blog post Chet Hewitt Joins PPIC Board, Mas Masumoto Named Chair By Mark Baldassare Sep 14, 2016 Chet Hewitt, president and CEO of Sierra Health Foundation, joined PPIC’s board of directors, and Mas Masumoto, noted author and third-generation farmer, was elected board chair.
blog post Video: Reaching Children in Poverty By Linda Strean Mar 6, 2017 Understanding how child poverty varies geographically can help address this challenge. At a PPIC event, local service providers describe their approaches.
Report Expanding Health Coverage in California: County Jails as Enrollment Sites By Shannon McConville, Mia Bird May 10, 2016 In 2014, the first year of Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation, the number of Californians with health insurance increased substantially. However, millions of state residents continue to lack comprehensive health coverage, and those who remain uninsured are likely more difficult to enroll through traditional strategies. In this report, we find that uninsured rates are highest for young men and for those with low levels of education, income, and employment. The prevalence of these same characteristics among correctional populations suggests that the justice system—and, in particular, county jails—may offer points of contact for many uninsured individuals who would otherwise be hard to reach. Outreach and enrollment efforts aimed at local jail populations are set within the policy context of California’s 2011 Public Safety Realignment, which created incentives and resources for local corrections agencies to improve reentry outcomes. With expansions in access to health insurance coverage under the ACA, nearly all counties are establishing programs to provide enrollment assistance to jail inmates as part of a more comprehensive reentry strategy. But resources and capacity are limited, so it is important to identify effective models to maximize the potential of county correctional systems as sites of insurance enrollment.
blog post Do Schools Have Enough Nurses to Fight the Pandemic? By Paulette Cha Sep 24, 2020 Statewide, California schools have one of the highest student-to-nurse ratios in the US. In addition, no county meets current guidelines for staffing.
Report Assessing Transitional Kindergarten’s Impact on Elementary School Trajectories By Julien Lafortune, Laura Hill Oct 23, 2023 California’s Transitional Kindergarten (TK) program provides an early year of schooling within the K–12 system. Launched a decade ago with limited eligibility, TK will soon be open to all four-year-olds. Taking stock of the program’s impact so far—especially among multilingual and special education students—can help TK expansion succeed.
blog post Video: Women in California’s Legislature By Mary Severance Mar 17, 2023 On International Women’s Day, PPIC president and CEO Tani Cantil-Sakauye moderated a discussion with four influential women in the California State Legislature, who talked about their experiences, their legislative priorities, and the importance of diverse voices in the policymaking process.
Policy Brief Policy Brief: Setting the Stage for Universal Preschool By Laura Hill, Emmanuel Prunty, Vicki Hsieh May 9, 2022 Ensuring equitable access to Transitional Kindergarten is key as California expands the program to include all four-year-olds.
event The Importance of CalFresh in Unstable Times Sep 23, 2022 CalFresh is one of California’s largest safety net programs, providing food assistance to 4.8 million residents. As policymakers consider ways to strengthen the link between safety net participation and economic mobility, a better understanding of the job and income instability that participants face is critical. PPIC’s Tess Thorman and Caroline Danielson will discuss CalFresh enrollment before and during the COVID crisis, participants’ ties to the workforce, and the program’s role in stabilizing family budgets.
