Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

A Green New Deal For Social Work, Rupaleem Bhuyan, Stéphanie Wahab, Yoosun Park

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this editorial, we consider what climate action would mean for the social work profession. The urgency to address climate change compels social work practitioners, educators, and researchers to embrace a vision of social work that is committed to restoring human well-being and the natural world.

Elucidating The Influence Of Supervisors’ Roles On Implementation Climate, Alicia Bunger, Sarah Birken, Jill A. Hoffman, Hannah Macdowell, Mimi Choy-Brown, Erica Magier

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Supervisors play an essential role in implementation by diffusing and synthesizing information, selling implementation, and translating top management’s project plans to frontline workers. Theory and emerging evidence suggest that through these roles, supervisors shape implementation climate—i.e., the degree to which innovations are expected, supported, and rewarded. However, it is unclear exactly how supervisors carry out each of these roles in ways that contribute to implementation climate—this represents a gap in the understanding of the causal mechanisms that link supervisors’ behavior with implementation climate. This study examined how supervisors’ performance of each of these roles influences three core implementation …

Fracking And Induced Seismicity Mitigation In Ohio, Claudia Judele

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This research analyzes the extent to which the hydraulic fracturing process contributes to seismic activity in the State of Ohio and compares Ohio’s fracking induced seismicity with other case studies from the States of Texas, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma. It distinguishes and addresses the differences in risks that fracking poses in conventional natural gas wells versus unconventional horizontal wells where natural gas is extracted from reservoirs with low permeability. Ohio’s earthquake history, fracking history, current fracking regulations, and restrictions on local regulations were thoroughly investigated to determine just how much fracking has affected the state’s seismicity rate. Since 2011, when unconventional …

Understanding Access To Menstrual Hygiene Products In The Akron Area, Corinne Plas

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to contribute to the understanding of the nature of access to menstrual hygiene products in the Akron area. Questions being researched are “Do Akron area residents need better access to menstrual hygiene products?”, “What is the nature of current access to products in the Akron area?”, “What influences a lack of access to products, if anything?”, and “What kinds of products are preferred and actually used?” The project consists of a 30-question survey, which was taken online by 51 participants. Completed analyses were cross tabulation analyses using Qualtrics and IBM SPSS programs and …

U.S. Census Explorer: A Gui And Visualization Tool For The U.S. Census Data Api, Timothy Snyder

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

U.S. Census Explorer is a software application that is designed to provide tools for intuitive exploration and analysis of United States census data for non-technical users. The application serves as an interface into the U.S. Census Bureau’s data API that enables a complete workflow from data acquisition to data visualization without the need for technical intervention from the user. The suite of tools provided include a graphical user interface for dynamically querying U.S. census data, geographic visualizations, and the ability to download your work to common spreadsheet and image formats for inclusion in external works.

The Effects Of Natural Resource Dependence And Democracy On The Incremental Budgeting Theory And Punctuated Equilibrium Within A Budgetary Context, Barrak Ghanim Algharabali

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

I contribute to the literature by providing additional factors that could affect the incremental budgeting theory and punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) within a budgetary context. Because of the fluctuation in the price of natural resources, I argue that dependence on natural resources could lead to less stable budgets than ones not dependent on natural resources. I also argue that democracy is another source that leads to stability in the budget, relative to countries that are not democratic. I theorize that countries with no democracy and heavy dependence on natural resources will have budgets with more volatility than the rest of …

Three Essays On Municipal Structure And Government Fiscal Management Outcomes, Wenchi Wei

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

This dissertation aims to reclassify municipal structures of the U.S. municipalities and investigates the effect of municipal structures on government fiscal management outcomes, including fiscal conditions and fiscal slack balances. This dissertation is comprised of four chapters. The first chapter briefly introduces, and each of the remaining three is an independent research article. The second chapter investigates seven essential structural characteristics of the U.S. municipalities and constructs a municipal structure political-administrative index. It then examines the determinants of municipal structures on a political-administrative dimension. The empirical results show that municipal structure choices are statistically significantly associated with citizens’ socioeconomic and …

Successful Climate Change Strategies In Corporate Farming, Deann Renee Reaves

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information (2016), climate-related disasters occurring from 2011 to 2015 caused property damages in excess of US$230 billion—and the agriculture sector incurs some of the largest losses (Hoffmann, 2013). The purpose of this case study was to identify, through an in-depth interview and document review, successful climate-change-based sustainability strategies in a publicly held farming operation. The findings indicated that the farm’s climate-change-based sustainability strategy had basic qualities of corporate social responsibility, triple-bottom-line thinking, and systems thinking. Specific approaches identified were mitigation- and adaptation-oriented approaches. Implications for social change include …

