Center for Social Research

“Community-Based Reforms of the Justice System”

CSR is pleased to sponsor a presentation by David LaGrand, Calvin graduate and current Grand Rapids City Commissioner.  Long interested in social justice issues, Commissioner LaGrand’s resume includes a law degree, working in the prosecutor’s office, and volunteering in the prison ministry program. A founder of the Restorative Justice Initiative (RJI) and advocate of the Restorative Justice approach to misdemeanors, including a “Fast Track Accountability Program” (FTAP), Commissioner LaGrand will discuss his part in reforming our local justice system.

Join us for information and a conversation about restorative justice in Grand Rapids:

Meeter Center Lecture Hall Thursday, November 19, 3:30 p.m.

Calvin team maps health care for low-income patients

In summer 2007, Dr. Fred De Jong and social work student Lauren Vander Plas (at left) completed a significant report for the Grand Rapids Healthy Communities Access Program (GRHCAP), a federal grant awarded to Cherry Street Health Services as the head of a regional consortium of health care organizations.

The report’s maps illustrate the depth and breadth of low-income coverage provided by Grand Rapids’ growing clinic network. For example, the green areas in the map detail below show that the low-income patient population living in central Grand Rapids is a substantial proportion of the estimated low-income population in those same areas.

February 13, 2007 Lecture by Kevin Bales, President of Free the Slaves

The president of Free the Slaves and professor of sociology at Roehampton University will be giving a talk on his book, “Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy,” and the disturbing reality of modern slavery.  As an expert in the field of modern slavery, Bales has presented his scholarly work at many venues.  In 2000, Bales worked to produce the documentary, “Slavery: A Global Investigation,” which has won several awards, including the Peabody Award in 2000 and two Emmy Awards in 2002.  For more information on Bales’ work, please visit Free the Slaves and come to the Commons Lecture Hall on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM.

Cherry Street: Tracking Low-Cost Medicines for Low-Income Citizens

In January 2006, Calvin computer science major Mark Van Holstyn, then a junior, along with CSR Assistant Director Neil Carlson, completed the initial stage of design and deployment of a new web-based database application and research tool for Cherry Street Health Services, a non-profit health system with nine clinics serving low-income children and families in the Grand Rapids area. The web application streamlines Cherry Street’s service to help patients apply for low-cost or free medications from pharmaceutical companies. The program has been running well for over eight months now, with minimal need for training or support. CSR’s work greatly improved accessibility from remote sites, reliability and data quality, including a centrally managed drug formulary, list of physicians and strong user security. The new system also tracks health outcomes so as to facilitate research and program evaluation in the future. CSR was connected to this project through Dr. Fred DeJong, who is completing a contract for evaluation of Cherry Street’s role as lead agency in a major federal grant for Grand Rapids area health care.