scholarly journals Our Collective Needs and Strengths: Urban AI/ANs and the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tara L. Maudrie ◽  
Kerry Hawk Lessard ◽  
Jessica Dickerson ◽  
Kevalin M. W. Aulandez ◽  
Allison Barlow ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised national consciousness about health inequities that disproportionately impact American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities, yet urban AI/AN communities continue to remain a blind spot for health leaders and policymakers. While all United States cities have been the traditional homelands of AI/AN peoples since time immemorial, urban AI/ANs are consistently excluded in local and national health assessments, including recent reports pertaining to COVID-19. Today the majority of AI/ANs (71%) live in urban areas, and many cities have strong Urban Indian Health Programs (UIHPs) that provide space for medical care, community gatherings, cultural activities, and traditional healing. Many of these UIHPs are currently scrambling to meet the needs of their AI/AN service communities during the pandemic. While the COVID-19 pandemic brought new sources of funding to UIHPs, the lack of local AI/AN data and arbitrary funding restrictions precluded some UIHPs from addressing their communities’ most immediate challenges such as food and economic insecurities. Despite these challenges, urban AI/AN communities carry the historical resilience of their ancestors as they weave strong community networks, establish contemporary traditions, and innovate to meet community needs. This article focuses on the experiences of one UIHP in Baltimore City during the COVID-19 pandemic to illustrate present-day challenges and strengths, as well as illuminate the urgency for tailored, local data-driven public health approaches to urban AI/AN health.

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith P. Fort ◽  
Margaret Reid ◽  
Jenn Russell ◽  
Cornelia J. Santos ◽  
Ursula Running Bear ◽  
...  

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people suffer a disproportionate burden of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Urban Indian Health Organizations (UIHOs) are an important source of diabetes services for urban AI/AN people. Two evidence-based interventions—diabetes prevention (DP) and healthy heart (HH)–have been implemented and evaluated primarily in rural, reservation settings. This work examines the capacity, challenges and strengths of UIHOs in implementing diabetes programs.Methods: We applied an original survey, supplemented with publicly-available data, to assess eight organizational capacity domains, strengths and challenges of UIHOs with respect to diabetes prevention and care. We summarized and compared (Fisher's and Kruskal-Wallis exact tests) items in each organizational capacity domain for DP and HH implementers vs. non-implementers and conducted a thematic analysis of strengths and challenges.Results: Of the 33 UIHOs providing services in 2017, individuals from 30 sites (91% of UIHOs) replied to the survey. Eight UIHOs (27%) had participated in either DP (n = 6) or HH (n = 2). Implementers reported having more staff than non-implementers (117.0 vs. 53.5; p = 0.02). Implementers had larger budgets, ~$10 million of total revenue compared to $2.5 million for non-implementers (p = 0.01). UIHO strengths included: physical infrastructure, dedicated leadership and staff, and community relationships. Areas to strengthen included: staff training and retention, ensuring sufficient and consistent funding, and data infrastructure.Conclusions: Strengthening UIHOs across organizational capacity domains will be important for implementing evidence-based diabetes interventions, increasing their uptake, and sustaining these interventions for AI/AN people living in urban areas of the U.S.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4749
Author(s):  
Milo Costanza-van den Belt ◽  
Tayanah O’Donnell ◽  
Robert Webb ◽  
Eleanor Robson ◽  
Robert Costanza ◽  
...  

Civil society engagement is important for enabling urban systems transformations that meet community needs. The development of Future Earth Australia’s Sustainable Cities and Regions: A 10-Year Strategy for Urban Systems was underpinned by cross-sectoral workshops in 7 Australian urban areas and interviews with key stakeholders to create a shared vision of both current and desired future urban structure and policy. We then created an online survey to gauge broader community feedback on the vision which emerged from these workshops and interviews, to compare their outcomes with the views of community members who could be directly impacted by urban decision-making. The survey consisted of 35 questions, which were shaped by the issues emerging from the workshops and interviews. The sample was self-selected, and the 641 respondents represented a cross-section of individuals interested in sustainable cities. Our survey results supported and expanded on the major conclusions of FEA’s National workshop and interview processes, including the need to develop transparent and responsive decision-making processes, limit waste and pollution and develop effective housing and transport alternatives with mixed-use neighborhoods and adequate green space.


