Public Policy Commons^™

Chicago And Hope Vi: Examining The Dislocation Of Urban Poor, Todd W. Sink

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The inception of HOPE VI in 1992 was proposed as a solution to concentrated poverty and disinvestment in inner city neighborhoods. The US General Accounting Office estimates that as of November 2003, approximately 49,000 people have been forced to relocate to permanent or temporary residences since the nationwide implementation of HOPE VI. Today, the effects of HOPE VI on the urban poor of Chicago have received little attention. This research examines the dislocation of urban poor and possible gentrification in Chicago's public housing areas, and the socioeconomic condition of new destinations for voucher movers. 111 Twenty public housing tracts and …

Elder Economic Security Initiative: The Elder Economic Security Standard For Massachusetts, Laura Henze Russell, Ellen A. Bruce, Judith M. Conahan

Gerontology Institute Publications

What is an adequate income for older adults in Massachusetts to age in place? How does it vary according to where they live, and their life circumstances: whether they are living alone or with a spouse, rent or own their home, drive a car or use other transportation? How do elders’ living costs change as their health status and life circumstances change? What happens if they need long-term care to keep living at home?

This report will address these questions through the development of a measure of income adequacy for older adults using the WOW-GI National Elder Economic Security Standard …

On The Edge: Facing A Challenging And Uncertain Future. Elder Economic Security Standard™ For The Boston Area, Laura Henze Russell, Ellen A. Bruce, Judith M. Conahan

Gerontology Institute Publications

What is an adequate income for older adults in the Boston area to age in place? How does it vary according to their life circumstances: whether they are living alone or with a spouse, rent or own their home, drive a car or use other transportation? How do Boston area elders’ living costs change as their health status and life circumstances change? What happens if they need long-term care to keep living at home?

This report will address these questions through the development of a measure of income adequacy for older adults, the Elder Economic Security Standard (Elder Standard). The …

Reform And Empire: The British And American Transnational Search For The Rights Of Black People In The Late Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Centuries, Thomas E. Smith

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Late nineteenth century modernity forced reformers in Great Britain and the United States to embrace a new sense of immediacy in their strategies. These new strategies, however, rarely extended to black people who were often subject to violence and discrimination in the period of high imperialism. Instead, when most reformers discussed the problems black people faced all they could offer were traditional promises of religious-based protections or “uplift.” The violence of lynching in the 1890s forced reformers to address the problems of white supremacy in a direct fashion, while promoting an understanding of the connection between the plight of African …

Migrant Working Children In Ho Chi Minh City: Emerging Trends Between Economic Migrant And Runaway Child Workers, Paige Fern

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper studies the impact of doi moi on working children in Ho Chi Minh City. Doi moi, which was implemented in 1986, drastically changed Vietnamese society, economically, socially ad politically. These changes allowed a market economy to emerge, sparked remarkable economic growth, and reduced the overall level of poverty. The living standard of the entire population has improved as a result of these economic developments. Poverty reduction has not occurred equally across all regions of Vietnam. Since 1986, there has been a growing divide between rural and urban areas. Around 10 million children in Vietnam today, 30% of the …

The Market For Change: Community Economic Development On A Wider Stage, Peter R. Pitegoff

Faculty Publications

Community economic development (CED) is distinguished by a specific agenda for broader development and accountability - for building local resources, economic capacity and political clout in lower- and moderate-income communities. Organizing and development of low-income communities must take account of microenterprise as the locus of substantial economic activity.

Benefits For All: The Economic Impact Of The New Jersey Child Care Industry • Infant/Toddler, Preschool And Out-Of-School Time Programs, Brentt Brown, Saskia Traill Ph.D., Caroline Purnell Tompkins, The New Jersey Child Care Economic Impact Council, The John S. Watson Institute For Public Policy Of Thomas Edison State College

Center for the Positive Development of Urban Children

The child care industry includes infant/toddler care and education, preschool and out-of-school time care and education programs in for-profit, nonprofit and public settings that educate and nurture children’s development and enable their parents to work and update their skills. This report examines the economic impact of New Jersey’s child care industry and presents a complete picture of its gross receipts, number of employees and how the industry provides benefits for all. The child care industry is integral to family and economic life of New Jersey residents:

1. Child care and education programs with quality learning environments support New Jersey’s future …

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Welfare Polls: A Synthesis, Matthew D. Adler

Faculty Scholarship

"Welfare polls" are survey instruments that seek to quantify the determinants of human well-being. Currently, three welfare polling formats are dominant: contingent valuation (CV) surveys, quality-adjusted life year (QALY) surveys, and happiness surveys. Each format has generated a large, specialized, scholarly literature, but no comprehensive discussion of welfare polling as a general enterprise exists.This Article seeks to fill that gap.

