Social Welfare Commons^™

The Power Of Peer Learning, Fannette Modek

New England Journal of Public Policy

My contact with the Boston–Haifa Project started at about the same time that the Seniors Lobby–Haifa saw the light of day. I was fortunate to have participated in the very first Seminar for NGOs in Haifa, held in January 2005. Several representatives of Haifa’s NGOs joined a group of leaders of Boston NGOs for a three-day seminar that put social-change issues on the table: Leadership, Organization, the Social Sector, Advocacy, and Conflict Management. The Power of Vision closing session generated a statement that by 2015, fifteen groups of U.S. social workers and gerontologists would visit Israel to study community-based services …

Raising The Gaze, Mary Coonan

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article describes how our challenge is to move beyond our current vision. We must move beyond sharing our impressions of the elephant to seeing the elephant within its broader context. This kind of vision requires our joint effort and a willingness to live with uncertainty until clarity emerges through the chaos because we have been willing to look.

Transnational Social-Change Network Learning. Introduction: Shared Responsibility, Collective Reflection. Boston–Haifa Learning Exchange Network, Donna Haig Friedman

New England Journal of Public Policy

This LEN project has emerged as both experiential and active. The in-person learning exchange seminars, which since the project’s inception have been taking place once a year in Haifa, Israel, and once a year in Boston, Massachusetts, were planned and facilitated jointly by the NGO partners as well as by outside trainers. Dedicated staff time and collaborative, generous attitudes on the part of planners in both cities have been essential for power sharing, efficiency, and thoroughness in the planning processes. Preparation has been extensive, requiring the core planning team, a Haifa–Boston mix, to use conference calls and e-mail communications, months …

Lessons From The Field, Mary Nee

New England Journal of Public Policy

Organizational growth can fundamentally undermine the social-change mission of a nonprofit organization if the adaptive responses to growth are not continually checked against mission and vision. As the executive director of a U.S. nonprofit created in response to the crisis of homelessness, I have observed that this danger is particularly acute when an organization evolves from advocacy to service delivery.

Hope In The Room, Cheri Andes

New England Journal of Public Policy

The most powerful moment of the learning exchange for me was a discussion that Haifa and Boston leaders had about violence and post-traumatic stress syndrome during my second trip to Haifa. Quite a bit of relational work had already been done that allowed this discussion to occur. This was no theoretical discussion, but rather a deep sharing of personal experience.

Preface, Jenna Toplin

New England Journal of Public Policy

The preface of this journal speaks about the history of the Boston-Haifa Learning Exchange Network and how as teachers and learners, LEN members continue their learning and reflection in these pages. Their stories bring a diverse collection of voices, experiences, and perspectives and capture a shared vision of creating lasting, systemic change and bettering the communities in which we live.

Service And/Or Advocacy: Nonprofit Sector In The Twenty-First Century, Nancy K. Kaufman

New England Journal of Public Policy

In both Israel and the United States over the past twenty years, there has been an explosion in the number of nonprofit organizations that live in a space somewhere between government agencies and for-profit companies. While the growth of these organizations may have been stimulated by different factors in each country, there is much to be learned through a cross-cultural exchange like the one between organizations in Haifa and in Boston. In order to analyze some of the challenges facing nonprofit organizations across a wide spectrum of mission, purpose, and size, I have categorized the type of organizations being discussed …

Challenges For Nonprofit Organizations. Introduction: A Theoretical Framework. Civil Society And Challenges Faced By Nonprofits, Amnon Reichman

New England Journal of Public Policy

This introduction will tackle two issues. The first is theoretical: a framework will be proposed with which to approach the activity of nonprofit organizations within civil society in modern democracies. Whereas the traditional approach posits three sectors in a triangular setting (the top corner occupied by the government, the bottom-right corner occupied by the market, and the bottom left corner by the “third sector”), a better conceptualization defines civil society as a social space between the state (located above) and the individual or the private sphere (located below). This space is where for-profit organizations (usually clustered in one side of …

Nonprofits And Social Change. Introduction: An Anchor. Reshaping The Relationship, Jennifer Cohen

New England Journal of Public Policy

In response to a variety of internal and external forces, including the recent economic downturn, nonprofit organizations in both Israel and the United States have increasingly been called upon to provide a safety net and serve as central players in the development, strengthening, and maintenance of civil society. These shifts include the privatization of services, blurring of the sectors and their traditional roles in providing services, reduced funding from traditional sources, welfare reforms including devolution, opening of new markets, enhanced role of faith-based people and organizations in service provision, intensified dependency and connectedness of policy makers and stakeholders, and the …

Global Learning Partnerships, Margaret Leonard

New England Journal of Public Policy

The title of this section is profoundly significant to those of us who have experienced global partnerships. Our experience has revealed to us that there is a profound organic integrity to these five words, Transnational, Social Change, Learning, Networks, and together they are revelatory of an emerging future we are stretching to envision and realize in the twenty-first century. In this brief essay I would like to share with you five core experiences of global learning partnerships that I have had over the past half decade. From these experiences I have learned volumes about the organic relationships of these five …

Change From The Inside Out, Miriam Messinger

New England Journal of Public Policy

In this article, I proffer that one way to build social change is to create organizations, lead, and build relationships that model and reflect the change being sought on a grander scale. Sometimes this necessitates burrowing deeper and focusing inward as a means to building sustainable change. I was engaged in this work for eight years at The City School of Boston. While The City School is a functioning, vibrant organization, I no longer work there and so will talk about the work I was a part of in the past tense.

