Public Affairs Commons^™

Characteristics Of Social Capital In Informal Housing Settlements, Lena Parsons

University Honors Theses

Many cities see growth of informal housing settlements as urban populations rise across the globe. Residents of informal settlements are observed to use robust networks of social capital to support themselves in an environment of resource scarcity and marginalization. This review synthesizes research examining characteristics of social capital in informal housing settlements, finding that (1) social capital influences residents' acquisition of basic needs, (2) the structure of social capital networks depend on the context of the settlement, and (3) the built environment of informal settlements has a cyclical relationship to their social capital networks. This synthesis concludes that formal solutions …

Wasted Space: Using Parking Lots & Vacant Land To Improve Neighborhood Completeness, Ryan Martyn

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

This study conducts a spatial analysis of Portland, Oregon, focusing on leveraging underutilized areas like parking lots and vacant land—termed "wasted space"—to improve the city's completeness. Central to this investigation is the concept of a "complete neighborhood," characterized by access to daily necessities within convenient active transportation trip. This comprehensive idea encompasses walkability, equitable access to services, and sustainability.

This paper aims to redefine the concept of a complete neighborhood with precision and delve into its implications. The research looks at five regional, town, and neighborhood centers as defined by the city of Portland. These centers act as pivotal hubs …

Psu Student Housing Insecurity Interim Report, Jacen Greene, Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative, Portland State University

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Project Background

This study on student housing insecurity and homelessness was funded as part of a HUD FY2023 Community Project Funding Opportunity awarded to Portland State University. Phase 1 of the study, which led to this report by PSU’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative (HRAC), includes a literature review; a summary of PSU student survey results; a description of PSU programs based on interviews with staff and administrators; an analysis of programs at other institutions; and a set of recommendations for better addressing student housing needs. Phase 2 of the study will include the results of a comprehensive …

Evaluation Of Oregon’S Food Waste Recovery And Reintegration Policy Adoption Through Civic Capacity, Jenna N. Stathopoulos

Student Research Symposium

The US Food System is complex and multi-layered, containing many areas for improvement. My research focuses specifically on the issue area of food waste. On a global and national scale mitigating food waste can seem too large to manage. Containing complexity across multiple sectors and with extended timelines for improvements, it is indeed a wicked problem, a problem which in its complexity is almost impossible to fully distinguish or address with one (or even multiple) solutions. (Rittel, 1973). However, when we look to local, place-based solutions we can develop more realistic and actionable plans. The state of Oregon is equipped …

Neoliberalism, Civic Identity, And Resistance: An Ethnographic Case Study Of A Community Development Organization, Erin Layne Elliott

Dissertations and Theses

Research on the marketization of the nonprofit sector and how it has come to operate in more business-like ways has been well documented in recent years. This research has largely focused on how marketization has pervaded the nonprofit sector, yet little research has been done on how business-like values and modes of acting are manifesting in nonprofits. Even less understood are the impacts marketization may have on foundational civic values in the nonprofit sector. As marketized discourses proliferate, concerns have been raised about threats to nonprofit autonomy and the sector's important civic role. This dissertation aims to fill this gap …

Understanding Financial And Human Resource Capacity Challenges Among Small Nonprofits In Oregon: How To Overcome Challenges Unique To Size And Urban-Rural Divide, Anindita Mukerjee

Dissertations and Theses

Nonprofit and voluntary organizations are part of the political economy that add to the services of public and private sectors by addressing civic interests, participation in democracy and providing social programs that improve quality of life. This sector is mostly comprised of small organizations whose impact is more than their budget size. At the advent of this study, information existed about the needs and capacity challenges of Oregon nonprofits in general but lacked specifics on smaller organizations, especially differentiating the urban rural distinction. The aim of this research was to explore the financial and human resource capacity of small nonprofit …

Influence Of The Federal Government On The Diffusion Of Victims' Rights State Constitutional Amendments, Vicki Rose Jeffries-Bilton

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation examines the factors associated with the diffusion of state constitutional victims' rights amendments across the United States in the twenty-year period of 1982 to 2001 to understand the impact of the federal government on state constitutional change. Because each branch of the federal government took prominent actions in the area of victims' rights on the national policy stage during this era, it is important to know whether these actions influenced policy change at the state level. This dissertation examines whether one form of prominent federal action, the president's use of rhetoric to acknowledge support for victims' rights, influenced …

Gender Role As A Mediating Factor In Gender Pay Equity Analysis, Jillian Ann Girard

