Lawrence Martin – författare

In the last 35 years, governments around the globe have increasingly contracted with nonprofit and for-profit entities designed to provide a portion of the public sector’s portfolio of goods and services. This trend can be traced to a variety of factors, including perceived or actual economic efficiencies in outsourcing goods and services, values concerning the role and size of government in society, and the financial and organizational constraints of many government entities. In the United States, child welfare services adopted a pro-contracting approach early, and a variety of other human services have followed suit, including mental health care, job training, homeless services and others. Although there is strong evidence to suggest that human service contracting is growing over time, scholarship continues to lag on topics related to human service contract management, policy implementation and innovation, performance-based contracting and evaluation.

This new volume in the Public Solutions Handbook series is the first volume-length treatment of human services contracting issues, integrating both policy and practice, and exploring a broad range of issues that includes the fields of history, growth, innovations, results and outcomes, best practices and the future of government human service contracting. Chapters in this book examine specific human service contracts, both in the U.S. and abroad, geared to practitioners in the public sector—from local government service contractors to municipal employees—as well as MPA students and those enrolled in courses on intergovernmental relations and nonprofit management.

In the last 35 years, governments around the globe have increasingly contracted with nonprofit and for-profit entities designed to provide a portion of the public sector’s portfolio of goods and services. This trend can be traced to a variety of factors, including perceived or actual economic efficiencies in outsourcing goods and services, values concerning the role and size of government in society, and the financial and organizational constraints of many government entities. In the United States, child welfare services adopted a pro-contracting approach early, and a variety of other human services have followed suit, including mental health care, job training, homeless services and others. Although there is strong evidence to suggest that human service contracting is growing over time, scholarship continues to lag on topics related to human service contract management, policy implementation and innovation, performance-based contracting and evaluation.

This new volume in the Public Solutions Handbook series is the first volume-length treatment of human services contracting issues, integrating both policy and practice, and exploring a broad range of issues that includes the fields of history, growth, innovations, results and outcomes, best practices and the future of government human service contracting. Chapters in this book examine specific human service contracts, both in the U.S. and abroad, geared to practitioners in the public sector—from local government service contractors to municipal employees—as well as MPA students and those enrolled in courses on intergovernmental relations and nonprofit management.

"From the River to the Sea" is a novel centered on a fictional elite university campus outside Chicago. It takes place in the year before the Hamas massacre of Israelis on October 7, 2023.

The protagonists are college students affected by the campus BDS movement (boycott, divestment, sanctions of Israel). Some are supportive and others are in strong opposition. Through dialogue, much background information about the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict is presented.

The two main characters are senior David Applebaum and freshman Rebecca Goldman. David wants Rebecca in his bed. Initially, she says no. But then something bad happens, and she reconsiders. Other characters include: Michael Solomon, a Jewish convert to the Baháʼí faith; Gordon Geddy, the local BDS club leader; and a history professor with a new book about who he thinks is to blame for the anti-Semitism on college campuses.

Early in the novel two FBI agents pay a visit to the school president. They relay concern about a possible terrorist attack on campus. Is BDS involved? Possibly

Readers should find the novel both educational and entertaining.

Educational; Historical context for the 2023 Hamas attack and Gaza war that followed.

Entertaining; Sex (not graphic), love, campus conflict, and mayhem. It''s all here.