Public Policy Commons^™

Strategy For Now, Jara Dean-Coffey, Jill Casey

The Foundation Review

We are in a profound period of understanding who we are as a people, past and present. This applies to practices held as core to how society operates. If we are to thrive as a species, the present and future necessitate reimagining the structures, systems, and conventions that limit some and thus us all. This includes not defaulting to control, competition, and certainty as we navigate circumstances we created.

Amid growing desires to integrate and embody practices aligned with equity, emergence, and complexity, concepts and points of view that dominate business continue to lead conversations about strategy formation in philanthropy …

A Systems And Innovation Approach To Attune Grantmaking For Early Childhood To What Matters Most At The Point Of Service, Wally Patawaran

The Foundation Review

This article discusses how and why The JPB Foundation, a nationally focused private philanthropy in the United States, promoted multistakeholder innovations as it evolved its strategy for early childhood health equity. Through coordinated grantmaking, its cross-sector partnerships over the past decade shifted the science, clinical practice, and public discourse on early life stress.

Building on field learning and trusted relationships, JPB and its partners paved the way for a reimagined paradigm of care that brings ecosystem stakeholders together to overcome competing frictions inhibiting their mutual flourishing. Working collaboratively with grantees as their champion and thought partner, JPB formulated an agenda …

Enticing Institutions To Become More Inclusive And Responsive: Lessons From The Colorado Health Foundation’S Locally Focused Work, Douglas Easterling, Jehan Benton-Clark, Scott Downes, Phillip Chung

The Foundation Review

Equity-focused foundations have generally sought to change institutions, systems, and structures through advocacy, policy change, and community organizing — either on their own or by supporting activist organizations. This article examines an alternative philanthropic strategy: directly engaging and supporting the institutions that need to become more diverse, inclusive, and responsive to the communities they should be serving.

The Colorado Health Foundation has “enticed institutions” as one element of its Locally Focused Work effort, launched in four Colorado communities in 2017. With LFW, program officers actively seek to build supportive relationships with a wide range of community-based organizations and actors who …

Front And Back Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

The Weight Of Power: Reframing Evaluation In Philanthropy To Amplify The Voices Of Communities Of Color, Martena Reed, Blanca Flor Guillen-Woods, Kantahyanee W. Murray, Dabney Brice, Ashley Barnes, Liza Mueller

The Foundation Review

Philanthropy’s current structure and practices perpetuate a relationship with nonprofits led by people of color that can keep foundations removed from the work and keep these nonprofits fighting to stay effective and sustainable. When equitable and responsive strategies to support grant partners are implemented, however, relationships and power begin to shift.

This article explores the complexities of philanthropy’s relationship with POC-led nonprofit and grassroots organizations as mediated by evaluation and reporting practices. By critically analyzing these practices and power dynamics within philanthropy, it aims to uncover the root causes of disparities and establish a basis for creating pathways toward greater …

Resourcing Transformational Strategies: How Funding With The Right Timescales, Places, And Relationships Can Advance Multiracial Feminist Democracy, Lauren Jacobs, Elly Matsumura, Rachel Rosner, Eric Wat

The Foundation Review

This article explores how philanthropy can support movement organizations and networks organizing for long-term power building that transforms who holds governing power. PowerSwitch Action, a network of influential regional advocacy and organizing groups in the U.S., draws on a recent evaluation that laid out key elements of its approach to the work to share learnings in hopes that they will benefit both other movement organizations and the philanthropic sector that provides critical backing to the field.

