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This study examines how people who have been constrained by extreme or chronic poverty, rural location, and adversity in interpersonal relationships make decisions and engage in agency through their narratives and everyday experiences. As a social scientific concept, the agency indicates the intentional behavior of individuals in the context of their environments, relations, and situations. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were collected with sixteen participants in rural south-central New York state who were living in extreme and/or chronic poverty. While exercising agency is viewed as important to the upward mobility of families and individuals in poverty, our participants encountered not only complex contexts for doing so but, at times, engaged in rebellious or counterproductive forms of agency. Furthermore, family ideology, such as traditional family values, shaped the perceived possibilities for forming one's life course. We find the structure-agency dichotomy less useful than a framework that incorporates additional sources of constraints on agency, such as embodiment and culture. We also encounter difficulty in applying the concept of agency to the experiences of our research participants in ways that point to the necessary reworking of the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, communities invested in transformative food politics in the United States have seen the framework food justice become widely accepted as a core framework for anti-racist practice. Critical food scholars often recognize food justice in practices that: underwrite coalitions and solidarities across difference, tend to collective and historical trauma, and expand land-based political imaginations. This paper argues that abolitionist thought can position these elements within in a relational, historical framework that enables organizers to name the underlying racial capitalist logics of food apartheid—including the destruction of Black, Indigenous, and poor peoples' senses of place, and white supremacy culture's dehumanization of people who fall outside the norms of liberal individualism—in order build strategic alliances with those who struggle against other manifestations of the same logics, including mass incarceration. Citing work at the intersection of food and carceral justice in New York's Hudson Valley, this paper humbly affirms what abolitionist organizers already know: that life is possible and is already flourishing well outside of racial capitalism and settler colonialism's death dealing logics. Abolitionist thought may be an essential tool for strengthening our relationships to and analyses of food and food justice, such that we may organize more effectively to end food apartheid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bharati Arora's book I Writing Gender, Writing Nation i formulates a conscientious thesis that problematises the very principles and values on the basis of which the new nation-state of India was found. I Writing Gender, Writing Nation i foregrounds the special role played by laws in the newly constituted state of India by setting the tone of resurrected gendered relations and the roles of the marginalised in this new arrangement. Writing gender, writing nation: women's fiction in post-independence India: by Bharti Arora, New York, Routledge, 2019, x+232 pp., £38.99 (paperback), ISBN 97 8 036 728 052 9. [Extracted from the article]

The spatiotemporal and demographic disparities in exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP; number concentrations of particulate matter (PM) with diameter ≤0.1 μm), a key subcomponent of fine aerosols (PM 2.5 ; mass concentrations of PM ≤ 2.5 μm), have not been well studied. To quantify and compare the aerosol pollutant exposure disparities for UFP and PM 2.5 by socio-demographic factors in New York State (NYS). Ambient atmospheric UFP and PM 2.5 were quantified using a global three-dimensional model of chemical transport with state-of-the-science aerosol microphysical processes validated extensively with observations. We matched these to U.S. census demographic data for varied spatial scales (state, county, county subdivision) and derived population-weighted aerosol exposure estimates. Aerosol exposure disparities for each demographic and socioeconomic (SES) indicator, with a focus on race-ethnicity and income, were quantified for the period 2013–2020. The average NYS resident was exposed to 4451 #·cm−3 UFP and 7.87 μg·m−3 PM 2.5 in 2013–2020, but minority race-ethnicity groups were invariably exposed to greater daily aerosol pollution (UFP: +75.0% & PM 2.5 : +16.2%). UFP has increased since 2017 and is temporally and seasonally out-of-phase with PM 2.5. Race-ethnicity exposure disparities for PM 2.5 have declined over time; by −6% from 2013 to 2017 and plateaued thereafter despite its decreasing concentrations. In contrast, these disparities have increased (+12.5–13.5%) for UFP. The aerosol pollution exposure disparities were the highest for low-income minorities and were more amplified for UFP than PM 2.5. We identified large disparities in aerosol pollution exposure by urbanization level and socio-demographics in NYS residents. Jurisdictions with higher proportions of race-ethnicity minorities, low-income residents, and greater urbanization were disproportionately exposed to higher concentrations of UFP and PM 2.5 than other NYS residents. These race-ethnicity exposure disparities were much larger, more disproportionate, and unabating over time for UFP compared to PM 2.5 across various income strata and levels of urbanicity. [Display omitted] • There is a need to distinguish ultrafine (UFP) & fine (PM 2.5) particles exposures • Robust aerosol exposure analysis with high temporal resolution and spatial coverage • Minority race-ethnicity and low-income subgroups most exposed to aerosol pollution • UFP exposure disparities are larger, more disproportionate, and unabating over time [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on a study commissioned by the Savings Banks Association of New York, which analyzes the needs of mutual savings banks (MSBs) directly. The study focuses on New York, which is reportedly the most important single savings bank state in the United States. It is explained in the article that savings banks in New York held 57 percent of total MSB deposits in 1970. The article reports that this approach is better than using national data because MSBs are found primarily in the New England and Middle Atlantic states and are affected by the environment in these states. The study's conclusion was that MSBs are philanthropic institutions, which help the working poor invest their small incomes.

