Connect, Communicate, Collaborate – Summer 2021

FROM THE DIRECTOR

​Summertime and living appears to be getting a bit easier with the break between semesters and the easing of COVID-19 measures. As part of the latter, CCRS has moved its Wilmington offices this Spring to a space that better fits our programmatic needs, and has resumed some “in person” get-togethers among staff, bringing together colleagues who in many cases have not shared a physical space in over a year. Through this, we continue to be active in our research and service work, and I invite you to look over the following summary of activities in various CCRS programs. ​

​FAREWELL

​Dr. Erin Knight will be leaving CCRS July 9th for a tenure-track faculty position in the Department of Health at West Chester University. Erin has been at CCRS since 2013, first as a Health Policy Fellow and then as Associate Director of CCRS, Assistant Professor in the Biden School, and Associate Director for the UD Partnership for Healthy Communities. She has led the Del-CAN Evaluation over the past several years and contributed to numerous other research and evaluation projects within the Center. Erin introduced numerous students to public health through her teaching and mentorship. She helped to develop and grow our undergraduate public health program and her efforts contributed to the creation of UD’s Masters of Public Health program. In addition, she contributed greatly in the area of health equity and racial disparities in health throughout the state through her work with the UD Partnership for Healthy Communities. West Chester’s gain is CCRS’s loss. Her leadership and friendship at CCRS will be sorely missed. Best of luck!​

KIDS COUNT IN DELAWARE

KIDS COUNT has continued its Timeline Tuesdays Data Snapshot Webinar Series. This was a year-long webinar series created a forum for leaders from across the state to engage in conversations - both grounded in data and informed by those working in the field - to advance collaboration towards positive outcomes for children and families. The goal of this series is to translate research and policy from the past 25 years into effective action steps in partnership with stakeholders and interested community members.

Future webinar dates & topics planned:

• July 20, 2021 at 1:00 PM Data Snapshot: Children in Single-Parent Families and Other Family Structures
• August 17, 2021 at 1:00 PM Data Snapshot: Births to Teens
• September 21, 2021 at 1:00 PM Data Snapshot Wrap-up, Revisit and Review

A recording, a copy of the data presentation, and supplemental materials for each webinar already held can be found online​. The most recent include:

• Data Snapshot: High School Graduation held on April 20th*
• Data Snapshot: Children in Poverty held on May 18th**
• Data Snapshot: Student Assessment held on June 15th

*This webinar featured CCRS Public Policy Intern Miranda Perez-Rivera as a panelist, sharing lived experience of graduating high school and starting college in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

** This webinar featured CCRS Public Policy Intern Natalie Paramo as a data expert, detailing the landscape of child poverty in Delaware.

KIDS COUNT also released its 2021 KIDS COUNT Fact Book: Delaware Kids and COVID-19. The factbook is a compilation of statewide data for public use, with the central theme on Delaware kids and COVID-19. Traditional indicators included assess trends in the overall health and well-being of children before the coronavirus began. These data are supplemented with measures from the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey to show some of the immediate impacts of COVID-19. Supplemental materials – including a recording of the release event and power point presentations – are provided on our publications page.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation's 2021 KIDS COUNT® Data Book​ is now available.

KIDS COUNT in Delaware issues 2021 What Would It Take Delaware – a companion piece to the national data book – provides an overview of the sixteen national indicators, an analysis of where Delaware falls in comparison to the national average for each indicator, and examines “what would it take" for Delaware to rank best in the nation for each of the indicators.​

HEALTH POLICY AND RESEARCH

​Dr. Katie Fitzpatrick​, Associate Professor, Biden School of Public Policy & Administration, presented Does Increased Use of Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) Have Unintended Costs? at the American Society of Health Economists (ASHEcon) Annual Conference in a panel entitled "Impact of Medicaid Policies on Health Outcomes" on June 21st. The presentation highlights the work of the ACCEL funded project lead by Dr. Fitzpatrick. CCRS researchers Erin Knight​, Katie Gifford, and Mary Joan McDuffie have collaborated on this project along with graduate research student Ellen Schenk, MPP, '21.

Recent publications:

Postpartum contraception method type and risk of a short interpregnancy interval in a state Medicaid population.​ Gifford, K., McDuffie, M.J., Rashid, H., Knight, E., McColl, R.​, Boudreaux, M., and Rendall, M. Contraception. This paper was produced as part of the Del-CAN Initiative Evaluation that CCRS has been participating with the University of Maryland. The objective of the analysis was to evaluate the likelihood of a short interpregnancy interval (IPI) resulting in a birth among women covered by Medicaid, as a function of postpartum contraceptive method type. Compared to patients receiving postpartum long-acting reversible contraceptive methods (LARC), patients with no contraceptive claims had nearly 5 times higher odds and those with claims for moderately effective methods had 3.5 times higher odds of a subsequent birth following a short IPI. 

