Public Administration Commons^™

Canine For Disabled Kids Awareness Campaign Research And Implementation Plan, Jiamin Gu, Kendall Harcourt, Chang Liu, Kiamu Liu, Jemmie Tejada

School of Professional Studies

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) service animals are: “dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities” ( ADA, 2015). On the other hand, emotional support animals are: “dogs that provide comfort and support in forms of affection and companionship for an individual suffering from various mental and emotional conditions.” In addition, an emotional support animal is not required to perform any specific tasks for a disability like service dogs are (Ibid).

The ADA limits the number of questions that can be asked to protect the privacy of utilizers. In fact, …

Life Can Change In The Blink Of An Eye Capstone, Christopher Rutigliano, Jillian Elalaoui, Kristin Humphrey, Phillip Gates, Mohamed Ndjikam, Highness Meena, Adam Menard, Spencer Pickney

School of Professional Studies

Texting and driving is one of the most widespread and uncontrollable of epidemics that have arose to prominence in the 21st century. Texting and driving is now a global issue, that has left nations across the road scrambling to implement new laws and preventative measures to stunt the increasing rates of accidents and fatalities caused by texting and driving. The severity of the issue has lead to a multitude of different entities ranging from domestic and foreign governments, cell phone and car manufacturers, cell phone carriers, and insurance agencies to seek new methods to prevent texting and driving. Determining the …

A Social Media Plan For The Changemakers’ Playground, Meng Cong, Ciara Kilian, Xinling Wang, Sumanth Wilson, Chenyu Yan

School of Professional Studies

The purpose of this project was to create a social media plan for the Changemakers’ Playground campaign. The Changemakers’ Playground is a website thought up by our client, Sarah Lange, whereby ordinary individuals doing extraordinary things in their community can be celebrated for the work they are doing. Each person featured on the website, also known as a Changemaker, was interviewed by Sarah and that interview was split into three videos to be posted on the Changemakers’ Playground website throughout the week they are being featured. In short, our task was to create the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram content to …

Hidden Hurdles: An Exploration Of Possible Barriers Women Encounter When Pursuing A Career As An Operational Firefighter In Ontario, Lydia Wilcox

MPA Major Research Papers

The focus of this research paper was to explore the possible barriers women may encounter when pursuing a career as an operational firefighter in Ontario. Primary research was used to analyze empirical data collected through an on-line survey while guided by literature on concepts related to human resources best practices. Secondary research on bona fide occupational requirements (BFORs) and physical abilities testing used for firefighter candidates was also explored to investigate the validity of candidate physical testing being used in Ontario. The research in this paper showed that fire services were inconsistent when using HR best practices while hiring firefighting …

Assimilation And Black Immigrants: Comparing The Racial Identity And Racial Consciousness Of Caribbeans And African Americans, Maruice Mangum, Michael A. Rodriguez Ph.D.

Faculty Scholarship

We evaluate the extent to which Caribbeans and African Americans share racial
identity and racial consciousness. Our argument states Caribbeans will assimilate with African Americans depending on whether they were bam in the U.S. and if they mostly lived in the United States while growing up. We also contend that society treats Caribbeans as if they are African Americans, and therefore, Caribbeans align themselves with African Americans. Using the 2004 National Politics Study, we find that self-reported U.S.-bom Caribbeans are more like African Americans in terms of racial identity and racial consciousness than Caribbeans not
bom in the United States. …

Winter Bat Activity In A Landscape Without Traditional Hibernacula, Amy M. Hammesfahr, Rene E. Ohms

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

Prior to 2014, bat research at Devils Tower National Monument (DETO) focused on bats present during the summer months. Biologists at DETO assumed local bats were strictly summer residents due to the presumed lack of typical habitat features associated with bat hibernation, such as caves and mines. This lack of traditional hibernacula features at DETO discouraged staff and research cooperators from studying winter bat populations. Despite the earlier assumption that bats were unlikely to hibernate on the monument, DETO documented significant winter bat activity through passive winter acoustic monitoring. This study is the first study at DETO that documents …

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring At Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, 2017 Data Summary Report, Stephanie L. Rockwood

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

This report presents the results of vegetation monitoring efforts in 2017 at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO) by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN) and the Northern Great Plains Fire Effects Program (NGPFire). This was the seventh year of field work conducted by NGPN at AGFO.

