[caption id="attachment_6119" align="alignnone" width="800"] Eileen Derby, a Colgate dental hygenist, offers free dental screenings to anyone 12-years-old or under for the Oral Health Equity Summit in Miami on Tuesday, March 27, 2018.[/caption]

March 28, 2018
By Leslie Ovalle
From WLRN.org

Dental hygienists and policy experts gathered at Charles Hadley Park on Tuesday evening to discuss the importance of oral health equity and its impact on Miami-Dade County’s economy and social climate.

“There is no coincidence that the availability of doctors is prevalent in certain communities and in other communities it isn’t,” said Nina Thompkins, the community health director of Catalyst Miami, a non-profit focused on local development that put together the event.

In front of the park was a Colgate Mobile Dental Van offering hygiene education and free screenings for children 12-years-old and under.

Toothaches are the number one reason Florida children miss school, according to the Florida Dental Association.

“If I don’t catch these kids early and teach them the importance of taking care of their teeth, then we will be talking about extractions, dentures, partials,” said Chelsie Purcell, representing the Jessie Trice Community Health Center, a federally qualified healthcare center. “We don’t want to see that.”

[caption id="attachment_6120" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Discussion pannel for the annual Oral Health Equity Summit in Miami on Tuesday, March 27, 2018.[/caption]

The biggest challenge right now for oral health equity is the absence of data, especially data focused on minorities.

“If there is no data, there is no problem,” said Roderick King, CEO of the Florida Institute for Health Innovation.

He recommended mandating oral health exams, teeth sealing programs and partnering dental hygienists with pediatricians, a solution he is currently working on developing.

However, some solutions that have reached legislators have been rejected. This includes one proposal that aimed to place dentists in low-income communities in return for help on their student loans.

Much of the discussion turned to Medicaid, which covers low-income communities but does not give enough incentives to professionals to practice in those communities.

“We need to vote for people who care about our oral health,” said Santra Denis, vice president of prosperity for Catalyst Miami.

—–

This article was originally posted on WLRN.org

For Immediate Release: March 26, 2018

Contact: Molly Delahunty
786-414-1292
[email protected]

CATALYST MIAMI AND THE MIAMI-DADE ORAL HEALTH NETWORK TO HOST 3RD ANNUAL ORAL HEALTH EQUITY SUMMIT:
“ACCESS, EQUITY AND COMMUNITY ACTION” AT CHARLES HADLEY PARK

WHAT: Multi-sector summit to convene members of the community in examining the current state of oral health in terms of health equity  in Miami-Dade County

WHO:

Panel speakers include:

Dr. Roderick King, Florida Institute for Health Innovation
Senator Dwight Bullard, The New Florida Majority
State Representative Nick Duran, Florida District 112
Santra Denis, Catalyst Miami
Dr. Wayne Stephens, Jessie Trice Community Health Center
Chelsie Purcell, Jessie Trice Community Health Center
Alina Soto, Department of Children and Families
Sabine Dulcio, The Children’s Trust

Sponsors include:

Commissioner Keon Hardemon, City of Miami District 3
Commissioner Audrey Edmondson, Miami-Dade County District 3

WHEN: Tuesday, March 27, 2018, 3:00 - 6:00pm

WHERE: Charles Hadley Park, 1350 Northwest 50th Street, Miami FL 33142

WHY: To improve awareness that oral health is critical to overall health. The summit’s goals are to:

• Examine the intersectionality of oral health and social justice
• Identify available resources for comprehensive oral health programs in our communities
• Identify assets in improving the public’s perception of oral health
• Explore challenges and pathways in bringing awareness to oral health disparities
• Develop strategies that yield policy and systems change to address existing disparities and inequalities in oral health

Admission for the summit is free and dental screenings will be offered to children at no cost. RSVPs and more info can be found at bit.ly/ohsummit.

###

About MDOHN

The Miami-Dade Oral Health Network (MDOHN) is a community centered grassroots initiative committed to improving oral health through education, assessment, policy/program development, and collaboration. MDOHN promotes cooperation, communication, and concerted action among community residents and organizations dedicated to eliminating oral health disparities.

About Catalyst Miami

Catalyst Miami believes everyone deserves a healthy and financially secure life; currently, two in three families in Miami don’t have enough savings to weather a financial emergency of any kind. For over 20 years, Catalyst Miami has committed to empowering residents to build better futures by providing family economic security programs, developing leadership and civic engagement, and building coalitions to address poverty. More detailed information about all their programs can be found on their website (catalystmiami.org).

Updated March 13, 2018
From our friends at Florida Prosperity Partnership

SB 920, the Pay-Day Loan Expansion Bill, was sent to FL Governor Rick Scott on Monday, March 12.

He has 15 days to either veto or sign the bill. If he does neither, the bill becomes law at the end of the 15 days.

The governor could sign the bill anytime.

Please call his office immediately and tell the governor to veto SB 920.

What is SB 920?

* The Bill doubles the amount of debt that can trap low-income consumers in a never-ending cycle of loans.

* The Bill increases what borrowers will pay for these loans over current law, and is 208% APR.

* The Bill is a step in the wrong direction for all Florida consumers . . . especially those served by FPP coalition financial social work professionals!

Here's who to contact:

Office of Governor Rick Scott
State of Florida
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
(850) 717-9337

Staff analyst:
Olivia Hagood
[email protected]

Raise your voice one last time against this predatory payday loan bill!

Spread the word on social media - cut and paste your favorite tweet!

