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Master's Projects and Capstones

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Articles 1 - 15 of 15

Full-Text Articles in Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation

Bridging Fiscal Sustainability And Health Equity: A Policy Analysis Of California’S Healthcare Coverage Safeguards, Guadalupe Castaneda Martinez Aug 2026

Bridging Fiscal Sustainability And Health Equity: A Policy Analysis Of California’S Healthcare Coverage Safeguards, Guadalupe Castaneda Martinez

Master's Projects and Capstones

Without structural policy intervention, approximately 4.6 million Californians remain at risk of being uninsured by 2030, worsening racial and ethnic health disparities and hospital uncompensated care burdens. This policy analysis advocates for a hybrid universal coverage model combining sliding-scale subsidies (California Senate Bill 78) with full-scope Medi-Cal expansion for all income-eligible residents regardless of legal status (California Assembly Bill 133). The framework relies on existing funding mechanisms, including the Managed Care Organization tax and the Health Care Affordability Reserve Fund. Comparative analysis indicates that market-only subsidies leave severe equity gaps, whereas immediate single-payer transitions pose substantial fiscal and administrative risks. …


Justice On Autopilot: Comparing Predictive Litigation And Data Justice In Bay Area Municipal Governments, Darris M. Thomas May 2026

Justice On Autopilot: Comparing Predictive Litigation And Data Justice In Bay Area Municipal Governments, Darris M. Thomas

Master's Projects and Capstones

This Capstone project examines how Bay Area municipal governments, specifically the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, San Mateo County, and Santa Clara County, are adopting and governing predictive litigation technologies, and what these practices reveal about the possibilities and limitations of data justice in advancing racial equity, transparency, and public accountability. Drawing on a qualitative, comparative case study methodology analyzing procurement contracts, AI governance policies, California Public Records Act (CPRA) disclosures, and semi-structured interviews gathered across fifteen municipal legal institutions, the research applies an interdisciplinary theoretical framework synthesizing John Rawls’s distributive fairness, Nancy Fraser’s recognition justice, Tom …


The Politics Of Being Heard: Communication And Power Struggles In Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Caroline Trejo May 2025

The Politics Of Being Heard: Communication And Power Struggles In Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Caroline Trejo

Master's Projects and Capstones

The environmental and public health challenges in Bayview-Hunters Point have catalyzed widespread community activism, as residents and advocates respond to the ongoing fallout from radiological contamination at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Communication plays a vital role in bridging the gap between affected communities and government entities throughout the cleanup process. This research asks: how have the communication strategies of advocacy groups influenced government actions and policies during the Bayview-Hunters Point Shipyard cleanup? To explore this question, I conducted semi-structured interviews with three community advocates, two former members of a non-partisan civil jury, one independent researcher, and one government official. …


Indigenous Water Rights: Navigating Sovereign Waters, Cynthia N. Pina Aug 2023

Indigenous Water Rights: Navigating Sovereign Waters, Cynthia N. Pina

Master's Projects and Capstones

The issue of Native American water rights and the sovereignty of their land on reservations is gaining increasing prominence, making it the focal point of this thesis as an environmental justice concern. Native Americans face disproportionate public health challenges related to water accessibility, contamination, sanitation, outdated infrastructure, and other social determinants of health. The legal framework that governs the coexistence of Native Americans in the United States is rooted in a settler colonial perspective. Consequently, this has created a dependent relationship between Native Americans and the United States federal government. Despite the long-standing advocacy of Tribes for sovereignty since the …


Equal Access To All: Under Usage Of Adult Day Care Services For Adults With Alzheimer's And Related Dementias In The Hispanic/Latino Community, Jezabel Galvan Aug 2023

Equal Access To All: Under Usage Of Adult Day Care Services For Adults With Alzheimer's And Related Dementias In The Hispanic/Latino Community, Jezabel Galvan