To guide targeted cessation and prevention programming, this study assessed smoking prevalence and described sociodemographic, health, and healthcare use characteristics of adult smokers in public housing. Self-reported data were analyzed from a random sample of 1664 residents aged 35 and older in ten New York City public housing developments in East/Central Harlem. Smoking prevalence was 20.8%. Weighted log-binomial models identified to be having Medicaid, not having a personal doctor, and using health clinics for routine care were positively associated with smoking. Smokers without a personal doctor were less likely to receive provider quit advice. While most smokers in these public housing developments had health insurance, a personal doctor, and received provider cessation advice in the last year (72.4%), persistently high smoking rates suggest that such cessation advice may be insufficient. Efforts to eliminate differences in tobacco use should consider place-based smoking cessation interventions that extend cessation support beyond clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With the advances in cancer treatments, mortality rates in the United States have been consistently falling but they are accompanied by substantial increases in the cost of cancer care. Patient and prescription assistance programs (PPAPs) are offered by pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide free medications to medically indigent patients. To assist the Cancer Care Center (CCC) at Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC) with drug costs for chemotherapies, the pharmacy department uses a patient assistance program (PAP) to obtain medications from the drug companies at no cost. Purpose: This study evaluates the impact of the PAP at a public hospital from which indigent cancer patients obtain assistance for chemotherapy. Methods: We followed all patients requiring assistance with chemotherapy who enrolled in the PAP from January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2012. Medications included both oral and parenteral chemotherapy drugs and antiemetics used in the outpatient clinic setting. Results: The program served 347 patients in 2011 and 579 patients in 2012. The total number of visits in the clinic over 24 months was 9,405. The total cost savings of the medications was $1,066,000 in 2011 and $1,715,538 in 2012. Conclusions: A pharmacy-based PAP to procure free medications from PPAPs for cancer patients has helped to defray the expense of providing care at NUMC, increased patients' compliance with chemo protocols, and allowed many patients to receive the treatment they otherwise would not be able to afford. The combination of PPAPs and PAP provides a safety net to ensure that indigent cancer patients receive needed prescription medications in the outpatient clinic setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making leaders more responsive to voters is a frequent goal of institutional reforms in democracies. Given that some citizens participate more in politics than others, however, there is a risk that increased responsiveness may conflict with another democratic value: the equality of policy outcomes. This article studies this trade-off using institutional reforms in New York towns, where officials known as assessors are charged with ensuring equitable treatment in property taxation. Over time, hundreds of towns reduced responsiveness by making their assessors appointed instead of elected. The local context thus allows for more precise measurement of who gets what from government, as well as more credible estimates of the effects of institutions. Results show that local policy decisions are biased against low-income residents and that elections serve only to compound this bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops an analytical framework to estimate commute accessibility and adoption of various ridehailing service concepts across the US by synthesizing individual commute trips using national Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) data. Focusing on potential improvements in cost and time that could be enabled by vehicle automation, we use this modeling framework to simulate a lower-price autonomous service (e.g., 50% or 75% lower) with variable wait times and implementation levels (solo, pooled, and first/last mile transit connections services, alone or in combination) to determine how they might affect adoption rates. These results are compared across metrics of accessibility and trip density, as well as socioeconomic factors such as household income. We find – unsurprisingly – that major cities (e.g. New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago) support the highest adoption rates for ridehailing services. Decreases in price tend to increase market share and accessibility. The effect of a decrease in price is more drastic for lower income groups. The proposed method for synthesizing trips using the LODES contributes to current travel demand forecasting methods and the proposed analytic framework can be flexibly implemented with any other mode choice model, extended to non-commute trips, or applied to different levels of geographic aggregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the state of poverty in New York City in the Eighteenth Century, which remained in the city despite the significant changes happening after the American War for Independence. Topics discussed include ways the war for independence contributed to a dramatic increase in poverty, the state of social services available to poor New Yorkers including those received by Jews and Jacob Abrahams' demand for Kosher meals.

