PUBLICATIONS

1. New Markets Tax Credit Public Data Release: 2003-2014 Summary Report

The CDFI Fund released data collected on New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) investments across the nation through fiscal year 2013. The CDFI Fund requires all Community Development Entities (CDEs) that have been awarded NMTC allocations to submit an annual report detailing how they invested Qualified Equity Investment (QEI) proceeds in low-income communities.

1. New Efforts Implemented to Combat Opioid Abuse
   Aug 12, 2016 -- Indian Health Services (IHS) has implemented a policy which will require doctors and other medical practitioners to check State Prescription Drug Monitoring Program databases before prescribing or dispensing opioids for pain treatment lasting longer than a week. Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs allow prescribing and dispensing medical practitioners to track opioid abusers and prevent them from going from doctor to doctor in an attempt to acquire more opioid pain medication. This is an especially important implementation for IHS because prescription opioid misuse is more than 2% higher among the American Indian population.

1. White House Drug Policy Director Writes Governors about Need for Trained Doctors to Provide Treatment for the Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic in their States
   Aug 12, 2016 -- The Director of National Drug Control Policy, Michael Botticelli, wrote to all 50 state governors concerning the need for more physicians to be trained and certified to treat opioid use disorders. In order to assist states in meeting this urgent need, the Obama Administration is offering free buprenorphine trainings for providers across the county and online as Medication-Assisted Treatment is more effective at helping people achieve long-term recovery. In February 2016, 1,498 counties did not have a single medical professional who could provide buprenorphine, with the majority of the need concentrated in rural areas. President Obama is also calling on Congress to provide $1.1 billion in new funding for states to help expand access to treatment for opioid use disorders.
   Source: The White House

1. New Study Shows Communities Can Reduce the Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences
   Aug 9, 2016 -- A study commissioned by the Adverse Childhood Experiences Public-Private Initiative (APPI) of Washington State found that communities can create effective local strategies to reduce the long-term problems related to abuse, neglect, and other Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), as evidenced by several communities in rural Washington detailed here. ACEs trigger a stress response which can create lasting damage on a child's developing brain, as well as increasing the risk of future social, emotional, and physical health problems.
   Source: Mathematica Policy Research

1. //foundationcenter.hosted.strongview.com/t/gcibbRjQAANxFeD6aBABxFGZ5aaaaBABxBL0GVVwaa?m=9@v-0-v&m=Upjqk1gxZmj.xjwU1gz_olU.2klS.og3&;d=LX&5=&j=xflfmo0u8tCsEtC" target="_blank">Report Calls for 'Big Bet' on Reducing Unintended Pregnancies

A philanthropic investment of $1 billion in efforts to prevent unintended pregnancies could generate an economic return of between $3.2 billion and $6.4 billion for American children and families, a report from the //foundationcenter.hosted.strongview.com/t/gcibbRjQAANxFeD6aBABxFGZ5aaaaBABxBL0GVVwaa?m=9@v-0-v&m=Upjqk1gxZmj.xjwU1gz_olU.2klS.og3&;d=LY&5=&j=xflfmo0u8tCsEtC" target="_self">Bridgespan Group finds. The report, //foundationcenter.hosted.strongview.com/t/gcibbRjQAANxFeD6aBABxFGZ5aaaaBABxBL0GVVwaa?m=9@v-0-v&m=Upjqk1gxZmj.xjwU1gz_olU.2klS.og3&;d=LZ&5=&j=xflfmo0u8tCsEtC" target="_self">Billion Dollar Bets: Reducing Unintended Pregnancies (21 pages, PDF), examines how philanthropy could support a nationwide effort to improve women's access to the most effective contraceptive methods and drastically lower the number of unintended pregnancies — one of the "billion dollar bets" //foundationcenter.hosted.strongview.com/t/gcibbRjQAANxFeD6aBABxFGZ5aaaaBABxBL0GVVwaa?m=9@v-0-v&m=Upjqk1gxZmj.xjwU1gz_olU.2klS.og3&;d=La&5=&j=xflfmo0u8tCsEtC" target="_self">identified in an earlier Bridgespan report, //foundationcenter.hosted.strongview.com/t/gcibbRjQAANxFeD6aBABxFGZ5aaaaBABxBL0GVVwaa?m=9@v-0-v&m=Upjqk1gxZmj.xjwU1gz_olU.2klS.og3&;d=Lb&5=&j=xflfmo0u8tCsEtC" target="_self">"Billion Dollar Bets" to Create Economic Opportunity for Every American (33 pages, PDF). According to the report, nearly 38 percent of children born in the United States each year are unplanned, and rates of unintended pregnancies and births are higher among unmarried, African-American, less educated, and/or low-income women. The report also found that women who have unplanned or unintended pregnancies are more likely to lack access to information about long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). Previous research has shown that unplanned children are more likely to live in poverty, drop out of high school, and/or become teen parents themselves....

