Recent Blog Posts
The housing system functions at various scales, but there’s often a significant mismatch between where housing policy is made and where housing markets function. After all, most people don’t choose where to work or live based on the boundaries of a local government, yet housing policy is so intertwined with local zoning and subsidies (including federal subsidies that flow through to local bodies), that much of the focus of housing policy, research, and advocacy is on local jurisdictions. And though central cities are often the focus of affordability policies and investments, suburbs are often larger and have more opportunities for economic mobility and so have a critical role to play in a regional market’s housing affordability. Read more.
Sourced from Urban Institute
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The Community Engaged Scholar Award recognizes faculty members who have demonstrated co-created engaged scholarship that has positively impacted communities. Community Engaged Scholars have made significant contribution to Ohio State's culture of engagement, further establishing, and strengthening the institution's commitment to communities.
Timothy McDermott, Assistant Professor, Extension Educator at The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences/Extension
Extension is an outreach arm of the university, engaging our community using research-based information to positively impact residents lives. Dr. McDermott impacts through agriculture and its opportunities. He delivers neighborhood and place-based outreach, free of charge, in economically disadvantaged communities of color, primarily to BIPOC, New American, immigrant and refugee client residents and their children through the development of impactful programs, committed partnerships, and new friendships.
He co-led The Buckeye ISA project, a 2022 Ohio State High Impact Program awardee where he taught families with children in the Linden, South Side, near East Side, Hilltop and Franklinton neighborhoods how to grow their own food for personal and family food security. Outputs of this project included 124 new family farmers trained, 85 classes with 2,500 attendees, and $1,533,889.31 dollars leveraged locally in government funding, materials donation, monetary donations, volunteerism time, and grants.
He engages students and teachers in schools through STEM-based Ag in the Classroom programs creating indoor and outdoor agricultural experiential learning laboratories for the purpose of workforce development. McDermott has engaged over 80 schools including Columbus City, Reynoldsburg, Whitehall, The Ohio School for the Deaf and charter schools Columbus Adventist Academy, Midnimo Linden Academy and KIPP. He leveraged $450,000 in funding from USDA NIFA, Scotts-Miracle Gro, and the OSU Office of Diversity and Inclusion to provide materials and knowledge support to mitigate participation barriers by teachers that has engaged over 50,000 Franklin County youth.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the availability of up to $9.5 million for Compost and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) pilot projects for fiscal year 2023. The cooperative agreements support projects that develop and test strategies for planning and implementing municipal compost plans and food waste reduction plans. They are part of USDA’s broader efforts to support urban agriculture. Read the news release.
Sourced from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Earlier this month, USDA announced it would provide assistance to producers who have faced discrimination in its farm lending programs. Specifically, USDA intends to allocate $2.2 billion by the end of the year and will work with qualified 501(c)3 entities to help with this process. Read the full USDA press release here.
While much information remains unknown,
this is a big opportunity for BIPOC farmers to access much-needed debt relief.
USDA is seeking to partner with community-based organizations in historically underserved communities that have relationships with underserved farmers and food producers to provide outreach to potential applicants. USDA is asking interested organizations to express interest in an email to AskUSDA@usda.gov by March 31.
For our part, Wallace Center submitted a request to USDA to be included in the process of distributing funds as equitably and efficiently as possible and advocate for these funds to go to BIPOC organizations and farmers. We'll share what we learn as more information becomes available.
If you're interested in learning more about partnering with USDA in these efforts, email AskUSDA@usda.gov by March 31 expressing your interest.
Sourced from The Wallace Center
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In 2003, the National Academies Press published a landmark report, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, that shocked many policymakers and the medical establishment with its finding that racial and ethnic disparities in the quality of care are “remarkably consistent,” even after controlling for access-related factors, such as income and insurance status. Despite the national attention this report received, the nation has made little progress toward eliminating health care inequities in the 20 years since the report was published.
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Ohio State University Extension - Urban Extension Specialist / Associate or Full Professor
The Urban Extension Specialist in the Department of Extension is a senior-level faculty 12-month position with a 60% Extension appointment and 40% applied research and teaching. The position will be located on the Columbus campus of The Ohio State University, will address the OSU RAISE theme of Race, Economic Opportunity, and Leadership and will foster a dynamic hub of innovation linking the priorities of urban communities with university assets. The position will advance the university’s efforts to coordinate and facilitate community-engaged research and relevant programming to address equity in the areas of food, health and wellness, environment, economic and workforce development, community leadership, and other concerns facing Ohio’s urban communities. Link to the full position description.
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The New Jersey Department of Agriculture and Rutgers Cooperative Extension Office of Urban Extension and Engagement invite urban farmers and growers to explore, use and share the new Urban Agriculture Strategies for the State of New Jersey Report and its associated web portal. The portal and the report that frames the Garden State’s challenges and opportunities, were developed as a partnership among NJDA, Rutgers, urban farmers, growers and other stakeholders engaged in urban agriculture advocacy, preservation, resources and policy. Read the full story.
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Traditionally, it has been assumed that cultivating food leads to a loss of biodiversity and negative impacts on an ecosystem. A new study from researchers at multiple universities, including The University of Texas at Austin, defies this assumption, showing that community gardens and urban farms positively affect biodiversity, local ecosystems and the well-being of humans that work in them. Read more.
Sourced from Morning AgClips
Aftab Pureval, mayor of Cincinnati, sees opportunity for building back the strength of our democracy through local offices. As the former Hamilton County clerk of courts, he honed his skills of persuasion, bridge building and collaboration in a smaller, less scrutinized public office. He improved his ability to be risk tolerant; failure, he notes, is necessary for understanding improvement and innovation. Another discovery: It’s more powerful for a leader to say, “I don’t know” and to engage the team around him or her to get to the best answer. All these nuances of leadership in City Hall give him the opportunity and platform to improve the lives of Cincinnatians. Go to the podcast.
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The USDA 1890 National Scholars Program is available to high school seniors entering their freshman year of college and rising college sophomores and juniors, who pursue degrees in one of many agriculture-related disciplines while attending an 1890 land-grant university. Major efforts have been made to develop an electronic application platform for Students to apply. Students can learn more, access the applicant guide and apply online at USDA/1890 National Scholars Program. (https://www.usda.gov/partnerships/1890NationalScholars).
The application deadline is Wednesday, March 15, 2023.
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