Super Pacs: Where They Came From And What We Know About Dark Money Seven Years Later, Catrina Curtis

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore Super PACs as a source of campaign finance and their impact on the federal elections process. After explaining the history of federal campaign finance law in the United States, the role of anonymity by Super PACs is questioned. This thesis argues that two court case decisions are responsible for the creation of Super PACs: Citizens United v. FEC and SpeechNOW.org v. FEC. The cases, and their conflicting interests, are both summarized and analyzed. Next, using federal campaign finance data from the past decade, the impact of Super PACs on campaign finance is …

Attribution And Attribution Error In Relationship To False Confessions, Michael L. Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

False confessions are the most difficult type of confession to detect. Because the Reid interview and interrogation technique is the global gold standard for interviews, interrogations, and confessions, it is used to obtain confessions from suspects. However, the Reid method has been untested in regard to if it can detect false confessions to potentially eliminate wrongful convictions. The purpose of this qualitative study was to perform a content analysis of videos of confessions using several models that make up the Reid interview and interrogation technique. Utilizing attribution theory as a framework, these models were qualitatively assessed for their ability to …

Gang Injunctions Effects: The Experiences Of Residents And Enjoined Gang Members, Natasha R. Burnett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Civil gang injunctions (CGIs) are bans on nuisance behavior that have been enacted against gang members. Numerous studies conducted on the efficacy of CGIs have proven that they have little to no long-term effects on the communities in which they are implemented, nor on the gang members enjoined under them and their gang activities. The purpose of this empirical, phenomenological interpretative analysis study was to (a) determine the sociofamilial effects of CGIs on community residents; (b) determine the effects of CGIs on the behaviors and activities of enjoined gang members; and (c) determine the overall efficacy of CGIs based on …

Understanding Effectiveness Of A Diverse Board In The Nonprofit Sector: The Role Of Board Inclusion & Critical Mass Of The Diverse Board Members, Suparna Dutta

Theses and Dissertations

Using rated responses from nonprofit CEOs who participated in the 2016 BoardSource national survey, this study investigates whether nonprofit board inclusive behavior or board inclusive practices are positively correlated with nonprofit board effectiveness. It further examines whether a critical mass of racial and ethnic minority or women board members may moderate the relationship stated above. To answer these questions, the study tested six hypotheses using principal component analysis, followed by hierarchical regression analysis, and found no evidence of statistical significance in main or moderator effects. The study recommends that policymakers should frame policies that ensure mandatory quotas for women and …

The Nail That Sticks Up Isn't Always Hammered Down: Women, Employment Discrimination, And Litigiousness In Japan, Kristen Luck

Theses and Dissertations

Much recent scholarship is devoted to projecting Japan’s future and analyzing its prospects as a global power. After two decades of economic stagnation, alarming demographic trends, and the 3/11 triple disaster, some scholars argue that Japan is grappling with an era of precarity, marked with instability and anxiety. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to office in 2012, promoting his economic reform policy, “Abenomics” and within the third “arrow" of this approach targeting structural reforms, he promoted “womenomics”, a term coined by Kathy Matsui of Goldman-Sachs. Prime Minister Abe’s objective is to create a society where "women can shine” and women …

Effects Of Police-Mental Health Collaborative Services On Calls, Arrests, And Emergency Hospitalizations, Sean Russel-Jacque Zauhar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

With the increasing amount of police calls involving persons experiencing a mental health crisis (PICs), agencies are looking for ways to reduce the overuse of emergency services and criminal confinement. Police-mental health collaborative (PMHC) programs were developed to utilize the expertise of both mental health and law enforcement practitioners to provide immediate linkage to psychiatric services in an effort to prevent unnecessary involvement in the criminal justice system. The theoretical framework for this study was built on the sequential intercept model (SIM) along with the theories of social network and social support. The SIM identifies 5 key points where PICs …

The Impact Of The Use Of Wearable Video Systems In Law Enforcement, Dearis Vontae Hoard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Wearable video systems (WVSs) are one of the most popular and fastest growing technologies used by law enforcement today. While published WVS literature predominantly focuses on stakeholder perceptions, community interactions, assaults against officers, and use of force, there has diminutive exploration of the impact of WVSs as it related to aspects of police misconduct, especially in the Cruiser Police Department (pseudonym; CPD). The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore and describe how the use of the use of WVSs by the CPD impact police misconduct, by tracking the changes in complaint type and disposition of a 5-year …

Perspectives Of Low-Income Homeowners On The Housing Choice Voucher Homeownership Program, Sandra M. Strozier

