2015 Spring Capstone Presentations

George Washington University
Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration
Spring 2015

All presentations are 6 to 9 pm.

Funger Hall, Room 108
2201 G Street NW

Costs of Military Sexual Assault
Client Protect Our Defenders
Team Julia Holtemeyer, Erika Huber, Dharani Ranganathan, Yelena Tsilker

Recruitment and Retention of DCPS World Language Teachers
Client Office of Global Education, District of Columbia Public Schools
Team Amanda Fioritto, Patrick Kelly, Katie Porter, John Rodier

Healthcare Transparency
Client National Center for Health Research
Team Elizabeth Finkelman, Kimberly Webber, Miriam Godwin, Bryan Maxwell, Bill Skerpan

Understanding Job Posting Behavior in Detroit
Client The Committee for Economic Development
Team Andrew Bostjancic, Christopher Kim, Brandon Lardy, Phil Lasser, Adam Shaffer

Incentivizing Carpooling to Military Bases
Client Northern Virginia Regional Commission
Team Sarah Cherenack, Zachary Grieman, Aaron Krupkin, Megan Murphy, Mark Nagurny

Poverty and TANF Reform in the District of Columbia
Client DC Fiscal Policy Institute
Team Samantha Baker-Carr, Nushin Bhimani, Christine Mellen, Tyler Rockey

Funger Hall, Room 103
2201 G Street NW

Road Trucking Governance in the Developing World
ClientWorld Bank Group
Team Brett Buonamici, Odia Cisse, Tanya Joshua, Joseph Laster, Ramzi Tabbara Description Our client, the Transport and ICT division of The World Bank Group, is designing their Road Transport Services Reform Toolkit. Our client has requested our help in developing a governance structure around the road trucking sector in developing countries. Relying on qualitative research and the analysis of secondary data, the team will provide a comparative analysis of the road trucking sector in the United States and Europe. The main goal of this report is the creation of a holistic governance framework and institutional management structure to guide and support the reforms recommended by experts in the road trucking industry for World Bank client countries. Finally, a series of incentives for implementation will be presented alongside the institutional management proposal in order to increase the likelihood that reform will be undertaken.

Outreach for Suspicious Activity Reporting
Client National Fusion Center Association
Team Hannah Althouse, Shane Ryan, Brittney Seiler, Taylor Sevin Description The group is providing The National Fusion Center Association (NFCA), in cooperation with the Washington Regional Threat Analysis Center (WRTAC), with an outreach strategy for increasing suspicious activity reporting from its nontraditional partners. This project supports Initiative 27 of the NFCA's National Strategy. Through a literature review and interviews with subject matter experts, the group gathered information on current suspicious activity reporting outreach efforts. In addition, the group conducted a survey of private sector businesses to better understand private sector views of suspicious activity reporting.

Evaluating the Pillowcase Project for Emergency Preparedness
Client Red Cross
Team Sawyer Baker, Katherine Getty, Victoria Hartman, Inwhan Lee, Michael McCarthy, Jeffrey Wilson Description The Pillowcase Project is an American Red Cross initiative that provides elementary school children with age-appropriate emergency preparedness information. Begun in New Orleans in 2005 after a Red Cross chapter leader learned of evacuees transporting their belongings in pillowcases during Hurricane Katrina, The Pillowcase Project is in its third phase of pilot testing and reached 175,000 students through the end of March 2015. Generous financial support from Disney has allowed the program to expand rapidly, but it faces obstacles that may hinder its future success. To identify promising practices as well as potential areas for improvement, our project uses quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the opinions of key Pillowcase Project stakeholders at the local level, including staff and volunteers, as well as teachers and parents of participating students. Our data sources include a 14-question survey containing Likert scale, multiple choice, and open-ended questions administered in person to local Pillowcase Project program managers and staff at a Red Cross conference in March 2015; a similar online survey administered to Pillowcase Project volunteers in all 62 Red Cross regions; and interviews with project stakeholders in Indianapolis, which national Red Cross staff identified as being a particularly high-performing Pillowcase Project region. Through analyzing descriptive statistics and content analyses derived from the surveys and interviews, we will provide the American Red Cross with recommendations as to how the Pillowcase Project can enhance its efficacy and further build its capacity.

