Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons^™

From Policy To Implementation: Adaptation To The Impacts Of Climate Change On Agriculture On Egypt/ من السياسة إلى التنفيذ: التكيف مع اثار تغير المناخ على الزراعة في مصر, Fatma Barakat, Hagar Salama, Hager Yehia Shalaby, Nahla Taher, Rachad Bani Samari

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Dead crops, fruitless trees, and barren lands. Such is the print left by the climate catastrophe in Egypt. As these impacts increase in intensity and frequency, Egypt lies between a rock and a hard place. The global economic and food crisis, internal demographic pressures, and a cash-strapped financial state coupled with the climate crisis have set the government’s teeth on edge. Adapting to climate change impacts on agriculture to feed over 100 million citizens and protect the livelihoods of over 25 million actors in the agro-food industry has become one of the most pressing policy issues of the government. National …

Healthy Communities: Flooded With Injustice?, Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute, Virginia Commonwealth University, Mel Borja, Krystle Dorsey, Tiffany Garner, Edgar Greer, Denise Harrington, Paula Robinson, Jalesha Smith, Dominique Thaxton, Jeffery Wilson Phd

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

"HB1276 Comprehensive plan; Healthy Communities Strategy" authorizes defined localities to incorporate a healthy communities strategy into the next iteration of their local comprehensive plan and to engage the public in the process. In the absence of a predetermined definition, this report adopts the American Planning Association (APA) guidance as a standard, that a healthy community is a place where “all individuals have access to healthy built, social, economic, and natural environments that give them the opportunity to live their fullest potential regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, income, age, abilities, or other socially defined circumstance.”1 This report will discuss how …

Reforming The Solid Waste Management System: The Case Of Rural Areas In Egypt /إصلاح نظام إدارة النفايات الصلبة: حالة المناطق الريفية في مصر, Ahmed El Masry, Fatema El Ghonemy, Ibrahim Abugazia, Raghda El Khater

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

The policy paper tackles the issue of managing solid waste in rural areas in Egypt. It mainly targets the reform of the solid waste management system. The authors deal with rural areas specifically due to their importance and significance. In this context, the policy paper research demonstrated that the current solid waste management system in the governorates studied has a number of flaws and limitations. These issues show the inadequate solid waste management technical performance at the governorate level in terms of institutional, technical, financial, economic, and environmental factors, due to the lack of or ineffective solid waste management departments …

Time To Ask Program At Greater Portland Health [Infographic], Evelyn Ali Bs, Mary Lindsey Smith Phd

Substance Use Research & Evaluation

The goals of the Time to Ask education and quality improvement program of the Lunder Dineen include increasing the capacity of interprofessional care teams in discussing alcohol use with the patients through the screening, brief intervention, and referral (SBIRT) process, and expanding providers' use of screening and monitoring unhealthy alcohol use of their patients.

This evaluation infographic visualizes the impact of Greater Portland Health's use of this program.

For more information about Time to Ask, visit https://lunderdineen.org/program/alcohol-use-time-to-ask/

For more information about the evaluation, please contact M. Lindsey Smith, PhD, [email protected]

Towards A Psychological Science Of Abolition Democracy: Insights For Improving Theory And Research On Race And Public Safety, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Phillip Atiba Goff

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

We call for psychologists to expand their thinking on fair and just public safety by engaging with the “Abolition Democracy” framework that Du Bois (1935) articulated as the need to dissolve slavery while simultaneously taking affirmative steps to rid its toxic consequences from the body politic. Because the legacies of slavery continue to produce disparities in public safety in the U.S, both harming Black people and the institutions that could keep them safe, psychologists must take seriously questions of history and structure in addition to immediate situations. In the present article, we consider the state of knowledge regarding psychological processes …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of The Pennsylvania Wine Industry With Actionable Recommendations For Industry Improvement And Growth, Seth Porter

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Local wine industries are vital engines of agricultural economic growth, rural development, and sustainable long-term tax base creation. While the Pennsylvania wine industry has made admirable progress, the industry still has a poor collective reputation, high variance in product quality differential, and a perceived regulatory environment that creates negative externalities for local wine, agricultural production, and auxiliary enterprises. This comprehensive analysis attempts to diagnose and remedy all primary public policy, regulatory, state, non-profit, and non-state private actions that have impeded the Pennsylvania wine industry. A methodology of grounded theory qualitative processes, furthered by texting mining and document analysis techniques, were …

Three Essays On Governance, Inequality, And Social Equity, Sarah Ausmus Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Comprised of three essays, my dissertation is linked by a common focus: the relationship between state or local governance arrangements and inequality or facets of social equity. I draw upon a range of literatures to motivate my research questions and inform my methodologies—welfare and social policy, public economics, intergovernmental relations, public finance and management.

