Social Policy Commons^™

Fits & Starts: The Difficult Path For Working Single Parents, Rebecca Loya, Ruth J. Liberman, Randy Albelda, Elisabeth Babcock

Center for Social Policy Publications

With dramatic shifts in the economy in recent years, it has become increasingly difficult for families to move into or stay in the middle class without access to higher education and skills training. Government-sponsored work supports help by providing direct assistance to working families to meet basic needs, such as child care, food, and housing. Yet, many supports do not reach low-wage working families in Massachusetts because of low eligibility thresholds, inadequate funding, limited availability, limited awareness, and numerous barriers to accessing such supports. Even for low-wage workers who do receive key work supports, such as subsidized child care and …

Parenting From Prison: Family Relationships Of Incarcerated Women In Massachusetts, Erika Kates, Sylvia Mignon, Paige Ransford

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Historically in the United States, there has been little concern about the needs of incarcerated women and their family members, especially children. This began to change with the tremendous increase in the number of incarcerated women. The rate of women’s incarceration increased dramatically during the 1980s and today the number of female inmates continues to rise faster than the number of male inmates. In 1986, 19,812 women were incarcerated in the United States and this number rose in 1991 to 38,796. Today, over 112,000 women are incarcerated in state or federal facilities (Sabol et al., 2007; Snell 1994). While in …

Call To Action: A Pay Equity Resource Guide, Kacie Kelly

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Women continue to enter the workforce at record levels and laws on the state and federal levels prohibit gender discrimination in the workplace. Yet employment discrimination persists and women’s wages remain lower than men’s wages for comparable positions and occupations. With the 2005 publication of GETTING EVEN: Why Women Don’t Get Paid as Much as Men and What To Do About It by Economist and former Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Murphy, the issue of wage equity is finally receiving the widespread and sustained attention it deserves.

This resource guide provides an overview of the issues related to the wage gap …

Continuity And Change In Low-Wage Work In U.S. Retail Trade, Françoise Carré, Chris Tilly, Brandynn Holgate

Center for Social Policy Publications

Retail work is undergoing significant change in the United States. To explore these changes, and their impacts in terms of turnover, skill levels, and other key workforce variables, we conducted 18 case studies of retail businesses. We spoke to employees from top corporate executives to frontline employees, visited stores, and reviewed HR statistics. This paper summarizes major findings from the study.

We start by stating the study’s key questions, principal findings from public data sources, and the study design. We then review field findings on patterns in job quality across four dimensions (schedules, compensation, duties, and turnover/training/mobility). We identify two …

Women’S Municipal Leadership In Massachusetts, Paige Ransford, Miriam Lazewatsky

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPPP) at UMass Boston’s McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies has been tracking the election of women at the municipal level in Massachusetts since 1996. In 2003, the Project expanded to include all New England states. CWPPP remains the only research center in the United States that regularly tracks women’s political representation at the local level.

Low-Wage Workers Really Feel The Squeeze, Randy Albelda

Economics Faculty Publication Series

In the United States, it has been generally assumed that those who held a steady job could make ends meet but in today’s labor market nothing could be further from the truth. Workers in low-wage jobs can face double jeopardy: insufficient income to cover their basic needs and lack of access to job-related benefits to supplement their earnings. Public work supports — programs to help families fill basic needs such as health care, child care, food, and housing — can fill the gaps, and for many, they do. Still, in Massachusetts close to one out of every four individuals in …

Bridging The Gaps Between Earnings And Basic Needs In Massachusetts, Randy Albelda, Jennifer Shea

Economics Faculty Publication Series

In the United States, it is generally assumed that people who hold a steady job are able to make ends meet. But, in today’s labor market, where nearly a quarter of jobs pay low wages and do not offer benefi ts such as health insurance and retirement plans, this could not be further from the truth for millions of workers and their families. In fact, most workers do not make ends meet on their wages alone. Even upper- and moderate-wage workers are not “self-suffi cient” in a literal sense, as most receive onthe-job benefi ts, such as employer-provided health insurance …

Women Of Talent: Gender And Government Appointments In Massachusetts, 2002–2007, Carol Hardy-Fanta, Kacie Kelly

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Despite the high educational and occupational attainment—and considerable talent—of women in Massachusetts, the state ranks just 22nd in the nation on women's overall share of top executive, legislative, and judicial posts, compared to their share of the population. The goals of this study were to (1) calculate the percentage of women holding senior-level positions in state government at these four points in time; (2) analyze the distribution of appointments by type of position and executive office; (3) provide possible explanations for the status of women’s representation in these positions; and (4) offer recommendations that will serve to promote the appointment …

Bridging The Gaps: A Picture Of How Work Supports Work In Ten States, Randy Albelda, Heather Boushey

