In a changing political and funding environment, the social safety net that bolsters at-risk Hoosier families has become a complex policy and administration issue. An IU Strategic Directions grant is funding an institute to examine the issue.
"This is an exciting venture. It highlights how well research, teaching and service can work together on a policy level," said Katharine Byers, director of the Bloomington campus program of the Indiana University School of Social Work. One of the primary goals of the venture is to strengthen the research, teaching and service missions of the university.
Byers is co-director with Maureen Pirog-Good, professor of public and environmental affairs, on a Strategic Directions project aimed at establishing an Institute for Family and Social Responsibility (FASR), which they envision as "a multi-campus, interdisciplinary effort to strengthen and forge new linkages between Indiana University, state and federal social service agencies, the state legislature and nongovernmental social service groups concerned with the well-being of Hoosier families and children."
Staff from the IU Office of Public Affairs and Government Relations (PAGR) collaborated on the proposal for the project which was approved in the first round of Strategic Directions funding.
Work on the endeavor is running ahead of schedule, Byers said. There is an advisory board which includes a bipartisan representation of state officials as well as members from the not-for-profit sector and state agencies. A statewide needs assessment has been conducted and the results have been reported to this board. Assessing the needs will be an ongoing process, Byers noted.
About 40 IU faculty members from various disciplines on seven campuses are already affiliated with the project. Long-term funding possibilities are being explored.
Pirog-Good said that increasing university-wide cooperation in research and public service will strengthen the teaching mission of the university. The institute also will advance IU's teaching mission "by providing dissertation opportunities for doctoral students, internships for undergraduate and graduate students, and assistance in the coordination of courses on social welfare, policies, evaluation and administration," she added.
Plans for the future include research and social policy issues conferences, a newsletter, a World Wide Web site, policy briefings in Indianapolis, a series of working papers, a competitive research grants program, collaboration on contracts and grants, and published volumes on policy issues.
The work of the institute is "particularly relevant" at this time because "changing views on the delivery of social services has put a greater emphasis on state, local and private responses to social needs, and the FASR Institute is in the forefront of studying these developments," Pirog-Good said.
Related Link:
http://www.iupui.edu/it/stratdir/pirog.html
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