Social Welfare Commons^™

Evaluating The N/Ne Preference Policy, Amie Thurber, Lisa K. Bates, Susan Halverson

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

North/Northeast Portland has long been the heart of Portland's Black community. By 2010, the area had lost two-thirds of its Black residents to displacement. In response, the City adopted a Preference Policy that prioritizes displaced affordable rental and homeownership applicants. This report describes findings from the first phase of a study to understand what difference this policy is making in the lives of residents.

Recent Trends In Heat-Related Mortality In The United States: An Update Through 2018, Scott C. Sheridan, P. Grady Dixon, Adam J. Kalkstein, Michael J. Allen

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Much research has shown a general decrease in the negative health response to extreme heat events in recent decades. With a society that is growing older, and a climate that is warming, whether this trend can continue is an open question. Using eight additional years of mortality data, we extend our previous research to explore trends in heat-related mortality across the United States. For the period 1975–2018, we examined the mortality associated with extreme-heat-event days across the 107 largest metropolitan areas. Mortality response was assessed over a cumulative 10-day lag period following events that were defined using thresholds of the …

Reference Checks, Tara Myers, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are reference checks?

Reference checks are hiring tools, typically used as one of the last steps in the hiring process. “A reference check generally involves contacting applicants’ former employers, supervisors, coworkers, and educators to verify previous employment and to obtain information about the individual’s knowledge, skills, abilities and character” (Society for Human Resource Management, 2020, p. 1). For example, potential employers use this as an opportunity to get additional information about applicants’ job performance, communication, time management, teamwork, professionalism; honesty; and attention to detail (Hendricks, Rupayana, Puchalski, & Robie, 2018). The questions used on reference checks depend on the …

Building Capacity To Effectively Share And Use Data, Robert Blagg

Other QIC-WD Products

In child welfare, the need to utilize meaningful data to ensure that the services provided are effective in supporting children and families represents a continuing challenge. There is a large volume of data from sources that are internal and external to child welfare agencies; and it increases almost exponentially on a regular basis. It is difficult for leaders and practitioners to quickly and meaningfully synthesize, make use of, and share new information with colleagues who need it to make sound decisions. Even when data is transformed into knowledge, challenges remain around the preferred method of ensuring information reaches the individuals …

Occupational Commitment, Megan Paul, Anita Barbee

Umbrella Summaries

What is occupational commitment?

Occupational commitment refers to the extent to which employees are committed to their line of work (Meyer, Allen, & Smith, 1993). Over the past 40 years, various researchers also labeled the construct as career commitment or as professional commitment, but the term occupation is intended to convey that the concept (a) does not apply to a more general concept of a career, which may involve different occupations over time and (b) applies to both professional and non-professional occupations (Meyer et al., 1993). Occupational commitment is one of many forms of work-related commitment. Some of the other, …

More Research Is Needed On The Impact Of Workplace Violence, Bullying And Sexual Harassment In Child Welfare, Anita Barbee

Other QIC-WD Products

Many employees working in social services are exposed to workplace violence (described in Andersen, et al., 2018) and bullying (discussed in Whitaker, 2012). The workplace violence paper showed not only that up to three-fourths of social workers are exposed to violence at work, but that organizational structures and dynamics set the stage for violence to occur. Settings where staff lacked role clarity and predictability, and where emotional demands, role conflict, and work family conflict were high, also were associated with more threats and violence among employees and by clients. These findings, in addition to studies on bullying, seem to point …

What Do People Experiencing Homelessness Need?, Marisa Zapata

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

This is an opinion piece about a survey in Portland that reveals profound racial disparities even in basic answers about where people sleep.

Assessing The Vulnerability Of Monterey Bay Area Seniors To Covid-19, Ethan A. Quaranta, Gerhard L. Gross

Culture, Society, and Praxis

This paper assesses the vulnerability of seniors residing in the Monterey Bay Tri-County Region to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to weakened immune systems, seniors are the most at-risk members of our community to COVID-19, and have a death rate that is three times higher than the overall death rate to COVID-19. Using standard ambulance response times from each hospital throughout the area, our objective is to determine what proportion of Tri-County seniors aged 65 and over, including those who are in nursing homes, are living independently, and cannot afford health care, were within an adequate travel time to the hospital. …

Diminishing And Preventing Homelessness: A Managerial Audit Of Santa Clara County Nonprofit Organizations Addressing Homelessness, Sergio J. Gonzalez

Master's Projects

While the problem of homelessness intensifies in the United States, the search for solutions becomes increasingly crucial. As the number of homeless people in Santa Clara County, California continues to surge, various sections of government and nonprofit organizations have intensified their search for ways to reduce the problem. There have been many proposed ideas for a solution, such as policy options and emergency measures to address local crises. For example, the city of San Jose, California, has opened a “bridged housing” community, allocating 80 tiny homes with beds, a desk, and air conditioning in two locations to serve as temporary …

Survivor: An Analysis Of The Term From India, Pravin Patkar

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article discusses the need for greater conceptual clarity of the term survivor. It raises questions about the propriety of the term to refer to the victims of sex trafficking. It points out that in the Indian context, the term victim is legally and operationally defined. It cautions against the hasty incorporation of the term survivor into public policies addressing the trafficked victims' problems. Different social platforms use the term survivor differently, and the difference is not nominal. The use of the term survivor is both casual as well as intentional. The term survivor trivializes the exploitation and makes invisible …

"My Head Was Like A Washing Machine On Spin": (Improving) Women’S Experiences Of Accessing Support, Jo Neale, Kathryn Hodges

