Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons^™

Routledge Handbook Of Policy Design, Michael Howlett, Ishani Mukherjee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Uniting theoretical bases and advancements in practice, the Routledge Handbook of Policy Design brings together leading experts in the academic field of policy design in a pioneering effort of scholarship. Each chapter provides a multi-topic overview of the state of knowledge on how, why, where or when policies are designed and how such designs can be improved. These experts address how a new emphasis on effective policy design has re-emerged in public policy studies in recent years and clarify the role of historical policy decisions, policy capacities and government intentions in promoting a design orientation towards policy formulation and policy-making …

Policy Design And Non-Design: A Continuum Of Formulation Modalities, Michael Howlett, Ishani Mukherjee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Public policies are the result of efforts made by governments to alter aspects of behavior—both that of their own agents and of society at large—in order to carry out some end or purpose. They are comprised of complex arrangements of policy goals and policy means matched through some decision-making process. These policymaking efforts can be more, or less, systematic in attempting to match ends and means in a logical fashion or can result from much less systematic or rational processes. ‘Policy design’ implies a knowledge-based process in which the choice of means or mechanisms through which policy goals are given …

Capacities And Customization In Policy Design, Ishani Mukherjee, Azad Bali

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Most policy designers face complex and intractable challenges that require assembling the mostappropriate set of policy instruments to address complex policy goals, especially when sometimesthese goals may emerge out of unforeseen policy problems. In the ideal case of policy design, themost suitable instruments can be chosen and assembled into new policy packages that are appropriately calibrated and customized to address the new policy problem context. Such exceptionaldesign circumstances would also mean that relevant policy actors and organizations engaged inthe design activity are endowed with the necessary analytical, operational and political policycapacities.

Gauging Effectiveness: First And Second-Best Policy Design, Ishani Mukherjee, Michael Howlett

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The essence of policy design resides in the articulation of policy options expected to meet government goals. Not all policies are as well or as carefully formulated as they could be, however, and policy studies has been interested for several decades in understanding why policy alternatives are developed, why some are successfully adopted while others are not and how some policies emerge from carefully crafted formulation processes while others are more heavily influenced by other processes such as political, partisan or electoral or legislative bargaining ( Howlett, 2011 ). Why design occurs and how superior designs can be achieved—either all …

Pretrial Release And Failure-To-Appear In Mclean County, Il, Jonathan Monsma

Student Research – Stevenson Center

Actuarial risk assessment tools increasingly have been employed in jurisdictions across the U.S. to assist courts in the decision of whether someone charged with a crime should be detained or released prior to their trial. These tools should be continually monitored and researched by independent 3^rd parties to ensure that these powerful tools are being administered properly and used in the most proficient way as to provide socially optimal results. McLean County, Illinois began using the Public Safety Assessment-Court^TM (PSA-Court or simply PSA) risk assessment tool beginning in 2016. This study culls data from the McLean County Jail …

Fare Policy And Vertical Equity: The Trade-Off Between Affordability And Cost Recovery, Xavier J. Harmony

Journal of Public Transportation

Vertical equity and the maximization of farebox revenue are important but conflicting goals in the development of fare policy in the United States. Reducing fares for low-income riders reduces revenue for a transit agency, while increasing fares could disproportionately impact lower-income riders. This paper details this conflict, explores strategies that could account for both goals, and evaluates fare programs in the United States. Two types of low-income strategies are discussed: first generation strategies and targeted subsidy strategies. First generation strategies have several limitations that targeted subsidy strategies account for; first generation strategies focus more on supply, while targeted subsidy strategies …

Current Russia Military Affairs: Assessing And Countering Russian Strategy, Operational Planning, And Modernization

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

No abstract provided.