Master's Projects and Capstones

The goal for many older adults suffering from Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and related dementias, is to be able to age in the comfort of their own home and with familiar faces. One of the services many older adults suffering from AD and their families opt for to make this possible are Adult Day Care Programs (ADCP). ADCP offer support to caregivers and are a good alternative to long-term care placement. ADCP provides clients with health monitoring by health professionals, as well as socialization opportunities and assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) (Oliver et. al., 2013). Although ADCP are a …


Investment Without Displacement: A Study Of The Better Neighborhoods, Same Neighbors Initiative In East Oakland, Jeremy Mack May 2023

Investment Without Displacement: A Study Of The Better Neighborhoods, Same Neighbors Initiative In East Oakland, Jeremy Mack

Master's Projects and Capstones

This Capstone interrogates the teleology of neoliberal community development – does investment in historically disinvested working-class urban neighborhoods inevitably lead to gentrification? Learning from the Better Neighborhoods, Same Neighbors Initiative (BNSN) in Deep East Oakland as a case study, the Capstone uses a Transformative Justice (TJ) framework to make the case for an ethical approach to community development: one in which working-class urban residents are the authors and architects of their own neighborhood’s future, community needs are centered, and long-term residents are able to continue to age-in place. This approach utilizes the lens of Black-centered community development, integrating an understanding …


Our Streets: Increasing Equity In Active Transportation Planning Through Community Outreach, Jordan Hoy May 2022

Our Streets: Increasing Equity In Active Transportation Planning Through Community Outreach, Jordan Hoy

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT Significant research has demonstrated that active transportation infrastructure is essential for the growth and livability of San Francisco: it increases access to economic opportunities, promotes overall improved public health, encourages mobility without contributing to roadway congestion, prevents traffic injuries and fatalities, and supports the sustainability goals of the city. Despite the fact that communities of color will benefit the most from active transportation infrastructure development, historical disenfranchisement in tandem with a lack of diverse representation within public participation contributes to an inequitable distribution of walking and biking investments throughout the city of San Francisco. While research shows that Black …


Groundwater Monitoring Analysis And Management Recommendations In California: Cuyama And Santa Cruz Mid-County, Kayla M. Souza May 2022

Groundwater Monitoring Analysis And Management Recommendations In California: Cuyama And Santa Cruz Mid-County, Kayla M. Souza

Master's Projects and Capstones

Groundwater is an essential water resource, accounting for about 40 percent of supply in California and 80 percent in the Central Coast hydrologic region, but significant monitoring data gaps have limited sustainable management efforts. Twenty-four basins within the Central Coast hydrologic region were identified as critically overdrafted in 2014. For this study, two basins were chosen based on differing sustainability concerns so that a comparative analysis could be performed on the groundwater monitoring methods. I obtained original groundwater elevation data reported (2000-2020) from the various groundwater monitoring organization wells to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) within the Cuyama …


What’S Lunch Got To Do With It?: A Case Study Of California Policy, Educational Equity, And The First Statewide Universal School Meals Program, Rebecca Murillo May 2022

What’S Lunch Got To Do With It?: A Case Study Of California Policy, Educational Equity, And The First Statewide Universal School Meals Program, Rebecca Murillo

Master's Projects and Capstones

In July 2021, California became the first state to pass a program which guarantees two meals a day to all K-12 students at no cost. This project examines California’s journey to pass this Universal School Meals Program (USMP) and explores how such a program can provide equity for students. I produce a legislative history which traces how school meals are funded and regulated at the federal level, California’s public education funding system, their state meal program, the policies which created changes that allowed the USMP to pass, and the legislation of the program itself. Framework presented by Tyack and Cuban …


In “Plane” Sight: A Study Of Sfo’S Human Trafficking Intervention Sticker, Kendall R. Anderson May 2022

In “Plane” Sight: A Study Of Sfo’S Human Trafficking Intervention Sticker, Kendall R. Anderson

