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Understanding Migrant Destitution in the UK: Literature Review

June 30, 2023

In 2020, it was reported that a fifth of destitute households were migrants (JRF 2020). In many of these cases, the destitution arose primarily from the households' immigration status, specifically the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition, which restricts access to the welfare safety net (including most mainstream benefits such as Universal Credit). Attempts to tackle destitution in the UK, therefore, must consider the characteristics of the NRPF condition, its impacts and the characteristics of the parallel welfare safety net which is in place for (some) migrants and delivered by local authorities.This literature review is part of COMPAS' Understanding Migrant Destitution in the UK research project, a UK-wide study (2022-2023) focusing on local authority practice and provision for vulnerable people with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) facing destitution. Building on COMPAS' (2015) research on Safeguarding Children From Destitution: Local Authority Responses To Families With 'No Recourse To Public Funds' (NRPF), we will be using a mixed methods approach exploring the following core research questions across all four nations of the UK:How has the cohort of people with NRPF and at risk of destitution changed since 2015?How has social care provision for people with NRPF at risk of destitution changed, including in relation to decisions made on who is eligible for services?How have outcomes for destitute people with NRPF changed since 2015?

When Community Colleges Offer a Bachelor’s Degree A Literature Review on Student Access and Outcomes

March 28, 2023

Community college bachelor's (CCB) programs have only existed for a few decades, yet now reach 25 states. Since 1989, both state policies allowing these programs and the number of CCB programs itself has grown steadily. A body of research on CCBs is growing in the wake of changing state policy and the growth of new programs. This literature review synthesizes research that addresses student access and outcomes in community college bachelor's programs. Key themes include graduates' racial and ethnic diversity, strong employment rates and wages for CCB graduates, and continued discussion regarding the place and purpose of CCBs in improving students' access to bachelor's degree programs and in facilitating bachelor's degree attainment.

Extended Evolutionary Synthesis: A review of the latest scientific research

September 1, 2022

This review—intended for curious readers, reporters, researchers, and teachers—is a road map to navigate rapidly moving terrain. To understand the direction of emerging research today, we need to ask: What happened to evolutionary biology during the 20th century and what did it leave out? Why is the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis seeking a more inclusive approach to evolutionary theorizing? And finally, what does a comprehensive evolutionary theory look like?The review proceeds in three parts: examining the genetic turn of evolutionary theory since Darwin (Part 1); sampling multiple, independent calls for an alternative outlook (Part 2); and finally, taking a close look at the emerging structure and outcomes of an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis research program (Part 3).

Future-proofing foundations for a post-Covid-19 world

April 1, 2022

This paper sheds a light on developments and changing practices in institutional philanthropy in Europe since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and offers insights for making responsible philanthropy the new normal. Leveraging data from a document review as well as various surveys and interviews conducted with the membership of the former European Foundation Centre (now Philea, a convergence of Dafne - Donors and Foundations Networks in Europe - and the EFC), the present analysis delves into what foundations have learned from this period. Organisations may survive in their current state, but they will lose legitimacy and perceived value if they do not adapt. The paper first looks at the challenges perceived by philanthropy professionals and how they respond to these threats, including criticism of philanthropy, and then takes stock of actions that have helped foundations to bounce back from massive disruption. Finally, the paper offers a set of recommendations to reveal opportunities for change and prepare for what's next. 

Community Foundations as Community Leaders: A Comprehensive Literature Review and Future Framework

September 8, 2021

Community foundations claim to play an integral role in fostering philanthropy at a community level all across the United States. Community foundations have three distinct operational roles, including asset building, grantmaking, and community leadership. While asset building and grantmaking have methods available to quantify and measure their impact, community leadership has remained an elusive concept for community foundations for many years.This report shares the background on community leadership, as a concept, and covers the history of how community foundations have interpreted the role of community leadership over the years.While critiques are made of current frameworks and historical approaches, it is all done in a good-faith effort in order to show how the community foundation field has collectively progressed, and what work still needs to be done for community foundations to fully embrace their community leadership role - and that role is going to look different for each community foundation.The report includes a conceptual framework of community leadership based on existing studies and practical guidelines, including the use of civic leadership, collective leadership, and community engagement. The framework provides an opportunity to apply leadership at the institutional level and assists in examining nonprofit organizations as the unit of analysis, thus provide a more operationalized vision of community leadership.This report shares the background on community leadership, as a concept, and covers the history of how community foundations have interpreted the role of community leadership over the years.While critiques are made of current frameworks and historical approaches, it is all done in a good-faith effort in order to show how the community foundation field has collectively progressed, and what work still needs to be done for community foundations to fully embrace their community leadership role - and that role is going to look different for each community foundation.The report includes a conceptual framework of community leadership based on existing studies and practical guidelines, including the use of civic leadership, collective leadership, and community engagement. The framework provides an opportunity to apply leadership at the institutional level and assists in examining nonprofit organizations as the unit of analysis, thus provide a more operationalized vision of community leadership.