Congress protects active-duty military from payday lending with a 36% cap on interest, but new payday lender bill would make FL’s 1.5m vets and their families subject to a new 200% interest debt trap product. Tell @FLGovScott #VetoSB920 #StopTheDebtTrap https://www.flgov.com/contact-gov-scott/

Payday lenders already strip $300m+ per year from Floridians. They design their loans as traps to keep customers in debt for as long as possible. 83% of loans go to people with 7+ loans per year at 200+% APR. New bill just makes it worse! #VetoSB920 http://www.responsiblelending.org/sites/default/files/nodes/files/research-publication/crl_perfect_storm_florida_mar2016_0.pdf

“In 2011 payday lending in Florida had a negative impact of more than $76 million in lost economic activity, and resulted in the estimated loss of 1,117 jobs.” Tell @FLGovScott #VetoSB920 #StopTheDebtTrap http://ww1.insightcced.org/uploads/assets/Net%20Economic%20Impact%20of%20Payday%20Lending.pdf

Payday borrowers age 65 and older more than doubled from 2005 to 2015 (a 152.9% increase). Borrowers 65 and older were the fastest growing age group of borrowers over this period. Tell @FLGovScott #VetoSB920 #StopTheDebtTrap http://www.responsiblelending.org/sites/default/files/nodes/files/research-publication/crl_perfect_storm_florida_mar2016_0.pdf

Tell @FLGovScott don't be #LoanSharkScott. Floridians agree triple-digit interest payday loans are not helpful, but harmful—except #FLleg folks who take huge donations and repeat payday lenders' smooth lines. #VetoSB920 #StopTheDebtTrap http://protectingyourpocket.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2018/03/05/payday-lender-bills-poised-to-pass-after-8m-spending-report-says/

Report from @FCAN and @EveryVoice shows payday lenders have spent at least $8m since 2007 on campaign contributions and lobbying. So of course both FL House and Senate passed their "buypartisan" bill legalizing 200% interest. http://protectingyourpocket.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2018/03/05/payday-lender-bills-poised-to-pass-after-8m-spending-report-says/

A state agency spox admitted to @MiamiHerald that payday lenders ran the expansion bill just passed by #FLleg. She said: “It was an industry-proposed bill, it was an industry-run bill. We weren't running the show here.” Tell @FLGovScott to #VetoSB920 http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article203841809.html

[caption id="attachment_5913" align="alignnone" width="686"] Getty/Michael S. Williamson, A girl and her uncle look at their home damaged by Hurricane Irma in Immokalee, Florida, September 2017.
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/reports/2018/02/08/446124/social-equity-key-southeast-florida-rcap-2-0/[/caption]

The Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact is recognized globally as a model for regional climate planning. Leaders from the four compact counties—Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach—are part of a growing number of officials across the country who have committed to fighting climate change.1 These leaders are working to secure a prosperous and healthy future for county residents. They recognize that they must curb pollution by transitioning away from fossil fuels to clean and renewable energy, as well as upgrade community and economic infrastructure to withstand more intense and frequent extreme weather trends.

In December 2017, the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact released an improved version of its Regional Climate Action Plan (RCAP 2.0), which includes new recommendations to increase social equity and reduce climate change threats in low-income areas and communities of color.2

What is the Southeast Florida RCAP 2.0?

• The RCAP 2.0 updates the original RCAP, launched in 2012.3 It is designed as a tool for local leaders in the four-county region, including the leaders of more than 100 municipalities, to implement coordinated actions to curb greenhouse gas emissions and prepare communities for a new norm of more extreme weather events fueled by climate change.

• The RCAP 2.0 will help Southeast Florida’s leaders reduce the economic, public health, and societal risks of rising sea levels; hotter heat waves; and more intense and frequent storms, particularly in communities where historic inequities exacerbate these risks.

Social equity is a new, essential focus of the RCAP 2.0

• The RCAP 2.0 substantially expands and strengthens the climate solutions presented in the 2012 RCAP, including important social equity and racial justice recommendations. These additions aim to help leaders in the four-county region reduce climate change threats while tackling the historic racial and economic inequities that put low-income areas and communities of color most at risk from pollution and a changing climate.4

• Communities of color and low-income areas are disproportionately exposed to heat, flooding, and pollution risks—meaning extreme weather events often hit them hardest.5 In a region where city streets flood even on sunny days, and in the wake of the record-breaking 2017 hurricane season, local leaders recognize that they have little time to waste.6

- Climate change threats exacerbate and multiply historic inequities that exist in low-income areas and communities of color. Recent economic booms have left many residents of Southeast Florida behind, meaning that they do not have the financial stability to safely weather more intense storms, heat, and floods.7 And many communities of color were purposefully sidelined by 20th century development decisions resulting in economic and racial segregation, making it particularly difficult for communities without targeted policies and resources to build local economies that are just and resilient to climate change.8

- Low-income areas and communities of color are particularly vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather because they are often located in or near flood-prone areas, heat islands—urban neighborhoods where concrete and asphalt surfaces absorb and radiate heat, producing temperatures that are warmer than average—or toxic waste sites. They are also often overburdened by disproportionately high air and water pollution.9

• The new Social Equity section of the RCAP 2.0 makes important policy, infrastructure-planning, and community engagement recommendations for local leaders, such as:10

- Make equity an “integral part of policy making at every level of government” and a key objective when “developing plans, budgets, and in prioritizing and designing climate projects.”

- “Prioritize investments in infrastructure that enable economic mobility, health, and safety,” such as green infrastructure and transit that is accessible from affordable housing, schools, and community spaces.11

- Effectively engage communities, remove barriers to participation, and support community leadership in planning processes related to preparedness and infrastructure design.

• The RCAP 2.0 also includes social equity and racial justice recommendations in other chapters of the plan, such as:

- Public Health: Assess indoor heat exposure in low-income households that may not have access to air conditioning or the ability to pay for air conditioning.

