Departmental Papers (SPP) Copyright (c) 2013 University of Pennsylvania All rights reserved. http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers Recent documents in Departmental Papers (SPP) en-us Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:12:11 PST 3600 Neighborhood-representing Organizations: How Democratic Are They? http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/154 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/154 Thu, 25 Oct 2012 08:42:01 PDT Neighborhood-representing organizations (NROs) are generally viewed as the most authentic form of citizen participation and local democracy. In this article, I question how democratic NROs actually are, both on the local level (participatory democracy) and in the external arena (representative democracy). I present a new conceptual model of the components of democracy in neighborhood organizations. A review of the literature is presented within the context of this model to show to what extent NROs are democratic. The findings indicate that the level of democracy in NROs is questionable and that the "iron law of oligarchy" is valid for this type of organization. The problem of low participatory and representative democracy is addressed, and implications for research and practice are discussed.

]]> Ram A. Cnaan Social Policy Motivations and Benefits of Student Volunteering: Comparing Regular, Occasional, and Non-Volunteers in Five Countries http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/153 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/153 Thu, 25 Oct 2012 08:41:59 PDT Programs targeting student volunteering and service learning are aimed at encouraging civic behaviour among young people. This article reports on a large-scale international survey comparing volunteering among university students in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The data revealed high rates of student volunteering and the popularity of occasional volunteering. It also revealed that other young people were the main beneficiaries of students’ voluntary activities. Student volunteers were influenced by a mix of motivations and benefits, with differences on acontinuum of volunteer involvement between those volunteering regularly, those volunteering occasionally, and those not volunteering.

]]> Ram A. Cnaan et al. Social Policy Nonprofit Watchdogs: Do They Serve the Average Donor? http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/152 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/152 Wed, 17 Oct 2012 07:47:06 PDT Nonprofit watchdog organizations—organizations devoted to rating the accountability and transparency of nonprofits—claim to serve donors who are selecting which nonprofits to support. However, using three waves of the Harris Interactive Donor Pulse, we found that the overwhelming majority of donors (77.6 percent) do not consult these online intermediaries when making donations. Those who do are likely to fall into one of two groups: donors who give large sums of money or donors who are engaged in advocacy. We conclude with conceptual and practical implications.

]]> Ram A. Cnaan et al. Prevalence and Risk of Homelessness among US Veterans: A Multisite Investigation http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/151 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/151 Tue, 19 Jul 2011 07:01:25 PDT Jamison Fargo et al. Middle-Income Families in the Economic Downturn: Challenges and Management Strategies over Time http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/150 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/150 Tue, 19 Jul 2011 07:01:21 PDT The “Great Recession” has hurt many families across the United States, yet most research has examined its impact on those already considered poor or working poor. However, this recession has affected middle-income families, whose experiences with economic challenge have seldom been looked at in any detail. Such families have recently been called “the new poor,” “the missing middle,” and “families in the middle.” One in seven American children under age 18 (10.5 million) has an unemployed parent as a result of this recession, and because economic mobility for children in the U.S. is affected by their parents’ earning capacities, these children’s educational and employment futures may be permanently constrained. The research presented here, which is informed by Weberian stratification theory and capital theories, is based on a small longitudinal subset of a larger two-country, multicity, mixed-methods study. Two waves of in-person interviews between spring 2008 and late fall 2009 revealed how families experienced the economic downturn and the management strategies that parents used to try to counter its negative effects. Parents were better able to provide financially for their children’s daily needs and support children’s current school activities, despite income and job challenges and losses, but less able to continue to develop children’s future-enhancing capital.

]]> Roberta R. Iversen et al. PREFACE: Homelessness and Housing Exclusion in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities for Research and Policy http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/149 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/149 Thu, 31 Mar 2011 07:09:26 PDT Dennis P. Culhane et al. The Cost of Homelessness: A Perspective from the United States http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/148 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/148 Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:44:44 PDT This paper discusses how researchers and others have analyzed the services histories of persons who have experienced homelessness, as well as their imputed costs. This research has been used both to make visible the ways in which the clients of mainstream social welfare systems (health, corrections, income maintenance and child welfare) become homeless and, complementarily, the impact of people who experience homelessness on the use of these service systems. Most published work in this area has been based on the integration of administrative databases to identify cases and service utilization patterns; some have used retrospective interviews. Results have been used to encourage agency administrators and policymakers to make investments in programs that reduce homelessness and/or the duration of homelessness periods. Quite recently, many local homeless services planning organizations in the US have used this approach to demonstrate the high costs of chronic homelessness and the potential cost offsets associated with the placement of people in supported housing. The opportunities and limitations associated with these various approaches, including their potential applicability to other countries and service sectors are discussed.