Specifically, the article identifies three recommendations for funders: 1) support long-term efforts to shift governing power rather than expecting quick victories; 2 recognize how …

The Role Of Policy Entrepreneurs In Understanding Oral Health Care Policy: A Case Study Approach Analyzing Multiple Streams Framework In Nc Oral Health Policy, Lori Gordon Hendrick

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The United States Surgeon General has defined oral diseases as a “silent epidemic” that affects the most vulnerable citizens. More often, this includes those from low socio-economic backgrounds, children, elderly, and many members of ethnic minority groups. Although preventative and treatment modalities have improved over the past fifty years, some Americans continue to have little to no access to educational and preventative programs. The lack of access to dental care for all ages and oral health care literacy remains one of the largest health concerns for American citizens making it a “wicked problem”. Historically, raising Medicaid enrollment has failed to …

Who Pays The Price For The Cost Of Voting: The Impact Of Voting Policies On Presidential Election Turnout, 1996-2016, Amelia S. Minkin

eJournal of Public Affairs

The gap between the percentage of registered White voters who cast a ballot and that of registered nonwhite voters in the 2020 United States Presidential election was approximately 13 percent. This trend varies widely across the United States due to state legislators having jurisdiction to craft, enact, and implement election and voting legislation. In 2022, 408 pieces of legislation that would have made it more difficult to register to vote, cast a ballot, or stay on the voter rolls were considered in 39 states and 11 made it into state codes across the country. Given the increase in legislation considered …

Selected U.S. Government Statistical Agencies And Their Data, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides introductory and detailed overview of U.S. Government agencies statistics. Includes examples of how an individual U.S. law authorizes government agencies to compile statistics for particular congressional committees and the general public. Statistics cover topics such as demography, defense, foreign assistance, economic growth, criminal justice, energy, Social Security, and Medicare.

Automation & Ai In Southern Nevada: A High Stake Game For Hospitality Workers, An Pham

Student Research

After a year filled with excitement around artificial intelligence, it’s easy to overlook that both AI and automation have already been present in various capacities. Thankfully, fanfare in AI and automation has come at a critical time as it shifts the focus from questioning whether machines will replace human workers to understanding when that will happen. In my paper, titled “Automation & AI in Southern Nevada: A High-Stakes Game for Hospitality Workers,” I aim to highlight both the disruptive consequences of automation and AI on the hospitality workforce in Southern Nevada and the importance of addressing these issues without delay. …

Policy Tools For Youth Development In African American Communities, Adedapo Oladipo Adeyanju

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many African American adolescents live in disadvantaged neighborhoods due to decades-long segregationist housing policies. Living in these settings have isolated them from mainstream society and put them at risk for developmental issues and engagement in risky behaviors and violent crime as young adults. The purpose of this study was to examine past experiences of public housing beneficiaries exposed to concentrated poverty and their perceptions of how their neighborhood characteristics affect adolescent development. Research questions examined how housing policies have inhibited development or isolated Black youths to specific housing programs, affecting their opportunities to be better citizens. The theoretical framework for …

Nevada’S Predictable Housing Train Wreck And What To Do About It, Arthur C. Nelson

Policy Briefs and Reports

Nevada is on the cusp of a housing catastrophe, especially in Southern Nevada.

Consider that the state has fewer households than it should. A household is defined as one or more people who have a home of their own. But for price, location, configuration, and other factors, about 60,000 households in Nevada do not exist because there is no home for them. And it’s going to get worse. Including these “missing households,” nearly 470,000 new occupied homes will need to be built between 2020 and 2040 to meet the housing needs of all Nevadans, or about 23,000 per year. The …

Nevada’S Housing Policy Landscape: Data, Analysis, And Policy Solutions, Brookings Mountain West, Lied Center For Real Estate

Brookings Mountain West Special Events

From rising rents to high interest rates to limited supply, housing policy is a central issue in the 2024 elections. Brookings Mountain West, in partnership with UNLV’s Lied Center for Real Estate, hosted a community forum examining the local, state, and federal impacts of Nevada’s housing challenges. New research presented at the forum offer insights into the demographic and economic dynamics of individuals and families navigating Nevada's turbulent housing market, assess trends in home ownership, and evaluate barriers preventing Nevadans from accessing the housing market.

