Public Policy Commons^™

Employee Financial Wellness Programs: Promising New Benefit For Frontline Workers?, Mathieu Despard, Ellen Frank-Miller, Yingying Zeng, Sophia Fox-Dichter, Geraldine Germain, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Meredith Covington

Social Policy Institute Research

Interest among employers is growing in Employee financial wellness programs (EFWPs), a new type of benefit to address financial stress among employees. EFWPs benefits include financial counseling, small-dollar loans, and savings programs that address employees' non-retirement financial needs. Little evidence exists concerning the availability and use of and outcomes associated with EFWPs, especially among low- and moderate-income (LMI) workers who may be in greatest need of these benefits. We present findings concerning awareness and use of EFWPs from a national survey of LMI workers (N=16,650). Availability of different EFWP benefits ranged from 11 to 15% and over a third of …

The Impact Of Tax Refund Delays On The Experience Of Hardship And Unsecured Debt, Olga Kondratjeva, Stephen Roll, Mathieu Despard, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Social Policy Institute Research

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) provides substantial financial support to low-income workers, yet around a quarter of EITC payments are estimated to be erroneous or fraudulent. Beginning in 2017, the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 requires the Internal Revenue Service to spend additional time processing early EITC claims, delaying the issuance of tax refunds. Leveraging unique data, we investigate how delayed tax refunds affected the experience of hardship and unsecured debt among EITC recipients. We find that early filers experienced increased food insecurity relative to later filers after the implementation of the refund delay.

Financial Counseling For Front-Line Workers: A Pilot Study Of Engagement And Outcomes, Mathieu Despard, Yingying Zeng, Sophia Fox-Dichter, Ellen Frank-Miller, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Social Policy Institute Research

Although financial counseling has been studied in community-based settings, programs offered in the workplace are understudied and yet may aid low- to moderate income employees in improving their financial situations. This study examines workers’ engagement in and associated credit outcomes from an employer-based financial counseling program in the New York City area. Findings suggest that participants engaged equally in services except for older and non-English speaking workers, who had lower levels of digital engagement. In-person engagement in services was minimal. Credit score improvements were modest, but greater for workers who had

scores in the lowest quartile at baseline. These credit …

Promoting Public Retirement Savings Accounts During Tax Filing: Evidence From A Field Experiment, Stephen Roll, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Olga Kondratjeva, Sam Bufe

Social Policy Institute Research

Many U.S. households—especially those with low- to moderate-incomes (LMI)—struggle to save for retirement. To address this issue, the Department of the Treasury launched myRA, a no-fee retirement account designed primarily to help people who lacked access to employer-sponsored plans build retirement savings. In this paper, we report findings from two myRA-focused field experiments, both of which were administered to well over 100,000 LMI online tax filers before and during the 2016 tax season. The first experiment involved sending one of three different myRA-focused email messages to tax filers immediately prior to tax season, and the second experiment …

Employee Financial Wellness Programs: Tips For Providers, Jenna Hampton Bsw, Sloane Wolter, Sophia Fox-Dichter, Ellen Frank-Miller

Social Policy Institute Research

There are several types of Employee Financial Wellness Programs (EFWPs), such as workplace financial counseling, workplace credit building, and employer-sponsored small dollar loans. Each program benefits the company and its employees in different ways.

The Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, with generous support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, studied the implementation of EFWPs at several diverse organizations, including a nonprofit in the Midwest and several supply chain locations of a national retailer, to understand the impact. As a result, we’ve identified five ways in which providers can maximize the benefits of EFWPs and avoid pitfalls …

Using Financial Tips To Guide Debt Repayment: Experimental Evidence From Low-And Moderate-Income Tax Filers, Olga Kondratjeva, Stephen Roll, Sam Bufe, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Social Policy Institute Research

Much of the literature on household finances tends to focus on discrete or relatively objective measures like savings, debt, economic mobility, and there has been a lack of research on holistic measures of financial well-being. This gap is due in part to the absence of a common understanding of how to define and measure financial well-being; a gap that was recently addressed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s development of a financial well-being scale. However, the research on this scale is still scarce and little is known about how financial well-being evolves over time. To that end, this paper uses …

Considerations For School Reopening In Ontario: Building A More Resilient Education System For Recovery, Prachi Srivastava

