Browsing by Subject "Austin, TX"

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Aurelia Pratt Interview
(2020-10-29) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life
This interview is with Aurelia Pratt, a Chicana woman, and lead pastor to a progressive Baptist Church based in Austin, Texas. The vision of Pratt’s church focuses on decolonizing faith, justice, inclusion, and liberation. Aurelia speaks to the challenges of navigating life as a pastor during the global pandemic and how her personal experiences with racial tension and microaggressions as a brown woman of color have shaped who she is today.
Austin COVID-19 transmission estimates and healthcare projections
(2020-07) Tec, Mauricio; Lachmann, Michael; Fox, Spencer J.; Pasco, Remy; Woody, Spencer; Starling, Jennifer; Dahan, Maytal; Gaither, Kelly; Scott, James; Meyers, Lauren Ancel
To support public health decision-making and healthcare planning, we developed a model for the five-county Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area (henceforth Austin) that can provide real-time estimates of the prevalence and transmission rate of COVID-19 and project healthcare needs into the future. The model incorporates key epidemiological characteristics of the disease, demographic information for Austin, and local mobility data from anonymized cell phone traces. It uses daily COVID-19 hospitalization data to estimate the changing transmission rate and prevalence of disease. The framework can be readily applied to provide pandemic situational awareness and short-term healthcare projections in other cities around the US. In this report, we use COVID-19 hospitalization data for Austin from March 13 to July 14, 2020 to estimate the state of the pandemic in early July and project hospitalizations through early August of 2020. The projections are based on multiple assumptions about the age-specific severity of COVID-19 and the role of asymptomatic infections in the transmission of the virus. These graphs below do not present the full range of uncertainty for the city of Austin, but are intended to provide basic insight into the changing risks of COVID-19 transmission and healthcare surges in Austin. Our estimates suggest that the pandemic slowed considerably during the March 24-May 1, 2020 stay-home order and reached its lowest transmission rate in mid April. As Texas began relaxing social distancing measures in early May, transmission picked up and continued to increase through mid June. The recent decrease in transmission may have stemmed from mid-June tightening of restrictions and an increase in cautionary messaging. Our projections suggest that, if the pandemic continues to spread at the rate estimated from the second week of July, COVID-19 hospitalizations and/or ICU demands could exceed local capacity in early August. We are posting these results prior to peer review to provide intuition for both policy makers and the public regarding both the immediate threat of COVID-19 and the extent to which continued social distancing, transmission-reducing precautions such as keeping physical distance, wearing cloth face coverings and staying isolated when symptomatic, can mitigate that threat. As new hospitalization data become available, we will provide updated estimates and projections on the UT COVID-19 Modeling Consortium's Austin COVID-19 Dashboard.
Bonnie How Interview
(2020-09-28) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life
This interview is with Bonnie How, the senior solo pastor of St. Luke United Methodist Church, a radically inclusive and justice-minded space. Bonnie recently became a citizen of the U.S. and speaks to the challenges of navigating that process during a global pandemic. Bonnie grew up near Glacier National Park in Alberta, Canada, but has no plans of moving back.
The choice to walk, a parcel & network based analysis of pedestrian access and income in Austin, TX
(2012-08) Glass, Laura Kristen; McCray, Talia; Zhang, Ming
Walkability is desirable for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, walkability is desirable because it is the only available or affordable transportation modal choice. Urban form and transportation infrastructure can be hostile to pedestrians because cars are prioritized first, and pedestrians often face unsafe situations and a lack of pedestrian facilities. This analysis explores a spatial distribution of pedestrian access to opportunities in Austin, TX, and examines the locations of households of different income levels relative to areas of high pedestrian access to opportunities. To achieve results that are equally precise across the study area, this analysis employs GIS analysis and U.S. Census 2000 data, and analyzes the study area using a ½ square-mile grid system. High pedestrian access areas are defined as locations where residential parcels have pedestrian network access to multiple types of opportunities and above average number of opportunities. This analysis finds that low income households are more associated with high pedestrian access areas in Austin, TX, than moderate and high income households. If lower income households are consistently shown to rely more on pedestrian infrastructure than moderate or high income households, it may be important to allocate funding to high pedestrian access areas with low income populations in such a way that is socially equitable, and that will result in more use of the pedestrian facilities.
