Using data from the 2019 National Survey of Victim Service Providers (NSVSP), which examined a representative sample of victim service providers from the roster developed for the 2017 National Census of Victim Service Providers, this report presents statistics on five types of victim service providers that provided crime victims assistance in 2019: non-profit or faith-based; governmental; hospital, medical, or emergency; campus; and tribal. It also examines by all victim service providers and by victim service providers type the average number of services provided, type of services most commonly provided, gaps in services, and organizations that commonly referred victims to victim service providers for assistance. About 51% of victim service providers were non-profit or faith-based, 42% were governmental, 3% were hospital, medical, or emergency, and 2% each were campus and tribal. Law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI, police, or sheriffs’ departments, were among the top-three sources of victim referrals to victim service providers (69%), and 75% of victim service providers provided immediate or emergency safety planning to victims. In terms of gaps in services reported by providers in 2019, the majority (81%) of victim service providers indicated that victims had difficulty obtaining shelter or housing, followed by mental health services (52%), and financial or material assistance (45%).

This report includes statistics on demographic, criminal justice, and suicide incident characteristics and link 2019 suicides with facility-level information obtained in the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics’s recent censuses of local jail and prison facilities. From 2001 to 2019, suicides accounted for 5% to 8% of all deaths among state and federal prisoners and 24% to 35% of deaths among local jail inmates. The total number of suicides in state, federal, and local correctional facilities increased from 499 in 2001 to 695 in 2019. During the 20-year period of 2000-2019, California had a total of 615 suicides in local jails, Texas had 448, Florida had 333, and Pennsylvania had 325. Most jail inmates and state and federal prisoners who died by suicide were males and were non-Hispanic whites. The number of prisoners who died by suicide between 2010-14 and 2015-19 tripled in three states (Arkansas, Georgia, and West Virginia) and more than doubled in five states, including Florida.

Analyzing jail data is a crucial part of understanding incarceration trends. Quantitative data from local government sources can help to drive policy and inform change by providing insights into who is in jail and for how long, the reasons why, and which system actors are involved. This guide provides an overview of the broad framing questions and key steps of analyzing jail data. It also explains technical details in language that is accessible to people without statistics or database training. This resource also offers sample analyses, sample data request details, and views into what different kinds of jail data analyses can tell us about trends and potential policy solutions.

Nearly two decades into the completion agenda in higher education, many community colleges have adopted college wide reforms designed to improve stubbornly flat rates of student success and address persistent equity gaps. The longer-term effects of such college wide reforms may take years to observe. In the meantime, college leaders need to know whether changes they make in the short run are associated with longer-term student success. Measuring the progress and effects of institutional reform is particularly vital in economically important science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Drawing on administrative records from transfer-intending community college starters across three states, this study develops and explores potential indicators of early STEM program momentum. The authors find that a relatively simple set of STEM momentum metrics—notably early completion of calculus or non-math science, technology, or engineering coursework specified in statewide STEM transfer pathways and, to a lesser degree, the prerequisites to such courses—are reliable indicators of subsequent STEM transfer and bachelor’s degree attainment. The study's findings provide support for the use of the STEM momentum metrics to formatively evaluate reforms aimed at strengthening STEM transfer outcomes and closing equity gaps in STEM bachelor’s degree attainment.

This report presents the results for a subset of 493 K-12 public school employees who participated in a May 2021 national online survey of 1,203 state and local government employees. The survey assessed public sector employee views on the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on their employment outlook, general concerns about COVID-19, vaccine views, perceptions of their finances, and general satisfaction with their employer and their benefits. Key takeaways include that the vast majority (90%) of K-12 employees are concerned about students in their school falling behind as a result of the pandemic; 65% are extremely or very concerned. In addition, K-12 employees were significantly more likely to perceive themselves to be at high risk of exposure to COVID at work, with 47% of K-12 employees feeling that in-person work is very or extremely risky, as compared with 32% of other government employees. K-12 employees were significantly more likely than other government employees to feel that the pandemic has made the public more aware of the importance of what they do (61% vs. 37%). However, they were also significantly more likely to report that the risks they are taking during the pandemic are not on par with their compensation, and that working during the pandemic has made them consider changing jobs.

A four-day school week (4dsw) is becoming more common, especially in areas across the western United States. States with large rural areas are spearheading this change. For example, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and South Dakota have more than 500 districts using a 4dsw. The study addressed two overarching research questions: (1) How is the 4dsw implemented? (2) What are the benefits and drawbacks of the 4dsw? The results point to trade-offs in the 4dsw model. Analysis of data from five states—Idaho, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and South Dakota—indicates some evidence of educational harm: The test scores for 4dsw districts improved but did so more slowly than they would have if the same schools had maintained a 5dsw. On the other hand, families and students in 4dsw districts—which are primarily in rural communities in the Western United States—reported highly valuing the extra time that the four-day schedule allowed the family to spend together.

U.S. research may be subject to undue foreign influence in cases where a researcher has a foreign conflict of interest. Federal grant-making agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) can address this threat through conflict of interest policies and requiring the disclosure of information that may indicate conflicts. In a December 2020 report, the authors reviewed five agencies (NSF, National Institutes of Health, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Defense, and Department of Energy), which together accounted for almost 90% of all federal research and development expenditures at universities in fiscal year 2018. The authors found that three of the agencies it reviewed have agency-wide conflict of interest policies and two do not. The three agencies with existing conflict of interest policies focus on financial interests and do not specifically address or define non-financial interests, which may include multiple professional appointments. In the absence of agency-wide conflict of interest policies and definitions for non-financial interests, researchers may not fully understand what they need to report on their grant proposals, leaving agencies with incomplete information to assess the risk of foreign influence. This testimony discusses, among other things, (1) conflict of interest policies and disclosure requirements at selected agencies and universities that address potential foreign threats, and (2) mechanisms to monitor and enforce policies and requirements. It is based on a report that the authors issued in December 2020 (GAO-21-130).

