The Heller School for Social Policy and Management

Pamela Joshi

Senior Scientist

Pamela Joshi's photo

Contact

Email: pamjoshi@brandeis.edu
Office: Heller-Brown Building 366
Phone: 781-736-3912
Brandeis Directory

Expertise

Dr. Joshi researches employment and family support policies targeting vulnerable families, parental working conditions and the effects on children, and the health impact of housing policies, early childhood programs and community-based interventions. She specializes in mixed methods research, survey research and analysis, evidence-based policy reviews, policy assessment and implementation evaluation of programs targeting diverse populations.

Degrees

  • Brandeis University
    Ph.D.
  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
    M.P.P.
  • Miami University Oxford Campus
    B.S.

Pamela Joshi

Senior Scientist

Profile

Pamela Kumari Joshi is a Senior Research Scientist and the Associate Director of the Institute on Children, Youth and Families at Brandeis University who has 20 years of experience conducting research and evaluating public policies relating to family and children’s health in diverse populations. Drawing on interdisciplinary frameworks and using qualitative and quantitative research methods, Dr. Joshi develops integrated research designs that help develop effective policy recommendations geared toward enhancing program design and providing valuable findings to practitioners and policy makers. Dr. Joshi is currently the Principal Investigator of a federally-funded research grant evaluating administration changes to the child care subsidy system and is the Policy Research Director of the diversitydatakids.org project, a data-driven policy and indicator project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Dr. Joshi’s policy expertise focuses in three areas. The first is federally-funded work and family support policies and programs targeting vulnerable families including welfare assistance, child care subsidies, early childhood education, housing, fatherhood and child support programs. Another substantive area is the evaluation of federal and state policies targeting increasing access to health and social services at the community level. Recent evaluation experience includes efforts to foster community coalition building, organizational capacity, and place-based initiatives in neighborhood revitalization, faith and community-based social service delivery and emergency preparedness and management. Lastly, Dr. Joshi specializes in evidence-based reviews, policy assessment and implementation evaluation of programs targeting diverse populations. Current evidence-based policy reviews include Head Start, welfare-to-work programs, and affordable housing and neighborhood mobility programs. Dr. Joshi has published her research in peer-reviewed journals, edited volumes and policy reports and briefs.

Awards and Honors

  • Heller Research Team Award (2018)
  • Heller Research Team Award (2016)
  • Lawrence R. Klein Award, best article appearing in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Monthly Labor Review. (2015)
  • Sol C. Chaikin Dissertation Fellow in Child, Youth and Family Policy (1993 - 1995)