- Energy and Fuel: Increase accessibility to “energy efficiency solutions for limited-income families” and renewable energy financing options for homeowners and communities.12

- Sustainable Communities and Transportation: Require development planning to support pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit services. Maximize existing transit services through route expansion and regular maintenance; assessing and enforcing safety solutions for pedestrians and transit accessibility; and basic improvements, such as providing real-time transit arrival information; providing adequate seating at transit stops; and planting trees to provide shade for pedestrians, bicyclists, and passengers at transit access points.13

- Agriculture: Address heat exposure risks posed by rising temperatures on agriculture and farm workers.14

- Natural Systems: Reduce heat island effects, flood, and pollution risks by expanding tree canopy “in low-income areas and communities of color where the existing tree canopy is disproportionately sparse.”15

• These improvements were informed by the June 2017 South Florida Climate Change Equity Solutions Summit hosted by The CLEO Institute, Catalyst Miami, and the Center for American Progress, as well as years of grassroots advocacy to ensure that Southeast Florida’s climate change policies are equitable and reduce economic, public health and safety threats in under-resourced communities.16

Climate change disproportionately threatens Southeast Florida communities and economies

• In 2017, Hurricane Irma caused an estimated $50 billion in damage and 97 deaths nationwide, with the worst effects occurring in Florida.17 Global and national trends show that extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and intensity. In 2017, the most destructive extreme weather events across the country—including hurricanes Irma and Maria—caused more than $300 billion in damage, setting a new annual record.18 While upper-income households often have the resources to rebuild relatively quickly in the wake of such disasters, it can take years for low- and moderate-income households to rebuild—if they are able to do so at all.19

• Sea level around Southeast Florida is projected to rise from 6 to 10 inches above 1992 levels by 2030, increasing flood risks and the need for resilient infrastructure and housing. Nuisance floods—small, frequent floods that can block roads and create other hazardous conditions—have outsized impacts on working people when they are forced to spend limited funds or go into debt to meet flood recovery costs; when places of employment close; or when commutes become physically impossible. By 2035, numerous Southeast Florida communities could flood an average of twice per month.20 Without serious action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution from fossil fuel use, the sea level around Southeast Florida could rise more than 5 feet by 2100.21

• Credit rating agencies and insurance companies such as Moody’s and Swiss Re are increasingly warning that without action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and build climate resilience, coastal cities will face critical financial risks including default, loss of insurance, and credit downgrades.22

• Without rigorous action to safeguard their economies and growing populations from climate change impacts, Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach counties could experience damages as high as 11.2 percent, 11.3 percent, 7.4 percent, and 8.5 percent of their gross domestic products, respectively, by the end of the century.23

In the face of increasingly dangerous climate change and extreme weather trends, the RCAP 2.0 serves as an important guide to local leaders as they shape policies and actions to build safer, healthier, and more prosperous communities.

Endnotes

1. We Are Still In, “Cities and Counties,” available at https://www.wearestillin.com/cities-counties (last accessed January 2018). ↩
2. Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, “Welcome to the RCAP 2.0,” available at http://www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/regional-climate-action-plan/ (last accessed February 2018). ↩
3. Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, “A Region Responds to a Changing Climate” (2012), available at http://www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org//wp-content/uploads/2014/09/regional-climate-action-plan-final-ada-compliant.pdf. ↩
4. Center for American Progress, The CLEO Institute, and Catalyst Miami, “South Florida Climate Change Equity Solutions Summit,” available at https://cdn.americanprogress.org/content/uploads/2017/06/26135419/RCAP-2.0_Recommendations_Miami-Climate-Solutions-Summit-FINAL-6.21.17.pdf (last accessed February 2018). ↩
5. Ibid. ↩
6. Cathleen Kelly, Miranda Peterson, and Madeleine Boel, “Miami-Dade in Hot Water: Why Building Equitable Climate Resilience is Key to Public Health and Economic Stability in South Florida” (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2016), available at https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/28122217/MiamiDade-report1.pdf. ↩
7. Kelly, Peterson, and Boel, “Miami-Dade in Hot Water.”   ↩
8. Cathleen Kelly, Cecilia Martinez, and Walker Hathaway-Williams, “A Framework for Local Action on Climate Change: 9 Ways Mayors Can Build Resilient and Just Cities” (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2017), available at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/reports/2017/09/28/439712/framework-local-action-climate-change/.   ↩
9. Kelly, Martinez, and Hathaway-Williams, “A Framework for Local Action on Climate Change”; Kelly, Peterson, and Boel, “Miami-Dade in Hot Water.” ↩
10. Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, “Social Equity,” available at http://www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/recommendation-category/eq/ (last accessed January 2018). ↩
11. Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, “EQ-3: Support equitable public infrastructure,” available at http://www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/recommendations/support-equitable-public-infrastructure/ (last accessed February 2018). ↩
12. Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, “EF-3: Increase access to energy efficiency,” available at http://www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/recommendations/ef-3/ (last accessed February 2018); Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, “EF-4: Increase access to distributed renewables,” available at http://www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/recommendations/ef-4/ (last accessed February 2018); Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, “EF-7: Help homeowners invest in renewables,” available at http://www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/recommendations/ef-7/ (last accessed February 2018). ↩
13. Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, “ST-18: Increase the use of transit,” available at http://www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/recommendations/increase-the-use-of-transit/ (last accessed January 2018); Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, “ST-12: Design sustainable and equitable transportation systems,” available at http://www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/recommendations/recognize-vulnerable-users-in-planning/ (last accessed January 2018). ↩
14. Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, “AG-11: Assess health risks to workers,” available at http://www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/recommendations/assess-health-risk-workers/ (last accessed January 2018). ↩
15. Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, “NS-14: Promote urban tree canopy,” available at http://www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/recommendations/ns-14/ (last accessed January 2018). ↩
16. Center for American Progress, The CLEO Institute, and Catalyst Miami, “South Florida Climate Change Equity Solutions Summit.” ↩
17. National Centers for Environmental Information, “Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters: Table of Events,” available at https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/events/US/1980-2017 (last accessed January 2018). ↩
18. National Centers for Environmental Information, “Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters: Overview,” available at https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/overview (last accessed January 2018). ↩
19. Kelly, Peterson, and Boel, “Miami-Dade in Hot Water”; Center for American Progress, The CLEO Institute, and Catalyst Miami, “South Florida Climate Change Equity Solutions Summit.” ↩
20. Union of Concerned Scientists, “Florida Faces Chronic Inundation,” available at https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2017/07/when-rising-seas-hit-home-florida-fact-sheet.pdf (last accessed February 2018). ↩
21. Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, “Unified Sea Level Rise Projection: Southeast Florida” (2015), available at http://www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2015-Compact-Unified-Sea-Level-Rise-Projection.pdf. ↩
22. Energy and Environmental News, “Moody’s to cities: Prep for climate change or get downgrade,” November 30, 2017, available at https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060067661/search?keyword=moody; Jennifer Kay, “Swiss Re: Miami Is More Vulnerable to Hurricanes Like Andrew,” Insurance Journal, August 21, 2017, available at https://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/mag-features/2017/08/21/461563.htm.    ↩
23. Natalie Delgadillo, “MAP: How Much Climate Change Will Cost Each U.S. County,” Governing, August 23, 2017, available at
24. http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-counties-climate-change-damages-economic-effects-map.html; Miranda Peterson, “Miami-Dade Should Consider Hurricane Matthew a Wake-Up Call. Here’s Why.”, Medium, October 17, 2016, available at https://medium.com/@amprog/miami-dade-should-consider-hurricane-matthew-a-wake-up-call-heres-why-fc2763d1ef6b. ↩

