Robert Fischer - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Robert Fischer

Journal of Public Child Welfare

Children and Youth Services Review

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Rob Fischer Beginning with the Clinton Administration and greatly extended under George W. Bush, ... more Rob Fischer Beginning with the Clinton Administration and greatly extended under George W. Bush, the federal government has expanded the role of faith-based providers in the delivery of a range of human services. Since 2001, the FaithBased and Community Initiative (FBCI) has aimed to give these organizations equal opportunity with secular and larger organizations to secure federal funding for the delivery of social services. Aside from Constitutional questions, the expanded role for Faith-Based and Community Organizations (FBCOs) within the domain of federally funded human services has carried with it an increased interest in the capacity and operational effectiveness of these organizations. In the context of the limited state of current research, important questions need to be addressed about how FBCOs conduct their programs and the extent to which the programs achieve the intended outcomes. This study seeks to assess the current evidence base by examining the previous relevant rev...

Acknowledgement: This work was made possible through funding from the Funders Collaborative. The ... more Acknowledgement: This work was made possible through funding from the Funders Collaborative. The authors wish to thank the following individuals for their input throughout the evaluation process and on this report – Nonprofit agencies face increasing competition for scarce funding resources. Many agencies are considering ways to restructure themselves, often via mergers and acquisitions, as a way to become more effective and competitive. This study examines a pilot initiative in Cleveland, OH, in which funders supported nonprofits in the pursuit of significant restructuring efforts. Health and human service nonprofits were recruited into a three‐phase facilitated pilot that assisted the agency executive directors and boards in determining what type of restructuring was feasible and desirable. The study highlights key learnings from the initiative. Across the nonprofit sector, agencies are faced with increased competition for finite resources, along with increased scrutiny from funders and other stakeholders regarding their efficiency and effectiveness. One avenue that has been pursued to deal with this changing environment is the examination of a range of restructuring options, from collaboration to corporate merger. In these restructuring efforts agencies are able to better deliver on their core mission and often enhance the sustainability of the restructured entity. Though collaboration and consolidation have long been seen as an effective method for enhancing nonprofit performance, too often their use has been confined to times of financial turbulence and organizational difficulty. A focus of this pilot was on helping nonprofits explore restructuring from a position of strength, rather than when financial pressures require it. As part of an innovative pilot, a group of 18 philanthropic funders in Cleveland, OH, initiated a program to enable health and human services nonprofits to systematically examine options in regard to restructuring. The Human Service Strategic Restructuring Pilot was launched in late 2009 with an educational workshop for representatives from 76 nonprofits. Agencies that expressed the desire to further explore restructuring were invited to engage in a readiness assessment. In this phase 17 agencies participated in an extensive self‐examination and a thorough readiness assessment. Agencies completing the Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development ♦ Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences ♦ CWRU 2 readiness assessment were invited to be considered for a third phase in which the agency engaged with a partner agency around a specific restructuring opportunity. The agencies convened a Joint Negotiating Team (JNT) that was empowered by each agency's board to fully flesh …

Women religious serve in a range of ministries, often with the most disenfranchised in society. T... more Women religious serve in a range of ministries, often with the most disenfranchised in society. The nature of sisters' ministries has often been reduced to its external characterproviding education, health care, or social services. What has been less understood is the enduring nature of the forces underlying these ministries. This study draws on six focus group conversations involving 33 Catholic sisters. The study surfaces key themes that frame a better understanding of the work of today's women religious. These themes can be adapted for others who seek to work with people in need. Exploring the Ministry of Catholic Sisters Journal of Religion & Society 2 15 (2013) and Laurin; Petersen and Takayama; Wallace; Wittenberg). Though there has been considerable description of the work of Sisters, less work has been done examining the underlying nature of their approach to direct service. The present study seeks to extend the knowledge base by documenting how Catholic Sisters think about their ministry and what can be learned from these observations. This work focuses on sisters in apostolic communities, those whose mission includes ministry in communities such as education, health care, and pastoral work. The experiences of sisters in contemplative communities, who live communal lives of prayer and contemplation, are not a focus of the present study. Research Purpose The broad objective of this research is to describe the unique approach of women religious and to inform others who now or in the future strive to help people in poverty or with other vulnerabilities. Consideration of the themes can especially benefit faith-based agencies as they adapt to increasing needs, fewer resources, and a need to develop new leaders. This work builds on an earlier survey of Catholic sisters in active ministry in the Cleveland region (Fischer and Bartholomew). While the earlier survey offered an overview of the ministries, this study describes the fundamental character of their ministry and vision for the future, based on perspectives shared in these focus groups, and centers on the charism of the sisters' congregations. Charisms are divinely conferred gifts or powers that usually stem from the lived experiences of the order's foundress and, therefore, shape the distinct spirit that gives a religious community a particular character. For example, the charism of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Augustine (CSA) is "Charity-namely-love of God, particularly as we find God incarnate in our neighbor, motivates us. We seek to love one another and each person we encounter." The charisms explored here only relate to communities in active (apostolic) ministry. Sisters in ccontemplative communities would likely identify their charism is very different ways. Methodology Catholic sisters were invited to take part in a focus group discussion of their ministries and the work of women religious. Invitations were sent to 101 sisters who had participated in a 2009 survey and agreed to be contacted about related work; also, an open invitation was made at the April 9, 2011 Women With Spirit convocation, a daylong meeting of over 240 sisters from northeastern Ohio. It was convened as a follow-up to the experience of hosting the national exhibition Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood, Ohio in 2010. A total of 44 sisters responded with an interest in participating in the focus groups. During the period April 28-May 24, 2011, six focus groups were held involving 33 sisters, approximately 20% of the number of sisters who took part in the 2009 survey. Sisters from 8 congregations participated in the focus groups (See Table 1); 17 (51.5%) had attended the Women With Spirit convocation in April 2011. All six of the focus groups were held at a conveniently located Catholic senior care center; sessions were audio-taped and subsequently transcribed.

