership skills, and their organization’s resources, to create successful partnerships in philanthropy to serve the Boston region?

Living With Alzheimer’S Disease: A Study Of Adult Day Health Services In Massachusetts, Nina M. Silverstein, Cathy M. Wong, Kristen E. Brueck

Gerontology Institute Publications

The role of adult day health care (ADHC) is gaining increased attention as the nation prepares for the large cohort of baby boomers entering their later years. Many boomers are aging with physical and cognitive impairments, including Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Projections indicate that Massachusetts, along with the nation as a whole, is experiencing an increasing rate of older persons as baby boomers enter late-life. The Commonwealth can expect that persons with Alzheimer's disease and their care partners will need community-based services that are specifically designed for adults with cognitive impairments. However, a report by the Robert Wood Johnson …

Data Note: Wia Employment Outcomes And Trends, Monica Cox, Frank A. Smith

Data Note Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

This data note focuses on employment outcomes for individuals served by the One-Stop system through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Adult funding stream. Outcomes data include the rate of WIA customers entering employment and their employment retention rate. This data note compares outcomes among adults with reported disabilities to those without reported disabilities.

Interest And Action: Findings From A Survey Of Asian American Attitudes On Immigrants, Immigration, And Activism, Michael Liu, Shauna Lo, Paul Watanabe

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

This report presents results from a survey of 412 Chinese and Vietnamese in the Boston area about attention paid to immigration issues, views on the impact of immigrants and on immigration policies, and likeliness to engage in political activities around immigration rights.

Data Note: Employment Rates In The General Population And Vr Rehabilitation Rates, Alberto Migliore

Data Note Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program plays a critical role in assisting people with disabilities gaining integrated employment. In 2006, for instance, 48,876 people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (ID/DD) exited the VR program after receiving services, with 56% of those who received services finding jobs in integrated employment. This percentage, known as the VR Rehabilitation Rate, varied from 42% in Hawaii to 77% in Maryland, if excluding the figure in Oklahoma where the VR rehabilitation rate was 22%.

The Elder Economic Security Initiative™ Program: The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index For Wisconsin, Jan E. Mutchler, Alison Gottlieb, Ellen A. Bruce, Laura Henze Russell

Gerontology Institute Publications

This report addresses income adequacy for Wisconsin’s older adults using the WOW-GI Elder Economic Security Standard Index (the Index) methodology. The Index benchmarks basic costs of living for elder households and illustrates how costs of living vary geographically and are based on the characteristics of elder households, including household size, home ownership or renter status, and health status. The costs are based on market costs for basic needs of elder households and do not assume any public or private supports.

Parenting From Prison: Family Relationships Of Incarcerated Women In Massachusetts, Erika Kates, Sylvia Mignon, Paige Ransford

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Historically in the United States, there has been little concern about the needs of incarcerated women and their family members, especially children. This began to change with the tremendous increase in the number of incarcerated women. The rate of women’s incarceration increased dramatically during the 1980s and today the number of female inmates continues to rise faster than the number of male inmates. In 1986, 19,812 women were incarcerated in the United States and this number rose in 1991 to 38,796. Today, over 112,000 women are incarcerated in state or federal facilities (Sabol et al., 2007; Snell 1994). While in …

Data Note: Persons Served In Community Mental Health Programs And Employment, Frank A. Smith, Samita Bhattarai

Data Note Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

State Mental Health Agencies provide a wide range of supports to consumers including rehabilitation services, vocational and pre vocational training, and supported and competitive employment supports. This Data Note explores how states vary in number of individuals served in Community Mental Health Programs, i.e., all services not provided in an inpatient setting, who are employed as well as the percentage of individuals served in Community Mental Health Programs who are employed.

Institute Brief: Effective Career Development Strategies For Young Artists With Disabilities, Heike Boeltzig, Rooshey Hasnain, Jennifer Sullivan Sulewski

The Institute Brief Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

One potential arena of employment for young people with disabilities is the arts. This brief reports on effective strategies that 47 young artists with disabilities used to gain access to arts-related experiences in order to further their educational and career pathways. Across program years 2002–2005, these young artists, all aged 16 to 25, were finalists in the VSA arts/ Volkswagen of America, Inc. Program, an arts competition that was intended to showcase their talents and accomplishments. As part of the overall evaluation, we were able to identify career development strategies based on a review of finalists’ program applications. This brief …

Call To Action: A Pay Equity Resource Guide, Kacie Kelly

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Women continue to enter the workforce at record levels and laws on the state and federal levels prohibit gender discrimination in the workplace. Yet employment discrimination persists and women’s wages remain lower than men’s wages for comparable positions and occupations. With the 2005 publication of GETTING EVEN: Why Women Don’t Get Paid as Much as Men and What To Do About It by Economist and former Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Murphy, the issue of wage equity is finally receiving the widespread and sustained attention it deserves.

