Research Guides: Social Work Research Guide: Government, Legal, & Policy Resources

This Page is a Work in Progress

This page is a work in progress and is not a comprehensive list of resources. If you have a resource you would like included, or find a broken link or incorrect information, please email amd212@humboldt.edu.

Tribal / Native American Indian Resources

Humboldt County

There are 11 federally recognized and unrecognized tribes, rancherias and sovereign tribal governments within Humboldt's service area (Humboldt/Del Norte/Trinity Counties). These include: Big Lagoon Rancheria, Blue Lake Rancheria, Elk Valley Rancheria, Hoopa Valley Tribal Council, Karuk Tribe of California, Resighini Rancheria, Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria, Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation, Trinidad Rancheria, Wiyot Tribe, and the Yurok Tribe.

State

Northern California Indian Development Council established in 1976 to research, develop and administer social and economic development programs designed to meet the needs of Indian and Native American Communities; to provide support and technical assistance for the development of such programs, and the conservation and preservation of historic and archeological sites and resources.
State of California Native American Heritage Commission identifies, catalogs, and protects Native American cultural resources -- ancient places of special religious or social significance to Native Americans and known ancient graves and cemeteries of Native Americans on private and public lands in California.
California Tribal Fund was created to support California-based, California-Native-led nonprofits and tribal programs in controlling and protecting their food systems, water, languages, traditional ecological knowledge, and land.
Northwest Intertribal Court System (NICS) is a consortium of Native American Indian Tribes in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is one of the only intertribal court systems in the country. Each tribe has its own independent court and codes. NICS provides trial and appellate judges, assistance with code development, training and technical assistance.

National Organizations

National Council of the American Indian (NCAI) Policy Research Center mission is to lead, conduct, and translate high quality policy research and data to improve outcomes for Indian Country.
National Indian Law Library (NILL) of the Native American Rights Fund is a law library devoted to federal Indian and tribal law. NILL maintains a unique and valuable collection of Indian law resources and assists people with their Indian law-related research needs. Link to Indian Law Research Guides.
National Indian Education Association (NIEA) formed by Native educators in 1969 to encourage a national discourse on Native education.
Native American Constitution and Law Digitization Project coordinated by The University of Oklahoma Law Library and The National Indian Law Library of the Native American Rights Fund. Includes on-line version of tribal codes, constitutions, Cohen’s Handbook, etc.
Federally Recognized Indian Tribes and Resources for Native Americans (USA.gov) federal government and other sources of information.

Local / Humboldt County Resources

Humboldt County website (direct link to Social Services section)
Superior Court of California, Humboldt County
U.S. Census Humboldt County Quick Facts

State / California Resources

CA.gov State of California.
California State Senate
California State Assembly
The State of California Judicial Branch
California Legislative Information Features a schedule of legislative activities, full hypertext searching of bills, laws, and the state constitution.
California Department of Public Health
Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank whose mission is to inform and improve public policy in California through independent, objective, nonpartisan research. Browse topics for in-depth reports on social issue.
California Research Bureau Reports from the California State Library, provide independent, nonpartisan, timely and confidential policy research and analysis to the Governor’s Office and Legislature.
National Center for Health Statistics (CDC) Stats for the State of California
California Health Interview Survey (UCLA Center for Health Policy Research) (CHIS) is the nation's largest state health survey and a critical source of data on Californians as well as on the state's various racial and ethnic groups. Policymakers, researchers, health experts, members of the media and others depend on CHIS for credible and comprehensive data on the health of Californians.
Kidsdata: Data and Resources about the Health of Children in communities across California. Kidsdata.org, a program of Population Reference Bureau (PRB), promotes the health and well being of children in California by providing an easy-to-use resource that offers high quality, wide ranging, local data to those who work on behalf of children.

National / U.S. Government Resources

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services homepage for the federal department that oversees social and human services programs.
Congressional Research Service Reports - archive from the University of North Texas in full text. Also: https://crsreports.congress.gov/
Govinfo provides free online access to official federal government publications.
The Statistical Abstract of the United States is a federal publication listing statistics for particular years in different areas such as social welfare, poverty, veterans affairs, deaths, maternity, etc.
Food Environment Atlas from the USDA, assembles statistics on food environment factors.
Congress.Gov: United States Legislative Information the official source for federal legislative information.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) produces independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process. The agency is strictly nonpartisan and conducts objective, impartial analysis.
Represent (ProPublica) provides information on lawmakers, the bills they consider and the votes they take (and miss)
Library of Congress State and Local Government Information State government information collected by the Library of Congress
Open States aggregates legislative information from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

International

United Nations Resources and Documents

Policy Information Sites

Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level.
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) is a national, nonpartisan, anti-poverty organization advancing policy solutions that work for low-income people.
Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) works to secure equal opportunities and better futures for all children and families, especially those most often left behind.
FrameWorks Institute The mission of the FrameWorks Institute is to advance the nonprofit sector's communications capacity by identifying, translating and modeling relevant scholarly research for framing the public discourse about social problems.
Institute for Policy Research (IPR) is an interdisciplinary public policy research institute founded in 1968 at Northwestern University. Our mission is to stimulate and support excellent social science research on significant public policy issues and to disseminate the findings widely—to students, scholars, policymakers, and the public.
NASW Policy Issues NASW has developed a policy agenda, which asserts the association’s advocacy priorities for the legislative cycle.
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. Pew conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research and does not take policy positions.
Policy Archive is digital archive of global, non-partisan public policy research. Search for summaries and full text materials of think tank, university, government, and foundation-funded policy research.
Social Work Policy Institute examines issues that relate to the work of social workers, including how to serve people who have multiple or complex needs and how public agencies and other structures deliver health and human services.
Urban Institute is one of the country’s leading research institutions, known for broad economic and social policy expertise and five decades of scholarship.