Social Welfare Commons^™

Why Do Similar Provinces Approach Development Differently? An Approach To Understanding Central-Local Relations In China, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

As China decentralized in the 1980s, many provinces received the latitude to implement their own strategies and approaches to economic development. Not surprisingly, such strategies varied regionally as provinces with different levels of wealth and resources implemented different approaches to achieving economic development. Yet, some of these examples are quite puzzling, with provinces that share many similarities implementing markedly different strategies. Moreover, some provinces not only implemented different approaches to economic development, but adopted entirely different goals – interpreting the very definition of economic development differently. To explain these differences, China scholars have focused on different factors, including constraints and …

Fearless: Heather Thomas, Heather L. Thomas

SURGE

This week we would like to recognize recent graduate and AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Heather Thomas ’13, who is returning to Gettysburg as the fearless new coordinator for the Adams County Food Policy Council. [excerpt]

Milking The System: Do Poor People Deserve Fresh Food?, Melanie M. Meisenheimer

SURGE

Poor Americans are all lazy, selfish people who must first prove their worth as human beings if they want to be able to feed their children.

It sounds harsh, stereotypical, and judgmental when you put it like that, and few people would feel comfortable saying that exact phrase. However, it’s a perception of poverty in America that I’ve found still has a strong grip on our way of thinking. [excerpt]

Relocation Of Homeless People From Odot Rights-Of-Way, Ellen M. Bassett, Andrée Tremoulet, Allison Moe

TREC Final Reports

This research project consists of an investigation of responses to homeless encampments on rights-of-way owned by Departments of Transportation (DOTs). While DOTs are not housing or social service agencies, their role as major public landowners involves them in dealing with the consequences of homelessness. The research goals included analyzing the prevalence of the problem, documenting how DOTs are responding, and culling from this data information that could be used as a basis for creating a best practices guide. The research included a single mixed-methods, in-depth case study, electronic surveys of practitioners and follow-up interviews. Products consist of two reports (included …

Putting Regulatory Data To Work At The Service Of Public Health: Utilizing Data Collected Under The Clean Water Act, Jyotsna S. Jagai, Barbara J. Rosenbaum, Suzanne M. Pierson, Lynne C. Messer, Kristen M. Rappazzo, Elena N. Naumova, Danelle T. Lobdell

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Under the Clean Water Act, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) collects information from states on intended use and impairment of each water body. We explore the feasibility of using these data, collected for regulatory purposes, for public health analyses. Combining EPA impairment data and stream hydrology information we estimated the percent of stream length impaired for any use, recreational use, or drinking water use per county in the US as exposure variables. For health outcomes we abstracted county-level hospitalization rates of gastrointestinal infections, GI (ICD-9CM 001-009 excluding 008.45) and gastrointestinal symptoms, GS (ICD-9CM 558.9, 787) among US adults aged …

Focal Point, Volume 27, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This special issue of Focal Point focuses on best practices for helping youth and young adults with mental health challenges reach their educational and employment goals, by highlighting preliminary results from some of our research at Pathways to Positive Futures as well as some of the work being done at the Transitions RTC at the University of Massachusetts.

The Effectiveness Of A Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program That Offer Special Benefits For Pregnant And Parenting Teens: A Qualitative Study, Marsha Brown

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Teen pregnancy continues to be a problem for families, educators, health care professionals, and the government. Teenagers are not afforded the opportunity to learn or receive reinforcement on God's laws on abstaining from premarital sex because religious education is not allowed in the public school system. This increase has led to the creation of the Teenage Parenting Center (TAPP), located in southwest Georgia. TAPP is one of 64 schools in a school district that offers special benefits for pregnant and parenting teens. This qualitative case study used a phenomenological approach to explore the experience of eight former attendees of the …

Rural Children Experience Different Rates Of Mental Health Diagnosis And Treatment, David Hartley Phd, Mph, Jennifer D. Lenardson Mhs, Nathaniel J. Anderson Ms, Mph, Samantha J. Neuwirth Md

Mental Health / Substance Use Disorders

Research indicates that privately insured, rural adults have lower use of office-based mental health services, but higher use of prescription medicines than their urban counterparts. Patterns for rural children may be different from urban children because of the limited supply of pediatric mental health providers in rural areas, which may lead to reduced access and lower use of mental health services in rural areas versus urban. Using data on children ages 5-17 from the 2002-2008 of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, researchers from the Maine Rural Health Research Center find that rural children are significantly less likely to be diagnosed …

Uplifting: Improvements In Boston Area Client Well-Being, Ryan Kling, Lisa Kalimon, Tanya Stepasiuk, Bukola Usidame, Ryan Mclane, Ryan Whalen, Ana Maria Sanchez, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Public Policy Practicum Projects

LIFT-Boston, a local non-profit organization, entered into a collaborative partnership in September 2012 with McCormack Graduate School Public Policy Ph.D. students and faculty to develop and execute a research project. The goals of this endeavor were to assist LIFT-Boston in understanding the outcomes associated with its services and enable the organization to further pursue service goals.

