Spotlight

In August 2016, the city of Baton Rouge and its surrounding parishes were inundated with more than two-and-a-half feet of rain. For perspective, that’s five times as much as the area normally gets in a month. The resulting flood caused 13 deaths, and Baton Rouge officials reported that 30,000 people had to be rescued from homes and cars; 11,000 needed shelter; and 90,000 homes and 6,000 businesses were damaged. The Red Cross called this the “worst U.S. natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy in 2012.”...

A New Narrative on Gun Violence

Chapter 3 offers narratives about gun violence; these narratives draw from public health tenets and practice. Contributors sketch a road map to how people with differing philosophies can act together to prevent gun deaths: Michael B. Siegel describes public health principles that can shape thinking about gun policy. Drawing from his experiences in Baltimore, Daniel W. Webster illustrates how gun violence has influenced urban life, examining the implications of aggressive law enforcement. His work with police and community members and his involvement with a gun violence reduction consortium yield strategies for reducing harm. Zeroing in on the community environments in which gun violence occurs, Bernadette Callahan Hohl illustrates how a public health approach can improve safety. Using examples from community-driven projects, she offers evidence that strengthening neighborhoods pays off. The chapter concludes an action agenda.

Strengthening the Response to Disasters and Trauma

Chapter 10 opens with the Gulf Research Program’s Lauren Alexander Augustine presenting four pilot programs from around the country that illustrate the cornerstones of community resilience. Next, Benjamin Springgate examines resilience as a reflection of individual communities and describes a research network that promotes research on resilience-strengthening practices. Lourdes J. Rodríguez and Sheila B. Savannah then explain how neighborhoods that are striving for resilience should be involved like patients in the process of healing. Finally, three contributors offer unique perspectives on resilient communities: Traci L. Birch looks at why resilience efforts should also focus on inland communities that are no longer immune to the impacts of climate change and extreme weather. And Joie B. Acosta and Elka Gotfryd encourage us to think broadly about resilience as they explore opportunities to build responsive social infrastructure through engaged citizen participation.

Spotlight

In the darkest moments of their lives, young people are finding help through the Crisis Text Line (“text HOME to 741741”). 1 Now available in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, the resource provides access to trained crisis counselors who respond to texters around the clock, helping them to move beyond a crisis. Most people learn about the Crisis Text Line through social media....

Immigrants in America

Chapter 4 illustrates how the immigrant experience is a key dimension of American life. Heather Koball uses national data to understand how policies shape the lives of immigrants. She describes two studies that analyze the impacts of policies on the health well-being of low-income immigrant families. In her look at Mexican-origin families in Phoenix, Airín D. Martínez examines the effects of racism and antagonistic immigration enforcement policies on health and stress. Kate Vickery illustrates the importance of collaborative strategies to promote a vibrant immigrant community. The chapter ends with Francesca Menes’s perspectives on Black immigrants, a diverse and understudied population. Menes illustrates how exclusionary public policies and institutional racism criminalize Black immigrants, drawing from her work in Miami to suggest an agenda for action and research.

Spotlight

Everyone has heard the familiar slogan “the system is broken.” In the context of community resilience, these words shed light on a deep frustration because so many of our current systems of governance fail to respond effectively to pressing societal issues. In other words, these systems generally operate in ways that do not foster community health and resilience....

Spotlight

The HUMAN Project was initiated in 2014 by the Kavli Foundation in partnership with New York University’s Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of Decision Making. 1 Its goal was to collect vast amounts of data from a representative sample of 10,000 New York City residents in 4,000 households over 20 years. Lacking both internal review board approval and sustainable funding, the HUMAN Project was suspended in 2018. Nonetheless, the ambitious scope of the study and what it revealed about the possibilities for collecting and using data in the digital age are intriguing. It is possible that this type of model could eventually be revived, perhaps with additional privacy protections built in....

Introduction

Harris County, Texas, the site of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF’s) fourth annual Sharing Knowledge conference in 2019, has been tested. Hurricane Harvey, the catastrophic storm that struck just over 18 months earlier, was one of the worst weather-related events ever faced by the city of Houston and its surrounding area, and the continuing impact of climate change suggests it will not be the last. The city’s 2.3 million residents have also dealt with industrial accidents, borne the brunt of devastating floods, and provided refuge to people fleeing other disaster areas in the southern United States and to immigrants from around the world....

The Toxic Impact of Life Behind Bars

Chapter 5 unpacks some key components of the damaging environment of prison and considers what a different approach to incarceration might look like. Researcher Jim Parsons provides an overview of the health impacts of incarceration, while Sara Wakefield offers new data on family history of incarceration and opportunities to mitigate the effects. Physician Homer Venters describes the lack of comprehensive health outcomes data, and designer and researcher Regina Yang Chen addresses the influence of prison design on the health and well-being of residents, staff, and the community. Finally, Kempis Songster, released from prison after serving 30 years for a murder he committed at age 15, grounds the narrative in lived experience. All are united in their call to reimagine the ways our country responds to crime and the role of incarceration.

Spotlight

After more than 20 years of experience in disaster relief philanthropy, the staff at Greater Houston Community Foundation knew the world was watching when Hurricane Harvey devastated communities in Houston and Harris County. With the level of media attention before and after the storm made landfall, the foundation anticipated a generous response, but not of the magnitude that actually materialized....