Louisiana Children Health Uninsured Rates Census 2019

October 17, 2022

This report provides trend data on uninsured health rates among children in Louisiana and compares it to the nation. It highlights how the nation is losing ground in this area and makes initial recommendations on how this trend might be reversed.

EITC Pooled Fund: A Decade of Advancing Tax Fairness and Opportunity

April 11, 2022

A 10-year summary of the EITC Pooled Fund, detailing The Fund's history, structure, impact, lessons learned, and the work that lies ahead.

For Love of Country: A Path for the Federal Government to Advance Racial Equity

October 27, 2021

The nation's first comprehensive racial equity blueprint for federal agencies, For Love of Country: A Path for the Federal Government to Advance Racial Equity provides resources, tools, and a plan for federal agency leaders to implement President Biden's historic executive order on advancing racial equity. Geared toward staff working within federal agencies, For Love of Country: A Path for the Federal Government to Advance Racial Equity also includes tools that are applicable for equity advocates across the nation working inside and outside of government, including:Several key roles the federal government can use to shape racial equityThe transformative potential equity presents for key socioeconomic outcomesGuiding principles that can serve as a common foundation for the work across the federal governmentA starter tool for conducting and refining an initial equity assessmentA tool for agencies to develop a strategic vision and action plan to advance equity, and guidance on how to launch this journey

Racial Equity and Healing

Quality Health Care for Louisiana Kids

September 9, 2021

Medicaid and the Louisiana Child Health Insurance Program (LaCHIP) are the most common source of health coverage for low-income women and children in Louisiana - providing vital health care coverage to nearlya million children and mothers. This number has only grown amid theeconomic hardship of the Covid-19 pandemic. The quality of care provided through these programs has long-term implications for child, family and population health. This was true before the pandemic, from which the most-recent data was drawn, and will remain so as Louisiana emerges from the pandemic.The Child Core Set (CCS), developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), offers an annual glimpse into the quality of care provided to Medicaid and LaCHIP families across five care categories: Primary Care Access and Preventative Care, Maternal and Perinatal Health, Care of Acute and Chronic Conditions, Behavioral Health Care and Dental and Oral Health Services. Reporting is voluntary until 2024 when it becomes mandatory for all states.

Maternal and Child Health

The Impact of a Poverty Reduction Intervention on Infant Brain Activity

August 25, 2021

Early childhood poverty is a risk factor for lower school achievement, reduced earnings, and poorer health, and has been associated with differences in brain structure and function. Whether poverty causes differences in neurodevelopment, or is merely associated with factors that cause such differences, remains unclear. Here, we report estimates of the causal impact of a poverty reduction intervention on brain activity in the first year of life. We draw data from a subsample of the Baby's First Years study, which recruited 1,000 diverse low-income mother–infant dyads. Shortly after giving birth, mothers were randomized to receive either a large or nominal monthly unconditional cash gift. Infant brain activity was assessed at approximately 1 y of age in the child's home, using resting electroencephalography (EEG; n = 435). We hypothesized that infants in the high-cash gift group would have greater EEG power in the mid- to high-frequency bands and reduced power in a low-frequency band compared with infants in the low-cash gift group. Indeed, infants in the high-cash gift group showed more power in high-frequency bands. Effect sizes were similar in magnitude to many scalable education interventions, although the significance of estimates varied with the analytic specification. In sum, using a rigorous randomized design, we provide evidence that giving monthly unconditional cash transfers to mothers experiencing poverty in the first year of their children's lives may change infant brain activity. Such changes reflect neuroplasticity and environmental adaptation and display a pattern that has been associated with the development of subsequent cognitive skills.

Power Beyond Measure 2021

April 20, 2021

Power Beyond Measure: Reshaping the Research and Evaluation Landscape for Boys and Men of Color is a new research agenda that outlines six strategies for advancing equity and opportunity for Boys and Men of Color (BMOC) in the U.S.These strategies and recommendations lift up ways to ensure BMOC voices and perspectives are reflected in research and funding; to promote power and capacity-building in their communities; and to build more equitable, anti-racist research and evaluation systems.

A Racial Equity Framework for Workforce Development Funders

January 31, 2021

The framework was born out of a dire need to do better. Many laudable workforce programs and practitioners are making strides in their communities to improve job opportunities for People of Color. Yet it is not enough. The framework outlined in this report identifies concrete ways to interrupt the systemic racism embedded within the field's practices, policies, and programs; the institution of philanthropy; our own organizations; and the labor market in communities we serve. It asks funders in the workforce development ecosystem to consider how we are using our power, influence, grantmaking, and roles within our institutions to contribute to, or dismantle, this racism.

Employment Equity; Racial Equity and Healing

A Racial Equity Framework for Workforce Development Funders (Executive Summary)

January 31, 2021

The framework was born out of a dire need to do better. Many laudable workforce programs and practitioners are making strides in their communities to improve job opportunities for People of Color. Yet it is not enough. The framework outlined in this report identifies concrete ways to interrupt the systemic racism embedded within the field's practices, policies, and programs; the institution of philanthropy; our own organizations; and the labor market in communities we serve. It asks funders in the workforce development ecosystem to consider how we are using our power, influence, grantmaking, and roles within our institutions to contribute to, or dismantle, this racism.

Employment Equity; Racial Equity and Healing

Power Beyond Measure: Reshaping the Research and Evaluation Landscape for Boys and Men of Color

January 1, 2021

Power Beyond Measure: Reshaping the Research and Evaluation Landscape for Boys and Men of Color is a new research agenda that outlines six strategies for advancing equity and opportunity for Boys and Men of Color (BMOC) in the U.S. These strategies and recommendations lift up ways to ensure their voices and perspectives are reflected in research and funding; to promote power and capacity-building in their communities; and to build more equitable, anti-racist research and evaluation systems.

Racial Equity and Healing

Native Youth are Medicine

November 24, 2020

The series of events we've recently experienced have taught us that we, as Native people, need to prepare for the many challenges facing this world. Independence and freedom are our continuing aspirations. The truth is that the solutions to today's world problems lie in our diversity. Resilience is embedded in the Native American youth experience and this provides Native Youth with a unique perspective of the world that empowers them to enact change in their communities. In this age of technology, our youth are incredibly well-educated with access to the data and resources needed to effect change. Now is the time to learn from Native youth, amplify their voices, and join Native youth as they work to improve our country and the world.

Poverty in Louisiana Census 2019

September 1, 2020

This report provides invaluable descriptive statistics on family economic security in Louisiana by examining Census Data on poverty. It explores income inequality, childhood poverty and unemployment rates statewide and my metropolitan area. It also provides comparative data on how well Louisiana fares relative to the nation.

The Great Service Divide: Occupational Segregation, Inequality, and the Promise of a Living Wage in the Seattle Restaurant Industry

July 1, 2020

With 40 percent of the Washington restaurant workforce composed of workers of color, restaurant professions could provide real pathways to living-wage professions for Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous workers.3 However, the current structure of the industry denies living-wage opportunities to a large percentage of this diverse workforce. In order to determine the role of passive or implicit, and active discrimination in hiring practices in Seattle's restaurant industry, the Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United has partnered with the Seattle Office for Civil Rights to examine restaurant hiring practices and the experiences of workers of color. Utilizing census data to analyze segregation patterns within the industry, matched pair audit tests of job seekers, and interviews and focus groups with restaurant workers, we examined patterns of discrimination in the industry in order to craft proposals to support and encourage the adoption of racial equity practices by employers and the industry at large.

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