Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Tools For Inclusion: A Common Path: Navigating Your Way To Successful Negotiations In The Workplace, Kelly Crow, Susan Foley

Tools for Inclusion Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Asking for job accommodations can feel intimidating, especially if an individual has decided not to disclose his or her disability. The good news is that this negotiation can be, in fact, rewarding and empowering. The Working It Out Together project asked experts for tactics to create win-win situations.

Economic Currents: The State Of The State Economy, Alan Clayton-Matthews

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

Massachusetts is still in a recession. Forecasts made earlier in the year — that the state economy would be experiencing modest growth by now — have been revised. Instead, it continues to contract. Joining long-suffering sectors such as technology and manufacturing, finance and state government are now making employment cuts. Even consumers, whose continued spending has been a last stronghold of the state economy, are showing signs of distress. Will the Commonwealth follow the nation on the road to recovery, or is our trajectory taking us elsewhere?

University Reporter - Vol. 07, No. 02 - October 2002, University Of Massachusetts Boston

1996-2009, University Reporter

No abstract provided.

The Citizens Health Prescription: Coping With Rising Drug Costs, Shannon Cadres

New England Journal of Public Policy

Prescription drug prices have climbed to unaffordable levels in recent years, creating a serious public policy problem for lawmakers at both the state and federal levels. The U.S. Medicare program only covers the costs of inpatient prescription drugs, and only seventy-five percent of beneficiaries are receiving coverage through some other means. But because of the tremendous power of the pharmaceutical industry on Capitol Hill, lawmakers in Washington have been unable to agree upon a workable solution. As a result, many states are experimenting with different strategies to provide some relief. Massachusetts has attempted to solve the problem through the Prescription …

The Tide Is High For The Boston Beaches, Marissa Glowac

New England Journal of Public Policy

In 1993, Massachusetts Governor William Weld and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino approved the “Back to the Beaches” project, a seven-year, $30.5 million public project to restore nineteen Boston Harbor beaches. Today, these sites have new, cleaner sand, improved access, and new amenities and facilities now ready to offer additional opportunities for recreation. People are coming back to the Boston Harbor beaches in numbers significantly higher than a decade ago. This study concludes that the implementation and success of the “Back to the Beaches” project can be attributed to several factors — an increased public awareness of the value of open …

The Power Of The Urban Canvas: Paint, Politics, And Mural Art Policy, Maura E. Greaney

New England Journal of Public Policy

In cities across America, outdoor mural paintings have brought public art to the urban landscape. Paint and politics have been splashed upon city walls for decades, replacing bleak, often graffitied, exteriors with vibrant color. But this transformation runs deeper than the artistry of the murals; the real works of art are the changes these collaborative projects inspire within communities. Mural projects mobilize communities to articulate dreams, express frustrations, and most importantly, consider strategies for change. Thus, they are a worthy consideration for public policymakers. This case study traces the contemporary mural movement in three cities: Boston, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. …

Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

This issue of the journal is a special issue of a different kind. It highlights the research capabilities of students in the Institute’s Masters of Science in Public Affairs (MSPA) program. The Director of the Institute, Ed Beard, has more to say about the program in his introduction. Suffice to say that tooting one’s own horn is occasionally permissible, especially if one has much to toot about. The three articles that appear in this issue were chosen after careful review with one criterion uppermost in mind: do they meet the standards that merit publication in a professional journal that prides …

From The Director, Edmund Beard

New England Journal of Public Policy

Presents information on the Master of Science in Public Affairs graduate program and how this issue includes three of their best Case Studies of last year’s graduating class.

Brief 14: Risk Management, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

The development office accepts a gift of a house from a prestigious donor. The faculty has developed and approved a new core curriculum. The institution recently constructed a new campus center. While these circumstances sound no alarms, all involve elements of risk. The welcome gift of the house, later discovered to be contaminated with mold, will involve a costly clean up. A revised curriculum cannot guarantee that the changes will yield the expected results. The construction of a new building has significant implications for maintenance of the physical plant. In a recent meeting NERCHE’s Chief Financial Officers Think Tank discussed …

Tools For Inclusion: Evaluating Your Agency And Its Services: A Checklist For Job Seekers With Disabilities, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Melanie Jordan, David Hoff

Tools for Inclusion Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

It is important to evaluate employment services and decide if you are getting the results that you are looking for. You should have high expectations! If you are currently using an agency for help with employment, this checklist can help you make sure you are getting what you need.

University Reporter - Vol. 07, No. 01 - September 2002, University Of Massachusetts Boston

1996-2009, University Reporter

No abstract provided.