Climate Refugees: Establishing Legal Responses And U.S. Policy Possibilities, Steven Tetrick

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

“Climate Refugee” describes a person who is forced to leave their home or community due to changes to the local environment, such as rising sea level, drought, famine, or other side effects of climate change. A study from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates that with the current rate of climate change, 250 million people will become climate refugees by 2050. Under the current global institutions, climate refugees are not granted legal refugee rights and there are no specific legal frameworks protecting them at the international or national levels. This paper will focus on refugee and immigration policy …

The Cost Of Jaywalking On Traffic Congestion In An Intersection In Greater Cairo: A Case Study, Hussein Gawdat

Theses and Dissertations

There have been many studies focusing on different types of traffic delays, pedestrians’ interaction at signalized intersections and economic losses as a result of these delays. However, there is a huge gap in the current literature, regionally and globally, in studying the traffic delays associated with jaywalking. In Egypt, jaywalking is considered a common phenomenon, however, population increased drastically over the past decades in Greater Cairo leading to more congested streets. This research provides a case study that investigates the economic effect of jaywalking on traffic flow in Mashaal, a sample location in Greater Cairo, due to traffic congestion. The …

Social Service Workers Knowledge On The Use Of Technology For Human Trafficking, Raquel Monique Holguin, Athena Noel Barber

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Human Trafficking is the modern-day equivalent of slavery. Those who perpetuate it do so because it is lucrative to invest in a product that can be resold multiple times (Ellis, 2017). The recent advancement of technology has tremendously helped traffickers thrive in the illicit business of Human Trafficking. Social media websites, online classifieds, and mobile applications are quickly becoming some of the major mediums perpetrators utilize to traffick their victims (Latonero, 2012). The purpose of this study was to examine social service workers’ knowledge on the use of technology for Human Trafficking. Face-to-face interviews were conducted and the participants were …

Rethinking The Fiscal Relationship Between Public Lands And Public Land Counties: County Payments 4.0, Mark Haggerty

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

In 1908, Congress authorized payments to local governments, including counties and school districts, to compensate for the non-taxable status of the newly established forest reserves within their boundaries. The original program shared revenue generated from commercial activities on public lands, e.g. timber harvesting, not anticipating the major changes in the volume and types of activities on National Forest lands, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, that have played out over the past century. Two subsequent reforms – the appropriated Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) in 1976 and ‘transition’ payments made between 1990 and 2018, including payments associated with the Northwest …

Gun Violence Is Not An “Inner City” Problem, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

Policy debates about gun violence often focus on cities. This data bit showed how 33 states in the U.S. compare regarding gun violence rates, demonstrated how gun violence rates are not an issue exclusive to cities, and tested whether states conform to the conventional narrative of "urban gun violence."

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 …

Critical Care: The Important Role Of Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs, Douglas N. Evans, Anthony Vega

Publications and Research

Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIP) recognize the importance of supporting the needs of violence survivors and their families to help prevent retaliation and other violence from reoccurring. This report discusses the need for evaluations and further research for HVIPs as the shift towards understanding violence through a public approach increases.

Impact Of Innovative Menstrual Technology And Awareness On Female Empowerment Outcomes In Rural Nepal, Anjali Limbu

Master's Theses

In developing countries, menstruation poses two significant challenges for females. First, the resources required for periods are expensive for those in low-income communities. Hence, the absence of such menstrual products lowers females’ access to schooling and employment. Next, periods are also heavily stigmatized – especially in poorer or rural areas. Such taboos surrounding menstruation negatively impacts females’ psychological development and hamper their prospects of socialization. Thus, to analyze this issue, we ran a randomized control trial in Nepal, where we provided reusable menstrual pads and / or health seminar to 312 schoolgirls and 100 of their mothers. Our outcomes demonstrate …

The Impacts Of Green Spaces On Crime In New York City, Matthew Edward Iannone Jr.

Student Theses 2015-Present

From the early 1960s through the mid-1990s, crime in New York City ran rampant. With a gradually dwindling police during this time, a high unemployment rate, and an rapidly increasing metropolitan population, crime peaked in the early 1990s, with the murder rate hitting a record-high of 2,245 in 1990. When Mayor Rudy Giuliani took office in 1994 and appoint Bill Bratton as the NYPD police commissioner, these rates immediately plunged. Numerous factors may have contributed to this sudden decline in crime: the police force grew significantly through the 1990s, more criminals were placed and held in prison, and the economic …

Ecological Sustainability Within California's Improved Forest Management Carbon Offsets Program, Cory Hertog