Dissertations and Theses

The gender wage gap has been persistent despite the introduction of new laws designed to address the disparity. One of the challenges in addressing this inequity is the lack of complete understanding of the driving factors of the pay gap. One yet unexplored factor is the impact of the gender role, which is a social role based on sex/gender which provides a structure and expectations for social relationships. The purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between gender role, biological sex, and base pay. A matched, cross-sectional sample drawn from large U.S. cities was utilized to test the …

Catholic Social Teaching And Sustainable Development: What The Church Provides For Specialists, Anthony Philip Stine

Dissertations and Theses

The principles of Catholic Social Teaching as represented by the writings of 150 years of popes as well as the theorists inspired by those writings are examined, as well as the two principal schools of thought in the sustainability literature as represented by what is classically called the anthropocentric or managerial approach to sustainability as well as the biocentric school of thought.

This study extends previous research by analyzing what the Catholic Church has said over the course of centuries on issues related to society, economics, and the environment, as embodied in the core concepts of subsidiarity, solidarity, stewardship, the …

Addressing Structural Inequalities In Planning Processes: A Case Study Of An Equity Lens, Marta Conklé Mcguire

Dissertations and Theses

The use of equity lenses is growing rapidly in the public sector as a means to reform institutional practices that produce racialized outcomes; yet, organizations are interpreting and using an equity lens in different ways, leaving open questions on the extent to which a lens addresses structural inequalities. This dissertation focuses on an in-depth case study of a planning process that incorporated an equity lens in the development of a large scale urban system plan in Portland (OR) to build understanding of how an equity lens may change the institutional planning process. Insights from the study suggest an equity lens …

Portland’S I-5 Expansion: Evaluating The Environmental And Cultural Impact Of Odot's Rose Quarter Improvement Plan, Mason Ashmore

University Honors Theses

To this day highway expansion remains one of the primary techniques employed to combat urban automobile congestion during peak hours. This paper examines the cultural and environmental shortcomings of Portland, Oregon's I-5 highway expansion project. Research for this paper primarily cites existing academic studies relating to highway expansion, Portland's complicated relationship with urban renewal, and highway expansion alternatives. The evidence suggests that Oregon's expansion project would have less than optimal impact and the resources could be used better elsewhere.

Portland Msa Economic & Population Outlook (October 2019), Thomas Potiowsky, Portland State University, Northwest Economic Research Center

Northwest Economic Research Center Publications and Reports

A new entry for the record books: Portland MSA employment expansion is the longest on record, having surpassed the 1990’s expansion last September. And we now sit in October and are one month shy of a decade of job growth. While the length of this expansion is impressive, if we compare the same length of time (9 years and 9 months) of this expansion with that of the 1990s, jobs increased by 33.6% in the 1990s while increasing 24.4% in the 2010s.

The Portland MSA recorded the 4th fastest percentage gains in household income in the country from 2007 to …

The Role Of The Academic Analyst In Shared Governance, Rebecca Ann Mathern

Dissertations and Theses

This research explores the roles of academic professionals in higher education, specific to how they engage in decision-making processes. Academic professionals provide important functions in higher education work but there is little in the literature about these actors and their contributions to leadership and governance. A literature review triangulated role theory, organization theory, and the shared-governance field of study to bring together actors within higher education and compare their involvement based on the shared-governance model in operation at different institutions. The researcher introduced the hypothesis that when registrars are not involved in curriculum management, there may be negative effects on …

Whither Skamania?, Eavan Moore

Metroscape

An in-depth look at Skamania County, Washington, examining its financial challenges, obstacles faced by employers, the impact of declining timber revenues, long-term impacts of the 2017 forest fires, and a look at future growth and possible local government strategies.

Growing Wisely In Vancouver, Washington: An Interview With Mayor Anne Mcenerny-Ogle, Elizabeth Morehead

Metroscape

In November 2017, Anne McEnerny-Ogle was elected to a four-year term as Mayor of Vancouver, Washington. Anne served on City Council from January 2014 through December 2017. She was also Vancouver's Mayor Pro Tem from January 2016 through December 2017. Anne earned a bachelor's degree in education from Southern Oregon State College and a master's degree in education from Lewis and Clark College. Anne retired after teaching thirty years in Lake Oswego Public Schools and serving as the chair of the mathematics department. During this time, she was a consultant to numerous school districts in Washington and Oregon, presented her …

The Dynamic Returns Of Descriptive Representation: A Study Of Race, Politics And Policy In Urban Governments, Stephanie Taylor Hawke

Dissertations and Theses

In 2015, 78% of Detroit's city council was African American--the highest percentage in the country. For decades, there had been an assumption in the academic and activist fields that a legislative body with such a high percentage of minority presence would produce incredible policy gains for that group (i.e. African American Detroiters). Instead, the council passed no Black racial policy. In a city where there were ostensibly no barriers for passing racial policy -- there were no subsequent policy gains. Though running contrary to existing scholarship, Detroit is not an anomaly; it is an indicator of the larger trend.