Tools For Inclusion: Making Dreams A Reality: Using Personal Networks To Achieve Goals As You Prepare To Leave High School, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Mairead Moloney, Danielle Dreilinger, Jennifer Schuster

Tools for Inclusion Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Leaving high school can be both exciting and stressful. This brief tells the stories of students who used their personal networks to exercise self-determination and follow their goals, and includes worksheets for students to build and use their own networks.

A Case For Implementing An Electronic Document Managament System (Edms), Scott D. Seiler

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

We live in a world where documentation and record keeping are considered not only necessary but also essential. This documentation produces and unprecedented amount of paperwork. Keeping track of this volume of paper is a task of monumental proportions. Faced with this task, I sought to sell the idea of an Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) to the senior staff of the governmental agency that employs me. Participation in the Creative Critical Thinking Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston, has afforded me the opportunity to formulate an implementation scheme to accomplish this. Included in my synthesis project are the …

Case Studies On The Implementation Of The Workforce Investment Act: Spotlight On Kentucky, Allison Cohen Hall, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Sheila Fesko

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The implementation of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) requires major organizational change for employment and training agencies. The initiative emphasizes coordination, collaboration and communication among organizations for better service delivery. At this time, states are developing systems that will enable them to address the needs of all customers seeking employment. The Institute for Community Inclusaion (ICI) has conducted state case studies for two purposes: (1) to identify how states have begun the process of collaboration under the new mandates of WIA; and (2) to understand the impact on customers with disabilities. This is the first in a series of publications …

Case Studies On The Implementation Of The Workforce Investment Act: Spotlight On Minnesota, Sheila Fesko, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Allison Cohen Hall

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The implementation of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) requires major organizational change for employment and training agencies. The initiative emphasizes coordination, collaboration and communication among organizations for better service delivery. At this time, states are developing systems that will enable them to address the needs of all customers seeking employment. The Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) has conducted state case studies for two purposes: (1) to identify how states have begun the process of collaboration under the new mandates of WIA; and (2) to understand the impact on customers with disabilities. This is the second in a series of publications …

Tools For Inclusion: Starting With Me: A Guide To Person-Centered Planning For Job Seekers, Melanie Jordan, Lara Enein-Donovan

Tools for Inclusion Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

A person-centered approach can help individuals with disabilities make satisfying job choices. This brief guides job seekers through a three-stage career development process that includes assessing their interests, researching the job market, and marketing themselves to potential employers.

Food Stamps: Available But Not Easily Accessible: A Study Conducted For Project Bread, Michelle Kahan, Elaine Werby, Jennifer Raymond

Center for Social Policy Publications

Concerned with growing hunger among Massachusetts families eligible for Food Stamps, and the paradoxical decline in the number of program enrollees, Project Bread asked the Center for Social Policy at the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs, University of Massachusetts Boston (CSP) to study the process of securing and sustaining Food Stamp Benefits. Concurrent with the planning process for the study, the Massachusetts legislature, in an override of the Governor's veto in early December 2001, included language in the FY 2002 budget designed to expand access to the program. Among other requirements, the language requires the Department of Transitional …

Asian American Voter Registration In Massachusetts: A Preliminary Report On Ten Cities And Towns, Paul Watanabe, Michael Liu

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

The 2000 Census reports that Massachusetts’ Asian American population is the state’s fastest growing racial group, increasing by 68% since 1990. By 2025, the number of Asian Americans in Massachusetts is projected to expand to 534,000 from the current total of 238,124. This dramatic growth, however, has apparently not been accompanied by high levels of Asian American electoral participation and political clout. A major challenge for Asian Americans, therefore, is to substantially increase their participation and influence.

Economic Currents: The State Of The State Economy, Alan Clayton-Matthews

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

While no longer contracting, the Massachusetts economy has not yet turned the corner, either. Delays in the recovery of the technology sector, along with state government fiscal problems, have offset modest expansion in health, education, and residential real estate. But consumer confidence and spending, buoyed by low interest rates and rising home equity, have been making up for weak business capital spending. Could slow growth be just ahead?

