Partners in Prevention: Community-Wide Homelessness Prevention in Massachusetts and the United States

Examines six community initiatives to prevent homelessness involving cross-organizational resource-sharing, policies, and interventions. Looks at each program's strategy, organization, interventions, and approaches to partnerships, outcomes, and funding

Evaluate disposable sample chips and complete the

Letter Report detailing plastic sample chip desig

Underwater Coatings Testing for INEEL Fuel Basin Applications

The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) is deactivating several fuel storage basins. Airborne contamination is a concern when the sides of the basins are exposed and allowed to dry during water removal. One way of controlling this airborne contamination is to fix the contamination in place while the pool walls are still submerged. There are many underwater coatings available on the market that are used in marine, naval and other applications. A series of tests were run to determine whether the candidate underwater fixatives are easily applied and adhere well to the substrates (pool wall materials) found in INEEL fuel pools. The four pools considered included (1) Test Area North (TAN-607) with epoxy painted concrete walls; (2) Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC) (CPP-603) with bare concrete walls; (3) Materials Test Reactor (MTR) Canal with stainless steel lined concrete walls; and (4) Power Burst Facility (PBF-620) with stainless steel lined concrete walls on the bottom and epoxy painted carbon steel lined walls on the upper portions. Therefore, the four materials chosen for testing included bare concrete, epoxy painted concrete, epoxy painted carbon steel, and stainless steel. The typical water temperature of the pools varies from 55 F to 80 F dependent on the pool and the season. These tests were done at room temperature

Center for Social Policy: Reshaping Poverty Policy for and with Families and Communities

The Center for Social Policy is a research and evaluation think tank of choice for policy makers, funders, and business leaders focused on the root causes of poverty. Our research and evaluation work helps organizations adapt to changing needs in a changing world. Our recommendations and technical assistance lead to community-driven systems change and improved program and business practices

Evaluation of the Use of Synroc to Solidify the Cesium and Strontium Separations Product from Advanced Aqueous Reprocessing of Spent Nuclear Fuel

This report is a literature evaluation on the Synroc process for determining the potential for application to solidification of the Cs/Sr strip product from advanced aqueous fuel separations activities

Partners in Prevention: Community-Wide Homelessness Prevention in Massachusetts and the United States

A central objective of the Homelessness Prevention Initiative (HPI) is to generate information for state policymakers on viable statewide approaches for investing in homelessness prevention. Therefore, to contextualize the policy relevance of HPI evaluation findings and to add to the strength of recommendations, the evaluation team has systematically explored examples of community-wide homelessness prevention efforts already underway in Massachusetts and in other parts of the country. We selected communities that met the following criteria: The prevention network included an entire county, city, region or state. Cross-organizational resource-sharing, policies and interventions were in place. The collaboration engaged in primary prevention, that is, it addressed potential homelessness before it occurred. The cross-organization collaboration was focused on: Preventing families and/or individuals from losing their hold on housing; or preventing discharge from an institution to the streets. In addition, we include a brief write-up of two innovative prevention standalone programs. ValueOptions of Maricopa Co., AZ is a for-profit company that implements a model of prevention that creates housing; Lifelong Family connections is a program in Massachusetts that connects youth leaving the foster care system with substantive social connections for life. Note: As a companion to this report, recognizing the importance of documenting changes in the State of Massachusetts’ approach to family homelessness during the past year, the authors examined the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance’s implementation of homelessness pilot initiatives. These programs aimed to end the state’s reliance on hotel/motel shelter and to enable families living in motels to move into stable housing as quickly as possible. That report can be found at www.mccormack.umb.edu/csp. This report begins with a summary of learnings from a cross-community perspective. We contrast and compare communities’ approaches along several dimensions, including: overall strategies and philosophies; the people they serve; the range of interventions they use; organizational and leadership structures; partnership approaches; funding and sustainability strategies; outcome measurement approaches; successes and challenges. The primary focus is on highlighting lessons relevant for Massachusetts. This section ends with a set of questions that present perplexing dilemmas for any city, state or region planning body attempting to undertake a community-wide prevention initiative. Section Two of the report offers a detailed analysis of each of the six community-wide initiatives. These communities (in alphabetical order) are: Cape Cod, MA; Columbus/Franklin County, Ohio; the state of Minnesota; New York City, NY; Washington DC; and Worcester, MA. Section Three of the report describes two innovative stand-alone prevention programs. One program is a private sector response to prevention, and the other is a social support program for youth leaving foster care

Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program Evaluation, July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2015

The final report on Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership\u27s (MBHP) Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program evaluation aims to improve our collective understanding of how the FSS program works, who benefits from the program and how they benefit, and the circumstances that are associated with success. The research findings are divided into five sections: A comparison of MBHP’s FSS program outcomes to the national average A description of how FSS graduates spend their escrow savings A comparison of FSS graduates with those who terminate from the program Mini-case examples on MBHP partnerships An assessment of goals and outcomes for MBHP under the TBF grant The Center for Social Policy used a developmental evaluation framework to design our research on the Family Self-Sufficiency program at the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership. We investigated a series of questions developed in collaboration with key decision makers at MBHP and we tracked their progress towards the goals they set under the grant from the Boston Foundation. CSP worked together with MBHP to develop the research questions, establish priorities for data collection, synthesize the research findings and develop policy recommendations. This work has resulted in three reports, an evaluation brief, an interim report, and now a final report

Preventing Homelessness and Promoting Housing Stability: A Comparative Analysis

This final evaluation report is the culmination of a three-year investment of time, energy and resources involving 28 Massachusetts nonprofit organizations: 7 foundations, led by the Boston Foundation, The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development; and Homes for Families which joined with the Center for Social Policy team to conduct 10 focus groups involving 72 parents and individuals who shared their perspectives on homelessness prevention, with the guidance of a consumer advisory board involving six persons who have experienced homelessness. Collectively, we engaged in this evaluation effort because we believed that the outcomes of interventions, practice experience of service providers, and the lived experiences of the families and individuals they served have meaning for improving service practices, changing public policies, and increasing public and private resources to prevent other Massachusetts households from falling into homelessness

Prevention at Work: Homelessness Prevention Initiative (HPI) Interim Evaluation Report, January 2004 through September 2005

This interim report summarizes what has been learned about the processes and outcomes of interventions by HPI grantees in the first 21 months of the initiative, from January 2004 through September 2005. To ground our findings, Section One begins with a discussion of the housing, economic, and policy contexts in the U.S. and the state that impact low-income households. This section focuses on the public and nonprofit sectors these households rely upon for help when their housing circumstances are precarious.Section Two describes the households served by HPI grantees and their varied circumstances. Section Three offers detail on the prevention strategies used by grantee organizations and their collaborating partners. Section Four summarizes the results to date. Section Five highlights intervention strategies uniquely tailored for diverse populations. Section Six summarizes the key learnings to date; Section Seven concludes the report by posing issues for consideration as the final year of the initiative begins

The MISSION-VET Consumer Workbook

Summary: Supplemental workbook for the Maintaining Independence and Sobriety through Systems Integration, Outreach, and Networking (MISSION) treatment approach, which was adapted specifically for Veterans (MISSION-VET). MISSION-VET, a flexible, integrated, time-limited, yet assertive service delivery platform was designed specifically to provide direct treatment, ongoing support, and care coordination to homeless Veterans suffering from co-occurring disorders and transitioning and/or adjusting to independent living in the community. The Consumer Workbook is a supplemental workbook to engage homeless Veterans by providing exercises and resources to aid in their recovery from a co-occurring disorder and homelessness. Peer Support Specialists and Case Managers should work with the Veteran to complete the items in the workbook that correspond with specific Dual-Recovery Therapy sessions and use the workbook as a talking point in helping clients with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse, homelessness and related issues that arise in the various stages of their recovery