Public Affairs Commons^™

Bureaucracy, Civil Society And Ideology In Latin America, Grazielli Faria Zimmer Santos, Paula Chies Schommer

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

This essay analyzes how political and ideological changes affect public bureaucracy and its relationship with civil society regarding different strategies of openness to participation. We suggest a theoretical-conceptual framework to discuss aspects of the political situation in Latin America. First, we discuss the changes that occurred over time, in the state-civil society relationship, which strengthen the latter and amplify a discourse for more participatory democracy. The focus is the role of the public bureaucracy in mediating the relations among the several actors in society, and we examine the way different political and ideological strands influence how open to participation the …

The Economic Impact Of Refugees On A Host Country, Zaid Ghaleb-Sharari-Al-Bakhit Alfayez

Public Affairs Dissertations - Archive

Refugee numbers are increasing around the world due to political instability. Host countries are encountering several issues such as socioeconomic challenges as a result of refugees. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the effects of the economic impact of refugees. The Middle East region has taken in a high number of these refugees, especially Jordan. This empirical research studies the impact for countries receiving refugees to help policy makers effectively regulate and deal with this challenge. This study analyzes the impact of refugees on the economy using Jordan as a case study. However, this research can be applied to other …

Parent Involvement Activities That Lead To Increased Parent Participation: A Case Study, Sandra Patricia Fernandez

Public Affairs Dissertations - Archive

There is sufficient evidence to suggest that parent involvement increases student success. Connecting the home to the school can offer a bridge that will lead to academic success for students. Parent involvement can lead to increased school success in terms of test scores. Research shows that parents are involved in many ways at the schools but when asked, they have varying definitions of what parent involvement means to them. The major hypothesis of this study is that when parents are offered more ways to participate at various times of the day, they are more inclined to be more involved in …

A City In Crisis: Communication Network, Ethics, And Power In The City Of Dallas, Sana Salma Syed

Public Affairs Dissertations - Archive

The conceptual framework for this research builds on Manuel Castells’s work to find the specific network configuration of actors, interests, and values that engage in their power-making strategies to operationalize a communication network and understand the roles and powers of programmers and switchers at a local level. The study explores the role and purpose of communication networks within cities from the perspective of administrators and elected officials and their responsibility to provide communication as a public good. The research design is an organizational autoethnography of the city of Dallas that incorporates various perspectives from those who were a part of …

The Effects Of Travel Time Delay On Vehicle Miles Traveled And Travel Mode Choice Behavior: An Empirical Analysis Of The Seattle Metropolitan Area, Reza Sardari

Public Affairs Dissertations - Archive

Traffic congestion is a crucial factor for understanding travel behavior. The scientific evidence has shown that traffic congestion affects air quality, public health, and economic development, but empirical studies about the effects of travel time delays on travel behavior are limited. This research aims to address this gap by developing a time-related mobility measure, or “delay score,” and analyzing its impact on VMT and commuters’ mode choices within a comprehensive framework that incorporates the built environment, demographics, and residential preference/self-selection factors. In this framework, VMT per household and travel mode choice were examined using SEM and GSEM techniques, respectively. This …

Factors Affecting Transit Ridership And The Impact Of Intelligent Transit Information Systems (Itis) - Case Study Of Dallas Area Rapid Transit (Dart), Ahmed Ismail Daqrouq

Public Affairs Dissertations - Archive

Transit ridership is at the heart of transportation policy making and the success of any transit system. Urban planners have been focusing on the need to reduce car dependence and promote more sustainable transportation alternatives. Automobile dependence is a concern for many reasons including congestion in urban areas, pollution, and environmental damages. Switching to more sustainable and environmentally friendly transportation modes such as public transit is likely to be an effective solution to most of these problems. As an alternative to the private car, public transit is an effective means to move large numbers of people within cities, and transit …

State's Fiscal Dependency And Implications On Monetary Management In Nigeria, Akinboyo O. Lawrence, Apinran O. Martins

Bullion

This study examines fiscal management by States in Nigeria and its potential to sustain growth and development. The study used secondary data from the Bank's Statistical Bulletin and the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics. Information on monthly allocations to States, internally Generated Revenue, Debt stock, total Revenue, and Total expenditure were used to examine fiscal imbalance in the States. Data were collected on statutory allocations to States by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), States' debt stock, capital and recurrent expenditure from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Descriptive statistics …

Full Issue

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

A New Tool For New Times? Using Geographic Information Systems In Foundations And Other Nonprofit Organizations, Jeffrey L. Brudney, Christopher R. Prentice

The Foundation Review

The literature on nonprofit organizations exhorts them to understand and develop their communities’ strengths and capacities. Yet, identifying those communities, appreciating the conditions that affect them, and integrating organizational stakeholders can pose difficulties for any nonprofit, including foundations.

This article examines how a tool relatively new to nonprofits — geographic information systems — can be used to support community building by bringing together different stakeholders. A geographic information system is designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present spatial or geographic data, thus allowing an organization to map its community and share that visualization with its stakeholders.