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Owning a home is often referred to as the American Dream. However, the reality for low income homeowners is often problematic. Some scholars suggested that homeowners are better off than renters are, while others suggested that the current quest for low-income homeownership interferes with other affordable housing initiatives. Yet, few researchers examined the decision-making process of low-income homeowners. This phenomenological study explores and describes the experiences, attitudes, and perspectives of low-income individuals and their homeownership decisions. This study further delineates the costs and benefits of the Housing Choice Voucher Homeownership Program (HCVH) as perceived by low-income families in a southern …

The Experience Of Founder's Syndrome In Nonprofit Organizations Founded By Women, Coutanya Moultry Coombs

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Gaps exist in the literature on knowledge of how founder behavior affects volunteers and employees in nonprofit organizations. Through exploration of founder relationships with volunteers and employees, this study fills some of those gaps and adds to the body of knowledge of how those relationships are perceived by founders, volunteers, and employees. The purpose of this narrative study was to address the question of the impact of founder behavior on founders, employees and volunteers in nonprofit women's organizations founded by African American and Caucasian women. The theory of psychological ownership was used as the framework to understand founder behavior. The …

The Impact Of The Use Of Wearable Video Systems In Law Enforcement, Dearis Vontae Hoard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Wearable video systems (WVSs) are one of the most popular and fastest growing technologies used by law enforcement today. While published WVS literature predominantly focuses on stakeholder perceptions, community interactions, assaults against officers, and use of force, there has diminutive exploration of the impact of WVSs as it related to aspects of police misconduct, especially in the Cruiser Police Department (pseudonym; CPD). The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore and describe how the use of the use of WVSs by the CPD impact police misconduct, by tracking the changes in complaint type and disposition of a 5-year …

Urban Development Of A City In Niger Delta Region Of Nigeria, Chinyere Emmanuel Igwe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The issue of indiscriminate urban expansion is not uncommon in Africa. It has created haphazard, unplanned, and unapproved development that negatively affected urban planning for cities in the Niger Delta Region in Nigeria. Using Stone's urban regime theory, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore from the perspective of developers, associations, and government agencies (referred to as stakeholders), the roots causes of indiscriminate urban development and their activities in the process in the Niger Delta Region. Data were collected through semi structured telephone interviews with 10 participants who had at least 5 years experience working in public and …

Effective Planning Of Urban Communities' Vulnerabilities For Mitigation Of Homelessness After A Natural Disaster, Tamara Michelle Lapsley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Urban communities often lack the ability to recover after disaster plans have been implemented because of a lack of coordinated resources among federal, state, and local agencies. As a result, economically marginalized citizens find themselves in risky conditions, particularly concerning finding and securing post-disaster housing. Using social conflict theory as a guide, the purpose of this exploratory case study of an urban area in a southern state was to better understand the specific vulnerabilities of urban communities and develop solutions for challenges related to emergency or temporary shelters to victims. Data were primarily collected through interviews with 10 residents who …

Gender In Negotiation: Preparing Public Administrators For The 21st Century Workplace, Maria J. D’Agostino, Helisse Levine, Meghna Sabharwal

Publications and Research

This exploratory study questions whether Master of Public Administration programs prepare future public administrators to how gender plays out in negotiations that occur in organizations. Negotiated Order and Second-Generation Bias perspectives provide the theoretical basis to understand that negotiations in organizations may privilege masculine practices. In light of this gender leaning, the classroom is a necessary incubator for understanding gender differences in negotiation. Curricula and survey response data retrieved from NASPAA accredited MPA programs suggest that gender in negotiation is not being addressed in the MPA classroom. Public managers must negotiate for scarce organizational resources including salary, promotion, and other …

The Importance Of Engaging Students On Public Assistance: New Insights And Recommendations For Practice, Nicole M. Elias, Madeleine Marrin

Publications and Research

Student engagement in institutions of higher education has become a central priority for educators and administrators. What "student engagement" means for a diverse student body is an important question for public institutions with justice-related missions. As social welfare policy shifts to allow more recipients of public assistance access to higher education, research regarding their engagement experiences remains scarce. To support a socioeconomically diverse student body, consistent with the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) standards, this project explores the nature of engagement among student recipients of public assistance by asking the following research questions: what forms …

Exploring Iso31000 Risk Management During Dynamic Fire And Emergency Operations In Western Australia, Greg Penney

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Firefighting remains an inherently dangerous occupation with serious injuries and fatalities reported globally. The Australasian Fire Authorities Council adopt ISO31000 as the standard of risk management for all firefighting and mitigation operations. However, previous studies have reported that decisions made by incident controllers during dynamic emergencies are typically reactionary and only partially compliant with the ISO31000 process. This paper describes research using new qualitative and quantitative data that support incident controllers in managing risk during dynamic fire and emergency situations, in accordance with ISO31000. The research was completed through two studies. The first study explored risk attitudes of serving fire …