Education Publications

School closures in Ontario affect over 2 million elementary and secondary school students. Ontario issued the first school closure announcement on 12 March 2020 to take effect for an initial period from 14 March to 4 April 2020, compelling all publicly funded elementary and secondary schools to close during this time.On 17 March 2020, the government declared an official state of emergency under s 7.0.1 (1) of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. This required the immediate closure of all private schools as defined in the Education Act and of all licensed child care centres, amongst other public …

Quality Child Care In Missouri: The Intersections Of Policy And Teachers' Perceptions Of Quality Child Care, Catherine Slade

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

A child’s health and well-being is supported by the environment in which they learn and develop. For an average of 36,000 children in Missouri, their environment includes an out-of-home child care program. Child care regulations are designed to protect the health and safety of children in child care. Using a constant comparative method, this study examined the extent to which the child care licensing regulations in Missouri align with the 13 Indicators of Quality Child Care published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). This study also examined how effective teachers working in child care programs felt …

Addressing Urban Income Inequality Through Education: A Case Study In Atlanta, Garrett Bronn

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

For decades, the income inequality gap between the rich and poor has continued to expand dramatically, with criticism of existing education systems often at the heart of the issue. Large urban cities are commonly at the forefront of the issue, given the plethora of teacher strikes in recent years. Events such as the 11-day Chicago teacher’s strike in October of 2019 that idled academics and college prep for 350,000 students, have highlighted many current education issues (Hauck, 2019). With underfunded and poorly equipped middle and high schools, students in poor and minority neighborhoods in cities are less prepared academically, ill …

The Postsecondary Enrollment Of Black American Men: The Perceived Influence Of Environmental Factors, David V. Tolliver, Iii

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, there has been a consistent under-enrollment of Black American men who have enrolled and graduated from four-year colleges and universities. The result of this lack of educational attainment is problematic, as it can be seen in lower employment rates, higher under-employment rates, higher rates of incarceration, poorer health, and even a lower quality life. Institutional leaders and policymakers have struggled to find solutions for increasing the participation of Black American men with largely mixed results. Most of these programmatic attempts, however, have been limited in their approach and have not taken into account family and informal …

Preserving Nevada's Higher Education Governance Entity: A Case Study, Deanna Cooper

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the preservation of Nevada’s higher education governance entity through the theoretical framework of punctuated equilibrium theory, which may provide useful information to Nevada’s state policymakers as they seek to address the state’s educated workforce needs via postsecondary governance reform. This study sought to explore the Nevada legislative policymaking process, why policy actors responded as they did and the context in which they responded by examining the life cycle of three unique higher education governance reform bills. Interviews with 12 policy actors and review of over 150 public documents revealed three …

Improving The Take-Up Of Homecare Services Among Holocaust Survivors In A Jewish Charitable Organization, Olga Kondratjeva, Stephen Roll, Odelya Mantsura, Pini Miretski, Olga Statland-Vaintraub, Hannah Brumbaum, Ariel Tikotsky, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Social Policy Institute Research

This research brief is part of a series by the Social Impact Nudgeathon initiative. This initiative incorporated insights from behavioral economics into the design and delivery of social welfare programs. Developed through a partnership between the Joint Distribution Committee in Israel (JDC-Israel) and the Social Policy Institute (SPI) at Washington University in St. Louis, this initiative is among the first of its kind to launch in Israel. Working in close collaboration, research teams from the United States and Israel investigated whether using behavioral insights to make small changes in the delivery of social service programs in Israel and Russia would …

Improving Educational And Career Opportunities For Youth With Disabilities In The Future Trend Program, Yifat Klein, Osnat Elnathan, Mayzahav Itiel Barkai, Miriam Palachi, Anat Halevy, Yair Feingold, Ariel Tikotsky, Guy Hochman

Social Policy Institute Research

This research brief is part of a series by the Social Impact Nudgeathon initiative. This initiative incorporated insights from behavioral economics into the design and delivery of social welfare programs. Developed through a partnership between the Joint Distribution Committee in Israel (JDC-Israel) and the Social Policy Institute (SPI) at Washington University in St. Louis, this initiative is among the first of its kind to launch in Israel. Working in close collaboration, research teams from the United States and Israel investigated whether using behavioral insights to make small changes in the delivery of social service programs in Israel and Russia would …

How Does Grading Schools Impact Florida’S Teachers And Students? The Need For A New Approach To School Accountability, Luke Aubry Kupscznk

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

In 1999, Florida began grading schools on an A to F scale. These grades constituted part of the A+ package of policies advanced by Governor Bush’s administration. Schools then earned grades based on student standardized test scores. These changes followed a decade of increasing dismay over the trajectory of American education and preceded national moves towards test-based accountability for students and schools. While many researchers have investigated the effects of high-stakes testing on students, few have looked at the impacts of school-level accountability on non-test outcomes. This study considers the impacts of receiving a failing-grade on variables other than test …

Lost In Translation: Understanding Education Policy Implementation In Nepal, Sushmita Subedi

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the impact of the School Sector Reform Plan (SSRP), a national education reform in Nepal, on primary and secondary education. The study uses mixed-methods to analyze indicators of educational outcomes and identify the underlying environmental, organizational, and individual factors that affect reform implementation.

