SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report
Sections
Status: Approved
Basic Information
- Project No. and Title: W4001 : Social, Economic and Environmental Causes and Consequences of Demographic Change in Rural America
- Period Covered: 10/01/2020 to 09/30/2021
- Date of Report: 10/27/2021
- Annual Meeting Dates: 09/09/2021 to 09/10/2021
Participants
Accomplishments
PRESENTATIONS. Despite widespread cancellations due to COVID-19, over 40 presentations were made to fellow researchers at annual meetings of professional associations and other research conferences, including the Rural Sociological Society, the American Sociological Association, the Population Association of America, the American Association of Geographers, and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.
OUTREACH. Members consulted at the highest levels of federal policy as members or consultants for: the Office of Management and Budget’s Interagency Committee on Metropolitan and Micropolitan Standards; the U.S. Census Bureau’s Census Scientific Advisory Committee and their Differential Privacy Working Group; the Summer at the Census Program; and the National Academy of Sciences Committee on High and Rising Working-Age Mortality Rates. Members conducted briefings, workshops and consultations to state and federal policymakers, extension officials, community organizations, and other stakeholder groups, including: the Census Bureau’s Center for Behavioral Science Methods; the Gateway and Natural Amenity Region Seminar Series, Utah State University; the Michigan Governor’s Council on Climate Solutions; Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Energy Task Force; the International City/County Management Association, American Planning Association; the New Hampshire House/Senate Ways and Means Committee; the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation; the New Hampshire Black Heritage Board of Directors; the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station; the Rural & Underserved Utah Training Experience (RUUTE) Program at the University of Utah School of Medicine; the Water Security in the Western U.S. Summit; the National Academy of Sciences webinars on High and Rising Mortality Rates among Working-Age Adults (2 public webinars; 1 webinar to funders); the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy-National Opioids and Synthetics Coordination Group Webinar; staffers from Bernie Sanders’ and Susan Collins’ offices to discuss educational and geographic disparities in life expectancy to inform a congressional hearing; member of Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Health Equity Task force to discuss issues related to rural population health and community development; Director of Homeland Security for the Minority Staff of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs (Rob Portman’s Office) about overdoses; N.Y. State Senator Peter Harkham about drivers of substance use and policy priorities; the Office of the Missouri Public Defender on COVID-19 trends; the Wisconsin Legislative Technology Services Bureau; the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau; the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction; the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; the People’s Map Commission; the Mississippi Humanities Council; the Southern Region Program Leaders Network (1862, 1890, and 1994 land grant universities); the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi; the Maddox Foundation; the Roosevelt Project; the United Nations Inter-Agency Expert Group on Implementation of the Third United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027); the Montana Food Bank Network and local food banks in Montana.
MEDIA OUTREACH. Members communicated research findings to the public with over 50 interviews through many media outlets, including in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, AP News, Bloomberg News, Salon, The Hill, Daily Yonder, SLATE, The Guardian, WNMU-TV and Public Radio 90, Daily Mining Gazette, Iron Mountain Daily News, The Mining Journal, CBS News Radio, NBCLX, Buzzfeed News, Vice, Reuters, Kansas City Public Radio, Time Magazine, The Advocate, Monroe News-Star, LSU Reveille, Wisconsin Public Radio, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, Wisconsin Eye, Wisconsin Watch, Montgomery Advertiser, Facing South, SuperTalk Radio, Mississippi Public Broadcasting Radio. CHNI News, Roll Call, National Geographic, and Cache Valley Daily.
NEW FUNDING. Members received external funding to extend and build on research to meet project objectives:
Mildred Warner (PI), Linda Lobao (co-PI), Paige Kelly and Yuanshuo Xu, “Local Government, Inequality, and Rural Well-being” National Institute of Food and Agriculture USDA 2021-67023-34437, March 2021-February 2024, total $500,000
Richelle Winkler (PI), “Pandemic Migration in Michigan's Upper Peninsula” InvestUP, May 2021-Nov 2021, total $5,420
Danielle Rhubart (PI), “Social Infrastructure and Mental Health among Older Adults in Rural America” NIH Interdisciplinary Network on Rural Population Health and Aging ($11,323) - 4/1/2021–6/30/2022.