In the first essay, I ask: does localizing welfare governance impact geospatial access to the social safety net? This is an important question because proximity is highly salient to program utilization. I geocode the location of human services nonprofits from tax filings in eight states using …

Evaluability Of Community Dispute Resolution Programs: Effecting Change Or Maintaining The Status Quo?, Rebecca Gourde

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Between the 1960s and the 1990s, dozens of programs and organizations arose throughout the United States designed to bring peaceful resolutions to emerging community disputes, following in the conceptual footsteps of the federal Community Relations Service. Many of these community dispute resolution programs have encountered calls for reduced funding in recent years, as economic hardships force public administrators to parcel out limited public monies to those services that can demonstrate the most benefit. This study is a content analysis that examines the public-facing web content of 20 representative community dispute resolution programs in the United States. The researcher found that …

The Impact Of Leadership Style On Employee Job Performance In The Embassy Of The Central African Republic In Washington D.C, Xaverie Sandrine Biloa

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Organizations are led by leaders who are expected to lead their employees toward a great performance capable of meeting or exceeding organizational goals. In order to achieve organizational goals, leaders can utilize different leadership styles depending on the situations that they face. Thus, this study aims to show how the three leadership styles: democratic, autocratic, and laissez-faire, can impact or influence the job performance of employees. The study was conducted at the Embassy of the Central African Republic in Washington, D.C. A sample of 10 participants was drawn, and semi-structured interviews were used as a method to collect data. The …

Redesigning Price Setting Under The Universal Health Insurance In Egypt / إعادة تصميم التسعير في ظل التأمين الصحي الشامل في مصر, Ahmed El Agamy, Hebatalla Ahmed Ismail, Hend Hassan, Reem Gouda, Samah El Sayed

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Since the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the United Nations Development Programme, Universal Health coverage became the main target for many nations. One of the main challenges facing the governments to achieve universal health coverage is maintaining adequate policies to set fair pricing for the healthcare services. Each country has different strategies to apply fair pricing and this paper is discussing the current pricing methods in Egypt and suggesting three policies to tackle its challenges.

Enhancing The Impact Of Student-Led Entrepreneurial Initiatives In Egyptian Public Universities, Sherwat Elwan Ibrahim, Hend Ahmed, Lama Atef

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Innovation and entrepreneurship are increasingly viewed as key contributors to the creation of sustainable livelihood opportunities for youth and increased socioeconomic resilience. Mindful of this, a noticeable part of the existing literature underscores the essential role played by university-based student-led entrepreneurship clubs in widening students’ engagement in the entrepreneurship ecosystem; increasing their entrepreneurial intention; improving their interpersonal and enterprise skills, and giving them the opportunity to gain hands-on experience through practical learning. This, in turn, improves their self-employment prospects and supports them in the creation of successful future entrepreneurs and employees. Additionally, the student-led entrepreneurship clubs help students bridge the …

Mitigating And Adapting To Climate Change: Solutions For The Tourism Sector In Egypt/ التخفيف والتكيف مع تغير المناخ: حلول لقطاع السياحة في مصر, Marwa Elghoubashy, Saleh Elghamrawi, Noha Elbalky, Asma Salama, Mohamed Elshazly

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Climate change is soon becoming an unescapable challenge for many countries, Egypt included. Severe weather events are becoming more and more frequent and developing countries are expected to be more vulnerable to their effects. Tourism is considered one of the most vulnerable sectors affected by climate change, not only due to risks to marine life coastal communities, but also because changes in temperatures are expected to affect tourists preferred destinations. This is especially challenging for Egypt given that Tourism contributes up to 15% of GDP, is one of the countries’ main sources of foreign currency, and employs more than 10% …

Mitigating The Impact Of Climate Change On Egyptian Cities: Sustainable Building And Construction As A Strategy/ التخفيف من أثر تغير المناخ في المدن المصرية: استراتيجية البناء والتشييد المستدام, Mina Abdelmelek, Sahar El Ghandour, Sahar Ibrahiem, Tasneem H. Madi, Zeinab Nadeem

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Egypt faces a wide range of challenges, including the high increase in population, the Nile water crisis, desertification and the issue of solid waste and encroachment on agricultural lands, and the current negative impacts of the natural and built environments. The construction sector consumes 28% of the total energy produced in Egypt. The high energy consumption and rise in energy prices along with the aforementioned issues are few of several key factors that urge the need to study how consumed energy could be reduced in the construction sector and consequently limit the sector’s impact on the environment (Navigant Energy Germany …

Evaluating The Impact Of Off-Farm Decisions On Federal Government Program Utilization And Financial Success For Missouri's Beginning Farmers, Lyndsey Ann Parker

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Farmers and ranchers will have to increase production by approximately 70% by the year 2050 according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (2017). People in the agriculture industry face several challenges from start-up costs to limited land availability (Ahearn, 2011). There are federal and state government programs available to assist with some of these challenges but bring their own hardships as well. This study measures off-farm decisions that affect financial performance and utilization of government programs for Missouri’s farmers and ranchers. Three types of financial performance of Missouri farms are prioritized in this study, liquidity (current ratio), solvency (debt-to-asset ratio), …

Structural Violence & Small Victories: Political Epidemiology Of Hiv Among Msm In Nigeria, 2000-2010, Debbie A. Dada

Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award

No abstract provided.

