{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/140788"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/140788","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The Quest to Humanize Policy Interventions: Exploring the Relationship between Neighborhood Revitalization Programs and Subjective Well-being of Low-Income Communities in the United States","abstract":"This dissertation explores policy interventions used in many low-income American cities in their revitalization efforts and examines the impact of these policy programs on the resident's overall quality of life outcomes. This study uses an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design to explore the relationships between best practices, state aid incentives, neighborhood revitalization, and residents' subjective well-being (SWB) in distressed neighborhoods across multiple low-income communities. The use of state aid, such as tax credits for neighborhood revitalization programs has become a popular strategy for U.S. federal, state, and local governments seeking to revitalize disadvantaged neighborhoods. Many scholars have explained its popularity by noting that both they and policymakers frequently expect that such aid incentives will have trickle-down effects that improve the quality of life of neighborhood residents. Yet neither scholars nor policymakers typically have examined whether residents agree. That is, do neighborhood residents perceive that such programs have relatively positive influences on their quality-of-life (that is, their subjective well-being)? Residents in neighborhoods with some forms of revitalization programs may still experience little or no change in their perceived quality-of-life, more so, does municipalities experience improvement in their Best Practices (BP) scores in following a reduction in state aid incentives during a fiscal year? Findings suggest that individual perceptions and evaluations of neighborhood characteristics play a key role in their quality-of-life experience. The results further highlight that socio-economic factors and respondent locations have direct and indirect effects on reported subjective well-being. This dissertation concludes by discussing how these findings might help scholars and policymakers in understanding how residents' interaction with public policy at the local level shape their quality of life experience, and most importantly, it suggests areas for further research that challenges traditional methods of measuring the impacts of policy interventions.","abstract_html":"This dissertation explores policy interventions used in many low-income American cities in their revitalization efforts and examines the impact of these policy programs on the resident's overall quality of life outcomes. This study uses an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design to explore the relationships between best practices, state aid incentives, neighborhood revitalization, and residents' subjective well-being (SWB) in distressed neighborhoods across multiple low-income communities. The use of state aid, such as tax credits for neighborhood revitalization programs has become a popular strategy for U.S. federal, state, and local governments seeking to revitalize disadvantaged neighborhoods. Many scholars have explained its popularity by noting that both they and policymakers frequently expect that such aid incentives will have trickle-down effects that improve the quality of life of neighborhood residents. Yet neither scholars nor policymakers typically have examined whether residents agree. That is, do neighborhood residents perceive that such programs have relatively positive influences on their quality-of-life (that is, their subjective well-being)? Residents in neighborhoods with some forms of revitalization programs may still experience little or no change in their perceived quality-of-life, more so, does municipalities experience improvement in their Best Practices (BP) scores in following a reduction in state aid incentives during a fiscal year? Findings suggest that individual perceptions and evaluations of neighborhood characteristics play a key role in their quality-of-life experience. The results further highlight that socio-economic factors and respondent locations have direct and indirect effects on reported subjective well-being. This dissertation concludes by discussing how these findings might help scholars and policymakers in understanding how residents' interaction with public policy at the local level shape their quality of life experience, and most importantly, it suggests areas for further research that challenges traditional methods of measuring the impacts of policy interventions.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Okereke, David"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":"Public Administration/Public Affairs","degree_department":"Government and International Affairs","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Hult, Karen M."],"committee_members":["Dull, Matthew Martin","Zuniga, Raymond A.","Hall, Ralph P."],"year":2026,"date_issued":"2026-01-13","date_published":"2026-01-13","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:32Z","subjects":["subjective wellbeing","low-income neighborhoods","local policies","neighborhood revitalization tax credit","intervention programs"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:45268"],"render_values":[{"text":"vt_gsexam:45268","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/10919/140788","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Hult, Karen M."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Dull, Matthew Martin","Zuniga, Raymond A.","Hall, Ralph P."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Government and International Affairs"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Okereke, David"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2026-01-14T09:00:13Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2026-01-14T09:00:13Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2026-01-13"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Public Administration/Public Affairs"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["subjective wellbeing","low-income neighborhoods","local policies","neighborhood revitalization tax credit","intervention programs"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:45268"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/10919/140788"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This dissertation explores policy interventions used in many low-income American cities in their revitalization efforts and examines the impact of these policy programs on the resident's overall quality of life outcomes. This study uses an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design to explore the relationships between best practices, state aid incentives, neighborhood revitalization, and residents' subjective well-being (SWB) in distressed neighborhoods across multiple low-income communities. The use of state aid, such as tax credits for neighborhood revitalization programs has become a popular strategy for U.S. federal, state, and local governments seeking to revitalize disadvantaged neighborhoods. Many scholars have explained its popularity by noting that both they and policymakers frequently expect that such aid incentives will have trickle-down effects that improve the quality of life of neighborhood residents. Yet neither scholars nor policymakers typically have