Oregon’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) (formerly called Food Stamps) rose by 33% between October 2008 and October 2009 as the economy went into recession and the unemployment rate increased. The percentage of Oregon’s overall population receiving SNAP benefits increased from 11.8% in July 2005 to 16.3% in July 2009. With...
Several states, including Oregon, Massachusetts and California, have been the focus of major health reform efforts in recent years. Oregon utilized a citizen-led commission to generate policy recommendations that led to the enactment of health reform legislation in 2009. This commission helped to create momentum and provide political cover for...
This essay presents a case study of the Regional Gravel Initiative (RGI) workshop, one instance of policy makers using science to inform decision making for sustainable and streamlined processes. The RGI consists of eight agencies, both federal and state, with responsibilities for informing and issuing permits for mining aggregate on...
This study explores the role of classroom use of live organisms as a pathway for the spread of invasive species. The overall guiding research question is “Are behavioral changes necessary to reduce the spread from the classroom pathway?” Using focus groups comprised of key educators, this study seeks to identify...
The Bolivian government is using a portion of the rent generated from its fossil fuel reserves to fund unconditional cash transfers as a means of redistributing resources. Although some countries have enacted conditional cash transfers in the past, these unconditional transfers are unique since they only have been implemented in...
The promotion of democracy abroad has become a critical national security objective for the United States. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, newly independent states have received millions in aid to facilitate their transition to democracy. A significant portion of this funding has been administered by the United States...
Despite a great deal of attention paid to state renewable energy potential, there has been relatively little research on specific energy policies and their effect on the generation of renewable energy. This study seeks greater understanding of the state energy policies and how they individually affect the generation of wind,...
The ever-increasing environmental degradation in China is leading people to pay more attention to environmental protection. Although Chinese government has made progress in dealing with environmental problems, the environment still gets worse. Thus, ordinary people began to take part in environmental issues, and make contributions to environmental protection. With increased...
This study analyzes food access patterns on the Southern Oregon Coast using GIS technology. The utility and capacity issues of GIS technology are explored as well as the ability for community-based organizations to apply GIS analysis at a local level. A comprehensive literature review is presented which addresses the definition...
Civic participation has been perceived to be an important aspect in the City of Portland. Portland‟s civic engagement model and the high level of public participation from Portlanders have drawn praises. Not all communities, however, have been included in the democratic process, which should be accessible to all Portlanders. Communities...
Timber supply from Washington State may be reduced by non-industrial private forest owners' diverse purposes for holding timberland, which is a concern since they control 38% of Washington forestland. This study is an exploratory analysis of the effect of land and human infrastructural characteristics on landowners’ likelihood to harvest, precommercially...
This essay provides a snapshot of major policy change in the siting of radioactive waste depository facilities in South Korea during 2005. After 20 years of failing to locate a radioactive waste depository facility, South Korea finally succeeded in locating a facility through a major policy change of delegating decision...
A considerable amount of research and literature exists that attempt to explain the policymaking processes of central banks and, in particular, the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB). As with those studies, the purpose of this study is to explain FRB policymaking in order to understand FRB policy shifts during financial crises....
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines female genital cutting (FGC) as “all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons” (WHO, 2010). This practice has existed in Africa for thousands of years, but over the...
In the context of expanding global food trade in which we import and consume a variety of foods from across the world, insuring food safety, an essential public health issue, has become a major concern in our food supply system. Over the past several years, food related scandals of Chinese...
This study explores Oregonians’ attitudes about and perceptions of public education. Specifically, perceptions about education quality were analyzed, looking at the perceived quality of education today and how it has changed over the last 5 years. Questions posed to respondents about education funding, explored views on additional state funding needed...
The federal government owns 60 percent of Oregon’s forests and, since 1908, has shared proceeds from federal forest timber harvests with counties. These revenues
have provided a relatively stable source of funds for the provision of services by county governments in Oregon. Shared revenues from US Forest Service (USFS)
lands...