Part I describes the trio of existing formats. Part II discusses the current and potential uses of welfare polls in governmental decisionmaking. Part III analyzes in detail the obstacles that welfare polls must overcome to provide useful well-being information, and …

The State Of “Differently Abled” People In The Western Cape, South Africa, Joshua Wade Paul

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project is a look into whether the current legislation and resources provided allow for the equality that is promised in the new constitution. I looked at legislation and community NGOs in order to establish what is being done in order to assure that people with disabilities have equal access to resources, including education, transportation, employment, healthcare, public awareness, and human resource development. In order to investigate these questions I worked with the Cape Mental Health Society and the Fountain House; I conducted interviews and observations looking at the community facilities of care. These community groups also provided insight into …

Access To Housing For Persons With Disabilities: Lessons Learned From Three Demonstration Projects, Cutler, Disability And Aging, Eileen Griffin Jd

Disability & Aging

The Quality Choices for Maine project was conducted from 2001-2004. This report focuses on Access to Services, one part of the three-year RCSC Quality Grant. The specific housing related goal was “to improve access to community housing for people with disabilities of all types.” Project activities were overseen by the Access to Services Technical Assistance Group and a variety of stakeholders. Read the activity summaries, lessons learned and recommendations on how to sustain the work.

Est-Ce Que Le Droit D’Asile Est Menacé En France ?(Is The Right To Asylum Being Threatened In France?), Ralph Delouis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

« Le droit d’asile en France existe en principe qu’en pratique. », un psychologue interculturel qui a travaillé avec les demandeurs d’asile. La France est un pays qui est bien connu pour beaucoup de chose. La France est un pays connu dans le monde entier pour sa culture, son art, sa philosophie, et sa gastronomie parmi autre. Une autre chose pour laquelle la France est très bien connu est l’occasion de trouver asile en France. La France a l’image d’un pays ou la république est très juste et très ouvert. Dans le passé elle est connu pour être accueillant aux …

Access Choice And Control: A Comparative Analysis Of Maine's Personal Assistance Services Programs, Eileen Griffin Jd

Disability & Aging

The purpose of this analysis was to identify opportunities for eliminating unnecessary inconsistency and increasing consumer choice and control across Maine's personal assistance services (PAS) programs. Thirteen recommendations were made based on the findings which indicated that Maine PAS programs vary in the level of support they offer but the difference in support cannot necessarily be explained by differences in the level of need. Additionally, Maine PAS programs have been and are currently working toward increasing opportunities for expanding consumer choice and control over services.

The Challenge Of Ethnic Diversity, Gary L. Rose

Political Science & Global Affairs Faculty Publications

As the census data reveals, the state of Connecticut will experience a sizeable increase in the percentage of Blacks and Hispanics by the year 2025. The projected increase in Blacks and Hispanics will most certainly have political and public policy ramifications in the years ahead.

Demographic trends in Connecticut pose distinct challenges for both political parties. The ability to understand the policy needs of the state's increasingly diverse population, an understanding of how policy needs translate into political behavior will be required among those who seek public office in Connecticut.

Living With Leave Part I: Intermittent Leave, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Charts and Summaries of State, U.S., and Foreign Laws and Regulations

No abstract provided.

The Practice Of The Commons, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This paper

This paper lays out some of the basics of a language-based, person-centered, or agentic model of practice for nonprofit organizations, voluntary action and philanthropy within the emerging domain of commons theory. Six principles are identified for the practice of commons. Two threats to the production of common goods - bureaucratization and colonization of the life world - are discussed and evaluated as limitations of the practice of commons.

