Disadvantaged Communities Research Articles

Environmental justice promotion in the Italian contaminated sites through the national epidemiological surveillance system SENTIERI

Conceptual and operational aspects of studying and promoting environmental justice and the results from assessments on environmental justice carried out within the epidemiological surveillance SENTIERI focused on communities living close to main Italian contaminated sites are here summarized. The communities under SENTIERI surveillance often have environmental injustice conditions associated with the cumulative impact of environmental pressures due to contamination and a high socioeconomic deprivation and mortality risk. In Italy, a North-South divide gradient is present, with the worst conditions in the South&Island, where most communities affected by contaminated sites are socioeconomically deprived. The main mechanisms of development and maintenance of distributive injustice in contaminated sites are attributable to procedural injustice conditions, with marginalization and misrecognition of disadvantaged communities or subgroups in decisional processes regarding both the location and permanence of polluting industrial plants and the interventions on remediation and reduction of hazardous exposures and health-related impacts. Within SENTIERI, strategies have been developed to produce participative territorial communication plans and to strengthen the environmental health literacy of local institutional and social actors. SENTIERI contributes in promoting environmental justice through the empowerment of social capacities of local communities.

Leader and Provider Perspectives on Implementing Safe Alternatives for Teens and Youth - Acute (SAFETY-A) in Public School Districts Serving Racial/ethnic Minoritized Youth.

Racial/ethnic minoritized (REM) youth represent a high-risk group for suicide, yet there are striking disparities in their use of mental health services (MHS) even after risk is identified in schools. Prior research suggests that school-based risk assessments and hospitalization encounters can be negatively experienced by REM youth and families, thus deterring likelihood of seeking follow-up care. The Safe Alternatives for Teens and Youth-Acute (SAFETY-A) is a brief, strengths-based, cognitive-behavioral family intervention demonstrated to increase linkage to MHS when implemented in emergency departments. With its focus on strengths and family engagement, SAFETY-A may cultivate a positive therapeutic encounter suited to addressing disparities in MHS by enhancing trust and family collaboration, if appropriately adapted for schools. Thirty-seven school district leaders and frontline school MHS providers from districts serving primarily socioeconomically disadvantaged REM communities participated in key informant interviews and focus groups. First, interviews were conducted to understand usual care processes for responding to students with suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and perspectives on the strengths and disadvantages of current practices. An as-is process analysis was used to describe current practices spanning risk assessment, crisis intervention, and follow-up. Second, focus groups were conducted to solicit perceptions of the fit of SAFETY-A for these school contexts. Thematic analysis of the interviews and focus groups was used to identify multilevel facilitators and barriers to SAFETY-A implementation, and potential tailoring variables for implementation strategies across school districts.

PERAN KOMUNITAS INDONESIA PINTAR DALAM MENINGKATKAN MOTIVASI BELAJAR ANAK DI KAMPUNG PEMULUNG PONDOK LABU JAKARTA SELATAN

AbstrakEducation is the most important aspect for the Indonesian nation. The field of education is one component that has a large enough role to create quality human beings. In Indonesia, education is divided into two, namely formal and non-formal education. Poverty is a factor that makes many students drop out of school. The high cost of education makes people choose to work for their children instead of going to school. The Smart Indonesia Community is one of the communities that provides educational counseling to disadvantaged communities in the Pondok Labu Pemulung Village, which is under the auspices of the Creative Counseling House Foundation. The research was conducted with the aim of knowing the role of the Smart Indonesia Community in carrying out teaching and learning activities and the influence of the community on increasing children's enthusiasm and motivation to learn. The method used in this research is qualitative with a descriptive approach. The data used in the study were observation and interviews. The location used in this research is the scavenger village, Pondok Labu, South Jakarta. Based on the results of the research, it shows that the Smart Indonesia Community is able to provide educational facilities, education, collaborate with foundations in providing education and facilities, as well as providing technical skills such as package schools.