Doing The Right Thing: Doing Things Right, Jane Matlaw

New England Journal of Public Policy

I was privileged to be a part of the “birthing” of the Learning Exchange Networks (LENs) and am a veteran participant. I sat through many superb workshops and led a piece on social justice and advocacy. I had no idea that during year three of our endeavor, I would see how my world of work would so clearly intersect with the mutual learning that was happening with my colleagues in Boston and in Haifa. In my job as Director of Community Relations at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), I am responsible for the community relations activities of a 560-bed …

Nonprofit Leadership. Introduction: Miracle Workers At The Helm. New Ways Of Exercising Leadership, Kristen Mccormack

New England Journal of Public Policy

Leading a nonprofit organization in today’s world requires nothing less than a miracle worker at the helm. That could be the conclusion one might draw from reading the literature on the traits, skills, and characteristics required to lead a nonprofit organization. Today’s leaders should be honest, competent, forward looking, and inspiring as well as intelligent, fair-minded, broad-minded, courageous, straightforward, and imaginative. Leaders should be of high integrity, dedicated, magnanimous, humble, open, and creative while energizing others. Able to cope with change, leaders must establish direction, align people, motivate, and inspire while effectively communicating their story. He or she must be …

Poverty, Vulnerability, And Provision Of Healthcare In Afghanistan, Jean-Francois Trani, Parul Bakhshi, Ayan A. Noor, Dominque Lopez, Ashraf Mashkoor

Brown School Faculty Publications

This paper presents findings on conditions of healthcare delivery in Afghanistan. There is an ongoing debate about barriers to healthcare in low-income as well as fragile states. In 2002, the Government of Afghanistan established a Basic Package of Health Services (BPHS), contracting primary healthcare delivery to non-state providers. The priority was to give access to the most vulnerable groups: women, children, disabled persons, and the poorest households. In 2005, we conducted a nationwide survey, and using a logistic regression model, investigated provider choice. We also measured associations between perceived availability and usefulness of healthcare providers. Our results indicate that the …

The Children's Bureau: Research Note, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This research note brings together some of the well-known facts about one of the very first national public human service agencies in the U.S., together with a variety of lesser-known aspects. This unpublished research note includes information gathered from the National Archives.

Catholic Schools, Urban Neighborhoods, And Education Reform, Margaret F. Brinig, Nicole Stelle Garnett

Notre Dame Law Review

This Article explores the implications of a dramatic shift in the American educational landscape—the rapid disappearance of Catholic schools from urban neighborhoods. Primarily because of their strong track record of educating disadvantaged children, these school closures are a source of significant concern in education policy circles. While we are inclined to agree that Catholic school closures contribute to a broader educational crisis, this Article does not address well-rehearsed debates about educational outcomes. Rather than focusing on the work done inside the schools, we focus on what goes on outside them. Specifically, using three decades of data from the Project on …

Mothers' Work And Children's Lives: Low-Income Families After Welfare Reform, Rucker C. Johnson, Ariel Kalil, Rachel E. Dunifon

Upjohn Press

This book examines the effects of work requirements imposed by welfare reform on low-income women and their families. The authors pay particular attention to the nature of work—whether it is stable or unstable, the number of hours worked in a week and the regularity and flexibility of work schedules. They also show how these factors make it more difficult for low-income women to balance their work and family requirements.

The International Implications Of Quality-Of-Life Policing As Practiced In New York City, Bruce D. Johnson, Andrew Golub, James E. Mccabe

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has made enforcement of laws against disorder and quality-of-life offenses a central part of its policing strategy. Concomitantly, New York City (NYC) experienced a renaissance in orderliness, cleanliness, tourism, real estate value, and crime reduction, although other problems such as poverty, unemployment, drug abuse, racial tensions, and homelessness persist. This paper examines quality-of-life policing practices in NYC, describes the philosophical underpinnings, explores the critical response to the program, and presents lessons of potential relevance to other policing organizations in the USA and around the world.