The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepa... more The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title:

Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 2020

Children and Youth Services Review, 2019

Child welfare-involved homeless families are at greater risk of poor social and economic outcomes... more Child welfare-involved homeless families are at greater risk of poor social and economic outcomes compared with homeless families not involved with child welfare, and these negative outcomes reverberate in terms of economic and social costs to society. This study employed a mixed-methods approach to examine process findings from a randomized control trial from the first county-level Pay for Success initiative, Partnering for Family Success. The research compared housing, child welfare and public assistance outcomes for the treatment (N = 90) and control (N = 73) groups, explored how the program delivered its services, the service pattern over time, and perspectives of child welfare and program staff. We found that during and in the year after exiting the program, treatment group clients were less likely to use homeless services and were more likely to access public assistance benefits as compared with the control group clients, and during and after the program, the treatment and control group clients' child maltreatment reports were not statistically significantly different. There were positive indications from quantitative data showing that the intervention patterns align with those of Critical Time Intervention (CTI), with qualitative interview data indicating shifts over time in case management focus from short-term crisis management and housing stability toward working on longer-term independent living skills. The findings contribute to the literature regarding how best to serve homeless, child welfare-involved families, and suggest the necessity for longer-term interventions and greater attention to nonhousing-related needs.

College & Undergraduate Libraries, 2005

Abstract Although the primary constituencies of academic libraries are their faculty, students, a... more Abstract Although the primary constituencies of academic libraries are their faculty, students, and staff, the programs and displays that they and their Friends organizations sponsor may be of interest to the surrounding community. Effectively reaching these groups requires a concerted effort. Information must be written for an external audience, and contact information for all prospective news providers must be ready to use. Libraries may also avail themselves of low-cost or no-cost methods for disseminating information. By reaching out to community members, college and university libraries will encourage local residents to take advantage of the programming and services offered by the library and may influence them to become more closely tied to their institution.

Children and Youth Services Review, 2016

Poor housing quality and housing crises have been linked to adverse outcomes for children. Howeve... more Poor housing quality and housing crises have been linked to adverse outcomes for children. However, few studies have focused on the early childhood period or been able to pinpoint how the timing and duration of housing problems contributes to early educational success. This longitudinal study draws on linked administrative re cords from housing, education, social service and health agencies to examine the influence of exposure to housing neighborhood conditions since birth on school readiness of all children entering kindergarten over a four-year period in a big city school system. Using marginal structural models that properly account for dynamic housing and neighborhood selection, we find that children exposed to problematic housing and disadvantaged neighbor hoods have lower kindergarten readiness scores after accounting for other factors. The negative effects of housing problems on kindergarten readiness are partially mediated by child maltreatment incidences, residential instabil ity, and elevated blood lead levels. Communities are advised to pay more attention to distressed housing as a cause of disparities in early child development and school readiness.

Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs, 2017

Nonprofit agencies face increasing competition for scarce funding resources. Many agencies are co... more Nonprofit agencies face increasing competition for scarce funding resources. Many agencies are considering ways to restructure themselves, often via mergers and acquisitions, as a way to become more effective and competitive. This case study examines a pilot initiative in Cleveland, Ohio, in which philanthropic funders invited and supported nonprofits in the pursuit of significant restructuring efforts. Health and human service nonprofits were recruited into a three-phase facilitated pilot that assisted the agency executive directors and boards in determining what type of restructuring was feasible and desirable. Overall, 75 nonprofits participated in some part of the pilot, 17 of which formally explored a restructuring opportunity within the pilot year, and eight of which ultimately consolidated. The study highlights key learnings from the initiative and the implications for the nonprofit sector in the promotion of restructuring discussions.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The effects of homeless assistance services at the local level are tremendously difficult to asce... more The effects of homeless assistance services at the local level are tremendously difficult to ascertain. In this study, a four-month sample of homeless persons served by a local homeless shelter and case management program were contacted nine to eleven months after receiving services. The findings suggest that the program had some initial success in assisting the homeless clients to locate housing within the first year after leaving the shelter. However, the housing costs paid by these formerly homeless were quite high, with nearly three-quarters of them spending forty percent or more of their income on housing. Homelessness continues to be a major social issue facing the United States. Depending on the criteria used to operationally define homelessness, the national incidence of the problem has been estimated to range from a low of 300,000 homeless persons to a high of 3.5 million homeless persons (Cordray &

Nonprofit Policy Forum, 2018

Clinical and Translational Science, 2015

Community organizations addressing health and human service needs generally have minimal capacity... more Community organizations addressing health and human service needs generally have minimal capacity for research and evaluation. As a result, they are often inadequately equipped to independently carry out activities that can be critical for their own success, such as conducting needs assessments, identifying best practices, and evaluating outcomes. Moreover, they are unable to develop equitable partnerships with academic researchers to conduct community-based research. This paper reports on the progress of the Community Research Scholar Initiative (CRSI), a program that aims to enhance community research and evaluation capacity through training of selected employees from Greater Cleveland community organizations. The intensive 2-year CRSI program includes didactic instruction, fi eldwork, multiple levels of community and academic engagement, leadership training, and a mentored research project. The fi rst cohort of CRSI Scholars, their community organizations, and other community stakeholders have incorporated program lessons into their practices and operations. The CRSI program evaluation indicates: the importance of careful Scholar selection; the need to engage executive leadership from Scholar organizations; the value of a curriculum integrating classwork, fi eldwork, and community engagement; and the need for continual scholar skill and knowledge assessment. These fi ndings and lessons learned guide other efforts to enhance community organization research and evaluation capacity.

, and is an important part of many mothers' decisions about returning to work (NICHD Early Child ... more , and is an important part of many mothers' decisions about returning to work (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2005). These parents often must balance the demands of their own employment with caring for child's needs, including appointments with multiple professionals, depending on the type(s) of special need(s) (Booth & Kelly, 1999; Scott, 2010; Turner, 1998). Research has found that parents with these concerns tend to turn to informal, and/or family-based networks of care (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2005), which can limit their work flexibility. To best support these families, it is essential, then, that communities and organizations rise to meet the needs of these parents, provide specialized training where necessary, and widen the network of choices for families with children with special needs (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2005). Program Description/Context The countywide special needs child care consultation program has served 6,540 children between the ages of 3 and 5 since the program began six years ago, approximately 1,100 children per year. The program model revolves around a centralized technical assistance office that contracts with community organizations' technical assistants (TAs)-master's level trained social workers and therapists-provide consultations to both centerbased and family child care homes (this paper focused on experiences in center-based care) on the behalf of the teacher. Such consultation services are used when child care center directors, teachers, or parents request specialized services to deal with special needs in a classroom. Such special needs are broadly defined, and include but are not limited to: developmental disabilities, health conditions, physical and behavioral concerns. Depending on the need(s) of the child care teacher and/or center, the child care technical assistants provide a wide range of services, and/or a variety of other needs. These might include training teachers and center staff regarding strategies on how to best work with a specific child with a particular special need (including but not limited to their therapeutic needs, equipment, food limitations, etc.). Consultants also assist centers in training staff regarding working with children who have particular special needs. Consultants might suggest supplies and/or equipment, approaches, and provide support as needed for child care 2

Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 2013

ABSTRACT Investments in high-quality early care and education have been shown to reap societal be... more ABSTRACT Investments in high-quality early care and education have been shown to reap societal benefits across the lives of the children served. A key intervention point is in the lives of 3- to 5-year olds during the period prior to entering kindergarten. Many jurisdictions have developed broad-based prekindergarten initiatives. This study reports on a pilot universal prekindergarten program in 24 sites in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Child assessment data were collected on 204 children from early care classrooms for 3- to 5-year olds across 3 time points by trained observers using 2 standardized instruments. Changes in achievement scores were shown to be significantly predicted by race, parental education level, and whether the family spoke English as a second language, with largest gains shown among children who were most behind at baseline. The findings serve to illuminate the developmental trajectory of children before kindergarten and how data can be used to inform practice and policy.