Sociology Commons^™

Massachusetts State Public Worker Retirees: How Are They Doing?, Ellen A. Bruce, Lauren A. Martin

Gerontology Institute Publications

Although much has been made of the Massachusetts State Retirement System’s funding and abuses, little has been written about the benefits it provides. A retirement system should be judged first on whether it meets its goal of providing for workers in retirement.

The Elder Economic Security Initiative™ Program: The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index For Washington, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Wider Opportunities For Women

Gerontology Institute Publications

This report addresses income adequacy for Washington’s older adults using the national WOW-GI National Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) methodology. The Elder Index benchmarks basic costs of living for elder households and illustrates how costs of living vary geographically and are based on the characteristics of elder households, including household size, home ownership or renter status and health status. The costs are based on market costs for basic needs of elder households and do not assume any public or private supports.

Statedata: The National Report On Employment Services And Outcomes, John Butterworth, Allison Cohen Hall, Frank Smith, Alberto Migliore, Jean Winsor, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Daria Domin

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

Policy shifts over the past 20 years have created an agenda for sustained commitment to integrated employment for individuals with disabilities. But despite these clear intentions, unemployment of individuals with disabilities continues to be a major public policy issue. Labor force statistics for December 2010 indicate that 28 percent of working-age adults with disabilities are employed, compared with 70 percent of people without disabilities. Labor force data also indicate that workers with disabilities have experienced significantly higher levels of job loss and hardship during the recession of the late 2000s. For people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), the disparity …

State Agency Promising Practice: New Hampshire - Translating Research Into A Position Statement About Integrated Employment, Jennifer Bose, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

New Hampshire’s Bureau of Developmental Services, Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, other state and local service providers, advocates, and families are committed to increasing the employment rate and the quality of employment outcomes for people with developmental disabilities. These stakeholders met to craft an employment position statement. They framed their discussions according to factors that research has found to be common to “high-performing” states in providing integrated employment opportunities. Then they developed an employment position statement that satisfied all the groups involved, and communicated their shared belief in the importance of integrated employment as a means toward community inclusion.

State Agency Promising Practice: Oregon’S Employment Support Website - Communicating The Employment First Policy, Jennifer Bose, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

In 2009, the state of Oregon adopted its Employment First policy. When Oregon’s Office of Developmental Disabilities Services (DDS) decided to promote the implementation of this policy, it began by updating its existing employment website. The redesigned website (http:// www.dhs.state.or.us/dd/supp_emp/) emphasizes the value of integrated employment over other outcomes, and the importance of building community-wide conversations, with the goal of achieving integrated employment for people with developmental disabilities. The website shares the value of integrated employment with all targeted audiences by highlighting resources and illustrating employment successes. It was also designed to share information on the Oregon’s progress and concrete …

State Agency Promising Practice: Iowa’S Governance Group: Facilitating Partnerships That Support Integrated Employment, Allison Hall, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

In 1998, five state agencies formed the Governance Group. Partner agencies included: Iowa Workforce Development, Department of Human Services, Department of Education, Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services and Department of Human Rights. The group was developed in response to a Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) request for proposals that included an advisory group for systems change efforts to expand employment opportunities to individuals with disabilities. By 2000, the five original partners had expanded their efforts by agreeing to provide oversight and consultation to a Department of Labor (DOL) Work Incentive Grant and brought on two additional partners, the Department for the Blind …

State Agency Promising Practice: Nevada’S Regional Forums - Creating A Shared Responsibility For Improving Employment, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

The Nevada Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities sought to engage community stakeholders and acquire knowledge to further the employment agenda by funding three regional summits. Using the State Employment Leadership Network’s (SELN)* selfassessment preliminary findings as a basis, the summit steering committee created a framework for summit participants. Through a rigorous planning process and comprehensive 2-day summits in three regions of the state, Nevada was able to create a shared, multistakeholder plan of action with the goal of improving the current employment support system for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Data Note: State Intellectual And Developmental Disability Agencies' Service Trends, Jean E. Winsor, Frank A. Smith

