This research project surveyed San Bernardino County non-relative licensed foster parents to assess their level of satisfaction with the Department of Children's Services. This research also explored factors related to communication and feelings of support and determined their impact on over all feelings of satisfaction with the agency.

This project covers the environmental issues of the proposed Lakes and Streams Project for the City of San Bernardino. The water history of San Bernardino, from the hot springs to the development of the current municipal water system, is also detailed. Two curriculum units teach students how to use environmental issue analysis skills. One focuses on the water history of San Bernardino and is aimed at grades three to five. The other immerses middle grade students directly into the Lakes and Streams issue.

The purpose of this project was to establish a CISCO program at San Bernardino High School. This program facilitates student matriculating with the program being taught at San Bernardino Valley College. Students earn certification as a Cisco Certified Networking Professional (CCNP) certification.

This project updated the California State University, San Bernardino's Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization's Solicitation Management System (SMS) software, used to facilitate the processing of grant proposal solicitations. The SMS software update improved the interface so that it is more user-friendly, increased the processing speed, and added additional functions necessary to comply with new requirements. The software was rewritten using the Spring and Hibernate frameworks.

ME WITHOUT YOU is an interlinked collection of short stories set in the blight of an urban housing project in San Bernardino, California. The stories follow the lives of three students in their year of fourth grade at a low performing school. Narrated from these points of view, the collection amplifies the voices of a community wrought with violence, poverty, and crime while also exploring how children brave the consequences of a world they cannot control. Mesmerizing in its simplicity, and gripping in its detail, ME WITHOUT YOU intertwines themes of identity, family, loss, poverty, and longing for what is just out of reach. It begs the reader to question how one survives a world of violence and disillusionment. The story behind my stories is this: in my nine years in San Bernardino, I have learned that it isn’t just the origin of one’s story that matters, but what one does with it. In this way, ME WITHOUT YOU tells the stories of this region, the dreams of its children, and the journeys they navigate in order to survive.

This study examined the effects of drought on the City of San Bernardino Municipal Water Department’s (SBMWD’s) wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) wastewater flow rates and constituent concentrations. The study utilized data obtained from the SBMWD’s monthly discharge monitoring reports (DMRs), dating from 2007 to 2015. For each report the SBMWD Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) and Rapid Infiltration and Extraction (RIX) facility influent and effluent flow rates, along with concentrations of ammonia, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), total inorganic nitrogen (TIN), and total dissolved solids (TDS) were examined. Even though influent and effluent flow rates were examined for both WRP and RIX facilities, a majority of the flow-rate research concentrated on WRP influent flow rates because changes of influent flow rates cascade down the treatment process from WRP influent flow rates to RIX effluent flow rates. Impacts of the drought were analyzed by comparing drought statistics, for the Riverside-San Bernardino area, to influent flow rate trends and relevant constituent concentrations. Relevant constituent data were determined based on if they were discharged near their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit limits. Pearson Correlation Analyses were used to assess any relationships between influent flow rates and relevant constituents. WRP influent flow rates and TIN concentrations were the only two parameters explored by this project that exhibited measurable changes related to the drought. WRP influent flow rates observed an inverse relationship with drought because persisting drought conditions led to decreased wastewater flow rates. TIN concentrations had a positive relationship with drought conditions based on the inverse correlation between influent flow rates, and the graphical relationship between drought conditions and TIN concentrations. The Pearson correlation coefficient for TIN concentrations and influent flow rates was -0.630 with a p-value less than 0.05, which is a strong negative relationship. Inconsistencies were observed during 2010 and 2011, which were non-drought periods. During non-drought periods it was expected that flow rates would be highest and constituent concentrations would be lowest. This was not the case because during 2010 and 2011 flow rates were lowest and TIN concentrations were highest, contradicting all other data. The drought-related justification for these abnormalities was that the implementation of the 20x2020 Water Conservation Plan, a California water management plan enacted in 2009, increased water conservation and reduced wastewater flow rates. However, there are many other factors that were not explored by this project that could have led to decreased wastewater flow rates, such as housing foreclosure rates peaking during 2010. Further studies are recommended.