Implications Of Changing Social Norms For Social Security Benefits: Results Of Pilot Research, Francis G. Caro, Yung-Ping Chen

Gerontology Institute Publications

Problem. The U.S. Social Security program is designed to protect the American family structure that existed when the program was introduced in the 1930s. Both family structure and social norms regarding family life have changed substantially in the interim. Major changes in family structure invite proposals to modify Social Security benefits to accommodate contemporary conditions. To remain politically viable, the program must make adjustments to reflect contemporary public opinion regarding family life. We asked to what extent contemporary public opinion is supportive of the current benefit structure and the extent to which public opinion points to possible changes in benefits? …

Child Welfare And Devolving Federalism: An Analysis Of The Effects Of Federal Funding Schemes On Selected Child Welfare Outcomes In Michigan, Timothy J. Kangas

Dissertations

Child abuse and neglect has become a pervasive problem across the United States. Between 1985 and 1995 the foster care population in the United States grew by 79%, with costs soaring into the billions. During the mid-1990s, in an effort to address this issue, the federal government shifted from using a funding scheme identified with a traditional model of federalism to one identified with devolving federalism. In Michigan, the focus of this research, this shift in approaches occurred through the issuance of block grant funding for child welfare programming. The intent of this shift was to decentralize elements of the …

Fear Assessment: Cost-Benefit Analysis And The Pricing Of Fear And Anxiety, Matthew D. Adler

Faculty Scholarship

Risk assessment is now a common feature of regulatory practice, but fear assessment is not. In particular, environmental, health and safety agencies such as EPA, FDA, OSHA, NHTSA, and CPSC, commonly count death, illness and injury as costs for purposes of cost-benefit analysis, but almost never incorporate fear, anxiety or other welfare-reducing mental states into the analysis. This is puzzling, since fear and anxiety are welfare setbacks, and since the very hazards regulated by these agencies - air or water pollutants, toxic waste dumps, food additives and contaminants, workplace toxins and safety threats, automobiles, dangerous consumer products, radiation, and so …

Sozialpolitik Anders Denken. Das Verursacherprinzip – Von Der Umweltpolitischen Zur Sozialpolitischen Anwendung, Isidor Wallimann, Esteban Piñeiro

Books

The “polluter pays” principle in environmental law assumes that the actor would reduce or avoid adverse effects of his actions if he had to bear the consequences of those actions (internalization of effects). Such internalization can generally be done in two ways: either by avoiding or eliminating the harmful effects or by wearing the financial consequences of the injury. It is therefore on the one hand to have an incentive effect, on the other to a compensatory effect.

Pineiro and Wallimann apply these societal cost principles from the environmental world to the social realm, where social problems can be seen …

Review Of From Immigration Controls To Welfare Controls. Steve Cohen, Beth Humphries, & Ed Mynott (Eds.). Reviewed By Miriam Potocky-Tripodi., Miriam Potocky-Tripodi

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Steve Cohen, Beth Humphries and Ed Mynott (Eds.), From Immigration Controls to Welfare Controls. New York: Routledge, 2002. $90.00 hardcover, $28.95 papercover.

Characteristics Of Homeless Individuals Accessing Massachusetts Emergency Shelters, 1999-2001, Tatjana Meschede, Michelle Kahan, Michelle Hayes, Donna Friedman

Center for Social Policy Publications

The Center for Social Policy (CSP) at the McCormack Institute, University of Massachusetts Boston oversees the Connection, Service, and Partnership through Technology (CSPTech) project. CSPTech operates a homeless management information system being implemented throughout the Commonwealth. Founded in 1995, this project is a networked computerized record-keeping system that allows homeless service providers across Massachusetts to collect uniform client information over time. This information is aggregated in a database used by service providers, advocates, government officials, researchers, and people experiencing homelessness. Analysis of this information is critical to efforts to understand the extent of this problem in Massachusetts in an attempt …

Food Stamps: Available But Not Easily Accessible: A Study Conducted For Project Bread, Michelle Kahan, Elaine Werby, Jennifer Raymond