In 2017, crew members from NGPN visited six long-term plant community monitoring (PCM) plots and NGPFire visited eight additional PCM and fire plant community monitoring (FPCM) plots to collect data on the plant communities at AGFO. This collaborative effort is part of a long-term monitoring program established to better …

Aging In Beverly, Massachusetts: A Community Needs Assessment, Caitlin Coyle, Claire Wickersham, Jan Mutchler

Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging Publications

This report describes research undertaken by the Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging within the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, on behalf of the Beverly Council on Aging and Senior Community Center (hereto referred to as the Beverly Senior Center), to investigate the needs, interests, preferences, and opinions of Beverly’s population of residents who are age 60 and older. The contents of this report are meant to inform the Beverly Senior Center, and organizations that work with and on behalf of older residents of Beverly, for the purposes of planning and coordination of services, but …

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 …

The Correlation Between Enrollment Status And Graduation Rates Of Master Of Public Administration Programs, Jasmine Lorraine Ferrer

Master's Projects

Statement of the Problem

The Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) is an international association of universities and colleges that grant professional master’s degrees in public policy, affairs and administration. In the academic year 2017-18 there were 301 member schools (NASPAA, 2017). NASPAA’s mission is to advocate for quality education in the field of public service (Kellough, 2014). NASPAA promotes the global standard in public service education by ensuring the quality of master’s degree programs in policy, administration, and public affairs of their member schools. This is evidenced by the association incorporating standards in their mission-based …

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 …

Confidence In The Police Among Caribbean Countries., Hyunin Baek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation identifies public confidence in the police in contemporary policing, in particular among Caribbean countries. Law enforcement agencies in Caribbean countries have failed to earn confidence from the public. Citizens with a lower level of confidence in the police are unwilling to cooperate and support policing activities, making initiatives of law enforcement agencies difficult to achieve. In order to improve the public-police relationship in Caribbean countries, examinations of public confidence in the police are required. Researchers have developed two theoretical frameworks, the instrumental and expressive models, to explain key factors associated with public confidence in the police. In order …

Cycling Into The Future: Implementation Of Enhanced Bikeways Along San Fernando Street In Downtown San Jose, Patrick Rubens

Master's Projects

In 2012, the City of San Jose acquired funding from the Transportation for Livable Communities Grant Program and began installing “green striped” enhanced bicycle lanes on a 1.5 mile stretch San Fernando Street between Diridon Station and 10th Street connecting San Jose’s Downtown Train Station to San Jose State University. According to city documents, these enhanced bikeways are intended to “enhance the visibility and safety of this route as a primary bikeway.” An important element of the project was the installation of LED streetlights to improve nighttime visibility. This specific project undertaken by the city falls under the umbrella of …

Local Government Spending On Public Housing: Factors Of Influence In Metropolitan Areas, Vittoria R. Totaro 2241446

Public Administration ETDs

Rent or mortgage payments make up the largest portion of an American family’s budget. As there is a limited housing stock in metropolitan areas, low-income families struggle to find housing that is both adequate and affordable. Federal housing programs make funding available, but the provision of housing is left to local governments. Through the implementation of bold strategies and initiatives, local governments can help their low-income constituents find permanent housing for themselves and their families.

Public housing in the U.S. is associated with dilapidation, overcrowding, and social disorganization. In the past, housing projects have been shortsighted measures aimed at addressing …

Expanding The Classroom: Investigating Local Government Practitioners’ Use Of Academic Resources, Willow S. Jacobson, Kristina T. Lambright

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

Drawing on Boyer’s scholarship of teaching, we propose that public affairs education could be conceptualized as not just including the education of current students but also the education of public affairs practitioners throughout their careers. To explore knowledge diffusion from academics to public affairs practitioners, we conducted 40 phone interviews with county human resources (HR) directors in New York and North Carolina and examined the extent to which this population directly used academic resources. There was moderate use of academic resources from higher education institutions across the sample, with many North Carolina HR directors consulting publications and personnel from one …

The Predictors Of Juvenile Recidivism: Testimonies Of Adult Students 18 Years And Older Exiting From Alternative Education, La Toshia Palmer

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive, qualitative study was to identify and describe the importance of the predictors of juvenile recidivism and the effectiveness of efforts to prevent/avoid juvenile recidivism as perceived by previously detained, arrested, convicted, and/or incarcerated adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education in Northern California. A second purpose was to explore the types of support provided by alternative schools and the perceived importance of the support to avoid recidivism according to adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education.

