Social Policy Commons^™

Special Education Identification In The Louisiana Scholarship Program, Sivan Tuchman, Patrick J. Wolf

School Choice Demonstration Project

The debate over school vouchers continues as more states offer government dollars to fund private schooling for students as a method of improving choice and quality in K-12 education. Previous research in the charter school sector has found that special education enrollment discrepancies between charters and traditional public schools is likely due to a mixture in parental choice making, differential identification practices, and the removal of special education labels. This study is the first experimental analysis of the impact of a enrollment in a private school choice program on special education identification and de-identification. Using data for almost 2,000 students …

Supplying Choice: An Analysis Of School Participation Decisions In Voucher Programs In Dc, Indiana, And Louisiana, Yujie Sude, Corey A. Deangelis, Patrick J. Wolf

School Choice Demonstration Project

Since school voucher funds are public, policymakers fiercely debate how those funds should be spent. A goal of many decision-makers is to ensure that every private school option is “highquality” through program accountability regulations. Private schools, however, have a say in the matter. They can decide whether or not to participate in a private school choice program and likely factor the type and level of program regulations into that decision. We examine the impacts of private school regulations on the supply-side of voucher programs in D.C., Indiana, and Louisiana. Private schools value their autonomy. Therefore, we expect that regulatory burden …

The Legacy Of Slavery And The Continued Marginalization Of Communities Of Color Within The Legal System, Julia N. Alvarez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The aim of this thesis paper is to demonstrate how the history of slavery in the United States continues to marginalize communities of color. The history of slavery in America was the result of various factors. Some of these factors included but were not limited to; economic, legal, and social. Slavery provided a reliable and self-reproducing workforce. The laws enacted during slavery ensured the continuation of the social order of the time. This social order was based on the generalized understanding that blacks were born into servitude. Those born into slavery were not given the same legal or economic status …

Geneva International Centre For Humanitarian Demining 2016 Annual Report, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

In 2016, GICHD staff visited and supported 57 countries to improve mine action globally and locally. Over the 40 training sessions and workshops that were delivered, we had the opportunity to reach out to 870 course participants. To carry out this work, our staff grew. As of the end of 2016, the GICHD is made up of 65 staff members representing 19 nations.

Read about all the main areas of the Centre's work in 2016 as well as highlights of some of its major achievements. The Report also includes a summary of the Performance Report and the most recent list …

Leaving No One Behind: Mine Action And The Sustainable Development Goals, Gichd, United Nations Development Programme

Global CWD Repository

This joint GICHD-UNDP study explores the links between mine action and the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs and it reflects upon the current understanding of the contribution and impact that mine action is having on achieving the 2030 Agenda in countries affected by landmines, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war.

The study also provides guidance to policy and decision makers from mine action organisations, donors and particularly National Mine Action Authorities on how to:

• increase awareness and understanding of the 2030 Agenda amongst the mine action community and its core partners
• identify the catalytic potential of mine action …

Social Isolation And Loneliness In Older People: A Closer Look At Definitions, Mary Lou Ciolfi, Frances Jimenez Ba

Disability & Aging

Social isolation and loneliness are related and the terms are often used interchangeably, but they are distinct concepts with different definitions, health impacts, and interventions. Our population is aging and older people are at increased risk for both social isolation and loneliness and the associated negative health consequences. Understanding the important differences between social isolation and loneliness will help us recognize them earlier in vulnerable populations, engage in more meaningful conversations with older adults about their own risks, and will inform the development and delivery of more individualized, meaningful, and cost-effective interventions.

Multiple Perspectives On Service Animals In Society, Arthur W. Blaser

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

This paper explores alternative strategies for taking service dogs seriously. I argue for multiple analytical perspectives to understand service dog issues (as opposed to overreliance on a single method). Analysts (including journalists, policy-makers, and activists) should reflect on media coverage, socio-economic realities, politics and law, and many other factors. Rather than thinking "either/or" on service dogs in society, we need to move to thinking "both/and," to critical analysis of multiple perspectives.

