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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:
May 21, 2019
Food is necessary to live, remain healthy, and work. The Improving Access to Nutrition Act, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) May 16, would keep food on the tables of people struggling to find quality employment—instead of leaving them to find a job on an empty stomach.

Authored by: Elizabeth Lower-Basch and Parker Gilkesson for The Hill
Topics: Asset building, Food insecurity, Nutrition, Stability
Shared by Housing Is on May 28, 2019
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Webinar
Community:
Mar 1, 2017
This webinar explored strategies for leveraging data to support college and career readiness and success (CCRS) goals for all students, with special emphasis on students in foster care. With access to quality data, education and child welfare agencies can work together to improve educational outcomes and promote CCRS for students in foster care. Presenters discussed a set of emerging practices that serve as examples of how states can use and link data to support CCRS. As states work to fulfill the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), this webinar also aims to provide concrete strategies to leverage the data collection and reporting requirements related to students in foster care to achieve CCRS goals.

Authored by: American Youth Policy Forum
Topics: Asset building, Foster care, Post-secondary, Workforce development, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on May 21, 2019
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Webinar
Community:
May 16, 2019
Puerto Rico faces enormous challenges due to its history as a colony, the state of its finances, and the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria and the US response to it. This has created a will to rebuild the island’s economy in line with a more community-owned vision. In this webinar, we hear from a number of people involved in and leading that effort.

Authored by: Steve Dubb for NPQ
Topics: Asset building, Community development, U.S. Territories
Shared by Housing Is on May 20, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Apr 26, 2019
Raising the minimum wage helps low-paid workers without damaging the broader economy, the authors of two new research papers find.

Authored by: Richard Florida for City Lab
Topics: Asset building, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Research
Shared by Housing Is on May 6, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Apr 11, 2019
A New Hampshire-based college with a large online enrollment plans to open a new operations center in downtown Tucson in early 2020 that will eventually employ up to 350 people.

Authored by: David Wichner for Arizona Daily Star
Topics: Asset building, Post-secondary, Workforce development
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Apr 18, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Mar 13, 2019
Lawmakers are currently considering legislation meant to put some extra cash in the pockets of families like Franson’s. House Bill 1527 and its companion, Senate Bill 5810, would create the Working Families Tax Credit, which supporters say would make Washington’s tax code less regressive while helping households with the rising cost of living. The federal government and other states have similar programs and use rely on income tax returns to distribute credits. Washington has no income tax. If the bill passes, people would apply through the state Employment Security Department, which would determine eligibility and calculate and write checks to those eligible.

Authored by: Jake Thomas for The Columbian
Topics: Asset building, Funding, Legislation & Policy, Low-income
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 18, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Apr 16, 2019
Grand Rapids, Michigan, is one of the fastest-growing US cities with economic opportunities for businesses. We jumped to the top of polls for the best cities to start a business in 2015 and have maintained top rankings ever since. We also top national lists for best places to call home and raise a family. This does not tell the whole story, though. Communities of color struggle to thrive here. We rank among the worst large US cities for African Americans economically. Almost 40 percent of African Americans in our city live in poverty. They are three times as likely to be unemployed as whites. More than 40 percent of Hispanics and Latinx live in poverty, and they are more than twice as likely to be unemployed.

Authored by: Rosalynn Bliss for Health Affairs
Topics: Asset building, Broadband, Data sharing, Health, Partnerships, Racial inequalities
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 16, 2019

How Grand Rapids, Michigan, Is Using Data To Advance Health Equity and Economic Opportunity

News Article
Apr 16, 2019
Rosalynn Bliss for Health Affairs
Grand Rapids, Michigan, is one of the fastest-growing US cities with economic opportunities for businesses. We jumped to the top of polls for the best cities to start a business in 2015 and have maintained top rankings ever since.
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News Article
Community:
Apr 3, 2019
The Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a proposed rule Wednesday to improve its Section 3 Program, which requires funding recipients to employ low-income people and business.

Authored by: Jessica Guerin for Housing Wire
Topics: Asset building, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Metrics, Place-based, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 8, 2019
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News Article
Community:
A living wage is an antidepressant. It is a sleep aid. A diet. A stress reliever. It is a contraceptive, preventing teenage pregnancy It prevents premature death. It shields children from neglect.

Authored by: Matthew Desmond for The New York Times Magazine
Topics: Asset building, Legislation & Policy, Low-income
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 4, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Feb 5, 2019
Building more affordable housing units in the metros that are centers of innovation will increase demand for the wares that fill houses, and increase productivity.

Authored by: Richard Floriday for City Lab
Topics: Asset building, Community development, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 4, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Mar 15, 2019
The venture is a small yet innovative player in a growing number of nonprofits developing new models for work force training. Their overarching goal is upward mobility for low-income Americans and the two-thirds of workers without four-year college degrees.

Authored by: Steve Lohr for The New York Times
Topics: Asset building, Broadband, Low-income, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 15, 2019

Income Before: $18,000. After: $85,000. Does Tiny Nonprofit Hold a Key to the Middle Class?