]]> Dennis P. Culhane Behavioral health services use among heads of homeless and housed poor families http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/147 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/147 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:50:41 PDT Objectives. This study compares the use of and cost for behavioral health services among heads of homeless and housed poor families. Methods. Medicaid records for 59,135 heads of families receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families benefits were matched with data from Philadelphia’s municipal shelter system. Propensity score matching was used to select a matched control group to those identified as having been homeless between 1997 and 2003. Behavioral health services utilization was then assessed based on Medicaid claims records. Results. Substantially higher levels of behavioral health services use and corresponding costs were found among heads of families with a history of shelter use. Conclusions. Greater use of behavioral health services by heads of homeless families may reflect greater severity of disorders or a greater likelihood to seek treatment relative to what has been suggested by previous research.

]]> Jung Min Park et al. Connecting the Dots: The Promise of Integrated Data Systems for Policy Analysis and Systems Reform http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/146 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/146 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:50:40 PDT This article explores the use of integrated administrative data systems in support of policy reform through interagency collaboration and research. The legal, ethical, scientific and economic challenges of interagency data sharing are examined. A survey of eight integrated data systems, including states, local governments and university-based efforts, explores how the developers have addressed these challenges. Some exemplary uses of the systems are provided to illustrate the range, usefulness and import of these systems for policy and program reform. Recommendations are offered for the broader adoption of these systems and for their expanded use by various stakeholders.

]]> Dennis P. Culhane et al. Help in Time: An Evaluation of Philadelphia's Community-Based Homelessness Prevention Program http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/145 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/145 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:50:38 PDT This report provides an evaluation of Philadelphia's neighborhood-based homelessness prevention initiative. Results indicate that nearly all households served do not become homeless. But it is unclear if households would have become homeless had they not been served. Recommendations are made for targeting prevention interventions to families requesting shelter.

]]> Yin-Ling I. Wong et al. Ending Family Homelessness in Massachusetts: A New Approach for the Emergency Assistance Program http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/144 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/144 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:50:37 PDT This paper explores the current opportunity for policy reform of the Emergency Assistance (EA) system in Massachusetts. Recent initiatives by the state are described that have provided a context for systems change. Some of the challenges posed by the current program are discussed, particularly the lack of cost containment, and the resulting fact that significant public resources are spent supporting long-term stays in shelters and motels, which are not good for families or children. After an exploration of funding and resource issues, the paper concludes by establishing the foundation for changing the current system into one that would be outcome oriented, driven by the objective of housing stabilization and serve families in a more timely, effective and efficient manner.

]]> Dennis P. Culhane et al. Ending Chronic Homelessness: Cost-Effective Opportunities for Interagency Collaboration http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/143 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/143 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:50:36 PDT Faced with a difficult economic climate with high levels of unemployment and widespread home foreclosures, the Administration of President Barack Obama has created a unique opportunity to rethink and redirect fundamental policies and practices ranging from health care to regulation of the financial industry. A similar opportunity exists to change Federal homeless assistance policies and programs.

]]> Dennis P. Culhane et al. The 2009 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/142 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/142 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:50:34 PDT The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is pleased to present the 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), the fifth in a series of reports on homelessness in the United States. The reports respond to a series of Congressional directives calling for the collection and analysis of data on homelessness. The AHAR reports provide the latest counts of homelessness nationwide—including counts of individuals, persons in families, and special population groups such as veterans and chronically homeless people. The report also covers the types of locations where people use emergency shelter and transitional housing; where people were just before they entered a residential program; how much time they spend in shelters over the course of a year; and the size and use of the U.S inventory of residential programs for homeless people. With the 2009 AHAR, we now have three complete years of data on the numbers and characteristics of sheltered homeless people, how they became homeless, and how they used the homeless services system. This is important, because we can begin to see discernable trends in homelessness, including the effects of the recession and of changes over time to the homeless services system. The 2009 AHAR also marks continued improvement in both sources of estimates of homelessness used in the reports. A larger number of communities are reporting Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data to the AHAR, which is used in the analysis of patterns of homelessness over a year’s time. In 2009, 334 communities—representing 2,988 counties and 1,056 cities—reported usable HMIS data to the report, a sizable increase from last year’s report (222 communities). At the same time, the point-in-time (PIT) counts essential for estimating the numbers and characteristics of all homeless people, both sheltered and unsheltered, are improving as communities use more rigorous methodologies for conducting the counts. For the first time, this 2009 AHAR includes information from in-person interviews with local service providers located in nine communities nationwide. This qualitative information provides a contextual backdrop for understanding how homelessness is changing.

