Public Policy Commons^™

American Obesity: Rooted In Uncertainty, Institutions And Public Policy, James Woodward

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Despite the efforts of policymakers, medical professionals, and other stakeholders, obesity and related health problems show no signs of receding from their record-high rates. Public policy has largely taken the form of consumer advice, (e.g., USDA’s Dietary Guidelines). Since consumers bear most of the costs associated with their obesity, the goal of obesity prevention appears to be incentive-compatible, prima facie. That is, there is no a priori case for much further policy intervention unless existing advice is deficient or consumers’ exhibit systematically poor decision-making.

My review of the literature shows that scholars have long conveyed a consistent narrative regarding …

Food Policy: Urban Farming As A Supplemental Food Source, Bessie Didomenica, Mark Gordon

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Food policy has a unique role for public, nonprofit, private, and academic stakeholders. Growing food in the city is a challenge worldwide. Food systems can be destroyed by external (weather extremes) and internal (zoning regulations) forces. This study explores urban farms as a secondary food source and their common themes across four sectors. A Northeastern U.S. city was the case study to examine how it implemented its formal urban agriculture program. The positive social change implications of urban farms include greater food visibility and food access in low-income areas and more consumer awareness about growing fresh food. This study contributes …

Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness: Measuring What Matters, Laura Musikanski, Carl Polley

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

This essay focuses on ways in which the governments of Bhutan and the United Kingdom are measuring subjective well-being as well as on how other governments including Norway, Spain, China, Canada, and New Zealand, are exploring the development of subjective well-being indicators. It concludes with recommended actions to aid in the formation of a consistent and comparable subjective well-being indicator for use by governments globally. The third in a series for which the purpose is to provide information to grassroots activists to foster the happiness movement for a new economic paradigm, this essay builds on the previous essays, Happiness in …

Factors Affecting Institutional Performance At High And Very High Research Universities: Policy Implications, Jose G. Alcaine

Theses and Dissertations

Higher education institutions in the Unites States (U.S.) are under stress. Universities and colleges in the U.S. face competing demands marked by steeply declining state and local appropriations and increased competition for research dollars and prestige. This stress is felt most acutely at high and very high research universities who must face these funding challenges while at the same time must serve a multiplicity of missions and stakeholders.

This study examines factors that influence institutional performance at high and very high research universities in the U.S. These high and very high research universities, as classified by the Carnegie Foundation for …

Advocacy In Action: A Framework For Implementation Of The American Counselors Association Advocacy Competencies On A Local Level, Jeffrey M. Lown

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Despite calls from within the professional field and external forces, counselors have faced ongoing challenges in their efforts to be effective advocates for their clients and themselves. A review of the literature reveals that throughout the history of the profession, prominent figures have called on counselors to assume advocacy roles, and that some initiatives have been successful in fostering lasting change. However, as counselors and their clients’ needs continue to evolve, so too must strategies to address these needs be reevaluated and new initiatives put into place.

In this paper, I have outlined a committee structure and agenda that seeks …

A Comparative Case Study Of Georgia Delegations At The 2012 National Party Conventions, Carolyn S. Carlson, Jeff R. Dewitt, Kerwin Swint

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

From August 26 to September 8, nine political science students and four supervising faculty traveled from Kennesaw State University to the 2012 Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention as part of special topics course on a course titled “Party Conventions Field Study”. While in Tampa and Charlotte, the students and faculty immersed themselves in a “real world” educational environment and in doing so gained extraordinary first-hand exposure to a fundamental, yet not well understood, part of the American political process. Students directly engaged with convention proceedings and participants, primarily the Georgia state party delegations, and implemented pre-approved research …

Hospital Practices Related To Breastfeeding In Mississippi: A Socio-Ecological Approach, Amir Alakaam

Dissertations

Mississippi continues to have one of the lowest rates and the weakest support in respect to breastfeeding in the nation (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014a). Hospital practices supporting breastfeeding such as the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding (TSSB) can dramatically increase breastfeeding rates and duration (Rosenberg, Stull, Adler, Kasehagen, & Crivelli-Kovach, 2008). The aim of this study was to explore breastfeeding practices in Mississippi hospitals based on two levels of the Socio-Ecological Model: the organizational level (phase I) examined the hospital practices based on the level of implementation of the TSSB; the individual level (phase II) examined knowledge …