Kinship Care In Massachusetts, Jan Mutchler, Alison S. Gottlieb, Lona Choi, Ellen A. Bruce

Gerontology Institute Publications

The population of kinship care families in the Commonwealth is diverse in its characteristics, resources, and needs. The often-referenced stereotype of the elderly single grandmother caring for a number of grandchildren holds for only a portion of the kinship care families. Many children are cared for by married couples; many of the grandparents are not elderly; and many of the caregivers are not grandparents, but rather aunts, uncles, grown siblings, or other relatives. Although the duration of the caregiving relationship is unknown for non-grandparental care, most of the grandparent caregivers are involved in long-term caregiving. As such, their needs are …

Transportation: A Crucial Issue For Adult Day Care In Vermont, Francis G. Caro, Regula H. Robnett, Jennifer Higgins

Gerontology Institute Publications

Transportation arrangements are an integral but fragile element in the effectiveness of adult day care services in Vermont and nationwide. Almost by definition, adult day center participants generally cannot drive due to cognitive and/or physical limitations. Since adult day care services are congregate in nature and serve community-residing elders, this long-term care option is feasible only when there are arrangements to transport elders to and from service centers. Transportation is therefore a major issue for adult day care services.

The aim of this report is to call attention to transportation issues in adult day care services in Vermont. The report …

University Reporter - Vol. 06, No. 10 - June 2002, University Of Massachusetts Boston

1996-2009, University Reporter

No abstract provided.

University Reporter - Vol. 06, No. 09 - May 2002, University Of Massachusetts Boston

1996-2009, University Reporter

No abstract provided.

Latinos In Massachusetts, Charles Jones

Gastón Institute Publications

Census 2000 includes changes in the way people were counted. The most significant change is to allow persons to select more than one race, creating a new multiracial category but meaning people may not be included in the race with which they most identify. There was, however, no way to choose more than one ethnicity, one must choose either Latino or not. Throughout this profile, numbers reflect Latinos of all races, or non-Latinos by race, with persons of two or more races counted separately. All categorizations are based solely on self-identification. All of this complicates comparisons between 1990 and 2000 …

Economic Currents: The State Of The State Economy, Alan Clayton-Matthews

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

The Commonwealth’s economy appears to have bottomed out and may already have started to expand. The Massachusetts Leading Economic Index for February forecasts that real gross state product will grow at an annualized rate of 1.8 percent through August. This is the fourth consecutive positive reading. Furthermore, the current economic index has remained steady for three months in a row.

A Tale Of Two Decades: Changes In Work And Earnings In Massachusetts, 1979–1999, Randy Albelda, Marlene Kim

Economics Faculty Publication Series

Over the past twenty years, Massachusetts has replaced the mantle of old-style manufacturing with a robust “new economy.” Our economic vitality has never been better. But not all individuals benefited from the 1990s boom as they had from the one a decade earlier. Some of our residents are worse off than they were before.

Latinos In Massachusetts: Legal Immigration To New England During The 1990s, Enrico A. Marcelli

Gastón Institute Publications

This fact sheet summarizes information about legal immigration flows to the New England Region during the 1990s employing Immigration and Naturalization Service data. Although the annual number of legal permanent residents (e.g., green card holders) from Latin America and the Caribbean fell during the decade, as a percent of all legal immigrants who settled in New England their representation rose. Among all Latin American and Caribbean immigrants who settled in the region, more than half chose Massachusetts or Connecticut. And although most reported working in lower-skilled occupations, from 10 percent to 30 percent of immigrants from each c o u …

University Reporter - Vol. 06, No. 08 - April 2002, University Of Massachusetts Boston

1996-2009, University Reporter

No abstract provided.

Who's In Charge? Appointments Of Latinos To Policymaking Offices And Boards In Massachusetts, Carol Hardy-Fanta

Gastón Institute Publications

As the Latino population in Massachusetts continues to grow, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of Latinos achieving elected office throughout the state. Twenty years ago there was only one Latino serving in elected office in Massachusetts—Nelson Merced. In 1995, there were only four elected officials who were Latino and no state representatives. Today, through the hard work of candidates, activists, and Latino community activists and organizations, there are three Latinos serving as state legislators, fourteen holding municipal office, and an increasing number of campaigns at all levels of municipal and state government being conducted.

While this …

A Review Of The Literature On Bilingual Education, Lorna Rivera

Gastón Institute Publications

Changes in bilingual education will have an important impact on the future well-being of the growing Latino community in Massachusetts. This report summarizes some of the major research findings regarding the purposes and effectiveness of bilingual education. Questions that will be addressed include: What are the existing bilingual education models? Which bilingual education models work best? Should there be time limits for bilingual education? Do immigrants resist learning English? Does speaking another language interfere with learning? Should bilingual students be exempt from state-mandated testing? Are bilingual teachers qualified? Are bilingual education students more likely to dropout?

It is hoped that …