Public Policy Commons^™

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 …

How Do You Mobilize Public Support For Infrastructural Investment In California’S Aging Water System?, Christine M. Hackett

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper looks at how the state of California maintains an aging water system – the California State Water Project (SWP) – that will threaten California’s water supply if further maintained, and concludes that the system faces three major problems that are of concern in 2017 – aging pipes, health hazards, and environmental threats. What needs to be done in order to address these issues is to invest in a new and improved SWP that will save water, protect the water supply from contamination of hazardous particles, and replenish the ecosystems within piping range that it has depleted. To do …

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.

Crowd-Sourcing The Smart City: Using Big Geosocial Media Metrics In Urban Governance, Matthew Zook

Geography Faculty Publications

Using Big Data to better understand urban questions is an exciting field with challenging methodological and theoretical problems. It is also, however, potentially troubling when Big Data (particularly derived from social media) is applied uncritically to urban governance via the ideas and practices of “smart cities”. This essay reviews both the historical depth of central ideas within smart city governance —particular the idea that enough data/information/knowledge can solve society problems—but also the ways that the most recent version differs. Namely, that the motivations and ideological underpinning behind the goal of urban betterment is largely driven by technology advocates and neoliberalism …

The Cloud, The Crowd, And The City: How New Data Practices Reconfigure Urban Governance?, Philip Ashton, Rachel Weber, Matthew Zook

Geography Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

After Closure: Options For Pursuing A High Performance Rural Health System, Andrew F. Coburn Phd

Rural Hospitals (Flex Program)

Presented at the 2017 National Rural Health Association Annual Meeting. Coburn, a member of the Rural Policy Research Institute Panel, discussed the following key questions: What kind of rural health system is possible in places that cannot support a full-service hospital? How does a rural community navigate the transition from hospital-centric care toward new models that deliver high performance? What implementation support will be needed? Coburn noted that there is no single model for re-configuring the rural health system after hospital closure; local assets, affiliations and partnerships, financial and delivery flexibility and capacities must be critically assessed to determine the …

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.

Municipal Resource Guide To Leading Practices In Cost Savings, Martin Horak, Andrew Sancton, Rachna Goswami, Umera Ali

Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance – Publications

Ontario municipalities of all sizes face pressure to “do more with less.” Commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs, this Resource Guide provides municipal officials with single-source information about a range of current leading practices in cost savings in small and mid-sized Ontario municipalities. Municipalities across the province are continually developing innovative practices that save costs without incurring service level reductions. Most of these practices involve small-scale initiatives that result in modest savings. Yet even modest savings add up over time, and multiple small initiatives in a single municipality can make a big difference. In addition, by providing an …

Examining The Intersection Of Refugee Policies And Contemporary Protracted Displacement, Christopher M. Owens

Sustainability and Social Justice

Article 33 of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees states that host nations shall not expel or return a refugee to their home nation ‘where his life or freedom would be threatened.’ However, as demonstrated in three contemporary case studies in protracted displacement the interests of the sovereign state drive nations to craft strategies to limit cross-border refugee mobility. The refoulement of refugees escaping drug cartel violence throughout the Americas, internally displaced Haitians, and Syrian refugees in Jordan are all ‘managed’ by one of two methods. First, some destination nations either strategically blur refugees into other mobility …

The Role Of Public Versus Private Health Insurance In Ensuring Health Care Access & Affordability For Low-Income Rural Children, Erika C. Ziller Phd, Jennifer D. Lenardson Mhs, Amanda Burgess Mppm

Access / Insurance

Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) have played a critical role in ensuring access to health insurance coverage among children and have been particularly important sources of coverage for rural children. More than 35.5 million children were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP in September 2016—accounting for just over half of total Medicaid and CHIP enrollment. Given the large proportion of rural children covered by public insurance, it is critically important to understand the role of that coverage in ensuring access to affordable healthcare for rural children. Using data from the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children’s Health, this study …

Cpaf Updates Vol. 18 No. 3, Melanie P. Maullon, Stoix Nebin S. Pascua, Stella Concepcion R. Britanico, Chrislyn Joanna P. Faulmino

CPAf Updates

In this issue:

• CPAf 8th Annual Recognition rites held, 1
• CPAf holds seminar on records management, 2
• USAID Philippines Mission Director visits Bicol Agri-Water Project sites, 3
• Dr. Reyes gives synthesis in NAST PHL forum, 4