The article discusses the history of immigration control in New York from the late 18th to late 19th centuries. Particular focus is given to efforts to exclude the foreign poor from residence in the state. According to the author, many of these regulations targeted poor persons who migrated to New York with the assistance of local authorities in Europe, since they were perceived as unlikely to become independent and productive citizens.

The article focuses on the need to address the crisis encountered by the New York's legal system, particularly for civil legal services for low-income people, who approach justice system without lawyers. It informs that such a situation compromise the ability of the people to pursue rights, imposes high costs, and places burden on courts. It discusses the creation of the Task Force to Expand Access to Civil Legal Services in New York State that aided in developing recommendations for actions.

Low-income households in the contemporary city often lack adequate access to healthy foods, like fresh produce, due to a variety of social and spatial barriers that result in neighborhoods being underserved by full-service supermarkets. Because of this, residents commonly resort to purchasing food at fast food restaurants or convenience stores with poor selections of produce. Research has shown that maintaining a healthy diet contributes to disease prevention and overall quality of life. This research seeks to increase low-income residents' access to healthy foods by addressing spatial constraints through the characterization of a mobile market distribution system model that serves in-need neighborhoods. The model optimally locates mobile markets based on the geographic distribution of these residents. Using data from the medium-sized city of Buffalo, New York, results show that, with relatively few resources, the model increases these residents' access to healthy foods, helping to create a healthier city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life during the first Gilded Age in the United States (1865-1925) was a time of considerable social differentiation between rich and poor. Newly arrived immigrants with little money were often relegated to substandard housing in American cities. In this study, I argue that some nonwealthy immigrants were racialized as poor, and I investigate whether this racial categorization created homogeneity in housing and material culture. I use the Five Points district in New York City as my point of investigation, confining my analysis to the late 19th century. My findings are that both tenement housing and artifact possession were generally homogeneous when the analysis is performed at the societal scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the findings of the author's apartheid study at East Harlem in New York City. The author was influenced to document the apartheid in the city by his fieldwork on the revolutionary movements in Central America from late 1970s to early 1980s. According to the author, the welfare safety net in East Harlem when he started his fieldwork in 1994 was already shredding. Based on his ethnographic study that spanned from 1994 to 2007, the period was a terrible time for the poor in the U.S.