 

1. //foundationcenter.hosted.strongview.com/t/gcibbRjQAANxFeD6aBABxFGZ5aaaaBABxBL0GVVwaa?m=9@v-0-v&m=Upjqk1gxZmj.xjwU1gz_olU.2klS.og3&;d=Ld&5=&j=xflfmo0u8tCsEtC" target="_blank">'Giving Days' Create Long-Term Gains for Community Foundations

One-day online fundraising events known as "Giving Days" not only raise millions of dollars for local charities but also help strengthen the community foundations that organize them for the long term, a report from the //foundationcenter.hosted.strongview.com/t/gcibbRjQAANxFeD6aBABxFGZ5aaaaBABxBL0GVVwaa?m=9@v-0-v&m=Upjqk1gxZmj.xjwU1gz_olU.2klS.og3&;d=Le&5=&j=xflfmo0u8tCsEtC" target="_self">John S. and James L. Knight Foundation finds. The report, //foundationcenter.hosted.strongview.com/t/gcibbRjQAANxFeD6aBABxFGZ5aaaaBABxBL0GVVwaa?m=9@v-0-v&m=Upjqk1gxZmj.xjwU1gz_olU.2klS.og3&;d=Lf&5=&j=xflfmo0u8tCsEtC" target="_self">Beyond the Dollars: The Long-Term Value of Giving Days for Community Foundations (26 pages, PDF), evaluated a Knight Foundation initiative launched in 2012 that helped eighteen Giving Day organizers run forty-nine events over four years and found that the events mobilized the participation of 20,297 nonprofits and engaged 367,495 donors who made more than 600,000 donations totaling some $116.3 million. The report also found that Giving Day events boosted the visibility and credibility of community foundations among donors and nonprofits and helped position them as information and data-collection hubs for their local nonprofit communities. According to the report, 48 percent of the surveyed nonprofits and donors heard about their local community foundation for the first time as a result of a Giving Day, while 36 percent of donors said they made a larger donation as a result of a Giving Day than they would have otherwise....

 

1. http://blogs.usda.gov/2016/08/12/using-data-for-social-good/">Using Data for Social Good

We are entering a new era of information openness and transparency.  Open data has the potential to spur economic innovation and social transformation.   Focusing just on economic impacts, in 2013, for example, the consulting firm McKinsey estimated the possible global value of open data to be over $3 trillion per year…

1. Changing rural demographics contributed to rising child poverty

Using data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey and a modified official poverty measure, ERS researchers found that rural child poverty rose from 18.7 percent in 2003 to 22.1 percent in 2014. The bulk of this 3.4-percentage point increase—3.2 percentage points—was due to rising income inequality, and not a decline in average incomes. A portion of this increase in inequality, in turn, was driven by changing rural demographics. An increase in the number of children in the average rural family raised poverty by 0.6 percentage points, while declines in the number of adults of prime working age and in the share of household heads that were married raised rural child poverty by 0.9 and 0.7 points, respectively. A slight increase in the average age of the household head helped reduce rural child poverty by 0.5 percentage points. The most beneficial demographic change was a rise in the share of rural household heads with a college degree, which rose from 15.8 to 19.5 percent, helping to reduce child poverty by 0.9 percentage points. The net impact of all these demographic changes was to contribute 0.9 percentage points towards the increase in rural child poverty.

 

1. Health Extension Toolkit
   Intended for a wide audience and designed as a tool for states to use as they collaborate to improve the quality of primary care practices as well as community health, using a model based on the agricultural Cooperative Extension Service. Includes chapters on engagement, the Health Extension model, primary care, population health, and sustainability, and features profiles on lead states Pennsylvania, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.
   Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

1. Redemption rates of WIC benefits at large stores differs across States

In fiscal 2015, 8 million women, infants, and children under age 5 participated in USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Participants in 48 States and the District of Columbia received paper vouchers or electronic benefit cards redeemable at authorized retail stores for a set of nutrient-rich supplemental foods. WIC participants in Mississippi pick up their WIC foods at distribution centers, and prior to 2016, Vermont participants had their WIC foods delivered to their homes. Using two USDA administrative data sources, a recent ERS report found that over three-fourths of the WIC benefits redeemed in stores in fiscal 2012 were redeemed at large stores (supercenters, supermarkets, and large grocery stores), ranging from 50 percent in California to 99 percent in Nevada. Large stores accounted for 91 percent or more of WIC retail redemptions in 17 States and 81-90 percent in 13 States. Other types of stores, such as medium and small grocery stores and WIC-only stores, account for a sizable share of WIC redemptions in some States.

EVENTS/LEARNING

1. Learn More About the Benefits of NMTCs | New Markets Tax Credits Webinar - Last Chance to Register! August 25^th 1-4pm EST

To many economic development practitioners, the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) offers promise as a tool to get deals done - but understanding how to use it in an actual project is often very challenging. This course takes participants through a general understanding of the program to its detailed, step-by-step application in actual deals. NDC, as the recipient of one of the nation's largest, total NMTC allocations, is at the leading edge in developing and applying the best models for this powerful economic development tool.

1. Mapping Broadband Health in America
   Mapping tool for visualizing broadband access, demographics, and health data at the national, state, and county levels. Includes a rural filter based on the percent of the population that is rural.
   Sponsoring organization: Federal Communications Commission