Methodology: This qualitative, descriptive research design identified …

A Cross-Sector Capabilities, Resources, And Needs Assessment: Research To Support The Drafting Of The Oregon Cybersecurity Center Of Excellence Proposal, Portland State University. Hatfield School Of Government. Center For Public Service, Rebecca Craven, Jess Daly, Elizabeth Gray

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

Oregon’s Senate Bill 90 (SB90), signed into law and effective as of July 1, 2017, requires the Oregon Office of the State Chief Information Officer (OSCIO) to draft a proposal for an Oregon Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (CCoE). SB90 specifies that the CCoE must include information sharing and incident response support functions, and liaise and participate in cybersecurity initiatives nationwide; the Center also bears responsibility for drafting both a Cybersecurity Strategy and Cyber Disruption Response Plan. The CCoE has also been identified as the body responsible for carrying out strategic initiatives on behalf of the Oregon Cybersecurity Advisory Council (OCAC). …

Is There A More Distinct South? Comparing Key’S, Elazar’S And The U.S. Census Bureau’S Version Of The South Through The Lens Of The Affordable Care Act, Robert Christopher Kenter

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Most scholars agree the American South is a region with unique and distinct political traits. What is less clear, though, is just which states constitute “the South.” Are they the eleven former confederate states, as Key argues? Or are they the US Census Bureau’s version of the South? Or is Elazar’s version the “True South”? Since colonial times, there has been little disagreement on which states comprise the New England region, but scholars of the American South have never agreed upon a set of states that make up the South (Anderson & Baumann, 2016; Kinsella, 2013). The purpose of this …

Overview Of Fake News: For Non-Profit Organizations, Rebecca J. Stortstrom, Linda Lagrace, Nathaniel King Iii

Media Literacy: How the Era of Fake News Affects Public Service

In the U.S., the media plays a pivotal role in the spreading of information. However, the nonprofit sector appears to have a complicated relationship with the media. The media is a strong source of marketing and spreading the message, mission, and vision of the nonprofit, and is a way to keep connected with stakeholders. However, the nonprofit sector use of the media seems more susceptible to the effects of “fake news”. In this section, the history of nonprofit organizations along with its relationship with the media and fake news will be discussed. In addition, strategies to combat the problem or …

Path2 Services Court: A Process Evaluation, Octavio Jimenez

Master's Projects

In 2014, the Santa Clara County Superior Court received a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant to improve the efficacy of the Juvenile Treatment Court (JTC) and Court for the Individualized Treatment of Adolescents (CITA) programs by streamlining the referral, screening, and court hearing processes. Receipt of the grant allowed the Superior Court to integrate JTC and CITA to establish the Progress Achieved Through Hope and Holistic Services (PATH2 Services) Court.

This research analyzed whether the Santa Clara County Superior Court successfully integrated the JTC and CITA programs when it established PATH2 Services. In addition it determined …

Pedestrian Safety On San Jose Roads: The Impact Of Traffic Safety Infrastructure, David Lisenbee

Master's Projects

How successful have the City of San Jose’s traffic safety improvement programs been in reducing pedestrian injuries/fatalities on city streets? This research question focuses on the impact of the City of San Jose’s traffic safety programs on pedestrian safety between 2010 and 2014. The research aims to determine the extent to which traffic safety programs and infrastructure reduce rates of pedestrian injuries/fatalities and the severity of pedestrian injuries when incidents occur.

The Santa Clara County Reentry Resource Center: Reentry Service Linkage And The One-Stop Shop Model, Rose Redlich

Master's Projects

AB 109 has resulted in a significantly greater need for reentry programs and services across California. Many county law enforcement officials now view reentry programs and services as a promising approach for keeping recidivism rates low.

Santa Clara County has recognized the value of well-coordinated, quick, and efficient reentry service delivery. In response to AB 109, the Office of the Sheriff and Department of Correction partnered with the Probation Department, Office of the County Executive, Behavioral Health Services Department, Custody Health Department, Ambulatory Care, and the Social Services Agency to establish the Santa Clara County Reentry Resource Center (SCCRC) in …

Values Driven Strategic Thinking And Planning In Federated Non-Profits, Michael Baker

Capstone Collection

This paper, as a reflective practice, will explore organizational models and frameworks commonly found in non-profit organizations, as per the Leading and Managing Social Sector Organizations course at SIT.

This paper attempts to draw on my experiences at the national non-profit, Reading Partners, and coursework from SIT to suggest the best decision making models for a mission driven, non-profit organization. The findings and reflections largely surround the methodologies of strategic thinking and planning for large, complex, federated organizations.

The paper first explains Reading Partners organizational structure, program model, and culture, as per the different organizational frames in Boleman and Deal …