2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan A. Brown ◽  
Daniel L. Dickerson ◽  
David J. Klein ◽  
Denis Agniel ◽  
Carrie L. Johnson ◽  
...  

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth exhibit multiple health disparities, including high rates of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, violence and delinquency, and mental health problems. Approximately 70% of AI/AN youth reside in urban areas, where negative outcomes on behavioral health and well-being are often high. Identity development may be particularly complex in urban settings, where youth may face more fragmented and lower density AI/AN communities, as well as mixed racial-ethnic ancestry and decreased familiarity with AI/AN lifeways. This study examines racial-ethnic and cultural identity among AI/AN adolescents and associations with behavioral health and well-being by analyzing quantitative data collected from a baseline assessment of 185 AI/AN urban adolescents from California who were part of a substance use intervention study. Adolescents who identified as AI/AN on their survey reported better mental health, less alcohol and marijuana use, lower rates of delinquency, and increased happiness and spiritual health.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arkaprabha Pal

The Indian middle class witnessed a reconfiguration in its composition after the failure of the secular nationalists in their method of development and redistribution of resources. This reconfiguration used cultural and religious fundamentalism in the form of Hindutva as its instrument to assert their right to access the resources and strive towards a non-State centric redistribution. However, this new middle class, which was mainly conversing in the vernacular and had its base in the smaller urban areas, was also faced with the assertion of the lower class identarian groups. In such a situation, a large section of the urban Indian middle class shied away from taking part in the electoral process citing moral crises of the corrupt secular English speaking elite on one hand and the lowly criminal nature of the lower class political assertion on the other. Taking hints from the works of Christophe Jaffrelot, I would try to argue in this paper, that non-participation of a major section of the urban middle class was a manifestation of securing the rechanneled and partially redistributed rent legitimised through the instrument of Hindutva. This has led to increased persona-centric populist narratives from the mid-1990s to the present times with efforts to undermine parliamentary democracy (which is associated as an institiution of the immoral secular nationalists). This in turn, I would try to argue by the end of this paper, has again assisted in concretising the very rent-seeking practices and patron-client political relationships that the new middle class had initially opposed to rise to political prominence throughout the late 1970s and 1980s


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 649-651
Author(s):  

In addition to providing a "medical home," the pediatrician should be an advocate for students in the school setting and should promote effective communication among school officials, families, and the health care community.


Author(s):  
Glen Weisbrod ◽  
Don Vary ◽  
George Treyz

Key findings are provided from NCHRP Study 2-21, which examined how urban traffic congestion imposes economic costs within metropolitan areas. Specifically, the study applied data from Chicago and Philadelphia to examine how various producers of economic goods and services are sensitive to congestion, through its impact on business costs, productivity, and output levels. The data analysis showed that sensitivity to traffic congestion varies by industry sector and is attributable to differences in each industry sector's mix of required inputs and hence its reliance on access to skilled labor, access to specialized inputs, and access to a large, transportation-based market area. Statistical analysis models were applied with the local data to demonstrate how congestion effectively shrinks business market areas and reduces the "agglomeration economies" of businesses operating in large urban areas, thus raising production costs. Overall, this research illustrates how it is possible to estimate the economic implications of congestion, an approach that may be applied in the future for benefit-cost analysis of urban congestion-reduction strategies or for development of congestion pricing strategies. The analysis also shows how congestion-reduction strategies can induce additional traffic as a result of economic benefits.


