Tag: recover

Affordable Housing Is Slow To Recover After Disasters Like Hurricanes, And What Communities Can Do About It – 4 Reasons Why
IN OTHER NEWS

Affordable Housing Is Slow To Recover After Disasters Like Hurricanes, And What Communities Can Do About It – 4 Reasons Why

How a community recovers after a disaster like Hurricane Ian is often a “chicken and egg” question: Which returns first – businesses or households? Businesses need employees and customers to be able to function. Households need jobs and the services businesses provide. As an urban planning researcher who focuses on housing recovery after disasters, I have found in my research that they’re mutually dependent. However, in coastal communities, the recovery of tourism-based businesses like restaurants and hotels depends in large part on the return of affordable housing for employees. Rockport, Texas, where Hurricane Harvey made landfall in 2017, is an example of the challenge. It’s a small community that caters to vacationers and sport fishermen, including celebrities like country singer Ge...
COVID-19, Journalism

Helping Nursing Homes Recover From COVID-19 Fears And Become Safer Places For Aging Parents

Two weeks after the first U.S. case of COVID-19 was identified in Snohomish County, Washington, in early 2020, my dad had a stroke at his home just across Puget Sound. More COVID-19 cases were about to surface at a nearby skilled nursing facility, marking the beginning of a crisis for nursing homes across the country. My dad was incredibly lucky. It was minor stroke, and he didn’t need nursing home care. But the type of stroke he had is a leading risk factor for cognitive impairment and vascular dementia. I know that nursing care may be in his future. Throughout the pandemic, nursing homes have been in the headlines as places with uncontrolled COVID-19 cases and social isolation, which research shows can worsen people’s health. About a third of all reported U.S. COVID-19 deaths have been...
The New Co-op Helping Ex-Inmates Find Work—and Recover
Journalism

The New Co-op Helping Ex-Inmates Find Work—and Recover

The United States has the world’s highest incarceration rate, with more than 2.2 million people in prison. And within the United States, the highest incarceration rate belongs to Washington, D.C. There, a new worker-owned business cooperative hopes to reverse those numbers, offering former prisoners opportunities for employment and healing. Though co-ops that employ formerly incarcerated people already exist, Tightshift Laboring Cooperative is the first Washington, D.C., co-op formed and operated by ex-prisoners. The co-op offers an array of manual labor services, including residential and commercial cleaning, hauling and moving, and landscaping. It also uses eco-friendly products to provide customers with affordable, high-quality cleaning services. Unbeknownst to his family, Reid becam...