Center for Social Policy Publications

In the United States, it is generally assumed that getting a job is enough to make ends meet. But, in today’s labor market, where nearly a quarter of jobs pay low wages and offer no benefits, this couldn’t be further from the truth for millions of workers and their families. Work supports—programs to assist working families to access basics, such as health care, child care, food, and housing—are supposed to fill in the gaps for families, helping them to afford a safe and decent standard of living. The Bridging the Gaps (BTG) project finds that work supports work for the …

Bridging The Gaps Between Earnings And Basic Needs In Massachusetts: Executive Summary And Final Report, Randy Albelda, Jennifer Shea

Center for Social Policy Publications

In the United States, it is generally assumed that holding a steady job is enough to make ends meet. But, in today’s labor market, where nearly a quarter of jobs pay low wages and offer no benefits, this couldn’t be further from the truth for millions of workers and their families. Most workers do not make ends meet on their wages alone. Upper- and moderate-wage workers are not “selfsufficient” as most receive on-the-job benefits, such as employer-provided health insurance or paid sick days, and are eligible for unemployment or disability insurance if they need it. Workers in low-wage jobs find …

Expanding Homeownership Opportunity Ii: The Softsecond Loan Program, 1991-2006, Jim Campen

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides data on lending by the SoftSecond Loan Program during the most recent three-year period (2004-2006) as well as over the sixteen-year life of the program. The Mortgage Lending Committee of the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council (MCBC) has had a special interest in the SoftSecond program since its inception and has carefully monitored the performance of its loans. The report updates an earlier report prepared for MCBC by the present author in 2004: Expanding Homeownership Opportunity: The SoftSecond Loan Program, 1991-2003. Detailed information about the origins and evolution of the program, and about the details of …

Looking Back And Looking Ahead: Policy Visions From The New Deal And Great Society, Françoise Carré

Center for Social Policy Publications

On April 10 and 11, 2007, the Center for Social Policy convened a conference exploring policy visions from the New Deal and Great Society and their implications for today’s policy thinking. Titled, "Looking Back and Looking Ahead", this conference took place at the University of Massachusetts Boston Campus Center and the John F. Kennedy Library.

The conference was designed as an opportunity for speakers and participants to reflect on the lessons learned from these two watershed eras of policy innovation and their implications for looking forward. Policy actors and experts participated in three panel discussions on the historical context of …

The Voting Rights Act And The Election Of Nonwhite Officials, Pei-Te Lien, Dianne M. Pinderhughes, Carol Hardy-Fanta, Christine M. Sierra

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Voting Rights Act (VRA) is one of the most important—if not the most important—public policies developed over the last half century to increase access to the U.S. political system for people of color. The VRA also provides an important context for understanding the ascension of nonwhite groups into the elected leadership of the nation (Browning, Marshall, and Tabb 1984; Davidson and Grofman 1994; Menifield 2001; Mc-Clain and Stewart 2002; Segura and Bowler 2005; Bositis 2006). This essay assesses the present-day significance of the VRA for the political representation of communities of color by examining the implications of majority-minority districts and …

A Seat At The Table? Racial/Ethnic & Gender Diversity On Corporate, Hospital, Education, Cultural & State Boards, Carol Hardy-Fanta Phd, Donna Stewartson

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

As part of its larger Diversity Initiative, the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at UMass Boston has undertaken a number of projects. The first was a public opinion survey conducted around the time of the November 2006 elections. The report, Transformation and Taking Stock: A Summary of Selected Findings from the McCormack Graduate School Diversity Survey, included a comprehensive look at race relations in the Commonwealth at a time of significant transition—demographically and politically. This report was followed by A Benchmark Report on Diversity in State and Local Government, which focused on the percentage of positions filled …

Low-Income Women's Access To Education? A Case Study Of Welfare Recipients In Boston, Erika Kates

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

In 2003 and 2004, the Massachusetts legislature dramatically changed state law to allow welfare recipients to engage in education and training to fulfill their mandatory work requirements. The research reported here had as its goal to document whether women who received welfare benefits between 2003 and 2006 knew about, and took advantage of, these historic changes. A fundamental supposition of the research described here is that low-income women should have access to substantive educational opportunities to improve their employment and earnings; raise children with educational aspirations and achievements; enhance their civic participation; and contribute to the state’s human capital resources.