February 14, 2018
Provided by Florida Voices for Health

Medicaid Retroactive Eligibility

Latest News:

• This session, Florida state Senators passed a budget that would reduce retroactive Medicaid eligibility from 90 Days to 30 Days. (The proposal is not in the House budget).
• This "retroactive eligibility" provides financial protection as patients await approval of their Medicaid applications. It protects hospitals, too, from having to absorb the costs of caring for these patients.
• Floridians can contact their legislators directly by visiting: http://bit.ly/KeepMRE (the bitly link is case sensitive)

Quick Posts for Social Media:

• @ (Reps or Senator) Ending #Medicaid retroactive eligibility will have real-world consequences that will end up hurting vulnerable Floridians. #NoCapsNoCuts
• @ (Reps or Senator) #Medicaid retroactive eligibility is an economic safety net for hardworking Floridians with unexpected illness, injury or loss of other coverage. #NoCapsNoCuts
• Over 40% of Florida households already struggle to afford basic needs like food and housing. RME gives families a window of time to address their loved one’s imminent health needs and then pursue the complex Medicaid application process. #NoCapsNoCuts
• Have you been paying attention to Tallahassee? The FL Senate wants to limit Medicaid 'retroactive eligibility' which will mean more medical debt for hardworking Floridians. Take action and #FightLikeHealth! http://bit.ly/KeepMRE

Sample Hashtags: #NoCapsNoCuts, #ProtectOurCare, #FightLikeHealth

CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program)

Latest news:

• Congress passed another CR last week after a brief government shutdown, but the agreement included several important health care provisions.
  • Extends the funding of CHIP an additional 4 years beyond the 6 years Congress approved in the last CR agreement.
  • Two years of funding for Community Health Centers ($3.8B for FFY 2018 and $4B for FFY 2019)

Quick posts (Facebook and Twitter):

• Now that #CHIP is reauthorized for 10 years lets get our kids enrolled! www.floridakidcare.org/ #KeepKidsCovered

February 13, 2018
Provided by David Cullen, Sierra Club

Two good bills and one bad one will be heard in the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Environment and Natural Resources this Wednesday (Valentine’s Day!) at 1:30  Tomorrow (Tuesday) Please call or email committee members and urge them to

VOTE YES on SB 462 to Ban all types of Fracking in Florida

Advanced Well Stimulation Treatment

by Sen. Young

VOTE YES on SB 1664 to require septic tank remediation to

protect and restore our water bodies

Basin Management Action Plans

by Sen. Simmons

and

VOTE NO on SB 1402 which will authorize Florida to take

responsibility for protecting our wetlands away from the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

SB 1402 State Assumption of Federal Section 404 Dredge and Fill Permitting Authority

also by Sen. Simmons

SB 462 Advanced Well Stimulation Treatment by Sen. Dana Young which will ban all types of fracking: hydraulic fracturing, acid fracturing, and acid-matrix stimulation in Florida .

BANNING FRACKING WILL PREVENT:

• Wreaking havoc with Florida’s water through excessive and wasteful consumptive use
• Chemical pollution of surface waters and the aquifer
• Human health impacts from toxic chemicals
• Increasing Florida’s dependence on natural gas

SB 1664 Basin Management Action Plans by Sen. Simmons will require the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Health, local governments, and wastewater utilities to develop a septic tank remediation plan as part of a Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) when DEP identifies septic systems as a significant source of pollution. This is an important step to address our polluted water bodies.

SB 1402 State Assumption of Federal Section 404 Dredge and Fill Permitting Authority by Sen. Simmons would authorize Florida’s DEP to take charge of wetland protection from the EPA.  The Department claims it will look at every issue the feds look at, but how hard they’ll look, and for how long is a mystery. The details of implementation will only be worked out long after the bill becomes law.

Florida advocated against EPA’s Clean Water Rule, and now the State wants to take responsibility for the very resource it argued shouldn’t be under EPA’s jurisdiction - geographically isolated wetlands.

In addition, DEP’s staff has been cut by 25% and the federal government will not provide any funding for Florida taking over the job.

Please contact the committee members below and urge them to vote

YES – to Ban Fracking!

YES – to clean up Septic Tanks!

NO – to removing wetlands from federal protection!

