This policy brief is a project for the Burlington Housing Authority (BHA) conducted by the Rockefeller Centers Policy Research Shop. The goal is to provide information about three distinct Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Initiatives for the BHA. Drawing on three case studies, the brief analyzes examples of best practices…
In recent years, much attention has been paid to the need to innovate and reform public schools. One response to this education reform movement was the creation of charter schools. This report looks at the charter school movement in New Hampshire and the current condition of charter schools in the…
This report assesses the effectiveness of the Local Transportation Facilities (LTF) program in Vermont. It finds that while the program is useful for relatively large and not pressing infrastructure developments, it can be overly burdensome and inflexible for municipalities with immediate needs or smaller scale projects. Our sponsor, the Vermont…
This report assesses the suitability of two renewable energy incentive programs, property tax exemptions and Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), for Lebanon, New Hampshire. We find that property tax exemptions are popular in theory but are seldom claimed in the New Hampshire municipalities that currently offer them. We present a…
There is currently an ongoing debate in the United States Congress over the Environmental Protection Agency’s jurisdiction in regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Due to competing interests, a federal policy regulating the emissions has yet to pass through Congress. Many experts believe that it is the responsibility of individual states to…
This report analyzes data obtained through research of past literature, consumer satisfaction survey analysis, and original interviews with mental health providers. The objective is to provide relevant information about past and present mental health services in New Hampshire, the impact of recent budget cuts on the system, and the broader…
This report’s goals are to evaluate how New Hampshire’s tax and incentive structure affects business investment in the state, compare it to other states’, and discuss policies that could enhance business investment in different areas of New Hampshire’s economy. To evaluate New Hampshire’s business environment, we looked at the existing…
This report has been prepared for the Vermont Child Poverty Council (VCPC), a subcommittee of the Vermont state legislature tasked with reducing childhood poverty by fifty percent by the year 2017. The VCPC tasked the Policy Research Shop to find out whether or not the data for measuring a series…
This report on the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center’s third annual “State of the State” poll captures the opinions of New Hampshire residents in regards to economic, budgetary, environmental, and social policy issues and other questions. In addition to reporting the overall opinions on these subject areas as reflected directly in…
This report has been prepared for the Vermont Child Poverty Council, a special coalition of lawmakers, state officials and social workers tasked by the legislature to study ways to decrease child poverty by fifty percent by 2017. The Vermont Child Poverty Council asked the Policy Research Shop to address two…