Chapter 40R School Cost Analysis and Proposed Smart Growth School Cost Insurance Supplement

Analyzes the effects of insuring local communities against having to absorb school costs above the increased property and excise tax revenue generated by new housing units. Calls for supplements as a way to encourage the construction of moderate housing

Harnessing Technology: new modes of technology-enhanced learning: a case study series

This report presents the outcomes and conclusions from a series of 18 case studies exploring the innovative use of technology for learning and teaching using new modes of technology

Alien Registration- Barry, Eleanor H. (Madawaska, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/24859/thumbnail.jp

How do UK general practice staff understand and manage prediabetes? A focus group study

Background: Preventing type 2 diabetes is a national priority; one aspect is the identification and active management of ‘prediabetes’ through lifestyle change. Aim: To explore what primary care clinicians understood by ‘prediabetes’, how they communicated this diagnosis to people, how they delivered lifestyle advice, and their views on barriers to lifestyle change. Design & setting: Three focus groups were undertaken with 25 individuals from primary care teams (GPs, nurses, and healthcare assistants) in Newham, a deprived and ethnically diverse part of London, UK. Method: Recordings were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically before integrating social and behavioural science theories. Results: Focus groups participants described four main influences on their management of prediabetes in the consultation: social determinants, clinical aspects of diagnosis and management, patient motivation and behaviour change, and long-term care. Since most felt unable to address social determinants such as poverty, discussions with patients tended to focus on attempts to change individual behaviours and achieve particular numerical targets, with limited attention to the social context in which behaviours would play out. Conclusion: Type two diabetes prevention efforts in general practice may fail to address the upstream causes of this disease. A narrow focus on numerical targets and decontextualised behaviours overlooks the social complexity of human behaviour and lifestyle choices. Within the consultation, the authors recommend that greater attention is paid to discussing the social context and meaning of particular behaviours. Beyond the consultation, collaboration between primary care clinicians, public health bodies, and local governments is required to address community-level constraints to behaviour change

The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2015: The Housing Cost Conundrum

Why has housing supply not kept up with housing demand? This is the question we decided to finally tackle head-on in this edition of the "Greater Boston Housing Report Card" by undertaking an in-depth study of detailed housing cost data that we have collected from housing agencies and developers. The answer to our question is an unsettling one. We have failed to meet housing production targets because there is no way to do so given the high cost of producing housing for working and middle-income households. In part, this is because of the extreme barriers to new construction, especially in the form of severely restrictive zoning at the local level across much of Massachusetts.Solving this problem of insufficient housing supply will require a battery of new approaches to zoning and construction techniques -- something that has eluded developers and policymakers alike. We suggest in these pages some new approaches to increase housing supply

The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2013: What Follows The Housing Recovery?

This report is the 11th in the series of annual "Greater Boston Housing Report Cards," the first of which appeared in 2002 at a time when housing prices in the region were skyrocketing. In the course of this series, we have reported on the local housing bubble from 2000 through 2005, during which time home prices appreciated at annual double-digit rates; the retreat in home prices that begain in 2006; and then the beginning of a housing recovery in 2010. Like past report cards, this 2013 report probes Greater Boston's housing landscape, keeping tabs on housing construction, home prices, and rents. We have analyzed the relationship between the region's economy, demography, and housing, and we have kept track of federal, state and local government policies that affect the region's housing market. This report also includes a new analysis of local zoning regulations in Greater Boston communities because of the critical role zoning can play, particularly in the development - or lack of developmeent - of multifamily housing. The 2013 Report Card attempts to answer six questions about Greater Boston's housing market and its effect on the region's well-being: 1. What are the most recent trends in home sales, housing production, and foreclosures? 2. What does the future trajectory of home prices and rents look like? 3. Given current economic conditions, is another housing bubble on the horizon? 4. Given the changing demographics and economic health of Greater Boston, have we begun to build appropriate new housing stock to meet expected demand and to help moderate furure price and rent hikes? 5. Do we still face zoning constraints at the local level that hinder the production of an appropriate housing stock for the region? 6. What roles are the federal government and the Commonwealth playing in the housing market today

Building On Our Heritage

Proposes state legislation to give incentives to communities to pass Smart Growth Overlay Zoning Districts that would allow for increased funding for affordable housing, less sprawl, more open space, and opportunities for preservation and revitalization

Explaining the UK's 'high-risk' approach to type 2 diabetes prevention: findings from a qualitative interview study with policy-makers in England

Objectives When seeking to prevent type 2 diabetes, a balance must be struck between individual approaches (focusing on people’s behaviour ‘choices’) and population approaches (focusing on the environment in which those choices are made) to address the socioeconomic complexity of diabetes development. We sought to explore how this balance is negotiated in the accounts of policy-makers developing and enacting diabetes prevention policy. Methods Twelve semistructured interviews were undertaken with nine UK policy-makers between 2018–2021. We explored their perspectives on disease prevention strategies and what influenced policy decision-making. Interviews were transcribed and analysed thematically using NVIVO. We used Shiffman’s political priority framework to theorise why some diabetes prevention policy approaches gather political support while others do not. Results The distribution of power and funding among relevant actors, and the way they exerted their power determined the dominant approach in diabetes prevention policy. As a result of this distribution, policy-makers framed their accounts of diabetes prevention policies in terms of individual behaviour change, monitoring personal quantitative markers but with limited ability to effect population-level approaches. Such an approach aligns with the current prevailing neoliberal political context, which focuses on individual lifestyle choices to prevent disease rather than on infrastructure measures to improve the environments and contexts within which those choices are made. Conclusion Within new local and national policy structures, there is an opportunity for collaborative working among the National Health Service, local governments and public health teams to balance the focus on disease prevention, addressing upstream drivers of ill health as well as targeting individuals with the highest risk of diabetes