Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

Increasing Housing Stability Through State-Funded Community Mediation Massachusetts Housing Mediation Program Fy2025 Evaluation Report, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Karina Zeferino

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

Mediation offers a flexible alternative to court for resolving housing disputes, allowing parties to address a wider range of issues and solutions without the delays and formalities of the judicial system. The Housing Mediation Program (HMP or Program) was established in FY2021 as part of the Eviction Diversion Initiative (EDI), a coordinated state and federal response to the housing challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC), the EDI brought together housing agencies, Community Mediation Centers (Centers) through MOPC, and legal services to provide robust support for tenants and …

20 Things You Should Never Say To A Patient, Richard H. Madow Dds

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This feature article details the financial advantages of utilizing MDA-endorsed vendors to improve practice profitability. It explains the vetting process performed by volunteers to ensure vendors offer meaningful discounts and vetted solutions. The source highlights specific services, such as PPO fee negotiation, dental marketing, and insurance verifications, which can save a practice over $58,000 annually. By leveraging collective bargaining, members gain access to revenue-boosting solutions without exhaustive trial-and-error searching.

Towards Enabling Environmental Social Enterprises: Two Case Studies From Egypt, Rana Emad Kamaly

Theses and Dissertations

Social enterprises (SEs) and environmental social enterprises (ESEs) are emerging as promising potential players in addressing global and Egyptian social and environmental challenges. Operating as a hybrid model of financial sustainability and environmental and social impact, ESEs operate through innovative business models to address community issues, waste management, and resource scarcity through financial sustainability. However, there is a lack of research on ESEs operations, challenges, and the enabling factors that can support their growth and impact. This study explores the enabling factors and challenges affecting ESEs in Egypt through qualitative research, analyzing two case studies from Egypt by conducting semi-structured …

Social Media And Public Opinion In Times Of Conflict: How Arab Social Media Impacted International Perspectives On The Gaza War, Mariam Rizk

Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory study examines how Arab social media content creators impacted the international public perception of the 2023 Gaza war through English-language content. The research is conducted through semi-structured interviews with 19 participants: 4 Arab social media content creators and 15 English-speaking university students (13 American citizens and 2 international students studying in American universities). Through these semi-structured qualitative interviews, the research investigates the agenda-setting capabilities of social media during conflicts and identifies effective cross-cultural communication strategies. The study employed purposive sampling with snowball technique, targeting content creators with established social media presence (37,000-426,000 Instagram followers) and university students who …

An Unlikely Ironic Intervention: Reimagining The Fourteenth Amendment Of The United States Of America, Jennifer Paola Hernandez

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

The project of interest is an intervention in the United States of America to reform racial and minority vote dilution, along with systemic entrenchment of power within gerrymandering, to undo the legacies of colonialism and racism within the states. Holding the government accountable to Constitutional and human rights is a patriotic act, even if many Americans don’t see it that way. Though often linked to the Global South, peacebuilding can also include institutional reform in non-war contexts. Peacebuilding processes are intended to improve society’s institutional structures for the betterment and sustainability of its constituents. I argue that the United States …

Peaceful Change Management: Cultivating Empathy And Curiosity To Foster Resilience And Trust In Healthcare, Erica W. Martin, Anne Kampa

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

The ongoing evolution of healthcare, driven by technological advancements, necessitates equipping leaders with human-centered approaches to change management. This proposal examines the current responses to change within healthcare environments, addressing the underlying mechanisms that contribute to success or breakdown and emphasizes the imperative need for adaptive strategies from change leaders.

A human-centered approach incorporating emotional intelligence, the ADKAR change management model, and peace-focused leadership, can mitigate potential conflicts and foster a trust-based work environment. This research explores the theoretical framework of positive peace, underscoring the pivotal role of leadership in enhancing relational dynamics and addressing communication barriers. By focusing on …

Black Women And Natural Hairstyles In Workspaces, Darnella Mcguire-Nelson Ph.D., Darnella Mcguire-Nelson Ph.D.

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

No abstract provided.