examined whether residents agree. That is, do neighborhood residents perceive that such programs have relatively positive influences on their quality-of-life (that is, their subjective well-being)? Residents in neighborhoods with some forms of revitalization programs may still experience little or no change in their perceived quality-of-life, more so, does municipalities experience improvement in their Best Practices (BP) scores in following a reduction in state aid incentives during a fiscal year? Findings suggest that individual perceptions and evaluations of neighborhood characteristics play a key role in their quality-of-life experience. The results further highlight that socio-economic factors and respondent locations have direct and indirect effects on reported subjective well-being. This dissertation concludes by discussing how these findings might help scholars and policymakers in understanding how residents' interaction with public policy at the local level shape their quality of life experience, and most importantly, it suggests areas for further research that challenges traditional methods of measuring the impacts of policy interventions."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstractgeneral","label":"General Abstract","values":["The federal, state, and local governments have used tax credit policies to combat economic inequality and high levels of poverty across neighborhoods in low-income communities in the United States. Many social science researchers have contended that the use of tax credits will benefit the people living in those communities. Based on this expectation, government officials have continued to use state aid incentives, such as tax credits to help poor neighborhoods revive their economies. Despite the extensive use of these policies in poor communities, most residents living in these areas have yet to see significant improvements in their quality of life. Prior studies have neglected the role of subjective well-being (that is, residents' perceived quality of life) when examining program outcomes. This study examines the relationship between best practices, staid aid incentives, and neighborhood residents' subjective well-being. Findings from the study indicate that the socio-economic and spatial disparities have direct and indirect effects on reported subjective well-being. The dissertation concludes by discussing how these findings might help policymakers and scholars in understanding how residents perceive local policies and by suggesting topics for future research."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Quest to Humanize Policy Interventions: Exploring the Relationship between Neighborhood Revitalization Programs and Subjective Well-being of Low-Income Communities in the United States"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Hult, Karen M."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Dull, Matthew Martin","Zuniga, Raymond A.","Hall, Ralph P."],"dc:contributor.department":["Government and International Affairs"],"dc:creator":["Okereke, David"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2026-01-14T09:00:13Z"],"dc:date.available":["2026-01-14T09:00:13Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2026-01-13"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation explores policy interventions used in many low-income American cities in their revitalization efforts and examines the impact of these policy programs on the resident's overall quality of life outcomes. This study uses an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design to explore the relationships between best practices, state aid incentives, neighborhood revitalization, and residents' subjective well-being (SWB) in distressed neighborhoods across multiple low-income communities. The use of state aid, such as tax credits for neighborhood revitalization programs has become a popular strategy for U.S. federal, state, and local governments seeking to revitalize disadvantaged neighborhoods. Many scholars have explained its popularity by noting that both they and policymakers frequently expect that such aid incentives will have trickle-down effects that improve the quality of life of neighborhood residents. Yet neither scholars nor policymakers typically have examined whether residents agree. That is, do neighborhood residents perceive that such programs have relatively positive influences on their quality-of-life (that is, their subjective well-being)? Residents in neighborhoods with some forms of revitalization programs may still experience little or no change in their perceived quality-of-life, more so, does municipalities experience improvement in their Best Practices (BP) scores in following a reduction in state aid incentives during a fiscal year? Findings suggest that individual perceptions and evaluations of neighborhood characteristics play a key role in their quality-of-life experience. The results further highlight that socio-economic factors and respondent locations have direct and indirect effects on reported subjective well-being. This dissertation concludes by discussing how these findings might help scholars and policymakers in understanding how residents' interaction with public policy at the local level shape their quality of life experience, and most importantly, it suggests areas for further research that challenges traditional methods of measuring the impacts of policy interventions."],"dc:description.abstractgeneral":["The federal, state, and local governments have used tax credit policies to combat economic inequality and high levels of poverty across neighborhoods in low-income communities in the United States. Many social science researchers have contended that the use of tax credits will benefit the people living in those communities. Based on this expectation, government officials have continued to use state aid incentives, such as tax credits to help poor neighborhoods revive their economies. Despite the extensive use of these policies in poor communities, most residents living in these areas have yet to see significant improvements in their quality of life. Prior studies have neglected the role of subjective well-being (that is, residents' perceived quality of life) when examining program outcomes. This study examines the relationship between best practices, staid aid incentives, and neighborhood residents' subjective well-being. Findings from the study indicate that the socio-economic and spatial disparities have direct and indirect effects on reported subjective well-being. The dissertation concludes by discussing how these findings might help policymakers and scholars in understanding how residents perceive local policies and by suggesting topics for future research."],"dc:description.degree":["Doctor of Philosophy"],"dc:format.medium":["ETD"],"dc:identifier.other":["vt_gsexam:45268"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/10919/140788"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["subjective wellbeing","low-income neighborhoods","local policies","neighborhood revitalization tax credit","intervention programs"],"dc:title":["The Quest to Humanize Policy Interventions: Exploring the Relationship between Neighborhood Revitalization Programs and Subjective Well-being of Low-Income Communities in the United States"],"dc:type":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Public Administration/Public Affairs"],"thesis:degree_level":["doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:32Z"}