The State of Higher Education in California: Black Report

Overview

California is home to the nation’s fifth largest Black population, and though Black students today are more likely to graduate from high school and college than they were a decade ago, persistent opportunity gaps exist in college access and success and completion outcomes are still too low.  These troubling findings are a result of funding, policy and institutional weaknesses rather than individual student dedication. The report calls for a concerted, strategic effort to produce better educational outcomes for Black students.

Food for Every Child: The Need for Healthy Food Financing in Michigan

Overview

Michigan must address the significant need for fresh food resources in many of its communities. A myriad of factors have created a shortage of healthy food resources in lower-income areas across the state, creating a public health
crisis.
 
Despite having the nation’s second most diverse agriculture industry, 17.9% of Michigan’s residents are food insecure, meaning they lack reliable access to healthy food. In Kent County, home to Grand Rapids, the largest city in West Michigan, 80,000 people are food insecure.
 
More than 1.8 million Michigan residents, including an estimated 300,000 children, live in lower-income communities with limited
supermarket access. Underserved communities can be found in rural areas such as Hillsdale, Tuscola, Sanilac, Cold Water and Allegan, as well as in urban centers including Flint and Detroit.

Growing Nourishing Food Systems: A Guide for Local Governments to Improve Healthy Eating in Washington State

Overview

The Growing Nourishing Food Systems toolkit guides local governments to use policy strategies to increase healthy eating in their communities.
 
The food system impacts and is impacted by many parts of society. These parts of society include economic development, energy, health,
housing, public safety, transportation, and water infrastructure.  

Healthy Food Within Reach: Helping Bay Area Residents Find, Afford and Choose Healthy Food

Overview

One in 10 adults in the Bay Area struggle to consistently find three meals a day. More than half of all adults are overweight or obese. And residents in many of the region’s communities live in neighborhoods where fast food restaurants and convenience stores abound, while grocery stores are scarce or don’t exist at all. 

Subsidizing Congestion: The Multibillion-Dollar Tax Subsidy That's Making Your Commute Worse

Overview

 The federal government provides subsidies through the tax code for employer-provided and employer-paid automobile parking,
transit passes, and some other commuter expenses, but it does so in ways that run counter to the nation’s overall transportation goals. 
 
Those who receive the greatest tax savings from the transit benefit are not the low-income and working Americans who depend on transit the most, but rather higher-income Americans whose employers are more likely to offer transit benefits, who spend more on their transit commutes, and who save a greater share of every dollar spent on transit benefits due to their higher marginal income tax rates. 

Untapped Resources, Untapped Labor Pool: Using Federal Highway Funds to Prepare Women for Careers in Construction

Overview

Federal highway funding offers states a stable resource that can support activities that improve women’s entry into and success in the construction trades. This briefing highlights examples of how two states, Maryland and Oregon, are using this funding to improve diversity in the highway construction workforce. The briefing paper is based on a review of literature, pre-apprenticeship state-level evaluations and progress reports, and interviews with key stakeholders from Oregon, the tradeswomen community, and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America 2014

Overview

In this report, we focus on some of the highest-impact approaches, including implementation of policies to: increase physical activity before, during and after school; offer nutritious food and beverages at school; make healthy, affordable food prevalent in all communities; ensure healthy food and beverage marketing practices; engage healthcare professionals to more effectively prevent obesity both within and outside the clinic walls, in collaboration with community partners; and intensify our focus on prevention in early childhood. 

Economic Analysis of Detroit's Food System

Overview

EConsult Solutions, Inc. (ESI) has teamed up with the Detroit Food and Fitness Collaborative (DFFC) and Urbane Development, LLC, to release an economic analysis of the city of Detriot’s food system. The study sought to assess the current state of Detroit’s food economy, highlight the opportunities and challenges shareholders face with the city’s food sector and develop a strategic approach to cultivating a food system for all residents.

Can Shared Mobility Help Low-Income People Access Opportunity?

Overview

Shared-mobility programs like bike-share and car-share have significant potential to benefit low-income users, yet often do not reach that population. This report examines the specific opportunities and challenges facing shared mobility programs in expanding services to low-income communities.

Fresh Food for All: Improving Access to Fresh Food in Alabama

Overview

Understanding the current state of the Alabama food system is a necessary step in ECN’s work. A key aspect of that food system is consumer access to food. In the summer of 2013, ECN staff and MIT Wealth Creation Clinic members began to discuss working together to create a document that would serve as a rallying point for Alabama stakeholders interested in impact investing in fresh food retail as a possible means to improve health outcomes for the state’s low-income, rural populations. 

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