In New York City approximately 1,200 youth ages 18­21 leave the foster care sys­tem each year. Because young adults tran­sitioning out of foster care are at greater risk of becoming homeless, the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services and the Administration for Children's Services engaged the Capstone team to improve housing outcomes for youth leaving foster care. The Capstone team examined existing support systems through extensive interviews, surveys, and focus groups. In addition, the team examined the policy environment and best practices for programs targeting youth in foster care. The team developed a final report that provides an indepth look at the support systems and housing options available to youth transitioning out of foster care, analyzes strengths and gaps in service, and presents recommendations to improve housing outcomes through changes in process, data collection, communication, and oversight.

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) requested a Capstone team to assist in improving the way it allocates basket funds for local economic develop­ment projects. The Capstone team trav­eled to Uganda to perform an institutional assessment of public service delivery in the agriculture sector. The main tasks involved conducting a stakeholder analy­sis for the agriculture sector and docu­menting service functions and the flow of resources to local governments from vari­ous actors, including central ministries, donor partners, and NGOs. The informa­tion generated through this research is intended to facilitate dialogue between central ministries, UNCDF, and the Local Government Finance Commission regard­ing the targeting of resources and techni­cal assistance to local governments.

Nearly one in eight individuals is enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program. However, only one in three eligible individuals actually receives benefits. Participation rates vary widely across states, ranging from 46 percent in Wyoming to 94 percent in Maine. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) allows state agencies flexibility in deciding the administrative procedures they use to enroll beneficiaries in the program. Examples of procedures include finger imaging and facetoface interview requirements. Prior research suggests that certain state level procedures may unduly burden individuals who have the greatest need for food assistance. The Capstone team used individuallevel data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and statelevel policies from 2001, 2004, and 2008 to analyze the impact of state administrative procedures on SNAP participation.

The New York State Rockefeller Drug Law of 1973 became the model for harsh sen­tencing policies for nearly all states in the country. Although the “war on drugs” and the “war on crime” sought to address vio­lent criminal activity, the changes in policy and the emphasis on mandatory prison sentences have mostly resulted in the mass imprisonment of low­risk, nonviolent drug offenders who are often young Black and Latino men. The drastic increase in the number of people sentenced to prison for drug­related offenses has caused prison over­crowding, ballooning state expenses, and an influx of drug offenders returning to communities. While existing research on recidivism has focused on individual characteristics of offenders, very little is known about the state or neighborhood­level context to which offenders return. For this study the Capstone team examined the impact of state­level policy factors, such as indeterminate and determinate sentencing, on recidivism among drug offenders released in 1994.

Since its designation as a Children's Hospital by the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions, Maimonides Infants & Children's Hospital (MICH) has continually worked to provide the highest levels of quality care in all pediatrics subspecial­ties. Serving over 750,000 children of diverse ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds in South Brooklyn, MICH identified the need to improve communi­cation between healthcare professionals, patients, and their families. Through inter­views, evidence­based research, and research from other children's hospitals, the Capstone team identified key commu­nication problems and compiled and ana­lyzedthisresearchtoproducerecommendations that MICH can use as it expands services, develops communication strategies, and creates mechanisms to evaluate and measure the organization's success in ful­filling its mission.

Under a public sector decentralization process in the Philippines, Metro Manila's seventeen independent Local Government Units (LGUs) have been mandated with the challenge of addressing the needs of the sizeable slum populations living within their jurisdictions. City officials and local government agencies alike found them­selves with increased financial, technical, and taxation responsibilities, but with insufficient authority to effectively execute their expected duties. While the National Urban Development & Housing Framework (NUDHF) provides an approach to shelter policy based on long­term poverty allevia­tion and economic growth objectives, the severe lack of housing continues to be a problem with few short­term solutions. The Capstone team assisted the World Bank in developing background material for its support of a Metro Manila­wide slum upgrading policy. Using a document review and field interviews, the Capstone team prepared a series of policy memos on institutions and stakeholders, national housing policies, financing schemes, data gathering strategies, and international case studies of slum upgrading.

The recently enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act expands eligibility to Medicaid for millions of near­ poor indi­viduals. Given this expansion, policymak­ers need to understand the nature of the disparities that exist in the quality of care Medicaid beneficiaries receive as com­pared to their privately insured counter­parts. Previous research has demonstrated that as the percentage of Medicaid patients in a physician's practice increas­es, health services and the quality of care received by Medicare beneficiaries and the privately insured decrease. Yet, the literature offers very little information about the impact of a practice's proportion of Medicaid patients on the quality of care received by Medicaid patients themselves. The Capstone team analyzed how the proportion of Medicaid revenue received by a physician's practice influences the disparity in quality of care between Medicaid and privately insured patients. The study assessed whether disparities in the quality of care between Medicaid and privately insured patients occur within or between practices, and whether such disparities are themselves associated with the proportion of practice revenue from Medicaid.