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This paper draws on data collected as part of two larger studies to set out the differences, according to women seeking support, between the feminist responses of the specialist women’s sector and the issues-led responses of other agencies. The first study examined the processes by which women enter, endure, and exit relationships with abusive men. The second study explored the barriers to help-seeking for those accessing a service for women involved in prostitution. Taking a feminist poststructuralist approach, the authors point to the gendered nature, both of the experiences that propel women toward help-seeking and of the responses they receive …

Lessons Learned While Conducting Utilization-Focused Workforce Evaluation, Robert Blagg, Michelle Graef, Cynthia F. Parry, Courtney L. Harrison

Other QIC-WD Products

The QIC-WD learned many lessons while conducting utilization-focused workforce research across eight diverse public child welfare agencies. In this brief we detail how we are chronicling natural variation (e.g., stay at home orders, hiring freezes, political will, and leadership changes), synthesizing existing data, conducting process evaluation (e.g., identifying implementation drivers), visualizing data to meet diverse stakeholder information needs, and building systems that are both flexible and sustainable.

Organizational Justice, Tara Myers, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is organizational justice?

Organizational justice is the extent to which an organization treats people fairly. Organizational justice includes fairness related to outcomes, procedures, and interpersonal interactions. Fair workplace outcomes and decisions (e.g., equitable/favorable pay, raise, promotion) are called distributive justice (Adams, 1965). Procedural justice means that outcomes are determined through procedures that are based on accurate information and standard ethics, represent everyone affected by the procedure, include opportunity for input and appeal, are free from bias, and are used consistently (Leventhal, 1980; Thibaut & Walker, 1975). Interactional justice refers to people feeling they were treated with dignity and respect …

Social Housing And The Affordability Crisis: A Study Of The Effectiveness Of French And American Social Housing Systems In Meeting The Increasing Demand For Affordable Housing, Claire Sullivan

Honors Theses

The demand for affordable housing across OECD countries has sky-rocketed as the number of those cost-burdened by housing continues to increase each year. Social housing has been the traditional means by which governments have provided affordable housing to citizens, however in recent years the social housing systems of many countries have been strained to meet the rising demand for affordable housing. While this has consistently been an area of concern for major metropolitan areas, areas outside of cities are being impacted by the lack of affordable housing, as well.

This study seeks to address the impact of social housing systems …

A Cross National Comparison Of Family Friendly Work Policies: The Potential Influence Of Cultural Values, Adeline Grace Hardten

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Around the world people must work for a living, but also must raise their families. To balance these obligations, parents need high levels of support. But the existence of family friendly work policies, defined as paid parental leave and affordable, high-quality childcare, vary significantly across nations, making it difficult for many to obtain the necessary support. Research indicates that countries providing supportive family friendly policies see economic benefits, increases in profitability, and stronger overall youth development. Even though research reveals strong positive outcomes, there is a deficiency of exploration into why more countries still lack comprehensive policies that support working …

The Affordable Care Act And Entrepreneurship Lock: An Updated Examination Of Employer-Based Healthcare’S Effect On Self-Employment By Demographic Group, Sean Ruddy

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper capitalizes on a natural experiment created by differences in Medicaid expansion under The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). A difference and difference model comparing states that did and did not expand Medicaid is conducted to investigate if providing an alternative and low-cost source of health insurance affects self-employment rates overall and across different demographic groups. The results suggest that living in a state that expanded Medicaid was associated with a 1.4 percent increase in the likelihood that an individual will be self-employed and that this effect is heterogeneous across different demographics, being largest among African Americans.

Introduction To Data Dictionaries, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

Are you interested in exploring how to leverage the data necessary to examine and address child welfare workforce challenges in your agency? If so, you may consider developing and using a human resources data dictionary to help guide your work. A data dictionary is a collection of detailed information about the content and structure of data in one or more databases. This descriptive information is often called metadata (i.e., data about data). Other terms used to describe data dictionaries include data definition matrix, metadata repository, design dictionary, and business glossary. You also might see other variations of these terms, further …

Introduction To Workforce Metrics, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Other QIC-WD Products

It is important for Human Resources (HR) and child welfare leaders to start with a question-based mindset when analyzing workforce data (i.e., being thoughtful about what you and/or your stakeholders want to know), but it is also important to leave room to explore the data as well. This can only be accomplished if you know what is possible. This blog post describes some of what is possible to explore within the realm of workforce metrics as they relate to employee well-being, performance, and retention.

In many ways, the concept of workforce metrics is still in its infancy and many things …

Thriving, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is thriving?

Thriving is defined as “a positive psychological state in which individuals experience both a sense of vitality and a sense of learning at work” (Spreitzer, Sutcliffe, Dutton, Sonenshein, & Grant, 2005, p. 538). Vitality refers to feeling energized, and learning is about experiencing personal growth and development (Spreitzer et al., 2005). The most popular measure of thriving includes ten items, with instructions to think about the questions in relation to work (Porath, Spreitzer, Gibson, & Garnett, 2012). Examples of vitality items include, “I have energy and spirit” and “I feel alive and vital,” and examples of learning …

Introduction To Workforce Metrics, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

It is important for Human Resources (HR) and child welfare leaders to start with a question-based mindset when analyzing workforce data (i.e., being thoughtful about what you and/or your stakeholders want to know), but it is also important to leave room to explore the data as well. This can only be accomplished if you know what is possible. This blog post describes some of what is possible to explore within the realm of workforce metrics as they relate to employee well-being, performance, and retention. In many ways, the concept of workforce metrics is still in its infancy and many things …