Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons^™

Public Libraries: Is Independence Better?, Gayle Hornaday

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since the origin of public libraries in the United States during the nineteenth century, they have been primarily supported by public taxation, due to their intended purpose of benefiting all of society, and especially the economically disadvantaged. Public libraries are provided in much the same spirit as public education, to uphold the American value that knowledge and information should be equally available to all, without regard to individual ability to pay. The dilemma of how to pay for library services has involved considerable debate in the library community about the implementation of user fees to supplement revenue, as an alternative …

Demographic Factors Predictive Of Medicaid Enrollment In Michigan Counties, Dale Kennedy Howe

Dissertations

Recent changes in administration of the Medicaid program make it imperative that local agencies improve their ability to forecast demand for Medicaid services. In October of 1998 the State of Michigan redesigned the Medicaid specialty care in Michigan from a fee-for-service system to a capitated system. In a capitated healthcare system, financial risk is a result of unanticipated changes in the population size and mix. Numerous demographic factors, such as crime, population, unemployment, median age, income, and ethnicity may be used to improve the accuracy of predicted changes in enrollment for Medicaid. Using naive ordinary least squares models as the …

Working Caregivers: Issues, Challenges, And Opportunities For The Aging Network, Margaret B. Neal, Donna Wagner

Institute on Aging Publications

This paper provides an overview of the issues associated with working caregivers. We will examine the social and demographic trends influencing the growth of this group, their characteristics and their contributions to elders, and the consequences of caregiving for caregivers and their work. Next, we will briefly describe the various employer-initiated programs currently in place to support working caregivers and the evolution of these programs, followed by federal and state governments’ response to working caregivers, to date. The remainder of the paper details the potential role of the aging network in better supporting working caregivers, including current best practices and …

Managing Landmine Casualty Data, Cisr Jmu

CISR Studies and Reports

The Mine Action Information Center (MAIC) at James Madison University implemented this project to develop a framework for the systematic collection and management of landmine casualty data. The project was premised on the lack of an adequate system for collecting and managing landmine casualty data on a global basis. Data on landmine and UXO casualties is being collected in a systematic manner in some countries, but worldwide, it is not being collected in a comprehensive or consistent manner that allows it to be compared cross-nationally and aggregated globally. The lack of an adequate system hampers the ability of mine action …

Eastward Ho: Issues And Options In Regional Development For The Metropolitan Boston Region, Robert C. Wood, Laura C. Ghirardini, Lori L. Prew, Aundrea Kelley

McCormack Graduate School General Publications (active until 2013)

Conventional wisdom suggests that the basic job of public policy studies (and public institutions, for that matter) is to deal in a timely and practical fashion with pressing public issues of the day. The focus typically is on 'ripe' topics, 'hot' political problems. If a study can be ahead of the curve, in John Kingdon's apt phrase "an idea whose time has come," so much the better. But unlike more traditional academic research, where the focus is timeless — i.e., an explanation of previously inexplicable phenomena, timeliness is a prime reason for initiating a policy study.

In this context, analyzing …

Conversion Of The Coldwater Regional Mental Health Center: The Impact On Employees, Connie Dunham Dykman

Dissertations

The objective of this study was to determine what effects the conversion of the Coldwater Regional Mental Health Center from a facility serving developmentally disabled residents to one serving mentally ill residents had on the lives of its employees.

Deinstitutionalization has been taking place nationwide at the same time prisons have been expanding. In Coldwater, Michigan, buildings that were left empty as a result of deinstitutionalizing mentally retarded individuals were taken over by the Department of Corrections to be used as prisons. This action inspired advocates for retarded citizens to call for the closure of the Coldwater Regional Center. Instead …

"Our Town": A Case Study Of Ideology And The Private Social Welfare Sector, William M. Epstein

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This case study explores the relationship between ideology and the performance of the voluntary social welfare sector in Western New York. Data were collected from the directors of 22 of the largest and most important voluntary social welfare agencies relating to their own social attitudes and those of their boards. The common expression of similar agency attitudes toward a variety of social policies were in narrow conformity with the conservative values of the current national administration. The common core of conservative values, suggesting that the agencies perform an ideological role within the community in addition to their service role, may …

Boston In Transition: A Financial Analysis, Raymond L. Flynn, Financial Analysis Research Group, John W. Mccormack Institute Of Public Affairs, University Of Massachusetts Boston

McCormack Graduate School General Publications (active until 2013)

The new Mayor of Boston must earn the confidence of the taxpaying public in his financial leadership by employing credibility and candor in the management of city affairs.

To begin the process of re-enfranchising Bostonians who have come to mistrust financial decisions seemingly determined by political calculations, the new Mayor must make an accurate disclosure of the City's financial picture, rely on the commitment of the state to properly support its capital city and restore integrity and strong management controls to government operations. Recommendations for budget cuts, hiring freezes and adjustments in tax rates, when they are necessary, should only …

Community Action Programs And Poor People Of Maine : A History, Maine. Division Of Economic Opportunity

Maine Collection

Community Action Programs and Poor People of Maine : A History.
State of Maine. Division of Economic Opportunity. Augusta, Maine, 1975.

Contents: 1.Introduction / 2.Myths of the Poor in Maine / 3.Concepts / 4.Head Start / 5.Legal Services-The Poor and the Law / 6.Health / 7.Native Americans / 8.Housing / 9.The Elderly-Never Too Late to Fight Poverty / 10.Manpower Training / 11.Donated Commodities / 12.Vista / 13.Poverty Is Here to Stay / 14.Results of the War / 15.The Role of SEOO and New Directions for CAP

The Utilization Of Aides In Public Welfare; Analysis, Evaluation, And Proposal, Leonard Mark Robinson, Shirley Ann Youngstrom

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this project was to trace the developments which led to the utilization of para-profess iona1 persons as service aides in public welfare departments and to examine, in particular, the developments in Oregon at the state and county levels. The establishment of such programs was mandated in the Social Security Amendments of 1967. A review of the 1967 legislation showed the legislative intent to be inconsistent with the stated purposes of the program. This inconsistency, it was found, has been reflected in Oregon’s aide program. The theoretical origins underlying the aide concept were also examined in order to …

The History And Enforcement Of The Federal Food, Drug, And Cosmetic Act Since 1938, William Ebert Morrissey

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In the undertaking a recent history of such a fundamental law as one that deals with food, drugs and cosmetics in its relationship to the human race, we should realize that such a field has a history possibly as old as man himself. There have always been individuals in the good and welfare of others, and there have always been individuals interested in taking advantage of their fellow man for personal gain, frequently in an exceedingly unscrupulous manner.

The Solicitor General of the United States, in a recent paper read at the commemoration the the fortieth anniversary of the original …