Center for Social Inquiry to evaluate city's support of social services

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
August 9, 2012

The City of San Marcos has awarded a grant to the Center for Social Inquiry at Texas State University-San Marcos to evaluate the city’s support of social services delivery.

The City of San Marcos, with the guidance of the Human Services Advisory Board, annually awards more than $400,000 to agencies in support of needs ranging from emergency housing and dispute mediation to youth services and senior citizen assistance. The center will evaluate the extent to which these services meet the needs of citizens.

"This is the first opportunity the City of San Marcos has had to systematically examine the effectiveness of its social services support," said Joseph A. Kotarba, director of the center and principal investigator for the study. "San Marcos is unique among cities in Central Texas in providing significant financial support for social services. Our study will help the board make the best decisions possible in allocating needed funds.

"I am fortunate to be able to assemble an interdisciplinary team of social services and research experts from Texas State," he said.

Team members include Kyong Hee Chee and Gloria Martinez-Ramos from the Department of Sociology; Yvonne Lozano from the School of Health Administration; and Amy Russell from the School of Social Work. The team will collect data from focus groups in the community and survey questionnaires distributed to residents and agency directors.

About the Center for Social Inquiry

The Center for Social Inquiry was established in 2011 to enhance the research profile of the Department of Sociology, and to apply sociological analysis to the understanding and solution of local and national social problems. For more information, contact Joseph A. Kotarba at (512) 245-8905 or via email at jk54@txstate.edu.