Securing a Healthy Future: The Commonwealth Fund State Scorecard on Child Health System Performance, 2011

Ranks states on twenty indicators of healthcare access, affordability, prevention and treatment, potential for healthy lives, and health system equity for children. Examines the need for targeted initiatives and policy implications for better performance

Why Not the Best? Results From the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2011

Assesses the U.S. healthcare system's average performance in 2007-09 as measured by forty-two indicators of health outcomes, quality, access, efficiency, and equity compared with the 2006 and 2008 scorecards and with domestic and international benchmarks

Home Food Production Before, During and Since Start of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northern New England

This brief details the results from three separate surveys of Northern New Englanders in Maine and Vermont in summer 2020, spring 2021, and spring 2022. A survey was conducted in summer of 2020 to understand the initial and continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security, diet, and health outcomes. Two additional surveys were conducted using the same methods in spring 2021 and 2022 to continue to assess changes during the pandemic. All surveys were representative of the state populations on race and ethnicity and the data presented in this brief were weighted to be representative of income in both states. Collectively, the surveys represent more than 3,000 individuals. Key results include:1. Home Food Production (HFP) is common and has continued to increase among respondents since the beginning of the pandemic. Among respondents, 32% participated in HFP in 2020, 59% in 2021, and 65% in 2022. 2. The most common HFP activities in 2022 were gardening (48%) and food preservation (34%). 3. Food insecurity has been variable across years: 40% of households were food insecure in 2020, 31% of households were food insecure in 2021, and 39% of respondents were food insecure in 2022. 4. Food insecure households were more likely to participate in HFP (especially fishing, foraging, hunting, and raising animals for meat, dairy or eggs) compared to food secure households across all three surveys. 5. Pests (63%), weather (60%), and money for equipment or supplies (58%) were the biggest barriers for people participating in any HFP

MatriART: Feminist Genealogy and Life Teaching in Art Education

This study speaks to the female identity and life-long education that occurs through traditions of nurturing, mentoring, and art. In my particular case, among these educational experiences passed down through generations of women in my family, are creative practices and independent thinking that I attribute to the notion of what I call MatriART, which is my interpretation of personal feminist genealogy and life teaching in relation to Art Education. The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how my lived experiences and life stories not only shape who I am, but how my experiences transcend into the lives that I touch, including generations of students I now teach. This study also exemplifies how MatriART, as art and creative thinking, can be facilitated outside the classroom, including community settings, where art practice can be a product of mentorship from a very young age, suggesting the integration of a feminist genealogical pattern from both a holistic and a critical theory approach to art practice and art research

Why retrofitting homes will be difficult for low income households

Opinion: are we doing enough to support low income households in the transition to energy efficiency

Food Security Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Following a Group of Vermonters During the First Year

We surveyed a cohort of Vermonters three times during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic to understand the impacts of the pandemic on food security and food access. The surveys were conducted in March/April 2020, June 2020, and March/April 2021. A total of 441 Vermonters responded to all three surveys. This brief shares changes in their experiences between March 2020 and March 2021. Key findings include: 1. Food insecurity rates increased during the pandemic and remained above pre-pandemic levels a year after the start of the pandemic. 2. 31.6% of respondents experienced food insecurity at some point in the first year of the pandemic. Of those, 46.9% were food insecure before the pandemic, but over half (53.1%) were newly food insecure. Of the respondents who experienced food insecurity at any point during the pandemic, 61.9% were still food insecure in March 2021. 3. People without a college degree, those with a job disruption, households with children, women, and younger people had greater odds of experiencing food insecurity in March 2021. 4. Fewer respondents were using federal food assistance programs and food pantries in March 2021 compared to earlier in the pandemic. 5. More than half of respondents (54.2%) reported suffering a job disruption (i.e. job loss, reduction in work hours or income, furlough) since March 2020 and 18.4% were still experiencing a job disruption in March 2021. 6. Vermonters today are less concerned about food becoming more expensive and possible loss of food assistance programs compared to earlier in the pandemic

Food Security and Assistance Programs in Vermont Before and During COVID-19

Here we surveyed a cohort of Vermonters at three time points over the first year of the pandemic. The surveys were conducted in March/ April 2020, June 2020, and March/April 2021. The demographics of the 441 Vermonters who responded to all three surveys are comparable to average Vermont demographics on income, but the respondents were more likely to have a college degree and to identify as female. This brief explores how the use of food assistance programs varied within this population and changed over the course of the pandemic. Key findings include: 1. The number of Vermonters using food assistance programs grew by 86.7% between March 2020 and March 2021 from 24.8% to 46.4%. 2. Vermonters using food assistance programs were more likely to have lower incomes and education levels, to have children, or to have experienced job disruption during the pandemic than those that did not use food assistance programs. 3. BIPOC/Hispanic Vermonters were more likely to use community-based food assistance programs (compared with federal food assistance programs) than non-Hispanic white Vermonters. 4. Worries about the qualifications, logistics, and stigma involved in using food programs grew between May/June 2020 and March 2021. 5. Experiences and perceptions of food assistance program use vary significantly between individuals using federal programs, community programs, or a combination of the two. 6. There are significant demographic differences between groups of people using federal programs, community programs, or a combination of the two

Rising to the Challenge: Results From a Scorecard on Local Health Performance, 2012

Provides comparative data with respect to healthcare access, prevention and treatment, costs and avoidable hospital use, and outcomes in three hundred-plus localities. Examines disparities in access and quality by geography, income, and poverty rate