“Caregiving Youth” and the Patchwork History of Recognition in the United States

This article examines the U.S. legislative and policy landscape and its historical and contemporary recognition of young people as caregivers and their importance to public health, both as care providers and as a category of special concern for overall wellbeing. Drawing on feminist geographies of health to situate a historical analysis, we aim to answer two key questions: First, what is the history of recognition of caregiving youth in key moments of federal action to address family caregiving needs? Second, how might we use this history to better understand and analyze the patchwork geography of caregiving youth recognition in the U.S. and other countries that similarly lack formal national policy recognition to improve and enhance public health? We use the term patchwork to describe how federal recognition of caregiving youth in broader debates about public health is uneven across both time and space, and contingent upon civil society, non-profit organizations, and researchers working in and with geographically bound communities. Our results illustrate how a focus on the relationships of recognition, both in the past and the present and at local and national scales, reveals a different perspective on caregiving youth in the U.S. with a much more complex history than previously identified. The article describes how relationships established in the absence of federal policy or legislation are sometimes directed towards building more formal recognition, and other times with the goal of changing practices in a specific location

Centering Racial Equity in Measurement and Evaluation: Emerging Lessons and Guidance from Human Services Nonprofits

Many nonprofit organizations that provide direct human services are exploring how racial equity and inclusion (REI) and performance measurement collectively inform decision-making and strategies that affect their core mission. Human service nonprofits often hold an explicit charge to increase the well-being of people who have been disempowered, disadvantaged, and systematically oppressed. Starting from this mission orientation, organizations can benefit from guidance, outlined in this report, on operationalizing racial equity values within their measurement and evaluation work and acknowledging the systemic barriers that influence client outcomes.