UMass McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies

Quick Links

• Our Mission
• Our Team
• Our Work
• Our Writings
• Our Advisors
• Our Work by Topic Area
• Contact the Center

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Work

Current Projects

Reshaping Poverty Policy for 21st Century Families and Communities
Building on years of research and engagement with policy advocates, local practitioners and people in need, the Center for Social Policy (CSP) has initiated a five year project to reshape poverty policy in Massachusetts and beyond.  We are advancing interconnected social policies that reduce inequalities, enhance the economic well-being of low income families and their home communities, and benefit workers and their employers.

21st century families and communities demand new solutions to poverty.  Local innovators are already crafting policies and developing practices that work better than those from the past.  Our federal and state policies should support these local, promising innovations.   Using our analytical capacities, our strategic partnerships with local innovators, as well as local and national campaigns, and a planned sequence of strategic dialogues and annual events, we are developing and advancing promising policy innovations that will benefit low income families and communities as well as society at large.

With funding from The Boston Foundation, the Hyams Foundation and the Sociological Initiatives Fund and partnerships with the Housing Solutions Campaign, Homes for Families, the Fair Housing Center, Boston Tenants Coalition, Citizens Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, we are currently:

• analyzing the tenants of foreclosed properties and properties at risk in specific Boston neighborhoods, that is, the neighborhoods determined to be the most distressed;
• examining the housing affordability situations of households in the City of Boston, Metro Boston and the Commonwealth by race, gender, age, and tenure by several income standards; with a focus on those with the lowest incomes and tenants impacted by the foreclosure crisis;
• analyzing the socio-economic characteristics of BHA, Section 8 and Public Housing clients as part of our affordability study of the lowest income households; and
• analyzing the holders and applicant households for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP), with a goal of developing recommendations on resources and structural changes for the program. 

Contact Persons:  Donna Haig Friedman, Michael Stone, Randy Albelda

 

Cambridge Cares About AIDS: Evaluation of the Prevention and Education Department
Cambridge Cares About Aids has contracted with the Center for Social Policy to assess the core services and programmatic strengths and weaknesses of its the Prevention and Education Department. As a result of the process, the Prevention and Education Department will make key decisions regarding program alignment. In this way , it will respond to a shifting environment marked by increased competition for funding and changes in policies and practices regarding HIV prevention and treatment.

Organizational Partners: Cambridge Cares About Aids

Primary contacts: Mary Coonan, Terry Saunders Lane

 

Pathways to Success Evaluation
Through the Center for Social Policy's Pathways to Success Evaluation, we are exploring the impact of community partnership efforts, in six locations throughout the state, to improve child, adult and family outcomes, through a coordinated 'wrap-around' model of education, workforce development, as well as health and human services. This initiative is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education through its Adult Basic Education, Family Literacy division.

Primary Contacts: Jennifer Cohen, Berna Kahraman

 

Moving Arts for Social Change
This project is a collaboration between the Center for Social Policy (CSP) and the International Movement ATD Fourth World who is initiating a three year process to understand how poor people resist violence and make gestures of peace. Both groups share a strong commitment to involving the people in poverty in research that impacts their lives. ATD Fourth World and the CSP plan to add to the understanding of the conditions for the participation of the very poor in such work through art, created by and with people in poverty, which will complement social policy seminars initiated by the Center for Social Policy.

Organizational partners: The International Movement ATD Fourth World

Primary Contacts: Julia Tripp, Susie Devins

 

Closing the Gap on Healthcare Disparities

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts funded eleven coalitions of community organizations, healthcare providers and consumers to work on various healthcare disparity issues throughout the state of Massachusetts. The eleven coalitions are participating in a learning community that shares information about best practices, frameworks for healthcare disparities, and emerging policy issues. The Center for Social Policy is conducting an evaluation of the lessons learned and the outcomes from both the learning community experience and the individual coalitions on healthcare disparities. Organizational Partners: Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts

Time Frame: 2008 - 2011

Primary contacts: Mary Coonan; Terry Saunders Lane

 

Outcome Measurement and Program Evaluation

The Center for Social Policy is working with Brookview House, a non-profit organization working in the field of family homelessness, to define agency outcomes, streamline and standardize data collection and analysis systems, and develop a comprehensive program evaluation tool customized to the agencies' specific programs.