Sexsmith, Kathleen (PI), Paige Castellanos (co-PI), Kathryn Maich (co-PI), and Leland Glenna (co-PI), “Impacts of COVID-19 crisis on unpaid and underpaid care work among food system workers.” Oxfam America ($15,000).
Guangqing Chi (PI), Heather Randell (co-PI), Megan Mucioki (co-PI), and Rebecca Napolitano (co-PI). "EAGER: SAI: Collaborative Research: Community-Driven Innovation for Resilient Bridges in Remote Communities." National Science Foundation (Award # BCS-2121909). 10/1/2021–9/30/2023. $259,112.
Guangqing Chi (PI). "RAPID: Collaborative Research: COVID-19 Preparedness in Remote Fishing Communities in Rural Alaska." National Science Foundation (Award # OPP-2032790). 6/15/2020–5/31/2022. $119,868.
Jennifer Glick (PI), Sara Damaske (co-I), and Guangqing Chi (PI of the Computational and Spatial Analysis Core). "Population Research Institute" (Award # 2P2C HD041025). The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. 6/1/2021–5/31/2026. $3,530,135.
Cory Anderson (PI), Mary Shenk (co-I), and Guangqing Chi (co-I). "Aging Amish: Toward Usable Population Microdata and an Investigation of Residence Proximity, Occupational Change, and Informal Care Practices for the Elderly." NIA-funded Interdisciplinary Network on Rural Population Health and Aging (INRPHA). 4/15/2021–6/30/2022. $15,000.
Shannon Monnat (PI). “Demographic, Geographic, and Temporal Trends in Mortality from Drugs, Alcohol, and Suicide among Working-Age Adults.” Center for Aging and Policy Studies Pilot Grant funded through NIA P30AG066583. 2020-2022. $45,000.
Shannon Monnat (PI). “States’ COVID-19 Mitigation Policies and Psychological Health, Drug Overdose, and Suicide among U.S. Adults.” National Institute on Drug Abuse. U01DA055972. 2021-2025. $1,951,923.
Heather Randell (co-PI). “IRES Track I: Manifestations of Climate Change in Extreme Events.” National Science Foundation OISE-2107275. 2021-2024. $379,004.
Tim Slack (PI). “BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Exposure and Family Health.” Manship Summer Research Fellowship, Louisiana State University, College of Humanities and Social Sciences. 2020. $5,000
Anne Cafer (Co-PI), John Green (Co-PI), and Emma Scott (Co-PI). “Food Is Medicine Summit Series.” FEED Fund with the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi and Maddox Foundation. 2020-2021. $15,000.
John Green (PI, taking over for retiring PI Steven Turner), Ardian Harri (Co-PD), Robert Zabawa (Co-PD), Jennie Stephens (Co-PD), Cassandra Johnson Gaither (Co-PD), Rebecca Smith (Co-PI), John Garner (Co-PD), and Ayoung Kim (Co-PD). “The Racial Wealth Gap, Persistent Poverty, and Heirs’ Property: Analysis, Connections, and Solutions.” U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. 2021-67023-34425. 2021-2024. $499,997.
AWARDS.
Linda Lobao was awarded the title of Distinguished Professor of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, at The Ohio State University. The description of the award notes that it “is an honorific, not a new faculty rank. This award honors colleagues at the rank of Professor who have excelled in teaching, research, or outreach/engagement, and whose work has demonstrated significant impact on their fields, students, CFAES, and University, and/or the public.”
Kathleen Sexsmith received a 2021 RSS Early Career Award from the Rural Sociological Society for her research project “Assessing Pennsylvania Seasonal Farm Labor Camps: A Comparison of H-2A and non H-2A farms.
Shannon Monnat: 2020-21 Rural Sociological Society Excellence in Research Award; 2021 RSS Fred Buttell Outstanding Scholarly Achievement Award (with W4001 member David Peters).
TEACHING
Lobao: 67 students taught, 3 Ph.D. candidates
Winkler: 182 students taught, 3 Ph.D. students
Johnson: 2 students; 3 PhD students.
