Social innovations, collaboration and social justice in human services organizations of post-recession California

Abstract

The Great Recession generated economical instability, which brought to major budget cuts in the public sector. Human services organization were negatively affected by the recession, as the need for social services was increasing and the resources available were limited. The situation forced the human service agencies to think differently, change in order to meet the social needs. This thesis aims at investigating how such agencies successfully innovate to fulfil social demands, and how these social innovations enhanced the capabilities of the community. Thirteen leaders from five Californian human services organizations counties were interviewed and the transcripts were then analysed with a qualitative approach. Both inductive as well as deductive codings were used for the analysis. The importance of fundings and collaboration, among others, arises. Future research is still needed though, as this is a relatively new field.