Although the term "patient dumping" was rarely used before the 1960s, the practice started much earlier. In the late 1870s, the New York Times began to report that private hospitals were using ambulances to shift poor, moribund patients to Bellevue, the city's preeminent public facility. Many trips had serious medical consequences. Private hospitals also instructed ambulances to take critically ill patients directly to Bellevue regardless of the distance. Efforts to combat such practices took various forms. When transfers resulted in death, Manhattan coroners held inquests. In 1902, the Commissioner of Charities issued an order requiring that he be sent a full report from the superintendent of any hospital in which a patient transferred from another facility died within three days after admission. Four years later, the city passed an ordinance imposing a severe penalty on any hospital official who transferred an ill patient. Those reforms were only partially effective at deterring such transfers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child support is a successful program that gives financial support to children from low-income households who do not live with both biological parents. However, requiring the absent noncustodial parent (NCP)—the father in over 80 percent of cases—to pay child support leads to a moral hazard that the NCP may impoverish himself when helping his child or children. To overcome this drawback, New York and the District of Columbia have implemented noncustodial earned income tax credits (NC-EITC) that award tax rebates to NCPs who fully pay their child support. This article compares the New York NC-EITC with two other less targeted and, likely, more expensive proposals that increase the EITC for all low-income individuals without dependents regardless of whether they have children. Using a variety of metrics, the article concludes that if the goal of these proposals is to prevent NCPs from impoverishing themselves when paying child support, they all accomplish that mission similarly well. Only a small group of NCPs who do not have past-due payments can benefit from any of the proposals. A policy proposal to help NCPs escape impoverishment must find methods to reduce the prevalence and magnitude of arrears in addition to proposing an expanded EITC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: To estimate the incidence and mortality associated with first unprovoked seizure or newly diagnosed epilepsy in a low-income, predominantly Hispanic community in Northern Manhattan, New York City. : We performed a population-based study to determine the incidence of first unprovoked seizure or newly diagnosed epilepsy. Participants were Northern Manhattan residents seen at area hospitals and nursing homes between 2003 and 2005. Cumulative probability of mortality and standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were also calculated. : Among 209 incident cases identified, 123 (58.9%) presented with an incident single unprovoked seizure. A total of 138 (66.0%) participants were Hispanic and 94 (45.0%) had a median household income under $15,000/year. The overall age and sex-adjusted incidence of all unprovoked seizures was 41.1 (95%CI = 35.4–46.8) per 100,000 person-years. Higher incidence was observed in low-income groups. Incidence among Hispanics was similar to that of non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks. The cumulative probability of mortality was 17% (95%CI = 12–24%) by 3 years after diagnosis and was significantly greater in females and in those with an identified etiology. SMRs were significantly increased for all groups with respect to age, Hispanic ethnicity, middle and high income, partial seizure type, and remote symptomatic etiology. Idiopathic/cryptogenic and progressive symptomatic etiologies, low income, gender, and non-Hispanic ethnicity were not associated with a significantly increased SMR. : Incidence of first unprovoked seizure or newly diagnosed epilepsy did not differ by race-ethnicity. Although lower income was associated with higher incidence, higher income was associated with an increased SMR. Future research should examine reasons for differential incidence by income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a mixed methodology, this study investigated the association between family history knowledge, the persistence factors of resiliency, institutional engagement, and institutional commitment as well as cultural change in low-income, first-generation college students at a regional four year private college in New York. Fifty-two students participating in a TRIO Student Support Services program at a regional four-year private college returned The Family History Knowledge and Persistence Survey. Through content analysis, the study examined similarities and differences between students' perception and their historical record of the persistence factors. Tinto's (1987) interactionalist theory of student persistence provided the theoretical grounding for this study. The major findings of this study are as follows: students demonstrated awareness of their family history knowledge as well as parental goal setting; students with greater family history knowledge tend to have a strong degree of resiliency; students demonstrated greater family history knowledge in qualitative than quantitative data; and, emergent family history themes were historical background, gender influence, inspiration to attend college, and family commitment to education. Implications are such that pre-college programs with a focus on parent involvement should build on one's family history knowledge as a component of family support, as it has the potential to enhance persistence to graduation of low-income, first-generation college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1869 the City of New York has been burying the indigent on Hart Island. There are now hundreds of thousands of deceased poor New Yorkers buried in what is commonly known as "Potter's Field." A majority of them are unidentified, with only the generic names "John Doe" or "Jane Doe" marked on wooden boxes. There are also thousands of babies interred on this 101 - acre island - 1,000 in each trench - stacked one on top of the other.1 The way the poor die is indicative of how they live; their lifeless bodies considered disposable, we consider them - as human beings - disposable too. For this reason, members of Picture the Homeless, an organization led by the homeless for the homeless, wanted to memorialize the many family members and friends they have known who are now buried in Potter's Field. Furthermore, their cofounder, Lewis Haggins, is interred there. Found dead on a subway seat, Lewis's body was taken by city officials, destined for Hart Island. Lewis was buried as "John Doe" in December 2003. His family was not notified of his death until eight months later. What follows is a description of the memorial service, "With All Due Respect," March 23, 2005, created to remember Lewis Haggins and all those buried at Potter's Field.2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research emphasizes individual characteristics, such as psychosocial barriers and preferences, as the main barrier that low-income groups face when attempting to maintain a healthy diet. This study is one component of a partnership between a community and academics who are addressing limited food access in East New York, Brooklyn, by establishing a community-owned food store that provides affordable, nutritious groceries. Prior to the store's opening, focus groups were held with residents in order to understand their experiences related to obtaining food in East New York. These residents identified factors within the built environment that limit their ability to obtain healthy food options, including (1) poor quality of food, (2) higher cost of food, (3) few store options, (4) limited transportation, and (5) concerns about food marketing practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. Studies continue to document that people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) experience discrimination in their interactions with the health-care system, which can have negative implications for maintaining continuity in care and outcomes. We explored the patient characteristics associated with perceived discrimination and whether these experiences are associated with health-care system quality ratings in a survey of severely disadvantaged people with HIV who are at great risk of inconsistent access to appropriate health care. Methods. Five hundred and twenty-three participants were recruited from temporary housing facilities for people with HIV in the New York City area and administered a survey using audio computer-assisted self-interviewing technology. Results. Of the 207 participants (39.6%) who reported experiencing discrimination in the health-care system, the most common attributions were HIV infection (n=122, 59.8%), drug use (n=100, 49.8%), homelessness (n=71, 34.6%), and race/ethnicity (n=69, 35.2%). Length of time HIV infected, use of non-prescription opioids, white race, higher education, female gender, younger age, and poorer self-reported health status were all significantly associated with greater odds of perceived discrimination. After adjusting for participant characteristics, perceived discrimination was significantly associated with poorer participant ratings of quality of health care. Conclusions. Members of this vulnerable population commonly report experiences of discrimination from within the health-care system and these experiences are associated with poor health-care ratings. These findings support the need for closer examination of the adequacy of cultural competency training within the HIV health-care delivery system to improve access to appropriate care for disadvantaged people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In just 6 years, Early Head Start has grown from 68 initial grantees to some 650 programs and, by early 2001, was serving more than 55,000 families with infants and toddlers throughout the country. With an increasing share of the federal Head Start budget, Early Head Start is an ambitious effort in which the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) is responding to the “quiet crisis” facing infants and toddlers in this country, as identified by the Carnegie Corporation of New York in its 1994 Starting Points. This overview to the special issue of the journal describes the program, its growth, and the changing policy and program environment of its first 5 years; explains how the federal and regional infrastructure supports Early Head Start through training, technical assistance, and monitoring; summarizes the design and conduct of the national evaluation and local research studies; presents the key lessons that the research has yielded so far; and concludes with an assessment of the challenges that lie ahead for creating a solid base of knowledge for programs serving low-income families with infants and toddlers. ©2002 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on a study which dealt with the effect of welfare reform on the well-being of New York City's low-income population. Information on a conference sponsored by the Urban Institute which focused on the topic of work requirements; Economic condition of New York City during the year 2000; Complexities of comparing workers and nonworkers.