Gendered Recreational Fisheries Management And North American Natural Resource Policy, Erin Burkett

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This dissertation applies feminist theory to investigate women’s participation in wildlife-based recreation and how natural resource management organizations conduct stakeholder engagement in a North American context. Gendered social processes, including norms and expectations, as well as gendered cultures, can constrain women’s participation in recreation through social sanctions and disenfranchisement. Gender and leisure scholars have studied these dynamics in sport and leisure contexts, but how individuals negotiate these constraints is understudied in a wildlife-based recreation context. Social constructions of gender also contribute to imbalances of power within formal natural resource management organizations and influence how stakeholder engagement policies and programs are …

Mining The Evidence: Public Comments, Evidence-Based Policymaking, And A Controversial Mine, Sun V. Nguyen

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In policymaking, evidence-based policymaking is an essential method for influencing policies and decisions by telling decision-makers “what works” (Head, 2008). Western sciences typically make up most of the evidence decision-makers use, but because people are boundedly rational in understanding and incorporating it—politics, values, and beliefs impact thought processes— scholars and policymakers also include other types of knowledge to make decisions. One way for decision-makers to incorporate other types of knowledge into policies is through public comments. Although public comments may provide different types of knowledge to improve policy decisions, decision-makers face challenges with valuing different types of knowledge as evidence. …

The Legalization Of Street Vending In Los Angeles: Exploring The Impact On Vendors And Their Livelihoods, Karen Alpuche Caceres

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis aims to unpack the impact the legalization of street vending and the subsequent regulation had on sidewalk vendors. Although legalization occurred state-wide through Senate Bill 946 in September of 2017, the rules and regulations for vending were passed at a city-level, and I am focusing on the City of Los Angeles specifically. Through interviews with government officials, non-profit partners and advocates, and vendors from different parts of the City, I analyze information around the policy itself, its history, and the impact it has and is expected to have on vendors and their businesses. While vendors have been central …

Pedal To The Metal: Accelerating The Transition To Electric Vehicles, Nicole Larson

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis explores barriers to widespread adoption of electric vehicles and proposes possible policy solutions. It analyzes main barriers including awareness, upfront cost, and range anxiety, as well as existing policy solutions, and a detailed case study examining policy differences in high adopting versus low adopting states. Awareness and eduction surrounding electric vehicles and their capabilities, financial incentives and market mechanisms for reducing costs, and charging infrastructure and efficiency improvements are examined. Conclusions were formed through interviews with various experts as a method of data collection. It was found that many existing state and local level policies could be scaled …

Navigating The Michelle P. Waiver: A Narrative Examination Of The Impact Of Parent Caregiver-Related Uncertainty And Decision Making For Children With Disabilities, Whittney H. Darnell

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

The Michelle P. Waiver (MPW) is the primary means of health insurance for more than 10,000 people in the state of Kentucky. The waiver is especially popular among families with young children with disabilities because it is robust in its benefit offerings and also one of the few Medicaid resources that does not include parental income as a qualifying factor in eligibility. Through the waiver, children receive a medical card as well as additional coverage for medical expenses that fall beyond the scope of traditional health insurance. For these young children to gain access to the comprehensive offerings of the …

Social Disorganization Theory: The Role Of Diversity In New Jersey’S Hate Crimes Based On Race And Ethnicity, Dana Maria Ciobanu

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

The purpose of this correlational panel study was to test Shaw and McKay’s theory of social disorganization by examining the relationship between demographic diversity and hate crime rates. The study focused on the relationship between the level of diversity, residential mobility, unemployment, family disruption, proximity to urban areas, and population density in all 21 New Jersey counties and hate crime rates. The existing data of Federal Bureau of Investigations’ hate crime rates and the U.S. Census Bureau’s demographic diversity were operationalized as the percentage of Whites over all other races, and social disorganization from the 21 counties of New Jersey …

Residential Fire Impacts On Richmond, Virginia: A Plan For Identifying And Educating Our Most Vulnerable Communities, Jennifer L. Tillett

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

In 2017, 1.3 million fires in the U.S. caused 3,400 deaths, 14,600 injuries, and $23 billion in loss. Vulnerable populations are less resilient due to their lack of adequate access to financial, medical, and community resources as well as their propensity to reside in substandard housing. This plan studies the impacts of Richmond’s residential fires (2015-2017) on vulnerable communities within the city. Its purpose is to provide an understanding of where fires occurred in vulnerable communities and to recommend actions for prevention education.

The plan is divided into six sections: Introduction, Background, Methodology, Findings, Recommendations, and Implementation. A Social Vulnerability …