Student Research–2013

In the classroom and in the community, Mills MPP students develop their analytical skills while helping government and nonprofit organizations address important policy problems.

In the Local Politics, Planning, and Management graduate seminar, Mills MPP students are collaborating to help community groups participate in the City of Oakland's Zoning Update process.  Students are helping residents and business owners in the Laurel District to envision how their neighborhood might change and grow under different zoning scenarios.  Student work on this project was recently featured in the MacArthur Metro community newspaper.

Under faculty supervision, each Mills MPP student produces a Master's Policy Report (MPR), a professional paper that meets both the school's academic standards and the needs of a practitioner who acts as a client for the project. Recently completed MPRs include:

• Monica Ayers, MPP '13.  Social Interventions to Improve Health Outcomes Designing an Evaluation of the Highland Health Advocates Project.  Client:  CAlameda County Health System:  Highland Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine. Executive Summary
• Aisha Canfield, MPP '13.  Pilot Evaluation of Oakland's Homicide Response Program. Client:  Khadafy Washington Project. Executive Summary
• Audra Caravas, MPP '13.  Community Leadership Curriculum (INVST CLP) Expansion Plan, Client:  The International and National Voluntary Service Training Community Leadership Program. Executive Summary.
• Lizeth Chavez-Izazaga, MPP '13.  Enhancing Agricultural Land Use in San Mateo County. Client:  San Mateo County District. Executive Summary
• Amanda Jordan Christenson, MPP '13.  Human Trafficking Policy in Berkeley, California.  Client: City of Berkeley , Health Housing and Communiyt Services Department. Executive Summary
• Isabel Cortes, MPP '13. Community Based Organizations' Quest to Purchase and Rehabilitate REO Properties: Best Practices and New Opportunities. Client:  The Greenlining Institute. Executive Summary
• Tami Etziony, MPP '13.  Ban Hydrolic Fracturing in California:  Legislative responses to California's newest environmental crisis.  Client: Environment California. Executive Summary
• Jillian Harris, MPP '13. Sustainable Transportation Practices in a Changing Environment: Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Mills College. Client: Mills College Sustainability Committee. Executive Summary
• Caro Jauregui, MPP '13. Disaster Preparedness in Alameda County: A Disaster Justice and Disaster Resiliency Analysis. Client: Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disaster. Executive Summary
• Michaela Kretzner, MPP '13.  Organizational Improvements to Increase Non-Profits Access. Client: ACCESS Women's Health Justice.  Executive Summary
• Mary Lunetta, MPP '13. Beyond 2020: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in California. Client: Climate Policy Initiative. Executive Summary
• Natasha Middleton, MPP '13. Priority Based Budgeting: A Model for the City of Oakland's Business Improvement Districts. Client: Budget Advisory Committee for City of Oakland. Executive Summary
• Jacqueline Narvaez, MPP '13. A Community Needs Assessment for the Unity Council Early Head Start Program. Client: Unity Council De Colores Early Head Start Program. Executive Summary
• Mariah Olivera, MPP '13. Streamlining the Policies and Procedures Documentation of Oakland's Housing Rehabilitation Programs. Client: City of Oakland, Residential Lending Services. Executive Summary
• Angela Remington, MPP '13. Business Improvement & Community Benefit Districts in Oakland, California: Promotion Development Support. Client: Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. Executive Summary
• Ashley Roaseau, MPP '13. Collectively Creating a Safer Oakland. Client: Oakland City Councilwoman Libby Schaaf. Executive Summary
• Monique Salas, MPP '13.  Increasing Accountability and Improving Outcomes in Oakland Business Improvement Districts. Client: Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. Executive Summary
• Nicole Sowers, MPP '13. Effective Strategies to Increase Girls' Success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Client: San Francisco Department on the Status of Women. Executive Summary
• Sabine Nicole Talaugon, MPP '13. Addressing "Anti-Indian" Historical Bias in California Public Schools through Best Practices. Client: The California Indian Museum and Cultural Center. Executive Summary
• Rachel Trusty, MPP '13. A Formative Program Evaluation of California Managed Care Prevention Services. Client: California Department of Health Care Services. Executive Summary

Complete reports are available upon request. The opinions expressed in the reports are those of the authors and not necessarily endorsed by the Mills Public Policy Program or the client organizations.  Asterisk (*) denotes Outstanding Thesis Award winner.

Faculty Research

Several members of the Mills faculty who teach public policy have conducted research that is typical of the work done in this field. Program Director Carol Chetkovich has studied the workings of affirmative action policy in the urban fire service, and her book on the subject is widely used by public managers trying to enhance diversity in uniformed services. Dr. Chetkovich has also produced several reports for federal and state government agencies in a number of social service areas, including childcare, healthcare, and services for people with disabilities. Her most recent work (with coauthor Frances Kunreuther of the Building Movement Project) is a book that explores the social-change work of small nonprofit organizations. This work is intended to inform nonprofit activists, funders, and researchers seeking to understand and support this sector.

Among their other work on organizational performance and reliability, Professor Paul Schulman and former program director Emery Roe recently have investigated California's restructuring of its electricity sector. Their findings are reported in High Reliability Management: Operating on the Edge(Stanford University Press, 2008).

Professor Siobhan Reilly has conducted a number of studies relating to family and child well-being, including work on welfare policy, child support, family structure and living arrangements, resource allocation within the family, and the risks of infant formula use. Her work has been supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and has significant implications for a number of social policies.

The challenge of interagency collaboration is the focus of one longitudinal, in-depth research project by Professor Dan Ryan. Studying community organizations working jointly on the problem of substance abuse, Dr. Ryan identified important factors constituting both obstacles and supports for cooperative work. Findings from this and other work have been used by foundations, local government agencies, and policy designers.

Among other Mills faculty, Professor Lorien Rice has reported on education and transportation policy for the Public Policy Institute of California, and Professor Mark Henderson contributed to strategic planning for the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.