Peace Innovation And Healing: A Design Justice Framework To Support Change Processes, Strengthen Relationships, Foster Trust, And Build Community, Michelle Helman

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

Many organizations aiming to achieve peace and health equity outcomes often focus their design processes and innovation efforts externally without addressing how their organizational culture can unintentionally reproduce the very harms they are trying to address. The purpose of this qualitative design research study is to explore the role of a design justice framework in piloting a Peace Innovation Project aimed at facilitating an organizational culture change process. Specifically, the study focuses on better understanding how integrating a design justice approach could support research collaborators to center equity and justice as core components in building a culture of peace and …

Discourse Markers In Conflict Management: A Literature Review, Erica W. Martin, Krystle L. Hunter

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

Discourse Markers in Conflict Management: A Literature Review

Discourse markers, often seen as fillers in conversation, are important for managing interpersonal conflicts. This literature review aims to show how these markers influence conflict dynamics, with implications for promoting peace and strengthening community relationships. By combining research from linguistics, communication studies, and conflict resolution, the review looks at how discourse markers function during three phases of conflict: initiation, escalation, and de-escalation. The authors aim to improve both theoretical understanding and practical approaches to engaging constructively in conflicts, enhancing cohesion within global and local communities through better communication.

Using a qualitative synthesis …

Embodying Design Justice: A Peace Education Framework To Strengthen Relationships, Foster Trust And Build Community, Michelle Helman

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

BACKGROUND

Groups working toward creating peace and equity often focus on external innovation without addressing internal culture shifts necessary to navigate change and achieve their goals. Michelle’s doctoral research and practice address this challenge through a design research study and peace innovation project focused on organizational culture transformation through a design justice framework. Findings suggest that interweaving the framework with storytelling, arts, and embodiment practices are key to support people in navigating change processes to strengthen relationships, foster trust, and build community.

ABOUT

The workshop offers an applied learning experience for participants to explore the concepts of design and innovation …

Lunch Shaming And The Right To Privacy, Ira P. Robbins

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Lunch shaming is the practice of penalizing students who cannot afford to pay for their meals, resulting in them being denied food, served alternative meals, or publicly identified. The origins of lunch shaming can be traced to the financial pressures faced by school districts that struggle to balance tight budgets with the mandate to provide free or reduced-price meals to eligible students. Despite legislative efforts and advocacy campaigns aimed at mitigating the problems associated with lunch shaming, the practice persists, exacerbated by rising food costs and the expiration of pandemic-era food programs.

Many law journal and other articles have correctly …

Leadership And Creative Placemaking In Central Appalachia: Morehead, Kentucky, Toni C. Hobbs

Theses and Dissertations--Arts Administration

In rural Appalachia, longstanding patterns of extractive economic development, coupled with limited public investment and uneven institutional support, have contributed to persistent economic stagnation and a diminished sense of pride among residents. These conditions reflect deeper structural challenges, including economies shaped by resource extraction and external control. Addressing these conditions is critical to fostering economic growth, promoting cultural heritage, and enhancing overall well-being in the region. By cultivating resilient communities, leaders can create environments in which both the economy and local pride can thrive, contributing to a more prosperous and unified Appalachian region.

This study investigates the organizational and leadership …

Diagnosis And Proposal For Addressing The Depopulation In Northern California Towns, Cahal T. Connolly

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines population decline in small Northern California towns as a process of functional depopulation. Demographic loss becomes most damaging when it weakens the institutions that make communities livable. Focusing on rural towns facing aging populations, economic contraction, climate risk, housing instability, and service erosion, the thesis argues that sustainability cannot be measured by population change alone. Instead, towns must be evaluated according to their ability to maintain municipal services such as schools, healthcare, emergency services, infrastructure, local governance, and civic life. The thesis develops a stabilization framework that distinguishes among stabilizable, transitional, and structurally declining communities based on …

Educational Inequality In Health Insurance Coverage Before And After The Affordable Care Act, Madelaine R. Adamich

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Health insurance and health care accessibility have historically been ongoing issues within the United States. Two key factors associated with the likelihood of an individual being insured are educational attainment and income. The 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA), which has been the largest overhaul of health care in the US to date, aimed to reduce disparities in health insurance coverage and health care accessibility. My research analyzes the extent to which the ACA succeeded in reducing disparities related to educational attainment. To examine the ACA’s effects, I utilize the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data from 2008 and 2015 …