Landscape Preference Evaluation of Old Residential Neighbourhoods: A Case Study in Shi Jiazhuang, Hebei Province, China

Landscape preference and cognition are essential in determining the external environment’s subjective reflections. Although much research has been conducted on landscape preferences, there is still a lack of information on landscape perceptions and preferences among residents of disadvantaged neighbourhoods, especially in Chinese cities. Taking old residential neighbourhoods of Shijiazhuang as an example, this paper used a large-scale questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews to determine the landscape preference of the residents of old residential neighbourhoods for the community green spaces using the virtual model method. The chi-square test method is used to explore the inner logic of aesthetic preference from two aspects: landscape characteristics and socio-demographic characteristics. The respondents are 668 residents of old residential neighbourhoods (300 males, 368 females) distributed in four larger communities in the main urban area of Shijiazhuang. Random sampling and volunteer sampling were used to choose the survey respondents. The results showed this: (1) In terms of soft landscapes, respondents prefer natural planting, spaces with very high plant richness and high green coverage. In terms of hard landscapes, there is a preference for fitness and leisure facilities, rubber floors and a slight preference for water features and decorative landscape elements. (2) From the chi-square results, age significantly affects landscape preference, gender and education level. In contrast, marital status and occupation have no significant effect on landscape preference. The expression of the landscape preference of the residents of old residential neighbourhoods reflects the needs for functionality, reality and local concept. The main aim of this study is to fully understand the landscape preferences of residents in old residential neighbourhoods when using green space, and to find out what factors will affect residents’ landscape preferences. The research results have guiding significance for rationally improving the landscape planning, design and management of old residential neighbourhoods, and at the same time make up for the lack of international research on landscape preferences of disadvantaged communities. Improving the environment of old residential neighbourhoods can develop a higher sense of security, happiness and satisfaction among the residents.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic, Social Vulnerability, and Opioid Overdoses in Chicago

This research was undertaken to examine the individual and neighborhood drivers that contributed to increases in opioid overdose deaths (OODs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The incident location and CDC social vulnerability index (along with the individual indicators) were then geocoded to one of the 77 Chicago Community Areas (CCAs). Changes in OOD rates were calculated and compared for each CCA using linear regression between 2019 and 2020. OODs increased by 45% from 2019 to 2020. CCAs in the highest 25th percentile of social vulnerability before the pandemic had a 2.8 times higher rate of OODs when compared to CCAs in the lowest 25th percentile. The increase in OOD rate observed from 2019 to 2020 was 10.2 times higher in the most social vulnerable CCAs compared to the least vulnerable communities. CCAs with the highest degree of social vulnerability had a higher baseline and disproportionate relative increase in OOD rate compared to least vulnerable CCAs. COVID-19 has revealed the urgent need for policies that better support the social and economic security of disadvantaged communities, particularly for residents who use opioids.

Developing and tuning a community scale energy model for a disadvantaged community

This work describes the development of a community-scale energy model for a mixed-use low-income community located in Huntington Beach, CA. An accurate community-scale energy model is useful for evaluating the use of limited capital resources used to invest in clean energy technologies. This work lays out the process of developing such a model while relying primarily on publicly available data and highlighting critical partnerships necessary for model development success. The primary contribution of this work is the demonstration of the process used to develop an accurate energy model for a disadvantaged community when minimal building and energy use data is available. The heart of the model is the physics-based community scale energy modeling platform URBANopt. Using a bottom-up load modeling approach, energy simulated energy use falls within 3% or less of aggregate annual utility data, and within 10% or less aggregate monthly utility data. The demonstrated model development and tuning process can be used by others to characterize other atypical communities, which may differ significantly from prototypical models.

School-based health care: improving academic outcomes for inner-city children-a prospective cohort quasi-experimental study.

