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Housing Is Working Group 2023-2024 Calendar

Join the Housing Is Working Group to discuss special topics related to cross-sector initiatives and programmatic considerations particularly focused on the intersections of housing, health, and education.

This year’s public webinars cover topics such as the mobility asthma project, trauma-informed approaches to housing, resident-focused racial equity work, out-of-school time, and how FCC grantees are supprting voucher holders.

View Calendar
 

Elements of a Successful Partnership

With generous support from the MacArthur Foundation, CLPHA developed an in-depth report on regional housing-education collaborations taking place at housing authorities across the Pacific-Northwest.

Read the Multimedia Report
 
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News Article
Community:
Jun 5, 2019
Patients are dealing with stress related to the social determinants of health, including stable housing, food security, and adequate transportation.

Authored by: Jessica Kent for Health IT Analytics
Topics: Food insecurity, Health, Housing, Low-income, Nutrition, Transportation
Shared by Housing Is on Jun 11, 2019
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News Article
Community:
May 13, 2019
How do you fix health inequity in the United States? The education and health-care communities as well as policymakers must consider what are known as the social determinants of health as an integral part of solving this dilemma. Additionally, communities need to stop thinking of health care as care only received in a medical environment such as a hospital or clinic. Instead we must consider health-care holistically as a service given in our homes, our schools, our workplaces, our parks and our communities. These services are provided by an array of health-care providers, including nurses, physicians, psychologists, dentists, social workers and many more — over 13 million strong.

Authored by: Beverly Malone for The Hill
Topics: Food insecurity, Health, Lead, Legislation & Policy, Nutrition, Racial inequalities, Transportation
Shared by Housing Is on May 20, 2019
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News Article
Community:
May 1, 2019
The U.S. economy is enjoying nearly a decade of expansion since the Great Recession. Yet food insecurity -- a lack of money or resources to secure enough to eat -- still grips almost one in eight Americans. That's roughly 40 million people. While slowly improving, that figure remains stubbornly higher than before the recession, when more than one in 10 U.S. residents had difficulty knowing when and how they might eat next, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Authored by: Rachel Layne for CBS News
Topics: Food insecurity, Health, Low-income, Nutrition
Shared by Housing Is on May 6, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Apr 9, 2019
Until recently, efforts to improve the health of Americans have focused on expanding access to quality medical care. Yet there is a growing recognition that medical care alone cannot address what actually makes us sick. Increasing health care costs and worsening life expectancy are the results of a frayed social safety net, economic and housing instability, racism and other forms of discrimination, educational disparities, inadequate nutrition, and risks within the physical environment. These factors affect our health long before the health care system ever gets involved.

Authored by: Brian Castrucci and John Auerbach for Shelter Force
Topics: Food insecurity, Health, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Transportation
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 23, 2019

Meeting Individual Social Needs Falls Short of Addressing Social Determinants of Health

News Article
Apr 9, 2019
Brian Castrucci and John Auerbach for Shelter Force
Until recently, efforts to improve the health of Americans have focused on expanding access to quality medical care. Yet there is a growing recognition that medical care alone cannot address what actually makes us sick.
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News Article
Community:
Apr 22, 2019
Ballooning lunch debt is a problem for families and schools across the country. And it's evidence of a broken school lunch system that uses students’ needs as collateral to leverage money from parents.

Authored by: Jessica Fu for The New Food Economy
Topics: Food insecurity, Health, Nutrition
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 22, 2019

Countless American families are saddled with student lunch debt. Many won't be able to pay it off.

News Article
Apr 22, 2019
Jessica Fu for The New Food Economy
Ballooning lunch debt is a problem for families and schools across the country. And it's evidence of a broken school lunch system that uses students’ needs as collateral to leverage money from parents.
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Interactive
Community:
This interactive map provides state-by-state data on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation rates among eligible seniors and for comparison, participation rates among all eligible individuals. FRAC’s map and accompanying tables show that just 42 percent of eligible seniors (60+) are using SNAP on average each month — compared to 83 percent of all SNAP-eligible people that participate in SNAP.

Authored by: Food Research & Action Center (FRAC)
Topics: Food insecurity, Health, Nutrition, Seniors
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 2, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Mar 20, 2019
Low-income immigrant mothers are skipping the chance to get nutritious foods and help for their infants from a federal program because they fear deportation, or the loss of their children, according to the agencies that distribute those benefits.