Of Modest Giving, Community Values And Social Change: An Interview With Hsieh Fu Hua, Lien Centre For Social Innovation

Social Space

Recognising the need for building capability and filling in critical gaps in management training, expertise and research in Singapore’s social scene, businessman and contemporary art enthusiast Hsieh Fu Hua has established Binjai Tree to make his contribution in a more structured fashion. Yet he reminisces about the cultural tradition of communities providing solidarity and support to its members and tells Social Space why a more modest and quiet approach to the simple act of giving is a way to encourage more Singaporeans to cultivate a spirit of altruism.

Storytellers As Philanthropic Champions: An Interview With Claire Chiang, Lien Centre For Social Innovation

Social Space

Singapore’s charity sector is undergoing significant changes to enhance management quality, accountability and transparency. But despite these positive changes, Ms Claire Chiang, entrepreneur and philanthropist, argues that Singapore also needs to cultivate a more visionary and global approach to philanthropy. She shares with Social Space her thoughts on storytelling and the need for mentors to champion the most urgent causes of the day.

Contextualising Csr: Multi-Stakeholder Approaches To Development Initiatives In Southeast Asia, Christine Davis, Stephanie Soderborg

Social Space

As the focus on CSR expands throughout Asia, discussion prevails about the form it needs to take to be germane to the needs of each respective country. The authors discuss Kenan Institute Asia’s efforts in developing a responsible management education (or CSR curriculum and training) for future managers and business leaders in Vietnam.

A Fourth Amendment For The Poor Alone: Subconstitutional Status And The Myth Of The Inviolate Home, Jordan C. Budd

Law Faculty Scholarship

For much of our nation’s history, the poor have faced pervasive discrimination in the exercise of fundamental rights. Nowhere has the impairment been more severe than in the area of privacy. This Article considers the enduring legacy of this tradition with respect to the Fourth Amendment right to domestic privacy. Far from a matter of receding historical interest, the diminution of the poor’s right to privacy has accelerated in recent years and now represents a powerful theme within the jurisprudence of poverty. Triggering this development has been a series of challenges to aggressive administrative practices adopted by localities in the …

Business Solutions To Global Challenges, Richard Welford

Social Space

Despite the prevalence of CSR initiatives in companies, there is a need to leverage on current practices to make them more effective and meaningful. Richard Welford looks at the advantages to such an approach.

Microfinance For Migrant Workers: Asia's Next New Market Opportunity?, Patsian Low

Social Space

Employment in developed countries is often the main source of income for many people at the bottom of the pyramid in developing countries and has led to the growth of an industry based on remittances. Patsian Low studies the ramifications this has for developing microfinance in host countries and the potential for cross-border collaboration in Singapore and Asia.

Apopo: Building A Rats-Based Detection Technology With The Capacity To Detect Landmines, Lien Centre For Social Innovation

Social Space

Rats are traditionally viewed as pests in most societies. APOPO turns this stereotype on its head by training rats to detect mines in a wide-scale effort to push forward demining efforts in post-conflict countries. Mine Detection Rats (MDRs), also affectionately called HeroRATs, are a sustainable landmine detection technology, adapted to low resources settings. Rats have a highly developed sense of smell. They can detect the smallest traces of explosives emitted by the mines. Rats are intelligent creatures that also love to perform repetitive tasks for a small food reward. They live up to 8 years, giving a good return of …

Discovering The Asian Form Of Corporate Social Responsibility, Bindu Sharma

Social Space

This article is part of an on-going research project that will look at the how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is being re-contextualised and re-defined in ten countries across Asia and how these perspectives contrast with the discourse of CSR in global (primarily Western) multinational corporations.

Review Of “Sisters Outside: Radical Activists Working For Women Prisoners, By Jodie Michelle Lawston”, Lisa A. Leitz

Peace Studies Faculty Articles and Research

Book review of Jodie Michelle Lawston's "Sisters Outside: Radical Activists Working for Women Prisoners".

Trafficking Of Aboriginal Women And Girls In Canada, Anette Sikka

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Youth With Disabilities: A Maine Workforce Development Review, Ahmen Cabral, Margaret Vishneau, Marty Zanghi Msw

Children, Youth, & Families

Legislation that has occurred over many years, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Workforce Investment Act, has come together with advances in educational strategies to create a climate in which young job seekers with disabilities are able to develop their skills and advocate for necessary accommodations in the workplace. It is well known in the workforce development community that early exposure to the workplace itself and to workforce development programs can improve the employment outcomes for persons with disabilities by enabling youth to develop workforce skills and areas of career interest. However, even though knowledge and interest …

Clackamas County Alternate Work Week Pilot Project, Masami Nishishiba, Jana Bitton, Dennis Kurtz, Charlene Zil

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

In November 2008, Clackamas County, Oregon began a one-year pilot program: switching employees to an alternate four-day work week, with 10-hour workdays (typically 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday). About 828 of Clackamas County's 1,800 employees were affected by the program, which does not extend to emergency service providers.

This report summarizes the evaluation of Clackamas County’s alternate work week pilot project based on the data collected between November 2008 and July 2009.