Nonprofit Studies Commons^™

Ethical Participation In An Unethical System: Partnering With The New London Homeless Hospitality Center, Lucy Koester

Program in Community Action (PICA)

How can volunteers engage meaningfully and ethically within a system that does not always center the voices of the people it serves? This Senior Integrative Project (SIP) explores the College’s long-term partnership with the New London Homeless Hospitality Center (NLHHC), and how campus-community partnerships (CCPs) can build resilient and civically minded societies. Drawing on experiences volunteering and developing collaborative projects with the NLHHC, it reflects on the challenges and possibilities for improving the guests’ experiences. Using a sociological approach, this paper analyzes how organizations like the NLHHC are products of bureaucratic systems, and emphasize the importance of centering community voices …

Home For The Brave: Housing Program, Amanda Jabr

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Veteran homelessness remains a critical issue across the United States. Since 1996, the Veterans Transition Center (VTC) of Monterey County has been at the forefront of addressing this crisis by providing comprehensive services, housing, therapy, addiction recovery, job training, healthcare, and support for families and pets to homeless and formerly incarcerated veterans. Guided by its mission of “Veterans Supporting Veterans,” VTC has achieved a notable 0% recidivism rate among program participants. This project evaluated the effectiveness of VTC’s housing program through a survey of 40 alumni veterans. The findings indicate that the majority of respondents found the program effective, credited …

Inclusive Leadership Ideology In Crisis Management: A Case Study Analysis On Serving The Homeless During Covid-19, Hee Soun Jang, Yu Shi, Lisa Dicke, Laura Keyes

Journal of Ideology

A core value and ethical tenet of public administration is to ensure the protection and care of the most vulnerable in the community. This research shows that inclusive leadership ideology among public managers can actively engage them in using responsive strategies that respect marginalized groups' diverse cultures, languages, identities, and special needs. Using interviews of homeless-serving nonprofit leaders during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, our research demonstrates how leaders navigated critical decision-making in response to the unique service needs of those who were unsheltered and experiencing homelessness. The D-A-I-C model (Shi et al., 2020) serves as a framework …

Design Guidelines For Homeless Shelter And Resource Center Site Plans, Samuel Johnson

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Homelessness is one of the most pressing humanitarian issues facing the country today. Lack of affordable housing, among many other complicating factors, have led to many cities scrambling to find both short-, middle-, and long-term solutions to the issue. The Covid-19 pandemic added a disruption in services, critical record-keeping, and data-gathering, which has further confounded experts looking for an effective path forward. As it stands, there is a significant gap in academic research addressing best practices for shelter site design, particularly as it relates to landscape. The role of landscape and greenspace within and around a shelter is not well …

Addressing Barriers To Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Massachusetts Community Mediation, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Jarling Ho, Shino Yokotsuka, Karina Zeferino

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

This report presents over three years of systematically engaging, documenting and analyzing the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) needs/gaps and assets of state funded community mediation centers in Massachusetts. The report was compiled by researchers and an in-house DEI expert at the statutory state office of dispute resolution, the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The office has been serving as a neutral forum and state-level resource for over 30 years.

The report is based on qualitative research that falls into the category of community based participatory research conducted through a series of community …