Insights In Depression Screening At A Latino-Serving, Integrated Fqhc Clinic, Jacquelyn Stephenson

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Depression manifests differently in Latinos when compared to other racial-ethnic groups, but little is known regarding linguistic differences among Latinos. This mixed methods study explored the depression screening processes among patients and medical providers at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) through an ethnic-linguistic lens. Binary logistic regressions were performed to determine the effects of ethnicity and language on PHQ-2 screening rates for 10,285 adult patients seen during a primary care medical visit from 2014 to 2015; of these 4,745 (46%) patients were screened for depression. Spanish-speakers were screened for depression more often than non-Latinos and Latinos who were English-speakers. …

Book Review: Prostitution Narratives: Stories Of Survival In The Sex Trade, Edited By Caroline Norma And Melinda Tankard Reist, Abigail Bray

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Perceived Preparedness Of California Social Workers To Discuss Physician Assisted Death, Shanda Marie Brennan, Meliza Quinonez Kinney

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Effective June 9, 2016, many terminally ill patients residing in the State of California will now have the legal option of terminating their life because of protections offered under The California End of Life Options Act. Social workers whose population of care includes terminally ill patients will likely be engaging in conversations about end of life options, including physician assisted death, with their patients. Little research exists addressing what factors may influence social workers perceived preparedness to discuss physician assisted death with patients, yet the expectation that social workers be prepared to discuss all available end of life options with …

Strategies And Substance Treatment: Perceptions Of Older Adults 60 And Over, Kim Malveo Jones

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gather the perceive strategies and substance treatment needs of adults 60 and over. To examine what recovery treatment models and strategies could be most effective for the age-related complex needs of the 60 and over population who are at risk for substance misuse, use or abuse. In the coming years, there will be a substantial increase in the numbers of older adults with substance misuse and abuse problems. Even though one in five individuals who experience substance abuse are older adults many clinicians remain ill equipped to serve older clientele, and particularly those …

An Examination Of Foster Youth Socialization To Dating And Sexual Behaviors, Rhoda L. Smith

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Foster youth reportedly face unusual and negative life circumstances and outcomes due to being placed in out-of-home care. Foster care provides a resource for substitute caregiving which can range from archaically institutional to warm and familial. Foster care is a transient system which alters what is normative for youth relative to what mainstream youth experience, especially in adolescence. Being out of control of their lives and futures serves to create vulnerability for foster youth in the area of sexual and reproductive health. Lack of clarity within the child welfare agency regarding responsibility for imparting necessary, relevant information to foster youth …

Oregon Wasted Food Study: Measurement, Motivations And Opportunities To Waste Less Food, Laura Moreno, Christa Mcdermott, Doc Billings

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality partnered with Portland State University’s Community Environmental Services to conduct a five-part study on wasted food generation in the State of Oregon. The main research objectives for this study are:

• Understand the informational, psychological, socio-economic, and structural drivers that contribute to the generation of preventable wasted food;
• Collect reliable data on wasted edible food, including loss reasons and reporting biases; and
• Provide the state, cities, counties, and consumer-facing businesses, such as grocery retailers and restaurants, with basic methods of establishing their own wasted food baselines and assessing shifts in waste prevention behaviors or levels …

Considerations For Mexican Immigration Policy Reform: How Motivations To Migrate Align With U.S. And Mexican Macroeconomic Conditions, Alix Naugler

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The nationalistic rhetoric adopted by the newly-elected president’s administration along with the public’s climaxing anti-immigrant hysteria has recently forced Mexican immigration intervention to the top of the U.S. agenda. Misconceptions regarding Mexicans’ role in stealing jobs, threatening cultural and ethnic traditions, and straining public welfare, educational, and healthcare resources have spurred a fear among the American people. This politically-fabricated “schizophrenia” has ceased the political and economic collaboration between the two nations and has resulted in the unilateral militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border. In this evaluation of the U.S. government’s immigration policies, the proposed economic theories related to Mexicans’ motivations in …

San Francisco's Response To Sexual Assault: Pathways To Creating A Survivor-Centered Criminal Justice System, Bianca Rosen

Master's Projects and Capstones

This research examines the process when adult sexual assault survivors in San Francisco decide to pursue legal justice and how survivors experience the local criminal justice system. My analysis exposes the mistreatment of survivors who participate with local law enforcement and recommends survivor-centered policies that could support the wellbeing of survivors pressing charges. The purpose of this research is to encourage law enforcement practices that prioritize survivors’ self-determination and welfare.