December 6, 2017

Overview

The House and Senate tax bills give huge tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy at the expense of low- and middle-income families. The  tax bill would raise taxes on 19.4 million households with incomes below $200,000, while 53.7 million households would see no tax cuts.  This would result in about 40% of households with incomes below $200,000 either seeing no meaningful tax cut or actually getting a tax increase. According to the Joint Committee and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), people making between $40,000 and $50,000 would see a tax hike of $5.3 billion by 2027, while those earning over $1 million would get a $5.8 billion tax cut.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that by 2027, millionaires would see their incomes rise by an average 1.7 percent ($48,000), while those making between $30,000 and $40,000 would see their incomes rise by only 0.6 percent ($267).  The other big winner would be corporations, which would see the corporate tax rate lowered from 35% to 20%. This would not benefit low-to-moderate income workers as history shows that when corporations get tax relief, they reward executives and shareholders, but do not pay higher wages, which in the US have been stagnant since the 1970s, despite record profits. This would contribute $1.5 trillion dollars to budget deficits over 10 years.

Additionally, the bill would repeal the individual mandate, the requirement that people maintain health coverage or pay a penalty.  This could lead to a 10% rise in health insurance premiums in 2019 and an estimated 13 million fewer people having health insurance by 2025, according to the CBO. Middle class families would bear the brunt of these increased premiums. According to the Center for American Progress, the average middle-class family will see a premium increase, for individual market insurance, of nearly $2,000. The CBO analysis also revealed that the House version of the bill would result in hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare, starting with $25 billion in cuts in fiscal year 2018. Medicaid could also be cut by more than 20% - $1 trillion dollars - over the next 10 years. The AARP also reported that premiums for 64-year-olds could increase by an average $1,490, rising to $16,420 a year.

Impact on Health Care in Florida

According to the Center for American Progress,  access to health care in Florida would be deeply impacted:

• Marketplace Premium increase for families in 2019: $1,860
• Increase in uninsured by 2025: 873,000
• Medicare funding cut in 2018: $2,054 million

Take Action

Call your lawmakers at (202) 224-3121 and ask them to oppose tax reform that increases taxes for middle class families while giving tax breaks to the wealthy, slashes funding for much needed programs that benefit low-income communities, and leaves millions uninsured.

November 2017
Steve Baragona
VOA News

Rising sea levels threaten Miami and coastal cities around the world.

Sue Brogan's street is barely above sea level on a good day.

During autumn's "king tides," when the sun and moon align to create the highest tides of the year, Biscayne Bay backs up through storm drains and flows into Brogan's street, in Miami's low-lying Shorecrest neighborhood.

Roads flood. The salt water rusts cars and kills greenery. For now, it's mostly a nuisance several days a year. But Brogan knows it's only going to get worse.

"It's more of a warning situation. Where is it going to go from this?" she asks.

Climate change is expected to raise sea levels a minimum of three-quarters of a meter by the end of the century, according to the estimates that regional planners use. That puts most of Shorecrest underwater year-round, along with other low-lying waterfront neighborhoods. And higher seas mean increased risk of tidal flooding and storm surges across this hurricane-prone city.

The planners' high-end estimate is two meters of sea level rise. That would submerge most of the glitzy city of Miami Beach, across the bay.

And scientists say three to three-and-a-half meters is extreme but plausible. In that scenario, Miami Beach is gone and Miami is an archipelago.

Planning for this future is difficult, expensive and often controversial. But the Miami region has little choice.

"Sea level rise is an existential threat," said City of Miami Chief Resilience Officer Jane Gilbert. "But it is not an imminent existential threat ... We have time to plan."

[caption id="attachment_5275" align="alignnone" width="714"] Tidal flooding in Highland Village, North Miami Beach. (Keren Bolter/SFRPC)[/caption]

Miami Beach leads way

As a barrier island with some of the most expensive real estate in the region, Miami Beach is quite literally on the front lines of climate change. The city has the motivation, and the resources, to take some of the most aggressive action in the region.

Residents are paying for roughly half a billion dollars' worth of seawalls, raised streets, sewer pumps and more.

"Thankfully, our residents — the folks that are footing the bill for this work — realize that the cost of doing nothing is much greater," said Public Works Director Eric Carpenter.

There have been some hiccups. In some places, the streets were raised but not the adjacent businesses. As a result, an insurance company considered one business to be a basement and denied a flood insurance claim.

Miami Beach is working to resolve the dispute.

"I think there are inherent risks with being first," Carpenter said.

But the city gets credit for moving forward despite the challenges.

"It's not working perfectly. But they're at least doing the experimentation," said Zelalem Adefris with the advocacy group Catalyst Miami.

[caption id="attachment_5276" align="alignnone" width="714"] Heavy rains flood the streets in the Coconut Grove area in Miami, Sept. 10, 2017, during Hurricane Irma.[/caption]

Redesigning Shorecrest

Across the bay, she added, the City of Miami has been slower to act. But there are signs of progress.

Just this November, city voters approved a $400 million "Miami Forever" bond issue, half of which is earmarked for sea-level rise adaptation.

Shorecrest will likely see some of that money to upgrade sewers and raise roads.

More controversial proposals are on the table, too, like buying up some of the most flood-prone homes and turning the land into a flood-absorbing park. Residents could move to higher-density housing to be built on higher ground.

Brogan's building would be demolished. But she doesn't mind.

"With climate change, with rising water, we're going to have to abandon certain property," she admitted.

But like many in the mixed-income neighborhood, Brogan rents her apartment. Others are skeptical of the idea.

"I don't think the homeowners are going to be very happy about that," said Daisy Torres, president of the Shorecrest homeowners' association.

Objections come not only from residents whose houses would be torn down. Some people living near the areas where the city proposes building that higher-density housing don't like the idea, either, she added.

Jane Gilbert stresses that there are no immediate plans to rearrange Shorecrest. "They have a good amount of time to still be in that area," she said. "It's really much more long-term."

"We feel the more we are having those conversations now, the easier it is for everyone to adapt over time," she added.

[caption id="attachment_5277" align="alignnone" width="714"] Flood waters rise around signs at the Haulover Marine Center at Haulover Park as Hurricane Irma passes by, Sept. 10, 2017, in North Miami Beach, Florida.[/caption]

High and (not) dry in Highland Village

Meanwhile, in another flood-prone low-lying community just a short drive north, those conversations are further behind.

