Food insecure individuals do not always have access to adequate food for a healthy lifestyle and are at high risk of detrimental health outcomes. Researchers hypothesize that food insecurity leads to changes in dietary practices, including greater overall food purchase in times of adequate resources and purchase of low-cost, unhealthful foods when resources are constrained. Most measures of food insecurity do not measure changes in dietary practices and dietary quality. Research findings suggest education that provides alternative strategies to manage resources and improve dietary practices can improve food insecurity. We assessed the relationship between 1) food security and ability to afford foods and 2) the impact of Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) in a low-income, multi-cultural population in Massachusetts. We used a pre/post-education survey design, including the USDA six-item Food Security Module (FSM), food-affordability questions and EFNEP behavior checklist. EFNEP participants experienced high rates of food insecurity with over 40% of participants classified as food insecure (N=80). Pre-EFNEP, individuals in households with low food security were less likely to report being able to afford healthy foods (51.5%) and fruits and vegetables (57.6%) throughout the month compared to those in households with high (80.9%) and marginal (78.7%) food security (P=0.007, P=0.051). Individuals in households with marginal, low and very low food security were less likely to report being able to afford the same kinds of food throughout the month compared to individuals in high food secure households (56.4% vs. 84%) (P=0.022). Individuals in food insecure households reported running out of food before the end of the month more often than their food secure peers (P=0.013). Post-EFNEP, a greater proportion of participants fell into the high and marginal categories of food security (60.0% to 71.7%, P=0.065). Our results indicate that food insecure households have a harder time affording healthy foods throughout the month, leading to poor diet quality that possibly contributes to poor health outcomes. The food affordability questions may capture changes in dietary practices in food insecure populations throughout the month. EFNEP can provide skills and knowledge to at risk populations to improve abilities and combat food insecurity.

This study examined how the longitudinal associations among children’s negative emotionality, mothers’ depressive symptoms, parental warmth, and children’s school readiness and whether the associations vary as a function of fathers’ positive involvement in low-income South Korean families. Participants were 399 families including mothers (Mage = 32.54 years at Time 1), fathers (Mage = 35.23 years at Time 1), and children (Mage = 38.92 months at Time 1; 50.5% boys) in the Panel Study on Korean Children. Results revealed that children’s negative emotionality was indirectly associated with their school readiness three years later, through its association with mothers’ depressive symptoms and warmth. Mothers’ warmth mediated the association between mothers’ depressive symptoms and children’s school readiness, and fathers’ warmth mediated the association between fathers’ positive involvement and children’s school readiness. Our findings revealed the family processes underlying children’s school readiness development in low-income Korean family contexts. Our findings also provide information useful for efforts to detect family risks and to establish family policies to promote low-income children’s school readiness.

Since the mid-century proliferation of public housing, policy makers and environmental justice advocates have exposed the fact that geographically and economically isolated public housing sites are ultimately detrimental to residents and communities. In recent years, more progressive housing policies have emphasized the importance of site location in the success of housing programs. This study explores the intersection of affordable housing policy and “food desert” research, by assessing the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program in California, with specific attention to the grocery store category within the Site Amenities section. Since the inception of the LIHTC program in 1986, the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (CTCAC) has made multiple revisions to its application process. The study evaluates the current accessibility of grocery stores from LIHTC sites in Alameda and Santa Clara Counties in Northern California. It also critiques the changes in application scoring, criteria, and the indicators of food facility proximity and quality, identifying weaknesses, recommendations, and areas for further research. It finds that despite CTCAC’s efforts to improve the effectiveness of the application, there does not seem to improvement in grocery store access over time. Further research is needed to determine whether this condition is a result of a failure on the part of the application process, or of high land costs and limited availability of developable land.

Children with disabilities (CWD) in East Africa experience occupational injustice in its most severe forms. A number of complex and dynamic factors contribute to this injustice including cultural beliefs about disability, a significant gap between policy adaptation and policy implementation, and physical barriers as a result of poverty. Uwezo is the Swahili word for ability, a name suitable for a program created to empower CWD in low-income countries (LIC) and lower-middle income countries (LMIC) to achieve their maximum potential. Uwezo is a community-owned and community-run vocational education program for CWD that will originate in East Africa with the intent to expand globally to serve additional communities in need. Children with disabilities ages 3-16 will learn three categories of classroom and experiential instruction including: education for everyday living, life skills and vocational study. Designed with sustainability as a priority, the program will be presented to community members as a template, intended to be carefully tailored according to the community’s unique priorities and needs. Ultimately, Uwezo has the potential to rapidly shift cultural perception about disability, enhance the local economy, inspire grassroot advocacy efforts, and improve the and quality of life for children and persons with disabilities.

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The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act contained the largest federal initiative for place-based investment in over half a century. Opportunity Zones (“OZs”) are expected to cost the US government over $15 billion in forgone tax revenue through 2026, exceeding both the Clinton Era Empowerment Zones and the Great Society programs of Lyndon Johnson. Have OZs increased neighborhood investment and, if so, what types of projects and neighborhoods have benefitted? This dissertation presents three baseline evaluations of OZ. The first essay discusses the findings from 76 interviews with community and government officials, program managers, developers, businesses, and fund managers about OZ outcomes in West Baltimore. The second essay uses a difference-in-differences (DID) event study framework, an adjusted interrupted time series analysis, and census tract matching techniques to compare small business and residential lending outcomes in OZs with areas that were eligible but not designated. The final essay combines an online search for OZ supported affordable housing projects, a DID design that examines Low-Income Housing Tax Credit outcomes, and 16 interviews with community development experts to evaluate whether and how OZ is having an impact on affordable housing production. These three analyses show that OZ is a missed opportunity. OZ is stimulating investment conversations and local government capacity, but it is failing at oversight and community engagement and not changing outcomes for distressed community development or affordable housing. OZ is failing because it provides weak incentives for capital gains investors seeking market rate returns, because it does not support investors and developers already active in distressed neighborhoods, and because of several related design flaws that inhibit mission driven development. The essays propose specific policy changes necessary for OZ to encourage investment in highly distressed neighborhoods and to support affordable housing production.

Consumer debt is a growing phenomenon in the US and throughout the world. The beginning of the 21st century has been defined by such an incredible growth in consumer debt that American families have increased their debt relative to personal income four times faster than in the 1990s. Since the Federal Reserve began measuring the amount of American consumer debt and consumer income in the 1980s, consumer debt never exceeded consumer income until 2004 when it reached 104.8% of income. In the last two decades, researchers have observed a significant correlation between debt and mental health. The purpose of this thesis is to examine a comprehensive sample of previous quantitative research conducted on the relationship between debt and mental health. This thesis discusses the research in the following categories: 1) increased debt as a contributor to decreased mental health; 2) decreased mental health as a contributor to increased debt; 3) high correlation between debt and mental health risks.

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