The Child Well-Being Index & Oklahoma

Earlier this year, the Foundation for Child Development and Annie E. Casey Foundation released a series of reports on the child well-being index (CWI) for states. Study authors note that national information for child well-being does not help us understand how children are doing, since there is so much state variation and since states have responsibility for [...]

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The Long-term Effects of Early Childhood Poverty

Research indicates that children living in poverty are at risk for a whole host of poor child and adolescent outcomes, especially if that poverty occurs early in childhood.  New research also indicates that childhood poverty can have a significant impact on adult outcome measures.  Possible reasons for the increased impact of early childhood poverty are also beginning to emerge.  Two [...]

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A Link Between Housing Stability and Health

Instinctively,we know that a family’s housing situation impacts the physical and emotional health of the family.  Usually, the link between housing and health is limited to comparing the homeless to those who have homes.  There are many  studies that show that homeless children are less likely to be immunized, more likely to be in poor health, more [...]

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Serving the Unbanked and Underbanked

I have mentioned previously that I am working on ways to serve the unbanked and underbanked segments of the community.  One important aspect of serving these two segments is to understand their reasons for being outside of the financial mainstream.  Without this type of information it is difficult to design products and services to reach these groups. [...]

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Food Insecurity in the US

In July, I posted about the Summer Food Service Program, but I did not really discuss the problem the federal government was trying to solve.  The Summer Food Service Program, SNAP, and other federal food and nutrition programs seek to lower the rate of food insecurity in US households with children.  The USDA defines food insecurity [...]

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Oklahoma Child Well-Being Statistics

The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently released their KIDS COUNT Data Book, which looks at 10 key indicators of child well-being.  Once again, Oklahoma is at the bottom of the rankings at 44th.  This means that children in 43 states have it better than children in Oklahoma.  In addition to ranking states on overall child [...]

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Oklahoma Food Facts

I know what you are thinking, another post about food.  But, it is important to continue discussing the food crisis in Oklahoma.  Since I am a numbers person, I thought I would share some statistics about hunger in Oklahoma. According to Oklahoma Food Bank Network: According to the USDA, Oklahoma ranks 8th in the nation in the [...]

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Promoting Fatherhood

In an effort to promote fatherhood and healthy families, the Obama Administration as part of their FY 2011 budget is proposing the creation of the Fatherhood, Marriage, and Families Innovation Fund.  The purpose of the Fund is to encourage states to implement comprehensive programs aimed at connecting fathers with their families, which should lead to healthier [...]

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