Media and Public Affairs Building, Room 309
805 21st Street NW

Improve Performance Management Practices
Client Loudoun County Budget Office
Team Casey Denoyer, Matt Hennessy, Peter Kamocsai, Antonio Mastria, Juan Rodriguez
Description The team's main research objective was to help the Loudoun County Budget Office improve their Performance Management practices. Through an in-depth review of the literature, and a series of interviews with performance managers in various counties and municipalities in the United States, the team identified a series of promising practices in the design, implementation and use of performance management systems at the local level.

Community College Performance Assessment
Client North Carolina Community College Initiative
Team Joe Nye, Isaac Rowlett, Gordon Sonnenschein, Anika Van Eaton, Sarah Wissel
Description The team’s research objectives are to identify any states that link community college performance levels to resources and how they do it. They are interested in learning which states collect performance data from community colleges; which use them to inform funding; and lessons learned for other states.

Department of Housing and Urban Development Promise Zone Program
Client US Department of Housing and Urban Development
Team Rubai Aurora, Raymon Bullard, Emily Christensen, Nora Skelly, Christine Solomon
Description This study is analyzing data from HUD’s Promise Zone program in order to identify patterns in applicants needs, capacity and collaboration with stakeholders.

Staff Conectedness
Client Counterpart International
Team Kiera Derman, Elena Gex, Aubrey Harris, Yevhen Shulha, Kristen Voorhees
Description The team investigated the topic of staff connectedness within Counterpart International headquarters. Through a survey, interviews and focus groups with staff members, the group members sought to determine whether and in what ways the staff members feel connected to the purpose of the organization and to their colleagues' work.

Messaging and Donor Perception
Client DC Scores
Team Christina Elmo, Christina McNamee-Mahaffey, Michael Petruzzelli, Julia Steinberger, Chris Urteaga
Description This study sought to identify the factors that fuel donors' motivations for supporting DC scores and to determine whether there was consistencies or disparities between the current messaging strategy of the organization and its donors perception. Evidence from a survey of current donors, and from a series of interviews with long-term donors was gathered.

Marrying College Preparedness with Career Advising
Client College Tracks
Team Adam Bethke, Adam Bookman, Silvana Caldera, Wendy Forbes
Description The team is advising a nonprofit that focuses on college preparedness for teens. College Tracks is interested in incorporating an additional program—career advising-- into its operations and offerings. The group is looking at which similar programs exist, what the needs are of the target population and the organizational implications of beginning and incorporating a program.

Elliot School, Room B12
1957 E Street NW

Strategies for Promoting Export-Led Growth in Colombia
Client International Finance Corporation
Team Massiel Sepulveda, Madeline Ogden, Minahil Niazi, Molly Morley

Evaluating the State Department’s Ebola Coordination Unit
Client US Dept. of State
Team Mathew Vicknair, Julie Waltz, Casey Dunning

Cyber Security Laws in U.S. States
Client State of Virginia Cyber Security Commission
Team Andrew Kim, Lindsay Scherber, Nadia Yassin, Ewan Compton

The REAP Program to Promote Energy Efficiency
Client USDA’s Office of Rural Development
Team Kiersten Moon, Grant Hauschild, Tyler Calnon

Evaluation of DC's Great Streets Program
Client Office of the DC Deputy Mayor
Team Anne Kruse, Jing Liang, Stefan Roha, Tamara Vatnick

Multi-Jurisdictional Challenges of Service Provision
Client DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Team Lauren Cottrell, Camille Henley, Sam Webster, Omoniyi Adekanmbi

Car-Sharing Iniatives in the District of Columbia
Client DC Dept. of Transportation
Team Elyane Miller, Elizabeth Naylon, Jacqueline Bond, Allison Paisner