SCHOOL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
MPA CAPSTONE PRESENTATIONS December 9, 2016
PRESENTATIONS
Room: CPACS 109A Alumni Panelists: Carna Pfeil, Cari Harris, Katherine Najjar, and Debbie Roberts Meredith Tyrakoski 1:00–1:15 PM Pro Bono Service Delivery to Detained Immigrants at the South Texas Detention Facility: A Case Study Immigrants detained by the Department of Homeland Security during removal proceedings face a number of obstacles in immigration court. These include language and cultural barriers; lack of familiarity with the legal system in the United States; and mental health disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Another barrier involves the complexity of immigration law that is often compared to that of tax law. However, because immigration proceedings are civil matters, respondents are not entitled to government appointed counsel and those who cannot afford to hire counsel must represent themselves while navigating the quagmire of immigration laws. This project seeks to 1) analyze why so few attorneys make themselves available for pro bono services at the South Texas Detention Facility and 2) recommend local procedures that will encourage pro bono representation in the Pearsall Immigration Court. Richard Jouppi 1:30–1:45 PM Using Performance Management to Help Guide the Proctor, MN Fire Department Local fire departments are expected to manage the increasingly difficult task of operating within budget constraints while combating rising costs and service demands. This situation underscores the importance and difficulty of making resource allocation decisions. Such decisions may be significantly improved when fire administrators have better information regarding the state of current operational effectiveness and efficiency. One way to improve the quality of this information is to utilize performance measurements as they relate to the core functions of fire departments. This information allows fire managers the opportunity to evaluate the specifics about a department (e.g. operational efficiencies, effective use of personnel, responsive budgeting, etc.) based on evidence derived from data instead of relying on “good intentions.” Susanna Coye 2:00–2:15 PM The Impact of Paid Family Leave State Laws The United States is the only developed country that doesn’t guarantee paid leave for workers who are new parents. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act gives workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Currently, only 11 percent of American workers get paid family leave through their employers or state programs. The purpose of this project is to research how having paid family leave policy would affect the likelihood of new parents to take a paid leave and return to their workforce afterwards. Three states with guaranteed paid leave - California, New Jersey and Rhode Island will be compared to states that do not have the same policy. The hypothesis is that in states with paid family leave programs new parents would more likely take paid leave comparing to the states without such a policy. Lauren Cencic 2:30–2:45 PM Designing a Stakeholder Committee for Bus Rapid Transit Planning: A Case Study Citizen and stakeholder participation in governmental policies, projects, and planning efforts is widely regarded as supportive of participatory governance and improved decision-making. One frequently utilized method of public engagement is the creation of stakeholder advisory committees. The design of advisory committees and their structure, role and amount of influence can vary widely with differing levels of stakeholder involvement and empowerment. The Transit Authority of the City of Omaha (Metro) formed a stakeholder committee to support planning and design of the its Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project. This committee serves as a case study to examine its design, role and level of influence in shaping project decisionmaking through the perspectives of its participants including Metro employees, bureaucrats from other public agencies, representatives of non-profit organizations, and private citizens.
