Assimilation has long been the driving force behind the federal government's policies relating to American Indians. The termination and relocation policies of the 1950s and 1960s exemplify government actions in this area. As a direct result of these two policies there was an influx of American Indians into urban areas. Abandoned by the federal government and facing competition from other minority groups for state services, American Indians began to develop their own service organizations. Urban Indian community centers, many pan-Indian by necessity due to the numerous tribes present in each urban community, were some of the first organizations created. These organizations provided services, support, and a cultural haven. This thesis reviews the history of these policies and their impact on American Indians and concludes with an analysis of research done at the American Indian Community House, New York City, which examines the contemporary role of community centers in urban areas.

<p> Mexico's innovative health reforms have attracted scholarly attention beyond its own borders, making it a valuable case to study how countries set priorities. This dissertation examines the multifaceted topic of priority setting through a multidisciplinary approach: each of the three papers of this dissertation employs one of three disciplinary perspectives: historical, quantitative or normative. The dual focus on mental health and HIV--two highly stigmatized diseases with almost opposite histories of prioritization--further underscores the social and historical aspects of health priority setting. Paper 1, "Outrage and Evidence: Julio Frenk and the Politics of Mental Health Advocacy in Mexico, 1968-2006," examines the recent history of mental health advocacy efforts in Mexico. Tracing the career of Julio Frenk, a contemporary global health leader as well as Mexico's Minister of Health from 2000 to 2006, demonstrates that mental health advocacy moved from a focus on human rights abuses to a statistical-based advocacy that emphasized the burden of mental illness. Paper 2, "Beyond Universal Treatment Access: A Multi-level Study of Mental Health Care in Public HIV Clinics in Mexico," represents the first study of the availability and usage of mental health services among HIV+ individuals in Mexican HIV clinics. This paper uses multi-level modeling of a cross-sectional survey from Mexico's National Institute of Public Health to explore factors associated with patients receiving mental health care. The results indicate that clinic-level factors account for much of the observed variation in mental health care for HIV+ individuals. Paper 3, "'What Magic is there in the Pronoun `My'?' The Role of Patient and Disease Advocates in Public Deliberations about Priority Setting for Health Policy," analyzes the risks and benefits of recent, and often controversial, attempts by countries like Mexico to include this specific class of stakeholder in public deliberation for health. Patient participation does bring the risk of bias due to their partiality. However, by drawing on deliberative democratic theory, this paper argues that such partiality confers epistemic advantages to deliberation, such that, if certain procedural and substantive constraints are met, the benefit of their participation may offset the risks.</p>

This study examines the development, organization, and implementation process of an intersectoral work insertion program (ISWIP) that is implemented through the collaboration of six stakeholders from different sectors of the community, including health and employment. The research objective is approached by case study methodology whereby the main methods of inquiry are documentation collection, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews. An innovative program logic model is developed that illustrates key components of using an intersectoral approach: leadership, sharing resources, and serving interests. The study demonstrates the relevance of local development to the social integration of individuals with mental illness. It also provides insight into the challenging nature of collaboration; obstacles such as negotiating roles, maintaining interests, and dealing with unforeseen consequences can be sources of frustration and tension among participants. Communication, attitude, and stakeholder involvement, are mediating factors in overcoming conflicts, reducing tension, and promoting successful collaboration.

<p> Mass notification systems exist to provide rapid notification to members of the public during emergency situations. Since the middle of the 20^th century, these systems have evolved to incorporate a variety of different communications methods as technology has advanced. While local governments have used mass notification systems for many years, institutions of higher education generally only began using such systems following the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007. This study attempted to examine trends relating to mass notification systems and to identify differences in how they have been implemented both in local government and in higher education. While the study was not able to identify statistically valid results due to low response rates, it appears that such differences do exist and further research in this area is needed.</p>

<p> This dissertation includes three essays that present a quantitative analysis of the policy implications of gender equality and religious attitudes as predictors of terrorism at the state level using a broad dataset. Essay one focuses on impact of gender equality, especially women's political empowerment on terrorism, both domestic and transnational. The second essay examines both gender equality attitudes and actual outcomes in social, economic and political spheres, to measure their effect on terrorism. The third essay analyzes the relation of religiousness in a society with incidents and lethality of terrorism. The overall findings of this thesis suggest that attitudes and norms of gender equality matter with regard to terrorism, but practices and outcomes matter more. Results also indicate that religious attitudes of a society are associated with lethality of terror attack. These findings have important policy implications for rethinking prevention of terrorism in an effective and innovative manner. The results strongly support investment in women's rights programs, promotion of religious tolerance and provision of social services as indirect policy solutions to curb the conditions that foster terrorism.</p>

<p> Few studies have examined the intersection of charter school and special education policies. The concerns around the serving of special education students in charter schools must be carefully studied, especially as charter schools continue to grow in numbers and continue to serve a greater percentage of public school students. New policies must not only address equity in access for special education students in charter schools but must also study how charter schools can be leveraged to generate innovative and promising practices in the area of special education. </p><p> This study examines a recent policy change in the Los Angeles Unified School District that provides great autonomy and increased accountability for charter schools in their provision of special education services. This policy change promotes key tenets of charter schools: (a) autonomy and decentralization, (b) choice and competition, and (c) performance-based accountability with the aim of increasing access for students with special needs and increasing the capacity of charter schools to serve them. The research design utilizes a mixed method approach to collect qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate the goals of this major policy change within this particular school district. </p>