The primary research questions respond to the organization’s most fundamental questions. These include how the organization’s unique service model impacts clients across several objective and subjective dimensions of well-being. Secondary questions focus on how these impacts may translate into increases or decreases in student …

Worn Down And Worn Out, Irene Carney, Thomas J. Shields

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Faculty Publications

Exposure to early adversity, particularly dire poverty, can powerfully shape the life course of a young person. As a city and region, we continually choose whether we’ll commit ourselves to an alternative course.

Engaging And Expanding Communities: Widening The Circle Of Stakeholders, Lisa Deangelis, Maureen A. Scully, Andrea Wight

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

The 32 fellows in the 2013 Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) worked with community partners to investigate the theme, “Engaging and Expanding Communities".

They worked with six community partners, and identified ways to help them expand beyond their core stakeholders to a wider circle of stakeholders and broader potential impact. The fellows gave their time and professional skills to understand how to reach new business partners, new participants, new advisors, and new donors. They conducted surveys, interviews, and focus groups; explored social media options; examined best practices; and considered ways to tell powerful stories about the vitally important work of the …

The Role Of Health Care In A Democratic Capitalist Society, Barbi Appelquist

Pepperdine Policy Review

What is the government’s role in health care? On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as “Obamacare.” Did the government’s hand reach too far into the health care economy of our nation? This paper focuses on the Affordable Care Act’s general application to the capitalist tradition as framed by Adam Smith and Milton Friedman, with a limited analysis of the federal mandate to purchase individual health insurance. First, I will provide an overview of our nation’s health care system and the Affordable Care Act. Then, I will analyze …

The Korean Conflict And The United States National Security, Matthew Smith

Pepperdine Policy Review

The United States has a substantial interest in the Korean Conflict concerning its own national security. It is based primarily on the potential outcomes of the policies deriving from North Korea. The United States must maintain its relationship with South Korea in order to address any situation that arises on the Korean peninsula.

Regulation Of Hydraulic Fracturing Of Shale Gas Formations In The United States, Fatemeh Bagheri

Pepperdine Policy Review

The practice of hydraulic fracturing has become increasingly common over the years since it has been looked at to replace energy derived from coal. Though hydraulic fracturing may be one of the better forms of obtaining energy, it comes with its own set of problems ranging from environmental problems to health problems if the appropriate safeguards are not implemented when completing the process. Regulations at the local, state, and federal level are assessed to determine which entity should regulate the practice and many technologies are reviewed in order to offer suggestions which allow the process to be completed without significant …

Preparing For The Inevitable: Us Climate Change Preparation, David Ernenwein

Pepperdine Policy Review

There is growing consensus in the scientific community that the global climate is changing. Increasing average global temperatures are expected to increase both the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, which will affect human civilization. However, these events do not need to become disasters. Analysis of past extreme weather disasters in the United States shows that failures in policy, specifically in terms of disaster preparedness, are the real culprit and not the actual weather event. Given the increasing destructiveness of storms and the projected increase in frequency, it makes formulating a coherent and effective national response a priority.

Mobile Health Technology In Developing Countries: The Case Of Tanzania, Shruti Modi

Pepperdine Policy Review

Mobile technology is one of the fastest growing industries. In rural parts of the world, mobile phones are more accessible than sanitation facilities and electricity. Mobile phones can be used to transmit health information, promote health awareness, track the spread of diseases, and ultimately decrease the prevalence of diseases. In particular, this study focuses on how mobile health technology, m-health, can reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria in Tanzania.

Financial Openness And Growth: 2000-2010, Amy Kennedy

Pepperdine Policy Review

In light of the recent financial crisis and economic downturn, policymakers are looking at other options to raise tax revenue. One such option proposed is a financial transaction tax which would tax various cross-border transactions such as banking or securities transactions. Yet, economic growth is arguably the better option for increasing revenue. One might further argue that a tax will lead to less revenue through reduced growth resulting from investors investing money in other tax free arenas. Therefore, this study looks at the relationship between financial openness and annual real GDP per capita growth to ascertain the effect of financial …

A Global Blasphemy Law: Protecting Believers At The Expense Of Free Speech, Kiley Widelitz

Pepperdine Policy Review

Since 1999, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation has annually introduced a resolution to the United Nations Human Rights Council to create an international blasphemy law. The United Nations is currently debating whether to accept a resolution that criminalizes blasphemy. In order to assess whether the United Nations should enact such a law, this article examines the laws of the United States in comparison to three countries that enforce their blasphemy laws: Indonesia, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. This article concludes that the United Nations should follow the way of the United States and forgo any restriction on blasphemy, as blasphemy laws …

Art For Social Change: Supporting Art For Community Building, New Philanthropic Orientations In Egypt, Cathrine Cornett

Faculty Journal Articles

Taking stock of recent developments in the field of philanthropy concerning the theme of Art for Social Change, this paper shall analyze the new cultural and artistic trends in civic participation and social engagement in Egypt that take their root well before the revolution and could be further emphasized following the Uprisings. The focus will be on new philanthropic orientations fostering community based cultural expressions rather than 'elitist' art forms or already recognized performing artists (concerts, opera, and blockbuster films). The past two years have witnessed a considerable number of artists, intellectuals and cultural activists being at the forefront of …

Faqs On 501(C)(4) Social Welfare Organizations, Donald B. Tobin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.