Oregon has been regarded nationally as an innovative healthcare policy state because of its creation of the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) conceived by State Senator and Governor John Kitzhaber. The OHP was designed and created to help curb soaring healthcare costs and broaden the eligibility of healthcare to the working...
By 2050 the world population is expected to reach 9 billion. Fears of the impact of such a large population on earth’s environmental systems and finite resources have lead efforts by governmental and non-governmental agencies to assist developing nations in reducing fertility rates to slow population growth by direct medical...
Public opinion is central to the formation of public higher education, particularly public higher education funding policy. However, extant research indicates that an enormous gap exists between public higher education policymakers and the general public, resulting in misunderstanding and serious challenges for public higher education funding. This analysis builds on...
Oregon Sea Grant and its partner states have received a Sectoral Applications Research Project (SARP) grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to refine outreach methods for coastal communities with specific attention to climate change. This paper will focus on the SARP project and a related case study...
Most research on U.S. hunger and food insecurity is at the household level, where it occurs. Because policy to address food insecurity is created and implemented at the national and state level, hunger research at the state level provides important contextual information. By including weather data with state level economic...
The complexity of modern environmental problems has increased appeals for including scientific research and findings in natural resource policy decision making. Though scientists, resource managers, interest groups, and the general public support more science-based environmental policy, these preferences have been accompanied by growing calls for decentralization and democratization of policy...
This study uses the Health Impact Assessment approach to determine the health impacts of allowing accessory dwelling units in Benton County, Oregon. A literature review presents the health benefits of accessory dwelling units in urban areas and identifies the potential negative health effects in rural areas. Five accessory dwelling units...
The Himalayan mountain range is one of the world’s largest sources of fresh water, and Nepal, situated at the foothills of the Himalayas, is endowed with ample water resources. In spite of this water abundance, drinking water supply in many parts of the country is inadequate, particularly in the capital,...
Local Perceptions of Social-Ecological Change on the McKenzie: Implications for Resilience
This study sought to catalog local knowledge of long-term residents of the McKenzie River Valley as it pertains to landscape and community change and provide a general assessment of factors affecting the local social-ecological system’s resilience. Residents interviewed indicated...
The spread of invasive species into the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of the United States poses a serious threat to the valuable forest resources of the region. Many insects and diseases that are a threat to these forest resources can be transported inside firewood. When campers transport their firewood across borders...
In recent years there has been a growing debate in the field of public administration over whether public employees are essentially self interested. Public choice theory contends that all people are self-interested utility maximizers, and as a result that public employees would seek to use their position for personal gain....
Community driven development (CDD) is one of the recent approaches in the development arena that integrates people into mainstream development. Bringing people together into the development prospects through social capital is an important aspect of this approach that harnesses greater social inclusion and wider participation at the grass root level....
In recent decades there has been a trend for countries to begin establishing bilateral trade relations with one another, namely, free trade agreements. The result has been open economies that are economically tied to one another. In El Salvador, two policies are highlighted that tie it strongly to the United...
Over the past two decades, the western United States has experienced many of the costliest and most severe wildfires in history. To mitigate the effects of the growing threats posed by wildfires, residents in at-risk communities are encouraged to protect their homes and property by adopting Firewise recommendations. This article...
During the 2011 Oregon Legislative session, seven bills were debated that addressed policy affecting small farms. This paper seeks to understand the environment surrounding these bills: what is the political structure for determining small farm policy? To answer this question seven policymakers were interviewed and two legislative hearings were observed....
This paper explores the history of housing policies in the United States and how they were implemented. It also examines the effects of discriminatory practices against minorities and low-income groups. There is evidence that this systemic form of discrimination creates conditions that cause poverty and unequal access to education, home...
Homelessness has many faces, several of which society will never truly see. The homeless population has begun to change during the recession, as families lose their homes to foreclosures due to high interest mortgages or become evicted from rental dwellings as one or both wage earners lose employment. The initial...
Retention, the ability of an institution to retain students through degree completion, is a major concern for most colleges and universities. The current first to second year retention rate at Oregon State University (OSU) is about 80% (OUS 2008; 2011). Currently the OSU Strategic Plan includes the goal of increasing...
