GOOD DEALS ON MEALS
Government provision of meals at school for low-income students began in 1946 and seventy years later more than 30 million students received at least one free lunch at more than 100,000 schools across the United States. Still, a high proportion of eligible children do not participate in the National School Lunch Program or School Breakfast Program. This study cites three main reasons. First, receiving free or reduced-price meals can carry a stigma, so some children or their parents may not want to participate. Second, many schools do not serve breakfast and, hence, even eligible children at those schools cannot participate. Third, despite being enrolled, some children do not always eat the meals provided. Food available at school decreases the prevalence of food insecurity among households with children in school by 2.3 to 9.0 percent. During the summer, when most children do not participate in school meal programs, the extent of food insecurity increases.
YOUR JOB AND YOUR LIFE IN THE OPIOID ERA
Opioid deaths and emergency department visits are predicted to increase when unemployment rates increase. A one percent increase in unemployment at the county level can be expected to result in a 3.6% increase in opioid-involved mortality. In the current opioid crisis, local economic downturns may have dramatic effects on mental health and overdose risk.
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ASTHMA ATTACKS AMONG AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN
More than 1 million African Americans live within a half mile of a natural gas facility. This proximity is associated with an increased risk for negative health effects such as asthma, headaches, nose bleeds, and throat and eye irritation caused by air pollutants. African Americans are 75% more likely to live in a neighborhood next to a polluting facility, or “fence-line” community, than other racial groups.
In 2017, Lesley Fleishman of the Clean Air Task Force and Marcus Franklin of the NAACP reviewed the impact pollution from oil and gas facilities has on the health of African Americans living in fence-line communities. Using data collected by the Clean Air Task Force and the US Census Bureau, they show that an estimated 138,000 African American children suffer annually from asthma attacks caused by oil and gas pollution. This makes up 18.5% of the total 750,000 asthma attacks experienced by children nationally and contributes to the 101,000 school days African American children miss each year.
The map shows the areas of the country where children are at highest-risk of asthma attacks associated with pollution exposure. The larger the circle, the more children affected. Black children in Louisiana, Georgia, New Jersey, Illinois, Tennessee, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Texas experienced asthma attacks most frequently. Metropolitan areas around Dallas, Atlanta, Washington D.C., New York, Houston, and Chicago recorded over 3,000 asthma attacks per year. The Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan areas had the highest number of attacks (8,059). Exposure to pollution and asthma cases can be prevented through investments in renewable energy, better residential zoning policies, and air pollution monitoring. Activism in communities along the fence-line will also be critical to tackling the environmental injustice being experienced in communities of color. —Erin Polka, PHP Fellow
Map: Fumes Across the Fence-Line, The Health Impacts of Air Pollution from Oil & Gas Facilities on African American Communities, NAACP and Clean Air Taskforce.
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