End Of Life Care For The Incarcerated, Codie Robinson

Dialogue & Nexus

As the prison population ages, a new need has come to light – caring for those who are in the final stage of life. This paper will examine the current end of life services provided to those in prison throughout the United States. After a general awareness of the system is presented, a more complete discussion of end of life care for prisoners will be considered, in light of ethics, social justice, and the Christian perspective. The two care options presented, hospice care and compassionate release, are observed through these lenses. In order to make a decision on how to …

Charter School Funding: Inequity In The City, Patrick J. Wolf, Larry D. Maloney, Jay F. May, Corey A. Deangelis

School Choice Demonstration Project

Public charter schools are a growing part of K-12 education. Charter schools are public schools that are granted operational autonomy by their authorizing agency in return for a commitment to achieve specific performance goals. Like traditional public schools, charter schools are free to students and overseen by the state. Unlike traditional public schools, however, most charters are open to all students who wish to apply, regardless of where they live. If a charter school is over-subscribed, usually random lotteries determine which students will be admitted. Most charter schools are independent of the traditional public school district in which they operate.

The Dream Act: A Retrospective On Immigration Policies Across Time And Nations, Ernest M. Oleksy

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

The United States has a long tradition of assimilating diverse peoples into a shared culture and thus developing a transformative, holistic national identity. Despite this historical affinity for immigration, there have also been points during which rose issues with migrants entering the country illegally. Once this happens, politicians must decide how to deal with an influx of undocumented aliens. This paper focuses on amnesty acts, particularly ones past through the American Congress in the past century. The relationship between amnesty legislation and immigration flow will be investigated. Also, an exploration of European policies towards immigration will all be conducted in …

Ending Transitional Homelessness In San Jose, California: A Process Evaluation Of The City Of San Jose’S Plan To Convert A Hotel/Motel Into A Single Room Occupancy Living Unit For The Transitionally Homeless, Alyssa Garcia

Master's Projects

The City of San Jose has been working on the Hotel/Motel Supportive Housing Program and Underutilized City-Owned Property project since 2012. The City acquired the Plaza Hotel in downtown San Jose from the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Authority and leased the property to Abode. Abode converted the rooms into SRO units for the transitionally homeless and occupancy is expected in July of 2017. The program is estimated to operate for five years before it is torn down. The project is unique, as the city has never had a hotel/motel conversion program tailored towards transitionally homeless adults.

A process evaluation …

A Radical Idea: Applying Psychological Strategy To Combat Foreign Fighters Defending The Islamic State, David Michael Smaney

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the necessity of psychological strategies to combat the Islamic State’s recruitment of foreign fighters. This thesis argues that psychological strategies are a primary weapon due to the psychological nature of the war against the Islamic State, which is a part of the overall war of ideas. This thesis does not consider psychological strategies for other aspects of U.S. counterterrorism strategy, nor does it reflect the difficulties involved with developing U.S. strategies in the U.S. federal government. Furthermore, this thesis only focuses on foreign fighter defending and supporting the Islamic State, which is the successor of Al …

Displacement Matters: The Socioeconomics Of Gentrification In Richmond, California, Alicia Kae Miller

Senior Theses

The focus of this research paper is the escalating displacement of African American residents in the City of Richmond, California, whose ancestors helped to make the Richmond Shipyards into one of the most essential shipbuilding operations in the United States during World War II. Utilizing current briefs, regional/national newspaper articles, and literature from the field of urban renewal, this paper examines the impacts of gentrification on already marginalized people of color. By studying the current unease about gentrification in Richmond and profiling regional case studies, this paper will provide important insights for more equitable urban revitalization that does not displace …

Information Sharing, Transparency, And E-Governance Among County Government Offices In Southeastern Michigan, Lawrence Bosek

All NMU Master's Theses

The Internet has given rise to the availability of information at our fingertips. While the public, particularly consumers, are more commonly described as being the leading users and beneficiaries of electronic information services, businesses and governments are also players in the arena for sharing official information. Information can be easily stored on Internet websites for the public, businesses, and other governmental offices to search and peruse when needed. This study examined the ease of locating county governmental information, such as contact information for public officials and financial reports, and surveyed elected county officials for purposes of identifying how information is …

Driverless Cars And Disability: Alternative Worlds In Media Presentation, Art Blaser

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

How liberating? For whom? At what costs (economic and social)? This paper is an exploratory examination of images that people have expressed about driverless cars, particularly as seen through particular media outlets. I am also concerned with the question of where disabled people fit. As I argue, many answers are narrow and superficial. Neither policy-makers nor media outlets should reduce disabled people to consumers of a product, while paying insufficient attention to related environmental and social issues. Although it would be easy to identify problematic media images of disabled people, there are also examples of nuanced, detailed analysis.