This resource guide provides an overview of the issues related to the wage gap …

The Elder Economic Security Initiative™ Program: The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index For Illinois, Laura Henze Russell, Ellen A. Bruce

Gerontology Institute Publications

This report will address the question of income adequacy for Illinois’ older adults using the national WOW-GI National Elder Economic Security Standard Index (the Index) methodology. The Index will benchmark basic costs of living for elder households. It will illustrate how costs of living vary geographically and are based on the characteristics of elder households: household size, homeownership or renter, mode of transportation, and health status. The costs are for basic needs of elder households; they are based on market costs and do not assume any subsidies.

Where We Go To School: Latino Students And The Public Schools Of Boston, Miren Uriarte, Jie Chen, Mandira Kala

Gastón Institute Publications

Where we go to School: Latino Students and the Public Schools of Boston focuses on the experience of Latino children in the Boston Public Schools (BPS). Using available public data that had not previously been compiled, it aims at the fullest view possible of the Latino school population.

Boston Public Schools is the largest school district in the state, enrolling 56,765 students in AY 2006, the school year that is the focus of this study. School enrollments in Boston have been both shrinking and diversifying. In 2000-2001, for example, enrollments numbered 63,024; just five years later, enrollment was 9.6% lower. …

Collaboration To Institutionalize Service-Learning In Higher Education Organizations: The Relationship Between The Structures Of Academic And Student Affairs, Joanne A. Dreher

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Higher education organizations are distinguished by a structural divide between academic affairs and student affairs. Specific to this separation is the divide between the formal curriculum created and managed by faculty and the informal 'hidden' curriculum developed and delivered to students by student affairs professionals. This divide prompts questions about the role of structure and the cultures that are reinforced by those structures to influence collaboration to integrate new pedagogies such as service-learning.

Case study design was used to analyze three institutions in New England to understand the influence of organizational structures to institutionalize service-learning and to determine the degree …

The Elder Economic Security Initiative™ Program: The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index For Pennsylvania, Laura Henze Russell, Ellen A. Bruce

Gerontology Institute Publications

This report will address the question of income adequacy for Pennsylvania’s older adults using the WOW-GI National Elder Economic Security Standard Index (the Index) methodology. The Index will benchmark basic costs of living for elder households. It will illustrate how costs of living vary geographically and are based on the characteristics of elder households: household size, homeownership or renter, mode of transportation, and health status. The costs are for basic needs of elder households; they are based on market costs and do not assume any subsidies.

Economists, Value Judgments, And Climate Change: A View From Feminist Economics, Julie A. Nelson

Economics Faculty Publication Series

A number of recent discussions about ethical issues in climate change, as engaged in by economists, have focused on the value of the parameter representing the rate of time preference within models of optimal growth. This essay examines many economists' antipathy to serious discussion of ethical matters, and suggests that the avoidance of questions of intergenerational equity is related to another set of value judgments concerning the quality and objectivity of economic practice. Using insights from feminist philosophy of science and research on high reliability organizations, this essay argues that a more ethically transparent, real-world-oriented, and flexible economic practice would …

Continuity And Change In Low-Wage Work In U.S. Retail Trade, Françoise Carré, Chris Tilly, Brandynn Holgate

Center for Social Policy Publications

Retail work is undergoing significant change in the United States. To explore these changes, and their impacts in terms of turnover, skill levels, and other key workforce variables, we conducted 18 case studies of retail businesses. We spoke to employees from top corporate executives to frontline employees, visited stores, and reviewed HR statistics. This paper summarizes major findings from the study.

We start by stating the study’s key questions, principal findings from public data sources, and the study design. We then review field findings on patterns in job quality across four dimensions (schedules, compensation, duties, and turnover/training/mobility). We identify two …

The Mass. Memories Road Show: Some Notes On Bridging And Bonding, Joanne M. Riley

Joseph P. Healey Library Publications

Four years ago, the Mass. Studies Project at UMass Boston launched a cultural heritage project that we dubbed the “Mass. Memories Road Show,” a real-world mashup of PBS’s Antiques Road Show (people bring their personal stuff to a local event for professional perusal) and the Library of Congress’ American Memory Project (digitize historic stuff and share it with the world). Our ambitious goal was – and still is! – to visit each of the 351 communities in Massachusetts, inviting residents to bring in photographs that reflect themselves and their families in that community. At the public “Road Show” events, we …

Massworks: One-Stop Collaborations: The Key To Expanding Your Workforce Connections, Rick Kugler

MassWorks Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 mandated One-Stop Career Centers to deliver public workforce development services. The intent of WIA was to bring together a wide range of federally funded employment and training programs to create an integrated service system to meet the needs of all job seekers.

Women’S Municipal Leadership In Massachusetts, Paige Ransford, Miriam Lazewatsky

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPPP) at UMass Boston’s McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies has been tracking the election of women at the municipal level in Massachusetts since 1996. In 2003, the Project expanded to include all New England states. CWPPP remains the only research center in the United States that regularly tracks women’s political representation at the local level.