Schad: 30 students; Chair/Co-chair 3 PhD students
Berry: 32 students; 3 PhD students, 1 MS student
Sexsmith: 68 students taught; 5 PhD students, 1 MS student
Chi: 10 students taught, 5 Ph.D. students supervised/co-supervised
Monnat: 14 students taught, 7 Ph.D. students, 1 postdoc
Randell: 37 students taught, 2 PhD students supervised/co-supervised
Slack: 226 students taught, 1 PhD student
Veroff: 20 students taught
John Green: 86 students taught
Shaun Golding: 85 Students Taught
Tom Mueller: 99 Students Taught, 1 PhD Student
Brian Thiede: 55 students taught, 4 PhD students
Mary Arends-Kuenning: 8 students taught, 6 PhD students
Dissertations
Paige Kelly, March 2021. Title of Dissertation: Status-Based Inequalities and Changes in the Welfare State: An Empirical Study of U.S. County Governments.
Christian Scott, August 2021. Title of Dissertation: The Pasture, the Village, and the People: Food Security Endowments and Abatements in the Southern Kyrgyz Highlands.
Kathryn Sweet Keating. 2020. Title of Dissertation: Facets of Family Resilience: South Louisiana and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Louisiana State University.
Matthew Brooks, 2020. Title of Dissertation: The Changing Landscape of Affordable Housing in the United States. The Pennsylvania State University.
Impacts
- Research on racial residential integration in the US raised awareness and increased knowledge about place-based attributes that promote contexts that might promote positive race relations. The study shows that we must look outside the city to understand cross-racial exposure and contact. Policy implications include stressing the need to consider different types of places and their regional contexts to enhance racial equity. (Objectives 1-2)
- We helped state public policy makers understand how Michigan populations and their energy uses are changing, to inform decision-makers considering the social justice implications of transitioning to renewable energy systems. (Objective 2)
- Research on changes to the Census Bureau’s disclosure avoidance systems on data quality informs the Census Bureau’s decision-making process on how to implement privacy systems and helps data users recognize limitations in using published Census 2020 data to understand population change. (Objective 1)
- Research and policy discussions with staff, legislators, and NGOs provided insights into and raised awareness of recent rural demographic trends in New Hampshire, New England and the U.S. and the policy challenges the state, region and nation will face in light of these changes. (Objective 1)
- Research and policy discussions with community-based organizations, University Extension agents, and state employees raised awareness of natural resource dependency transitions in rural Utah communities and related changes in well-being, including changes related to mental health and suicide. (Objective 3)
- Research on the socio-demographic characteristics of communities facing elevated flood risk and how those characteristics vary across rural and urban contexts raised awareness of the higher risk of flooding in rural tracts and tracts with larger relative shares of older adults and socioeconomically vulnerable populations. Policy implications include the need to rely on more advanced estimates of flooding to properly allocate flood resources and support to rural areas - areas in which FEMA has historically underestimated flood risk. (Objective 3)
- Research on risks posed by wildfires to populations living in the Wildland-Urban Interface raised awareness of the high risk for environmental shocks including, but not limited to, wildfire. (Objective 3)
- Research on occupational safety and health conditions in the New York dairy and Pennsylvania mushroom industries generated new knowledge on the conditions and consequences of industrialized agricultural employment conditions for a vulnerable immigrant workforce. The policy implications of this research are that better healthcare safety nets need to be made available for immigrant workers, who often continue to work despite being injured, in order to maintain their incomes. (Objective 2)
- Workshops conducted in the UW Extension Organizational & Leadership Development program helped build capacity in rural counties to access, use and analyze demographic data for program development, resource allocation, decision-making, and service provision. Special emphasis was on connecting local knowledge to data about current and projected rural population trends in the domains of aging, health, changing diversity, and housing. (Objectives 1-3)
- Engagements with the Montana Food Bank Network and local food banks in Montana to share insights from the American Community Survey, the Population Estimates Program, and Regional Economic Accounts raised awareness of social, geographic, and economic inequities facing vulnerable populations. (Objectives 1-2)