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May 21, 2013
April 25, 2013
How to Make Economic and Financial Literacy “Common”
By: Julie Heath
In my previous blog posts, I have made the argument that economic and financial literacy needs to be a deliberate component of the K-12 curriculum. Many states have moved toward creating required classes in economics and/or personal finance at the high school level. Ohio and Kentucky do not have a stand-alone, required course in either economics or personal finance. Indiana requires an economics course for high school graduation, but not a personal finance course. Even in those states with requirements, these efforts fall short of the mark. One semester is insufficient to cover even the basics of either subject, and waiting until high school to get serious about the subject matter is too late. Economics and financial literacy need to be taught from the very earliest grades, laying foundational concepts and building upon them--just as occurs with any other subject..
April 12, 2013
The growing problem of opioid misuse
By: Jennifer Chubinski
This month I am going to steal a great idea from one of Julie Heath’s recent blogs and start with a quiz question.
Which of the following results in the HIGHEST number of deaths in Ohio and Kentucky each year?
- Traffic accidents,
- Falls,
- Firearms, or
- Accidental drug poisonings and drug overdoses?
April 05, 2013
How much does it cost to feed a family of four?
By: Janet Harrah
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion provides estimates for the cost of a nutritious diet at home. For a family of four (mom, dad, daughter age 5 and son age 12) the USDA estimates it would cost between $611 and $1,217 per month to feed them a healthy, nutritious diet. The USDA food plans assume that all meals and snacks are prepared at home – no eating out. “The Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) serves as a national standard for a nutritious diet at a minimal cost and is used as the basis for maximum food stamp allotments.”[1] The TFP is one of four official USDA food plans (the others being the Low-Cost Plan, the Moderate-Cost Plan, and the Liberal Plan).
Children and the Spread of Concentrated Poverty
By: John Besl
Nearly eight million U.S. children live in areas of concentrated poverty, according to a Kids Count report released last year by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Children in these high-poverty neighborhoods face limited life chances due to the lack of quality schools, medical care, and safe outdoor spaces. A 2006 report by the Urban Institute found that, even when family income is held constant, families living in areas of concentrated poverty are more likely than those living in more prosperous areas to lack health insurance coverage and to struggle with housing and food costs. The children living in these areas are regularly exposed to harmful levels of stress and are thus more likely to develop serious emotional and behavioral problems than children in other, more advantaged neighborhoods.
Across the 15-county Cincinnati Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), 50,000 children live in areas of concentrated poverty, representing 10 percent of all children in the region. This share is slightly better than the 11 percent share nationally, but the number of local children living in high-poverty areas has grown by 57 percent since 2000, much faster than the 25 percent increase nationally.
March 27, 2013
The Unexpected Power of Financial Literacy
By: Julie Heath
If you were to list the characteristics of a student who has learned economic and financial literacy, what would be on the list? Most people would probably say that the student knows how to write a check, balance a checkbook, and knows about the importance of saving. Those things would be on my list, too. But here are some other things that are on my list that may not be on yours. A student who has learned economic and financial literacy knows that showing up on time to a job is important. He or she knows that being dependable is an important character trait. A financially literate student knows that choices have consequences. And a student that has learned economic and financial literacy experiences the unparalleled feeling of helping others.
March 25, 2013
School-Based Health Centers: Keeping students healthy and ready to learn
By: Jennifer Chubinski
Imagine a primary healthcare provider was located in or near your office. Let’s call her Dr. Marilyn. Imagine she was responsible for all your regular healthcare: regular physicals, annual flu shots and age-or gender-specific wellness exams. Imagine she knew you well, both your health issues and how those issues affected your work performance. Imagine that if you weren’t feeling well at work you could walk in anytime during the day and Dr. Marilyn would help you. For me, this convenience would certainly help me get an annual wellness check and would probably mean that my current runny nose and sinus infection would have received some sort of treatment.
School-based health centers (SBHC), like my office example above, make it much easier for students to get primary healthcare. SBHCs bring care to where the students are with the goal of removing barriers to heathcare access. They are particularly important in communities that lack primary care providers or have a large number of low income, uninsured or underinsured children or adolescents.
March 05, 2013
It really costs THAT MUCH to raise a child?
By: Janet Harrah
That “little bundle of joy” that new parents welcome into the world is not only the focus of their love and affection, although that is indeed a vital part of raising a family. That new baby is going to have an enormous impact on the family’s finances, and for a very, very long time. If we look at the cumulative cost of raising a child from birth through age 17 (and we more experienced parents know that the expenses do not stop there), the figures involved are truly remarkable.
A Tale of Two Bubbles
By: Julie Heath
We know about economic bubbles. We know why they form. We know they will burst. And we know the outcome when they do. Unfortunately, we have been better at doing the post mortems on bubbles than at predicting them. However, there are cases where we can see bubbles forming and act to limit the impact when they ultimately burst. One such case is the higher education bubble - which bears striking similarities to the better-known housing bubble of the 2000s. While the characteristics of the higher education bubble are well defined, there are no easy fixes to limit the impact when it finally bursts.
February 18, 2013
Health in Greater Cincinnati
By: Jennifer Chubinski
So what does our region’s health look like? A very common way of measuring general health is by asking people “In general how would you rate your health - excellent, very good, good, fair or poor?” This question has been asked for decades on health surveys across the world and continues to be consistent and reliable in predicting morbidity (the incidence of disease) and mortality (the likelihood of death) across all sorts of populations. Researchers believe this question works so well because it is simple and easy to answer and it gives respondents a way to include many aspects of health, including their mental and emotional health, physical health, genetics, health behaviors and other health issues that are hard to quantify or formulate questions about.