Organizational Partners: Brookview House

Primary contacts: Mary Coonan

 

Regional HMIS Technical Assistance

The Center for Social Policy is contracted by HUD to provide technical assistance on Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) to Continuums of Care throughout the New England Region. Support includes assessments of data collections systems, development of quality control plans, guidance on reporting requirements to HUD, facilitation of peer support, and delivery of select training.

Organizational Partners: HUD

Primary contacts: Mary Coonan

 

Evaluation of the Legal Services in Social Context Program

Northeastern University School of Law is committed to preparing students to understand public interest law. Therefore, it offers the Legal Services in Social Context program in the first year of law school. This set of courses introduces students to legal research, writing and analysis in combination with curriculum focused on how the law interacts with its social context and how to use the law to foster social justice. The Center for Social Policy is evaluating the extent to which this program meets its objectives, as viewed by students, faculty, and alumni.

Organizational Partners: Northeastern University School of Law

Time Frame: 2008 - 2011

Primary contacts:  Terry Saunders Lane; Elaine Werby

 

Alternative Staffing Organizations: Outcomes for Job Candidates and Customer Employers.

Alternative Staffing Organizations, which are operated by community-based agencies, integrate the business goal of mainstream staffing services—connecting workers and employers—with the social mission of helping marginalized job seekers find and retain better jobs. Over the period 2008-11, the Center for Social Policy will study the activities of four ASOs that are part of the Charles Stewart Mott Alternative Staffing Demonstration. The study will explore employment outcomes for workers. First, it will examine the employment situation of workers several months after their ASO assignment ends. Some workers continue work with the ASO and others move on. Second, employment outcomes of these ASO workers will be placed in the context of outcomes for other low-income workers, particularly those who have had contact with the mainstream staffing industry. Also, the project will study the motivations of customer businesses. This study is funded by the C. S. Mott Foundation.

ASOs participating in the research are Emerge Staffing (MN), FirstSource Staffing (NY), Goodwill Staffing Services Austin (TX) and Goodwill Temporary Staffing-Suncoast. (FLA).

See also previous study report:   Brokering Up:  the Role of Temporary Staffing in Overcoming Labor Market Barriers (January 2009)

Contact: Françoise Carré, Francoise.Carre@umb.edu.

 

Distance Learning Assessment Processes and Tools in Adult Basic Education programs.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's has awarded the Center for Social Policy a 15 month grant to assist them with developing more effective approaches to assess and support adult learners through its distance learning programs.

 

Evaluation of the HOPE VI Washington Beech Housing Development.

The Boston Housing Authority has received a HOPE VI award from HUD which will involve a transformation of the Washington Beech Housing Development into a mixed-income development that has a range of economic advancement and support service components built in for residents. We won a competition last fall to be the evaluation team for the four year project.

 

2008 Projects

Alternative Staffing Organizations.

Report:  Brokering Up:  the Role of Temporary Staffing in Overcoming Labor Market Barriers (January 2009)

Video:  Françoise Carré, CSP Research Director, discusses report findings on Alternative Staffing Organizations

For Windows Media version, click here

For Real Player version, click here(To download a free version of Real Player, go to http://www.realplayer.com/)

Alternative Staffing Organizations, which are operated by community-based agencies, integrate the business goal of mainstream staffing services—connecting workers and employers—with the social mission of helping marginalized job seekers find and retain better jobs. 

