Racial Equity

Community Health and Well-Being
q&a
What Communities Need to Thrive: Q&A with Anita Chandra
Mar 8, 2021
Anita Chandra, vice president and director of RAND Social and Economic Well-Being, focuses on issues of health, well-being, and equity. She is researching how to create a culture of health, how to address inequities in the U.S. health system, and disaster response and resilience, especially in the context of the pandemic.
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Domestic Terrorism
blog
Political Violence, COVID-19 Vaccine Questions, Mental Health Care: RAND Weekly Recap
Jan 15, 2021
This weekly recap focuses on why we need to brace for more political violence after the Capitol attack, COVID-19 vaccine questions and answers, how to reform the U.S. mental health system, and more.
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Communities
commentary
COVID-19 Has Offered Opportunities for Communities to Come Together
Katherine Grace Carman @KGCarman, Tamara Dubowitz @TamaraDubowitz, Christopher Nelson
Jan 13, 2021
The RAND Blog
The past year has been among the most turbulent in recent memory. Might recent crises provide a catalyst for a renewed sense of civic engagement that transcends some of the race and class divisions COVID-19 has exacerbated?
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Employment and Unemployment
commentary
Without Unemployment Benefits, How Might Americans Make Ends Meet?
Kathryn A. Edwards @keds_economist
Dec 30, 2020
The RAND Blog
Do unemployment benefits keep people from accepting jobs? What effect do they have on the economy? Researchers and policymakers have been debating these issues since COVID-19 led to widespread job losses last spring.
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Educational Equity
commentary
Teleworking During the COVID-19 Pandemic Highlights Educational Inequity
Jason M. Ward
Dec 23, 2020
The RAND Blog
The ability to telework is associated with both reduced risk of COVID-19 infection and with significantly lower risk of job loss. There are large disparities in who is able to telework by race and ethnicity—but even larger ones by educational attainment.
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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
blog
The Most Popular RAND Research of 2020
Dec 21, 2020
Here are the RAND research projects that resonated most in 2020, a year unlike any in living memory. Topics include remote learning, election disinformation, income inequality, and more.
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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
blog
Americans' Financial Struggles, COVID-19 Vaccinations, Virtual Schools: RAND Weekly Recap
Dec 18, 2020
This weekly recap focuses on Americans' ongoing financial struggles, how we can learn from the first phase of COVID-19 vaccinations, why virtual schools may be here to stay, and more.
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Natural Hazards
commentary
Disaster Reporting and Its Impacts on Policy and Inequities
Aaron Clark-Ginsberg @aclarkginsberg, Shearon Roberts
Nov 16, 2020
Poynter
Disaster news tropes may capture audience attention, but they ultimately frustrate progress in mitigating the short- and long-term effects of disasters on communities. It's more important than ever that news stories about disasters frame the effects of environmental phenomena in meaningful ways.
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Workforce Management
commentary
The Lopsided Telework Revolution
Jason M. Ward, M. Rebecca Kilburn
Nov 16, 2020
Route Fifty
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a transition to telework, protecting the jobs and the health of those whose work can be performed remotely. Creative policies in a post-pandemic world are needed to help more broadly distribute the benefits of increased remote work.
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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
commentary
How Much Do Americans Value Their Health During the Pandemic?
Christopher Nelson, Katherine Grace Carman @KGCarman, Anita Chandra
Oct 29, 2020
The RAND Blog
Do Americans believe that limiting the spread of COVID-19 justifies the social and economic costs of physical-distancing measures? Researchers conducted a survey to better understand how Americans weigh health against other priorities.
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Disaster Recovery Operations
commentary
HSOAC Hosts Seminar Series on Improving Equity in Disaster Policy
Max Izenberg
Oct 7, 2020
The RAND Blog
Natural and biological hazards, and critically the human response to these hazards, have the potential not only to exacerbate existing population inequities but also to create them. To better understand the equity implications of disaster policies, the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center invited several experts to share their knowledge.
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Black Populations
commentary
Laid Off More, Hired Less: Black Workers in the COVID-19 Recession
Jhacova Williams
Sep 29, 2020
The RAND Blog
As the U.S. economy tries to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, companies are adding workers to their teams, yet one group is being picked last: Black workers. Getting back into a job later could do lasting harm to millions of Black Americans' incomes and wealth accumulation for years.