Disparate Financial Assistance Support For Small Business Owners, Sophia Fox-Dichter, Daniel Auguste, Mathieu Despard, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Social Policy Institute Research

Small business owners experienced a drastic economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Government pandemic assistance failed to reach many small business owners, especially those historically underserved by financial institutions. Drawing on a 2021 survey of 246 small business owners, the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis descriptively examined the extent to which small business owners sought and received business assistance, and whether applications and approval of government assistance varied by race and ethnicity. We find that though Hispanic and Black business owners applied for government assistance at a higher rate than white business owners, Black business …

A Contentious Crop: Exploring The Regulatory Debate Of Solar Power Production Facilities In Kittitas County, Washington, Daphne Condon

All Master's Theses

Between 2010 and 2018, Kittitas County, Washington faced an influx of Solar Power Production Facility (SPPF) proposals that challenged its traditional rural land management governance. Despite state support of decarbonized energy, variegated interpretations of project permitting procedures induced heated contentions amongst stakeholders. To explore this, this research constructs a multijurisdictional legal framework for SPPF advancement. It uses these laws to divulge the permitting processes of three case study projects founded in Kittitas County’s renewable energy history: The Wild Horse Wind Facility, the Iron Horse Solar Project, and the Columbia Solar Projects. Through a mixed methodology of project archival analysis and …

Climate Trailblazer Or Corporate Giveaway: An Economic And Political Evaluation Of Cap-And-Trade In California, Benjamin Reicher

Pomona Senior Theses

In this thesis, I conduct an economic and political analysis of California’s cap-and-trade program, the leading national (and international) example of a market-based strategy to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions. I evaluate the program on several economic and political measures of success, especially as contrasted with the performance of various regulatory policies that California also relies on to meet its emissions reduction targets. These regulations exemplify a command and control approach to emissions mitigation as opposed to a market-based approach, and indeed tend to be favored by grassroots activists who may be skeptical about market-friendly policies; my thesis seeks to …

Grounding Evaluation Capacity Development In Systems Theory, Sarah D. Klier, Raphael J. Nawrotzki, Nataly Salas-Rodríguez, Sven Harten, Charles B. Keating, Polinpapilinho F. Katina

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

While “systemic thinking” is popular in the context of capacity development and evaluation, there is currently a lack of understanding about the benefits to employing systems theory in evaluation capacity development. Systems theory provides a useful orientation to the work involved in complex systems (e.g. national evaluation systems). This article illustrates how evaluation capacity development practitioners can use systems theory as a conceptual tool to gain a better understanding of the functional aspects and interrelationships present within a given evaluation system. Specifically, the systems theory perspective can help elucidate the reasons for the success or failure of a given evaluation …

The Program To Reduce Implicit Bias In Carroll Hospital Center Using The Implicit Association Test, Katherine E. Traynor

Capstone Showcase

Natural brain processes make all individuals susceptible to unconscious bias; however, stressful, fearful, or anger-evoking situations as well as the negative influence of media and social surroundings increase the risk of holding obstructive bias, and there is a greater risk of being negatively impacted by this phenomenon when belonging to a minority population (Rose & Flores, 2020). As a result, high rates of infant mortality (10.2 deaths per 1,000 live births for the Non-Hispanic Black population compared to 4.1 in the White population) and cardiovascular related diseases (190.0 cases per 1,000 in the Non-Hispanic Black population compared to 161.3 in …

A Program Evaluation Of The Town Of Woodside, Plumas County Fire Safe Council, And Mountain Communities’ Fire Safe Council Defensible Space Projects, Mandeep Gill

Master's Projects

California is one of the most fire-prone regions in the world, with every passing year becoming more hazardous. With a tremendous amount of loss and damage occurring every year due to wildfires, property owners must prepare their homes and structures to withstand fires as much as possible. The best way to achieve this is by building and retrofitting homes with fire-resistant materials and creating defensible space around the property (Cal Fire, n.d.). Although it is the best way to protect one’s property, it is often times difficult for property owners to do so because of financial or physical limitations, or …

Task Force Rattlesnake: A Cost Analysis Of Fire Crew Base Pay In California, Galen R. Yusufzai-Boggs

Master's Projects

Wildfire management in California is an expensive program totaling over $3 billion in 2020, where the state provides two-thirds of the budget from the general fund (Peters et al., 2020). California has consistently used the state military to assist in wildland fire mitigation efforts; however, for the first time it has created a year-round team to reduce fuels to clean up the state’s forests. Further analysis would determine if Task Force Rattlesnake is an effective use of the state’s budget for wildfire mitigation.