Frank Burrola lives in a trailer in Highland Village, a mostly low-income neighborhood of homes and trailers on small plots in the city of North Miami Beach. Fall high-tide flooding is a virtual certainty on his street. And a storm several years ago left his yard with knee-high water.

"Right now, we've got a real serious problem," Burrola said. "I don't know if we're still going to be around in five years if this keeps up."

While the cities of Miami and Miami Beach are beginning to prepare, "there are other areas that really don't have the funding, and they're the ones that are really suffering," said climate analyst Keren Bolter with the South Florida Regional Planning Council.

North Miami Beach is considering putting homes on stilts, and replacing trailers that flood with "tiny" homes that meet building codes, according to community development director Richard Lorber. But he doesn't know where the funding will come from.

"My little city can't stop king tide," Lorber said, using the term for the fall high tides.

North Miami Beach officials say Miami-Dade County will have to take the lead. The county says the city is in charge. Neither has immediate plans for Highland Village.

It may take a disaster before major changes happen.

"It's ironic, but in our way of doing emergency management, it's tough to get the money before the storm. And after the storm there's a lot of money," said Miami-Dade County Chief Resilience Officer Jim Murley.

Barring a disaster, Murley said, "it's easier to find the money" if a community comes to a collective decision on what it wants to do.

However, "most of the time, you just sort-of continue getting by," he added. "And people make a decision on their own accord if they want to stay or leave."

Engineering or retreat?

In the long run, the fate of Miami and many of the world's coastal cities depend largely on how much, and how fast, the oceans rise. Scientists still have a lot to learn before they can make accurate predictions. But, they warn, the pace of sea level rise is increasing.

For many, retreat from the coast is inevitable.

"We're going to have to leave sooner or later," said Caroline Lewis, founder of the climate advocacy group the CLEO Institute. "But if we can have a planned retreat, and we could implement some of our ideas about keeping people as safe as possible for as long as possible, then we would have accomplished a great deal that the whole world could learn from."

But in a city that carved itself out of a swampy wilderness, optimists abound.

"There's an engineering solution to every problem," Carpenter said. "It just comes down to, is there the political will to go through whatever pain may be associated with that solution, and the will to try and fund it."

—–

This article was originally posted on VOA News.

November 22, 2017
By Kailani Acosta

Zelalem Adefris presenting at the APHA Conference 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Climate change and public health are inherently interconnected. For Miami, climate change includes extreme heat, droughts, flooding, intense storms, sea level rise, and saltwater intrusion. Each of these events poses a risk to public health - including mosquito-borne diseases, water-borne diseases, food insecurity, and poor mental health. Across the country, climate change will affect environments and people differently. In order to create a healthy nation, we must address climate change, sustainability, and environmental injustice.

From November 4-8, 2017, Catalyst Miami attended the American Public Health Association (APHA) Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, “Creating the Healthiest Nation: Climate Changes Health”. This theme brought together seemingly disparate issues of health, climate change, and resilience to address how these challenges are in fact interconnected. As part of this conference, Catalyst Miami presented a poster on the impact of our Miami-based climate leadership and advocacy program: CLEAR (Community Leadership on the Environment, Advocacy, and Resilience) Miami.

Between September 2016 and August 2017 there have been three CLEAR Miami cohorts, consisting of a total 55 adult graduates and 17 youth graduates. The CLEAR Miami program greatly increased participants’ understanding of climate resilience, ways to get involved in their communities, and the intersectionality of climate, environmental, and social issues.

In their post-assessment, participants shared what they learned in a short answer format. The size of the words corresponds with how often they were used.

One-hundred percent of participants had a clear understanding of climate resilience after CLEAR Miami, which is a 70% change since starting the program. CLEAR prompted many of its participants to become more environmentally and socially active. Of 46 responses, about 17% of graduates who had never led an action before CLEAR became first time leaders on a climate, environmental or social justice action - all within the timespan of 12 weeks. Six months after graduation, 100% of the graduates have taken a civic action related to climate resilience.

In addition to presenting our findings, we also distributed The CLEAR Toolkit, a guide for creating community resilience leadership programs. The CLEAR Toolkit includes the structure, themes, activities, and evaluation methods utilized in the CLEAR Miami program. We hope that this guide will be helpful for communities, nonprofits, schools, and other institutions that would like to facilitate similar community leadership programs on climate resilience. The CLEAR program was created to be inclusive, accessible, free, and practical. Its toolkit is to be distributed free of charge by nonprofit or community-based organizations for public purposes. Though the climate is changing and communities are at risk, education is key to resilience.

The poorest and most vulnerable communities will be affected first and worst by climate change. Get informed and get active! If you would like more information about CLEAR Miami and the CLEAR Toolkit, please visit https://catalystmiami.org/, contact us at 305-576-5001, or email [email protected].

The CLEAR Toolkit can be found at http://bit.ly/thecleartoolkit.

October 2017
By ideas⁴²

Financial capability organizations provide supportive financial services to millions of Americans, making a meaningful impact on countless lives. Cost-effective adjustments to their programs that account for human behavior could allow these organizations to reach even more people with their helpful services.

Putting behavioral design directly into the hands of financial capability organizations can make a wide and lasting impact on Americans’ financial well-being. That’s why we conducted an immersive, 18-month program with 11 pioneering organizations called The Behavioral Design Project for Promoting Financial Health. Funded by JPMorgan Chase & Co., this project guided financial capability practitioners from across the country through our behavioral design methodology, with each organization selecting a real problem they wanted to solve and
applying behavioral design directly to it.

Included here are a few of the most important lessons participants learned about applying behavioral design for the first time.

