Publications

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Low Income and Impoverished Families Pay Disproportionately More for Child Care
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…
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Federal Child Nutrition Programs are Important to Rural Households
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.
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Ocean Views: Coastal Environmental Problems as Seen by Downeast Maine Residents
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.
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Rural Areas Risk Being Overlooked in 2010 Census
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.
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New Hampshire Demographic Trends Reflect Impact of the Economic Recession
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.
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Youth Opinions Matter: Retaining Human Capital in Coös County
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.
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Working Parents and Workplace Flexibility in New Hampshire
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.
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What's for Dinner? Finding and Affording Healthy Foods in New Hampshire Communities
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.
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Too Much Free Time: Coos County Youth Who Are Least Involved in Out-of-School Activities Are Most Likely to Use Drugs & Alcohol
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.
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Race, Class, and Community in a Southern Forest-Dependent Region
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…
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Over 3 Million Low-Income Children in Rural Areas Face Cut in Child Tax Credit if Recovery Act Improvement Expires
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.
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Out-of-Home Care by State and Place: Higher Placement Rates for Children in Some Remote Rural Places
April 1, 2010
This fact sheet examines out-of-home placement rates for children removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect. The data finds that children in remote rural areas have overall higher rates of out-of-home placements. It also provides data on placement rates by rural or urban status to help inform policy makers as they discuss the child welfare system.
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Indicators of New Hampshire Youth Well-Being (co-publication with the Children's Alliance of New Hampshire)
April 1, 2010
According to a new study, New Hampshire youth, ages 13 to 24, are more likely to complete school, be employed, and have lower obesity rates than their peers nationwide but fare worse in national measures of alcohol and substance abuse. This brief, a co-publication with the Children's Alliance of New Hampshire, provides an overview of youth well-being in New Hampshire calculated from national…
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Help in a Haystack: Youth Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services in the North Country
April 1, 2010
A new brief from Nordblom Fellow Meghan Mills at the Carsey Institute finds that youth in New Hampshire's North Country have challenges in accessing support for substance abuse and mental health issues. Mills also finds that the providers face unique challenges, from getting referrals to hiring professionals, all while working without a functional network.
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The Changing Faces of America's Children and Youth
April 1, 2010
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates indicate that between July 2008 and July 2009, 48.6 percent of the 4 million children born in the United States were minorities. In contrast, nearly 60 percent of the children born ten years ago were non-Hispanic white. This rapid change demonstrates that America's youth are at the forefront of the country's rapidly shifting demographic makeup. This…
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Challenges in Serving Rural American Children through the Summer Food Service Program
April 1, 2010
When the school year ends, many low-income children rely on the USDA's Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) to supplement their diet. But less than one-third of SFSP sites are located in rural communities and rural children participate at a lower rate than those in more urban areas.
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Rural Youth are More Likely to be Idle
January 29, 2008
Rural young adults, ages 18-24, are more likely to be idle not in school, the labor force, or the Armed Forces than their urban counterparts. Among rural high school dropouts and racial-ethnic minorities, rates of idleness are even more pronounced.
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Homeless Teens and Young Adults in New Hampshire (co-publication with the Children's Alliance of New Hampshire)
April 7, 2010
More than 1,000 adolescents and young adults in New Hampshire are homeless, and their numbers are growing. The brief, co-published with the Children's Alliance of New Hampshire, provides an estimate of homeless youth in New Hampshire calculated from national and state data and describes the needs of homeless youth based on interviews and a survey of providers of homeless services in the…
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Understanding Very High Rates of Young Child Poverty in the South
July 1, 2010
It is widely known that the South is home to some of the places with the highest rates of child poverty. To address the many challenges poor families face there, policy makers and community leaders need to understand the complex factors that converge in this region of the United States. This brief presents an analysis of national and state-by-state data to help readers understand high child…
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Older Americans Working More, Retiring Less
July 1, 2010
This Carsey brief finds that the percentage of Americans age 65 and older remaining in the labor force continues to grow steadily in urban, suburban, and rural areas. In 2009, 22 percent of older men and 13 percent of older women were still working compared to 17 percent of men and 9 percent of women in 1995. Moreover, increasing percentages of older workers hold full-time, full-year jobs.