First Report Of The National Evaluation Of Rsvp Volunteers, Annie Georges, Susan Gabbard, Ashley Wendell Kranjac

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

"In 2013, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) initiated a national evaluation of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). The national evaluation was intended to collect the necessary information to better guide the RSVP program and to address three objectives: 1) describe the characteristics of RSVP volunteers, including how volunteers are distributed across CNCS’s performance measure categories, and how volunteers allocated their time to different service activities across the performance measure categories; 2) measure the relationship between volunteer characteristics, service activities, and volunteers’ psychosocial health; and 3) measure the impact of RSVP national service participation on volunteers’ …

Federal Advances To Support Grandfamilies, Ana Beltran

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

It is the year of grandfamilies in our nation’s capital. Not since the mid-1990s has there been so much activity among federal lawmakers and policymakers to try to help all grandfamilies, both those within and outside the foster care system. In August 2015, a major piece of legislation was introduced in Congress, which would make holistic reforms to our nation’s child welfare financing system. For the first time, child welfare funds could be used to provide supportive services to parents and grandfamilies outside the system, so children do not have to enter it. For those children who are removed from …

Political Representation In Tanzania: Its Development And Anatomy In Perspective, Edwin Babeiya,

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Since the era of colonialism to date, Tanzania has been practicing representation—a key democratization pillar. Throughout this period, the question of who is representing who and at what cost continues to feature in political discussions in the country. Nevertheless, of all periods that representation has passed through, the represented seem to have always been at a disadvantage. This is particularly so due to an absence of effective accountability mechanisms for ensuring that the representatives remain accountable to the electorate. The represented have been the victims of a control triangle that started during the colonial era when they had limited influence …

Affordable Housing For Sustainable Cities: A North American Perspective, Detroit Metropolitan Area And Montreal (Quebec), Courtney Lauren Anderson, Maryse Grandbois

Faculty Publications By Year

Housing is an integral part to elevating and maintaining a quality of life to ensure a healthy and productive citizenship. The overwhelming number of citizens in Montreal and the United States who are unable to find housing that is less than 33% of their income stifles that economic progression of individuals and the society in which these individuals live. The ability for cities to dictate their own plans for creating and maintaining affordable housing without mandates from the federal vacillates among the various levels of government with each level having certain positive and negative elements. Although city autonomy can provide …

The Smart Cities Movement And Advancing The International Battle To Eliminate Homelessness - Barcelona As Test Case, John Travis Marshall, Jessica Venegas

Faculty Publications By Year

Barcelona is a leader in the smart cities movement, a movement that aims to help cities deliver services to citizens more efficiently and economically as a way of making the city a more inviting and inclusive place to live and work. As with any city committed to forward-looking economic, social, and urban development initiatives, it is important to consider whether ambitious goals to reinvent the city include an agenda to solve the persistent problems that have faced major cities for decades, including affordable housing and caring for roofless or homeless men and women. This article ties together the challenges Barcelona …

Alleviating Barcelona's Public Housing Shortages Through Historic Properties, Ryan Rowberry

Faculty Publications By Year

Creating public housing space in Barcelona requires rethinking how its historic properties might maintain their cultural and structural vitality while serving critical social and economic needs. Drawing on programs from the United States, Europe, and China, I suggest two strategies that Catalan officials might use to effectively leverage Barcelona's historic properties to reduce its public housing deficit. The first strategy considers successful financial incentives promoting public housing in historic properties within the United States - the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and the Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit - and proposes how the Catalan government might find seed money to fund …

Staying Connected: Keeping Justice-Involved Youth “Close To Home” In New York City, Jeffrey A. Butts, Laura Negredo, Evan Elkin

Publications and Research

When justice-involved youth are supervised by local agencies and placed with locally operated programs rather than being sent away to state facilities, they are better able to maintain community ties. They stay connected with their families, and they are more likely to remain in local schools. Policy reforms that localize the justice system are often called “realignment.” New York’s “Close to Home” (or C2H) initiative is a prominent example of youth justice realignment. Launched in 2012, it is the latest chapter in a decade-long commitment by New York State and New York City to improve the justice system for young …

Then And Now: Tracking A Federal Agency’S Threat Assessment Activity Through Two Decades With An Eye Toward The Future, Mario Scalora, William Zimmerman

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

The following is an edited summary of a plenary session provided by the speakers during the 25th Annual Conference of the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP) Conference held August 2015.

