Social Welfare Commons^™

Paws For Thought: The Importance Of Dogs In A Seniors Social Intervention, Elisa Maria Concetta Papotto, Jessica Lee Oliva Dr

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

As Australia faces an aging population with an unprecedented life expectancy, it is the community’s obligation to ensure seniors are offered resources to support their well-being. Studies investigating loneliness in aged-care facilities attest to the therapeutic properties of dogs for residents’ sense of well-being. Consequently, this study aimed to ascertain the effectiveness of a community-based dog lover’s initiative for the self-management of well-being among senior citizens. Our qualitative research investigated whether community gatherings including dogs would produce greater feelings of subjective well-being among senior citizens compared to community gatherings without dogs. A conventional content analysis provided support for the supposition …

Believe Our Stories & Listen: Portland Street Response Survey Report, Greg Townley, Kaia Sand, Thea Kindschuh

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many advocates, local officials, and people experiencing homelessness agree that Portland needs a better way to respond to low-priority calls for service involving those experiencing homelessness and behavioral health crises. This report examines efforts to address homelessness in Portland through the development of a plan to dispatch the Portland Street Response unit rather than police.

A team of community partners spread out across the city July 16 and 18 to interview people experiencing homelessness to help inform the design of the Portland Street Response pilot project (PSR). An additional team went out on Sept. 6.

Members of Street Roots, Sisters …

Introducing Virginia’S Mobile Solution, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) and the 18 local departments of social services (LDSS) identified the lack of technological supports to help child welfare workers complete the administrative tasks of their job as a cause of turnover. The Virginia site rolled out the first part of their intervention (transcription services) in 2018 and is now preparing to roll out a mobile application in late fall 2019. This one-page summary describes COMPASS, Virginia’s mobile app designed to make it easier for workers to manage the administrative aspects of their job.

Having A Disability Increases The Likelihood Of Food Insecurity Despite Federal Programs To Prevent This Hardship, Colleen Heflin, Claire Altman, Laura Rodriguez

Population Health Research Brief Series

In 2016, more than 41 million people living in the United States were food insecure. Food insecurity is more pronounced among individuals with disabilities. Work-limiting disability is associated with food insecurity in multiple ways. This research brief shows how such high rates of food insecurity among the disabled population stems from ineffective national policies the many ways in which disabilities increase risk of food insecurity.

Designing Rigorous Tests Of Workforce Interventions In Complex Environments, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

Public child welfare agencies continually struggle with how to address issues of staff recruitment and retention. Furthermore, very little evidence exists regarding what works to attract, select, and retain talented staff. Much of what agencies do to address workforce issues is never formally evaluated and successes are not published widely. Thus, agencies confronted with urgent retention needs have little to go on to identify an intervention that is likely to succeed. The Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) was funded by the Children’s Bureau to begin to address this issue, in part through carefully selected, and rigorously evaluated interventions …

Fiscal Year 2019 Report, Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative fiscal year 2019 annual report.

Introduction, Ezra Rosser

Contributions to Books

This is the introduction to Holes in the Safety Net: Federalism and Poverty (Ezra Rosser ed., Cambridge University Press, 2019). The table of contents for the book, with links to the other chapters, can be found below: Introduction (this document) Ezra Rosser Part I: Welfare and Federalism Ch. 1 Federalism, Entitlement, and Punishment across the US Social Welfare State Wendy Bach Ch. 2 Laboratories of Suffering: Toward Democratic Welfare Governance Monica Bell, Andrea Taverna, Dhruv Aggarwal, and Isra Syed Ch. 3 The Difference in Being Poor in Red States versus Blue States Michele Gilman Part II: States, Federalism, and Antipoverty …

Tourism Taxes In Italy: A Sustainable Perspective, Lucia Rotaris, Marta Carrozzo

Journal of Global Business Insights

In Italy, a tourism tax was introduced in 2011, since then it has been adopted in most of the Italian provincial capitals and tourist cities. This tax can mitigate the negative externalities caused by tourists; however, it should be carefully planned both in terms of the amount of money to be levied and in terms of the uses to be financed with the tax revenues, it could, otherwise, negatively impact the tourism sector, decreasing—rather than increasing— the social welfare. The aim of this paper is to assess the acceptability of such a tax and to examine how the tax should …

Secondary Traumatic Stress Among Child Welfare Workers, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

There is growing evidence to suggest that child welfare workers are experiencing high levels of secondary traumatic stress (STS) as a result of exposure to traumatized clients in crisis (e.g., Barbee, et al, 2018). The Quality Improvement Center on Workforce Development (QIC-WD) surveyed 1,113 front line child welfare workers in 13 jurisdictions between November, 2017 and March, 2018 using the Bride (2007) Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale as part of a comprehensive workforce needs assessment. An average of 54% of participants reported clinical levels of STS. When these elevated numbers are compared to the original Bride research of social workers, they …

Governance, Costs, And Revenue Raising To Address And Prevent Homelessness In The Portland Tri-County Region, Marisa Zapata, Jenny H. Liu, Lauren Elizabeth Morrow Everett, Peter Hulseman, Thomas Potiowsky, Emma Willingham

Northwest Economic Research Center Publications and Reports

In the Portland, Oregon metropolitan region, homelessness has become increasingly visible on our streets and in our media headlines. Conflicting rates of who is experiencing homelessness, differing definitions of who is at risk, and varying cost estimates to help those without a stable place to live leave community members confused about the scale and scope of the challenge that we face. Our overarching goal in this report is to provide information that helps the public deliberate about how to support people experiencing homelessness, and prevent future homelessness. We thread together three areas of work - governance, costs, and revenue - …