• Take it one problem at a time. Examining the decision-making context illuminates discrete challenges that fuel broader problems. Hone in on a specific issue rather than trying to find a silver bullet solution.
• Check that you’re solving the right problem. Before designing solutions, consult data to confirm that the problem is real and widespread. You’ll avoid investing time and money solving a problem that few people have.
• Confront hurdles head on with your design. Start by removing unnecessary hassles or supplementing them with a helpful intervention.
• Test your assumptions on the front lines. Without transparency, it’s easy to make assumptions about other people’s choices or behaviors. Test these assumptions on the front lines by experiencing firsthand how clients interact with systems.
• Refine and repeat. Behavioral design is a problem-solving approach, not a one-time fix. Evaluate results, refine the design, and identify additional problems ripe for behavioral applications to continue impacting lives.

The Behavioral Design Project sought to help financial capability organizations bolster the effectiveness of their programs. These financial innovators’ new behavioral design knowledge and skills will supercharge their efforts to promote financial health among their clients long after our engagement together ends. Read our case study to learn how to apply these insights to your organization’s efforts.

THE LESSONS

Take it one problem at a time

Financial capability organizations tackle complex issues to support their clients every day. So when we first asked Behavioral Design Project participants about the problems they wanted to solve, it wasn’t surprising to hear big picture targets such as “improve clients’ economic mobility.” But facing broad problems raises the question: where to begin?

The first step is to examine the context in which clients make decisions. This often illuminates the discrete challenges that fuel broader problems—and that is where behavioral design makes a difference. For example, “increase savings” is a broad goal, and one solution won’t work for all contexts. A single, 18-year-old college student will face different barriers to saving money than a 30-year-old parent working full time. They may have distinct goals and responsibilities, and receive money in different ways: the college student might receive a financial aid check once per semester, whereas the full-time worker might receive biweekly paychecks. The worker might be saving for retirement; the college student probably is not. Honing in on the context of a problem allows you to tackle issues individually rather than trying to find a silver bullet solution.

Milly DuBouchet, a Project Manager at Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners, started her work with ideas42 aiming to help all their clients save money. “Getting people to save more has always been our main goal,” she said. But this universal problem brought to mind common, seemingly intractable barriers people face every day: cash flow problems, chronic stress, and extreme focus on getting by today at the expense of tomorrow. In this scenario, it’s difficult to identify problem areas that are tractable.

When Milly examined more specific contexts within clients’ lives, she found an actionable problem she could tackle with behavioral design. Neighborhood Trust’s mission includes helping community organizations integrate financial counseling into their employee services. Milly identified a behavioral problem at one of Neighborhood Trust’s community partners, Goodwill. Employees at Goodwill weren’t using an easy, available option for saving: depositing part of their paycheck directly into a savings account.

“Focusing on one specific program made it more concrete,” Milly said. “The behavioral insights were suddenly more applicable. That was when our work really came to life.” Like a magnifying glass, this narrowed scope revealed manageable, yet often overlooked, behavioral barriers that employees faced. The Neighborhood Trust team mapped out the exact steps Goodwill employees needed to take to split funds into savings. They interviewed employees and managers about the factors that led them to use direct deposit savings—or not—and redesigned the process to remove many of the barriers identified. Right away, Goodwill started using a new direct deposit form that made it simpler to sign up for this option.

Tackling this specific problem with a behavioral lens brought Neighborhood Trust a step closer to achieving their overall objective of helping people save more money.

Check that you’re solving the right problem

Though it can be tempting to dive head first into creating a solution and implementing it, Behavioral Design Project participants examined available data to ensure the problem was real before investigating causes—let alone creating possible solutions.

Self-Help Federal Credit Union, a federally chartered credit union that provides responsible and affordable financial services, wanted to improve the use of their Fresh Start Loan. The Fresh Start Loan helps people build credit by depositing a loan into a savings account that the client can access once the loan is repaid. There was a widespread perception among staff that clients were paying off the loans too quickly, which doesn’t help them build their credit and can even hurt it. But when they checked the data, it turned out that less than 15% of Self-Help Federal CU’s clients paid off their loans early. It also revealed that a much larger segment of clients never paid off their loans at all.

“The data so far has surprised us,” said Micheline Savarin, Director of Marketing and Communications at Self-Help Federal CU, and Jeannine Esposito, Development and Impact Manager at Self-Help Federal CU. “Looking at various reports and filters, our assumptions may not be as correct as we had hoped.”

[caption id="attachment_5138" align="alignnone" width="700"] ^{While getting data was often challenging, doing so was critical to many Behavioral Design Project participants’ success}[/caption]

Based on the data alone, it would be easy to assume Self-Help Federal CU’s clients stop making payments because they don’t have the money to pay off their loans—but the team at Self-Help Federal CU conducted qualitative interviews and found three different, perhaps unexpected, reasons. First, without reminders many clients simply forget to make payments. Second, some clients misunderstand the product, thinking they were taking out a regular loan to receive an up-front, lump-sum payment. Once they realize that Fresh Start Loans don’t function that way, they stop paying. Finally, some clients use the credit-building loan as a savings product, depositing only enough to meet their savings goal and then ceasing payments. Each of these clients needs a particular design to help them reach their goals—and some may be better served by a product or service other than the Fresh Start Loan.

Program data helps us understand what’s going on in clients’ lives. Critically examining their data helped Self-Help Federal CU avoid spending time and resources designing solutions for a problem very few clients had.

After a round of interviews or a dive into data, practitioners usually have a pile of transcripts, notes, or results to comb through. Translating these findings into solutions is challenging. One place to start is by looking for hassles and removing them.

A hassle could be a process a client must go through, or a fact they need to know in order to complete a step. To remove hassles, eliminate unnecessary steps or supplement them with helpful interventions. For example, inputting an ID number on a form can be enough to deter a person from completing that form if they don’t know the number offhand—if possible, remove the requirement. If a client needs to complete a step of a process later, send her a reminder to do so.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a nonprofit that helps people whose lives are shattered by conflict and disaster to recover and regain control of their future. During the Behavioral Design Project, they sought ways to streamline their lending program (part of their commitment to supporting the economic wellbeing of refugees). Using behavioral design, they wanted to help clients struggling to keep up with loan payments avoid harming their credit.