News Article
Mar 15, 2019
Steve Lohr for The New York Times
The venture is a small yet innovative player in a growing number of nonprofits developing new models for work force training. Their overarching goal is upward mobility for low-income Americans and the two-thirds of workers without four-year college degrees.
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News Article
Community:
Feb 5, 2019
We beef up law enforcement to attack crime, devote more funding to try and improve inadequate schools and tackle health disparities by getting more people to the doctor. But what if Baltimore could solve all of its persistent social problems by getting rid of poverty?

Authored by: Baltimore Sun Editorial Board for The Baltimore Sun
Topics: Asset building, Criminal justice, Funding, Health, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Mental health
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 11, 2019

What if we just focused on poverty to solve the city's issues?

News Article
Feb 5, 2019
Baltimore Sun Editorial Board for The Baltimore Sun
We beef up law enforcement to attack crime, devote more funding to try and improve inadequate schools and tackle health disparities by getting more people to the doctor. But what if Baltimore could solve all of its persistent social problems by getting rid of poverty?
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News Article
Community:
Jan 22, 2019
In 2016, the health system teamed with Spartanburg Community College and the National Center for Construction Education and Research, a nonprofit that provides global training and certification. Together, the three entities began offering construction skills training to area residents.

Authored by: Alan Jenkins and Melinda Young for Discover Health
Topics: Asset building, Health, Low-income, Partnerships, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 11, 2019

Building a Community

News Article
Jan 22, 2019
Alan Jenkins and Melinda Young for Discover Health
In 2016, the health system teamed with Spartanburg Community College and the National Center for Construction Education and Research, a nonprofit that provides global training and certification. Together, the three entities began offering construction skills training to area residents.
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News Article
Community:
Feb 28, 2019
Over the past decade, the real estate fortunes for African Americans have reversed course. Despite a strengthening economy, including record low unemployment and higher wages for black workers, homeownership levels for that group have dropped incrementally almost every year since 2004. It fell to 43 percent in 2017, virtually erasing all of the gains made since the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, landmark legislation outlawing housing discrimination.

Authored by: Troy McMullen for The Washington Post
Topics: Asset building, Community development, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Racial inequalities
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 11, 2019

The 'heartbreaking' decrease in black homeownership

News Article
Feb 28, 2019
Troy McMullen for The Washington Post
Over the past decade, the real estate fortunes for African Americans have reversed course. Despite a strengthening economy, including record low unemployment and higher wages for black workers, homeownership levels for that group have dropped incrementally almost every year since 2004.
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News Article
Community:
Feb 7, 2019
When we stereotype or lazily assume low-wage workers to be “low skill,” it reinforces an often unspoken and pernicious view that they lack intelligence and ambition, maybe even the potential to master “higher-order” skilled work. In an economy that is supposed to operate as a meritocracy—but rarely does—too often, we see low wages and assume both the work and workers are low-value. This bias makes us overlook people for better-paying positions in which they might have excelled, hindering their social mobility.

Authored by: Byron Auguste for Forbes
Topics: Asset building, Low-income, Racial inequalities, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Feb 19, 2019
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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 6, 2019
According to a new study, the Las Vegas metropolitan area’s share of voucher recipients with children living in low-poverty neighborhoods, one-third, is greater than the share of voucher-affordable rentals located in those same neighborhoods, one-fourth. That’s possible because affordable rentals far outnumber voucher recipients.

Authored by: Michael Scott Davidson for Las Vegas Review-Journal
Topics: Asset building, Education, Housing, Low-income, Mobility, West Coast
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Jan 10, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Dec 6, 2018
Recent research shows that social safety net programs benefit everyone.

Authored by: David L. Kirk for The New York Times
Topics: Asset building, Child welfare, Community development, Food insecurity, Legislation & Policy, Medicaid / Medicare, Racial inequalities, Research, Workforce development
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Dec 6, 2018
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News Article
Community:
Oct 16, 2018
Some community colleges have found innovative partnerships with their public housing authorities may help combat student homelessness.

Authored by: Ashley A. Smith for Inside Higher Ed
Topics: Asset building, CLPHA, Education, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Midwest, Pacific Northwest, Partnerships, Post-secondary, Stability, Workforce development
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Oct 24, 2018
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News Article
Community:
Sep 25, 2018
In 17 years, the Family Independence Initiative has enrolled 3,000 families — four people per household on average — and is operating in 14 different cities across the country. Now the initiative is making a move into 10 neighborhoods across Chicago. With a $2.6 million backing from Google.org and the City of Chicago, the organization hopes to combat poverty and improve the quality of life for 1,000 families on the South and West sides by giving money directly to them while also strengthening their social ties.

Authored by: Manny Ramos for The Chicago Sun Times
Topics: Asset building, Low-income, Midwest, Workforce development
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Sep 27, 2018

New initiative seeks to help people help themselves to escape poverty in Chicago

News Article
Sep 25, 2018
Manny Ramos for The Chicago Sun Times
In 17 years, the Family Independence Initiative has enrolled 3,000 families — four people per household on average — and is operating in 14 different cities across the country. Now the initiative is making a move into 10 neighborhoods across Chicago.