This just in!
Read below for news of interest, as well as information on recent publications.
SHA Is Seeking a New Staff Member
SHA is seeking a Regional Equity Coordinator. The Regional Equity Coordinator will work with the Executive Director of SHA to staff the Coalition on Regional Equity (a project of the Housing Alliance), which includes staffing the Sacramento Hunger Coalition, and supporting other coalition subgroups including the Transportation Equity and Sustainable Communities Working Groups. The responsibilities of the position include regional organizing and coalition building, policy advocacy, education and outreach. For more information and to learn how to apply, read the job posting. The posting closes on February 10, 2012.
21st Century Governance: Regions, Regional Equity and Opportunity in Sacramento
The first CORE Framing Paper is now available. Written by Bill Kennedy and Chris Benner for CORE, the paper focuses on regional governance, development, and equity for Sacramento. To learn more, read an excerpt from the introduction below. The full paper is available to download here.
In the midst of the worst economic recession in four generations, many people in our country have lost faith in the ability of government to help solve their problems. In the Sacramento area, many families feel the dissonance between their hopes and dreams for the future, and the policies adopted by their elected leaders. The Sacramento area continues to suffer from high foreclosure rates, widespread unemployment, and increasing homelessness—just the most obvious indicators of the broader struggles poor and working families in the region continue to face—yet our local and state governments seem powerless to turn the tide of economic hardship while also slashing funding for education and needed social programs. This separation fosters widespread discontent in government, at all levels, and threatens our democratic institutions.
But perhaps the problem is not government itself, but rather the outdated structures of our public institutions. Perhaps we are trying to govern in the 21st century using 20th century government structures. Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel famously said shortly after the November 2008 elections, “Never let a good crisis go to waste”. The continued economic crisis provides us an opportunity to rethink how we can grow in the 21st century and what role public institutions can play in shaping that growth. Regionalism may be the answer.
Check back for new Framing Papers throughout 2011.
Food Desert Locator
The USDA has released an online food desert locator. Several census tracts in Sacramento appear on the map. To view the map, visit this website.
PolicyLink Report Analyzes 2011 Federal Budget Proposal
This week PolicyLink released The President’s 2011 Budget: Creating Communities of Opportunity, an analysis of the 2011 budget proposal. The proposal lifts up programs to assist low-income communities and communities of color. As the budget is unlikely to be approved until after the November elections, there is time to advocate for the important programs our communities need to rise up from the economic crisis. To learn more, read the report here.
Study Reports that Walkable Neighborhoods Can Save Millions of Dollars
TransForm has released Windfall For All: How Connected, Convenient Neighborhoods Can Protect Our Climate and Safeguard California’s Economy, a study detailing how creating more walkable neighborhoods can not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but can save the average California household $5,200 per year. To read the report and learn more about TransForm, visit TransForm.
Resources
2010 Hunger and Homelessness in Sacramento Report Released
The Sacramento Hunger Coalition has released the Hunger and Homelessness in Sacramento: 2010 Hunger & Food Insecurity Report. Inspired by Los Angeles Community Action Network’s [LACAN] survey of homeless people in “skid row” or central city east in 2005, Taken for Granted: Ignoring Downtown Food Insecurity, the Sacramento Hunger Coalition [SHC], conducted a survey at the 2010 Homeless Connect event held on May 22, 2010. The report is based upon 112 surveys of the nearly 800 homeless men and women who attended the event.To read the report click here.
Healthy City Sacramento Region Website Launched!
Healthy City for the Sacramento region was launched on April 26.
To read an account of the launch, visit the Sacramento Press.
Healthy City is an information + action resource that unites community voices, rigorous research and innovative technologies to solve the root causes of social inequity. It provides actionable information such as data, maps, and service referrals through our easy-to-use online platform. HealthyCity.org allows users to search for local services, conduct research and connect with their communities. Beyond providing free access to the largest database of community services and localized data variables, HealthyCity.org offers the ability for users to “tell their own story” by uploading their own data or multimedia to the system.
