Publications by Kathryn L.S. Pettit for Health Policy Center

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More about Kathryn L.S. Pettit's areas of expertise can be found on this Urban Institute expert's page.

During the 1990s, numerous public policy changes occurred that could have improved the health of mothers and infants in low-income neighborhoods. This paper examines trends in key maternal and child health indicators, using neighborhood level vital statistics and census data. Trends in four key indicators (births to teenagers; late prenatal care; low birthweight; and infant mortality) over the l990s are contrasted between high poverty and other neighborhoods in Cuyahoga County, Ohio; Denver, Colorado; Marion County, Indiana; and Oakland, California. In all four metropolitan areas, trends in high poverty neighborhoods were more favorable than in other neighborhoods. Still, great disparities between high poverty and other neighborhoods remain. Experience from the l990s suggests that a combination of several intensive interventions can be effective at reducing disparities. (Howell, Embry, Pettit, Kathryn and Kingsley, Thomas. July/August 2005. "Trends in Maternal and Infant Health in Poor Urban Neighborhoods: Good News from the 1990s but Challenges Remain." Public Health Reports 120(4):409-417.)

The National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP) is a collaborative effort to use local information in community building and policymaking. The task of building local data systems is given to a local intermediary in each of the 19 NNIP partnership cities. The partners obtain data from a variety of agencies, geocode it to the neighborhood level, and make it available to users. In the first seven years of the NNIP, the partners have learned several important lessons. First, data at the local (neighborhood) level are essential for developing public policy. Second, advances in technology over the past decade have made it possible to maintain these detailed local databases at relatively low cost. Third, there are a variety of types of local organizations that can effectively serve as the local partner, from academia to government, community foundations, or other community-based nonprofits. Fourth, as with most endeavors, good leadership is critical to successfully building the bridges across multiple agencies. Finally, a major lesson from the NNIP experience is that providing data is only the first step. Data must be used in ways that are visible, useful, and responsive to the community if the project is to retain local support and enthusiasm. (Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 9(3), 2003.)

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