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2020-01-14
Heartland Alliance;
For individuals experiencing housing insecurity—and other hardships associated with poverty, such as low rates of health literacy, food insecurity, lack of transportation, and restricted access to quality health care—an HIV diagnosis exacerbates an already burdened quality of life. These larger structural barriers may inhibit HIV+ participants from feeling able to change individual-level behaviors which may complicate their HIV status. One counseling intervention that addresses obstacles to change is Motivational Interviewing (MI). MI is a collaborative, client centered approach that fosters communication between a service provider and their recipient with the goal of identifying and resolving the change goals identified during the counseling session. Studies on healthcare outcomes for chronically ill individuals who received MI interventions indicate that, when followed properly, MI can effect long-term, positive behavior changes. This paper defines MI, explores it's applications among HIV+ participants, describes an MI fidelity monitoring tool, and situates MI relevance while acknowledging the influence of social determinants of health.
2020-01-16
Institute for Child, Youth & Family Policy (ICYFP), Heller School For Social Policy & Management at Brandeis University;
Federal agencies monitor child and family wellbeing and consider children living with at least one adult working full time, year round as economically secure. However, an economically secure environment for children depends on much more than the number of hours their parents work. Economic security also requires wages that are high enough for children and families to live healthy lives.A more meaningful definition of economic security for children considers whether full-time working adults earn enough income to meet minimum living standards for children. diversitydatakids.org defines economically secure children as those living with at least one adult working full time, year round only if family incomes are over 200% of the federal poverty level. For example, to be considered economically secure, children living with at least one full-time working adult in a family of four in 2019 need to have a family income over $51,500.
2020-09-17
Heartland Alliance;
Poverty rates and household incomes improved in Illinois in 2019. However, this data reflects conditions from the last year before a global pandemic and related recession--meaning the picture is likely much worse today. And even before the 2020 recession, millions of Illinoisans--especially people of color--lived in poverty or on the brink.The poverty rate for the United States was 10.5% in 2019, a decline of 1.3 percentage points from 2018 and the lowest on record. There were 34 million people in poverty nationwide. In 2019, 1.4 million Illinoisans were in poverty--a rate of 11.5%. Additionally, 1.9 million Illinoisans are near poor and economically insecure with incomes between 100% and 199% of the federal poverty threshold.The data also revealed that health insurance coverage rates declined in Illinois and throughout the nation in 2019, continuing a disturbing trend of eroding the gains of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), right before a global pandemic and economic recession hit.
2020-05-01
PolicyLink;
While Congress has taken some important initial steps, the relief packages so far have not done enough to address the challenges facing the one in three people living in or near poverty in the US. This brief outlines a number of specific policy recommendations for Congress to include in the next relief package to meet the needs of all people while building a bridge to a more equitable and climate-safe future.
2020-09-01
Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) America;
In the face of unprecedented challenges, charities are demonstrating resilience through agility and determination. This report features stories that take a closer look at individual organizational experiences through the pandemic. Based on interviews with leaders representing nonprofits working across geographies and issue areas, these stories recount the unfolding impact of the crisis and their agile responses.While the contexts and tailored solutions may be unique, the obstacles are commonly felt—challenges such as the shift to remote work, the abrupt loss of volunteers or funders, or the need to pivot programming toward direct relief to address local priorities. As the pandemic draws on, charities continue to innovate and adapt, as evidenced by this latest report.Beyond following the journey of these charities, the report outlines the findings of CAF America's fifth COVID-19 survey. Conducted from August 25 to September 2, the survey polled 424 charitable organizations that represent 156 countries to learn how the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact their work.
2021-01-01
World Bank Group;
The lockdown, social distancing, and increased costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have reduced output and employment, increased poverty, and depressed trade transactions; in the absence of a strong response by government, output will be lower over the next decade due to COVID-19. The pandemic-driven rise in the fiscal deficit is increasing public debt, thus exacerbating existing challenges to sustainability and increasing the urgency of shifting from large public investments to human capital development as the main driver of growth. The government's rapid response to the pandemic has succeeded in keeping the population share of new infections and of deaths well below that of most other countries. However, critical health services, particularly childhood immunization and nutrition services, have been disrupted, which is increasing stunting and preventable diseases. The combination of poorer nutrition, limited health services, learning losses from school closures, and the likelihood that some children (particularly adolescent girls and children from poor households) may never return to school will reduce incomes and productivity over the medium term. The government responded rapidly and effectively to the challenges posed by the pandemic, putting in place the Economic Recovery Plan (ERP) to support households and firms, quickly imposing constraints on mobility to limit the spread of the disease, ramping up social protection programs, and setting up remote learning. Key priorities going forward include: (i) improving the government's expenditure allocation, financial management and revenue mobilization; (ii) strengthening the resilience of the health system and preparing for administration of a vaccine; (iii) reducing learning losses (targeting the most vulnerable), improving skills and strengthening accountability in education; and (iv) expanding the flagship social safety net program, building adaptive systems to respond quickly to shocks, improving poverty targeting of safety net programs, and scaling up the use of digital payments.