The first phase of the study is a quantitative analysis of annual, district-level data on 75 districts for 10 years, from 2006 to 2016 using regression models to predict dropout and promotion rates. The second phase of the study is a qualitative analysis of the perceived effectiveness of SSRP using in-depth interviews with 33 …

Propuesta De Indicadores Para Medir Y Evaluar La Gobernanza, Jorge Francisco Aguirre-Sala

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

El objetivo de este artículo es proponer indicadores y un índice para medir y evaluar la calidad de la gobernanza. Para ello responde a las preguntas de investigación: ¿qué es la gobernanza?, ¿en qué se distingue de la gobernabilidad y del gobierno abierto?, ¿qué debe medirse de la gobernanza y cómo ha de medirse? El diseño de la investigación plantea una revisión de la literatura para distinguir entre gobernabilidad, gobierno abierto y gobernanza y establecer qué y cómo se mide la gobernanza. La metodología establece las condiciones de los indicadores (declaraciones de su propósito, descripción, relevancia, fórmula(s), unidad de medida, …

Voluntariado En Latinoamérica: Aproximación A Las Diferencias Entre Países, Arelys López Concepción, Ana Isabel Gil Lacruz, Isabel Saz

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

La participación en actividades de voluntariado es un vehículo de participación en la comunidad de forma que enriquece al conjunto de la sociedad y a las personas que lo realizan. Los datos de las Encuestas de Valores Mundiales (WVS, 2010-2014) evidencian que en Latinoamérica el porcentaje de voluntarios varía de forma relevante de unos países a otros, tal que en Colombia el 65% realizan actividades de voluntariado, frente al 23% de Ecuador. Mientras que el voluntariado ha sido ampliamente estudiado en países anglosajones y europeos, apenas hay estudios para Latinoamérica. La principal contribución de este trabajo radica precisamente en ampliar …

La Participación De Los Actores En La Concepción De Proyectos De Desarrollo Internacional. El Caso De Un Proyecto Canadá - Colombia, Olga Navarro-Flores, Luis Hernando Sánchez

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

Los proyectos de desarrollo internacional (PDI) son iniciativas que buscan promover el desarrollo dentro de un contexto de asimetría de poder, de múltiples y diversos actores, y de objetivos ambiciosos. El proyecto bajo estudio busca mejorar las condiciones de vida de jóvenes en una región minera en Colombia, mediante dos objetivos de orden ecológico y social, y el objetivo es analizar la participación de los actores en la fase de concepción del proyecto, con el fin de profundizar la comprensión de la dinámica entre ellos en esa fase y dentro de la gestión de proyectos. Se basa en una perspectiva …

Capital Social Y Sostenibilidad En El Tercer Sector, Maria Del Carmen Zenck, Ingrid Ríos Rivera, Maribel Rodríguez Zapatero

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

Dentro del perfil de empresa social que caracteriza a las organizaciones sin fines de lucro que trabajan en áreas de salud y bienestar, la sostenibilidad institucional sugiere el aprovechamiento de su capital social, es decir redes, relaciones y vínculos con diversos sectores para mantener el acceso y los niveles de servicio a la población más vulnerable, en un contexto de regulación estatal, incertidumbre en los mercados y recursos escasos. Este estudio tiene como objetivo analizar los procesos de gestión para ampliar cobertura y diversificar servicios de atención de una fundación ecuatoriana que presta servicios especializados para personas con limitaciones físicas …

Proceso De Innovación Social En Las Organizaciones De La Sociedad Civil (Osc) Ecuatorianas: Avances Y Desafíos, Jairo Rivera, Wilson Araque, Eulalia Flor

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

Este artículo analiza la evolución y el estado situacional actual del proceso de innovación social en las Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil (OSC) ecuatorianas durante la última década. Dentro de un entorno dinámico se examinan las prácticas de innovación social de las OSC en el país y se detallan dos experiencias emblemáticas. La metodología del estudio incluye información primaria proveniente de dos mesas de análisis, dos talleres y entrevistas a profundidad con representantes de las OSC que laboran en Ecuador. Entre los principales resultados del artículo se encuentra que son varias las acciones que han venido desarrollando las OSC en …

