April/May 2019
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NCCU Examines Geography for Clues to Food Insecurity
The HBCU Advocate 11
NUL Announces Education Equity Report Cards for Every Student Succeeds Act
BY NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE of states’ BY NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY
North Carolina Central University will take part in a $750,000 research project funded by the National Science Foundation to investigate social, economic and geographic factors that contribute to food insecurity in North Carolina.
Tim Mulrooney, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Earth, Environment and Geospatial Sciences, will work with researchers at North Carolina A&T State University to conduct the study, titled Dynamics of Rural and Urban Food Deserts.
“This at the and project relationships food
will be looking between
socio-economic characteristics, land use, and water quality to determine how people can respond to food deserts
insecurity,” said
Mulrooney, who uses geographic information
system (GIS) models
to uncover patterns and unintended consequences of land-use impacts and other factors related to food insecurity.
Food insecurity
families are forced to skip meals or consume unhealthy
either due
occurs when or inadequate
diets due to economic constraints or lack of access to healthy foods, such as fresh fruit, vegetables and lean meats. forego an optimal diet,
lack of funds or limited choices, such consuming less nutritious fast-food meals store meals instead of fresh fruit, lean meat and vegetables. Food deserts may be either rural or urban areas that have few options, if any, for buying fresh fruits, vegetables, milk and other healthy foods easily and affordably.
Geospatial data from NCCU
is being combined with agricultural data from North Carolina A&T State University to examine soil, water
quality and other factors needed to grow crops. The information will be included in the models, along with economic and retail factors.
“We are getting data at the state level using census tracks and
Greensboro down toward Fayetteville,” Mulrooney
highlighting said.
“The metrics
areas goal
is
compare social-system metrics natural-system
from to
to involving
water, air, soil quality, and types of crops.”
Understanding these factors could be key to helping reduce food insecurity across the state.
According to Feeding America,
a nationwide nonprofit consortium of food banks and similar agencies, reports
that 15 percent people, nearly of
Carolinians – or approximately 1.51 million
a third
them children – lack resources for a sufficient diet.
Taking a closer look at contributing factors may help determine new ways to bridge the hunger gap, with unfilled needs that are valued by Feeding America at $7.7 million annually.
The National Science Foundation grant will fund the project through February 2022.
principal investigator
Mulrooney’s partners include Manoj Jha,
Ph.D., and Chyi Lyi (Kathleen) Liang, both professors of agriculture and environmental science at N.C. A&T.
Others are business professor
Lyubov Kurkalova, Ph.D., engineering professor Greg Montey, Ph.D. and science and technology professor Leila Hashemi Beni, Ph.D., all of N.C. A&T State University.
For information on part-time and full-time career opportunities email us at:
info@TheHBCUAdvocate.com
North of
test
Following a thorough evaluation plans
for addressing
inequity in their education systems, the National Urban League, led by former New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial, announced that nine states were rated “excellent” and eight states “poor.”
The rest of the 37 plans
reviewed were rated “sufficient”. Evaluations were done in 36 states and Washington D.C. where Urban League affiliates are located.
“States have an opportunity
to commit earnestly to advancing equity,” National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial said. “Our goal is to help states take better advantage of that opportunity -- to equip communities, community leaders,
equity advocates, parents,
students, families, and administrators with the information necessary to strengthen their state-level advocacy as every state
plans.” As part of its Equity &
Excellence Project, an initiative to supports local,
Succeeds Act (ESSA) state, and national
advocacy, engagement, and education reform efforts the National Urban League has reviewed the Every Student
Consolidated State Plans that have been submitted to, and approved by, the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of the review was to determine the likelihood of the plans to advance equity and excellence for vulnerable students in our nation’s public schools.
Morial cautioned that the report
cards do not constitute an assessment or analysis of a state’s school system. Rather, they identify the extent to which states have addressed specific equity concerns, such as breaking the school-to-prison pipeline, expanding access to early childhood education, cultural competence training for staff and disparate per-pupil spending in their state plans.
The states rated are New York, Oklahoma, “excellent”
Colorado, Ohio, New Jersey, Louisiana,
Kentucky, Illinois and Rhode Island. These states are off to a strong start making the most of opportunities to further advance equity with some areas for improvement and a small number of areas deserving urgent attention.
The states opportunities attention. The other states rated rated
These to
“poor” states further areas needing are
Virginia, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, Missouri, Kansas, Michigan and California.
missed
equity in a majority of areas with several
advance urgent
implements these
“sufficient,” were adequately attentive to opportunities to further advance equity while missing several opportunities, all of which having a few areas deserving urgent attention.
“This analysis comes at a time when the nation is undergoing a trans- formational about race,
and the systematic in Americans’ lives,” “With
they Morial education at the
shift in conversations socioeconomic role
status, play said.
forefront,
advocates and stakeholders alike are looking critically at what states have committed to do for students and how they are going to doing it.”
Morial added that
provided National
that will the
an opportunity Urban
partners, to emphasize key equity levers
League be
The National necessary to
fortify the next reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Urban League
makes several recommendations for national, state and local action:
● Congress should hold hearings on the areas for concern and oversight, including resource equity, subgroup accountability and supports for struggling schools, data transparency and accessibility. We also urge Congress to exert its federal oversight role to determine whether approved state plans meet statutory requirements.
● State leaders should learn
from each other and adopt promising practices from their peers where we identified areas for improvement.
● Advocates and state leaders should use the law’s public reporting requirements to analyze expenditures and make sure budgets prioritize students with the greatest need.
● Advocates should encourage
their states to amend their plans based on the National Urban League’s ESSA State Plan Equity Report Card.
● Community Stakeholders – community-based civil rights partners, educators,
community administrators – should leaders,
equity advocates, parents, students, families,
hold their school districts accountable for the equitable implementation of ESSA. The National Urban League advocated for the inclusion of family and community engagement
in the
development and implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act. That partnership is critical to ensuring that ESSA meets the promise of ensuring that each child receives an equitable and excellent education that ensures their success in college, work and life.
To view the full report and each state report card, visit www.
naturbanleague.org.
for the and
review its
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