Social Policy Commons^™

Modernization Of Care: Self-Determination And Homeless Policy In San Diego, Patricia Mary Leslie

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Many disciplines are interested in the impact of modernization on various aspects of society. Modernization contributes to greater complexity, rationalization, and individualization in social structures and human interactions. Has modernization also impacted the professional response to social problems? This study explores whether modern evidence-based practice homeless policy aligns with the core principle of selfdetermination identified in the Code of Ethics adopted by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). Homeless policy for the San Diego region and surveys completed by 367 homeless persons during the Sharing the San Diego Story (SSDS) project are used to explore whether or not local …

Juvenile Delinquency: An Investigation Of Risk Factors And Solutions., Lauren Cardoso

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

This article proposes that educational and community based programs can help juveniles stay away from crime and prevent recidivism. A presentation of federal and state statistics, along with an analysis of the risk factors for delinquency, will be provided in order to illustrate the important areas that should be addressed in successful programs. Testimonies, including personal interviews with those who have experience working at the RI Training School, DCYF, Boys' Town, Child and Family Services will be shared as evidence of the research found. Finally, recommendations based on the findings will be proposed.

2012 Maine Child Support Guidelines: Review And Recommendations, Sally Ward Mppm, Janice Daley Msw, Barbara Fraumeni Phd, George Shaler Mph, Eileen Griffin Jd, Melanie Knox Ba, Laurie Hallett, Louis Mandeville Ms

Children, Youth, & Families

This report summarizes the quadrennial review of Maine's child support guidelines conducted by the USM Muskie School , which complies with federal law requiring each state's child support guidelines be reviewed at least once every four years. Principle findings of the extensive review by the Muskie School show that many aspects of Maine's child support system work well. Maine's low deviation rate reflects a reasonably high level of consistency in apply the guidelines, and in large part, protect the needs and interests of the children. The report provides background and overview of child support modes and the Maine guidelines, and …

Livelihoods Analysis Of Landmine/Erw Affected Communities In Herat Province Afghanistan, Gichd, Mine Action Coordination Centre For Afghanistan, Gender In Mine Action

Global CWD Repository

The Mine Action Coordination Centre for Afghanistan (MACCA) and the Department for Mine Clearance (DMC) are seeking to better understand the development outcomes of demining. They plan to undertake community-level surveys on a periodic basis to document these achievements and identify changes to policy and practice that could further enhance the contribution that the Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan (MAPA) makes towards Afghanistan’s development. The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), working within the framework of the MoU between the GICHD and the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), assisted with the design and implementation of a pilot project that …

It Will Be An Ugly Winter (Again) This Year: A Case Study Of The Vermont Community Action Partnership's Perennial Fight For Low-Income Fuel Assistance Programs, Elizabeth H. Bennett

Capstone Collection

Despite the extraordinary need for the vital Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), the program has seen major budget cuts as part of the Federal Budget’s Discretionary spending, even as fuel prices rise and incomes fall. The Vermont Community Action Partnership (VCAP – also known as the Vermont CAP Directors) has been the primary advocate for LIHEAP in Vermont. This case study examines VCAP’s measures to advocate for level funding of the LIHEAP program at the federal level, as well as influencing state level decision makers to improve service delivery to Vermont’s eligible low-income households.

This study combines in-depth …

Focal Point, Volume 26, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This issue of Focal Point focuses on the recognition that mental health and physical health should not be considered separately. It addresses how the mind and body impact each other, and how we can strive to achieve balance within ourselves.

"The Need For Nature: Exploring Youth Leadership Development Through Outdoor Activities", Margaret A. Dudley

Capstone Collection

Youth are increasingly spending more time indoors. A young person spends hours in front of different screens, tuned out to their natural surroundings. When numerous studies have linked spending time outdoors to physical, mental, and emotional health, this increase in indoor time is disturbing. Youth living in apartment complexes in the Western Suburbs of Minneapolis do not have a lot of natural outdoor space close to their homes or transportation to parks, to enrich creativity and promote independence. This paper explores what has been called, the nature-deficit disorder, among youth today, and how one organization, the CONECT (Community Organizations Networking …

To Walk The Earth In Safety 11th Edition (Fy2011), Us Dos Pm/Wra

Global CWD Repository

In 2011, the United States continued to lead the international donor community in providing assistance for the clearance of landmines and explosive remnants of war, as well as the destruction of at-risk and unsecured weapons and munitions. In Fiscal Year 2011, the Department of State allocated $142 million in assistance to 42 countries, thereby helping communities recover, and countries become more secure. This 11th edition of our annual report, To Walk The Earth In Safety, details the programs and partnerships that make the United States’ Conventional Weapons Destruction (CWD) program a lasting success.

Increased instability as a result of …

Transitioning Mine Action Programmes To National Ownership I Albania, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

In response to the limited guidance on the topic of transition to national ownership, the GICHD commissioned nine country case studies in 2011 to highlight different contexts, processes, challenges, good practices and lessons learnt from the process of transition to national ownership.

Based on lessons learnt and the good practices highlighted in the case studies, the GICHD, in collaboration with UNMAS, produced a Guide on Transitioning Mine Action Programmes to National Ownership.

Racial Disparities In Sentencing In The U.S. And Georgia, Kamal Rattray, Nicole Lee

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

Incarceration represents the ultimate use of coercive power, and in the state of Georgia, that power is being disproportionately levied upon people of color, particularly African Americans.1 According to 2011 statistics from the Georgia Department of Corrections, the total prison population statewide was approximately 53,341 inmates. The majority of that number were Blacks (33,069 inmates), followed by Whites (17,752 inmates), Hispanics (2,306 inmates) and other ethnic groups.