Status Of Latino Education In Massachusetts: A Report, Nicole Lavan, Miren Uriarte

Gastón Institute Publications

Educational reform has brought great improvements in educational outcomes for Massachusetts students. In the past decade, achievement scores have risen for all students in Massachusetts; today the Commonwealth ranks first among all states in the overall National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores. However, it also ranks among the five states with the widest “gap” in achievement between white and Latino students in both NAEP Math and Reading. These gaps in achievement show that the benefits are not reaching all children. Latinos especially, but also African American children, are often left behind in a state with excellent academic institutions. Examining …

Data Note: Job Seekers With Disabilities At One-Stop Career Centers: An Overview Of Registration For Wagner-Peyser Funded Employment Services, David Hoff, Samita Bhattarai

Data Note Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933 established a nationwide system of public employment services, known as the Employment Service. Via the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, the Employment Service was made part of the One-Stop service delivery system. Wagner-Peyser funds are a primary source of funding for the core and other services of One–Stop Career Centers that provide employment services available to all people, including people with disabilities.

Building Knowledge And Power With The Third Sector In Haifa Israel: A Report Of The Learning Exchange Research Project, Donna H. Friedman, Jennifer Cohen

Center for Social Policy Publications

A Report of the Learning Exchange Research Project. This report presents a model of Participatory Action Research (PAR) focused on the development of the third sector in Israel. The PAR methodology, combined with a learning exchange, intentional reflection, and community building opportunities, was used as a tool for enhancing Haifa Non-Governmental Organizations’ (NGO) capacities. The report describes the practical and conceptual impacts of this model's application in a pilot trial and discusses its possible use and importance for future participatory research and NGO capacity building work.

Changing Patterns Xiv: Mortgage Lending To Traditionally Underseved Borrowers & Neighborhoods In Boston, Greater Boston And Massachusetts, 2006, Jim Campen

Gastón Institute Publications

This is the fourteenth in the annual series of Changing Patterns reports prepared for the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council (MCBC) by the present author. This year’s report, for the first time, includes the analysis of subprime lending that was previously presented in a separate annual series of Borrowing Trouble reports. The report presents information for the city of Boston, for Greater Boston, and for Massachusetts, as well as for each of the state’s fourteen counties and each of its thirty-three largest cities and towns.

The analysis is based on federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data for 2006, as …

Asian American Nonprofit Organizations In U.S. Metropolitan Areas, Chi-Kan Richard Hung

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

This article analyzes the characteristics of Asian American nonprofit organizations in major U.S. metropolitan areas. The data are based on internet archives of nonprofit organization Form 990 and related information. Asian American nonprofits are less than 20 years old on average. They remain a relatively small part of the nonprofit sector. Religious organizations are generally the largest group among Asian American nonprofits, followed by cultural organizations, service agencies, and public interest associations of similar proportions. Asian American secular organizations as a group tend to be younger, are more likely to by in central cities, in wealthy and poor communities, as …

Data Note: Timeframe From Application To Closure In Integrated Employment For Vocational Rehabilitation Customers With Developmental Disabilities, Alberto Migliore, Frank A. Smith

Data Note Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Getting a job promptly after applying for vocational rehabilitation (VR) services is important for a successful career. Rapid placement boosts self-confidence and prevents applicants from losing work skills as a consequence of inactivity. Moreover, employers may prefer candidates whose work history shows limited gaps in employment.

State Agency Promising Practice: Washington - Collaborating With A Community College And A Supported-Employment Agency To Facilitate The Transition From High School To Community Employment, Jean Winsor, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Beginning in 2006, the Shoreline Public School District in King County, Washington partnered with Shoreline Community College to offer an off-campus transition program for young adults with intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) residing in the Shoreline School District. While participants are still in high school, the Community Based Transition Program offers a structured transitional step between their traditional day and post-secondary education as well as employment in the community. Funding for the classroom space on the college campus, the special education teacher and the education support staff are all provided by the school district. The school also proposed that …

State Agency Promising Practice: Wisconsin’S Job Development Mentors Project, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Sponsored by Wisconsin’s Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) through the use of Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG) funds, Wisconsin’s Job Development Mentors Project (JDMP) pairs three seasoned job developers with four community-based employment support providers that cover 12 counties throughout the state. JDMP is designed to create a state-wide infrastructure for professionals who are responsible for developing jobs for individuals in supported employment while at the same time, working towards increasing the pool of well-trained job developers around the state of Wisconsin.

Anatomy Of Foreign Aid To Ethiopia: 1960-2003, Adugna Lemi

Economics Faculty Publication Series

The purpose of this study is to present a portrait of the foreign aid flow to Ethiopia during the 1960 to 2003 period. Since the launch of Marshal Plan after World War II, the flow of foreign aid has been seen as the panacea to overcome underdevelopment. Ethiopia is not an exception to this view, and Ethiopia is one of the recipients of foreign aid not only to provide emergency relief but also to support longterm economic development. This study shows the flow of aid to Ethiopia in terms of major donors (bilateral and multilateral), method of delivery, and major …