国外公共服务府际协作供给研究--基于地方府际协议的视角

公共服务府际协作供给是地方政府提供公共服务的手段之一。什么因素影响地方政府协作的动机与行为？这种协作提供公共服务的方式是否有效？近20年来，西方公共管理学界基于地方府际协议（ Interlocal Agreements， ILAs）这一载体，正不断推进上述问题的研究。综合西方学者对于ILAs的研究，归纳和总结出当前关于公共服务府际协作供给的动因及成效，以期能够为中国学者的府际协作主题研究提供借鉴。     

The Promotion and Disruption of Community Service Delivery Systems

In this paper, we report data drawn from a larger project on the functioning of the Queensland community service delivery system, particularly that providing services to people with disabilities. Our reasoning for focusing at this level is that, from the service user's perspective, support is derived from the service delivery system, not just individual service providers. Defining the service delivery system as formal services and informal support networks, we undertook interviews and focus groups with service providers in six areas in Queensland: inner urban, outer urban, rural and remote. The period on which we report is one in which considerable reform activity had been undertaken by funding bodies of the Commonwealth and State governments. We report on those factors we identified which promote the integrated functioning of the service delivery system, as well as those factors that disrupt it. We conclude with a brief evaluative analysis of the current status of the system.     

First Nations parenting and child reunification: Identifying strengths,barriers, and community needs within the child welfare system

First Nations communities are seeking to improve current service delivery models and create alternative evidence‐based strategies. A First Nations child welfare organization has prioritized further understanding of reunification and parenting, including identification of successes and barriers to reunification, and service needs within communities. These priorities were addressed with a community‐based participatory research model and guided by a Research Advisory. Results were analysed using a blend of grounded theory and thematic analysis techniques. Participants indicated that placing children with extended family or within home communities facilitate best child outcomes. These reunifications could be increased by promoting parental and community capacity. Successes identified within communities included available supports, such as those that increased empowerment and community capacity. Identified barriers within communities were the lack of culturally appropriate services, hesitancy to obtain available support due to fears of child welfare intervention, and mental health difficulties of community member.     

A Sociological Analysis of the “Strong Central,Weak Local” Pattern of Trust in Government: Based on Three Stage Tracking Data after the Wenchuan Earthquake*

Individual and community social capital have had a significant impact on the gap between trust in higher-level governments and trust in local governments. A model including data from thirty villages gathered after the Wenchuan earthquake discovered that “the size of the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) greeting network,” “the size of the official network at/ above township level,” and “trust in fellow villagers” all had a considerable negative effect on the gap between trust in higher-level and local governments. Building individual and community social capital is conducive to establishing a balance between trust in different layers of government; individuals and communities who cooperate with each other have more channels for solving their economic and livelihood issues. Social capital can lead to a significant improvement in the effectiveness of resource matching and utilization involving governments and other sectors of society as well as increasing interaction with government. This can enhance trust in local governments and narrow the gap between trust in higher-level and local governments.     

The influence of faith‐based organisations on Australian social policy

This historical overview explores the crucial and changing relationships between faith‐based organisations and governments, not only in the implementation of social services but also in the formation of social policy. Historically Australian governments have left large areas of social provision to the non‐government sector. For example, income support for the unemployed was not taken up by governments until World War II and income support for sole parents remained largely a responsibility for non‐government organisations (NGOs) until the 1970s. Prior to governments taking responsibility for income support, most of these NGOs were religious organisations surviving on donations, philanthropic support and limited government funding. It is argued that the dominant, semi‐public role of religious organisations in service delivery and social policy formation is an important but largely overlooked aspect of the Australian historical experience.     

Performance Measurement Versus City Service Satisfaction: Intra‐City Variations in Quality?*

Objective. This article illustrates the usefulness of citizen satisfaction surveys to account for variation in citizen satisfaction with public‐service quality within a city's boundaries. Methods. The article examines data from 17 local governments and divided into 141 spatial areas to investigate the distribution of satisfaction within cities (as an outcome measure) and the effect of SES variables on variation in satisfaction with jointly consumed services. Results. Satisfaction varies within cities, not all of which is attributable to SES characteristics. This suggests substantive variation in service quality. Conclusions. Local governments interested in developing meaningful performance measures of service outcomes should incorporate properly designed citizen satisfaction surveys implemented at the service‐district level. In addition, performance indicators of service inputs and outputs should be disaggregated to the service‐district level and matched to citizen satisfaction results in order to allocate and tailor resource policy decisions in a more informed manner.     

Multi-level administrative structure and the distribution of social service expenditures: A Nebraska example

During the decade of the 1980s Nebraska restructured its social service (welfare) delivery system. Prior to the change, administrative responsibility for many social service programs was shared between the state and county governments. The restructuring brought the entire program under state administration. A primary reason for this policy change was to eliminate administrative inconsistencies evident in the decentralized structure. This article utilizes 1980 and 1990 data on the distribution of Food Stamp and AFDC program expenditures in Nebraska to analyze the impact of the restructuring on expenditure distribution. The results indicate that expenditures were more equally distributed and that arbitrary decision making was reduced when social service administration was centralized.     

