Dr. Heike Boeltzig-Brown

Dr. Heike Boeltzig-Brown

Submitted by on Wed, 02/28/2018 - 14:34

Heike Boeltzig-Brown is a Senior Research Associate and Academic Program Developer at the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI), School for Global Inclusion and Social Development and adjunct faculty in the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMB). Her key research interests focus on disability, employment and vocational rehabilitation (VR), as well as information and communication technology. At the ICI, Dr. Boeltzig-Brown has beendirecting research projects related to VR and funded by the federal government.

US and UK Routes to Employment: Strategies to Improve Integrated Service Delivery to People with Disabilities

Submitted by on Sun, 05/03/2009 - 20:00

In this report, the authors examine the experience of the United States and United Kingdom in developing effective strategies for providing integrated service delivery. The report examines what works and what doesn't work, and provides a roadmap to improving services for individuals with disabilities. While more research is needed, the report identifies 12 strategies to strengthen integrated service delivery systems, and to assist individuals with disabilities in gaining and maintaining productive employment.

Bridging the Digital Divide for Hard-to-Reach Groups

Submitted by on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 20:00

Boeltzig and Pilling identified specific groups of people who typically are not connected to the Internet and examined the circumstances of each - rural, poor, disabled, seniors, and ethnic minorities. They focused on how these groups of people, such as homebound individuals, could benefit most from using online government services. They also identified technical as well as social barriers that limit access. Their recommendations are aimed at both increasing access for these targeted groups and increasing use by individuals in the targeted groups.

Senior Research Associate & Academic Program Developer
University of Massachusetts-Boston Institute for Community Inclusion School for Global Inclusion and Social Development

heike.boeltzig@umb.edu

Heike Boeltzig-Brown is a Senior Research Associate and Academic Program Developer at the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI), School for Global Inclusion and Social Development and adjunct faculty in the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMB). Her key research interests focus on disability, employment and vocational rehabilitation (VR), as well as information and communication technology. At the ICI, Dr. Boeltzig-Brown has beendirecting research projects related to VR and funded by the federal government. This has included: a systematic review and synthesis of research on the public VR program spanning 1970–2008; a national survey of state VR agencies; and case study research on effective state VR agency practices to better serve persons with most significant disabilities. Dr. Boeltzig-Brown has collaborated on projects with City University London in the UK, and Griffith University and Bond University in Australia. As a researcher at the Center for Comparative Research in Social Welfare at the University of Stirling in the UK, she served as the lead researcher on German disability and employment policy in a 13-country comparative research study funded by the European Union. In 2008–2009, Dr. Boeltzig-Brown and her British colleagues won a grant from the IBM Center for the Business of Government to conduct a systematic review and synthesis of research on ways that public employment service systems in the US and the UK can better serve customers with disabilities. She has also conducted research into strategies in the US and the UK to encourage traditionally underserved groups of people to access online government services. Since May 2012, Dr. Boeltzig-Brown has been working for the ICI remotely from Tokyo, Japan. She has collaborated with her Japanese colleagues from the National Institute of Vocational Rehabilitation (NIVR) on a number of research papers and presentations focusing on public VR service delivery in the US and Japan. As a Program Developer, she co-authored with Dr. William E. Kiernan, ICI Executive Director, the proposal that established a new School for Global Inclusion and Social Development at UMB in 2012 including a Master’s and a Doctoral Program in these areas within the new School. She holds a doctorate in public policy from UMB and a master’s degree in applied social research from the University of Stirling, Scotland.