Center for Social Policy Publications

Concerned with growing hunger among Massachusetts families eligible for Food Stamps, and the paradoxical decline in the number of program enrollees, Project Bread asked the Center for Social Policy at the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs, University of Massachusetts Boston (CSP) to study the process of securing and sustaining Food Stamp Benefits. Concurrent with the planning process for the study, the Massachusetts legislature, in an override of the Governor's veto in early December 2001, included language in the FY 2002 budget designed to expand access to the program. Among other requirements, the language requires the Department of Transitional …

Review Of Welfare And Employment In A United Europe. Giuseppe Bertola, Tito Boeri And Giuseppe Nicoleti (Eds.). Review By Martin Evans., Martin Evans

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Giuseppe Bertola, Tito Boeri and Giuseppe Nicoleti (Eds.), Welfare and Employment in a United Europe. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 2001. $32.95

A Framework For Quality Assurance In Child Welfare, Mary O'Brien, Peter Watson

Faculty, Staff, and Alumni Books

This guide outlines a framework for implementing quality assurance programs for child welfare services. The components are based on federal requirements, national standards, and child welfare research. Five steps are described: select outcomes and standards, integrate quality assurance goals and procedures throughout the agency, collect data about outcomes, analyze data, and improve systems as indicated by evaluation findings. Specific topics include the role of the quality assurance system in the Child and Family Services Review process, communication of quality assurance practices, and staff participation in analysis. The manual describes each step of the quality assurance system and reviews the tasks.

Public Voices And Public Policy: Changing The Societal Discourse On "Welfare", Vicki Lens

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Much of the public discourse on welfare reform is subjective and value laden, a composite of socially constructed stories and myths that support the dominant ideology. This article reports on a study that examines the language used by government officials, poverty experts, advocates and others to discuss welfare reform. Statements made about welfare reform were extracted from the Washington Post and the New York Times and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Dissecting the public language of welfare provides insight into how prevailing ideologies are communicated and reinforced, and how they can be changed.

Community Foundations In West Virginia, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This report is part of an ongoing investigation of the support of neighborhood associations by community foundations in three states – Michigan, New Mexico and West Virginia. The findings are primarily negative: There is no evidence that the 22 community foundations of West Virginia have provided support for the development or continuation of neighborhood associations in the state.

Hybrid Organizations And The Alignment Of Interests: The Case Of Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac, Jonathan G.S. Koppell

Publications from President Jonathan G.S. Koppell

This article explores the political influence of government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). Using Congress's overhaul of the regulatory infrastructure for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as a case study, the article presents two principal findings: (1) The characteristics that distinguish government-sponsored enterprises from traditional government agencies and private companies endow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with unique political resources; and (2) the alignment of interest groups around Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is subject to strategic manipulation by the GSEs. A triangular model of this alignment is proposed and employed to analyze the legislative outcome. The case has implications for students of …

Promising Practices Supporting The Transition Of Youth From The Foster Care System To Independent Living, Denise E. Riebman

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

Every yea,r many youth emancipate from foster care when they are no longer eligible to be in the system. These former foster youth need to be self reliant and able to support themselves. The role of independent living programs is to assist the foster youth to develop tools and skills that will be needed to lead self sufficient lives.

A Comparative Assessment Of The Status, Structure And Process Utilized By Nevada's Family Support And Preservation Consortia To Achieve Collaboration, Marlys A. Morton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper presents a framework for understanding inter-organizational collaboration and describes and analyzes how collaboration was used as a method to build new service networks, the characteristics of the consortia, and the status of the collaborative processes.

Although the literature on inter-organizational collaboration in the human services is increasing, little is known about how regional consortia view the process of working together towards a common purpose. The results reported in this paper are intended to help fill that gap.

The findings reported in this study are based on a survey process using a standardized questionnaire to study the collaborative status. …

Housing For All: Addressing The Housing Needs Of Massachusetts' North Shore Residents, Theresa Mason, Elaine Werby, Caroline Coscia, Lisa Ward, Donna Friedman

Center for Social Policy Publications

The aim of this report is to support North Shore efforts to build a regional approach to housing.

The report explores the housing needs of people who are caught in the squeeze between low incomes and high housing costs. The report has two goals:

1. to provide information for understanding the need to expand below market rate housing;
2. to illustrate that need by providing detailed documentation on the situation in Gloucester, Peabody, and Salem.

The report is not intended to propose solutions, but to provide groundwork for solutions.