Overview of Poverty in Delaware, April 2021. Co-authored by Becky McColl and Erin Lynch,​ this overview of poverty presents basic parameters of the complex problem of poverty in the state of Delaware. 

Coming Soon:

State Health Policy and Access to Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives. As part of the Del-CAN Initiative Evaluation, Corrine Bogan,​ MPH candidate and CCRS graduate research assistant and Daniel J. Marthey, MPA, PhD student at the University of Maryland, have completed a brief on different state health policies about long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC). Information in the brief is a result of a combination of literature review and contacts with different Medicaid agencies across the United States.

Reproductive Justice. Corrine B​ogan and Erin Knight, CCRS Associate Director are finalizing a journal paper on the issue of reproductive justice and contraceptives, especially in light of the many states implementing long acting reversible contraceptive initiatives.

Graduate Students:

This summer Corinne Bogan​, CCRS graduate research assistant, will be interning at the CDC Center for Global Health. CDC's global health mission is to improve the health, safety, and security of Americans while reducing morbidity and mortality worldwide. CDC, through CGH, executes its global health vision and mission by focusing on three key goal areas: achieving measurable global health impact; assuring global health security; and providing world-renowned public health science leadership. During the course of her internship with CDC CGH, Corinne will be involved in updating global health news trackers, partner profiles, and internal newsletters. She will also attend and report on events hosted by multisectoral partners, learn about the role these stakeholders play in the global health space and explore opportunities for further collaboration.

Emily Loughlin, CCRS graduate research assistant and PhD student, is taking her qualifying exams this month. Best of luck to her!​

PUBLIC ALLIES

Service Projects: The first of six Class of 2021 Public Ally Team Service Projects took place on Saturday, June 12. During the event, Education during COVID: A Global Panel Discussion, five panelists engaged in a discussion on how COVID-19 impacted education, race, and mental health, in both the United States and other countries worldwide. They talked about their own experiences, as educators, as well as personal and professional strategies they have learned during the pandemic. You can view the recording here: ​www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc-PDiD6qfs​

Panelists:

• Dr. Qiana Gray, Educator, South Africa
• ·Holly Dancy, Educator, Bahrain
• ·Willie Todd, Educator, Japan
• ·Dominique Henderson, Educator, United States
• Shewa Dedeke, Educator, South Korea

For more information about other upcoming events and Team Service Projects visit www.facebook.com/PublicAlliesDelaware.

Recruitment: We're officially recruiting for the Class of 2022! Please spread the word!

Help us find our next cohort of emerging leaders and the dynamic organizations to host them! Or host a public ally and invest in the next generation of leadership. Our AmericCorps Public Ally Program weaves together four key elements that constitute an experiential journey of self-discovery and professional development: Apprenticeship; reflection & coaching; team service project; and; training and learning. For more information on becoming a Public Ally or to host a Public Ally, please go to our website. Applications are being accepted now and will be accepted throughout the summer. If you have any questions regarding the program, please contact: Candace Jusino at delaware@publicallies.org.

HOUSING

CCRS Director Stephen Metraux ​has completed an evaluation of a housing program for unstably housed pregnant women in Columbus Ohio. The evaluation found promising results from Healthy Beginning at Home's efforts to provide permanent housing as part of a​n effort to decrease infant mortality among a high-risk population. This evaluation has local significance as the Delaware Healthy Mothers and Infants Consortium is currently examining ways to replicate this program in Delaware. See:v Healthy Beginnings at Home — Barbara Poppe and associates (poppeassociates.com)​

Metraux, UAPP MA student Josh Solge, and undergraduate fellow Kati Long have been active in research on eviction in Delaware and the potential impact of establishing a tenant right to counsel program on evictions and homelessness in Delaware. State Senate Bill 101, which contains funds to establish access for low-income Delaware tenants to legal representation, has used CCRS research briefs to underscore the grave disparity in representation that currently exists between tenants and landlords in Delaware eviction court. Metraux and Solge have also updated their report ​that tracks eviction findings in Delaware.

Metraux's commentary on the recent 35 percent increase in Delaware's homeless population has been featured in press coverage in the Delaware News Journal.

Joshua Solge received his MA in Urban Affairs and Public Policy. Solge has been the recipient of a Gilman Fellowship which has supported his work on eviction and homelessness at CCRS.

Kati Long, an undergraduate Psychology/Political Science major, will be working with Stephen Metraux over the summer through the Biden School's Summer Undergraduate Public Policy Fellows program. She will work on a project examining links between eviction and homelessness, as well as on her senior thesis research looking at access and effectiveness of public mental health services for vulnerable populations in Delaware. ​

^6/27/2021