People of color are overrepresented relative to their shares of the total population in coronavirus infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. The same is true for people living in over-crowded multigenerational households. Because people of color are more likely to live in multigenerational households than are Whites, the pandemic is having a double whammy effect in communities of color throughout the U.S.
Considerable scholarly analysis and media attention has documented the racially disparate impact of coronavirus infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. Constituting 13 percent of the general population, Blacks reportedly account for 25 percent of those that have tested positive and 39 percent of the COVID-related deaths in the United States.
The nursing profession in the United States was experiencing a labor shortage and facing diversity and inclusion challenges prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Magnifying these problems was a shift in the nation’s population, both geographically and demographically. The result was changes in both where nurses are needed in the healthcare system and the nursing skill set required to address healthcare needs of a far more diverse clientele of patients—in terms of race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, age, living arrangements, socioeconomic status and primary language.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has recently ramped up efforts to keep immigrants from entering the country and force out some who are already here – arguing these to be necessary measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 and protect American jobs. However, in this Kenan Insight, we summarize why these policies risk having exactly the opposite effect, harming the future health, social well-being and economic viability of our nation.
As the middle class shrinks and consumer debt, education and healthcare costs increase, a national conversation has focused on the wealth gap within America and the realities of the American Dream.
Professor Jim Johnson, director of the Kenan Institute-affiliated Urban Investment Strategies Center, recently penned an op-ed for the Raleigh News and Observer on the importance of immigrants in an aging U.S. economy. Johnson co-authored the piece with Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities Vice President Allan M. Parnell.
Profound demographic changes of all kinds are radically transforming America’s social, economic and political institutions. Perhaps one of the most troubling is something our affiliated Urban Investment Strategies Center Director Dr. Jim Johnson calls the End of Men.
Terrorist attacks. Oil spill disasters. Ebola outbreaks. Our world today is defined by what Jim Johnson, director of the Kenan Institute-affiliated Urban Investment Strategies Center, terms an atmosphere of “certain uncertainty.” Johnson spoke on what individuals need to survive this new reality at the Feb. 12 Carolina Conversations event at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Dr. Jim Johnson, director of the Kenan Institute-affiliated Urban Investment Strategies Center, was recently featured in a WRAL-TV report and website article on what he sees as a major problem facing society – the declining role of men. Johnson points to poor performance in grade school, high incarceration rates and discrimination as some of the factors leading to the change. Johnson says the effects will have wide implications, including a decrease in the eligibility pool of marriageable men.
For more than 50 years, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have been serving the African American community, providing a firm grounding not only in education, but also in black history and culture. Jim Johnson, Director of Education, Aging and Economic Development Initiatives for the Kenan Institute, spoke with Frank Stasio of The State of Things on the relevance and challenges of HBCUs today.
A recent article by AARP compares the tax landscape in North Carolina with surrounding states, and discusses how North Carolina tax breaks for older residents fall short of those offered by other states, such as South Carolina. The article quotes Jim Johnson, director of Education, Aging, and Economic Development for the Kenan Institute, on what older Americans consider when choosing where to spend their retirement years.
On October 27, 2017 the Frank H. Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise (Kenan Institute) hosted The Business of Healthcare: Adapting to an Aging Economy at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The conference brought together more than 100 attendees representing the diverse interests and perspectives of health care and elder care organizations, medical and pharmaceutical companies, patient advocacy organizations, government agencies and the academic research sector.