Npos And Their Stakeholders’ Psychological Contracts: The Value Of Implicit Expectations In Bolivia, Maria Renee Barreal, Roland Pepermans, Michael Dooms

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

Managing non-profit organizations (NPOs) in developing countries constitutes a challenge due to the intrinsic hardship of their missions, and the pressure of balancing their stakeholder’s interests and needs. Beyond the explicit challenges NPOs face (e.g., attracting volunteers, retaining employees, accounting to donors), we tackle the implicit obligations and returns that volunteers, employees, and donors hold towards an NPO. By introducing the concept of Stakeholder Psychological Contracts (SPC) and its three currencies (relational, transactional and ideological), we identify how each creates value for these stakeholders in a different way, using data from 409 respondents, representing 7 Bolivian NPOs. Despite the high …

Presentation. Special Issue. Co-Responsibility In Building The Public Good In Latin America And The Caribbean, Daniel Barragán, Anabel Cruz, Susan Appe

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

No abstract provided.

Editorial. Versión En Español, Nadia Rubaii

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

No abstract provided.

Editorial. English Version, Nadia Rubaii

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

No abstract provided.

Table Of Content, . .

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

No abstract provided.

Preventing School Shootings: The Interprofessional And Community Approach To Prevention, Heather C. Alonge, Constant P. Craig

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

This essay examined the issue of school shootings within the United States, to include a literature review and analysis of the current status of the issue on a national level. From the review and analysis, the essay provides the multidisciplines engaged in school safety issues with viable, workable, and quickly implementable solutions to address this serious national issue at the local school district and even school level of implementation. This analysis examined a multidiscipline and multiprofessional community approach using existing federal guidelines that address actionable intelligence (social media and human information/informants), school design and incorporation of safety and protective features, …

The Re-Enrollment Tendencies Of "Some College, No Degree" Students In The U.S., Marie A. Falcone, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown

Higher Education

This Fact Sheet highlights information from a National Student Clearinghouse Research Center report titled, “Some College, No Degree: A 2019 Snapshot for the Nation and 50 States.” The data on re-enrolled college students in Mountain West states (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah) show the percentage of individuals who re-enrolled at an academic institution other than their initial college or university.

Nothing To Show For It: Non-Degreed Debt And The Financial Circumstances Associated With It, Jason Jabbari, Mathieu Despard, Olga Kondratjeva, Brinda Gupta, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Social Policy Institute Research

The number of individuals with student loan debt who do not earn their degrees is on the rise; nevertheless, there is little research that demonstrates the financial conditions and circumstances of these individuals. We address this knowledge gap by comparing the financial outcomes of student debt-holders who started college but did not earn a degree—those with non-degreed debt (NDD)—with similar individuals who did not attend college and did not take on student debt. We find that individuals with NDD had greater odds of experiencing material and healthcare hardships, as well as financial difficulties. Individuals with NDD also had greater financial …

Household Savings Decisions In Israel’S Child Savings Program: The Role Of Demographic, Financial, And Intrinsic Factors, Ofir Pinto, Olga Kondratjeva, Maya Haran Rosen, Stephen P. Roll, Aytakin Huseynli, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Social Policy Institute Research

Social Policy Institute Working Paper

Israel’s Child Development Account (CDA) program, the Savings for Every Child Program (SECP), is universal and automatically enrolls all children under the age of 18, depositing approximately $14 into their accounts every month. Parents can transfer an additional monthly $14 into these long-term savings accounts and can choose an investment vehicle for their children’s deposits. The total realized benefits from the SECP depend heavily on parents’ choices. This study examines how demographic, financial, and intrinsic personality characteristics predict household participation in this program. Using a unique data set combining administrative and survey data, we find …

The Impact Of The Legalization Of Marijuana In Colorado On Education Funding And Car Crash Fatality Rates, Lauren Mcdonald

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The objective of this thesis is to investigate and report the impact of the legalization of marijuana on the funding of education and car crash fatality rates in the state of Colorado. Legalization has been a controversial topic, and marijuana has already been legalized for recreational use in 11 states, and medically in 22 states across the United States. The tax revenues from marijuana are used in school funding, though the allocations of these funds have varied in different years. As we approach the impact that legalization has had on Colorado, it will be interesting to see if the newly …