2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 537-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Juliá ◽  
Mary E. Kondrat

Social development scholars and practitioners have long advocated an important role for indigenization and grassroots participation in designing and implementing social development programs. Because of the recognized connection between health and social development, they have increasingly advocated for more indigenous and participatory approaches in conducting health assessments and in the delivery of health programs of relevance to individuals, families and communities. This article presents a rationale for such participatory approaches and the arguments are illustrated by case studies from two different cultural contexts. French Les chercheurs et les practiciens dans le secteur du développement social préconisent depuis longtemps l'importance d'un rôle autochtone et tenant compte de la base de la société dans la planification et la mise en application de programmes de développement social. Reconnaissant le lien entre la santé et le développement social, ils recommandent une plus grande participation indigène dans l'évaluation de la santé et la mise en application de programmes de santé pertinents pour les individus, les familles et les communautés. Le présent article argumente en faveur d'une approche participative et illustre ses raisons pour ce faire à l'aide de deux études de cas provenant de deux différents contextes culturels. Spanish Estudiosos y practicantes del desarrollo social han asignado, desde hace tiempo, un papel importante a la participación indigenista y popular en el diseño e implementación de los programas de desarrollo social. A partir del reconocimiento de la conexión entre desarrollo social y salud, se han abocado a promover el aumento de la participación indígena en la conducción de las asesorías en salud y en el desarrollo de programas de salud de relevancia para individuos, familias y comunidades. Este trabajo presenta el fundamento de este tipo de acercamiento participativo y los argumentos se ilustran a partir de estudios de caso en dos contextos culturales diferentes.


Author(s):  
Harikishni Harikishni

Children’s age is the most commonly researched variable involving purchase decision influence (Mangleburg, 1990). Previous studies found child's age to be a predominating factor with regard to child's influence across the decision making stages (Beatty and Talpade, 1994). These studies have also found positive correlation between the age of children and the quantum of influence exerted by them on family purchase decisions (Laczniak and Palan, 2004). This study has been undertaken with the specific objective to extend these findings in Indian context, more precisely, to examine the impact of age on Indian children’s influence in family purchase decisions. A “structured non-disguised” pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect the primary data from the students of class eighth to twelfth from 766 families residing in rural and urban areas in Delhi, India. Statistical tools such as mean, standard deviation and repeated measures ANOVA have been used to analyze and interpret the collected data. As per the analysis results children’s age do not moderate the influence exerted by them in family decision making process, in general, as well as across rural and urban Indian families.


2003 ◽  
Vol 04 (03) ◽  
pp. 271-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Ka Chun Chan ◽  
Kenny Ka Ho Kan ◽  
Joseph Kee-Yin Ng

A dual channel system, which is based on the GPS and the GSM Network, is being developed to compensate the problem of the lost of GPS signals in providing location services to mobile users in urban areas. In this design, when GPS signals are being blocked in blind spot areas, GSM positioning algorithms would be used as an alternative method to provide location estimations. This research is an investigation in search of a set of location estimation algorithms based on signal attenuation to work with GPS, so as to develop a dual channel positioning system. With the technical support from a local mobile operator, we have constructed and conducted several real world experiments for our investigation and results are promising.


Author(s):  
Paweł Siemiński ◽  
Jakub Hadyński ◽  
Walenty Poczta

The aim of this paper is to estimate, as well as analyse and assess spatial diversification in human capital resources in rural and urban areas of Poland. Studies have static nature and relate to the state of the situation in 2018 year. A synthetic index of human capital resources (IHCR) was applied, based on which a hierarchy was developed for rural and urban areas, depending on the administrative division into provinces determining the degree of their diversification in terms of their human capital resources. Human capital resources were analysed in four categories, i.e. in terms of employment, education, entrepreneurship and unemployment, using data from the Local Data Bank CSO database. Research results indicate considerable regional (spatial) diversification of rural and urban areas. We may distinguish two homogeneous classes, including urban areas with a high level of human capital development, as well as rural areas with their low level. Moreover, there is a heterogeneous group of the so-called medium level of human capital, composed of both urban and rural areas. Particularly, observed polarization in human capital resources may in the future reduce the absorption of development impulses within both national and EU development policies.


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