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2010-09-08
Mikva Challenge;
The Go for the Gold campaign is a city-wide initiative to ensure that all kids have access to healthy food, quality nutrition education and physical activity at school. The Teen Health Council has come up with twenty recommendations to help principals sign up for The Go for The Gold Challenge and actually follow through with it. Their report outlines these recommendations and provides evidence for each recommendation.
2009-09-01
W.J. Usery Workplace Research Group at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies;
We utilize clinical records of successive visits by children to pediatric clinics in Indianapolis to estimate the effects on their body mass of environmental changes near their homes. We compare results for fixed-residence children with those for cross-sectional data. Our environmental factors are fast food restaurants, supermarkets, parks, trails, and violent crimes, and 13 types of recreational amenities derived from the interpretation of annual aerial photographs. We looked for responses to these factors changing within buffers of 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, and 1 mile. We found that cross-sectional estimates are quite different from the Fixed Effects estimates of the impacts of amenities locating near a child. In cross section nearby fast food restaurants were associated with higher BMI and supermarkets with lower BMI. These results were reversed in the FE estimates. The recreational amenities that appear to lower children's BMI were fitness areas, kickball diamonds, and volleyball courts. We estimated that locating these amenities near their homes could reduce the weight of an overweight eight-year old boy by 3 to 6 pounds.
2008-09-01
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless;
As Chicago waits to hear whether it will be chosen to host the 2016 Olympics, it is important
for housing advocates to be aware of how housing rights have been impacted in other Olympic host cities around the globe. While the Olympics are an opportunity to showcase a city to the world, the development that comes with hosting the games can often have very negative consequences, particularly for poor and marginalized people.
Looking at the past 20 years of experiences of Olympic host cities, what is revealed are some rather devastating impacts on housing rights. In fact, all cities that have hosted the Olympic Games suffer similar negative consequences.
2009-04-01
Center for College Affordability and Productivity;
This analysis focuses on several key issues in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The intrinsic benefits of athletic programs are discussed in the first section. Trends in graduation rates and academic performance among athletes and how they correlate with the general student body are discussed in the second section. Finally, an overview of the revenues and expenses of athletic department budgets are discussed in an effort to gain a better understanding of the allocation of funds to athletics. In spite of recent growth in revenues and expenses, the athletic department budget comprises on average only 5 percent of the entire university budget at an FBS school, though spending and revenues have increased dramatically in recent years. In the grand scheme of things, American higher education faces several other, arguably more pressing, areas of reform. However, athletics is a significant and growing dimension of higher education that warrants in-depth examination.
2008-04-15
Program for Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies, University of Calgary, Canada;
Oscar Pistorius is a Paralympic bionic leg runner and record holder in the 100, 200, and 400 meters who wants to compete in the Olympics. This paper provides an analysis of a) his case; b) the impact of his case on the Olympics, the Paralympics and other -lympics and the relationships between the -lympics; c) the impact on other international and national sports; d) the applicability of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It situates the evaluation of the Pistorius case within the broader doping discourse and the reality that new and emerging science and technology products increasingly generate internal and external human bodily enhancements that go beyond the species-typical, enabling more and more a culture of increasing demand for, and acceptance of modifications of the human body (structure, function, abilities) beyond its species-typical boundaries and the emergence of new social concepts such as transhumanism and the transhumanisation of ableism.
2000-09-08
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, The;
This report released by CASA and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) demonstrates how the high financial stakes for all involved in the Olympics, the explosion in performance-enhancing drugs and the lack of an effective policing system to detect the use of such drugs threaten the very integrity of the Olympic games. Because athletes are important role models for our children, the use of performance-enhancing drugs (a practice called doping in the international sports community) by Olympic athletes threatens the health of America's children, concludes this report of the CASA National Commission on Sports and Substance Abuse, chaired by Rev. Edward A. (Monk) Malloy, president of the University of Notre Dame.
2007-09-21
Human Rights in China;
The one-year countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and its media fanfare have come and gone, leaving behind persistent calls for an "economical and practical" Olympics to counteract perceived waste and excess in preparing for the Games. Increasingly, in the past few years, such sentiments have found their way onto the Internet, in blogs, discussion forums and local papers as a full accounting of the spending on various Olympic constructions and events has yet to be fully disclosed to the public.