Law Enforcement Executive Selection Process In North Texas, Herbert Robert Ashford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Poor community–police relationships impact both communities and police because the community may feel unfairly targeted for enforcement. This qualitative study investigated what attributes are essential to executive law enforcement success. The theoretical framework was the person-organization fit theory as it applies to public service motivation. Data were collected from chief law enforcement executives and their direct reports from eight municipal law enforcement agencies in the Dallas County area of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Area through an open-ended qualitative questionnaire; the sample population consisted of 19 police executives. The results were analyzed using NVivo software and hand coding. The results were …

Policy Change In The Deep South: An Analysis Of Three States, Rebecca Short, Noe Alexander Aguado, Tim Collins

Politics, Justice, Law, and Philosophy

This chapter uses Kingdon’s (2003) multiple streams framework (MSF) to explain policy changes that brought home rule to South Carolina, a modern constitution to Georgia, and the Judicial Article in Alabama. Policy change in the Deep South is rare, but it can happen. Short et al. provide a comparative study between three states in the Deep South to illustrate how policy changes can occur in traditionalistic political cultures. In every case, unusual events came together just at the right time. In Alabama and Georgia, ambitious politicians pushed their pet policies to attain policy change. In South Carolina, a confluence of …

Preface, Noe Alexander Aguado

Politics, Justice, Law, and Philosophy

In 2002, A Century of Controversy: Constitutional Reform in Alabama was published to reflect on the problematic history of Alabama’s Constitution. From its inception, the 1901 Constitution was a document that sought to codify white supremacy (Jackson, 2002). It created a system where election rules were actively tilted toward the affluent while disenfranchising Black voters and poor whites (Webb, 2002). The collection illustrated how Alabama’s tax code is overwhelmingly dependent on sales tax revenue and extremely regressive. The over-reliance on sales tax revenue, which are highly variable from year to year, puts Alabama’s institutions into crisis mode whenever the national …

Governing Structures For Successful Regional Transit Coordination And Their Formation, Charles Rivasplata, Richard Lee, Michelle Derobertis, Christopher Ferrell

Mineta Transportation Institute

The expansion of metropolitan areas in California has further prompted the need to improve transportation options for all, more effectively linking origins and destinations through key enhancements to the existing network of transit services. This study provides planners and policymakers examples of effective regional transit coordination agencies. To improve multimodal connections and enhance transit services at the local and regional levels, this study explores regional coordination, focusing on entities charged with coordinating multiple transit agencies in a single metropolitan area. The study identified 16 regional transit coordinators (RTCs), identifying the structure, scope, and management of each. The results revealed that …

Leadership In Collaborative Emergency Management For Compound Hurricane-Pandemic Threats: Insights From Practitioners' Experiences, Norah Alshayhan, Saige Hill, Marina Saitgalina, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

Emergency management is a key government function for mitigating risks and reducing the impacts of disasters. Emergency management leaders play a critical role in preparing for and responding to disasters whose impacts are exacerbated by a pandemic. Using the example of the compound threat of hurricanes and the COVID-19 pandemic, this qualitative research uses insights from emergency management professionals to describe collaborative approaches and leadership skills that help balance the needs for stability and flexibility. Data collected using focus groups and one-on-one interviews with emergency management professionals highlight that collaboration involved existing and new partners in a changing and uncertain …

Digital Environments Of Reception And Governance: A Landscape Analysis Of Immigration-Related Webpages On U.S. State Websites, Orunima Chakraborti

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

American state governments occupy unique political roles when it comes to critical public-facing policy areas like education, health, transportation, and commerce, and therefore they administer many public services and benefits that affect immigrants and their communities. This study expands the existing knowledge of the ways in which U.S. state governments digitally engage with their immigrant populations, doing so through a landscape analysis that maps the information and resources provided for and about immigrant communities on 413 immigration-related webpages across all 50 U.S. state governments’ official websites. Data was collected in four categories for each webpage: its bureaucratic orientation, the government …

Addressing Transportation Construction Workforce Needs Through Innovative Policies And Practices, Thomas O'Brien, Ben Olson, Devin Martinez-Flores

Mineta Transportation Institute

A 2019 survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, found that construction firms across the country are struggling to fill open positions. Eighty percent of survey respondents indicated they have difficulty filling jobs in occupations that are essential to highway construction. This includes heavy equipment operators, cement masons, and iron workers, among others. This workforce shortage in California will become more problematic as public agencies and their contractors seek to implement projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). In California there are …