We are going to talk a little bit about history. We are sorry to bore you with this again but this is going to be about the history of the Capitol Police Threat Assessment Section. In 1987, the command made a decision to develop a threat assessment unit. We were trying to find out who actually made that command decision but nobody claimed it. We credit our Chief of …

Leaning Out: Exploring Organizational Advocacy Activities From An Open Systems Perspective, Lauri Goldkind

Social Service Faculty Publications

his article explores the effect of organizational culture on engagement with advocacy activities, both traditional and electronic. The Competing Values Framework offers a model for understanding how organization's culture influences behavior. Using a sample of nonprofit providers from across the country, the author hypothesized that organizations that use electronic advocacy tools are more involved with advocacy activities of all types. A paper and pencil survey was used to collect data on organizational culture, advocacy tools and techniques, perceived effectiveness of the advocacy tools, policy goals, organizational sustainability goals as well as barriers and facilitators of electronic advocacy. The study used …

Efficiency Of Unified Vs. Non-Unified State Judiciaries: An Examination Of Court Organizational Performance, William Raftery

Theses and Dissertations

State court systems function in much the same manner as any other government agency in terms of organization and management to utilize public resources in order to provide a public service. The question posed in the late 19th century was whether the courts should be organized and managed as they had been for centuries as local entities locally controlled and operated or transferred to the state level. The desired end was a more efficient use of public resources to achieve faster disposition of cases. This reorganization, called unification, was made up of three individual components: 1) consolidation required the reduction …

Measuring Happiness To Guide Public Policy Making: A Survey Of Instruments And Policy Initiatives, Laura Musikanski

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

This author examines subjective indicators of well-being as they relate to the happiness movement, a global effort to create a new economic paradigm. The essay focuses on the prominent international institutions that are developing happiness metrics as well as agencies exploring the use of happiness data for crafting supportive public policy. A definition of happiness metrics, based on international institutions, identifies the primary questions that compose perceived happiness and how this data can be used.

A Quantum Congress, Jorge R. Roig

Scholarly Works

This article tries to address the problem of a corrupt and broken electoral system that has been captured by special interests through big money spending in political campaigns, while at the same time preserving the spirit of the Free Speech Clause of our Constitution. In doing so, this article first reviews and summarizes the different alternatives proposed as potential fixes for the campaign finance problem. It then explains why none of the proposed alternatives can accomplish the dual goals set out above. Finally, the article briefly sketches a proposal for a fundamental reworking of our representative democracy by substituting legislative …

The Underlying Factors Driving The Push For Universal Suffrage In Hong Kong, Anthony Hoyin Wong

Political Science

This paper examines the current civil unrest in Hong Kong to determine the underlying causes that are driving Occupy Central and its affiliates to pressure the Central Government in Beijing and the Hong Kong government for universal suffrage. Drawing upon data from the 2003, 2007, and 2010 Asian Barometer, there has been a gradual decline in the level of trust in the Legislative Council and Hong Kong government as the majority of Hong Kong residents have expressed increasing uncertainty about their future economic situation along with their continual distrust in the abilities of government officials to serve the public. From …

Punishment Without End, Douglas N. Evans

Publications and Research

Criminal justice punishments are an investment that societies make to protect the safety and order of communities. Following decades of rising prison populations, however, U.S. policymakers are beginning to wonder if they have invested too much in punishment. Policies adopted in previous decades now incarcerate large numbers of Americans and impose considerable costs on states. Mass incarceration policies are costly and potentially iatrogenic—i.e., they may transform offenders into repeat offenders. Public officials and citizens alike often assume that known offenders pose a permanent risk of future offending. This belief entangles millions of offenders in the justice system for life, with …

Women’S Municipal Leadership In Massachusetts: Snapshot Of Cape Cod, Center For Women In Politics And Public Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The center tracks the status of women at all levels of government in New England. It also provides dynamic web resources to inform and support the public leadership of women of color.