We examined whether a school-based health center model improved academic achievement compared to usual care. This was a quasi-experimental prospective cohort study. The primary outcome was an academic achievement. In addition, we analyzed sociodemographic characteristics and their relationship toacademic achievement, and the wait time for a developmental assessment. The differences in change of grades over time (from 2016/2017 to 2018/2019) were small for reading (-0.83, 95% CI -3.48, 1.82, p = 0.51), writing (-1.11, 95% CI -3.25, 1.03, p = 0.28), and math (0.06, 95% CI -3.08, 2.94, p = 0.98). The experimental arm's average wait time for developmental assessment was 3.4 months. In this small, quasi-experimental prospective cohort study, we did not find evidence that our SBHC model improved academic achievement; however, the wait time at the SBHCs was considerably less than the provincial wait time for a developmental assessment. NCT04540003. This study describes a unique and innovative school-based health center model. Our findings support the benefits of school-based health centers in diagnosing and treating children with developmental and mental health disorders for disadvantaged communities. This study did not find an improvement in academic achievement for school-based health center users. This study found that the wait time to developmental assessment was shorter for school-based health center users compared to the wait time reported in the community. Pandemic-associated school disruptions have highlighted the importance of accessible school-based health services for children requiring mental health and developmental assessments and care.

From fallow ground to common ground: Perspectives on future land uses in the San Joaquin valley under sustainable groundwater management

Agriculture dominates California's San Joaquin Valley with over five million acres of farmland produces 400 different commodities ranging from nuts, tree fruits, vines, and row crops. During dry years agricultural production in the San Joaquin Valley uses about 53% of total applied water in the state. Implementation of California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) will restrict groundwater pumping, likely reducing irrigated agricultural land use resulting in conversion to alternative land uses. To promote collaborative and inclusive efforts to repurpose agricultural land, California's legislature established a funding program administered by the Department of Conservation, the Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program (MLRP), in 2021. To ensure that land repurposing plans under the MLRP and SGMA represent San Joaquin Valley community needs this paper examines public perceptions of future land uses under SGMA through a phone survey. Respondents (n = 197) were recruited through a stratified random sample of mobile numbers registered within communities in the San Joaquin Valley classified as disadvantaged communities (DACs) (n = 32). Our results show that most respondents were somewhat (33%) or not at all (54%) familiar with SGMA, highlighting the need for outreach efforts to overcome barriers to representation, translation, and education about future water and land use decisions. Survey respondents identified secure water supplies (e.g., groundwater recharge) (35%) and less-water intensive agriculture (27%) as their top land use priorities to address groundwater overdraft under SGMA, indicating that the status quo for land use is preferred to alternative land uses. Preference for maintaining agriculture as primary land use (27%), we correlated with agricultural identity and lack of interest in community or global benefits such as schools and climate change mitigation. The findings from this study underscore the local variability in land use values and the importance to engaging local communities in land use decision-making, especially as they relate to changing current practices toward a more climate-resilient but agriculturally productive future with less land and less water.

Children from socioeconomically disadvantaged communities present in more advanced heart failure at the time of transplant listing.

Transplant registries in the US do not collect information about community level risk factors. We utilized a community level socio-economic risk indicator, the distressed communities' index to understand its association with clinical presentation among children listed for heart transplant (HT). We found that currently, majority (40%) of children listed from distressed communities are Black. On multivariable analysis, compared to children from prosperous communities, those from distressed communities listed for HT were significantly more likely to be Status 1A (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.39) and on a ventricular assist device (aOR 1.44). Compared to White children from prosperous communities, both Black and White children from distressed communities were more likely to be listed Status 1A (aOR 2.1 and 1.36 respectively) and have renal dysfunction (aOR 1.71 and 1.52 respectively). In conclusion, heart failure severity at listing appears more likely associated with community-level risk factors and less so with child's race/ethnicity.

Colorectal Cancer Screening Disparities Among Race: A Zip Code Level Analysis

BackgroundColorectal cancer (CRC) screening can prevent disease by early identification. Existing disparities in CRC screening have been associated with factors including race, socioeconomic status, insurance, and even geography. Our study takes a deeper look into how social determinants related to zip code tabulation areas affect CRC screenings. Materials and MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study of CRC screenings by race at a zip code level, evaluating for impactful social determinant factors such as the social deprivation index (SDI). We used publicly available data from CDC 500 Cities Project (2016-2019), PLACES Project (2020), and the American Community Survey (2019). We conducted multivariate and confirmatory factor analyses among race, income, health insurance, check-up visits, and SDI. ResultsIncreasing the tertile of SDI was associated with a higher likelihood of being Black or Hispanic, as well as decreased median household income (P < .01). Lower rates of regular checkup visits were found in the third tertile of SDI (P < .01). The multivariate analysis showed that being Black, Hispanic, lower income, being uninsured, lack of regular check-ups, and increased SDI were related to decreased CRC screening. In the confirmatory factor analysis, we found that SDI and access to insurance were the variables most related to decreased CRC screening. ConclusionOur results reveal the top 2 factors that impact a locality's CRC screening rates are the social deprivation index and access to health care. This data may help implement interventions targeting social barriers to further promote CRC screenings within disadvantaged communities and decrease overall mortality via early screening.

