After three decades of increases, adult obesity rates remained level in every state except for one, Arkansas, in the past year, according to F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2013, a report from the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).
A national equity and smart growth strategy is needed among African Americans and other people of color environmental justice organizations and networks, educational institutions, churches, civil rights groups, professional associations, legal groups, community development corporations, business associations, bankers, and health care providers.
This report is a great primer to learn about the health and equity impacts of transportation, the related challenges we face as a nation, and the opportunities for reform. It is built on a research foundation and includes policy and program priorities.
As the U.S. economy slows, the likelihood of significant federal or local investment in new mass transit diminishes. But low- and moderate-income families depend upon housing close to transit to reduce their commuting expenses and improve access to jobs, schools, and other opportunities. Not surprisingly, the rental market has already begun to grow tighter in communities near existing transit and will most likely lead to escalating property values, making it more difficult to ensure long-term housing affordability.
An updated analysis of US Census Bureau data finds that more than half of fully-retired, elder-only households are economically insecure. While the threat of economic insecurity affects elders of all backgrounds, it varies substantially by gender, race, age, household composition and other characteristics. In order to assess the economic security of today’s older adults, WOW compares actual 2011 incomes for retired elders who live alone or with a retired partner to the Elder Economic Security StandardTM Index for the United States for their household and housing types.
As the United States slips deeper into its most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, a crippling blow to families and the long term health of the nation’s economy will occur through massive foreclosures and the spillover destruction of household wealth. Recent foreclosure projections estimate a total of 2.4 million homes lost in 2009 and 9 million lost during 2009-2012. Goldman Sachs estimates a total of 13 million foreclosures on all types of loans through 2014. These projections are based on the mountain of mortgage debt awaiting resets over the next few years, including 2 million more homeowners with sub-prime mortgages scheduled to be reset in early 2009.
Do you want to learn a little more about federal transportation policy, like the history of the program, how the Interstate System was started, how earmarks came to be so prevalent or how the federal role in funding transportation has changed throughout the years? With Congress considering the next six-year reauthorization, T4 America has put together this guidebook to provide some clarity on the history of the program, how it works (or doesn’t work) today and the new challenges facing us for the next 50 years.
The Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), a long-term blueprint of a region’s transportation system, provides a particularly important opportunity for health promotion. With the passage of SB 375 these plans have become intensively focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. How can we also make sure they focus on producing positive health outcomes and creating access to opportunities for disadvantaged communities? These plans don’t just sit on a shelf; they are tied to billions of dollars in state and federal transportation funds.
According to the report Endangered By Sprawl: How Runaway Development Threatens America’s Wildlife, produced by the National Wildlife Federation, Smart Growth America, and NatureServe, the rapid conversion of once-natural areas and farmland into subdivisions, shopping centers, roads and parking lots has become a leading threat to America’s native plants and animals.
Children from low-income families are twice as likely to walk to school as children from higher-income families, and they face a higher risk of being injured or killed as pedestrians. That is why it is critical that low-income communities are able to access Safe Routes to School funds and implement successful programs.