Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
A $30 million study of African-American families in Iowa and Georgia provides a glimpse of the harmful effects of discrimination and reinforces the need for strong parenting and neighborhoods.
Researchers at Iowa State University and the University of Georgia collaborated on the Family and Community Health Study, thought to be the largest in-depth study of black families in the nation. About 900 families — 2,000 people — have participated in the study since 1995.
“These are the topics that haven’t received much attention — what is it like growing up black in a mostly white state?” said Frederick Gibbons, an ISU researcher who studies health-risk behaviors.
The factors that contribute to delinquency, school suspensions and incarceration have garnered increased scrutiny from researchers as officials and activists in Iowa continue to seek solutions to the racial disparities in prisons and schools.
Researchers collected data from the participants about their neighborhoods, parenting styles, substance use, mental health, school involvement and experience with discrimination. Iowa participants reported experiencing more discrimination than participants in Georgia, according to the report. Their experience can be used to predict future school problems and substance abuse, Gibbons said. But supportive parenting, a focus on academics and cohesive neighborhoods can serve as buffers, the study found.
“Even among good students, discrimination has a bad effect,” he said.
The on-going study explores the unique issues facing black youth in both states. Blacks account for 30 percent of Georgia’s population, compared with about 2.3 percent in Iowa. About 25 percent of the participants were considered below federal poverty guidelines, but all income levels were represented, researchers said. Each family had a 10-year old child when the study began, which allowed researchers to look at their lives before the onset of adolescence. Participants were interviewed face-to-face, videotaped, and they participated in experiments, researchers said. The Iowa families hailed from Des Moines and Waterloo.
“Most of the youth are doing just fine,” said researcher Carolyn Cutrona, of ISU’s Institute for Social and Behavioral Research.
She reported that 42 percent of the Iowa participants were suspended from school; nearly 30 percent experienced “trouble with the law”; and 2.7 percent were incarcerated. The figures were lower in all three categories for Georgia participants.
“Even Stevie Wonder could see the challenges facing Iowa right now,” said state Rep. Wayne Ford, D-Des Moines, who has been instrumental in the project since its inception and who serves as a consultant.
Data from the study will be used to help researchers predict incarceration and school suspension rates, the researchers said. They also plan to interview participants who have been incarcerated to glean more about their experiences.
Next month, at Ford’s suggestion, the researchers will ask the federal government for $2.2 million to create a center to study the causes of racial disparities, such as in schools and the criminal justice system, in mostly white states, Gibbons said.
“There are issues that are unique to that setting that no one has looked at before,” Gibbons said. “No such centers exist.”
Walter Reed Jr., Iowa Department of Human Rights director, said his family participated in the study, which emphasized a need for “warm, supportive parenting” and “cohesive communities.” The Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans is also studying black families and communities through the Ongoing Covenant with Black Iowa, he said.
“If the world is going to be different — if Iowa is going to be different –African-American families, those who are interested and the churches can’t sit on the sidelines any longer,” he said, during a presentation of the study findings last Friday at the State Capitol.
The project received financial support from the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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