]]> Alvaro Cortes et al. The 2008 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/141 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/141 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:50:32 PDT The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is pleased to present the 2008 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), the fourth in a series of reports on homelessness in the United States. The reports respond to a series of Congressional directives calling for the collection and analysis of data on homelessness. The 2008 AHAR breaks new ground by being the first report to provide year-to-year trend information on homelessness in the United States. The report provides the latest counts of homelessness nationwide—including counts of individuals, persons in families, and special population groups such as veterans and chronically homeless people. The report also covers the types of locations where people use emergency shelter and transitional housing; where people were just before they entered a residential program; how much time they spend in shelters over the course of a year; and the size and use of the U.S inventory of residential programs for homeless people. This AHAR also is the first to compare oint-in-Time estimates reported by Continuums of Care across several years.

]]> Dennis P. Culhane et al. Social Policy The Age Structure of Contemporary Homelessness: Risk Period or Cohort Effect? http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/140 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/140 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:50:29 PDT This paper assesses the age composition of the sheltered homeless population and how the age of this population – both single adults and adults in families – have changed over the past two decades. Data for this study came from administrative records on shelter use in New York City and from the nationwide shelter and general population enumerations in each of the last two decennial census enumerations. Results are presented in a series of figures to illustrate 1) the changes in the age distributions of the homeless population over time; and 2) the age distribution of homeless populations compared to other populations. In the late 1980s, homeless single adults and adults in families were relatively young, with the median age for both being in the late-twenties. Subsequently, however, these household types appear to have diverged, as the birth cohort from which the young single adults had come (born 1954-1965) has continued to be overrepresented in the shelter population, whereas homelessness among adults in families has remained linked to households in the early parenting years (ages 18-23). While the families and the single adults may have experienced some common precipitating factors that led to the emergence of homelessness in the 1980s, the young mothers appear to age out of their risk for homelessness while homelessness among this birth cohort of single adults sustains. Hypotheses are discussed regarding the social and economic factors that may be associated with disproportionate housing instability and homelessness among adults from the latter half of the baby boom cohort. Implications for public policy are considered, including the premature risk of disability, frailty and mortality associated with this cohort.

]]> Dennis P. Culhane et al. Social Policy On Becoming Homeless: The Structural and Experiential Dynamics of Residential Instability http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/139 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/139 Mon, 05 Apr 2010 12:53:51 PDT This study explores the dynamic combination of structural factors domestic conditions, individual and social characteristics, and personal choices that produced episodes of homelessness among a representative sample of young adults (aged 20 to 45) in the city of Philadelphia in the late 1980s. Forty-three single adult homeless people (31 men and 12 women) were selected from a variety of shelter and nonshelter locations and interviewed in-depth about their experiences of becoming homeless. Statistics describing the residential transitions of the survey participants and a weighted distribution of the casual factors of their homelessness revealed the major significance of family relations, work and income, drugs (abuse, dealing, and environment), disabilities and previous institutional experiences. On the basis of written transcripts, combinations of these contributing factors have been identified. Interview selections are provided to illustrate these combinations, or the dynamic "pathways to homelessness" and the active decision-making processes of the participants. The study findings are interpreted as showing that, considered independently, neither reductionist models of homelessness that emphasize the causal influence of deviant behavior (primarily mental illness and substance abuse), nor the deterministic models of homelessness that examine structural factors independent of their biographical mediation (such as the housing and income crises), are sufficient for understanding the complex relationships that produce episodes of homelessness. While historical, social and economic factors determine the extent and demographic distribution of residential instability in the population, the mediation of those factors in the domestic conditions, personal experiences and restricted choices of men and women is critical to understanding how people become homeless. This study includes a chapter examining the historical, social and economic contexts of residential instability among young adults in Philadelphia.

