DOWN TO BUSINESS: THE COMMODIFICATION OF NONPROFIT SOCIAL SERVICES

Private nonprofit organizations play a major role in delivering a range of publicly funded social services. Aggregate data from a recent Urban Institute study reveal that recent federal cutbacks have affected the services, programs and clients of NPOs. An examination of specific agencies in Maricopa County (Phoenix) reveals that many service providers have adopted a business approach to their services and clients, treating them as commodities. In general, agencies serving clients with Resource Mobilization Potential-youth and elderly-have fared better than those dealing primarily with poor adults.     

BUREAUCRATIC DECENTRALIZATION AND THE REDISTRIBUTION OF URBAN SERVICES: THE CASE OF TEAM POLICING1

Two extreme positions dominate the decentralization debate in urban politics: one school consistently opposes decentralization, while the other maintains that only complete radical community control can solve the problems of politics and administration in the city. Positions and policies between these two extremes tend to get lost in rhetoric and argument, or receive only passing recognition. This paper is an attempt to carve out, theoretically and empirically, some space for an intermediate position. Following a brief exploration of the decentralization debate, we discuss and present some analysis from a team policing experiment, a type of ecentralization that falls in between the two extremes. The data suggest that this type of decentralization can be successful if the program is designed as a non-zero-sum game, and the paper concludes that intermediate programs represent attractive third choices to discredited or unworkable alternatives.     

A POLICY OF OUR OWN: LOCAL FEMINIST NETWORKS AND SOCIAL SERVICES FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN

This article examines the ways in which a feminist family policy agenda has led to significant political action and change within American cities. Feminist groups, during the past fifteen years, became a part of emerging local women's rights policy networks that effected changes in several services for women and children: libraries (programming for women and non-sexist children's literature acquisitions policies); public education (gender equit under Title IX); social welfare (child care and displaced homemaker services); and criminal justice and health (the treatment of the victims of rape and domestic violence). This policy success stems not only from the workings of traditional interest group politics and policy networks but also from the astute use of political symbols, bureaucratic norms, and the federal system.     

ACCOUNTABILITY AND CREDIBILITY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF COMPLEX HAZARDOUS TECHNOLOGY

The requirements for dependable management of complex hazardous technologies include multiple barriers against serious failure, clear accountability for errors, and credibility for the decision-making process. Unfortunately, these requirements are in direct conflict. These conflicts can undermine the public's assurance that their health and safety concerns are being properly addressed. These conflicts can be reduced by the adoption of policies that enhance information exchange and evaluation, thereby, complementing the current policies based on physical safe guards and adversarial processes.     

INCREASING THE ECONOMIC WELL-BEING OF SEPARATED, DIVORCED, AND WIDOWED WOMEN OVER AGE THIRTY

Data from the Continuous Longitudinal Manpower Survey and the Current Population Survey were used to estimate the effects of CETA, a governmental jobs program, on the economic well-being of separated, divorced, and widowed women over age thirty. After training, CETA participants had increases in earnings and tended to have higher earnings than comparable CPS respondents. Participants in on-the-job training and public service employment had greater increases than participants in the other CETA programs. CETA enrollees with a high school degree had greater increases in earnings than those who had not completed high school, while whites had greater increases in earnings than non-whites.     

A REGIME FRAMEWORK FOR IMPLEMENTATION ANALYSIS: COOPERATION AND RECONCILIATION OF FEDERALIST IMPERATIVES

The diffusion of authority characteristic of federal governance challenges national leadership and complicates even the implementation of policy that promises mutual gains. To explore the problems of implementing national policy in a federalist context, this paper proposes a new approach to analysis, t h e implementation regime framework. From the regime perspective, the essential task of the implementation process is to create a context in which implementors are likely to cooperate to achieve policy goals despite the absence of dominating authority. Drawing upon the literature on international cooperation, the regime framework outlines the contextual conditions and elements of policy design that are likely to lead to cooperation in collective decision making.