Data Note Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Since Fiscal Year 1988, the Institute for Community Inclusion has administered the National Survey of Day and Employment Programs for People with Developmental Disabilities to state Intellectual and Developmental Disability (IDD) Agencies. The work is funded by the Administration on Developmental Disabilities and is designed to describe the nature of day and employment services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Finding The Right Fit: How Alternative Staffing Affects Worker Outcomes, Françoise Carré, Brandynn Holgate, Helen Levine

Center for Social Policy Publications

This report reviews our findings from two and one-half years of monitoring and evaluating the activities of four alternative staffing organizations (ASOs). ASOs are worker-centered, socialpurpose businesses created by community-based organizations and national nonprofits. These fee-for-service organizations use the model of temporary staffing services to help job seekers who face labor market barriers access work experience and potential employers. They place job seekers in temporary and “temp-to-perm” assignments with customer businesses, charging their customers a wage-based markup fee. This field of practice first emerged in the 1970s and grew rapidly in the 1990s; it now includes over 50 ASOs. Alternative …

The Elder Economic Security Initiative™: The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index For Iowa, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Wider Opportunities For Women

Gerontology Institute Publications

This report addresses income adequacy for Iowa’s older adults using the national WOW-GI National Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) methodology. The Elder Index benchmarks basic costs of living for elder households and illustrates how costs of living vary geographically and are based on the characteristics of elder households, including household size, home ownership or renter status and health status. The costs are based on market costs for basic needs of elder households and do not assume any public or private supports.

Risk Factors For Driving Cessation Vary By Race And Ethnicity, Elizabeth Dugan, Frank Porell, Chae Man Lee

Gerontology Institute Publications

Driving is related to our identity and independence as well as allowing us to get needed goods, services, and social opportunities that enrich daily life. Yet with increasing age, the risk for developing threats to medical fitness to drive increases. Driving cessation is related to a long list of negative outcomes, such as: depression, social isolation, diminished access to health care, and diminished quality of life. We investigated risks for driving cessation, paying close attention to racial differences. This study used data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), 1998-2008. The study included N=46, 528 older people (age 65 and …

The Elder Economic Security Initiative™: The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index For Colorado, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Wider Opportunities For Women

Gerontology Institute Publications

This report addresses income adequacy for Colorado’s older adults using the national WOW-GI National Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) methodology. The Elder Index benchmarks basic costs of living for elder households and illustrates how costs of living vary geographically and are based on the characteristics of elder households, including household size, home ownership or renter status and health status. The costs are based on market costs for basic needs of elder households and do not assume any public or private supports.

Research To Practice: Vocational Rehabilitation Services Received By Youth With Autism: Are They Associated With An Employment Outcome?, Jaime Lugas, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Frank A. Smith

Research to Practice Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

While youth with autism represent a small percentage of all vocational rehabilitation (VR) closures, the number who closed out of VR more than tripled between 2003 and 2008 (see Institute for Community Inclusion Data Note 26). As increasing numbers of youth with autism are accessing VR services, it is important to understand how they are using these services and the relationship of these services to outcomes and costs.

Demographic Analysis Of Recovery Act Supported Jobs In Massachusetts, Quarters 1 And 2, 2010, David Sparks, Paige Ransford, Carol Hardy-Fanta, Christian Weller, Meryl Thomson, Robert Turner

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Massachusetts policy makers decided to go beyond existing ARRA federal reporting requirements and collect additional data in order to gauge the effectiveness of ARRA’s fiscal policy by counting the number of individuals who have received an ARRA-funded paycheck. In addition, policy makers wanted to look at some of the demographic characteristics of this population. This report provides an in-depth analysis of the data that the MA Recovery Office collected during the first and second quarters of 2010, with a particular focus on job creation and retention by race, ethnicity, gender, disability status, and geographic location.

