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Center for Social Policy McCormack Graduate School University of Massachusetts Boston 100 Morrissey Blvd. Boston, MA 02125-3393 Phone: (617) 287 5550 Fax: (617) 287 5544 |
Current Projects Homelessness Prevention Initiative
Since April 2004, the Center for Social Policy (CSP) has been evaluating the Homeless Prevention Initiative (HPI), a
collaborative project involving four foundations, The Boston Foundation (TBF)/Starr Foundation, Tufts Health Plan, and Mass
Medical Society & Alliance Charitable Foundation, which have pooled $3 million in resources for the implementation of homeless
prevention services, carried out by 19 Massachusetts nonprofit organizations over a three year period. More recently CSP
has been contracted by the Oak Foundation, through One Family., Inc., the Fireman Foundation, the Boston Foundation, and The
Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to evaluate several other homeless prevention projects,
including the state's RAFT program. Using multi-method and cross-site/cross-project analytical approaches, products from the
multiple evaluations are designed to be used widely by practitioner, policy, advocacy, philanthropic and other mainstream audiences.
Preventing Homelessness and Promoting Housing Stability: A Comparative Analysis (6/07) Outside the Box: RAFT Plus, A Homeless Prevention Pilot Exec. Summary (12/06) Prevention At Work: HPI Interim Evaluation Report (5/06) Partners in Prevention: Community-Wide Homelessness Prevention in Massachusetts and the United States (6/05) Contact: Donna Haig Friedman
Looking Back & Looking Ahead: Policy Visions From the New Deal & Great Society
On April 10 and 11, 2007, the Center for Social Policy convened a two-day conference exploring policy visions from the
New Deal and Great Society and their implications for today’s policy thinking. Titled, "Looking Back and Looking Ahead",
this invitation-only forum convened policy actors and experts on/from the New Deal and Great Society eras. It took place
at the University of Massachusetts Boston Campus Center and John F. Kennedy Library.
Keynote speaker, author Taylor Branch, began the conference, and was followed by panel presentations and discussions featuring
An array of experts speaking on history, socio-economic issues, and education policies (see the agenda link for a list of
speakers). Panelists were asked to showcase the visions that shaped the original intent of policies such as Social Security,
antipoverty policies, or policies to equalize educational opportunity.
Participants included representatives from social and education policy organizations as well as civil society organizations
involved in social justice. They partook in small group discussions reflecting on panelists’ presentations and drawing their
own lessons for ways to frame current debates in their policy arena.
This unique gathering was sponsored by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and directed by Françoise Carré, Director of Research
for the Center for Social Policy.
Click on Conference Web Site Contact: Françoise Carré
Evaluation of the DMH Special Homeless Initiative
The Urban Institute and CSP are collaborators on a proposed evaluation of the Massachusetts Department of
Mental Health’s Special Homeless Initiative, a $22 million/year program designed to prevent persons
with severe and persistent mental illness from becoming homeless.
Mass. DMH Homeless Leveraged Resources (CSP with Martha Burt) (2007) Mass. DMH Homeless Process Report (Martha Burt) (2007) Contact: Helen Levine
Alternative Staffing Organizations: Two Studies
CSP is conducting two separate studies of alternative staffing organizations. ASOs are fee for service job brokering organizations
that create transitional employment opportunities for disadvantaged job seekers who typically face significant barriers to employment.
These is project builds on the work from the National Study of Alternative Staffing Services
and is funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.
Contact: Françoise Carré
Homeless Management Information Systems
The Center for Social Policy is an acknowledged national authority on Homeless Management Information Systems (HMISs).
Through a contract with the Regional Office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), CSP provides technical
assistance to communities across the New England region that are implementing such information technology systems; CSP’s work
includes planning and hosting annual HMIS regional HMIS conferences.
Closing The Gap Between Housing and Job Locations: The Role of Rental Assistance Programs
Since the 1996 Welfare Reform that promoted the entry of thousands of former welfare recipients into the labor force,
it has become increasingly important to understand factors affecting geographic mobility and access to jobs among lower-skilled
urban workers. The availability of affordable housing, especially rental housing, is one important determinant of mobility.
This research projects investigates the role of various rental housing assistance programs on the spatial mismatch between
jobs and residences, and their attendant effects on the well-being of lower-skilled urban populations in the largest 100
metropolitan areas of the United States, including the Greater Boston area.
