The Size of the Illinois Human Service Workforce

Human services cover a broad range of programs, services, and facilities provided to the public that are designed to enhance the quality of life and well-being of people and communities. In most cases, human services are provided by agencies at the community level and include programs and services such as affordable housing, child care, mental health and substance use treatment, and job training, as well as those targeting specific populations such as immigrants, seniors, or people experiencing homelessness.This paper outlines an approach to estimating the size of the human service workforce in Illinois. Quantifying the size of Illinois' human service workforce fills a knowledge gap; with such diversity among human service organizations, a total figure for the entire sector has not before been estimated. An estimate of workers employed in human service organizations gives a sense of how much of the workforce is dependent on human service jobs. Additionally, it gives context and illustrates the relative size of this portion of the workforce to examine cross state comparisons in terms of the number of human service workers to residents in each state

The Financial Conditions of Illinois Human Service Nonprofits

This document examines the financial conditions of Illinois human service nonprofit organizations. The first section examines median and aggregate data of all nonprofits and the second section examines the financial conditions of the various nonprofit sectors, including Mental Health and Crisis Intervention; Crime and Legal-Related; Employment; Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition; Housing and Shelter; Youth Development; and Other Human Services

Who\u27ll Speak for Malinda?: Alternate Narratives of Freedom in The Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb

https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/faculty_staff_works/1025/thumbnail.jp

Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Initiatives for Inuit Youth in Canada

Indigenous Peoples in Canada continue to experience health and social inequities in the postcolonial era. The Inuit are one aggregate whose livelihoods have been drastically altered through government subsistence programs and residential schools. The loss of culture, community, and relationships have had a negative impact on this population, particularly youth, as evidenced by high rates of suicide and issues with mental health and substance abuse. A search of scholarly and gray literature was completed to identify factors that contribute to suicide among Inuit youth and potential interventions. While interventions that address mental health and suicidal risk factors have been successful, resources to support programs have not been sustained. This paper highlights suicide and mental illness among Inuit youth as a preventable issue that stakeholders and policymakers can address through participatory approaches in collaboration with the community

Surveying Underwater Shipwrecks with Probabilistic Roadmaps

Almost two thirds of the Earth\u27s surface is covered in ocean, and yet, only about 5% of it is mapped. There are an unknown amount of sunken ships, planes, and other artifacts hidden below the sea. Extensive search via boat and a sonar tow fish following a standard lawnmower pattern is used to identify sites of interest. Then, if a site has been determined to potentially be historically significant, the most common next step is a survey by either a human dive team or remotely operated vehicle. These are time consuming, error prone, and potentially dangerous options, but autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are a possible solution. This thesis introduces a system for automatically generating paths for AUVs to survey and map shipwrecks. Most AUVs include software to set a lawnmower path for a given region of ocean, and individualized paths can be set via specifying GPS encoded nodes for the AUV to pass through. This thesis presents an algorithm for generating an individualized path that permits the AUV, equipped with a camera to see all sides of a region of interest (i.e. a shipwreck). This allows the region of interest to be completely documented. Photogrammetry can then be used to reconstruct a three-dimensional model, but a path is needed to do so. Paths are generated by a probabilistic roadmap algorithm that uses a rapidly-exploring random tree to quickly cover the volume of exploration space and generate small maps with good coverage. The roadmap is constructed out of nodes, each having its own weight. The weight of a given node is calculated using an objective function which measures an approximate view coverage by casting rays from the virtual view and intersecting them with the region of interest. In addition, the weight of a node is increased if this node allows the AUV to see a new side of the region of interest. In each iteration of the algorithm, a node to expand off of is selected based off its location in space or its high weight, a new node with a given amount of freedom is generated, and then added to the roadmap. The algorithm has degrees of freedom in position, pitch, and yaw as well as the objective function to encourage the path to see all sides of the region of interest. Once all sides of the region of interest have been viewed, a path is determined to be complete. The algorithm was tested in a virtual world where the virtual camera acted as the AUV. All of the images collected from our automatically generated path were used to create 3D models and point clouds using photogrammetry. To measure the effectiveness of our paths versus the pre-packaged lawnmower paths, the 3D models and point clouds created from our algorithm were compared to those generated from running a standard lawnmower pattern. The paths generated by our algorithm captured images that could be used in a 3D reconstruction which were more detailed and showed better coverage of the region of interest than those from the lawnmower pattern