Moving Beyond ‘Therapy’ And ‘Enhancement’ In The Ethics Of Gene Editing, Bryan Cwik

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since the advent of recombinant DNA technology, expectations (and trepidations) about the potential for altering genes and controlling our biology at the fundamental level have been sky high. These expectations have gone largely unfulfilled. But though the dream (or nightmare) of being able to control our biology is still far off, gene editing research has made enormous strides toward potential clinical use. This paper argues that when it comes to determining permissible uses of gene editing in one important medical context—germline intervention in reproductive medicine—issues about enhancement and eugenics are, for the foreseeable future, a red herring. Current translational goals …

Pathways, Not Punishment: An Annotated Snap Employment And Training Advocacy Toolkit For Policy Newbies, Angela Eastlund

Student Research – Stevenson Center

For someone brand new to public policy advocacy, the concept can seem broad and putting it to practice can seem vague. In part, this is because the spectrum of public policy advocacy is broad and contains a vast variety of actions under its umbrella. The Chicago Jobs Council’s policy advocacy strategies around SNAP Employment and Training that are recounted in this toolkit are shared in context with the intent of shedding some light on the why, how, and when particular strategies are utilized. Our hope is that the examples shared here can be used to inform anyone that is a …

Comparative Spending Of Medicaid Dollars On Child Participants Of Kentucky’S Sobriety Treatment And Recovery Teams Program Versus A Matched Comparison Group., Matthew Thomas Walton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Child protective services agencies have long observed the complicating role that parental substance use and addiction plays in cases of child maltreatment. Families who struggle with these problems present unique challenges for child welfare professionals. These families are typically more difficult to engage, more likely to have children removed from the home, and have poorer outcomes when compared to other families. These poorer outcomes often include health problems. Addiction has well-known effects on health, and the specific manifestations of these problems for parents have been documented for years in child protection casework. However, what has been less investigated are the …

Effectively Using & Sharing Data, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

The QIC-WD recently had the opportunity to talk with a group of human services training evaluators in Baltimore about how to effectively use and share data. The QIC-WD has a dissemination plan and data visualization experts to help our team and our sites use and share data for a variety of purposes. We shared the following tips to help evaluators determine what to share, when, and why.

• Plan for dissemination – that is, identify who needs the information and how best to get it to them.
• Consider who is in your target audience and how they like to receive information. …

Effectively Using & Sharing Data, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Other QIC-WD Products

The QIC-WD recently had the opportunity to talk with a group of human services training evaluators in Baltimore about how to effectively use and share data. The QIC-WD has a dissemination plan and data visualization experts (learn more here) to help our team and our sites use and share data for a variety of purposes. We shared the following tips to help evaluators determine what to share, when, and why.

• Plan for dissemination – that is, identify who needs the information and how best to get it to them.
• Consider who is in your target audience and how they …

Factors In Refugee Resilience Building During Humanitarian Response, Rachel Starner

Capstone Collection

If countries hosting refugees want to build resiliency and reduce dependency on foreign relief, humanitarian response and local development need to be addressed simultaneously, and collaboration at all levels of stakeholders needs to take place in planning and decision making. Additionally, innovation and strong leadership are strong factors in creating and leading new ideas as funding and world leadership dynamics change, especially with traditional leaders such as the US and the UN losing influence. Observations made at the Mahama Refugee Camp in Rwanda as well as existing document analysis reflect these traits by active efforts of camp administrators and humanitarian …

Have You Seen The Poop Fairy?, Sergio Lozoya

Architecture and Planning ETDs

This research seeks to understand the effectiveness of the There is no Poop Fairy campaign through a public survey of dog owners. The There Is No Poop Fairy campaign was initiated in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2014, with the goal of getting dog owners to pick up and properly dispose of their dogs’ waste. The Rio Grande is contaminated with E. coli bacteria that originates in part from dog waste, which is carried to the river through storm water. Levels of E. coli in the Rio Grande have decreased dramatically within the past few years, coincident with the campaign. The …

Using A Logic Model To Guide Workforce Interventions, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The QIC-WD uses logic models—visual representations that depict the resources that go into and expected results that will come out of the implementation of a program—to guide the implementation and evaluation of the selected interventions. A logic model is developed after the intervention is selected and must fit within the overall theory of change, as part of the exploration phase of the project. Read this summary (originally developed on behalf of the Center for States) by Dr. Megan Paul, the QIC-WD Workforce Team Lead, to learn more about why a jurisdiction should create a logic model and see what a …

Media Discourses That Normalize Colonial Relations: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of (Im)Migrants And Refugees, Meng Zhao, Jorge Rodriguez, Lilia D. Monzó

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The im(migration) and refugee crisis that are being exacerbated under the Trump administration, is a manifestation of empire-building and the long history of colonization of the Global South. A Marxist-humanist perspective recognizes these as consistent aspects of a clearly racist global capitalism that functions in the interest of multibillion dollar U.S.–based corporations and increasingly transnational corporations. Trade agreements, international economic policy, political intervention, invasion or the threat of these, often secure corporate interests in specific countries and regions. The authors use critical discourse analysis to examine the discourses around Mexican, Central American, and Syrian im(migrants) and refugees as examples of …

Food Assistance May Help Families Prevent Emergency Department Visits For Child Asthma, Colleen Heflin

Population Health Research Brief Series

Childhood asthma is the leading cause of emergency department visits for children under the age of 15 in the U.S. Food insecurity may increase a child’s risk for developing asthma. This research brief shows that higher SNAP benefits are associated with fewer asthma –related emergency department visits.