Off Premises Sunday Sales In Georgia Localities: Will It Affect Traffic Accidents?, Forrest Rose, Nathan Dunkel

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

Discussions about public policy relating to alcohol cause a polarizing reaction to many people in this country, particularly in the South. The state of Georgia, for example, has a long history of policies regulating alcohol which reflects its membership as part of the “Bible Belt” where Sunday is regarded as a holy day and therefore alcohol cannot and should not be purchased on this day. Given that the impetus of alcohol control policy has generally widened the availability of alcohol since the Prohibition, the moral concerns of voters regarding alcohol regulation have been superseded in the public debate with safety …

Changing Faces, Changing Voices: Hispanics And Georgia’S Spanish-Language Media Environment, D. Xavier Medina Vidal

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

Nathan Deal’s successful 2010 campaign to become Georgia’s 82nd governor included a promise to enact an Arizona-style immigration enforcement law in Georgia, a promise he kept when he signed HB 87 into law in May 2011. To be sure, the high saliency of immigration law enforcement and policy reform in Georgia has much to do with rapid growth of the state’s Hispanic population in recent years.

Calling Out The Persistence Of Racism, Sanford F. Schram

Political Science Faculty Research and Scholarship

In this issue New Political Science begins a new tradition, printing an extended review essay of the book that received the Michael Harrington Book Award at the most recent American Political Science Association Meeting. The Michael Harrington Award is given for an outstanding book that demonstrates how scholarships can be used in the struggle for a better world. In 2011, the award went to Michelle Alexander for her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in an Age of Color-Blindness. Sanford Schram, a member of the award committee, has contributed the below review.

Batterers' Perception Of Treatment Non-Completion, Zoila Gordon

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine reasons why batterers drop out of batterers’ intervention programs. A qualitative design was utilized within the framework of Gove’s Prime Physical Theory, Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory and Braithwaite’s Reintegrative Shaming Theory. Data collection included interviewing a sample of 22 court mandated male batterers, who had initially dropped out of treatment and had been reinstated. Participants were from a diverse background. Results indicated five key themes that emerged from the batterers’ responses: (1) An overall lack of trust toward the legal system which greatly contributed to anger upon entering group; (2) a lack of …

An Alternative To Temporary Staffing: Considerations For Workforce Practitioners, Linda Kato, Françoise Carré, Laura E. Johnson, Deena Schwartz

Center for Social Policy Publications

As the national economy inches toward recovery, risk-averse employers are increasingly turning to temporary workers to fill their hiring gaps. In fact, the temporary staffing industry has been a fixture of the US economy for decades. But the industry added a striking 557,000 jobs from June 2009 to November 2011 — more than half of the jobs created during that period. Growth is likely to continue: A 2011 McKinsey survey of 2,000 firms of differing sizes and across various sectors found that more than a third foresaw their companies increasing their use of temporary workers over the next five years. …

The Californians Against Sexual Exploitation (Case) Act: A Case Study In Policy Advocacy, Bailey Mannisto-Ichés

Capstone Collection

In any given year in the United States of America at least 100,000 domestic youth are sexually exploited through the commercial sex industry. Current national and state laws do not adequately protect these children from being groomed, pimped, and exploited over and over again in their young lives. A majority of these children are trafficked from, into or within the nation’s most populated state of California. In 2003 the FBI identified three of the country’s 13 high-­‐intensity child sex trafficking cities as being in California. The cycle of violence these children endure is not being brought to justice through the …

The Costs And Impacts Of Rising Food Prices Among Low-Income Households, Elaine Waxman

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The pressure of rising food prices on low-income households is often assumed to be primarily an issue for developing economies, where fluctuations in food staple prices can have dramatic consequences for food security and social and political stability. Observers often note that Americans benefit from relatively low food prices and spend far less to feed their families than their counterparts in many other parts of the world. Indeed, the average American household spent 7.6% of their household expenditures on food purchases at home in 2009, while the comparable percentage exceeded 40% of household expenditures in diverse countries such as Mexico, …

A Failing Correctional System: State Prison Overcrowding In The United States, Susan M. Campers

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

State prison overcrowding has grown into a detrimental problem within our American penal system, such that after decades of being ignored by politicians, media outlets, and the lower court system, it has resulted in an ineffective and overcrowded correctional system that craves reformation.

Evaluating The Performance Of The U.S. Social Safety Net In The Great Recession, Keith Gunnar Bentele

Center for Social Policy Publications

The following provides an assessment of the performance of both individual safety net programs and the cumulative impact of all safety net benefits and tax credits on household incomes in the early years during and following the 2007-09 recession. Specifically, I examine the extent to which various benefits and tax credits have moderated the impact of earnings losses for households in different positions in the income distribution, with special attention to the experiences of low-income households. In addition, I examine whether these moderating impacts differ for households of various racial/ethnic compositions, female-headed households, and residents of states with more and …

Pathways To Family Success Final Evaluation Report, Berna Kahraman, Ghazal Zulfiqar, Donna H. Friedman, Alice Carter

Center for Social Policy Publications

This report presents findings from the second year of the evaluation of the Pathways to Family Success Programs (PFS) funded by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) and conducted by the Center for Social Policy (CSP) for the period September 2010 through June 2011. The 2010-2011 evaluation aimed to determine the extent to which PFS activities and interventions were effective in supporting learning outcomes and goal attainment for participating families and their children, and to identify strengths and areas of growth for the PFS Programs and partners. There were four Program sites implementing the PFS indepth project during …