Cash Transfers and After-School Programs: A Randomized Controlled Trial for Young Men at Risk of Violence Exposure in Wilmington, Delaware.

We conducted a randomized controlled trial to determine whether an after-school program paired with a cash transfer (a conditional cash transfer) or a cash transfer alone (an unconditional cash transfer) can help improve health and economic outcomes for young men between the ages of 14 and 17 whose parents have low incomes and who live in neighborhoods with high crime rates. We find that receiving the cash transfer alone was associated with an increase in healthy behaviors (one of our primary outcome composite measures) and that the cash transfer paired with after-school programming was associated with an improvement in the financial health of participants (one of our secondary outcome composite measures). We find no differences in spending on alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, or other drugs between either the treatment group and the control group. Neither the cash transfer alone nor the programming plus cash transfer had statistically significant effects on our other primary composite measures (physical and mental health or school attendance and disciplinary actions), or our other secondary composite measures (criminal justice engagement or social supports) but in most cases, confidence intervals were too large to rule out meaningful effects. Results suggest that cash transfers hold promise to improve the health of youth without any indication of any adverse effects.

Using Land Policy to Improve Population Health.

We examine whether zoning can increase health equity and population health by assessing a new zoning ordinance in the City of Baltimore that forced 76 liquor stores in residential areas to relocate, close, or convert to an approved use. To do so, we undertake a baseline assessment of neighborhoods with affected liquor stores, and predict the potential impact of the zoning change by estimating the impact of previous closures and openings of liquor stores on neighborhood crime in Baltimore using a spatial Poisson random trend fixed effects model. We find that affected stores are concentrated in high poverty, majority black neighborhoods with high vacancy rates, and that liquor store closings are associated with a statistically significant reduction in violent crime on the block group in question with no negative spillover affects onto the nearby block groups.

Bridging the Housing and Health Policy Divide: Lessons in Community Development from Memphis and Baltimore.

Governments and nonprofits routinely partner to launch place-based initiatives in distressed neighborhoods with the goal of stabilizing real estate markets, reclaiming vacant properties, abating public nuisances, and reducing crime. Public health impacts and outcomes are rarely the major policy drivers in the design and implementation of these neighborhood scale initiatives. In this article, we examine recent Health Impact Assessments in Baltimore, Maryland and Memphis, Tennessee to show how public health concepts, principles, and practices can be infused into existing and new programs and policies, and how public health programs can help to improve population health by addressing the upstream social determinants of health. We provide a portfolio of ideas and practices to bridge this classic divide of housing and health policy.