New Directions In Workforce Development: Do They Lead To Gains For Women?, Susan R. Crandall, Surabhi Jain

New England Journal of Public Policy

In order to achieve gender equality, it is critical to resurrect women’s interests as a driving force in the formulation of workforce development policies and programs. Current workforce strategies are centered on helping economically disadvantaged individuals gain employment in high demand industries that offer opportunities to earn family-sustaining wages. Yet many of these high-growth industries consist of male-dominated occupations, which provide lower earnings and advancement potential for women. Because women continue to be channeled into lower-paying fields, demand-driven workforce policies may result in lower earnings for women. To address gender biases, increased emphasis should be placed on selecting jobs that …

Walking The Maternal Tightrope: Work And Family In America, Roxanne A. Donovan, Andrew L. Pieper, Allison N. Ponce

New England Journal of Public Policy

In the last few decades, an unprecedented number of women with children have entered the U.S. workforce. The ability to negotiate the roles of parent and employee is important to the health and financial well-being of these women and their families, but institutional and social barriers impede the process. Using the empirical and theoretical literature on women and work, this article examines these barriers. The authors address the impact of cultural ideals, psychological processes, and public policy on the maternal work-family balance. Several changes that would help create an atmosphere supportive of balance are explored, including increased support for shared …

A Benchmark Report On Diversity In State And Local Government, Carol Hardy-Fanta Phd

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The Pipeline to Public Service Initiative asked the McCormack Graduate School’s Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston to ascertain the racial diversity in state and local government. The project had the following three goals:

--To identify the race (and gender) of those holding top-level positions filled through gubernatorial appointments, e.g., secretaries, commissioners, directors, deputy commissioners/directors, and undersecretaries, in the Commonwealth’s executive offices and major departments.

--To compile the same information for members of the most influential boards and commissions in the Commonwealth filled through gubernatorial appointments.

--To assess the diversity of elected …

Data Note: Ssi Recipients With Disabilities Who Work And Participation In 1619b, Brooke Dennee-Sommers, Frank A. Smith

Data Note Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a federally funded program that provides cash assistance for basic needs. Individuals with a low-income who are over the age of 65, blind, or have a disability are eligible for assistance. SSI beneficiaries typically also receive health insurance coverage through Medicaid. Losing Medicaid benefits can be of concern for SSI recipients with disabilities who desire to work, or are currently working. Section 1619b of the Social Security Act allows individuals to work and continue to receive Medicaid assistance when their earnings are too high to qualify for SSI cash payments as long as they meet …

Borrowing Trouble Vii: Higher-Cost Mortgage Lending In Boston, Greater Boston, And Massachusetts, 2005, Jim Campen

Gastón Institute Publications

Six years ago, in response to numerous reports of the growth of predatory lending, the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council (MCBC) – whose Board of Directors has an equal number of bank and community representatives – commissioned a study of subprime refinance lending in the city of Boston and surrounding communities. The resulting report, Borrowing Trouble? Subprime Mortgage Lending in Greater Boston, 1999, was the first detailed look at subprime lending in the city of Boston and in twenty-seven surrounding communities.

This is the seventh report in the annual series begun by that initial study. Over the years, the …

Transformation And Taking Stock: A Summary Of Selected Findings From The Mccormack Graduate School Diversity Survey, Carol Hardy-Fanta, Paul Watanabe

William Monroe Trotter Institute Publications

This report summarizes some of the major findings of a survey of 749 Massachusetts adults which focuses on matters related to race, public policy, confidence in public institutions, and political behavior. Since a principal objective of the poll is to elicit views from diverse perspectives, the respondents include significant numbers from all major racial groups: Whites (N=100), Latinos (N=113), Asian Americans (N=103), and Blacks and African Americans (N=100). The data was collected in October and November 2006. On some items, there are comparisons with data derived from a similar poll conducted in 1998.

The poll was undertaken during a time …

Latino Shelter Poverty In Massachusetts, Michael E. Stone

Gastón Institute Publications

There were about 121,000 Latino-headed households in Massachusetts in 2000 – nearly 5% of all households, an increase from 3.5% in 1990. The median annual income for Latino-headed households was $27,400 in 2000. About one-third of Latino households had annual incomes of less than $15,000; one-third had between $15,000 and 40,000; and one-third had incomes of $40,000 or more. The median Latino household size was 3 persons. 78% of Latino-headed households rented housing, and only 22% were homeowners.