Community Inclusion under Systemic Inequality: How For‐Profit Businesses Pursue Social Purpose

AbstractIn countries where systemic inequality is pervasive, purposeful businesses that assume wider societal responsibilities try to counteract its effects by including marginalized social groups in their value creation processes. While current research documents a variety of business approaches for community inclusion, the nature, drivers and effectiveness of these inclusionary practices are not fully understood. We develop and empirically validate a framework of community inclusion that explicates the mechanisms through which purposeful businesses generate civic wealth – or economic and social benefits – to disadvantaged community groups. We differentiate between commercial practices that recast existent firm‐centric processes towards creating value for marginalized groups and collaborative practices that aim to devise novel, participatory processes for engaging marginalized groups. Analysis of primary data from a sample of 430 small businesses in seven African countries confirms that the effect of social purpose on civic wealth is partially mediated by the two inclusionary practices. Businesses are more likely to extend the scope of their inclusion through collaborative practices when they receive favourable external validation and when institutional voids are low. We contribute to the literature by documenting the role of social purpose in motivating the pursuit of community‐level goals and by unpacking the specific inclusionary practices used to achieve them.

Determinants of birthweight in rural Sri Lanka; a cohort study

BackgroundIdentifying determinants of birthweight among disadvantaged communities is critical to further reducing the inequitable burden of perinatal health issues in low-and-middle income settings. Therefore, we adopted a bio-psycho-social approach to identify the determinants of birthweight in a mother-infant cohort from a rural setting in Sri Lanka, a lower-middle-income country.MethodsAll third-trimester pregnant women with a singleton pregnancy registered for the national antenatal care programme at Ipalogama health division in 2017 were invited for a prospective cohort study. Data was collected using a self-completed questionnaire and data extraction from health records. The mother-infant cohort was followed up until one month after delivery. A principal component analysis was performed using economic, social, and psychological variables, and two composite variables were achieved. Care from husband and household members, perceived wellbeing, frequency of abuse, and affect during the third trimester strongly loaded to the variable 'psychosocial wellbeing'. Monthly income, husband's education level, and use of biomass fuel strongly loaded to the variable 'socioeconomic status'. Hierarchical logistic regression was used to predict factors associated with birthweight. Maternal age, parity, baby's sex, and gestational period at pregnancy registration were entered at the first step. BMI, psychosocial wellbeing, socioeconomic status, hypertensive disorders, and gestational/chronic diabetes were entered at step two. Preterm birth was entered at step three.Results532 women were recruited, and 495 were retained at the postpartum follow-up. 421 (74.8%) had reported being abused at least once during the preceding month. Birthweight was approximately normally distributed (mean 2912 g, SD 456.6 g). Low birthweight was present in 72 (14.6%, 95% CI 11.7,17.9), and 46 (9.3%, 95% CI 7.0,12.1) had birthweights > 3500 g. The regression model explained 13.2% of the variance in birthweight. Preterm birth, maternal BMI, and mid-pregnancy psychosocial wellbeing could explain 6.9%(p < 0.001), 3.9(p < 0.001), and 1.2%(p = 0.02) of unique variance, respectively.ConclusionsIn a setting where a large proportion of pregnant women suffer 'abuse' in their homes, psychosocial wellbeing during pregnancy was an important determinant of birthweight of babies. Expanding routine maternal care services, especially at the primary care level, to cater to the psychosocial issues of pregnant women would help reduce inequities in perinatal health.

Government Program Celebrates 25 Years of Commitment to Environmental Justice Movement.