This article …

A Partnered Approach To School Change In A Rural Community: Reflections And Recommendations, Sara Rimm-Kaufman, Mary Fant Donnan, Dianne Garcia, Melinda Snead-Johnson, Eugene Kotulka, Lia Sandilos

The Foundation Review

With so many education policies and practices made at the local level, community-based foundations are in a unique position to support their local school districts in taking a comprehensive, systematic approach to improving the lives of young people. This article describes a research–practice partnership designed to produce school improvement in a rural community in western Virginia and reflects on a three-year collaboration among The Alleghany Foundation, two school districts, and the University of Virginia.

The partners identified challenges and strengths within the school districts and the community; gathered and analyzed existing district data and new findings from interviews and surveys …

Editorial, Teresa R. Behrens

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

By Us And For Us: A Story Of Early Childhood Development Systems Change And Results In A Rural Context, Lisa Payne Simon, Kirsten Scobie, Phoebe Backler, Catherine Mcdowell, Charles Cotton, Susan Cloutier, Clare Nolan

The Foundation Review

Since 2007, the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund — a donor-advised fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation — has invested in early childhood development in Coös County — New Hampshire’s largest and most rural and economically disadvantaged county. Community providers from a range of disciplines formed strong professional relationships and agreed on common goals and evidence-based strategies to improve services for children and families.

This article describes how local community members joined forces with the fund to create an integrated early childhood development system for Coös’ children and families. It provides background on the investment and initiative strategy, summarizes …

Executive Summaries

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Thriving Communities: A Model For Community-Engaged Grantmaking, Mary Francis, Colleen Desmond, Jeffrey Williams, Jennifer Chubinski, Jennifer Zimmerman, Ashlee Young

The Foundation Review

Interact for Health is a health conversion foundation serving the three-state region of Greater Cincinnati, Ohio. Its current community change initiative, Thriving Communities, is a community-learning model that helps embed health promotion and advocacy work in communities while those communities build an equitable infrastructure with stakeholders to more rapidly spread evidence-based practices.

This article explores the three tools developed for the Thriving Communities initiative: Success Markers, the Developmental Pathway, and Relationship Mapping. Interact for Health has found that these tools build core competencies and confidence among grantees as well as a process for community engagement that produces results at the …

Fostering Change And Fresh Voices: Vancouver Foundation’S Youth Engagement Journey, Trilby Smith

The Foundation Review

Since 2011, Vancouver Foundation has invested significant time, energy, ideas, and money in bringing together immigrant and refugee youth and young people with lived experience of the foster care system in British Columbia.

Through its Fostering Change and Fresh Voices initiatives, the foundation has listened and worked in partnership with these young people to address the issues that affect their lives, and important progress has been made in the forms of meaningful policy changes and improved political engagement. The foundation is now in the process of returning these initiatives to the communities that inspired them.

This article describes the roles …

Creating Habits For Inclusive Change, Pennie Foster-Fishman, Erin Watson

The Foundation Review

The act of transforming community outcomes requires diverse stakeholders across an array of settings to become actors of change. While this movement to action lies at the heart of effective community change, it also remains one of the most challenging aspects of collective work.

Drawing from the ABLe Change Framework systems-change model, this article presents four processes used in numerous communities across the United States to effectively engage diverse stakeholders in taking actions to improve local systems. These processes prioritize the voices of the most disadvantaged within communities and engage them as key actors in the change process.

This article …

Equity For All: Building The Infrastructure For Change Through Community-First Funder Collaboratives, Ellen Braff-Guajardo, Kaying Hang, Leslie Cooksy, Monica Braughton, Fontane Lo

The Foundation Review

Foundations increasingly recognize that improving conditions in many communities requires addressing inequities in access to rights and resources. Yet there are challenges to effective investment in underresourced regions, especially when foundations have limited familiarity with the region and may assume limited local capacity to leverage philanthropic investments.

This article discusses how Sierra Health Foundation partnered with other California and national foundations to establish the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund, a collaborative whose grants focus on strengthening the capacity of communities and organizations in the Valley to advance policy and systems changes that promote health and racial equity.

This article highlights …

An End To Business As Usual: Nurturing Authentic Partnerships To Create Lasting Community Change, Jeffrey Sunshine, Bernadette Sangalang

The Foundation Review

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation created Starting Smart and Strong, a 10-year place-based initiative in three California communities, to develop and test solutions that support parents, caregivers, and educators as they prepare young children to be healthy and ready for school. The initiative brings together public and private partners to create comprehensive early-learning systems and ultimately scale what works.

This article offers key insights into the foundation’s experience, three years into implementation, with managing this complex initiative and how program officers were compelled to think differently about the best roles staff can play to support grantee communities and amplify …

Book Review: The Goldilocks Challenge: Right-Fit Evidence For The Social Sector, Veena Pankaj

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.