How does state preemption impact immigrant communities?
Some U.S. cities have designated themselves “sanctuary cities” or have adopted policies limiting enforcement of federal immigration policies to promote health and well-being among immigrants. But several states have adopted laws that override or limit these municipal laws and policies. Researchers from Wake Forest University investigated the consequences of a North Carolina preemption law on the health and well-being of Latine immigrants and found that 12 themes emerged, including evidence that local sanctuary laws and policies have a chilling effect on use of health services and make life harder overall for Latine communities.
Opportunity Zones (OZ) were designed by the federal government to provide tax incentives for investments in new businesses and commercial projects in areas that have received an OZ designation. But how these designations affect their communities is unclear. Researchers at Howard University explored these potential impacts in the 100 most populous cities in the U.S. and Washington, D.C., and found that, in OZ-eligible neighborhoods, gentrification has increased, and in-migration rates of higher-income residents are significantly higher compared with their out-migration rates, displacing lower-income residents.
An algorithm that measures adverse childhood experiences
Researchers at Policies for Action’s hub at Vanderbilt University have developed a new algorithm to measure adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) within routinely collected health data. They used diagnosis and procedure codes, prescription drug fills, and enrollment files from TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid program, to develop the algorithm and applied it to measure occurrences of ACEs and examine prevalence by demographic characteristics. This new algorithm could enable surveillance and new research opportunities to inform care practices, programs, and policies to benefit children.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is now accepting proposals under its Research in Transforming Health and Healthcare Systems (RTHS) program. The purpose of the 2022 RTHS call for proposals is to fund research and policy analysis projects that examine policies related to the affordability of high-quality, equitable care. The foundation is prioritizing proposals that focus on a historically marginalized racial or ethnic group, people with disabilities, immigrants, people from the LGBTQ+ community, or another community that has historically faced systemic and persistent barriers to good health.
Apply by June 24, 2022.
