March 1, 2023 / Health, Mental Health, Victims

Youth mental health trendsImage

The CDC released its latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary and Trends Report. This is a comprehensive view of health indicators for school-age children.

Moving in the right direction:

  • risky sexual behavior
  • substance use
  • bullying at school

Moving in the wrong direction:

  • protective sexual behaviors
  • violence
  • mental health
  • suicidal thoughts and behaviors

 

The greatest disparities seem to be between males and females, where female youth are experiencing significantly worse mental health outcomes. This year’s report also breaks down racial disparities more comprehensivel thn ever before.

March 1, 2023 / Criminal Justice, Economics, Education, Equity, General, Health, Housing, Policy, Workforce

The State of Black GeorgiaImage

“The State of Black Georgia is an educational tool and call to action for Black Georgians, public and private sector stakeholders and the general public that can inform civic engagement, non-profit organizations, elected officials, businesses, policy makers, grass roots organizations, philanthropists, faith-based organizations, researchers, advocates, and other key stakeholders. Together, we can promote inclusive economic development, influential partnerships, and implementation of best practice models that foster overall improvement in conditions for Georgia’s Black residents and the state as a whole.”

From the report:

  • The median wealth of Blacks will fall to zero by 2053 if no action is taken.
  • The percentage of Georgia Black students failing to read at third-grade level was 36%, a 25%
  • increase over the pandemic.
  • Approximately 50% of the inmates admitted in the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2021
  • were Black, yet Black Georgians make up 32% of the State’s population.
  • Fifty-four percent of infant deaths were Black children.
January 26, 2023 / Basic Needs, Housing

Demand for rental assistance on the riseImage

Based on 2-1-1 service requests, the demand for rental assistance has been on the rise through the holiday season. Service requests are largely concentrated in South Fulton zip codes.

Explore the data in the right panel of this page or with the full dashboard. This data is provided by United Way of Greater Atlanta and is updated monthly.

If you are in need of housing assistance or other services, call 2-1-1 or visit 211online.unitedwayatlanta.org.

January 25, 2023 / Economics, Equity, Health

Economic inequality is a life or death issueImage

Looking at the factors that contribute to (and/or result from) Atlanta’s ranking as #1 in economic inequality, a clear pattern emerges. The experiences and outcomes of Atlanta neighborhoods are divided along northeast and southwest lines in nearly every way.

When the highest income neighborhoods are living one and a half times longer than those with the lowest income, these inequities are a matter of life or death.

January 23, 2023 / Early Childhood, Education, Policy, Postsecondary

These are the Top Ten Education Issues to Watch in 2023Image

The Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education recently published its 19th edition of the Top Ten Issues to Watch Report, informing leaders of Georgia’s most critical education issues.

The issues in this report range from Early Childhood Support and Educator Burnout to School-Community Engagement and Ou-of-School learning. Each of them establishes a goal and a Call to Action laid out in three sections:

  • Invest in people-centered systems
  • Invest in school and community leaders
  • Invest in spreading and scaling local solutions
December 12, 2022 / Basic Needs, Eviction, Housing, Policy

Eviction filings back to pre-pandemic levelsImage

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve been tracking eviction filings from Metro Atlanta counties to understand the time and geographic trends.

It’s clear the federal moratoriums prevented the “eviction tsunami” we heard so much about in 2020 and 2021, but even after the moratoriums, a tidal wave never came.

But as we continue to track the data (currently through November 2022), we’ve seen filing levels steadily rise, matching pre-pandemic levels since late summer.

December 2, 2022 / Education

State of Education in Metro AtlantaImage

On December 1st, Learn4Life held their annual convening to share the factors shaping the state of education in Metro Atlanta.

  1. Interrupted learning from the pandemic is substantial
  2. School districts need our support
  3. Amplification of bright spots is essential
  4. Cradle to career view is necessary

View the data and proposed solutions — including a panel of superintendents answering student questions — in the Facebook Live recording here. And read the full report on L4L’s website.

November 29, 2022 / Economics, Equity

Atlanta has the highest income inequality in the nationImage

In not-new-news, AJC’s analysis of Census data shows Atlanta has the highest income inequality among major US metros.

“[M]any Black residents are not seeing the benefits of [strong economic growth], said Janelle Williams, co-founder of the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative. The median household income for a Black family in Atlanta is $28,000, while the median income for white families is roughly $84,000. Overall, Black residents account for half of the city’s population.”