The authors explore the sources of racial disparities in small business lending by studying the $806 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was designed to support small business jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Paycheck Protection Program loans were administered by private lenders but federally guaranteed, largely eliminating unobservable credit risk as a factor in explaining differential lending by race. The authors document that even after controlling for a firm’s zip code, industry, loan size, PPP approval date, and other characteristics, Black-owned businesses were 12.1 percentage points (70% of the mean) more likely to obtain their PPP loan from a financial technology, or fintech, lender than a traditional bank. Among conventional lenders, smaller banks were much less likely to lend to Black-owned firms, while the Top-4 banks exhibited little to no disparity after including controls. The authors use novel data to show that the disparity is not primarily explained by differences in pre-existing bank or credit relationships, firm financial positions, fintech affinity, or borrower application behavior. In contrast, the authors document that Black-owned businesses’ higher rate of borrowing from fintechs compared to smaller banks is particularly large in places with high racial animus, pointing to a potential role for discrimination in explaining some of the racial disparities in small business lending. They find evidence that when small banks automate their lending processes, and thus reduce human involvement in the loan origination process, their rate of PPP lending to Black-owned businesses increases, with larger effects in places with more racial animus.

The Hispanic population, representing one of every five people in the U.S., provides untapped potential for any organization in search for talent. Research suggests that inclusion of Latinos in the workforce fuels innovation and revenue, and that they are estimated to drive nearly 25% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth. At the same time, Latinos currently make up a disproportionate 25% of low wage jobs, demonstrating a clear need for improved pathways to economic mobility and empowerment. When it comes to tech, despite explosive population growth and genuine progress in the penetration of Blacks and Latinos in the industry, job numbers remain far below their white and Asian counterparts. The digitalization and diffusion of technologies in the workplace has drastically transformed how work is defined. Now more than ever, the workers in most demand must have the cognitive knowledge, skills, and abilities to adapt to a digital environment. One of the key questions then is how can we better reframe and realign skill sets and talents of the Latino workforce to better map onto the needs of modern-day businesses. To address this, the authors offer a roadmap, which is a synthesis of seven one-on-one interviews and three roundtable conversations with over 30 participants from leading tech companies, non-profits, and educational institutions.

In the United States, approximately 15% of the population resides in counties located in rural areas. Those living in rural areas often face greater public health challenges as they have more limited access to health care, are less likely to be insured, and are more likely to live in poverty. This report provides the latest national data for trends in age-adjusted death rates for all causes of death among rural and urban areas by sex. Rates for rural and urban areas for the 10 leading causes of death in 2019 are also presented by urban-rural status along with trends in selected causes of death. The report finds that during 1999 through 2019, age-adjusted death rates in rural areas were higher than in urban areas for the entire period, and the difference increased over time. Differences between rural and urban death rates widened over the period for both males and females. Specifically, from 1999 through 2019, age-adjusted death rates in urban areas declined from 865.1 per 100,000 to 693.4, whereas rates in rural areas initially declined from 1999 (923.8) through 2010 (837.6) and then stabilized through 2019 (834.0). Furthermore, in 2019, rates for the 10 leading causes of death were higher in rural areas than in urban areas, with the greatest difference in rates for deaths due to heart disease (189.1 compared with 156.3), cancer (164.1 compared with 142.8), and chronic lower respiratory disease (CLRD) (52.5 compared with 35.4).

The authors examined the impact of increasing funding for women's health research, with a focus on the following three disease areas: brain health, immune and autoimmune disease, and cardiovascular disease. Using microsimulation analyses, the research team studied the societal cost impact of increasing research funding in three diseases that present a large disease burden for women: Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease–related dementias (AD/ADRD), coronary artery disease (CAD), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The results establish the potential for investment in women's health research to realize gains beyond additional general research investment and point the way to a concrete, actionable research and funding agenda. Key findings include that research investment yields benefits for all people, but the specific emphasis on women’s health can result in downstream socioeconomic benefits that improve on general research. The aggregate cost savings to society are $932 million for AD/ADRD, $1.9 billion for CAD, and $10.5 billion for RA, reflecting the different impact of each disease for the full population. Savings include increased life years, reduced years with disease, fewer years of functional dependence, and reductions in disruptions to work productivity. The authors make several recommendations including pursuing research on the biology of disease in women, including early identification, and identify barriers to diagnosis in women and to expand research agendas to address the complicated relationships between disease and work productivity in women. Impacts include lost productivity for those with the disease and for informal caregivers, the majority of whom are women.

Fluctuating insurance coverage, or churning, is a recognized barrier to health care access. The authors assessed whether state policies that allow children to remain covered in Medicaid for a 12-month period, regardless of fluctuations in income, are associated with health and health care outcomes, after controlling for individual factors and other Medicaid policies. This cross-sectional study uses a large, nationally representative database of children ages 0 to 17. Continuous eligibility was associated with improved rates of insurance, reductions in gaps in insurance and gaps due to application problems, and lower probability of being in fair or poor health. For children with special health care needs, it was associated with increases in use of medical care and preventive and specialty care access. However, continuous eligibility was not associated with health care utilization outcomes for the full sample. Continuous eligibility may be an effective strategy to reduce gaps in coverage for children and reduce paperwork burden on Medicaid agencies.