Minority Women In The Healthcare Workforce In New England, Carol Hardy-Fanta, Erika Kates, Helen Levine, Kate Peery-Wolf

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Research on health disparities affecting people of color typically focuses on their health status, health treatment and health outcomes with a particular emphasis on the relatively high rates of morbidity and mortality from selected diseases for ethnic and racial minority groups. This fact sheet offers a different but related focus on gender and race/ethnicity in the health care workforce. Our rationale is that the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce concluded that the lack of minority doctors, nurses and dentists is a significant cause of racial/ethnic health disparities and that the ability to recruit, train and retain minority …

Prevention At Work: Homelessness Prevention Initiative (Hpi) Interim Evaluation Report, January 2004 Through September 2005, Donna H. Friedman, Jennifer Raymond, Consuela Greene, John Mcgah, Elizabeth Brown, Julia Tripp, Helen Levine

Center for Social Policy Publications

This interim report summarizes what has been learned about the processes and outcomes of interventions by HPI grantees in the first 21 months of the initiative, from January 2004 through September 2005. To ground our findings, Section One begins with a discussion of the housing, economic, and policy contexts in the U.S. and the state that impact low-income households. This section focuses on the public and nonprofit sectors these households rely upon for help when their housing circumstances are precarious.

Section Two describes the households served by HPI grantees and their varied circumstances. Section Three offers detail on the prevention …

Borrowing Trouble? Vi: High-Cost Mortgage Lending In Greater Boston, 2004, Jim Campen

Gastón Institute Publications

Five years ago, in response to numerous reports of the growth of predatory lending, both locally and nationwide, the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council (MCBC) – whose Board of Directors has an equal number of bank and community representatives – commissioned a study of subprime refinance lending in the city of Boston and surrounding communities. The resulting report, Borrowing Trouble? Subprime Mortgage Lending in Greater Boston, 1999, was the first detailed look at subprime lending in the city of Boston and in twenty-seven surrounding communities.

This is the sixth report in the annual series begun by that initial study. …

Women And Homelessness In Massachusetts, Michelle Kahan

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Ninety percent of the 1,100 families who utilize the state's shelter system annually are headed by women, as are approximately 20% of the 19,000-29,000 individuals who stay in Massachusetts emergency shelters each year. In total, a minimum of 5,000 women and 2,000 children annually stay in Massachusetts homeless shelters.

These figures do not include over 3,000 women in domestic violence shelter (60% of whom enter shelter with their children), not the 50% of families seeking emergency shelter who are turned away each year. Over a period of three years, women also make up a quarter of Boston's 1,400 street dwellers: …

The Social And Economic Costs Of Employee Misclassification In The Maine Construction Industry, Françoise Carré, Randall Wilson

Center for Social Policy Publications

With this study, a cross disciplinary team of the Center for Construction Policy Research has taken a first and significant step in documenting employee misclassification in the Maine construction industry. This report documents the dimensions of misclassification and its implications for tax collection and worker compensation insurance.

Misclassification occurs when employers treat workers who would otherwise be waged or salaried employees as independent contractors (self employed). Or as one report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor put it, misclassification occurs “when workers (who should be) getting W-2 forms for income tax filing instead receive 1099-Miscellaneous Income forms."

Transitions At Dta: Homeless Pilot Programs At The Massachusetts Department Of Transitional Assistance (2003-2005), John Mcgah, Amy Carlin

Center for Social Policy Publications

Towards the end of fiscal year 2004, the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), the state’s welfare department, initiated eight pilot programs to better serve homeless families, to end the state’s reliance on placing families in hotels/motels, and to enable families living in motels to move into stable housing as quickly as possible. These initiatives were created in reaction to the unacceptably high number of motel placements of homeless families (about 600 in 2003). Motels do provide a needed alternative when emergency shelters are full, but they are a political, fiscal and moral liability. In 2004, DTA, in partnership with …

Partners In Prevention: Community-Wide Homelessness Prevention In Massachusetts And The United States, Donna H. Friedman, John Mcgah, Julia Tripp, Michelle Kahan, Nicole Witherbee, Amy Carlin

Center for Social Policy Publications

A central objective of the Homelessness Prevention Initiative (HPI) is to generate information for state policymakers on viable statewide approaches for investing in homelessness prevention. Therefore, to contextualize the policy relevance of HPI evaluation findings and to add to the strength of recommendations, the evaluation team has systematically explored examples of community-wide homelessness prevention efforts already underway in Massachusetts and in other parts of the country.

We selected communities that met the following criteria:

• The prevention network included an entire county, city, region or state.
• Cross-organizational resource-sharing, policies and interventions were in place.
• The collaboration engaged in primary prevention, that …

“As Tough As It Gets”: Women In Boston Politics, 1921-2004, Kristen A. Petersen, Carol Hardy-Fanta Phd, Karla Armenoff

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

This study seeks to answer the question: Given the wealth of talent and resources women possess—and the state offers—why is it so tough for women to gain representation in Boston City Hall? To answer this question, and to document the efforts women have made over almost 100 years, we examine the history of women who have run for and won—or lost—election to the Boston City Council in the 20th century. How does the structure and culture of a given urban political arena (i.e., “Boston politics”) affect women’s opportunities as elected officials? What is women’s political culture and how has it …