Community Attitudes Regarding Public Safety In Bend, Oregon, Greg Stewart, Kris R. Henning

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report provides the results of a recent community survey in Bend Oregon. The purpose of the survey was to provide feedback on the Bend Police Department's recent performance in achieving their community-oriented goals from the agency's 2015-2020 strategic plan. Most of the residents surveyed report feeling safe in the city and the police received high performance ratings for being available when needed, dealing with problems that impact public safety, and for reducing crime. Likewise, residents who had been contacted by the police during traffic stops or investigations rated these interactions positively. Specific recommendations are offered in the report with …

An Evaluation Of Mental Health Resources At Syracuse University, Joyce Lalonde

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This Honors capstone project discusses mental health at Syracuse University. As identified through quantitative and qualitative research, as well as through personal narratives and experiences, mental health resources and awareness at Syracuse University could be drastically improved. This project’s objective is to evaluate these mental health resources on Syracuse University campus and to offer recommendations to improve said resources and build awareness. This has been done through Mental Health Awareness Week and a Mental Health Report with additive research through an annotated bibliography. Through this, the project outlines the trajectory of mental health on campus. Overall, this project has shifted …

Governing The Urban Water Commons : Essays On Collaborative Policy Networks In A Polycentric Ecology Of Urban Water Policy Games., Emmanuel Frimpong Boamah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Governing social-ecological systems, such as the urban water commons, is a multi-scale and multi-sector (polycentric) human-environment process. This dissertation interrogates this process by situating itself within the Ecology of Games Framework by Norton Long (and updated by Mark Lubell) and the literature on polycentric governance by the Bloomington School of Political Economy. The dissertation’s three essays 1) offer both theoretical and methodological means to enact polycentric public economies within the ecology of games framework, and 2) explicate the conditions under which interoganizational collaboration is fostered within a polycentric ecology of policy games in governing the Middle Rio Grande urban watershed. …

A Guide For Assessing Older Adults’ Needs On Maine Islands, Beatrice Byrne

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

This template may help Maine island communities identify older adults’ needs and island resources, in order to allow older adults to age in the island communities.

Three interviews with island health leaders, one community conversation with older islanders, and one pilot test provided information about what to include in the template.

The template includes a demographic survey, guides for conducting semi-structured interviews and group conversations with older adults and caregivers, a guide and worksheet for analyzing the data, a guide for assessing community resources, a guide for dissemination, and a list of additional resources.

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 …

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 …

The Intersection Of Culture And Activism In The Filipino Community In Soma, Ericka J. Martynovych

Master's Theses

My research analyzes the intersection between culture and activism, through oral histories with participants and organizers of SoMa Pilipinas, the Filipino cultural heritage district in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco. I analyzed the impact of the establishment of the Filipino cultural heritage district on the Filipino community in the South of Market neighborhood. I examined what motivates members of this community to be politically active by organizing and attending protests and rallies, speaking at Planning Commission hearings at City Hall, attending planning meetings for SoMa Pilipinas, building relationships across organizations and fields, and providing resources for community …

Jornaleros Engaged In A Multidimensional Struggle: A Critical Ethnography With Day Laborers In Las Vegas, Jorge Adrian Castrejon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Day labor work has spread across the entire Unite States as part of the secondary labor market, or as Cherrie Moraga describes it- survival work. Day laborers in Las Vegas, Nevada have become a significant part of this trend in the Southwest, where the highest rate of day laborers work, and for which little community and scholarly work has been produced. The National Day Labor Survey, the most comprehensive study with day laborers, reports that the day labor market is rife with abuse and violations of worker rights. But, the exploitation of this predominantly migrant workforce would not be possible …

Classrooms & Curriculum, Devin Walz, Anh Doan, Cathy Tran, Loraina Galarza

Collin College Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference

Panel Chair: Lisa Roy-Davis

Papers Presented:

"Should the State of Texas Allow Public Universities and Colleges to Permit Guns on Campuses?" By Devin Walz

"Pets in the Elementary Classroom" by Anh Doan

"Technology Case Study of K-12 Students" by Cathy Tran

Abstract: Technology is an exponentially revolutionizing tool that has pushed all aspects of society to adapt and grow in the time known as the “Information Age”. The way that humans process information, and the speed at which humans can process information, with technology allows humans to grow more efficiently and effectively. Technology is continually designed to become more optimal …