IRC wants borrowers to reach out proactively if they anticipate having problems making a payment in order to accommodate them. This flexibility is a real benefit for borrowers, but few were taking advantage of it in time to avoid negative consequences. In fact, IRC staff would often call or visit delinquent borrowers individually to work out a plan, which consumed a lot of organizational resources and did not model the behavior borrowers need to learn to interact with other creditors.

“One of the guidelines we received [from ideas42] was to turn our problem on its head,” said Kasra Movahedi, Technical Advisor for Economic Empowerment Programs at IRC. During this project, the IRC team discovered that it wasn’t that clients didn’t want help. Rather, they didn’t know help was available because staff members hadn’t made that flexibility explicit. This could be a hurdle for borrowers, who must actively seek out information about IRC’s flexibility.

Kasra remembers ideas42 asking him, “If few clients are aware that you have this flexibility, why don’t you just tell them how flexible you can be?” And he thought, “Yeah, why don’t we?”

This led the team at IRC to directly address the hassle by making the terms and limits of their flexibility clearer. “Everyone had this expectation that borrowers wouldn’t be proactive, that we had to call them directly if we wanted any kind of response from them,” said Ellen Beattie, Senior Director of Program Quality for United States Programs at IRC. But an initial test suggests their new designs are working.

“We tried sending emails to borrowers letting them know that we were going to pull recurring payments from their accounts, and they responded,” Kasra said. “A handful responded to say ‘that’s fine’ but a handful also asked us to wait a few days. That’s exactly the kind of communication we want. We can be flexible, but we have to know what they need.”

Test your assumptions on the front lines

The challenges people face in their daily lives are often invisible to others—even to organizations working hard to provide helpful services. Without transparency, it’s easy to make assumptions about clients’ lives.

Behavioral design offers many approaches to shedding light on the barriers that clients face, and one of the strongest approaches is a classic: get out on the front lines. By engaging with clients one-on-one, behavioral design practitioners can see firsthand how clients interact with systems, which helps them develop empathy and find the contextual rough patches where behavioral insights can be effective.

[caption id="attachment_5137" align="alignnone" width="699"] ^{Moneythink’s service is entirely remote so students can access support no matter where they are.}[/caption]

Moneythink is a non-profit that supports under-resourced students in college financia decision-making. While Moneythink’s product managers, designers, and researchers spend a lot of time thinking about the challenges their clients face, they don’t have as many opportunities to interact with clients as front line staff. During the Behavioral Design Project, they immersed themselves in the students’ context by taking on the responsibilities of a college financial coach—spending hours each week supporting college-bound high school seniors. Through this qualitative research, the team encountered firsthand the striking challenges that their clients face.

“Often people think this has to be a learning experience for students, that if we help them too much we’ll take away their agency,” said Amy Malinowski, UX/UI Design Lead at Moneythink. During her time on the front lines, Amy saw that students’ reality was often more complicated. She once spent over 2 hours on call waiting before she was able to get in touch with a financial aid officer to understand the details of a single line item on a student’s financial aid award letter. And that’s just one of numerous challenges she faced while acting on a student’s behalf.

“We see that these students are working jobs, taking care of family members, and going to school. How can we, on top of all that, expect them to navigate bureaucracy and build out a financial plan for the first time?” Amy said.

The burden on their clients was much larger than the Moneythink team had imagined. When tackling a problem area, immersing oneself in front-line work is an effective way to quickly learn about the barriers of today and envision possible solutions.

Refine and repeat

Participants in the Behavioral Design Project spent over a year learning about behavioral science, questioning their programs’ inner workings, and addressing specific problems that will have a meaningful impact on their clients. Now they’re looking beyond the scope of this particular project, leveraging what they have learned to identify how behavioral design could support their clients’ financial health and goals in new and exciting ways.

There are seemingly endless ways to employ the behavioral design approach to impact people’s lives. Participants have noticed behavioral science playing a role in their everyday work. “We’ve been using a lot of behavioral science thinking outside of the official Behavioral Design Project structure,” said Amy at Moneythink. Amy’s team has embraced behavioral principles in every part of their work, from individual interactions with students to planning the product roadmap months from now.

Some organizations, such as EARN—a national non-profit that offers the digitally based SaverLife program—have already delved into multiple problems through the Behavioral Design Project. “When we first started with the Behavioral Design Project, we flagged two possible areas to work on: maximizing onboarding and conversion rates, and helping people reach their savings goals,” said David Derryck, Chief Impact Officer at EARN. “During the first half of the Behavioral Design Project, we addressed the first one. Now we’re in the process of addressing the second.”

Participants’ behavioral design knowledge will not only outlive this project, it will also extend beyond participants to their teams and organizations. “I can see myself being a source of information for my colleagues,” said Milly at Neighborhood Trust. “And my colleagues have become more interested in the subject because I’ve done work in it. They want me to reference principles; [they say] ‘hey what principles could we apply here?’”

CONCLUSION

Take it one problem at a time. Check that you’re solving the right problem. Confront hurdles head on with your design. Test your assumptions on the front lines. Refine and repeat.
These lessons come from practitioners who tried behavioral design for the first time. Throughout the Behavioral Design Project for Promoting Financial Health, the 11 organizations we worked with were challenged and sometimes surprised. They questioned assumptions and standard practices. They learned more about their clients, and themselves. They are inspired to continue these methods and spread insights to others working to promote financial health.

Behavioral design is an important tool at the disposal of financial capability organizations. It’s clear that our natural human tendencies don’t make money management easy—for anyone. Sharing the behavioral design approach with problem-solvers, along with these five key lessons, can help programs to work with people—their real lives and everyday challenges—to bring financial health closer to reality.

[caption id="attachment_5140" align="alignnone" width="699"] ^{Behavioral Design Project participants and ideas42 staff at the Project’s final convening}[/caption]

—–

This article was originally posted in ideas⁴².