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- Creators: Department of Supply Chain Management
Description
Social impact bonds (SIBs) are a multi-year contract between social service providers, the government, and private investors. The three parties agree on a specific outcome for a societal issue. Investors provide capital required for the service provider to operate the project. The service provider then delivers the service to the target population. The success of the project is evaluated by outside party. If the target outcome is met, the government repays the investors at a premium. Nonprofit service providers can only serve a small community as they lack the funding to scale their programs and their reliance on government funding and philanthropy leads to a lot of time focused on raising money in the short-term and inhibits them from evolving their programs and projects for long-term strategic success. Government budgets decline but social problems persist. These contracts share risk between the government and the investors and allow governments to test out programs and alleviate taxpayer burdens from unsuccessful social service programs. Arizona has a severe homelessness problem. Nightly, 6000 people are homeless in Maricopa County. In a given year, over 32,000 individuals were homeless, composed of single adults, families, children, and veterans. Homelessness is not only a debilitating and difficult experience for those who experience it, but also has considerable economic costs on society. Homeless individuals use a number of government programs beyond emergency shelters, and these can cost taxpayers billions of dollars per year. Rapid rehousing was a successful intervention model that the state has been heavily investing in the last few years. This thesis aimed to survey the Arizona climate and determine what barriers were present for enacting an SIB for homelessness. The findings showed that although there are many competent stakeholder groups, lack of interest and overall knowledge of SIBs prevented groups from taking responsibility as the anchor for such a project. Additionally, the government and nonprofits had good partnerships, but lacked relationships with the business community and investors that could propel an SIB. Finally, although rapid rehousing can be used as a successful intervention model, there are not enough years of proven success to justify the spending on an SIB. Additionally, data collection for homelessness programming needs to be standardized between all relevant partners. The framework for an SIB exists in Arizona, but needs a few more years of development before it can be considered.
ContributorsAhmed, Fabeeha (Author) / Desouza, Kevin (Thesis director) / Lucio, Joanna (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
"Improving Life Outcomes for Children in Arizona: Educational Social Impact Bond" is a creative project that is structured as a pitch to the Arizona Department of Education to consider social impact bonds as a way to fund pilot education programs. The pitch begins with a brief overview of the umbrella of impact investing, and then a focus on social impact bonds, an area of impact investing. A profile of Arizona's current educational rankings along with statistics are then presented, highlighting the need for an educational social impact bond to help increase achievement. The pitch then starts to focus particularly on high school drop outs and how by funding early childhood education the chances of a child graduating high school increase. An overview of existing early education social impact bonds that are enacted are then presented, followed by a possible structure for an early education social impact bond in Arizona. An analysis of the possible lifetime cost savings of investing in early childhood education are then presented, that are as a result of decreasing the amount of high school drop outs. Lastly, is a brief side-by-side comparison of the Arizona structure to the precedent social impact bonds.
ContributorsRodriguez, Karina (Author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Trujillo, Gary (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Arizona Microcredit Initiative (AMI) is a student-run nonprofit organization that empowers passionate men and women to start their own companies. Through this project, AMI will continue to fulfill its mission by establishing organizational processes that staff members can reference while making strategic decisions in the future. This project provides detailed information regarding AMI's Founding and History, along with current operations. This information being available to AMI members will allow the team to continue to empower themselves, AMI clients, and the organization as a whole to grow and make a larger impact in the Greater Phoenix community.
ContributorsDodell, Daniel (Co-author) / Schnell, Jennifer (Co-author) / Benesh, Jordan (Co-author) / Levendowski, Glenda (Thesis director) / Geiger, Karen (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This paper was born of the researcher's personal interest. As someone who commutes by bike and plans to continue to do so for the foreseeable future, the researcher was intrigued by the growing bicycle culture in Phoenix, Arizona, a city that can sometimes make commuting without a car quite difficult. The researcher aimed to uncover why cycling is becoming more popular as a mode of transportation in a city that can often be hostile towards cyclists. This paper first reviews some previous studies done on alternative commuting. Next, it details a commute-shed analysis conducted with the help of the US Census Bureau's On The Map program. After that, the researcher describes the methods used to gather qualitative data about attitudes from local commuters and discusses the results. Finally, suggestions and speculations are made about ways to improve the bikeability of the Phoenix metropolitan area. The research found that cyclists in the area are motivated to commute by bike by factors including cost-savings, health benefits, and others. This data is important because it shows that the target demographic, who are able to exert their desires politically, feel strongly enough about commuting by bicycle to go out of their way to do it.
ContributorsParma, Alexander John (Author) / Kelley, Jason (Thesis director) / Shrestha, Milan (Committee member) / Valandra, Patrick (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The Westward Ho is a historical landmark of Phoenix. Once an architectural experimental design redefining luxury accommodations in the 1920s, the Westward Ho attracted former Hollywood icons and political leaders for several decades until it closed its doors in the early 1970s. Now categorized as a low income subsidized living residence, many diverse yet high-risk groups of people currently call the establishment "home." While considered home to most, a Needs and Assets Assessment survey conducted by Arizona State University students and professionals exposed that the residents feel disconnected from each other as well as from the external greater Phoenix community. From the survey, it was discovered that 50% of interviewees have been clinically diagnosed with a mental illness and 50% have less than two friendly contacts outside the Westward Ho. Their health and social needs are not being met by the current conditions and operations of the Westward Ho. Results like these as well as other in-depth research of the city of Phoenix including demographics and local business feedback provided a supportive framework for the development of the recommendations. Two recommendations were proposed using a business model framework in order to describe a rationale for generating value to the consumers. One recommendation suggested renovating the Westward Ho in order to become a boutique hotel, which would attract consumers locally and nationally. While an opportunity to attract new interests to the city of Phoenix, it would be a great investment that could be adversely unfavorable to the residents considering their physical and mental vulnerabilities. Another recommendation is to use a currently unused but visually ornate room (Kachina Lounge) in the Westward Ho to start a community center. No other space in Phoenix competes with its historical charm and uniqueness. After conducting a cost/benefit analysis, the community center creates, delivers and captures the most value with less risk. The residents have the ability to build an internal community by working together to handle low skill operations of the community center, and the Phoenix community has the opportunity to breach the once unfamiliar doors of the Westward Ho. With community and city council support, the Westward Ho could become a center for social change while awaking cultural awareness.
ContributorsJohnson, Ashia Sydney (Author) / Peck, Sidnee (Thesis director) / Ostrom, Amy (Committee member) / Burgess, John (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-05