Sustainability and Social Justice

Forest Carbon offsets are being used as a climate change mitigation strategy in multiple programs around the world. But, are programs setup in a way that are ecologically sustainable? This paper reviews concepts pertinent to ecologically sustainable forest management and then examines if Improved Forest Management Carbon offset policies and projects within the California emissions trading scheme are setup in an ecologically sustainable manner. After a review of the Improved Forest Management Protocol and 31 project documents, it is apparent that policies and projects promote aspects of ecologically sustainable management. However, there is room for improvement when managing for natural …

Policing For The Community, Jeffrey Munoz

Senior Honors Projects

As a society, we are currently in a period of time where the community reflects their dissatisfaction with law enforcement by staging protests, organizing groups who demand change and unfortunately at times displaying a degree of violence towards authority. These issues are products of controversial police shootings like those of the killings of Tamir rice, Freddie Gray and Eric Garner in which all demonstrated a reasonable degree of uncertainty. The fact of the matter lies within the officers’ actions as they manifest an inherent racial bias seen one to many times by populations that have been oppressed throughout history. The …

Fundraising Tools For Community-Based Housing Organizations In Syracuse, Ny: Collaboration With A Tiny Home For Good, Michelle Kincaid

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This Capstone is a two-part project that seeks to better understand the impediments to affordable housing development in Syracuse, New York and take action to ameliorate the problem with a local community-based housing organization. A Tiny Home for Good is a Syracuse-based nonprofit agency dedicated to ending the cycle of chronic homelessness. They do this by managing tiny homes and rent them to individuals who are facing or have faced homelessness. Their long-term goal is to build 50 homes by 2020. One problem facing their work is that they do not have enough money to achieve their long-term goals. Further, …

Exploring Creative Problem Solving In Public Policy, Jade A. Costello

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project explores the connection between creativity and public policy-making through guided facilitation. In this exploration, there are several products that have been developed. The first is an index that provides definitions, charts, and process explanations for creativity, facilitation and public policy. The second is a completed facilitation plan that incorporates both the FourSight model for group facilitation (Miller, Vehar, Firestein, Thurber & Nielsen, 2011a) and Marvin Weisbord’s (1992) exploration of creative strategies for discovering common ground through policy conferences. The third product is an evaluation matrix, which would be used post-facilitation to understand the strengths and weaknesses from the …

Hud’S Transitional Housing Unit Program’S Role In The Santa Clara County Community Plan To End Homelessness, Emilie Thorburn-Quihuis

Master's Projects

Counties in California invest local, state, and federal funds to try to end homelessness. At present the homeless numbers in Santa Clara County are among the highest in the U.S. at 6,556, with 33% of those being chronically homeless. Using process evaluation to compare permanent housing and shelter demographics and recurrence rates, how is the federal Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Transitional Housing Units Program (THU) in Santa Clara County meeting the goals of the county’s Community Plan to End Homelessness 2015-2020 (2013)?

California Redevelopment 2.0: Implementation Of Community Revitalization And Investment Authorities, Christopher Hoem

Master's Projects

This research aims at revealing the challenges and opportunities in implementing Community Revitalization and Investment Authorities (CRIAs) in California.

This study will focus on the implementation of CRIAs, but it is worth examining alternative economic development tools to draw comprehensive comparisons and understand their advantages and disadvantages.

Understanding economic development tools may be valuable for the commercial and industrial growth and prosperity of cities and local governments. It may also be important to increase the number of affordable housing units in an area. Businesses and low-income families alike share the benefits of successful redevelopment. It may be possible to reveal …

Us China Trade Dispute Over Intellectual Property, Mozi Luo

Master's Projects

How have Section 301 investigations impacted trade relations between China and the U.S. in clean energy area, and between Japan and the U.S. in semiconductor and auto part areas, and does the impact provide a guide for the possible outcome of the upcoming Section 301 investigation of China?