This analysis uses the Gini coefficient based on the US Census Bureau’s 2016-2020 American Community Survey data. “The Gini coefficient measures how equally income is distributed among a population and is expressed in a decimal format ranging from zero to one.”

While the City of Atlanta is No. 1 among cities, “the Atlanta metro area ranks as No. 227 for income inequality, with a Gini co-efficient of 0.4708, significantly better than the New York metro area (No. 39) and the Houston metro (No. 117).”

November 29, 2022 / Education, Equity

Combining program and community data reveal insights into barriers to educationImage

The recently launched map of Georgia’s government-funded out-of-school programs highlights some communities with limited access to these learning opportunities. Out-of-school education programs are essential because consistent participation in these activities has been shown to improve academic outcomes, help to close the achievement gap, reduce school absences, and improve social-emotional outcomes. Some of GSAN’s highlights from the interactive map are:

  • 45 counties do not have government-funded programs.
  • Over half of these counties have high concentrations of children living in poverty, low educational attainment rates, low 3rd-grade literacy rates, and limited access to broadband internet and vehicles.
  • A major portion of these counties also fall under Georgia’s Black Belt – a historically underserved region of the state.
November 29, 2022 / Health, Workforce

Long covid leading to more workers with disabilitiesImage

From Liberty Street Economics

  • Approximately 19% of individuals infected with COVID now have long COVID, possibly leading to the 1.7 million increase in working-age people reporting a disability since 2020.
  • Symptoms of long COVID include fatigue, brain fog, and muscle/joint pain. However, explicit tests for long COVID do not exist, making it difficult to confirm a diagnosis.
  • With the increase of disable workers employed, work place accommodations such as avoiding physical exertion or taking rest breaks have become necessary.
  • It is likely that disabled workers suffering from long COVID and the necessary accommodations will be a constant element in the future of the workplace.
Atlanta Public Schools graduation rate by race and ethnicity
October 12, 2022 / Education, Equity

APS graduation rate reaches all-time highImage

Atlanta Public Schools reached an all-time high graduation rate in 2022 of 84.0%.

From the press release:

  • Graduation rates for Black students (82.2%) reached an all-time high with the 2022 cohort, while the rate for Hispanic students (80.0%) and White students (95.4%) was slightly lower than the cohort 2021 rates but higher than the pre-pandemic 2019 rates of 75.5% for Hispanic students and 93.4% for White students.
  • Nearly 13 percentage points separated the graduation rates of Black students and White students. This is 4 percentage points lower than cohort 2021 difference.
  • Graduation rates for students with disabilities was 72.2%, a decrease by 1.6 percentage points over 2021, but the highest number of students with disabilities to ever graduate in one cohort – 309 students.
  • The 2022 graduation rate of 76.1% for English learners was slightly lower than the 2021 graduation rate of 76.8%.
September 13, 2022 / Basic Needs, Economics, Policy, Workforce

Unprecedented decline in child poverty rates attributed to government safety net programsImage

A new report from Child Trends (also covered in the New York Times) evaluates the biggest factors contributing to the unprecedented 30-year trend of decreasing child poverty. Key findings point to governmental safety net programs as key drivers.

Further, the US Census Bureau released pandemic-era child poverty estimates (through 2021) this week, saying “the new data show the significant impact the expansion of anti-poverty programs during the COVID-19 pandemic had on reducing child poverty.”

Additional recent studies, including from our partners at DataHaven in Connecticut found that food scarcity and child poverty rose after safety net programs ended.

What does that mean for social sector leaders?

First, the scale of government interventions offer opportunities to have the greatest impact. But blanket policies will always leave some households falling through cracks: immigrants, mixed-status and undocumented households, families that are newly navigating human services, digitally disconnected, underemployed, housing burdened, and others. Our role then, is (1) advocate for expanded policies and educate officials of the impact; and (2) find and directly serve the families that are left behind.

Second, the new philanthropic role of counties and cities distributing ARPA funds offers an opportunity, and maybe a model, to (1) build relationships with elected officials and (2) provide guidance in funding and programming decisions that have systemic impacts.

August 18, 2022 / General

Historical context increases belief in racial and structural inequities and decreases racial resentmentInsight

New research published this month found evidence that sharing historical context increased beliefs that (1) racial inequities exist and (2) that they are structural (not individual) in nature. It was most effective among White independents and Republicans. This research supports the importance of including historical narrative along with data and narratives when describing and addressing systemic inequities.