Using …

Building Climate Empire: Power, Authority, And Knowledge Within Pacific Islands Climate Change Diplomacy And Governance Networks, Ashlie Denée Denton

Dissertations and Theses

Transnational networks are growing in prevalence and importance as states, nongovernmental, and intergovernmental organizations seek to meet climate change goals; yet, the organizations in these networks struggle between the global, technical and local, contextual sources of power, authority, and knowledge used to influence decision-making and governance. This dissertation analyzes these contestations in Pacific Islands climate change diplomacy and governance efforts by asking: i) What do power relations look like among the Pacific Islands' networked organizations? ii) To what authority do organizations appeal to access sources of power? iii) What sources of knowledge are produced and reproduced by these organizations? and …

Resilient Infrastructure Planning Exercise Summary Of Findings, Portland State Univeristy. Institute For Sustainable Solutions

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

According to NOAA (2018), the U.S. spent a record $306 billion on weather and climate disasters in 2017, up nearly $100 billion from the previous record in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina. From unprecedented rainfall and flooding from Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas, to ravaging wildfires and devastating mudslides near Santa Barbara, California, cities across the U.S. are grappling with how to better prepare for and recover from catastrophic natural disasters. These events bring into focus the need to prepare for similarly unprecedented events in Portland.

The Resilient Infrastructure Planning Exercise (RIPE) began in early 2017 as an effort to better …

India's Economic Growth: Role Of Political Performance And Gender Wage Gap, Rajeev Indira Nagaraju

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation will explore how gender wage gap and political capacity represented by relative political extraction affect change in economic growth rate of a country. The main argument of the study is that gender wage gap is affecting the labor market by discouraging productive female labor force from entering the labor market. This in turn affects the efficiency and productivity of the labor market reflected in negative economic growth or economic growth potential being compromised. Here the case of Indian economy is examined. The important policy implication of this study is that it could account for the wage differential between …

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). …

The Antecedents Of Local Government Service Delivery Under Crisis Conditions: The Case Of Khon Kaen Province, Thailand, Sirisak Laochankham

Dissertations and Theses

The aim of this research is to understand local service delivery in Thailand's post-2006 national political crisis. The researcher collected qualitative data in four municipalities in Khon Kaen Province. The analytical framework covered five moderating variables: political institutions, civic engagement, political leadership, governance, and political economy. The results were mixed. Local service delivery suffered from weakening electoral mechanisms, suspended local autonomy, weakened civic participation and policy networks, insecure local administrators, worsened central-local trust, and the detrimental effect on local economies. However, there were opportunities for improved, or maintained, local service delivery through the lessening of administrative procedures, a fast-track mechanism …

Modeling The Co-Production Of Public Sector Innovation: Strategic Dimensions Of Organizational Innovation Within The Public Maritime Ports Of The Pacific Northwest, Christopher R. Davis

Dissertations and Theses

Innovation is vital to employing resources in times when the complexity and the demand for public goods and services strain organizational capacities. While innovation in the private sector is the subject of intense academic interest, the study of this phenomenon in the public sector pales in comparison. This is troubling because innovation is an important tool for overcoming resource limitations that plague the public sector. This dissertation's unique contribution to the field is the creation and empirical validation of a model that explains and predicts the co-production of public sector innovation. The model explains the causal mechanism of innovation and …

Measuring Total Employer Cost Of Compensation For Teachers In Eight K-12 Public Schools In Oregon, Washington, And Idaho, Portland State University. Hatfield School Of Government. Center For Public Service, Phil Keisling, Robert Winthrop, Julia Taylor, Katelyn Wilkins

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

To test the feasibility of applying its ”Total Employer Cost of Compensation” (TECC) analytical framework to K-12 school personnel, the Center for Public Service (CPS) collected and validated data from five Oregon school districts (Beaverton, Hillsboro, Lake Oswego, Salem-Keizer, and Portland), along with two in Washington State (Seattle and Vancouver) and one in Idaho (Boise).