Ohio Housing Needs Assessment, Ohio Housing Finance Agency, Holly Holtzen, Bryan Grady, Matthew Record

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Exposure To Pre-Incident Behavior And Reporting In College Students, Mario Scalora, Brandon A. Hollister, Sarah Hoff, Alissa Marquez

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

Campus targeted violence is preceded by noticeable, alarming behavior, and reporting improvement efforts have been suggested to increase students’ willingness to inform campus authorities of forewarning actions. Reporting improvement techniques have been most successful with material appealing to the perceptions of high-risk students (i.e., those likely to observe and not report). The current study examined the characteristics of students that view threatening behavior and lack willingness to report with a large, Midwestern, undergraduate sample (n 450). Approximately 35% of the sample (i.e., n 157) indicated observing pre-incident behavior on campus, and 65% of these individuals (i.e., n 101) described unwillingness …

Cybersecurity Strategy In Developing Nations: A Jamaica Case Study, Kevin Patrick Newmeyer

Presidential Alumni Research Dissemination Award

Developing nations have been slow to develop and implement cybersecurity strategies despite a growing threat to governance and public security arising from an increased dependency on Internet-connected systems in the developing world and rising cybercrime. Using a neorealist theoretical framework that draws from Gilpin and Waltz, this qualitative case study examined how the government and private sector in Jamaica viewed the state of cybersecurity in the country, and how the country was currently developing policy to respond to cyber threats. Employing Yin's recommended analysis process of iterative and repetitive review of case materials, the documents and interviews of key public …

Sometimes We Do Reinvent The Wheel: Commentary On Macdonald (1912), Mario Scalora

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

As a researcher of targeted violence, I found Arthur MacDonald’s work “Assassins of Rulers” (MacDonald, 1912) very provocative. Although different norms for behavioral and criminological research early the past century may have limited the current applicability of Mac- Donald’s findings, this work highlighted certain paradigmatic issues that have later emerged within the targeted violence literature. Before addressing commonalities with recent research, discussion of methodological issues is warranted. First, one is impressed with how detailed MacDonald’s presentation is across the range of cases of political assassination and regicide. One wonders how more descriptive MacDonald’s work would have been if he had …

How Civil Society Represents Women: Feminists, Catholics, And Mobilization Strategies In Africa, Alice J. Kang

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

In recent years, civil society has risen to speak on behalf of underrepresented groups in Africa. In particular, civil society has advocated for the representation of women’s interests. Yet, relatively little is known about the full range of actors who seek the representation of women’s interests, mobilize around women’s issues, and articulate specific preferences. Some of these actors include not only feminists, but also religious activists who may clash over women’s issues. This gap in knowledge, moreover, extends to non-democratic countries. Who in civil society seeks to influence the representation of women’s interests and how, in both democratic and authoritarian …

Charter School Locations Across The U.S. And Their Influence On Public School District Revenues, Peter A. Jones

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Since Minnesota passed the first charter school law in 1991, charter schools have become one of the most prominent school reforms in the U.S. While charter schools educate a small portion of public school enrollments, their existence has prompted various responses from traditional public school districts. For example, districts may change expenditure patterns or work to increase test scores in an effort to retain enrollments. In this sense, a charter school’s most significant impact on public school students may work indirectly through the traditional public school reactions they invoke.

This dissertation explores education finance implications for charter schools and their …

Massachusetts Community Mediation Center Grant Program: Fiscal Year 2013 Year-End Report & Evaluation, Susan J. Jeghelian, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Kaila O. Eisenkraft

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

During Fiscal Year 2013, the first year of the Massachusetts Community Mediation Center (CMC) Grant Program, 15 community mediation centers across the state were awarded state operating grants. This report documents and evaluates the progress of the CMC Grant Program towards its goal of expanding the use of community mediation as an affordable public service for Massachusetts citizenry. The status of program implementation is analyzed, and the program’s success is assessed through its impact on the stabilization and effectiveness of the funded community mediation centers as measured by, among other things, their delivery of high quality mediation services, efforts to …

The Plight Of Kenyan Domestic Workers In Gulf Countries, Caroline Muthoni Gikuru

Master's Theses

Kenya’s economy remains the regional leader within the East African Community (EAC) and among East African countries at large. However, political instability such as the 2007 post-election violence and the region’s social and political instability trickling into Kenya, have negatively affected the country’s economic growth. To bridge the economic gap, Kenyan women are seeking employment in the domestic service sector in the Gulf Countries, with Saudi Arabia being the most popular destination. At their destination countries, some domestic workers are subjected to various forms of abuse by their employers, leaving the worker without recourse due to the lack of legal …