]]> Dennis P. Culhane Judgments About Intimate Partner Violence: A Statewide Survey About Immigrants http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/138 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/138 Tue, 09 Dec 2008 09:02:14 PST Objectives. The purpose of this research was to: (1) examine judgments about immigrants who are victims of and assailants in intimate partner violence, and (2) assess whether immigrants to the U.S., a diverse and growing population, know that intimate partner violence is illegal in the United States and their judgments about what sanctions, if any, should follow.

Methods. A random-digit-dial telephone survey was conducted in four languages with 3,679 California adults. There were roughly comparable numbers of white, black, Latino, Korean American, Vietnamese American, and other Asian American participants; 60.1% were born outside the U.S. An experimental vignette design was used to vary victim, assailant, and contextual factors about incidents of intimate partner violence and to assess respondents' judgments about the behavior and what should be done about it. Multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the independent effect of these predictor variables and characteristics of the respondents.

Results. Respondent judgments about whether an incident of intimate partner violence was wrong, illegal, or about what sanctions should follow were not related to nativity of either the victim or the assailant. Immigrant respondents differed from native-born respondents on two outcomes: immigrants were more likely to think that the behavior was illegal and that guns should be removed from the assailant.

Conclusions. Concerns that immigrants do not know that intimate partner violence is illegal in the U.S. are largely misplaced—immigrants know it soon after their arrival in the U.S. In addition, it appears that a cultural defense regarding domestic violence is not likely to sway others.

]]> Susan B. Sorenson Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans: What Might a Sociological Embeddedness Perspective Offer Disaster Research and Planning? http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/137 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/137 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:43:00 PST The Hurricane Katrina and NewOrleans situation was commonly called a "natural disaster" - an anomalous "event" that disrupted lives, spaces, and organizations. Research and planning attention then focused on particular aspects of the event and on restoring order. In contrast, sociologists and similar-thinking scholars have increasingly viewed disaster situations from multiple locations and histories, often using systems theory. Here, reanalysis of empirical material from ethnographic research in New Orleans pre- and post-Katrina suggests that a sociological embeddedness perspective illustrates the dynamic seamlessness of past, present, and future economic contexts and social actions. The perspective's constitutive concepts of weak, strong, and differentiated ties highlight the role of local knowledge, intermediary-led workforce networks, and sustained participatory planning in creating a robust economic environment. Toward this end, disaster research, planning, and theory building could incorporate network tie assessments into social vulnerability protocols, compare embeddedness with other perspectives, and learn from related international experiences.

]]> Roberta R. Iversen et al. The Limits of Citizenship: Rights of Prisoners and ex-Prisoners in USA http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/136 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/136 Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:02:32 PST Contrary to popular beliefs and commonly held rhetoric, rights are not naturally given to people/residents/citizens. Very few, if any, rights are inherently granted by virtue of being born a human being. Although the authors of the Bill of Rights (in the USA) as well as the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights want us to believe that these rights are innate, in fact they were fought for and only barely achieved. At any given time, there are counter forces that actively push to minimize and reverse rights that were gained after long and hard struggles. For example, in the United States the “sacred” right for privacy was vastly violated with the signature and support of President George W. Bush soon after the attack of September 11, 2001 was carried out within the boundaries of the country. This is but one example where rights are not guaranteed forever and are only in place so long as there are enough people actively fighting to keep them and, if possible, to expand them.

My argument, though my data are mostly US-based, is that the rights of prisoners and ex-prisoners are an excellent measure and estimate for the strength of human rights in a given society. The more punitive and exclusionary are the policies towards prisoners and ex-prisoners, the less protected are the rights of citizens in general. The more a society excludes prisoners and ex-prisoners, the more ready it is to limit the rights of other members of that society. I would welcome a comparative study of this topic to assess which societies treat prisoners and ex-prisoners more humanly and which in a more exclusionary manner.

]]> Ram A. Cnaan et al. Social Policy Crossing Cultural Barriers in Research Interviewing http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/135 http://repository.upenn.edu/spp_papers/135 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:49:04 PST This article critically examines a qualitative research interview in which cultural barriers between a white non-Muslim female interviewer and an African American Muslim interviewee, both from the USA, became evident and were overcome within the same interview. This interview and two follow-up interviews are presented as a 'telling case' about crossing cultural barriers. The analysis focuses on seven phases of the interview (cultural barriers, warming up, crossing the racial barrier, connecting as social workers, connecting as women, connecting as students, and crossing the tape recorder barrier). The discussion outlines the pre-interview and during-interview barriers and facilitating conditions and related implications for cross-cultural qualitative research interviewing.

]]> Roberta G. Sands et al.