Highlights of the report include: …

Gentility And Gender Roles Within The 18th-Century Merchant Class Of Newport, Rhode Island, Nicki Hise

Graduate Masters Theses

The Capt. Thomas Richardson household rose to prominence in Newport, Rhode Island during the community’s golden age of prosperity in the 18th century when Newport quickly became one of the leading seaports in the New World. However, all prosperity halted due to the hardships and damage Newport suffered during the American Revolutionary War. Much of the city’s property and economic success was destroyed at the hands of occupying British troops, and the Rhode Island community was never able to fully recover. Like others in colonial Newport, Capt. Thomas Richardson achieved genteel status as a merchant, distiller, and slave ship owner …

The Effects Of Childbearing Patterns On The Timing Of Retirement, Hsiao-Yin Chung

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The effects of childbearing patterns on the timing of men's and women's retirement were examined. The data for this study come from the Health and Retirement Study, waves 1-7: 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004. A proportional hazard model (Cox regression) was chosen for this study. Two measures of retirement were considered: labor force exit and self-defined retirement. The results indicated that men with dependent children are more likely to postpone the timing of labor force exit and their self-definition as retired. At the same time, the study indicated that the presence (or absence) and timing of early …

Facing Up: Managing Diversity In Challenging Times, Carol Hardy-Fanta, Paige Ransford

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Since its launch in 2008, Commonwealth Compact has grown steadily, employing several strategies to promote diversity statewide. The Benchmarks initiative has collected data, analyzed in this report, on a significant portion of the state workforce. Guided by Stephen Crosby, dean of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass Boston, Commonwealth Compact has conducted newsmaking surveys of public opinion and of boards of directors statewide. In addition, it has convened ongoing coalitions with its higher education partners, and established a collaborative of local business schools aimed specifically at increasing faculty diversity. The Compact has sponsored or co-sponsored …

Working Alone: Protecting And Building Solidarity In The Workplace Of The Future, Charley Richardson

Labor Resource Center Publications

This paper explores the foundations of solidarity in the workplace and the challenges to building solidarity in the modern day workplace. The author identifies eight workplace trends that are increasing individual isolation and destroying workplace-based social networks. After comparing two models of social networks, the author suggests specific steps workers and unions can take to protect solidarity at work.

Sociology, Economics, And Gender: Can Knowledge Of The Past Contribute To A Better Future?, Julie A. Nelson

Economics Faculty Publication Series

This essay explores the profoundly gendered nature of the split between the disciplines of economics and sociology which took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, emphasizing implications for the relatively new field of economic sociology. Drawing on historical documents and feminist studies of science, it investigates the gendered processes underlying the divergence of the disciplines in definition, method, and degree of engagement with social problems. Economic sociology has the potential to heal this disciplinary split, but only if the field is broadened, deepened, and made wiser and more self-reflective through the use of feminist analysis.

Latinos In Massachusetts Selected Areas: Cambridge, Phillip Granberry, Sarah Rustan

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides a descriptive snapshot of selected economic, social, educational, and demographic indicators pertaining to Latinos in Cambridge. This report is prepared for the 2010 Statewide Latino Public Policy Conference organized by UMass Boston’s Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy. It is part of a larger series that covers fourteen cities, or clusters of cities, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Each report analyzes data from the 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS’s smallest geographic area is a Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) consisting of a minimum census population …

Latinos In Massachusetts Selected Areas: Brockton, Phillip Granberry, Sarah Rustan

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides a descriptive snapshot of selected economic, social, educational, and demographic indicators pertaining to Latinos in the Brockton-Abington area. This report is prepared for the 2010 Statewide Latino Public Policy Conference organized by UMass Boston’s Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy. It is part of a larger series that covers fourteen cities, or clusters of cities, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Each report analyzes data from the 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS’s smallest geographic area is a Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) consisting of a minimum …

Latinos In Massachusetts Selected Areas: Framingham, Phillip Granberry, Sarah Rustan

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides a descriptive snapshot of selected economic, social, educational, and demographic indicators pertaining to Latinos in the Framingham area. This report is prepared for the 2010 Statewide Latino Public Policy Conference organized by UMass Boston’s Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy. It is part of larger series that covers fourteen cities, or clusters of cities, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Each report analyzes data from the 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS’s smallest geographic area is a Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) consisting of a minimum census …

Latinos In Massachusetts Selected Areas: Chelsea, Revere, And Winthrop, Phillip Granberry, Sarah Rustan