For over 25 years, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Environmental Career Worker Training Program (ECWTP) has advanced principles of environmental justice by funding nonprofit organizations, or grantees, to deliver health, safety, and job training for individuals from disadvantaged communities. This article provides a brief background of the environmental justice movement and examines the efforts of grantees to demonstrate how the ECWTP model can serve as a pathway for advancing environmental justice in disadvantaged and underserved communities.

Dollar Stores and Food Access for Rural Households in the United States, 2008‒2020.

Dollar stores have rapidly expanded their food offerings in recent years. These foods tend to be higher in calories and lower in nutrients, raising public health concerns, especially in rural and low-income areas where food-access challenges are often greatest. However, there is limited empirical evidence evaluating the impact of this expansion on household food purchases on a national scale. Using data from a yearly, nationally representative panel of approximately 50 000 households, we estimated the share of food purchases from 2008 to 2020 by store type and evaluated the role of dollar stores as food retailers in the United States. We found that dollar stores were the fastest-growing food retailers by household expenditure share (increasing by 89.7%), with rural growth outpacing growth elsewhere (increasing by 102.9%). Though dollar stores still represent a small share of national household food purchases (2.1% in 2020), they play an increasingly prominent role in food-at-home purchases for certain disadvantaged and rural communities. Understanding the quality of the foods they offer and how this may affect diet-related health outcomes is warranted. (Am J Public Health. 2023;113(3):331-336. https://doi.org/10.2105/10.2105/AJPH.2022.307193).

Evaluating Meaningful Engagement Under Environmental Justice Mandates: A Case Study of California’s SB1000 Implementation in Santa Ana

California Senate Bill 1000 (2016) requires that general plans include environmental justice strategies and policies that address the needs of Disadvantaged Communities (DACs). This article draws upon principles for engagement developed by environmental justice activists to explore Santa Ana’s 2014-2020 general plan update and understand whether SB1000 contributed to meaningful engagement in DACs. A review of planning documents and interviews with key informants reveals that the initial general plan framework was captured by NIMBYs and that the City was unable to pivot to meet SB1000 mandates. Moreover, the City resisted activist and State demands to halt general plan adoption amid COVID-19. Ultimately, in the case of Santa Ana, SB1000 has not led to meaningful engagement with disadvantaged communities.

Building an interactive web mapping tool to support distributed energy resource planning using public participation GIS

Community solar projects involve the installation of large PV systems whose net outputs are then virtually allocated to customers at other locations. They represent a relatively new model of distributed energy resource (DER) implementation that could help overcome some historical barriers to low-income, disadvantaged community, renter household participation in the ongoing renewable energy transition. Siting community solar assets is a thick and inherently geographic problem however, one which relates to historical patterns of energy infrastructure investment, local urban development, and community socio-demographic change. Creating a more equitable energy system will require planning tools which better coordinate the DER adoption decisions of individual property owners with the grid operators. Interactive decision support tools based on web maps are well suited to addressing this need for improved information sharing and coordination. However, such tools need to be designed and implemented through a process of public participation with stakeholders who explicitly focus on social and environmental justice. Here we describe the process by which one such tool was developed. We also report on several important findings derived from its use relating to current imbalances between local DER supply potential and the grid integration capacity limits which exist within Southern California's disadvantaged communities.

Environmental advocates will monitor funding

“I think 2023 will be a very busy year,” says Robert Bullard, director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice. “Busy from the standpoint of building on some of the wins that we were able to achieve in 2022, particularly as it relates to getting environmental and climate justice integrated into federal policy, and making sure resources and funding follow those priorities.” Bullard, Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University, notes that federal funds and programs from President Joe Biden’s administration amount to a level of support that the environmental justice movement has never seen before. The $369 billion Climate Bill, part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, for example, commits $60 billion to establishing grants and funding clean energy and environmental mitigation projects in disadvantaged communities. More broadly, the Biden administration has committed to channeling 40% of the benefits of relevant

The Experience of Self-Transcendence in Social Activists.

