Local government purchase of social services from private entities: problems of administration and financing

Introduction. Designing a competitive mechanism for public purchase of social services including those from private providers is indispensable for assuring the high quality of provided services and the reasonable use of budget funds. However, much as this task has been seen as an important and urgent and justified in program documents, only a miserable portion of public funds is being allocated to purchase of social services from private providers. Purpose. The goal of our research is to determine the problems with the financial mechanism of purchasing social services from non-government providers that are faced by local governments in Ukraine. Methods. In the process of preparing this article, the methods of data collection and systematization, abstraction, observation, analysis, and comparison were applied. Results. Our study proves that a significant factor impeding the development of social services outsourcing is the mechanism of social services financing, in particular the practice of their valuation. Our findings revealed the following main problems with setting tariffs for social services that are publicly purchased from private providers: a tolerance for increasing costs of service providers; the inability to include income of service providers in tariff calculations; added complexity with access to the social services market for business entities under Simplified System of Taxation, Accounting and Reporting; lack of possibility to include Single Tax in the tariff, as it is only allowed to include VAT; and the application of different approaches to budgeting for social services sourced from non-governmental entities and the communal and governmental structures. It is also worth adding that the existing methodological guidelines on social services valuation are rather complicated to use. Thus, the flawed mechanism of private social service provider financing results in that only 171 out of 2 725 service providers, or 6.3% of the total, are legal entities under the private form of ownership. The mechanism of financing social services from local budgets could be improved by introducing fixed tariffs for social services with possibility of their adjustment by means of certain coefficients. Discussion. In future research, it would be feasible to focus on elaborating a detailed conceptual framework for setting social services tariffs, validating their base component and identifying additional elements, as well as defining the scope of application for such a mechanism.

Event-Driven Continuous Time Bayesian Networks

We introduce a novel event-driven continuous time Bayesian network (ECTBN) representation to model situations where a system's state variables could be influenced by occurrences of events of various types. In this way, the model parameters and graphical structure capture not only potential “causal” dynamics of system evolution but also the influence of event occurrences that may be interventions. We propose a greedy search procedure for structure learning based on the BIC score for a special class of ECTBNs, showing that it is asymptotically consistent and also effective for limited data. We demonstrate the power of the representation by applying it to model paths out of poverty for clients of CityLink Center, an integrated social service provider in Cincinnati, USA. Here the ECTBN formulation captures the effect of classes/counseling sessions on an individual's life outcome areas such as education, transportation, employment and financial education.

Planning for Older Adult Day Programs in an Arab American Community: Perceptions From Older Adults, Caregivers, and Professional Providers

Background and Objective: This study explored Arab American stakeholders’ perceptions about potential future adult day programming to inform geriatric service providers about relevant services for culturally diverse older adults. Research Design and Method: Participants ( N = 28) in five focus groups were recruited through a social service provider in Metropolitan Detroit, Michigan. Results were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Themes included basic requirements, promoting clear and transparent understanding of adult day programs (ADPs), respecting the person, social engagement and activities, explaining complex ethnic and geographic identities, and implementing diversity. Discussion and Implications: ADP service providers can enhance services by drawing on the life experiences, resilience, and creativity of older Arab Americans. Person-focused policies and programs that draw on the strengths of the diverse local community should be developed and communicated clearly for potential participants, family members, and service providers.

Integrating Local Government, Non-Profit and Social Service Agency Data to Understand Systems and Outcomes in a Large, Southeasten U.S. City

IntroductionA central undercurrent between policymakers not being able to make totally informed decsions and non-profit leaders lacking knowledge to most effectively craft their services is the lack of data integration among organizations and across sectors. Objectives and ApproachWe have 40+ data sharing agreements with local governmental agencies (school district, sheriff's office, DSS, Veteran Services, homeless services) and many local non-profit agencies. On an individual project basis, we integrate historical and longitudinally deposited data across datasets in order to research the effects of community initiatives and non-profts to understand the population they are serving and the outcomes assoicated with their services. Many agencies lack the capacity for data cleanliness and structure, so we scrub and deposit their data on relational database on a secure server for future integration and investigation. ResultsWe highlight two projects: We completed a project for a local non-governmental, non-profit housing organization integrating data from 20+ data sharing agreements to investigate familial, individual, and childhood outcomes pre- and post- obtaining homeownership through this organization. This allowed the organization an in-depth, historical view of the effects that stable housing had on the recipients and their families, as well as how to tailor services for new families. We integrate data from the school system, homeless information management systems, and non-proft services providers to understand the effects that family homelessness has on educational outcomes. This endeavor provided the community a report of the scope of local family homelessness as well educational outcomes of the students. Conclusion/ImplicationsThrough the integration of seemingly disparate local governmental and social service provider datasets, we equip researchers, non-profit leaders, and policymakers to understand the effects of initiatives and redesign systems and/or reallocate resources.

Enacting property: Making space for the public in the municipal library

The space of the municipal library is changing. Libraries are no longer the traditional haven for quiet contemplation. In many cities across North America and the UK, municipal libraries have become a central social hub, a social service provider and a place of shelter for the marginal. In combination with technological advances and the hovering threat of budget cuts, the space of the library and the multiple publics it serves has becoming increasingly debated. We argue that the library and its changing mandate can be usefully understood through a property lens. The library is not only public space, we argue, but also public property. The manner in which the library, as public property, is enacted, is complicated most immediately by the competing conceptions of the ‘public’ that the library is to serve, but also by the ambivalent relationship between the ‘public’ and the ‘private’, and by the spatiality of the library itself. We demonstrate these complications in the context of changes to the sleeping policy in the Edmonton Public Library in Alberta, Canada (2014–2015).

An integrative transformative service framework to improve engagement in a social service ecosystem: the case of He Waka Tapu

Purpose This study aims to understand the engagement between an indigenous social service provider and marginalised clients deemed “hard-to-reach” to gain an insight into how to improve the client’s engagement and well-being through transformative value co-creation. Design/methodology/approach The exploratory study’s findings draw on primary data employing a qualitative research approach through document analysis and in-depth interviews with clients, social workers and stakeholders of the focal social service provider in New Zealand. Findings The findings indicate that there are inhibitors and enablers of value or well-being co-creation. The lack of client resources and a mismatch between client and social worker are primary barriers. Other actors as well as cultural practices are identified as enablers of well-being improvement. Research limitations/implications This research reports on a single social service provider and its clients. These findings may not be readily transferrable to other contexts. Practical implications Findings indicate that social service providers require a heightened awareness of the inhibitors and enablers of social service co-creation. Social implications Both the integrative framework and the findings provide a sound critique of the prevailing policy discourse surrounding the stigmatisation of members of society deemed “hard-to-reach” and the usefulness of such an approach when aiming at resolving social issues. Originality/value This is the first exploratory study that reports on the engagement between a social service provider and its clients in a dedicated Māori (indigenous) context by employing an integrative research approach combining transformative service research, activity theory and engagement theory.