The four main categories of TECC costs – salary; employer-paid health care; retirement benefits; and the value of paid time off (PTO) – were then calculated for several different K-12 teacher “archetypes” – e.g., Entry-level teachers with a BA degree; Mid-stage teachers with an MA …

Community Attitudes Regarding Public Safety In Bend, Oregon, Greg Stewart, Kris R. Henning

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report provides the results of a recent community survey in Bend Oregon. The purpose of the survey was to provide feedback on the Bend Police Department's recent performance in achieving their community-oriented goals from the agency's 2015-2020 strategic plan. Most of the residents surveyed report feeling safe in the city and the police received high performance ratings for being available when needed, dealing with problems that impact public safety, and for reducing crime. Likewise, residents who had been contacted by the police during traffic stops or investigations rated these interactions positively. Specific recommendations are offered in the report with …

Oregon’S Looming “Tecc” Challenge: The Imminent Rise Of “Total Employer Costs Of Compensation” For Oregon Local Government, Portland State University. Hatfield School Of Government. Center For Public Service, Phil Keisling

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

Driven largely by dramatic increases in Oregon Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) costs, Oregon’s local governments face historically unprecedented increases in their “Total Employer Costs of Compensation,” or “TECC costs.” Even with 3% annual growth in general fund revenues under Oregon’s strict, voter‐passed property tax limits, the resulting budget squeeze could force reductions of 10% or more in the number of public employees who provide key public services – from police and fire/emergency medical protection to education, health care, and infrastructure maintenance.

Community Attitudes Regarding Public Safety In Portland’S Parkrose Neighborhood, Kris R. Henning, Jason Jones, Christian Peterson

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) has partnered with Portland State University (PSU) to develop new strategies for improving public safety and police-community relations. The initiative seeks to provide residents with greater voice in where police work in their neighborhood and what steps the police take to address public safety concerns. The current report presents the findings from a household survey conducted in Portland's Parkrose neighborhood. Residents' top concerns were social disorder, property crime, and alcohol/drug use. The majority of residents surveyed reported that overall safety in the neighborhood had declined over the past 12 months and a significant proportion (63%) …

Rubrics As A Foundation For Assessing Student Competencies: One Public Administration Program’S Creative Exercise, Billie Sandberg, Kevin Kecskes

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since implementation of the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) standards for accreditation in 2009, public administration programs have been developing programmatic competencies that reflect NASPAA’s universal standards. Likewise, myriad efforts have analyzed data related to student and program progress toward achievement of these competencies. This article adds to that conversation by recounting the approach to assessing competencies used in the Department of Public Administration at Portland State University. There, newly developed rubrics reflect each of the department’s 10 competencies to examine whether students are acquiring the desired knowledge and skills. This article discusses the development …

The Contribution Of Sense Of Place To Social-Ecological Systems Research: A Review And Research Agenda, Vanessa A. Masterson, Richard C. Stedman, Johan Enqvist, Maria Tengö, Matteo Giusti, Darin Wahl, Uno Svedin

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

To develop and apply goals for future sustainability, we must consider what people care about and what motivates them to engage in solving sustainability issues. Sense of place theory and methods provide a rich source of insights that, like the socialecological systems perspective, assume an interconnected social and biophysical reality. However, these fields of research are only recently beginning to converge, and we see great potential for further engagement. Here, we present an approach and conceptual tools for how the sense of place perspective can contribute to social-ecological systems research. A brief review focuses on two areas where relation to …

Hazardous Materials Commodity Flow Study: Marion County, Oregon, Portland State University. Hatfield School Of Government. Center For Public Service, Stephanie Hawke, Aaron Kaufman, Robert Cheney

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

Hazardous materials are prevalent in all communities in the United States. They are stored and they are transported. Regardless of the method of transport, (for this study defined as: pipeline, rail, roadway, air, or water) hazardous materials are generally transported without incident. However, consequences of a hazmat transportation incident can be extreme with serious repercussions to public safety, life and wellbeing, the environment, and infrastructure. To plan for and mitigate these consequences, communities may choose to examine the transportation of hazardous materials through high risk areas – areas with sensitive ecosystems or high population – to better develop strategies.

Therefore, …

Perceptions Regarding Public Safety In Portland’S Humboldt Neighborhood, Kris R. Henning, Greg Stewart

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) has partnered with Portland State University (PSU) to develop new strategies for improving public safety and police-community relations. The initiative seeks to provide residents with greater voice in where police work in their neighborhood and what steps the police take to address public safety concerns. The current report presents the findings from a household survey conducted in Portland's Humboldt neighborhood. Residents' top concerns were gun crimes, gang activity, and traffic safety. The majority of residents support increased foot patrols by officers and community meetings as a means for reducing crime and strengthening police-community relationships.