Matthew Bakko

Matthew Bakko is a PhD candidate in the Joint PhD Program in Social Work and Sociology. As an interdisciplinary scholar, he researches and teaches how social service providers can effectively implement and shape policy to benefit marginalized groups within dynamic service contexts. His interests are guided by his social work practice experiences as a case manager, program evaluator and community organizer in nonprofit, governmental and grassroots community-based settings. He explores how social service providers and organizations shape (and are shaped by) their policy, resources and institutional contexts, which influence street-level policy implementation, service outcomes and social change. To study this, he primarily conducts mixed-methods research that examines social service providers and related actors working at the intersection of social welfare and carceral systems.

Research Interests/Focus: Frontline Social Service Providers; Human Service Organizations; Policy Implementation; Social Welfare Policy and Programs; Race, Class, and Gender Oppression; Institutions and Institutional Change; Philanthropy and Resources; Mixed Methods