Contact: Donna Haig Friedman
The Retail Workforce in a Changing Competitive Landscape: The University of Massachusetts Retail Study
The retail industry is being transformed by dramatic market shifts and rapid technological change. To better understand
the consequences of these changes, this study focuses on turnover and retention, training, service levels, and product knowledge
in the frontline workforce in the food and consumer electronics sectors. The study, funded by the Russell Sage Foundation, explores
what is changing in the industry and how companies are developing selection, training, compensation, and supervision strategies to
cope with these changes. This study is part of a larger multinational effort examining the retail workforce in Denmark, France,
Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom as well as the United States, and comparing new developments in these
countries. This study is being carried out in collaboration with Chris Tilly, economist, UMass Lowell.
Contact: Françoise Carré
Collaborators: Prof. Chris Tilly, Center for Industrial Competitiveness and Department of Regional Economic and Social Development, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Bridging the Gaps: Structuring Benefits to Promote Mobility for Low Wage Workers
The Bridging the Gaps project has three important research goals surrounding low-wage workers and work support programs intended
to help them get and keep employment. The first goal is to assess the size of the gap between resources (earnings plus benefits)
and the costs low-income families face over a wide range of earnings. The second goal is to examine the "eligibility gap" by
measuring the actual utilization of work-support benefits among eligible benefits. The third goal is to measure the high "marginal
tax rates" for low-income workers who do use work-support benefits. There is considerable academic and policy-oriented research on
each of these issues, although with few exceptions, they have not addressed these issues comprehensively, especially across states.
The Center has been awarded funding from the Ford and Casey Foundations via the DC-based Center for Economic and Policy Research.
We are also seeking additional funding from several local foundations for expansion of the ‘on-the-ground’ fact-finding (via focus
groups with low wage workers) and for dissemination of research products over the next 12 months; they are Philanthropic Advisors,
The Boston Foundation and the Fireman Foundation. The contacts with these foundations have been quite promising.
Project Description Internal Project Advisors (Mass.) Contact: Randy Albelda;
Collaborators: Prof. Randy Albelda, Department of Economics, UMass Boston;
Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington D.C.;
Staying Housed: Exploring the Role of Social Networks in Housing Tenure of Formerly Chronically Homeless Street Dwellers (UMass Healey Grant)
Building on Tatjana Meschede's previous study, "Bridges and
Barriers to Housing for Chronically Homeless Street Dwellers"
(Meschede, 2004), this study focuses on the role of social networks and social supports in sustaining housing tenure for former
street dwellers. The study is exploring former street dwellers' assessment of the role of their social networks and supports in
their ability to maintain housing tenure. Semi-structured interviews with formerly chronically homeless street dwellers is
examining: the type of social networks and nature of social supports for former homeless street dwellers; what type of social
support is most helpful in maintaining housing stability; and how successful social supports can be fostered.
Contact: Donna Haig Friedman
Regionalization of Public Health Project
This project is developing a series of possible options for restructuring the local provision of public health in Massachusetts.
The project team consists of Judith Kurland at the Center for Social Policy, the Cambridge Health Alliance, and faculty from the
College of Management. The team is engaged in describing the current structure and status of public health in the Commonwealth,
as well as identifying alternative structures throughout the nation and world. These options are being developed with ongoing
review by the State’s public health community.
Contact: Michelle Kahan
Quincy Housing First
This project assesses residential stability, access to employment and mainstream benefits, and health
impacts of a pilot housing model that targets chronically homeless individuals in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Currently implemented by Father Bill's Place (FBP), this model puts housing first and attends to treatment
needs after an individual has moved off the streets. Specifically, this study is assessing residential stability
over two years; assessing changes in employment and income over two years; examining the effects of Housing First
on health, mental health, and substance abuse; tracking access to health services pre and post movement into
housing; and estimating associated health care costs.
Moving Here Saved My Life: The Experience of Formerly Chronically Homeless Women and Men in Quincy's Housing First Projects (Interim Report) (10/06)
Contact: Donna Haig Friedman
Trauma-Informed Services for Homeless Mothers
Trauma-Informed Services for Homeless Mothers. The Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) has recently contracted with
UMass Boston’ s Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) to develop and implement a multi-year set of interventions that will lead to economic
security for women who have escaped domestic violence. The Center for Social Policy will be the ICI and DTA evaluation partner. This project
evaluates two programs addressing self-defense and financial literacy for homeless mothers at four Massachusetts shelters located in Dorchester,
Marshfield, Lowell, and Springfield. More than 50 percent of homeless mothers residing in shelters are survivors of domestic violence, however;
many programs serving this population do not address their trauma history. The two interventions to be evaluated in this project are geared
towards trauma victims, and will build on one another when implemented in the shelters. The first program, IMPACT, will teach participants
self defense skills, thereby increasing their self-confidence. The second program, operated by HarborCov, will teach budgeting skills that
fit with the self-sufficiency standards. CSP will conduct a process evaluation on the initial implementation of these joined programs in all
four shelter programs.
Contact: Donna Haig Friedman
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