Similar to the open letter "OneWorld,One Dream and Universal Human Rights" from 40 Chinese academics, writers and human rights activists, these sentiments against an extravagant and wasteful Olympics provide another perspective often hidden from themedia glare aimed at festivities and publicity campaigns. This HRIC Issues Brief provides a sample of the range and diversity of these critical views on the Beijing Olympic Games expressed by Chinese Netizens on general blogs and Internet discussion and news forums.
2008-03-01
Human Rights Watch;
This 61-page report documents the Chinese government's failure to fulfill long-repeated promises to protect the rights of migrant construction workers, as well as to end deprivations caused by the discriminatory nature of China's household registration (hukou) system. An estimated 1 million migrant construction workers, hailing from other parts of China, make up nearly 90 percent of Beijing's construction workforce. These workers are the muscle behind completion of Olympic Games-related infrastructure and sporting venues. The Beijing Olympic Games begin on August 8, 2008.
2007-12-01
Human Rights in China;
For holiday shoppers, the "Made in China" label has taken on new meaning this year. Reports of lead-coated toys, poisoned toothpaste, and tainted seafood imported from China remain fresh on the minds of consumers everywhere. Chinese authorities are determined to restore consumer confidence in Chinese manufactured goods, but in fact may find this easier than expected: despite the uproar over dangerous toys and products, Chinese exports continue to expand.
In short, the price is right: consumers' demand for low prices at their local big-box retailer and increasing global competition continue to drivemanufacturing to China, in spite of the social costs. This IR2008 update focuses on the labor rights violations and regulatory failures that are at the root of recent recalls of Chinese-manufactured goods -- and that are relevant concerns for the massive Olympics merchandise market. This update also identifies actions different actors can take to expand protections for workers and consumers, in China and abroad, in the run up to theOlympics and beyond.
2005-01-01
Special Olympics;
Special Olympics has published the results of a multi-legged study of the impact of Special Olympics programs on the lives of its athletes in the United States. According to Changing Lives through Sport -- A Report Card on the Impact of Special Olympics, the benefits of participation in Special Olympics are substantial.
The research shows that there is an overwhelming consensus among Special Olympics athletes, coaches and family members that there is significant improvement in athletes' sense of self, social skills and social interactions due to their participation in Special Olympics.
In addition, parents also see health benefits that are critical, given the unmet health needs of people with intellectual disabilities.
The evidence from these studies clearly illustrates that Special Olympics enables people with intellectual disabilities to demonstrate and experience sports competence and suggests that gains in self-confidence, self-esteem, employment and socialization can carry beyond Special Olympics.
For example, more than half (52 percent) of adult Special Olympics athletes have jobs. While reliable data about the employment status of the general population of adults with intellectual disabilities are hard to come by, values as low as 10 percent have been cited. This suggests a strong relationship between Special Olympics participation and the ability to be employed.
The new research also shows that Special Olympics athletes have much in common with other athletes. For example, Special Olympics athletes enjoy the social experiences that accompany participation in sports training and competition. Teammates provide an important and valuable source of friendship, with more than half of the athletes socializing with teammates outside of Special Olympics. As with other athletes, Special Olympics athletes are motivated to participate by their enjoyment of sports and by the competition Special Olympics provides. They are serious about their sports and are not seeking sympathy or even special treatment.
Overall, the rationales for participation are similar to other athletes at various levels and in various programs. Even those who leave Special Olympics due to life changes overwhelmingly express their satisfaction with their Special Olympics experience and would be willing to reestablish their participation if circumstances permitted.
The study is the most comprehensive assessment to date of the impact of the Special Olympics experience on the lives of people with intellectual disabilities. More than 2,000 interviews of a representative sampling of U.S. athletes, coaches and families members were conducted over a period of four months starting in October 2004. The study was carried out by the University of Massachusetts Boston and the University of Utah with support from the Gallup Organization. Dr. Gary Siperstein and Coreen Harada from the University of Massachusetts Boston and Dr. Michael Hardman and Jayne Maguire from the University of Utah served as investigators.