The Healthy City Sacramento Region Partnership is comprised of the Sacramento Housing Alliance, The Community Services Planning Council and the Center for Regional Change at the University of California, Davis. The Partnership is focused on improving the ability of communities and organizations in the Sacramento region use data and mapping tools in planning and advocacy efforts. Recognizing Healthy City as a unique, innovative and user-friendly resource for data and mapping capabilities, the Sacramento Region Partnership has committed to working with Healthy City to democratize the access to data, improve public policy through better understanding of the issues, and improve referrals to community and social services. The Partnership will conduct outreach and training around the Healthy City Sacramento Region website to raise awareness about community conditions and policy and planning efforts for other community groups. The partnership will work to increase access to locally developed research and data.
To learn more and begin to use this exciting resource, visit Healthy City.
Policy Link Report Released on Transportation and Equity
Policy Link has released a report titled All Aboard! Making Equity and Inclusion Central to Federal Transportation Policy. To read the report, click here.
Cultivating Health Equity: a Policy Recommendations Report
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network has released The Landscape of Opportunity: Cultivating Health Equity in California, which connects social and environmental inequities to the health disparities experienced by California’s communities of color. The report is available here. An interactive tool that allows you to map the landscape of opportunity across California is available here.
Toolkit for Building Healthy Communities
Leadership for Healthy Communities has released the Action Strategies Toolkit, which provides targeted strategies, stakeholders, policy and program options, directions on how to start programs, resources that can help inform the process, and examples of how other states and localities have achieved progress toward building healthy communities. To download the Toolkit, visit this website.
Report Released on Intersection Between Transportation, Health, and Equity
Policy Link and the Prevention Institute released a report titled The Intersection of Transportation, Health, and Equity: How bold transportation policies can make all communities healthier and stronger. To view the report, visit the Convergence Partnership.
Policy Report Released on Smart Growth
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy released a policy report titled Evaluating Smart Growth: State and Local Policy Outcomes. The report evaluates the effectiveness of smart growth policies in four states, and discusses implications for future local and state land use planning. To download the report, visit the Lincoln Insitute.
Article Released on Community Design and Physical Activity in Children
The American Academy of Pediatrics just released an article on The Built Environment: Designing Communities to Promote Physical Activity in Children. The article discusses how the built environment influences children’s physical activity, and what communities can do to increase physical activity and health in the lives of children. The article can be viewed by visiting this website.
PolicyLink Framing Paper
“Regional equity is part of a broad and hopeful vision for full inclusion and sustainability and the focus of the recent PolicyLink summit in New Orleans in early March. Distributed first to summit participants, Regional Equity and the Quest for Full Inclusion is the document that sets the scene for change. It examines the history of equity in America and how national and global forces are creating unique challenges and opportunities. It concludes with a vision of the future characterized by shared economic prosperity and true participatory democracy, one where everyone–including people of color and residents of low-income communities–can contribute and benefit.”
Report on Location, Access to Food Options, and Health
Designed for Disease: The Link Between Local Food Environments and Obesity and Diabetes was released by California Center for Public Health Advocacy, UCLA Center for Public Health Policy Research, and PolicyLink. The report demonstrates that people who live near an abundance of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores compared to grocery stores and produce vendors, have a significantly higher prevalence of obesity and diabetes regardless of individual or community income. To read the report, visit this website.
Unnatural Causes…is inequality making us sick?
Check out this great documentary series on causes leading to health inequalities across the nation and the world.
CORE partners with UC Davis for Mapping Resources
CORE has partnered with the Center for Regional Change at UC Davis to create GIS maps for research, coalition building, and advocacy. To learn more about these maps contact CORE or read SHA’s newsletter article by Kendra Bridges: SHA Newsletter Article.
Click the links below to view selected CORE regional maps:
MedianHHIncome.jpg
AverageAnnualWage.jpg
AverageWageChange.jpg
EducationalAttainment.jpg
EducationalAttainment2.jpg
PublicTransitUse.jpg
RacialDistribution.jpg
ToxicRelease.jpg
EmploymentChange.jpg
PovertyLine.jpg
VeryLowIncome.jpg