Microfinance has been extolled by donor agencies, development practitioners and policy makers as a tool for alleviating poverty and empowering women. Yet little systematic research has been done to assess the conditions and extent to which microfinance programs accomplish these goals. This essay provides an assessment of that research. Based...
This paper seeks to answer the question of the effectiveness of urban renewal through a decennial review and analysis of the costs and benefits of the Central Albany Revitalization Area (CARA) in Albany, Oregon. The topic is especially relevant at this time of constraining budgets, as a bright light is...
Ecotourism is recognized for its economic potential to reduce poverty in least developed countries. There is a general belief that ecotourism will benefit local development, but previous research has found mixed results. This paper explores the idea of ecotourism and its impact on local sanitation in Nepal’s Annapurna Conservation Area....
Since the 1990s the U.S. and especially the Western U.S. have experienced more intense and costly fires. To help address this problem government agencies are increasingly looking at homeowners in fire-prone landscapes to mitigate fire risk. Part of this effort involves communicating risk and understanding how residents perceive risk. This...
This study uses multiple regression analysis of a survey of Oregon residents to determine what factors influence an individual’s support for salmon recovery policies in Oregon. Salmon today face a variety of threats, most notably from the ‘four H’s’ (habitat degradation, hydroelectric dams, harvest practices, and hatcheries). Using the social...
Policies in Europe over the last half a century have steadily dismantled the inequality-easing processes of the welfare state. Current conditions coupled with concerns related to the recent economic downturn have heightened focus on the issue of income distribution. Education has been identified as a resource to combat such ills....
Since the 1990s the U.S. and especially the Western U.S. have experienced more intense and costly fires. To help address this problem government agencies are increasingly looking at homeowners in fire-prone landscapes to mitigate fire risk. Part of this effort involves communicating risk and understanding how residents perceive risk. This...
Using Richard Matland’s ambiguity/conflict model of policy implementation, this research examines the connections that agencies and organizations in one rural county, Klamath, and one urban county, Multnomah, in Oregon utilize to implement a particular state policy. The policy being examined is ORS 418.746-800, which mandates the use of Multidisciplinary Teams...
This essay examines the processes of empowerment within an artisan NGO in Ghana. An empowerment framework focusing on the concepts of ‘agency’, ‘resources’ and ‘achievements’ are examined through interviews with women weavers, batikers and seamstresses. Their narratives reveal that a complex set of structural and cultural inequalities shape women’s specific...
The popular perception, throughout the United States of America, is that there is a positive relationship between recent immigration and crime. The more immigration in an urbanized setting, the more violent crime occurs. Crime is socially constructed to be associated with large influxes of “outsiders” into the community. America has...
California public schools receive 2-5% of their annual budget from education support organizations (ESOs), such as parent groups, booster clubs, and education foundations. Anecdotal evidence suggests voluntary contributions are in high demand due to shrinking budgets and because California’s highly centralized education funding system is insufficient to meet the demands...
Attempts to site nuclear waste storage facilities are highly contentious. Given that nuclear related facilities are the most commonly opposed types of proposed land uses, one might expect to observe strong contentious interactions between proponents and immediate community members. In some cases, what is expected is not necessarily observed; why?...
Equitable access to primary health care is vital to the overall health and development of a country. Since its independence in 1967, Tanzania has established a clear objective of achieving primary health care for all. Yet achieving the goal of health care for all is especially difficult considering Tanzania’s poverty...
In 2008, China released a new green initiative, the Green Securities Policy, to increase the sustainability of Chinese capital markets. One of the integral components of the policy is the new environmental disclosure regulation which prescribes Chinese listed companies in the 14 highly polluting industries to report required environmental information....
This research uses the Institutional Development Analysis (IDA) framework to examine the relationships between the individual levels of enforcement and the commercial trawl fishermen in Newport, Oregon, to determine if there is a difference in relationships and whether those differences impact compliance. While a difference in the relationships between the...