<p> The American healthcare system has since WWII regularly suffered seasonal shortages of blood donations. This dissertation examines, through the theories of activity systems, genres, frames and social groups, the discourses and rhetoric associated with the practice and social activity of blood donation. The history of the discourse and the activities of intermediaries responsible for recruiting blood donors are examined focusing on significant discontinuities to the activity system of blood donation such as WWII; the shift to an all-volunteer, free donation system; and the threat to the system posed by the advent of HIV/AIDS. Altruism has been posited as "the" motivation for blood donation since the US moved to an all-volunteer donation system. In spite of assurances that the use of an all-volunteer system would result in an increase in blood donations, since 1974 shortages have regularly occurred but no other appeals have been officially tested or implemented by major intermediaries such as the American Red Cross or America's Blood centers. Reasons for this resistance to consider alternatives and possible changes to the system are examined to begin to develop ideas about ways that communication might help remedy these regular shortages.</p>

<p> Should the power to address the socio-cultural and political issue of alcohol consumption and regulation lay in that of the legislators or, the legislated? I propose that when alcohol legislation and regulation - The Botswana Alcohol Tax Levy are formed without invested cooperation from the general population, often the policy is non-sustainable and subject to change. The sustainability of the policy is primarily measured on its efficiency and effectiveness at addressing alcohol consumption and abuse. The failure to both reduce alcohol consumption and fund alcohol preventative care brings forth the conversations regarding needed change. My analysis provides the local and global implications alcohol consumption and regulation has had in Botswana, the United States, and the United Kingdom with an in-depth Policy Analysis Matrix directly discussing the Botswana Alcohol Tax Levy. The Tax Levy and other regulations created by the government have often overlooked the ground-level realities of the social issues regarding alcohol consumption, at the expense of the general populace overall health. The traditions and cultural heritage of alcohol, in regards to the Botswana people, cannot be under-mined. From my analysis, most of the issues arising from legislation stem from the discrepancies found between European Western Developmental practices and Botswana Traditional practices and law. The analysis highlights that the current position the government is taking in regards to alcohol consumption and regulation is ill informed. The current Alcohol Tax Levy neither lessens the consumption patterns of the population. Nor, does the Levy help to alleviate the current social problems excessive alcohol consumption is having in Botswana.</p>

<p> This study employed a qualitative case study methodology to examine some of the challenges that are hindering the fragile state of Liberia from benefiting from the use of country public financial management (PFM) systems for donor-financed projects. The study also examined the effects that these challenges pose to the fragile state. It then explored recommended strategies and policies to resolve the challenges. The data for the study was collected from 15 participants through individual in-depth interviews. The cases of the 15 participants were cross-analyzed based on 4 themes and 13 patterns that arose from the participants' data for the challenges, 4 themes and 6 patterns that emerged from the effects of the challenges, and 5 themes and 13 patterns that emerged from the recommended strategies and policies of the participants. The findings revealed the cardinal or major challenges that, as the participants pointed out, obstruct or hinder the effective use of country PFM systems for donor-financed projects in Liberia. Amid the challenges, some were directly linked to government and others to donors. Moreover, the study observed that some of the challenges were interrelated. In addition, the findings also showed the effects that these challenges could pose to the country's future prospect in regards to country PFM systems use. The study then examined the various recommended strategies and policies for government and donors alike that could help solve the challenges the fragile state faces. The findings of this study fill a gap in practical research on fragile states, specifically Liberia, with regards to country PFM systems and add valuable information on how to effectively and efficiently deal with challenges for eventual full PFM adoption.</p>

<p> This dissertation studies refugee resettlement in the U.S. and develops a framework for understanding a city's capacity for employing refugees who resettle in the U.S. The study exposes the tension between the humanitarian mission of the U.S. Refugee Program and the objective of immediate employment after arrival. </p><p> The research questions include: 1) How do contextual factors in the destination city relate to refugee employment outcomes? 2) How might deeper consideration of the relationship between city factors and refugee economic outcomes inform policy making in refugee resettlement program? </p><p> A framework derived from the literatures on urban policy and refugees explores how place-based factors influence initial refugee employment with an embedded comparative case study research design (3 cases, 6 units each). Interview data and 2010 employment outcomes stratified by country of origin and English ability collected on-site in 2011, in addition to public data sets from the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics were analyzed. By comparing outcomes of refugees with similar demographic profiles across 3 cities, the research design explores how local policies, attitudes of the receiving community, economic opportunities, ethnic networks, and refugee resettlement organizations influence refugee employment outcomes. </p><p> The study finds that when comparing pairs of cases, higher refugee employment rates 8 months after arrival are associated with higher relevant job availability and accessibility in the metropolitan area. Job availability is characterized by lower unemployment, a larger low skill job market, a smaller ratio of refugees to metropolitan area population, resettlement agency outreach to employers, larger co-national communities, linguistic clusters in places of employment, a higher percentage of English speakers in the linguistic group, and Right-to-Work policies. The focus on place-based factors fills a gap in previous refugee literature with a general theory about how the local context of U.S. cities interact with refugee employment. The findings have implications for the U.S. Refugee Program's allocations strategy, terms of cash assistance, outcome measurement, and funding structure. Recognizing the employment capacity of a city for refugees enables program administrators to anticipate the cost implications of resettling refugees in that city.</p>