The author …

Parental Blame Frame: An Empirical Examination Of The Media's Portrayal Of Parents And Their Delinquent Juveniles, Ashley Wellman, Eve Brank, Katherine Hazen

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

The most recent study discussed in this article examines how the media report issues of parental responsibility and blame regarding acts of juvenile delinquency. To accomplish this goal, we examined the frequency, context, and framing of parental responsibility in local and national print media via two content analyses. The results demonstrate that national media sources depict the notion of parental responsibility, whereas local media stories rarely mention parents. The national stories offer distant, more global statements of parental responsibility, while the local, specific stories tend to avoid any parental blame. The findings in this paper mirror public opinion polls that …

Agrarian Reform In Sumber Klampok, Emma Trainor

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Agrarian reform in Indonesia is part of a movement beginning after independence was gained in 1945. Farmers have been fighting to obtain rights to their land from a government that has a history of violence, repression, and corruption for decades. Environmental, indigenous peoples’, peasant, and agrarian movements were given a legitimate, legal framework to work within after 1960 when the Basic Agrarian Law was passed, protecting the rights of the people to their land. However, during both the Old Order and especially New Order regimes, the law was often ignored by the government, and many grassroots organizations had to work …

Do #Blacklivesmatter? Implicit Bias, Institutional Racism And Fear Of The Black Body, Reshawna L. Chapple, George A. Jacinto, Tameca N. Harris-Jackson, Michelle Vance

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

The paper implores a brief cultural analysis to examine racial tensions and injustices in the U.S. that have led to the Black Lives Matter movement. Specifically, implicit bias is of primary focus as the authors examine how bias of the Black male frames the “Black-as-criminal” mentality, as well as connotes fear of the Black male body. The authors further discuss how fear of the Black face and Black male body has led to discriminatory actions such as institutional racism and, in the most vehement yet consistent cases, the killing of unarmed Black men and women. Cases such as Freddie Gray, …

Freedom And Unity: Examining The Individualized, Community-Based Process Of Restorative Justice In Vermont And What It Can Teach Other States, Through A Trainer's Lens, Megan Grove

Capstone Collection

How can communities and law enforcement embrace a cultural shift to address conflict in a way that restores relationships and makes amends instead of one that punishes and criminalizes certain behaviors and individuals? How can we create spaces where those who commit harm, those who are impacted by harm, and other affected parties can come together with equal voice, have their needs met, and communicate in healthy ways? This Course-Linked Capstone in Training, situated in Brattleboro, Vermont, looks at the power of restorative justice and restorative processes to heal relationships and empower communities to care for one another and address …

As’Lem: An Ethical Diagnosis Of The Contemporary, Miriam Ticktin

Publications and Research

In recent scholarly literature, refugees have proliferated: they are the “political figures par excellence” and “border concepts”; they are understood through their infrastructures, both camps and laws; and they are approached as suffering subjects. But Fassin, Wilhelm-Solomon, and Segatti have a different approach: they understand asylum—or as’lem, the term used by asylum seekers in South Africa—as a form of life.

Analysis Of Worcester's Youth Employment Sector, Laurie Ross Phd, Ramon Borges-Mendez Phd, Alex Rothfelder

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

Overall, the employment rate for Worcester youth has improved since 2000; yet mirroring the nation, Worcester continues to have a smaller share of youth 16-24 employed. This situation is intensified for youth of color and young people facing barriers such as homelessness, exiting foster care, juvenile justice involvement, and limited English proficiency. Mass, Inc. estimates that in Worcester there are 3400 disconnected youth—756 are between 16-19 and 2644 are between 20-24. From the youth employment program inventory, we learned that the city’s programs offer many opportunities for “first job” experiences; has some exemplary programs that integrate youth development and workforce …

No Child Left Behind: Barriers For Youth Aging Out Of Foster Care, Wanda D. Davidson, Alphonso Underwood

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation will explore the effects of foster care on the attainment of education for youth aging out of foster. There are studies that suggest that older youth and youth of color, are particularly vulnerable to systemic issues which may hinder educational success. The presentation will review research that seek to identify specific barriers to educational success and the role of children services, social workers, teachers and the department of education.