2021-05-13
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP);
This advocacy resource makes the case for why Congress must enact an equity-centered national subsidized employment programas a part of COVID-19 economic recovery legislation, as called for in the White House's proposed American Jobs Plan. This resource was produced in partnership among Heartland Alliance, the Center for Law & Social Policy (CLASP), and the National Youth Employment Coalition. Subsidized employment advocates can use this resource to inform visits with elected officials about why subsidized employment must be a part of building back a better, stronger, and more inclusive and equitable economy in the wake of the COVID-19 recession.
2021-05-27
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP);
This advocacy resource makes the case for why Congress must enact an equity-centered national subsidized employment program as a part of COVID-19 economic recovery legislation, with a special focus on how subsidized employment strategies can benefit jobseekers experiencing or at-risk of homelessness. This resource was produced in partnership among Heartland Alliance, the Center for Law & Social Policy (CLASP), and the National Youth Employment Coalition. Subsidized employment advocates can use this resource to inform visits with elected officials about why subsidized employment must be a part of building back a better, stronger, and more inclusive and equitable economy in the wake of the COVID-19 recession.
2021-05-05
Azim Premji University;
This report documents the impact of one year of Covid-19 in India, on jobs, incomes, inequality, and poverty. It also examines the effectiveness of policy measures that have thus far been undertaken to offer relief and support. Finally, it offers some policy suggestions for the near and medium-term future.When the pandemic hit, the Indian economy was already in the most prolonged slowdown in recent decades. On top of this, there were legacy problems such as a slow rate of job creation and lack of political commitment to improving working conditions which trapped a large section of the workforce without access to any employment security or social protection.Our analysis shows that the pandemic has further increased informality and led to a severe decline in earnings for the majority of workers resulting in a sudden increase in poverty. Women and younger workers have been disproportionately affected. Households have coped by reducing food intake, borrowing, and selling assets. Government relief has helped avoid the most severe forms of distress, but the reach of support measures is incomplete, leaving out some of the most vulnerable workers and households. We find that additional government support is urgently needed now for two reasons - compensating for the losses sustained during the first year and anticipating the impact of the second wave.
2021-06-22
California HealthCare Foundation;
In 2019 CHCF commissioned NORC at the University of Chicago to embark on an extensive research project to better understand the health care needs, wants, and values of California adults (18–64) with low incomes. In April and May of 2019 NORC began by holding multiple focus groups and in-depth interviews with Californians with low incomes who represented various racial/ethnic and language groups as well as regions. All participants were screened for having at least one health care encounter in the previous six months.
2021-08-09
Environmental Policy Innovation Center;
In this report, we evaluate how states allocate support from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) using national and state-level data from 2011 to 2020. This program already helps address disparities and has even more potential to do so. We find that states address disparities by targeting assistance towards:Health: Communities with more health-based Safe Drinking Water Act violations are more likely to receive assistance.Income: Communities with lower median household incomes are slightly more likely to receive assistance.We also find that states could do more to address disparities by expanding:Reach: 7.1 percent of eligible drinking water systems have received assistance.Additional subsidies: 26.6 percent of total assistance was distributed as principal forgiveness, grants, or negative interest loans, despite a federal ceiling of 35 percent for disadvantaged communities.Diversity: Small communities and more racially diverse ones are less likely to receive assistance.
2021-07-29
Center on Poverty & Social Policy (CPSP);
This report leverages data from the Early Childhood Poverty Tracker (see text box for a more detailed description), a Columbia University and Robin Hood study of more than 1,500 parents of young children in New York City, to provide a window into how families – especially low-income parents – managed their child care needs before the onset of the pandemic and what happens when families experience disruptions in their child care.PART I of this report focuses on accessibility and affordability of child care in New York City before the pandemic, specifically discussing what types of child care families used, including center-based, home-based, and informal care, and how they afforded that care.PART II explores both the extent and the economic cost of child care disruptions for New Yorkers, including an analysis of disruptions during the pandemic. To analyze the costs and impacts of disruptions, both to families and to the economy overall, the report replicates similar studies conducted in Maryland and Louisiana, which found that both states lost over $1 billion in a given year from parental absence and turnover due to child care disruptions. While the data we use for this analysis were collected prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we can only expect that the impacts documented here were exacerbated due to the disruptions of daily life brought about by COVID-19.Together, these findings highlight the difficult trade-offs between access, quality, and affordability for families of young children, as well as the economic implications of disruptions to child care. This report can inform policymakers and practitioners as they lay the groundwork for reopening the city's centers and reimagine a better, more inclusive, and more accessible system.