The housing treatment increased belief in racial inequality’s existence and belief in discrimination against African Americans as a structural cause of racial inequality among both white Independents and Republicans, but decreased racial resentment only among white Independents (and not white Republicans). By contrast, among white Republicans, the jobs treatment decreased racial resentment and increased belief in discrimination and a lack of educational opportunities among African Americans as causes of racial inequality, but did not increase belief in the existence of racial inequality itself.

Taken together, these results provide evidence that information about the historical roots of contemporary racial inequality can in fact shape racial beliefs. In particular, we found that white respondents in the treatment conditions, rather than engaging in motivated reasoning and exhibiting divergent beliefs, seem to update their beliefs in the direction of the information they receive about the existence of racial inequality and the extent to which it is caused by structural factors when presented with specific information about past discriminatory policies.

August 7, 2022 / Early Childhood, Economics, Equity

Childhood friendships across economic classes key to upward mobilityImage

In new research from Raj Chetty’s team at Opportunity Insights (published in two parts in Nature and summarized in NYT), a massive analysis of economic and social networks found that exposure to and friendships among people of different social classes is one of the strongest predictors of upward mobility.

The study found that lower socio-economic groups make connections in their home neighborhood and at religious institutions, while higher SES groups tend to make their bridging connections in college. This research builds on their prior economic mobility analysis and development of the Opportunity Atlas.

So what do we do with this information?

Programs, services, policies, and investments that facilitate interactions across diverse economic groups will likely have lasting impacts. Policy level solutions might include inclusive housing and planning decisions. At a more local level, effort might be made to reduce in-school student segregation. Programmatically, even experiential programs outside of participants’ own neighborhood may have an impact.

July 10, 2022 / General

Debt disparities contribute to the racial wealth gapImage

Through June 2022, an Urban Institute analysis found significant racial and geographic disparities in debt—a factor that contributes to the wealth gap. According to the data, debt and the racial gap are higher in Georgia than the national average. The disparity is significantly higher in several Metro Atlanta counties.

 

June 24, 2022 / Education

Learning loss due to the pandemic will likely have lasting effects for metro Atlanta students.Gallery

Learn4Life’s State of Education 2021 reveals a concerning trend: metro Atlanta students experienced interrupted learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eighth grade math proficiency dropped 14 points from the 2018/19 academic year to the 2020/21 academic year. Reading proficiency has also declined since the 2018/19 academic year, reversing progress made in the year prior to the pandemic. Teacher burnout has exacerbated challenges in education, making it likely that learning loss will have lasting effects and be difficult to reverse.

June 17, 2022 / Workforce

Three rural Georgia counties lead the nation in job postings growth.Image

Emsi Burning Glass recently released a report analyzing the shifting trends in rural and urban job postings. They found:

  • 3 of the top 10 counties in the nation with the highest growth in job postings were in Georgia. Madison, Putnam, and Franklin Counties ranked 2nd, 4th, and 5th, respectively.
  • 90% of the top 50 counties with the highest growth in job postings were rural.
  • Rural jobs have experienced major growth in high-tech skills.
  • Remote work has allowed for traditionally urban opportunities to move outside of urban areas.
  • Job growth in rural areas has supported wage growth.
June 8, 2022 / General

The nonprofit sector has changed over the last two years. Here’s how much.Insight

The Nonprofit Finance Fund surveyed 1,100 nonprofit leaders about the impact of the last two years on their organizations.

  • 71% of survey respondents saw an increase in service demand during the pandemic
  • Almost twice as many Black-led organizations (49%) were impacted a great deal by the events surrounding the murder of George Floyd versus all organizations (28%)
  • 88% of nonprofits changed the way they work
  • 51% think changes are permanent
  • The top three staffing challenges were employing enough staff to do all the work (55%), offering competitive pay (51%), and staff burnout (36%)

Read the full findings of NFF’s 2022 State of the Nonprofit Sector report.

May 11, 2022 / Basic Needs, Food, Inflation

Image

Both the pandemic and higher prices have increased reliance on nonprofits. The Atlanta Community Food Bank’s (ACFB) President and CEO Kyle Waide said, “The current challenges that we’re all experiencing with higher prices, for gas, for food, for supplies, are causing demand for food assistance to increase and it’s making it more expensive and more challenging for the food bank to respond to that demand.” With high inflation and increasing demand for their services, ACFB’s food costs are 30% higher this year than last year.