The purpose of this study was to examine social workers’ perspectives on the risk factors that are associated with cases of removal of infants. A quantitative survey design was utilized, using self-administered questionnaires that were distributed electronically to social workers located in San Bernardino County. The sample consisted of 94 participants, and the majority of the participants were White, non-Hispanic females. The study found that social workers identified substance abuse, the lack of infant’s physical safety in the home along with the age of the infant, and the lack of parents’ readiness to take part of the safety plan as highest risk factors for the removal of infants. Lastly, a surprising finding in this study was that a child’s ethnicity was indicated as a risk factor that increases the possibility of infant removal. It is recommended that social workers continue to receive trainings and other educational opportunities to enhance the social workers’ knowledge, values, and practice skills, to ensure the safety and well-being of all children.

This study investigated whether the presence of a supportive adult in the life of a youth transitioning out of foster care impacts the likelihood that the youth experiences homelessness, teenage pregnancy, drug or alcohol addiction, or incarceration in San Bernardino County. Understanding the impact of a supportive adult, or mentor, on youth transitioning from foster care to independence would allow the social workers to more strategically plan for a successful exit from state care. This study will use public data collected from the federally mandated survey for the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD). Data was analyzed to determine if a correlation exists between having a supportive adult and the four aforementioned negative outcomes. The results showed that the four negative consequences examined occurred less frequently with individuals who identified as having a supportive adult in their lives. However, the differences demonstrated by the data were not statistically significant. Further research needs to examine the effect of mentoring on youth transitioning out of foster care.

The use of mortar and pestles has long been associated with acorn processing in California. Based on ethnographic and archaeological evidence, groundstone was used to process a multitude of resources, including small mammals. Twenty groundstone artifacts recovered from the Rock Camp Site in the San Bernardino Mountains were analyzed for protein residues using the crossover immunological electrophoresis (CIEP) method. Using previously obtained data from the Summit Valley, a comparative analysis was done to determine if processing small mammals on groundstone was a common occurrence throughout the San Bernardino Mountain region.

The purpose of this study was to identify barriers to receiving services for women suffering with Postpartum Depression (PPD) in the San Bernardino and Riverside County areas. 11 - 20% of mothers experience symptoms of PPD, which if left untreated can negatively impact the mother-infant relationship, ultimately affecting the entire family unit. Past studies have identified a variety of barriers to receiving treatment for PPD. However, research has not focused specifically on the obstacles mothers face in these two neighboring counties. The study utilized an online self-administered questionnaire developed by the researchers to identify barriers to treatment for PPD. There were 41 participants from San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. The questionnaire was intended to be distributed to service providers that come into contact with this vulnerable population; primarily social workers, licensed therapists, masters of social work (MSW) students student interns, physicians, registered nurses, and midwives. However, because a snowball sampling technique was used, it was possibly sent to other professionals who come into contact with this population. Our study found that most of the barriers identified in previous studies also applied to our participants. The barriers rated highest in terms of limiting access to PPD services were a physician’s lack of time with patients, knowledge of PDD symptoms, the patient’s relationship to physician, and limits in coverage, as well as knowledge of services covered, lack of emotional support from significant other and/or family members, and transportation challenges including distance from providers. Additional barriers that were recognized in the literature and in our research, were education barriers, cultural barriers, stigma associated with postpartum depression, fear of child welfare officials, lack of culturally sensitive screening tools, and fears surrounding the use of medication. The results from this study may help practitioners and researchers better understand the barriers women with PPD face in accessing services, and may help service providers tailor their treatments and services accordingly. Additionally, the knowledge gained from the research may also inspire policy changes to improve women’s access to PPD services.