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The Weekly Wonk is a summary of Oklahoma Policy Institute’s events, publications, blog posts, and coverage. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In The Know. Click here to subscribe to In The Know.
On our blog, OK Policy director David Blatt argues that early findings submitted by the team investigating the Pinnacle Plan make it clear that Oklahoma is still not investing enough to protect the most vulnerable children in the state. We’ve written about the state’s efforts to reform child welfare services before.
We linked to a PBS clip exploring the effects of post-war racially discriminatory housing policy on wealth accumulation for people of color; we’ve written previously about the historical background of the racial wealth gap. On our blog, we discuss the findings of a report that ranked Oklahoma 48th out of 50 in an analysis of how women are faring nationwide.
In his Journal Record column, Blatt writes about the need for stricter standards and safeguards in the Quality Jobs Program, a topic a guest post on our blog recently examined. Blatt was quoted in an Oklahoma Watch article on shopping for health insurance in lieu of the federal marketplace. A Tulsa Kids blog post cited OK Policy research fellow Ryan Miskell’s work revealing some of the flaws with the new A-F grading system.
- 36,000 – The number of Oklahomans employed by foreign-owned companies, a third of which work for Canadian (6,100) and French (6,000) firms, 2012
- 29 percent – Portion of bookings in Tulsa County Jail in July 2012 that involved a failure to pay court fines and fees
- 61 percent – Percentage of Oklahoma K-12 students who are in low income families and eligible for free or reduced lunches, the 4th highest percentage in the nation
- 1,833 – The backlog of Oklahoma Child Protective Services cases as of mid-October, due to high turnover and vacancies in the state’s child welfare workforce
- 47,566 – The number of Oklahoma households receiving a benefit to pay their heating bill through the ‘Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program’, or LIHEAP, in 2012
Policy Notes
- A new interactive graphic from the National Journal shows which urban areas young professionals are flocking to after graduation.
- The New York Times spotlights the role of the Affordable Care Act’s ‘navigators’ in helping uninsured Americans apply for insurance.
- New Republic discusses how the Affordable Care Act means men pay for maternity care – and why that’s a good thing.
- Elderly Americans are increasingly food insecure. The Nation explains why.
- A post on the OK Policy blog breaks down the state of women’s economic security and leadership in Oklahoma.
