Search

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic shed light on stark racial and ethnic inequities in access to care and accurate health information in the U.S. When COVID-19 vaccines became available, communities of color faced multiple barriers that contributed to low vaccine rates. To address this gap, the Equity-First Vaccination Initiative supported community organizations in five demonstration cities to plan and implement hyper-local strategies to increase COVID-19 vaccine access and uptake among communities of color. Purpose: To draw learnings from the experiences of the participating organizations, we applied a framework that integrated implementation science and health equity principles. Design and sample: In this commentary, we describe how we used this framework to guide qualitative interviews with community organizations, focusing on insights across five implementation elements (reach, design, implementation, adaptation, implementation outcomes). Conclusions: Learnings from this evaluation may help guide future implementation of similarly complex initiatives involving multiple organizations and sites to advance health equity during a public health crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given COVID-19's disproportionate impact on populations that identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in the United States, researchers and advocates have recommended that health systems and institutions deepen their engagement with community-based organizations (CBOs) with longstanding relationships with these communities. However, even as CBOs leverage their earned trust to promote COVID-19 vaccination, health systems and institutions must also address underlying causes of health inequities more broadly. In this commentary, we discuss key lessons learned about trust from our participation in the U.S. Equity-First Vaccination Initiative, an effort funded by The Rockefeller Foundation to promote COVID-19 vaccination equity. The first lesson is that trust cannot be "surged" to meet the needs of the moment until it is no longer deemed important; rather, it must predate and outlast the crisis. Second, to generate long-term change, health systems cannot simply rely on CBOs to bridge the trust gap; instead, they must directly address the root causes of this gap among BIPOC populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses administrative data from two states covering the school years 1987-1988 to 2000-2001 to examine principal turnover and mobility. We use a longitudinal event history modeling approach to examine whether individual characteristics of the principal and the school in which they work are related to different types of principal turnover. We find that over the time period considered, turnover among all school principals was 14 percent in Illinois and 18 percent in North Carolina. Only 20 percent of this turnover was due to principals leaving the system in Illinois; and 13 percent in North Carolina. However, we observe some interesting variation by school characteristics. Specifically, we find that principals in schools with a larger proportion of minority students are more likely to change schools and to leave the principalship, but remain in the system.

There is concern that now, as state and federal governments are increasing school accountability requirements and relying on school administrators to promote improvement, schools and districts will not be able to attract and retain enough qualified people to fill these positions. This report develops a conceptual structure for understanding the careers of schools administrators and describes what is known about those who hold such positions and how their characteristics have changed over time. It also describes how factors such as wages, working conditions, entry barriers, and incentives influence individuals' decisions to seek particular administrative positions. Based on their review and analysis of existing research and empirical data, the authors find there is little evidence of a nationwide crisis in the labor market for school administrators. They do, however, identify three key areas of concern: substantial variation in financial rewards at the state and local levels, barriers to entry into the field that affect people's willingness to become administrators, and an administrative population with many members nearing retirement. (Contains 2 figures, 2 tables and 3 endnotes.)

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.05.019 Byline: Jeanne S. Ringel, Phyllis L. Ellickson, Rebecca L. Collins Keywords: Adolescent drug use; Occupation; Job quality; Gender differences Abstract: The present study examines the relationship between hard drug use in high school and occupational and job quality outcomes measured at approximately age 29. We use two different methods aimed at ruling out the possibility of spurious correlations between high school drug use and occupational outcomes: (1) directly controlling for pre-high school characteristics that may affect both high school drug use and later occupational characteristics (e.g., educational orientation, early drug use and deviant behavior); and (2) matching high school users with a subset of nonusers that have very similar characteristics and then estimating the difference in labor market outcomes for these two groups (i.e., propensity score matching). Overall, the results suggest that adolescent drug use is linked with poorer occupational and job quality outcomes as much as 10 years after high school. Interestingly, which job-related outcomes are affected by early hard drug use varies by gender. Females who use hard drugs as adolescents end up in lower skill, lower status jobs while males who use hard drugs as adolescents are more likely to end up in jobs with fewer benefits (e.g., health, retirement). Author Affiliation: 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407, USA

Objective: This study had two purposes: (1) to characterize the density of liquor stores and bars that individuals face according to race, economic status, and age in the urban United States and (2) to assess alternative measures of retailer density based on the road network and population. Method: We used census data on business counts and sociodemographic characteristics to compute the densities facing individuals in 9,361 urban zip codes. Results: Blacks face higher densities of liquor stores than do whites. The density of liquor stores is greater among nonwhites in lower-income areas than among whites in lower- and higher-income areas and nonwhites in higher-income areas. Nonwhite youths face higher densities of liquor stores than white youths. The density of liquor stores and bars is lower in higher-income areas, especially for nonwhites. Conclusions: Mismatches between alcohol demand and the supply of liquor stores within urban neighborhoods constitute an environmental injustice for minorities and lower-income persons, with potential adverse consequences for drinking behavior and other social ills. Our results for bars are sensitive to the measure of outlet density as well as population density. Although neither measure is clearly superior, a measure that accounts for roadway miles may reflect proximity to alcohol retailers and thus serve as a useful refinement to the per-capita measure. If so, alcohol policy might also focus on density per roadway mile. Further research on the existence, causes, and consequences of environmental injustice in alcohol retailing is warranted. (J. Stud Alcohol Drugs 68: 48-55, 2007), DISPARITIES IN HEALTH RISKS across racial/ethnic and income groups have been documented for toxic waste sites, air pollution, and industrial sites (Brown, 1995; Environmental Protection Agency, 1992). In response, a [...]

This article uses a unique panel data set to examine the relationship between high school marijuana use and annual earnings at age 29. The authors estimate a series of OLS models that incrementally add potential confounding variables, including marijuana use at age 29. The analysis finds that part of the negative relationship reflects an indirect pathway whereby early marijuana use affects human capital accumulation, which in turn affects earnings. Moreover, the authors find evidence that the remaining association between early marijuana use and earnings, after controlling for differences in human capital, reflects the cumulative effect of marijuana use on cognitive ability and motivation. (JEL J30, I12), I. INTRODUCTION Data from the 2002 National Survey of Drug Use and Health indicate that 16% of youth between the ages of 12 and 17 had used marijuana in the [...]

To determine the effect of prices and regulations on youth cigar demand, we estimated logistic regression models of the probability of current cigar smoking among students in grades 6 to 12 with data from the 1999 and 2000 waves of the National Youth Tobacco Survey. We found that youth cigar demand is sensitive to price but not state tobacco-control regulations. The results suggested that raising excise taxes on cigars could reduce cigar use prevalence among youths. (Am J Public Health. 2005;95:995-998. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2003.030411)