Every day the wellbeing of disadvantaged individuals and communities is being transformed through the activities of self-transcendent social activists. The positive contagion generated by their actions is felt globally through influence, replication, leadership training and education. These people are visionary, brave, and describe their lives as joyful, deeply fulfilled, and impactful. Seeking no personal recognition or accolade, born from a deep feeling of connectedness and a vision of how life could be better, participants describe the factors that influenced their decision to dedicate their lives to serving the greater good. Using Constructivist Grounded Theory, in-depth semi structured interviews were carried out with eight participants who self-identified as self-transcendent social activists, who have initiated non-mandated and not-for-profit community action. Data was analyzed to explore each participant's personal experiences of self-transcendence and how being self-transcendent has manifested their life choices. The findings present a definition of 'self-transcendent social activism' and a theoretical model that explains the development of participants' activism: trigger, activate, maintain and sustain, resulting in an impact experienced at three levels - individual, community and global. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Aeromedical retrievals as a measure of potentially preventable hospitalisations and cost comparison with provision of GP-led primary health care in a remote community.

Kowanyama is a very remote Aboriginal community. It is ranked amongst the top five most disadvantaged communities in Australia and has a very high burden of disease. Currently, the community has access to GP-led Primary Health Care (PHC) 2.5 days a week for a population of 1200 people. This audit aims to assess whether GP access correlates with retrievals and/or hospital admissions for potentially preventable conditions and whether it is cost effective and improves outcomes to provide the benchmarked staffing of GPs. A clinical audit was undertaken of aeromedical retrievals for the year 2019 to assess whether access to a rural GP would have prevented the need for retrieval and whether the condition for retrieval was 'preventable' or 'not preventable'. A cost-analysis was undertaken to compare the cost of providing accepted benchmark levels of GPs in community with the cost of potentially preventable retrievals. There were 89 retrievals of 73 patients in 2019. 61% of all retrievals were potentially preventable. Most (67%) of the preventable retrievals occurred with no doctor on site. For preventable condition retrievals, the mean number of visits to the clinic compared with non-preventable condition retrievals was higher for registered nurse or health worker visits (1.24 vs 0.93) and lower for GP visits (0.22 vs 0.37). The conservatively calculated costs of retrievals for 2019 matched the maximum cost of providing benchmark numbers (2.6 FTE) of rural generalist (RG) GPs in a rotating model for the audited community. Greater access to GP-led PHC appears to lead to fewer retrievals and hospital admissions for potentially preventable conditions. It is likely that some preventable condition retrievals would be avoided if a GP was always on site. Providing benchmarked numbers of RG GPs in a rotating model in remote communities is cost-effective and would improve patient outcomes.

Effective Removal of Metal ion and Organic Compounds by Non-Functionalized rGO.

Effective removal of heavy metals from water is critical for environmental safety and public health. This work presents a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) obtained simply by using gallic acid and sodium ascorbate, without any high thermal process or complex functionalization, for effective removal of heavy metals. FTIR and Raman analysis show the effective conversion of graphene oxide (GO) into rGO and a large presence of defects in rGO. Nitrogen adsorption isotherms show a specific surface area of 83.5 m2/g. We also measure the zeta-potential of the material showing a value of -52 mV, which is lower compared to the -32 mV of GO. We use our rGO to test adsorption of several ion metals (Ag (I), Cu (II), Fe (II), Mn (II), and Pb(II)), and two organic contaminants, methylene blue and hydroquinone. In general, our rGO shows strong adsorption capacity of metals and methylene blue, with adsorption capacity of qmax = 243.9 mg/g for Pb(II), which is higher than several previous reports on non-functionalized rGO. Our adsorption capacity is still lower compared to functionalized graphene oxide compounds, such as chitosan, but at the expense of more complex synthesis. To prove the effectiveness of our rGO, we show cleaning of waste water from a paper photography processing operation that contains large residual amounts of hydroquinone, sulfites, and AgBr. We achieve 100% contaminants removal for 20% contaminant concentration and 63% removal for 60% contaminant concentration. Our work shows that our simple synthesis of rGO can be a simple and low-cost route to clean residual waters, especially in disadvantaged communities with low economical resources and limited manufacturing infrastructure.