Current Research

This study will collect self-report, biological, and official record data on the drinking and the driving of 300 first DWI offenders sentenced to 6 months on the interlock.

This project will evaluate a financial capability-building program for NACPA’s Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) participants in Los Angelis and New York City.

The overarching goal of this five-year partnership is for the Buffalo Center for Social Research (BCSR) to assist Hillside Family of Agencies (HFA) in establishing and implementing a strategically-focused research program that builds on the strengths of both BCSR and HFA.

In 2003, the New York State Office of Mental Health (NYSOMH) and the New York State Dean’s Consortium of Schools of Social Work formed a partnership to address plans for the integration of evidence-based practices (EBP) into the graduate level social work curriculum. The University at Buffalo School of Social Work was designated under this grant to develop and implement an EBP Seminar Course, colloquia and prototype “recovery-based” field placements at schools of social work in New York State.

Administered through the UB School of Social Work's Office of Continuing Education, this grant provides funding to 8 designated Social Services staff for tuition and books for their MSW degree.

Administered through the School’s Office of Continuing Education, this grant provides support to the 19 counties of the Western Region of the New York State Office of Mental Health to assess, develop and implement:

The study aims to evaluate the impact of a pilot program at Hillside Family of Agencies called Family-Driven Planning. This program was developed to strengthen the supportive connections for youth with developmental disabilities. This mixed-methods evaluation will examine whether Family Driven Planning increases the quantity and quality of supportive adults and increases the overall life satisfaction of young adults in the program. This evaluation will also include a cost analysis of the Family Driven Planning model.   

Beginning in Fall 2015, the Institute of Trauma and Trauma Informed Care (ITTIC) partnered with the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute in a five-year contract around trauma and trauma-informed care training for those working with the AIDS/HIV+ population. ITTIC will train Peers from around the state each year as part of the AIDS Institute’s Peer certification program. Additionally, ITTIC will train and work with identified individuals known as “champions” in order to help them bring the knowledge and skills around trauma and trauma-informed care back to their spots across the state. 

Beginning in Fall of 2016, ITTIC partnered with Buffalo's Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) to provide Seeking Safety groups, as well as training on trauma and trauma-informed care for staff. ITTIC trainers will facilitate two separate Seeking Safety groups for CEO participants during the fall and winter. From January through August of 2017, all CEO staff will receive training and monthly consultation in order to create a trauma-informed system of care.

This project is a demographic analysis of Safety Net Assistance program clients. Once the analysis is complete, the project team will research state and national best practices which can be replicated in Erie County to help assist this population gain employment and reduce (or eliminate) their need for public assistance. The analysis will help inform future program design.

The goal of this project is to synthesize current literature, statistics, and services across eight counties of Western NY regarding trauma experience in the community of women and children. Data will be analyzed and compiled in order to foster development of a request for proposals (rfp) to foster research and programs to address trauma for women and children in western NY. A final report will include a comprehensive list of services and programs directed at helping women and children recover from the effects of trauma in Western NY.

Children and youth who experience the challenges of homelessness and child maltreatment are at greater risk for poor educational outcomes, such as high absenteeism, grade retention, dropping out, and reduced access to postsecondary education. These negative outcomes are a reflection of the failure of multiple systems—chiefly education, child welfare, and housing and social services. This study will help to address gaps in the literature by eliciting service provider perspectives on effective collaborations for homeless, highly mobile, and child-welfare involved (HHM-CW) youth.

The proposed project will test a measure of recovery capital with a low-income urban community sample of people in recovery from alcohol and other drugs. Recovery capital is a theoretical construct describing the ways in which different types of human, physical, social, and cultural capital are associated with a person’s likelihood of sustaining recovery from addiction. The Assessment of Recovery Capital (ARC) is a self-report measure that was developed and tested with a primarily middle-class sample in the United Kingdom. This study will test the ARC with an urban U.S. sample of low-income individuals in recovery, in order to compare its properties and factor structure with the original sample.

The purpose of this proposed project will be to conduct a qualitative analysis of 30 transcripts from Planned Parenthood of East Tennessee’s Tennessee Abortion Stories Project, which represent rural, urban and Appalachian patient’s descriptions of their abortion seeking experiences in Tennessee. The study will be conducted using the framework approach to guide the qualitative analysis.