Powering The Machine, Draining The Planet: Whether U.S. Environmental Law Is Equipped To Regulate The Energy And Water Demands Of Ai Data Centers, Michael Marcu

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Artificial intelligence (AI) data centers have become one of the United States' fastest-growing and least-regulated sources of environmental stress. In 2024 alone, U.S. data centers consumed 183 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity more than the entire nation of Pakistan and consumed an estimated 17 billion gallons of water (IEA, 2025; Berkeley Lab, 2024). By 2030, electricity demand from these facilities is projected to reach 426 TWh, a 133% increase in six years (Pew Research Center, 2025). This paper examines whether the existing U.S. environmental regulatory framework put by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), and the …

Immigration As A Catalyst To The Far-Right: The Case Of Vox And Spain, Evelyn R. White

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Over the last decade or two, the world has witnessed a global rise in the popularity and success of far-right wing parties. This new era of the radical right raises questions of what is causing and fueling these political movements. Political Scientists have identified several contributing factors from the global economic crisis of 2008, the migrant crisis of 2015 and the global pandemic in 2020. This research paper aims to demonstrate how immigration acts as a catalyst to the far-right by intersecting with political science ideologies and other variables. The focus of this paper is how the Vox Party found …

Private Money, Public Risk: Why Florida’S Sb 178 Undermines Equity, Ethics, And Accountability In K–12 Athletics, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper critically evaluates Florida Senate Bill 178, which would require the Florida High School Athletic Association to adopt bylaws allowing coaches to use personal funds to support student athletes, once reported and presumed not to be an impermissible benefit. While the bill is framed to help students who lack essential items, it introduces serious structural risks that outweigh its intended benefits. By relying on private contributions within a public educational system, SB 178 threatens equity, transparency, and ethical governance.

The bill encourages uneven financial assistance that varies based on a coach’s personal means and the socioeconomic conditions of individual …

The Attention Safeguard Models: Governing Digital Harm Without Restricting Lawful Speech, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Digital platforms increasingly govern contemporary social, civic, and psychological life through systems optimized for attention capture, amplification, and monetization. While lawful expression remains protected under the First Amendment, the infrastructural mechanisms that determine how speech circulates have produced a range of attention‑based harms, including cyberbullying, engagement farming, compulsive doom scrolling, emotional dysregulation, and civic polarization. This research paper introduces the Attentional Safeguards Model (ASM), coined and formalized by Delante Clark, as a novel governance framework that mitigates such harms by regulating systems of amplification rather than restricting expression itself. Building on attention economy theory, technological mediation, constitutional free‑speech doctrine, …

Envisioning The Role Of Community-Owned Stores & Aligning Federal Food Policies: A Participatory Approach To Food Security And Food Sovereignty In Sambaa K’E, Denendeh (Northwest Territories, Canada), Narayan Subramoniam

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Northern Indigenous communities have relied on traditional food systems for meaningful, nutritious diets since time immemorial. But many Indigenous communities in remote northern regions of Canada still face disproportionately elevated levels of food insecurity due to climate change radically altering the availability for traditional foods, colonial food policies imposing Western diets, and the high costs of transporting store-bought foods. Extreme weather events such as wildfires further isolate fly-in remote communities increasing both the costs of transporting store-bought foods and the difficulties of harvesting traditional foods. There are many examples of community-based initiatives for supporting traditional and locally grown foods, however, …

Financing Global Health Governance: The World Health Organization, The Who Foundation, And The Shifting Landscape Of Development Financing, Johanny O. Reyes

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis analyzes the structural financing challenges facing the World Health Organization (WHO) and their implications for global health governance. It argues that WHO’s financial fragility is not merely a technical problem but the result of long-standing political and institutional choices that have shifted the Organization away from predictable public financing toward donor-driven, earmarked voluntary contributions. Drawing on WHO constitutional provisions, programme budget data, governance documents, and academic literature, the study traces the evolution of WHO’s financing model and examines how this transformation has constrained the Organization’s priority-setting authority, operational flexibility, and normative leadership.

The COVID-19 pandemic serves as a …