An Evaluation Of The County Of Santa Clara’S Reentry Alcohol And Drug Studies Peer Mentor Program, Sarah Oliveira

Master's Projects

In the United States, incarceration rates have increased dramatically over the last three decades, soaring above any other country. Significant factors contributing to the increase include changes in sentencing laws and policies that target drug-related offenders and prioritize punishment over rehabilitation. Strict sentencing laws have led to mass incarceration, which has caused severe prison overcrowding and led to the infringement of fundamental human rights in prisons (Gottesdiener, 2011).

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, approximately 600,000 individuals are released from federal and state prisons each year (Carson, 2018). In California, an estimated one in three adults has an arrest …

Perception Of Inclusion Among Minority Civilian Personnel Within The Military Departments And Defense Agencies Of The Department Of Defense, René Moreno

Master's Projects

As the racial and ethnic composition of the United States’ population becomes increasingly diverse, government agencies must adhere to the theory of representative bureaucracy and promote a workforce reflective of the diverse American population (Mosher, 1968). Scholars reason that public administrators must be diligent in developing systems and structures to ensure that the public administration workforce appropriately embodies the communities they support (Pitts & Wise, 2010). Organizations have adopted diversity management practices to establish a mechanism that promotes diversity within their workforce. Researchers argue that organizations must accompany diversity management with a culture of inclusion to build an environment that …

Housing Choice Vouchers: Moving To Work Program In California, Benjamin Tran

Master's Projects

This research project examined whether the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) Moving To Work (MTW) program enabled California’s public housing authorities to provide more efficient service, while meeting MTW program goals, from 2015 to 2020.

Covid-19 In The Bay Area: The Impact Of A Pandemic On Different Demographics In Selected Counties From 2020 - 2021, Maria Del Rosario Rodriguez Lomeli

Master's Projects

The world experienced a novel coronavirus disease outbreak in Wuhan, China in December of 2019 (Dhillon et al., 2020). Within months it spread worldwide, becoming a pandemic known as the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV2 or COVID-19 (Hunter, 2020). COVID- 19 continued to spread, with public health officials worldwide urging countries to enact stay-at-home orders that could decrease the fast spread of the virus. The Chinese government's official report states that the virus originated in the Huanan Seafood Market located in Wuhan in October of 2019 (Dhillon et al., 2020). The World Health Organization (WHO) was alerted of the virus within a …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of The Air Force’S Open Topic Sbir And Sttr Process To Engage Small Business To Work On Defense, Bevan Hart

Master's Projects

Has the Air Force’s (AF) use of the “Open Topic” solicitation in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs increased engagement with non-traditional defense contractors, and is it effective in getting companies on contract that would not otherwise have been likely to contract with the Air Force?

A Process Evaluation Of Intelligence Gathering Using Social Media For Emergency Management Organizations In California, Alan Barner

Master's Projects

When responding to an emergency, correct and timely information is often the difference between a successful response and a potential disaster. The information that emergency managers in California receive from the public often dictates how agencies respond to emergencies. The emergence of social media has presented several benefits to emergency managers regarding intelligence gathering during the emergency response process. Simultaneously, the emergence of social media has raised several concerns for the stakeholders involved. One major issue involves inaccurate information circulating on social media platforms during ongoing disasters. If emergency managers cannot discern incorrect information from correct information, disaster response may …

Would A Regional Fire Emergency Communications Center In Placer County Improve Efficiency For Participating Fire Agencies?, Reginald Williams

Master's Projects

Dispatch centers serve multiple functions within a community, dependent on the resources it controls. Centers operating in PC function as the primary 911 answering point, using “call-takers” and “dispatchers” to triage emergencies and respond the appropriate resources. Call-takers are trained personnel who are hired to answer 911 calls from the community, and input valuable information into a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, that geolocates the emergency location and provides historical information of emergencies at a given location. Many call-takers are trained to provide instructions to the caller to ensure that they are 1) out of harm's way and 2) to assist …

Are Santa Clara County Cities Prepared For A Zero-Emission Light Duty Vehicle Future? A Program Evaluation, Benjamin Edelberg

Master's Projects

This research built on the work of Chi-Pei Fang who explored this issue in “Ability of the Bay Area Cities to Accommodate Plug-in Electric Vehicles: A Process Evaluation” (Fang, 2021). Fang recommended that follow-on projects focus on an individual city. This paper moved in that direction, but instead of focusing on a specific city in the California Bay Area, it focused on Santa Clara County (SCC) and the cities within. Additionally, this paper broadened the focus to include all zero-emissions vehicles (ZEVs), a category which not only includes electric vehicles (EVs) but also hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).