Gainesville is a great place to live for many reasons — the small-town feel, a diversified economy, abundant recreational opportunities and an intellectually industrious mix of entrepreneurs and scholars.
Despite its many strengths, the community struggles with issues of inequality and racial injustice.
Home to some of the worst levels of income inequality in the nation, Gainesville's poverty rates are among the highest in the country. According to the Pew Research Center, Gainesville’s metropolitan area ranks fourth in income inequality in the United States. Those at the 90th percentile of incomes earn, on average, about 17 times more than those who are at the 10th percentile.
Segregated housing patterns, school achievement gaps and high-rates of minority contact with law enforcement combine to reveal the dark underbelly of a city overshadowed by the illustrious facade of college football and academic fortitude.
The good news is that people in the community, like Bob Graham Center Fellow in-Residence Dr. Nancy Hardt, have chosen to use their personal and professional talents to address the issues that plague the Gainesville community.
An obstetrician-gynecologist and pathologist by training, Hardt launched an ambitious plan in 2008 to provide free primary care services to Gainesville residents in underserved communities. Using state health records as her primary source, she mapped where Gainesville children were being born into poverty and organized a group of volunteer UF undergraduate students, licensed health professionals, and medical students to staff a Blue Bird bus outfitted as a clinic.
The number one request from patients: Family planning resources.
"If you have the time to wait for the social benefits, but limited money, the smartest thing to do is to prevent unwanted pregnancies and provide prenatal support to parents so that they are adequately prepared to nurture their babies after birth," Hardt said.
Hardt found that access to family planning resources reduced closely spaced births (inter-pregnancy intervals of less than 18 months) by 68, and premature births by 27. Closely spaced births correspond to unplanned pregnancies and have been linked to increased risk of premature birth, infant mortality, and child abuse and neglect.
As births (and deaths) declined, confirmed cases of child maltreatment and removal to foster care were also reduced in that same part of Gainesville.
Research shows that children who have experienced trauma early in life have shorter life expectancies and are at an increased risk for acquiring chronic conditions such as addictions, asthma, diabetes and heart disease. They also experience social disparities such as lower earnings, lower educational attainment, and more contact with jails and prisons.
Understanding the interconnection between traumatic early childhood experiences, health and inequities, Hardt began exploring other ways to head-off negative outcomes for the city's most vulnerable youth.
"In studying population health and conducting root-cause analysis, I came to discover how early childhood brain development greatly impacts our overall well-being," Hardt said. “Having an instinctive care giver is crucial to a child’s development.”
Through her fellowship, Hardt hopes to raise awareness about the connection between overall health and early childhood brain development and to enlist the help of some talented UF undergraduate students. She believes that UF students could be a valuable asset in the effort to ensure that children in at-risk communities are having their most basic needs met — food, safety and belonging.
“Just ask yourself: What if a number UF students took this on as a volunteer project? Served as that extra set of eyes, helped with those critical serve-and-return interactions? We could improve the quality of childhood brain development and resilience in our community,” she said.
Noting that no licensed child care is available in some of Gainesville’s most impoverished area, Hardt's next goal is to work with community partners to create access to early education. Connecting the dots between early childhood brain development and inequity is an important step in addressing social injustice.
Through her fellowship, Hardt hopes to raise awareness about the connection between overall health and early childhood brain development and to enlist the help of some talented UF undergraduate students. She believes that UF students could be a valuable asset in the effort to ensure that children in at-risk communities are having their most basic needs met — food, safety and belonging.
"Just ask yourself: What if a number UF students took this on as a volunteer project? Served as that extra set of eyes, helped with those critical serve-and-return interactions? We could improve the quality of childhood brain development and resilience in our community," she said.
Noting that no licensed child care is available in some of Gainesville's most impoverished area, Hardt's next goal is to work with community partners to create access to early education. Connecting the dots between early childhood brain development and inequity is an important step in addressing social injustice.