Anglo and Latino Differences in Willingness to Pay for Urban Public Services*

Objective. This research explores Anglo and Latino differences in willingness to pay for urban public services, assuming differences will impact service delivery in local government as the Latino population increases and becomes more visible. Methods. Survey data from a probability sample of Phoenix residents, now the nation's fifth largest city, are analyzed across 28 city services using multiple mechanisms that included a logit multivariate model. Results. Latinos are substantially more likely than Anglos to report willingness to pay for urban public services. These differences cut across services and are not mitigated by Latino income levels. Conclusions. Latinos are prepared to be full partners in improving service delivery in local government, even at the expense of out‐of‐pocket payment for services. Moreover, while increases in the Latino population will carry greater demand for more and high‐quality city services by Latinos, it is unlikely to alter the menu of preferred services along class or race/ethnic lines. The fact that Latinos seem generally more willing to pay for services also raises the possibility that Latinos are interested in investing in their communities, seeking more opportunities, and perhaps remaining in those communities.     

Chapter 17. Rural Mental Health

SUMMARY

Mental health services available in many rural communities are too limited in scope and availability to meet the needs of rural citizens. The future of mental health services for the rural poor will be impacted by state government decisions about Medicaid funding priorities. It is important that rural practitioners, especially those that work in the fields of mental health, health, and aging services, engage in advocacy for better coverage of the rural poor and low-income elderly persons. This chapter discusses issues of advocacy related to improving the provision of mental health services to older rural citizens as an important goal in the larger effort to expand and improve rural mental health service delivery throughout the nation.     

Geographies of Local Government Stress after the Great Recession

Local governments in the USA are facing increased levels of fiscal stress after the Great Recession. We conducted a national survey in 2012 to assess differences in sources of stress and service delivery responses (privatization, inter‐municipal co‐operation, and public delivery) across places. Our discriminant analysis on 1,889 US cities and counties contributes to the literature on state rescaling. We differentiate three types of stress: fiscal, housing market decline and demographic. Fiscal stress and demographic stress are linked and highest in metro core and rural places, while housing market decline is associated with population density and revenue diversification. Diverse revenue sources can ameliorate some of the fiscal challenges brought on by housing market decline. Regarding service delivery, we find privatization and co‐operation are higher in suburbs. State aid dependence is highest in rural and metro core areas with greater need, but decrease in state aid is highest in the South and West, where fiscal stress is also highest. Decentralization has exacerbated spatial inequality in the wake of the Great Recession challenging the efficiency claims of fiscal federalism. More redistributive state policies are needed.     

Alcohol and drug abuse: removing structural barriers to treatment for historically disadvantaged communities in Cape Town

The article reports on an exploratory study that examined access to alcohol and other drug treatment for historically disadvantaged communities in the Cape Town metropole. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 key informants from various sectors of the alcohol and drug treatment system, including treatment service providers, members of local drug action committees and social workers from district social service offices. Findings highlighted three structural barriers to service delivery: (i) difficulties in developing and implementing a strategic plan relating to alcohol and drug problems due to poor capacity and other infrastructural issues, such as a lack of information, poor intersectoral collaboration and limited consultation with service providers; (ii) limited allocation of resources to alcohol and drug treatment which has restricted the availability of affordable services as well as the capacity of established services to meet increased demand for services in this area; and (iii) fragmented service delivery. The study highlighted the need for further transformation of the South African social welfare system responsible for alcohol and drug treatment service delivery through public–private partnership development and the introduction of a management information system.     

Municipal elections and community media

Local elections are held more often and more frequently than any other type in American politics and are more often the first stepping stone to higher election office. But the “lost world” of municipal governments still remains lost because of political scientists’ and media scholars’ preoccupation with national voting behavior and presidential “personality” contests. Fifty-nine mayoral elections from 1986 to 1998 in 15 rural New Mexico communities without TV stations are examined. When the powerful incumbency variable is eliminated, community journalism’s influence is positively correlated via newspaper endorsement and local radio advertising in predicting winners of local elections. This study also operationalizes from scientific measurement 19 other independent variables that have been identified in predicting the winners of municipal races.     

A Collaboratively Designed Child Mental Health Service Model: Multiple Family Groups for Urban Children with Conduct Difficulties

This paper presents preliminary outcomes associated with an experimental, longitudinal study of a Multiple Family Group (MFG) service delivery approach set within thirteen urban outpatient clinics serving children and their families living in inner-city, primarily African American and Latino communities. Specifically, this paper focuses on parent reports of child oppositional behavior and parenting stress over time. MFG is a flexible, protocol-driven approach designed to address the most common reason for referral to outpatient child mental health clinics, childhood behavioral difficulties. The MFG also aims to enhance family-level engagement and retention in ongoing care. Further, the service delivery model was collaboratively developed with intensive input from parents rearing children with conduct difficulties, parent advocates, community-based child mental health providers and services research staff in order to ultimately expand the number of effective service models that can be situated within "real world," urban child mental health settings.     

