Publications
October 26, 2009
In the city of Manchester, New Hampshire, 25 percent of children live below the poverty line, a high rate that is in stark contrast to the state's rate of just 10 percent, one of the nation's lowest. That is the most surprising finding from this new analysis of demographic trends in the Manchester-Nashua metropolitan area. The brief presents recent demographic shifts in Manchester,…
October 27, 2009
A new analysis of student discipline in New Hampshire schools in the 2007–2008 school year shows that out-of-school suspension rates are higher and statewide expulsion rates are lower than the national average. Schools reporting the highest rates of suspensions and expulsions are the smallest in the state and have the highest percentage of students in poverty. This brief is the first in a…
November 10, 2009
Veterans with service-related disabilities are concentrated in the American South and in rural places, this new fact sheet finds. Issued to commemorate Veterans Day (November 11), the report analyzes new data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey, which released service-related disability data for the first time.
December 4, 2009
Among low-income families, the wages of employed wives account for the majority of family earnings, according to this Carsey brief. The analysis finds that in 2008, women contributed 56 percent of total family earnings, up from 51 percent in 2007. Also, husbands' education level and race are factors in how much wives contribute to family earnings.
December 16, 2009
This Carsey brief reveals that students in rural areas and small towns have less access to higher-level mathematics courses than students in urban settings, which results in serious educational consequences, including lower scores on assessment tests and fewer qualified students entering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) job pipelines.
January 1, 2010
This brief, which is based on data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, finds that rural families who have been reported to Child Protective Services are more likely than urban families to have financial difficulties and high family stress, as well as grow up in single-parent households. To effectively address these issues, the brief urges policy makers to look at the lack…
July 17, 2008
A survey of 7,800 rural Americans in 19 counties across the country has led to the Carsey Institute's first major publication that outlines four distinctly different rural Americas—amenity, decline, chronic poverty, and those communities in decline that are also amenity-rich—each has unique challenges in this modern era that will require different policies than their rural neighbors.
May 21, 2008
Coös County residents are largely optimistic about their future despite significant economic challenges, especially in the Berlin/Gorham area. As part of a three-pronged effort to understand the ongoing changes in New Hampshire's North Country and surrounding counties, researchers at the Carsey Institute have surveyed more than 1,700 adult residents of Coös County, New Hampshire, and Oxford…
January 1, 2010
This brief looks at the connections between how youth spend their free time and positive or negative attitudes about themselves and their future plans. Family studies assistant professor and Carsey faculty fellow Erin Hiley Sharp used data from the Carsey Institute's Coos County Youth Survey to show differences by activity level and students' expectations for positive outcomes in their…
January 1, 2010
According to research based on the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation, working families with young children living in poverty pay 32 percent of their income on child care, nearly five times more than families living at more than 200 percent of the poverty level. This brief asks policy makers to consider allowing more subsidies to be available to those who could benefit most from them…
January 1, 2010
This brief, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, examines how rural families use four of the major federal child nutrition programs. It finds that 29 percent of rural families with children participate but that there are barriers to these nutrition programs, such as the lack of public transportation and high operating costs for rural schools and child care programs.
January 25, 2010
This brief contends that loss of fishing jobs and income is the top environment-related concern among residents of Maine's Hancock and Washington counties, as well as forestry decline and water pollution. Also of note, across a wide range of environmental issues, political party affiliation is associated with level of concern about environmental problems.
February 24, 2010
This issue brief describes how the census is conducted in rural areas, identifies some of the most difficult rural areas to count, and highlights what organizations are doing to ensure a more accurate census count in rural America. It also points out that undercounting by the census can lead to communities not receiving a fair share of federal funding.
March 29, 2010
Between July 2008 and July 2009, more people left New Hampshire than moved to it, reversing a trend of domestic migration that had fueled the state's population growth over the past decade, according to U.S. Census Bureau data in released March 2010. This fact sheet summarizes the data.
April 1, 2010
As Coös County youth age, their attachment to their communities may deteriorate. This brief presents new data from the Coös Youth Study. This research indicates efforts to keep young people in Coös may benefit from efforts to show students that their views matter to adults in their communities.
April 1, 2010
This report, a joint effort between the Carsey Institute, UNH Cooperative Extension, and New Hampshire Employment Security, looks at working parents and their job flexibility and the importance it has for families trying to achieve a work-life balance.
April 1, 2010
Access to healthy food is becoming increasingly difficult for some households in the Granite State, as grocery stores relocate or consolidate, leaving some residents to depend on convenience stores for basic groceries. This brief looks at recent data on food deserts in New Hampshire.
April 1, 2010
Carsey Institute researchers are seeing links between the self-reported substance use and involvement in out-of-school activities. As part of a ten-year tracking survey of high school students in Coos County, New Hampshire, this brief finds that those most involved with constructive activities report the least amount of substance abuse.
April 1, 2010
Based on a Community and Environment in Rural America survey, this brief looks at four counties in Alabama. It finds blacks and whites have different outcomes in the community, despite expectations of regional stability and greater equality. Though they reported similar rates of social mobility, African Americans in the "Black Belt" of Alabama are disproportionately poorer and employed…
April 1, 2010
According to this new research, at the end of 2010, the Child Tax Credit improvements that were included in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will expire if Congress does not extend them. If this happens, low-income working families across America will be affected.