Room: CEC 118 Alumni Panelists: Harry Bullerdiek, Sara McClure, Gary Riedmann, Hanneka Brown, and Al Vacanti Scott Sorrel 1:00–1:15 PM Surface Transportation Funding: A Case Study of Illinois’ Challenges In Peoria County, Illinois, four jurisdictions maintain 1,868 miles of road - State, County, Township, and Municipal–with the County at 17% of the total. At the state level, the American Society of Engineers (ASCE) rates Illinois’ roads as poor (American Society of Civil Engineers, 2013). Using the PAVER™ pavement management system, Peoria’s County Highway network had a pavement condition index (PCI) rating of 58.8 on a scale of 0 to 100 in 2015 (Applied Pavement Technology, Inc., 2015). Current revenues available to the County for its 315 miles of road are sufficient to maintain the road network, but not make needed improvements (Applied Pavement Technology, Inc., 2015). Absent a new local tax that must be voter approved, or changes to the motor fuel tax by the State of Illinois, the County of Peoria is faced with a situation where resources will be insufficient to maintain the network or address the $215 million backlog in life cycle replacements needed for 38% of the network. Peoria County is a microcosm and the subject of a case study regarding the challenges local governments in Illinois face in planning and budgeting for capital improvements, specifically surface transportation improvements. Michael Helgerson 1:30–1:45 PM Big Data Governance and Implementation in Transportation Planning Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) are responsible for a cooperative, comprehensive, and continuing transportation planning process in urban regions throughout the United States. These organizations and agencies serve as a standing forum for decision-making about federal transportation funding apportioned to metropolitan regions. Federal law requires the designation of an MPO in any region with a population of over 50,000. The two most recent transportation authorization bills passed by the United States Congress–the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) and the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act)–emphasized performance measurement as a means for improving decisionmaking about transportation investments. Further, these laws require the US Department of Transportation to develop a framework for performance measurement across state Departments of Transportation and MPOs. I intend to explore how these governance and technical issues contribute to the ability of organizations to work across organizational boundaries to address these issues. Owen Bargar 2:00–2:15 PM Testing a Theoretical Framework for Analyzing Disaster Recovery: A Case Study of Nebraska’s 2011 Flood This paper applies an ecological model first introduced by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1977) to disaster recovery. While its origins are in human behavioral development, the model has been applied in slightly altered forms from Beaton, Bridges, and Salazar (2008) for disaster management. Birkman, Buckle, and Jaeger (2010) have also used the framework to study political change after a disaster. They state relations can change in socioeconomic, organizational, and political domains because of disaster in a particular area (Birkman, 2010). One area might be able to exert more influence on a higher level of government after being hit by a major disaster. While their focus was on creating opportunities for change, I use a form of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model because “no systematic efforts to conceptualize and create a model of framework emphasizing the interplay of various systems and organizations affected during the disaster cycle have been undertaken” (Beaton, 2008).
Zach Harmon 2:30–2:45 PM Community Development: The History, Giving Context to the Future This project will seek to identify key models in modern urban community development. Assessing several approaches to community development, this study will take key literature on housing development issues and aim to synthesize and understand these approaches. With a background of current development models, this study will compare these with creative and entrepreneurial methods in community development. Using modern case studies and academic theory, we will seek to find some creative approaches and alternatives in the present community development landscape. Room: CEC 128 Alumni Panelists: Jessica Jones, Lonzale Ramsey, Jennifer Talarico, and James Temme Kristi Farrington 1:00-1:15 PM Meaningful Transition/Discharge Planning for Minors in Short-Term Behavioral Health Settings: A Content Analysis Study of Boys Town National Research Hospital’s Behavioral Health Program There are many issues associated with transitional and discharge planning pediatric patients in behavioral health settings. Many times the transitional/discharge plans given to patients and families are not individualized and do not provide the resources necessary for the patient to be successful in the community or step-down programs. This lack of individualized information many times leads to lengthy and unusable plans. This can lead to non-compliance with medications, follow up appointments and loss of progress made while in treatment. There is proposed legislation posted within the Federal Register that provides guidance to organizations regarding transitional planning. This project will look at the current transitional/ discharge planning documents within a local behavioral health program and review those documents against proposed legislation, providing suggestions for improvement in process. The project’s intent is to design a best-practices template for transition/discharge planning. Brittni Throgmorton 1:30–1:45 PM The Story of Nebraska’s Privatization Efforts within Child Welfare: A Case Study The use of privatization in the public sector to provide goods and services to citizens requires special consideration and proper oversight, structure and leadership for these relationships to be successful without careful planning these relationships can lead to a reduction in the quality of service to citizens which can have a negative impact on society. My research question focuses on the effect of the privatization of child welfare in Nebraska. In so doing, I will to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the privatization of child welfare in Nebraska.
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