Authored by: Alfred Lubrano for The Inquirer
Topics: Child welfare, Early childhood, Food insecurity, Health, Legislation & Policy, Nutrition
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Mar 26, 2019

More moms and kids withdrawing from nutrition program because of deportation fears, administrators say

News Article
Mar 20, 2019
Alfred Lubrano for The Inquirer
Low-income immigrant mothers are skipping the chance to get nutritious foods and help for their infants from a federal program because they fear deportation, or the loss of their children, according to the agencies that distribute those benefits.
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News Article
Community:
Mar 13, 2019
Universal meals allow schools to build the program into their overall curriculum, "creating a learning lab for healthy eating and a mealtime experience where every kid is equal and enjoys their meals together," according to Hunger Free Vermont, which says nearly a quarter of schools in the state offer them and studies show that the programs "increase participation, leading to better student health and learning, and a strong school meals business. When participation is up, school meal programs have more resources to invest in even higher quality food, including many local foods."

Authored by: Chris Mays for Brattleboro Reformer
Topics: Child welfare, Education, Food insecurity, Funding, Health, Nutrition
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 19, 2019

A push for universal meals

News Article
Mar 13, 2019
Chris Mays for Brattleboro Reformer
Universal meals allow schools to build the program into their overall curriculum, "creating a learning lab for healthy eating and a mealtime experience where every kid is equal and enjoys their meals together," according to Hunger Free Vermont, which says nearly a quarter of schools in the
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News Article
Community:
Feb 28, 2019
Child poverty in the U.S. could be cut in half over the next 10 years with a few simple steps, according to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. The cost would be high — at least $90 billion a year. But the National Academies report warns that the price of not doing anything would be far greater.

Authored by: Pam Fessler for NPR
Topics: Child welfare, Criminal justice, Early childhood, Education, Food insecurity, Funding, Health, Immigrants, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Nutrition, Racial inequalities
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 12, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Feb 14, 2019
This week, the Food Research & Action Center in Washington, D.C., published its annual School Breakfast Scorecard, analyzing school breakfast participation throughout the country for the 2017-2018 school year. Here are six things to know from the report.

Authored by: Benita Gingerella for Food Service Director
Topics: Early childhood, Education, Food insecurity, Health, Nutrition, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Feb 25, 2019

6 thins to know about the state of school breakfast participation

News Article
Feb 14, 2019
Benita Gingerella for Food Service Director
This week, the Food Research & Action Center in Washington, D.C., published its annual School Breakfast Scorecard, analyzing school breakfast participation throughout the country for the 2017-2018 school year. Here are six things to know from the report.
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News Article
Community:
Jan 25, 2019
A whole host of factors — such as friends, housing and transportation — affect a person’s health and how much they need the social safety net. It’s time the government’s big health insurance programs took this reality into account, some lawmakers and policymakers are starting to argue.

Authored by: Paige Winfield Cunningham for The Washington Post
Topics: Asset building, Cost effectiveness, Disabilities, Education, Food insecurity, Funding, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Medicaid / Medicare, Seniors, Transportation, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Jan 25, 2019

The Health 202: Policymakers are realizing health is about a lot more than just care

News Article
Jan 25, 2019
Paige Winfield Cunningham for The Washington Post
A whole host of factors — such as friends, housing and transportation — affect a person’s health and how much they need the social safety net. It’s time the government’s big health insurance programs took this reality into account, some lawmakers and policymakers are starting to argue.
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News Article
Community:
Jan 8, 2019
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey on Tuesday announced $3 million in grants to 13 community organizations that address things like housing, hunger and other societal factors that affect someone’s health.

Authored by: Shira Schoenberg for Mass Live
Topics: East Coast, Food insecurity, Health, Housing, Low-income, Nutrition, Partnerships, Preventative care
Shared by Housing Is on Jan 16, 2019

Massachusetts AG Maura Healey gives $3 million to address social factors that affect health

News Article
Jan 8, 2019
Shira Schoenberg for Mass Live
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey on Tuesday announced $3 million in grants to 13 community organizations that address things like housing, hunger and other societal factors that affect someone’s health.
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News Article
Community:
Jan 6, 2019
These programs, available at 10 Wichita middle and high schools so far, include extended serving times in cafeterias, grab-and-go breakfasts from carts or kiosks, and “second-chance breakfast,” in which students are offered breakfast after homeroom or first period.