This study of alternative staffing organizations (ASOs) in four U.S. urban areas suggests that these unique social-purpose staffing programs can help low-income workers succeed in the labor market by finding temporary and temp-to-perm jobs, while also meeting the needs of employers for staffing services. The study was funded by the C.S. Mott Foundation

Authors: Françoise Carré, Brandynn Holgate, Helen Levine, and Mandira Kala

 

Bridging the Gaps: Structuring Benefits to Promote Mobility for Low Wage Workers

On October 31, 2008, hosted by Governor Deval Patrick, the Center for Social Policy released a report: "Bridging the Gaps between Earnings and Basic Needs in Massachusetts." The report, part of a 10-state research project with the Center for Social Policy and the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, D.C., found that earned income plus work supports are often too low to meet the high cost of living in the Commonwealth. The work was carried out through funding from the Stoneman Family Foundation and from the Ford and Casey Foundations via our national partner, the DC-based CEPR. The work was led by Randy Albelda, Senior Fellow with CSP, Heather Boushey, from CEPR, and Jennifer Shea, a doctoral candidate in UMB's Public Policy doctoral program.

In May 2008, CSP was awarded a planning grant from the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation to support planning activities for a new project that builds upon the findings of 'Bridging the Gaps'.
Project Description
Internal Project Advisors (Mass.)
UMASS Bridging the Gaps website
Bridging the Gaps website

 

Homeless Management Information Systems.

Through a contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Center for Social Policy, in collaboration with the New England Regional Homeless Management Information Systems, Inc., 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 New England Regional HMIS conferences. The latest conference took place on May 12, 2008 and was attended by over 150 participants from across New England.

 

Learning Exchange Research Project.

Using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology, this project focuses on the Third Sector in Haifa Israel and aims to strengthen Haifa Non-Governmental Organizations' (NGO) capacities. The project, led by Donna Haig Friedman with Jennifer Cohen, was carried out in partnership with the Jewish Community Relation Council's Boston-Haifa Connection. The project developed as part of a year-long Fulbright research project and was complemented by the Boston-Haifa Learning Exchange with a group of five Haifa NGOs and their Boston counterparts. The model produced learnings that have significance for the social change and service communities in Israel and elsewhere.
Building Knowledge and Power with The Third Sector in Haifa Israel: A Report of the Learning Exchange Research Project (PDF)

 

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.

The study is led by Françoise Carré, CSP Research Director, and Chris Tilly, economist, Center for Industrial Competitiveness and Department of Regional Economic and Social Development, University of Massachusetts Lowell. The report of this work was released at a conference, attended by over 75 participants, hosted by the Center on April 30, 2008 in the UMB Campus Center.
Continuity and Change in Low-wage Work in U.S. Retail Trade

 

Trauma-Informed Services for Homeless Mothers.

The Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) 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 is 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.

 

Recent Projects

The Massachusetts Commission to End Homelessness (January 2008).

The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) commissioned the Center for Social Policy to prepare this report. The report synthesizes the work of the Commission to End Homelessness and its working groups. It provides the key recommendations to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on how best to ultimately end the current shelter-based homeless system.
View the final report

 

Preventing Homelessness and Promoting Housing Stability: A Comparative Analysis (2007)
Click here to read the full analysis.
Click here to read the article.

 

Homelessness Prevention Initiative.

Between 2004 and 2007, the Center for Social Policy (CSP) evaluated the Homeless Prevention Initiative (HPI), the RAFT Plus and the RAFT prevention programs. 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)

 

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. 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

 

Evaluation of the DMH Special Homeless Initiative.

The Urban Institute and CSP collaborated on an 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)

 

"This Place Gives Me Peace, Happiness and Hope: The First Two Years of Housing First in Quincy, Massachusetts."
"Moving Here Saved My Life: The Experience of Formerly Chronically Homeless Women and Men in Quincy, Massachusetts."

Two studies were carried out by Tatjana Meschede based upon her prior work: "Bridges and Barriers to Housing for Chronically Homeless Street Dwellers" (Meschede, 2004), These subsequent studies focused on the role of social networks and social supports in sustaining housing tenure for former street dwellers, and on residential stability, access to employment and mainstream benefits and health impacts for homeless individuals. The work was carried out for Fr. Bill's Place in Quincy, MA.
Moving Here Saved My Life: The Experience of Formerly Chronically Homeless Women and Men in Quincy's Housing First Projects (Interim Report) (10/06)
FBP Housing First (Final Report)