Defining Quality Library Services and Evaluation Resources for Public Libraries: A Literature Review for State Library Services

September 1, 2021

Wilder Research conducted a literature review to identify evidence- or research-based frameworks that define key components of quality library services and programming and to identify evaluation tools and resources specific to libraries or that can be adapted to meet the needs of libraries.

Strengthening Border Families Research Brief

July 1, 2021

This brief highlights the findings and recommendations from a community-based participatory research study conducted in Doña Ana County, New Mexico during the latter half of 2020. Through interviews with community organization leaders, local government representatives, and state government representatives, researchers aimed to gain insight into the accessibility and quality of community services for immigrant families with young children; identify barriers and facilitators to service access; and develop community-based policy and practice solutions to improve supports to this population. 

The Climate and Community Investment Act: An Engine for Good Job Creation

May 14, 2021

For NY Renews, our hundreds of allied organizations, and tens of thousands of supporters statewide, the answer is clear: we rebuild our economy by jumpstarting the just transition to renewable energy and investing in our communities--especially disadvantaged communities hit first and worst by both Covid-19 and the climate crisis; we enact the Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA) in New York and pass the Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy (THRIVE) Act in Congress.Just as the CCIA will cut climate and air pollution, it will send ripples of investment throughout the economy. By supporting worker training, fueling small and large-scale infrastructure projects, electrifying our state's energy production, providing direct rebates to up to 60% of New Yorkers, and jump-starting community-driven climate solutions, the policy will invigorate many sectors of New York's economy.To be conservative in its estimates, this report analyzed two areas of the CCIA's spending that will create significant calculable new jobs in New York either because they replace expenditures out of state for fossil fuel or because they replace or expand employment in more labor and value intensive sectors of the economy: the CCIA's Climate Jobs and Infrastructure Fund and the Community Just Transition Fund.

Body-Worn Cameras in Policing: Benefits and Costs

March 1, 2021

Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are an increasingly common tool for police oversight, accountability, and transparency, yet there remains uncertainty about their impacts on policing outcomes. This paper reviews what we know about the benefits of BWCs and how those benefits compare to the costs of this new technology. We make two contributions relative to existing research. First, we update prior meta-analyses of studies of the impacts of BWCs on policing outcomes to incorporate the most recent, and largest, studies carried out to date in this literature. This additional information provides additional support for the idea that cameras may affect a number of policing outcomes that are important from a social welfare perspective, particularly police use of force. Second, we carry out a benefit-cost analysis of BWCs, as financial barriers are often cited as a key impediment to adoption by police departments. Our baseline estimate for the benefit-cost ratio of BWCs is 4.95. Perhaps as much as one-quarter of the estimated benefits accrue to government budgets directly, which suggests the possibility that this technology could, from the narrow perspective of government budgets, even pay for itself.

"Nobody Ever Asked Me Why I Left High School..." A Literature Review of Recent Qualitative Studies about Why Students Leave Conventional School

November 1, 2020

Wilder Research and High School for Recording Arts interviewed students and young people who left conventional high schools to understand why they left. Despite the geographic and racial diversity in our respondents, the 70 students and young people we interviewed said similar things about why they left conventional school. The similarities in findings between our respondent groups prompted us to examine the degree to which our findings align with findings from other studies that focus on why students leave conventional school.

Telemental Health Services for Youth in Rural Areas: Meeting Service Gaps and Best Practices

October 1, 2020

Literature review that explores the benefits of providing telemental health services to youth, with a particular focus on how this delivery format may help close service gaps in rural areas. In addition, this review identifies several common challenges in providing and implementing telemental health services, best practice recommendations for providers and agencies to address these challenges, and strategies state agencies can take to encourage the use and expansion of telemental health services.

Multiple Reflections: Comparison of Frameworks for Promoting Youth Learning and Healthy Development

August 1, 2020

Every year researchers and experts on youth learning and development issue reports with new concepts and frameworks. They are developed to guide the design and implementation of community initiatives, schools and youth programs. The purpose of this paper is to compare recent frameworks and note their commonalities. This paper offers a summary or overview of many of these frameworks as well as resources to learn more. It also provides a crosswalk chart to learn where their critical features overlap.