Presents a study on the effects of welfare reform on the economic well-being of low-income families in New York City. Developments of public welfare laws and administrative policies in New York City; Accuracy of the data used in the study; Summary and conclusion.

This article presents information about a research which was conducted to examine the pooling of poor people in New York City. The income disparity between people living in different urban neighborhoods increased dramatically in the U.S. between 1980 and 1990. This phenomenon has occurred most visibly and consistently in north-central and northeastern cities. Although some people experienced improvement in their living circumstances during this period, a substantial minority did not and in fact became poor. These trends are analyzed in this research. Extant New York State data sets from the 1980 and 1990 censuses of the population provided an opportunity to answer this study's research questions about the geographic concentration of poverty and its association with racial group concentration. This study measured poverty with sample estimates provided by the U.S. Bureau of the Census that are based on responses from approximately 17 percent of the population. Results of the research indicate that in northwestern cities, the geographic concentration of poverty increased by two-third from 1980 to 1990. Though the probability of experiencing poverty changed little for the average New Yorker during 1980's, it increased dramatically among black residents of New York's highly segregated, already severely improvised inner-city areas.

This article explores frequent, short-distance residential movement, an underrecognized and little studied aspect of rural poverty. In recent field research in high-poverty communities of upstate New York, residential movement was studied through institutional records and staff interviews as well as unstructured interviews and residential histories in low-income families. Overall, residential mobility is driven by the shortfall between household income and housing costs, and by changes in personal situations and partnering relationships. Higher frequency movement is associated with younger age, fewer children, and weaker social support networks but most moves were not job-related. Utilizing an abbreviated version of the same methodology, scoping research was conducted in high-poverty areas of nine other states; some differences and also some similarities span diverse regional, economic, and ethnic set- tings. For developing policy and programs to reduce mobility and minimize its negative consequences, more research on this phenomenon is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]