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Health Care Quality
commentary
When It Comes to U.S. Health Systems—Diversity Matters
Ryan E. Tsuchida, Sydney Fouche, John Burkhardt, Ted Corbin, Harrison Alter, Mahshid Abir
Sep 25, 2020
The RAND Blog
Health care systems are a powerful and relatively well-resourced stakeholder in the effort to eliminate inequities both among the health workforce and among patient populations. The deliberate practice of increasing diversity within the workplace may have the power to create significant, positive impacts on workplace culture and patient care.
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Social and Emotional Learning
commentary
Learning from School Leaders About SEL During a Time of Crisis
Laura S. Hamilton, Kai Fierle-Hedrick
Sep 4, 2020
The RAND Blog
It would be easy for social and emotional learning to fall by the wayside as school leaders work to address students' health, safety, and learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. Policymakers and funders should take seriously the perspectives and concerns that school leaders have shared.
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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
blog
The Evidence on Kids and COVID-19, China's Use of Big Data, Telemedicine: RAND Weekly Recap
Sep 4, 2020
This weekly recap focuses on what we know (and what we don't) about kids and COVID-19, how China is using big data, the future of telemedicine, and more.
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Organizational Leadership Development
blog
Pardee RAND's Faculty Leaders Program: Shaping the Future of Public Policy
Sep 3, 2020
To be effective, public policy needs to reflect the aspirations, lives, and perspectives of the people it serves. The Pardee RAND Graduate School seeks to build diversity in public policy by engaging faculty leaders from U.S. colleges and universities committed to serving students of color.
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Racial Equity
blog
L.A.'s High Unemployment, RAND's New Research Center, Twitter: RAND Weekly Recap
Aug 14, 2020
This weekly recap focuses on unemployment in the Los Angeles area, the new RAND Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy, food consumption in the UK, and more.
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Incarceration
commentary
Elevating Equity in Los Angeles Juvenile and Criminal Justice Reform
Margaret Chamberlin, Stephanie Brooks Holliday
Aug 12, 2020
The RAND Blog
At age 13, Black children are placed in juvenile detention at nearly 3.5 times the rate of white children. By age 17, that ratio increases to 4.5 to 1. And the trend continues into adulthood. Without ongoing attention and deliberate policies and programs, injustices are likely to persist.
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Employment and Unemployment
commentary
L.A. Has the Nation's Highest Unemployment. For Some Groups, It's Even Worse Than That.
Jason M. Ward
Aug 6, 2020
The RAND Blog
Los Angeles and its neighboring counties are among the areas hardest hit by the COVID-19 recession. The shockingly high average unemployment rates only tell part of the story, however. For the poor and some racial and ethnic groups, the jobs picture is far worse.
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Incarceration
commentary
An Uncertain Future for Jail Reform in Los Angeles
Stephanie Brooks Holliday, Margaret Chamberlin, Sarah B. Hunter
Jul 21, 2020
The RAND Blog
There is momentum in Los Angeles County to do the difficult work of criminal justice reform. This will take considerable investments of time and resources, as well as a commitment to implementing new strategies and evaluating their effectiveness along the way.
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Racial Discrimination
commentary
Confederate Statues Symbolize Role of Racism in America
Thomas S. Szayna
Jul 16, 2020
United Press International
Monuments are public art and symbols important to those who hold power. The renewed debate about monuments to historical figures associated with the Confederacy is part of the larger debate about the role of racism in the United States and the treatment of African Americans by institutions.
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Racial Discrimination
commentary
The Racial Disparity in Unemployment Benefits
Kathryn A. Edwards @keds_economist
Jul 15, 2020
The RAND Blog
Economic racial inequality in America cannot be solved through unemployment insurance, but it certainly shouldn't be exacerbated by it. And yet, Black workers are less financially supported during unemployment, simply by virtue of where they live.
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Community Resilience
essay
Stress Accumulates in Marginalized Communities, Generation After Generation
Jul 8, 2020
Psychologists and biologists have known for years that prolonged stress is toxic to the human body. A better understanding of how stress builds in communities—and the burden it puts on them—can lead to more effective policies to address it.
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Police-Community Relations
q&a
Protests and Police Reform: Q&A with RAND Experts
Jun 18, 2020
The RAND Blog
After the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and subsequent nationwide protests, the United States is seeing urgent action to reform policing. Here are insights from four RAND researchers who work on policing and community safety issues.