After President Donald Trump’s memorandum on August 14, 2017 stating that China’s behavior regarding intellectual property rights (IPR) and the high technology industries adversely influences the U.S. economy, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) declared the initiation of a section 301 investigation of China on the topic of technology transfer and intellectual …

San Jose's Walk N' Roll Program: An Evaluation Of School Pedestrian Education Programs, Stephen Ngo

Master's Projects

The City of San Jose has been recognized as among the safest cities in the United States, but an area that the city seeks to improve in is reducing the number of traffic accidents involving pedestrians and bicyclists. As stated by the city, “San Jose’s injury crash rate is about half the national average” (Vision Zero San Jose, 2015, p. 6), but, on average, 40 people are killed annually and 150 are seriously injured on San Jose’s streets. To address this, San Jose is using data, education, and technology to make a shift towards creating streets and roads that benefit …

Police Response To Mental Health-Related Calls For Service In The City Of Watsonville: A Process Evaluation Of The City Of Watsonville’S Plan To Assist Their Officers When Responding To Citizens With Mental Health Issues, Joseph Perez

Master's Projects

Police officers respond to a variety of calls for service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including mental-health related emergencies. With deinstitutionalization of individuals with severe mental illness, officers are often the first to be called to contact these individuals when they are in crisis (DeCuir, Lamb & Weinberger, 2002). Yet, few law enforcement officers have adequate training to manage interactions with people in mental health crisis. Officers perceive mental health related calls as very unpredictable and dangerous, which without adequate training in de-escalation, could inadvertently cause them to approach in a manner which escalates the situation (Fulambarker …

Cost Burden Of Social Isolation For Wheelchair Users In Louisville, Kentucky., Connie Light

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Social isolation is an important predictor for poor health status, chronic diseases, and healthcare utilization and costs. There is a growing number of Americans with one or more disabilities, and evidence suggests that many are also socially isolated. This is especially true for those with immobility, as the built environment including housing structures are not universally designed to be accommodating. Immobility describes those who use walkers, canes, or wheelchairs, with the latter suffering the most impact. The cost of social exclusion can be measured by the exacerbation of disease in wheelchair users, whose fragile health status and social networks …

Leveraging The Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act (Wioa) To Help Finance College & University Career Centers, Daniel Newell

Master's Projects

This research explores whether career services for the adult and dislocated worker populations of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) can be leveraged to provide career services in a college or university setting to serve students and the public while meeting WIOA’s enrollment goals. For colleges and universities without career centers, leveraging WIOA funding may be a solution to increasing career center resources and expanding existing career services, while augmenting program support through federal funding.

Benchmarking The Delivery Of Fema Training To Operation Line Employees Within Surface Transit Agencies, Matthew E. Mccann

Master's Projects

In February 2003, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the administration of then President George W. Bush developed Homeland Security Presidential Directive-5 (HSPD-5), which mandated the use of the National Incident Management System (NIMS), and the Incident Command System (ICS) by all agencies receiving federal funding (Bush, 2003). The intent of HSPD-5 was to “enhance the ability of the United States to manage domestic incidents by establishing a single, comprehensive national incident management system” (Bush, 2003), or in other words, to ensure that emergency response by the many disparate agencies under the umbrella of government funding …

Smarter Crm From A Customer Service Perspective: A Process Evaluation On The City Of San José'S My San Jose Smartphone Application For City Services, Roxanna Moradi

Master's Projects

This research paper provides background on the City of San José’s smart phone application history and reviews other similar municipal smart phone applications. It also analyzes current literature on implementations of non-emergency service communications and service requests (311). Primarily, this research paper investigates whether the functioning of the My San Jose smartphone application and website platforms are meeting the intended goal of improving the customer experience for city services.

This paper analyzes My San Jose raw service request data to review performance. In addition, this paper analyzes qualitative information gathered from semi-structured interviews of City of San José employees to …

Extending Ab-1825 Training At Santa Clara Valley Water District, Heather Reiss

Master's Projects

In 2004 the California legislature passed AB-1825, Sexual Harassment Training and Education, Government Code 12950, which mandates that employers train all supervisors in the identification of sexual harassment, and ways to ensure that it does not occur in the workplace (Legislative Counsel, 2004). The Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) is a mission driven organization that is committed to providing excellent water services to the community. According to the Valley Water website (2018) “The mission of the District is to provide Silicon Valley with safe, clean water for a healthy life, environment, and economy” (Valley Water, 2018, web). As a …