Assessing Organizational Effectiveness in Human Service Organizations

Abstract

This article reviews 24 empirical studies that examined the relationship between intraorganizational factors and effectiveness in human service organizations. Special attention has been paid to identify organizational variables critical to effectiveness, clarify levels of effectiveness, and demonstrate diverse criteria of effectiveness. The review suggests that nonmaterial factors such as goal congruence, participation in decision-making, culture, climate and management strategy predict effectiveness. However, generalization seems hasty due to different operationalization of organizational characteristics, different samples and diverse criteria of effectiveness. Replication from diverse samples will corroborate these findings. Several implications and future directions are also discussed.     

Keeping the Faith: The Impact of Human Services Restructuring on Catholic Social Welfare Services

Church related agencies are major providers of community services in Australia (Lyons, 2001:34‐35). While the history of church related welfare service provision is not well known in Australia it is asserted that many have a long tradition of outreach and service provision to marginalised groups regardless of the government social policy of the day (ACSWC, 2000; Mendes, 2003). This paper examines the current environment of human services restructuring and the impact of the shift to contractualism on one church related provider: Catholic social welfare provision in Australia. It explores the significance of the church's social teachings and history on concerns that service innovation, diversity and advocacy are currently under threat. Finally it calls for greater appreciation of the distinctive contribution of church related agencies and what they have to offer in service delivery and as contributors to the social policy discourse.     

A Preliminary Approach to Defining Social Service Outputs for Auditing Service Distribution

An accurate evaluation ofthe effectiveness of social services requires that the unit of output be clearly defined. The problem, which has never really been solved, has become more important with the passage of Title XX of the Social Security Act. The Title XX Amendments to the Social Security Act decentralize planning for social services to state and local governments. Title XX goals do not easily translate into measures of achievement. This paper describes a standardized framework that discriminates among the elements of service output. Data on the services provided by one social service agency are used to support the feasibility of proposed frameworks. The concept of a unit of service output was used in this study for the purpose of developing standardized categories to measure service provision. Two measures of service activity were developed: One measures service intensity, and the other relates to consumers' need for and utilization of services. The study was conducted at a local social service district in an urbanized county of 400,000. The sample of cases consisted of 120 new applicants accepted for public ossistance during the first 3 months of 1964. A retrospective longitudinal analysis of services provided was performed. All components of service provided to each sample care during the period of 1964-19 71 were coded from agency records in units of service output.     

Gender, social capital and location: understanding the interactions

In recent years, governments in many post-industrial nations have re-discovered 'community'. Social capital and neighbourhood renewal are key concepts underpinning policies aimed at building the capacities of communities to respond to the problems facing them. Despite the apparent consensus amongst Anglo-American governments about the use of social capital, and related concepts, as a guide for policy formulation these ideas remain hotly contested amongst social policy commentators. Against a general backdrop of disquiet about the application of social capital initiatives to communities facing significant social and economic challenges, some commentators highlight the curious inattention to gender in debates about social capital. This is all the more troubling given the apparent reliance of social capital initiatives on the informal network-building activities often undertaken by women. In this article we present findings from an empirical study of social capital creation across four geographically diverse communities. We show that the relationship between gender and social capital is complex. We argue that the 'one-size-fits-all' approach to social capital formulation fails to recognise gendered patterns of social capital formulation, but so, too, do analyses of gender that neglect the complex interactions between gender and other factors, particularly location, age and income. We argue for approaches to policy formulation that recognise local differences, including differences between and amongst men and women in social capital creation.     

Behind the Rhetoric of Community Development: How is it perceived and practiced?

State and local governments in Western Australia increasingly identify ‘community development’ as a key approach for the delivery of community services. In this paper I explore how the concept of community development is understood and practiced by workers in the context of government community services. While definitions are most often presented as a universally understood approach, my key argument is, that there are instead, community development ‘discourses’ that are variously applied to diverse situations. Foucauldian notions of discourse and power are used to propose that, while there may be core and recognisable traits found within the language of community development, in any given situation these combine with a number of variables (most notably stemming from the organization responsible for community services) to form a ‘situated’ community development ‘discourse’.     

Does partnership funding improve coordination and collaboration among early childhood services? – Experiences from the Communities for Children programme

Partnerships among service providers are an important aspect of human service delivery, including in the early childhood and family service sector. There is extensive international literature on factors contributing to partnerships – also termed service coordination, collaboration or integration – but little evidence of partnership outcomes exists where partnerships are a funded and mandatory component of large‐scale programmes. This paper reports findings from an evaluation of the Australian Government's Communities for Children (CfC) programme. Under CfC, partnerships were mandated and funded, and the evaluation findings show that the programme resulted in an increased number of agencies working together to support families with young children (0–5 years) and that working relationships between agencies improved. The effectiveness of these partnerships depended on funding for partnership activities and on organisational and practical factors.     

Barriers to Professional Roles in Urban Community Development

Problems in role performance for professionals engaged in research, planning, and delivery of services to low-income urban communities in the United States form the background for a discussion of class, cultural and professional perspectives and the effect of acceptance of ‘culture of poverty’ formulations. Implications for Australian health, education and social welfare programmes are considered, and it is suggested that a redefinition of professional roles may be needed to increase the effectiveness of future voluntary and governmental services aimed at lessening poverty and inequality in Australian society.