Authored by: Suzanne Perez Tobias for The Wichita Eagle
Topics: Child welfare, Education, Food insecurity, Health, Low-income, Midwest, Nutrition, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Jan 16, 2019

Lots of kids start the school day hungry. Here's how Wichita is trying to help

News Article
Jan 6, 2019
Suzanne Perez Tobias for The Wichita Eagle
These programs, available at 10 Wichita middle and high schools so far, include extended serving times in cafeterias, grab-and-go breakfasts from carts or kiosks, and “second-chance breakfast,” in which students are offered breakfast after homeroom or first period.
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News Article
Community:
Jan 10, 2019
The federally funded School Breakfast Program is critical to addressing childhood hunger and food insecurity. While most schools participate in the program, many students are reluctant to eat breakfast in the cafeteria before school starts — the traditional service delivery model for school breakfast. To combat this, four of the top organizations in education, food insecurity and school nutrition came together to form Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom, with the support of the Walmart Foundation. The Partners, which include FRAC, the School Nutrition Foundation, the NEA Foundation and the National Association of Elementary School Principals, are working to address barriers to school breakfast consumption through an innovative solution: serving breakfast in the classroom.

Authored by: Etienne Melcher Pilbin for Medium
Topics: Child welfare, Education, Food insecurity, Health, Low-income, Nutrition
Shared by Housing Is on Jan 16, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Jan 8, 2019
SNAP is the first line of defense against senior hunger and frees up funds for health care and housing. This is important because one way struggling seniors often meet rising health care and other costs is by cutting back on or skipping meals — coping strategies that can exacerbate existing health problems. SNAP improves the health and well-being of seniors by reducing the negative health impacts of food insecurity, including diabetes, hypertension and depression.

Authored by: Joey Hentzler for The Topeka Capital-Journal
Topics: Depression, Disabilities, Food insecurity, Health, Housing, Low-income, Mental health, Midwest, Nutrition, Seniors
Shared by Housing Is on Jan 16, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Dec 10, 2018
As state and federal officials increasingly search for ways to curb rising health care costs, a decades-old idea is gaining traction: helping people with challenges that have nothing to do with medical care but everything to do with their health.

Authored by: Misty Williams for Roll Call
Topics: Cost effectiveness, Food insecurity, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Medicaid / Medicare, Nutrition, Partnerships, Preventative care, Stability, Transportation
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Dec 10, 2018
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News Article
Community:
Sep 24, 2018
The Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (Calif.) developed an innovative community garden to provide access to affordable and fresh food as well as skills training and job opportunities.

Authored by: Ashanti Wright for Journal of Housing & Community Development
Topics: Community development, Food insecurity, Green, Health, Housing, Low-income, Nutrition, Place-based, Sustainability, Youth
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Oct 30, 2018

The Growing Experience

News Article
Sep 24, 2018
Ashanti Wright for Journal of Housing & Community Development
The Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (Calif.) developed an innovative community garden to provide access to affordable and fresh food as well as skills training and job opportunities.
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News Article
Community:
Oct 9, 2018
Sweet Water Foundation transformed four blocks in Englewood to cultivate community and help build skills, resources, and opportunities for residents.

Authored by: MacArthur Foundation
Topics: Community development, Family engagement, Food insecurity, Green, Health, Low-income, Midwest, Nutrition, Partnerships, Place-based, Sustainability, Youth
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Oct 24, 2018
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News Article
Community:
Oct 2, 2018
Students have around 60 programs at their disposal, from advanced manufacturing to emergency medical response.

Authored by: Heather Burian for CT
Topics: East Coast, Education, Food insecurity, Health, Low-income, Post-secondary, Youth
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Oct 4, 2018
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News Article
Community:
Jul 27, 2018
Health promotion interventions in public housing communities have the potential to reduce obesity among residents, a new study shows. Changes in their environment, such as fresh food trucks, walking groups, screenings, and cooking demos, helped Boston residents eat better and get more exercise.

Authored by: University of Washington School of Medicine
Topics: East Coast, Exercise, Food insecurity, Health, Housing, Low-income, Nutrition, Obesity, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Jul 27, 2018

Study Tests Healthy Living Strategies in Public Housing

News Article
Jul 27, 2018
University of Washington School of Medicine
Health promotion interventions in public housing communities have the potential to reduce obesity among residents, a new study shows. Changes in their environment, such as fresh food trucks, walking groups, screenings, and cooking demos, helped Boston residents eat better and get more exercise.
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News Article
Community:
Aug 1, 2016
Boulder County, Colo., pioneered the movement. What can others learn from their experience?

Authored by: Mattie Quinn for Governing the State and Localities
Topics: Cost effectiveness, Data sharing, Dual-eligibles, Food insecurity, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Medicaid / Medicare, Partnerships, Place-based, Supportive housing, West Coast
Shared by Housing Is on Jul 5, 2018