Public Administration Commons^™

Looking Through Their Lenses: An Analysis Of Virginia Environmental Nonprofits' Roles And Challenges In Shoreline Management For Coastal Resilience, Taiwo C. Olanrewaju Lasisi

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Environmental nonprofit organizations have emerged to attend to the environmental needs of individuals and communities. Some of these needs are usually those that have been neglected, given insufficient attention, or cannot be singularly handled by the government. In advocating for coastal resilience, environmental nonprofits have been identified as actors who address coastal issues like sea-level rise, flooding, and shoreline management.

Shoreline management involves building setbacks and formulating short and long-term defense strategies such as building living shorelines, ripraps, bulkheads, and tree plantings. These strategies formed the basis of coastal defense in coastal zones. Shoreline management is a significant area of …

Three Essays On Clean Water State Revolving Funds: Determinants Of State Leveraging And Measurement Of Debt Affordability, Lien T. Nguyen

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Leveraging is a popular option among Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRFs). Most states choose to issue bonds to meet the requirement of the state match contribution, and to provide additional funding into the pool of funds available for community loan assistance. Leveraging offers short-term remedies to fill a financial resources gap; however, this raises concern about any costs associated with leveraging that might negatively influence the sustainability of CWSRFs in the long run. This dissertation comprises three essays that examine the different factors that motivate CWSRFs to leverage, and it offers a look at how they measure their affordability …

Nonprofit Organizational Performance Measurement And Accountability: Funders Vs. Clients/Missions, Mavis Mansah Agbakpe

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Nonprofit organizations have funders and clients as their stakeholders whose needs, expectations, or demands might vary. A means through which nonprofit organizations portray their accountability to these stakeholders is through performance measurement. The purpose of this research is to examine what performance metrics human services nonprofit organizations use by way of demonstrating accountability and explore the extent to which funders’ demands or clients needs and organizational missions are considered in measuring performance. In this study I sought to understand how human services nonprofits balance the stakeholders’ needs and expectations through their performance measurement. The overarching research question is: To what …

Other Transaction Authorities: Evaluating Innovation Policy Impact Of Alternative Contract Vehicles In The Department Of Defense, Dolores Kuchina-Musina

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Since 1958, government agencies have used Other Transactions (OT) to encourage innovation and the development of new technology. OTs' purpose is to help government agencies acquire leading-edge technology from private sector sources in a flexible, goal-oriented manner. This dissertation is a pilot study assessing whether innovation policies, specifically 10 USC 2371b (Pub. L. No. 114-92, 2015) that authorizes DoD prototype OTs, influence the Department of Defense (DoD) alternative contracting activities to promote the development of innovative technologies and products. Using existing literature and interrupted time series analysis, this dissertation examines publicly available contract data to answer the following research question: …