Master's Projects and Capstones

Human trafficking is a growing problem globally. Recent data indicates that airports are one of the few locations that victims can be identified and removed from a human trafficking situation. As a result, US airports have been working to raise awareness through public campaigns and employee trainings. The San Francisco International Airport, for example, created a campaign that directly appeals to victims in private spaces. To understand the effectiveness and implications of the campaign, I ask the following research question: how is the SFO campaign constructed to intervene in human trafficking? What are the limits and possibilities of this campaign? …


Neighborhood Reinvestment: A Changing Community In The Urban South, Jackson Nutt-Beers May 2021

Neighborhood Reinvestment: A Changing Community In The Urban South, Jackson Nutt-Beers

Master's Projects and Capstones

Since the mid-twentieth century, public and private actors across the country have been identifying sources of potential capital accumulation in the United States. Shortly after the passing of the Civil Rights Act by President Lyndon Johnson in the mid 1960s, many White families across the country fled the urban core for the suburbs leaving neighborhoods in the city center abandoned and without capital. During this period, Black families and other racial minority groups were forced to live in the blighted neighborhoods of the urban core due to a variety of racialized discriminatory housing practices that lead to the disinvestment of …


Con Confianza: Using Community-Based Participatory Research Principles To Inform Community-Academic Partnership Practices And Build Trust In Hispanic Communities, Sharon Tafolla Aug 2020

Con Confianza: Using Community-Based Participatory Research Principles To Inform Community-Academic Partnership Practices And Build Trust In Hispanic Communities, Sharon Tafolla

Master's Projects and Capstones

Hispanic communities are at disproportionate risk for chronic diseases and researchers have cited the need for further community and culturally informed studies to improve research outcomes to either make treatments and interventions more generalizable or modify them to the needs of Hispanic communities. However, many of the same linguistic and cultural barriers to health care access and utilization also impact the ability for Hispanic groups to participate in research studies. Community Academic Partnerships (CAPs) are positioned to conduct culturally and linguistically competent research in Hispanic communities. For research in Hispanic communities to be effective, CAPs must prioritize practices that build …


Protecting San Francisco Residents From The Wolves Of Wall Street: A Case Study, Jessica Lindquist May 2018

Protecting San Francisco Residents From The Wolves Of Wall Street: A Case Study, Jessica Lindquist

Master's Projects and Capstones

This research conducts the first deep data analysis of the public complaints filed to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Consumer Complaint database by San Francisco residents. The case study highlights how consumer financial harms are a citywide problem: San Franciscans living at every income level and in every part of the city are struggling to resolve their financial issues with the wolves of Wall Street, the financial services industry. The recommendations center on what the city, particularly the San Francisco Office of Financial Empowerment, can do at a local level now that the Trump administration is focused on deregulating the …


How Do You Mobilize Public Support For Infrastructural Investment In California’S Aging Water System?, Christine M. Hackett May 2017

How Do You Mobilize Public Support For Infrastructural Investment In California’S Aging Water System?, Christine M. Hackett

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper looks at how the state of California maintains an aging water system – the California State Water Project (SWP) – that will threaten California’s water supply if further maintained, and concludes that the system faces three major problems that are of concern in 2017 – aging pipes, health hazards, and environmental threats. What needs to be done in order to address these issues is to invest in a new and improved SWP that will save water, protect the water supply from contamination of hazardous particles, and replenish the ecosystems within piping range that it has depleted. To do …


San Francisco's Response To Sexual Assault: Pathways To Creating A Survivor-Centered Criminal Justice System, Bianca Rosen May 2017

San Francisco's Response To Sexual Assault: Pathways To Creating A Survivor-Centered Criminal Justice System, Bianca Rosen

Master's Projects and Capstones

This research examines the process when adult sexual assault survivors in San Francisco decide to pursue legal justice and how survivors experience the local criminal justice system. My analysis exposes the mistreatment of survivors who participate with local law enforcement and recommends survivor-centered policies that could support the wellbeing of survivors pressing charges. The purpose of this research is to encourage law enforcement practices that prioritize survivors’ self-determination and welfare.