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides a descriptive snapshot of selected economic, social, educational, and demographic indicators pertaining to Latinos in the cities of Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop. This report is prepared for the 2010 Statewide Latino Public Policy Conference organized by UMass Boston’s Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy. It is part of a larger series that covers fourteen cities, or clusters of cities, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Each report analyzes data from the 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS’s smallest geographic area is a Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) …

Latinos In Massachusetts Selected Areas: Lawrence And Methuen, Phillip Granberry, Sarah Rustan

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides a descriptive snapshot of selected economic, social, educational, and demographic indicators pertaining to Latinos in the cities of Lawrence and Methuen. This report is prepared for the 2010 Statewide Latino Public Policy Conference organized by UMass Boston’s Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy. It is part of a larger series that covers fourteen cities, or clusters of cities, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Each report analyzes data from the 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS’s smallest geographic area is a Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) consisting …

Latinos In Massachusetts Selected Areas: Salem, Beverly, Marblehead, And Swampscott, Phillip Granberry, Sarah Rustan

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides a descriptive snapshot of selected economic, social, educational, and demographic indicators pertaining to Latinos in Salem, Beverly, Marblehead, and Swampscott. This report is prepared for the 2010 Statewide Latino Public Policy Conference organized by UMass Boston’s Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy. It is part of a larger series that covers fourteen cities, or clusters of cities, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Each report analyzes data from the 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS’s smallest geographic area is a Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) consisting of …

Latinos In Massachusetts Selected Areas: Somerville And Everett, Phillip Granberry, Sarah Rustan

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides a descriptive snapshot of selected economic, social, educational, and demographic indicators pertaining to Latinos in the cities of Somerville and Everett. This report is prepared for the 2010 Statewide Latino Public Policy Conference organized by UMass Boston’s Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy. It is part of a larger series that covers fourteen other cities, or clusters of cities, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Each report analyzes data from the 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS’s smallest geographic area is a Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) …

Latinos In Massachusetts Selected Areas: Springfield, Phillip Granberry, Sarah Rustan

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides a descriptive snapshot of selected economic, social, educational, and demographic indicators pertaining to Latinos in Springfield. This report is prepared for the 2010 Statewide Latino Public Policy Conference organized by UMass Boston’s Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy. It is part of a larger series that covers fourteen cities, or clusters of cities, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Each report analyzes data from the 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS’s smallest geographic area is a Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) consisting of a minimum census population …

Latinos In Massachusetts Selected Areas: Worcester, Phillip Granberry, Sarah Rustan

Gastón Institute Publications

This report provides a descriptive snapshot of selected economic, social, educational, and demographic indicators pertaining to Latinos in Worcester. This report is prepared for the 2010 Statewide Latino Public Policy Conference organized by UMass Boston’s Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy. It is part of a larger series that covers fourteen cities, or clusters of cities, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Each report analyzes data from the 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS’s smallest geographic area is a Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) consisting of a minimum census population …

The Growing Latino Population Of Massachusetts: A Demographic And Economic Portrait, Phillip Granberry, María Idalí Torres

Gastón Institute Publications

This report highlights the growing number, and increasing diversity, of Latinos in Massachusetts. In this state, as well as nationally, Latinos’ share of the population continues to increase, in contrast to the aging non-Latino white population. If Massachusetts were to keep all its congressional seats in the reapportionment that will follow the 2010 Census, it would be chiefly due to the growth in its Latino and Asian population.The Latino population is young, with a high rate of dependent children and a very low rate of dependent elders. Its work- force composition remains stable: Latinos continue to be over-represented in blue-collar …

The Health Of Latinos In Massachusetts: A Snapshot, Dharma Cortés, Rodolfo R. Vega

Gastón Institute Publications

People’s health outcomes are shaped in part by non-biological factors. Most immediately, limited access to health care services can have a deleterious impact on individuals’ health outcomes (Andrulis, 1998). In turn, access to healthcare services is influenced by socioeconomic factors such as whether a person has health insurance or the financial means to pay for their health care. Familiarity with the health care system is another important factor that may influence an individual’s access to healthcare services (Morgan et al., 2008). Language also plays an important role in health outcomes. For instance, individuals with limited English proficiency may find it …