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Emerging Technologies
commentary
Bans on Facial Recognition Are Naive. Hold Law Enforcement Accountable for Its Abuse
Osonde A. Osoba @OsondeOsoba, Douglas Yeung @DouglasCYeung
Jun 17, 2020
The Hill
Broader police reform may be difficult to achieve. But in the long run, it will be more effective than any specific technology ban.
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Health Disparities
commentary
Incarceration Rates: A Key Measure of Health in America
Carolyn E. Miller, Douglas Yeung @DouglasCYeung
Apr 3, 2020
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Culture of Health blog
There's widespread agreement that incarceration has adverse effects on health and health equity, not just for prisoners but also for families and communities. That's one important reason why incarceration in the United States needs to be reduced.
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Community Health and Well-Being
essay
How Pittsburgh Is Addressing Social and Economic Disparities
Jul 2, 2019
Pittsburgh has been taking a hard look at race, wealth, and opportunity. In partnership with RAND, the city has run and published its numbers on subjects ranging from police contacts to business ownership to graduation rates as part of a commitment to do better.
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Community-Based Health Care
essay
Faith-Based Organizations Promote Well-Being in Underserved Communities
Jan 4, 2019
Kathryn Derose, a senior policy researcher at RAND and an Episcopal deacon, works with Latino and African-American churches to address health issues in their communities. Her research has shown the power of the pulpit to fight health disparities, counter stigma, and encourage healthy living.
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Bipolar Disorder
commentary
What Mariah Carey's Bipolar Revelation Could Mean for Public Health
Sarah MacCarthy
Apr 30, 2018
KevinMD.com
Five-time Grammy winner Mariah Carey is being widely applauded for recently revealing she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2001. By openly talking about her mental health struggles, she is helping lift mental illness out of the shadows and bringing attention to how common mental illness can be.
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Racial Discrimination
commentary
Discipline Disparities and Discrimination in Schools
Nathan Barrett, Andrew McEachin, Jonathan Mills, Jon Valant
Nov 21, 2017
Brookings Institution's Brown Center Chalkboard
In the United States, black and poor students are suspended at much higher rates than their white and non-poor peers. While the existence of these disparities is not controversial, how to interpret the disparities is bitterly disputed.
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Community Health and Well-Being
commentary
Should the Definition of Health Include a Measure of Tolerance?
Robert H. Brook
Feb 15, 2017
The Journal of the American Medical Association
Involving the medical community in helping to measure and increase tolerance could help make individuals and communities healthier. Since hate is both deadly and contagious, now is the time to engage the medical profession in eradicating it.
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Police-Community Relations
commentary
Data Key to Tackling Racial Profiling in Ferguson
K. Jack Riley @K_Jack_Riley
Aug 21, 2014
Cincinnati Enquire
Authorities in Ferguson would be wise to consider following Cincinnati's example in dealing with mistrust between police and citizens after the police shooting of a young black man. The city embarked on a thorough examination of racial profiling by its police force and took steps to deal with the perception that bias was influencing the way police officers performed their duties.
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Health Disparities
blog
Understanding the Roots of Dramatic Black-White Cancer Disparities in the Nation's Capital
Rebecca Anhang Price
Oct 22, 2012
The burden of cancer is not experienced equally across the population: Nationwide, black Americans have higher rates of death from cancer than white Americans, and nowhere has this disparity been more apparent than in the nation's capital, writes Rebecca Anhang Price.
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Religion and Civil Society
commentary
Victims of Terrorism-by-Mistaken-Identity
Jonah Blank
Aug 8, 2012
The RAND Blog and GlobalSecurity.org
Perpetrators of hate-crimes against Sikhs often think they're attacking Muslims. This may not make the slaughter any more or less heinous, but it's another example of hatred flowing from ignorance, writes Jonah Blank.
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Racial Equity
commentary
Dropping Out, Imprisoned or Killed: Disparities in Outcomes Faced by Young African American Men
Lois M. Davis @LoisMDavis
Aug 26, 2011
Tavis Smiley on PBS
Boys and men of color—in particular, young African American men—are particularly vulnerable to racial and ethnic disparities. That such disparities exist should surprise no one. Nor should the fact that such disparities diminish the life chances of those affected, writes Lois M. Davis.
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