Abt's The Intersect

With the Education Sciences Reform Act up for reauthorization, there’s an opportunity to revisit how we use data to promote equitable educational policies and approaches. Drs. Karen Gray-Adams and Rebecca McGill Wilkinson discuss building equity into the evaluation process—from community involvement to planning randomized control trials—to ensure we can identify the best way forward for every child.

Pollution. Lead poisoning. Community policing. Imprisonment. The challenges of environmental justice are even bigger than you may realize. Abt’s Dr. LaToria Whitehead and Dr. Jennifer Bronson discuss how systemic and structural racism has disproportionately thrust Black families into a brutal cycle linking dangerous environmental conditions, poor health, and involvement in the justice system.

In Ukraine, Russia’s invasion has destroyed infrastructure and threatens the economy. In sub-Saharan Africa, the climate crisis is stressing already-fragile health systems. In this podcast, Joan Chahenza and Nadiia Zaritska discuss how the establishment and maintenance of resilient energy systems—be they distributed or part of the grid—can incorporate GEDSI principles while serving vulnerable populations.

With reasons ranging from a lack of affordable housing to rising medical costs, more and more people over the age of 55 are experiencing homelessness. While the national data show the beginning of an alarming trend—with a 73-percent year-over-year increase in chronic homelessness among the elderly—the effects are in full bloom in Washington, DC. Abt’s Brooke Abrams talks to Miriam’s Kitchen’s April Veney and Adam Rocap—who provide supportive services in the capital—about what they’re seeing on the ground and how we can provide support and address root causes.

Summer EBT was recently authorized as a federally funded, national nutritional program for school-aged children. It’s a difficult program to implement and sustain, but it’s vital to the more than 20 million children who rely on it to support their nutrition when school isn’t in session. In this podcast, Abt’s Rene Nutter talks with Tyra Shackelford, Chickasaw Nation’s Sumer EBT administrator, about what it takes for a successful Summer EBT implementation.

Abhorrent racial disparities in America’s criminal justice system are well-documented, but less covered is the over-representation of people with disabilities. Drs. Jennifer Bronson and Hassan Enayati discuss how supports from elementary school through the hiring process can help mitigate the links between disability and employment opportunities as social determinants of justice.

Surveillance, resilience, adaptation—these activities happen at local and national levels around the globe. As the climate crisis grows—with interlocking symptoms ranging from extreme weather to higher human exposure to zoonotic diseases—how can we coordinate systems to go beyond human health to planetary health? Amanda Quintana, Adam Schaefer, and James White share their ideas in the latest episode of The Intersect.

Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) provide essential healthcare to people who are uninsured or underinsured, and the support they provide doesn’t stop there. In this podcast, Abt’s Ann Loeffler and Dr. Kimberly S.G. Chang— Family Physician and Director of Human Trafficking and Health Care Policy at Asian Health Services in Oakland, Calif., discuss the role health centers play in everything from participatory democracy to combatting racism.

To improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, government agencies called for air-tight buildings. To reduce the transmission of COVID and the impact of pollutants emitted in homes by products ranging from stoves to personal care products, scientists and engineers looked for ways to improve air circulation. As harmful particulate matter from wildfires crosses international borders, we’re reminded yet again that safeguarding air quality for public health is a balancing act that we can’t afford to get wrong. Drs. Tiffany Harris and Jonathan Dorn discuss the challenges—and possible solutions.

To create equity as an output, you need to incorporate equity throughout your project’s inputs. Tara Reed and Meghan Henry discuss Abt’s systemic approach to dismantling systemic inequities, and how we’re putting it to work as we produce HUD’s annual report to Congress on homelessness.

To implement equity externally, you have to practice equity internally. Drs. Karen Gray-Adams and Katrina Bledsoe explain why organizations that are ready to evolve should be prepared to embrace discomfort (it’s worth it), and discuss how Abt is using education to build equity into the foundations of the policy world moving forward.

Climate change will affect everyone, so what measures can U.S. communities take now to adapt and thrive? From water-saving landscapes to strategic retreats from hazard-prone areas, experts Colleen Moore and Alexis St. Juliana explore a range of promising responses they’ve identified and explain why historically vulnerable communities must be part of the solutions.

Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) provide essential healthcare to people who are uninsured or underinsured. Increasingly, FQHCs are answering the call to bolster what have traditionally been public health and social services, and the question of how we support and enhance these resources is becoming more pressing. In this podcast, Abt's Ann Loeffler speaks to Lathran Woodard—the Chief Executive Officer of the South Carolina Primary Health Care Association—about the history of the health center movement, the mission that sets it apart, and the need to support and grow FQHCs and their workforce.

Clean energy is not only essential to combating climate change, it creates proven economic benefits—and opportunities to engage the untapped potential of the world’s future workforce. ? Dr. Nicole Goldin and Lindsey Foley discuss the vital role youth can—and must--play in the green economy in the latest episode of The Intersect.

Like everything—and everyone—else, health systems function at the mercy of climate change, which means climate adaptation is vital not only to local resilience, but to health systems strengthening and security. So how can we connect these programmatically? In this episode of The Intersect, Abt’s Eric Reading and Kelly Saldana explain the urgent need for climate integration in global development.

A new study by Abt for the Department of Labor shows an apprenticeship program improved wages across the board, but job equity—not just in earnings but in career choices—remains a challenge. From supportive services for participants to the benefits of mentors, Dr. Katrina Bledsoe and study author Karen Gardiner discuss possible solutions.

Social programs designed to promote equity—in housing, jobs, justice, health care, and more—rely on data to identify strategies and measure impact. But what happens when our data collection and analyses are inadvertently sabotaged by bias? Drs. Rucha Londhe and Eric Hedberg share tips and experiences on the latest episode of The Intersect podcast.

As vulnerable populations increasingly derive “more and more and more” of the medical and social service they need from community health centers, the question of how we support and enhance these vital resources becomes more pressing. In this podcast, Abt's Ann Loeffler speaks to Annette Kowal, president and CEO for the Colorado Community Health Network, about the state of the industry, how we got to this point, and how we might move forward.

As the climate crisis unfolds, the impacts will be particularly acute for vulnerable populations who live amid flood zones, heat islands, and rampant pollution, all of which cause disproportionate health issues. Barbara Fields, Frank Alexander, and Paul Anninos discuss the intersections between climate, housing, and equity policies in America, and the community-level approaches we can take to address these social determinants of health.

The signs are there long before children enter the child welfare system, so how can we keep kids safe and families together? In this episode of The Intersect podcast, Abt’s Ginger Pryor (former head of child welfare in both L.A. County and the state of Georgia) and Whitney Rostad explain how real solutions to systemic failures can emerge from disaggregated data, community input, and silo-busting collaborations.