California State Auditor Elaine Howle issued a report this week warning the state may be at risk of losing millions of unobligated federal funds intended for rent and utility assistance amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The report comes as part of the state’s high-risk audit program. Recall, in August 2020, the auditor designated the state’s management…
Read More »The Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) recently released its 18th annual State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America report, finding that social and economic factors linked to obesity were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. TFAH reports that in 2020, 16 states had adult obesity rates at or above 35 percent, up from 12…
Read More »The Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative, a joint project of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), recently published a new resource, “Connecting Families to Tax Credits to Improve Child Wellbeing in California: A Brief for California Local Health Departments and Children & Family Service Providers.” The…
Read More »The Milton Marks “Little Hoover” Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy, an independent state oversight agency, recently issued a report entitled, “COVID-19 and Children’s Mental Health: Addressing the Impact.” The report discusses the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on child and adolescent mental health, as well as highlights challenges in student mental health…
Read More »The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recently issued its 2019-20 Kindergarten Immunization Assessment, detailing immunization rates for California children. According to CDPH, immunization rates reported for kindergarteners in California have remained at high levels (94.3 percent in 2019-20) but have decreased slightly over recent years. A modest decrease in the combined vaccination rate in…
Read More »California Health Policy Strategies (CHPS) recently issued a report highlighting funding opportunities for housing and behavioral health services for reentry and justice-involved populations included in the state’s 2021 Budget Act. In its resource, CHPS provides a high-level overview of over $12 billion in new program initiatives and investments, including as part of the state’s sweeping…
Read More »Late last week, California State Auditor Elaine Howle issued an update to Governor Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders on statewide issues and state agencies that represent a high risk to California or its residents. By way of background, the State Auditor’s Office maintains a “High Risk Government Agency Audit Program” that enables the auditor to…
Read More »On Tuesday, State Auditor Elaine Howle issued a report, “California Department of Housing and Community Development: It Failed to Expedite Access to Federal Funding to Address the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on California’s Homeless Population.” The auditor’s report comes as part of her office’s classification of the state’s management of certain federal funds related…
Read More »This week, the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) launched a new series of case studies examining efforts by states and localities in conceptualizing and implementing climate change adaptation programs that are focused on equity. The case series follows a December 2020 TFAH and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Report, “Climate Change & Health:…
Read More »The Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) issued a report this week entitled “Leveraging Evidence-Based Policies to Improve Health, Control Costs, and Create Health Equity” that highlights evidence-based policies that can be implemented to address the root causes of disease. Policies that the report highlights include supporting access to high-quality health services; promoting economic mobility; ensuring…
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