Scholarship

  • Acevedo-Garcia, D., Joshi, P., Ruskin, E., Walters, A., & Sofer, N.. "Restoring an inclusionary safety net for children in immigrant families: A review of three social policies." Health Affairs 40. 7 (2021): 1099-1107.
  • Acevedo-Garcia, D., Joshi, P., Ruskin, E., Walters, A., Sofer, N. & Guevara, C.. "Policy approaches to reduce poverty among children of immigrants." Academic Pediatrics 21. 8S (2021): S117-S125.
  • Schneider, K.G., Joshi, P., & Ha, Y.. "An examination of child care provider participation in state subsidy contract systems." Children, Youth Services Review 127. (2021): 1-12.
  • Ha, Y., Joshi, P., Schneider, K.G., & Hardy, E. "Can administrative changes improve subsidy stability?." Social Service Review 94. 2 (2020).
  • Joshi, P. "Addressing racial/ethnic equity in anti-poverty policy." National Academies of Sciences: A dialogue on racial/ethnic equity and policy proposals to reduce child poverty. Boston, MA. November 2019.
  • Joshi, P., Baldiga, M., Earle, A., Osypuk, T., & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "How much would family and medical leave cost workers in the US ? Racial/ethnic variation in economic hardship under unpaid and paid policies.." Community, Work and Family (2019): 1-24.
  • Joshi, P. & Ha, Y. Reducing child poverty by improving child care subsidy stability through state policy and administrative practices.. Washington, DC Prepared for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on Building an Agenda to Reduce Child Poverty In Half.: 2018.
  • Joshi, P. Giapponi, K. Ha, Y., Bowne, J. & Hardy, E. "Assessing child care program quality and turnover: Using a collaborative research partnership to look at CCDBG reauthorization from the provider perspective." Association for Public Policy and Management annual meeting, Chicago, IL. November 2017.
  • Joshi, P., Baldiga, M., Earle, A., Osypuk, T., & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Paid family and medical leave social protection in the U.S.: Lessons learned about targeting low-income workers." International Labour Office Regulating for Decent Work conference, Geneva Switzerland. July 2017.
  • Joshi, P., Ha, Y., Giapponi, K. & Hardy, E. "Multiple and interacting sources of child care subsidy stability: Complexities of administrative and family-level factors." Society for Social Work Research annual meeting, Washington, DC. January 2018.
  • Schneider, K.G., Warfield, M.E., Joshi, P., Ha, Y., & Hodgkin, D. "Insights into the black box of child care supply: Predictors of provider participation in the Massachusetts child care subsidy system." Children, Youth Services Review 79. (2017): 148-159.
  • Joshi, P., Geronimo, K. & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Head Start since the War on Poverty: Taking on New Challenges to Address Persistent School Readiness Gaps." Journal of Applied Research on Children 7. 1 (2016).
  • Joshi, Pamela. "Single mothers and other low earners: Policy routes to adequate wages.." Poverty in America: Urban and Rural Inequality and Deprivation in the 21st Century. Ed. M.J. Skidmore. Washington, DC: Westphalia Press, 2015
  • Earle, A., Joshi, P., Geronimo, K., & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "New Estimates of Job Characteristics for Minority and Immigrant Working Parents." Monthly Labor Review (2014).
  • Joshi, P., Geronimo, K., Romano, B., Earle, A., Rosenfeld, L., Hardy, E.F. & Acevedo-Garcia, D.. "Integrating Racial/Ethnic Equity Into Policy Assessments To Improve Child Health." Health Affairs 33. 12 (2014): 2222-2229.
  • Osypuk, T.L., Joshi, P., Geronimo, K., & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Do Social and Economic Policies Influence Health? A Review." Current Epidemiology Reports 1. 3 (2014): 149-164.
  • Osypuk, T., Joshi, P., Geronimo, K. & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Do Social Policies Influence the Health of Women and their Children? A Summary of Strong Evidence and Implications for Designing Future Policies Using a Social Determinants of Health Lens." Women and Health, Second Edition. Ed. M.B. Goldman, R. Troisi, & K.M. Rexrode. Elsevier Publishing, 2013
  • Joshi, P., Flaherty, S., Corwin, E. Bir, A. & Lerman, R. Piloting a community approach to healthy marriage initiatives in five sites: Minneapolis, Minnesota; Lexington, Kentucky; New Orleans, Louisiana; Atlanta, Georgia; and Denver, Colorado. Prepared for the Administration for Children and Families: 2011.
  • Joshi, Pamela. Faith-based and community organizations’ participation in emergency preparedness and response activities. Prepared for the Department of Homeland Security: 2010.
  • Joshi, P. K., Quane, J., & Cherlin, A. "Contemporary work and family issues affecting union formation among low-income single mothers." Family Relations 58. (2009): 647-661.
  • Joshi, P., Hardy, E., & Hawkins, S. The role of religiosity in the lives of the low-income population: a comprehensive review of the evidence. Prepared for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation: 2009.
  • Joshi, P., Hawkins, S., & Novey. J. Innovations in effective compassion: Compendium of research papers presented at the faith-based and community initiatives conference on research, outcomes and evaluation. Prepared for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives: 2008.
  • Joshi, P., Pilkauskas, N., Bir, A., & Lerman, R. Piloting a community approach to healthy marriage initiatives in three sites: Boston, Massachusetts; Jacksonville, Florida; and Chicago, Illinois. Prepared for the Administration for Children and Families: 2008.
  • Haber, S., Hoover, S., Joshi, P., & Osber, D. Evaluation of the Demonstration to Maintain Independence and Employment (DMIE) and other related disease specific 1115 waiver programs. Prepared for the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services: 2007.
  • Joshi, P., & Bogen, K,. "Nonstandard work schedules, parenting challenges, and child behavior in low-income working families." Journal of Marriage and Family 69. 1 (2007): 139–156.
  • Quane, J., Rankin, B., & Joshi, P. Housing assistance, housing costs and welfare reform. Welfare, children and families: A three-city study policy brief. Cambridge, MA Joblessness and Urban Poverty Research Program, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University: 2001.
  • Carré, F., & Joshi, P. "Looking for leverage in a fluid world: Innovative response to temporary and contracted work." In nonstandard work arrangements and the changing labor market: Dimensions, causes and institutional responses. Ed. F. Carré, M. Ferber, L. Golden, & S. Herzenberg. Industrial Relations Research Association, 2000
  • Dodson, L., Joshi, P., & McDonald, D. Welfare in transition: Consequences for women, families and communities. Cambridge, MA Radcliffe Public Policy Institute: 1998.
  • Carré, F., & Joshi, P. Building stability for transient workforces. Cambridge, MA Report to the Russell Sage Foundation. Radcliffe Public Policy Institute: 1997.
  • Miller, B. M., O’Connor, S., Sirignano, S. W., & Joshi, P. I wish the kids didn’t watch so much TV. Out of school time in three low income communities. Wellesley, MA Wellesley College, Center for Research on Women: 1996.
  • Hargreaves, M. B., Werner, A., & Joshi, P. The evaluation of “To Strengthen Michigan Families”: Process report. Cambridge, MA Abt Associates Inc: 1994.
  • Allen, J. E. & Joshi, P. "Training tomorrow’s work force." Focus 19. 6 (1991): 5-6, 8.
  • Joshi, Pamela. "After Croson: New directions for minority business set-asides." Focus 18. 10 (1990): 3-4, 8.