Constance Shabazz Interview
(2018-10-11) Institute of Diversity and Civic Life
This interview is with Constance Shabazz, a social activist, feminist, and speaker from Chicago. After learning about the health care disparities and injustice faced by the African American community during her time working for the Sickle Cell Foundation in New York, Constance decided to become a physician and advocate for others. Constance talks about how reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X helped align her spiritual beliefs with Islam and informed her opinions on providing free health care for all. Constance moved to Texas in 2016 and continues to organize around community needs.
The contradictions of smart growth: transit-oriented development, affordable housing and community vision - the case of the Lamar/Justin Lane TOD, Austin, Texas
(2014-08) Asuncion, Kendal Kawaihonaokeamahaoke; Sletto, Bjørn
Smart Growth is a comprehensive approach to planning that aims to shape more compact and well-connected communities across the United States. Among its principles are leveraging existing infrastructure, developing around transit, providing a mix of housing types and price ranges, and increasing community participation in the planning process. However, research suggests the comprehensive approach at times obscures potential tensions between these principles, in particular when Smart Growth principles are applied to a specific property. This is the case in Austin, Texas’ Lamar/Justin Lane TOD, where the City of Austin is currently evaluating development scenarios for a publicly-owned 5.6 acre parcel located within the TOD area. How equity and access is addressed in Smart Growth comes to fore in conversations between the City and affluent, neighborhood residents. This report examines the history of Smart Growth, reviews its implementation in cities across the U.S., and considers how the City of Austin may learn from other cities.
COVID-19 alert stages, healthcare projections and mortality patterns in Austin, Texas, May 2021
(2021-05) Arslan, Nazlican; Sürer, Özge; Morton, David P.; Yang, Haoxiang; Lachmann, Michael; Woody, Spencer; Fox, Spencer J.; Meyers, Lauren Ancel
To support public health decision-making in Austin, Texas, we project COVID-19 healthcare demand as vaccines continue to roll out, and we provide retrospective estimates for in-hospital COVID-19 mortality during surge and non-surge periods of the pandemic. The projections indicate that a return to COVID-19 Alert Stage 2 in May 2021 would be unlikely to cause a healthcare surge that exceeds local ICU capacity. However, our retrospective estimates of in-hospital COVID-19 mortality suggest that even modest surges may increase the COVID-19 fatality rate and that, throughout the pandemic, in-hospital mortality has disproportionately occurred in communities with overlapping socioeconomic, occupational, and health risks. The analyses are based on multiple assumptions about the transmission rate, age-specific severity of COVID-19, and efficacy of vaccines, and thus do not represent the full range of uncertainty that the city of Austin may encounter. We are posting these results prior to peer review to provide insights regarding changing COVID-19 risks as vaccination coverage continues to increase and to guide the relaxation of COVID-19 mitigation measures in the spring and summer of 2021.
COVID-19 Healthcare Demand Projections: Austin, Texas
(2020-04) Wang, Xutong; Pasco, Remy; Pierce, Kelly; Du, Zhanwei; Fox, Spencer J.; Meyers, Lauren Ancel
To support planning by the city of Austin and Travis County, we analyzed the Austin-Round Rock module of our US COVID-19 Pandemic Model to project the number of hospitalizations under different social distancing scenarios. Note that the results presented herein are based on multiple assumptions about the transmission rate and age-specific severity of COVID-19. There is still much we do not understand about the transmission dynamics of this virus, including the extent of asymptomatic infection and transmission. These results do not represent the full range of uncertainty. Rather, they are meant to serve as plausible scenarios for gauging the likely impacts of social distancing measures in the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Area. We have updated our model inputs based on the daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the Austin-Round Rock MSA between March 13 and April 19, 2020. The data suggest that social distancing following the March 24th Stay Home-Work Safe order has resulted in a 94% reduction in COVID-19 transmission, with our uncertainty in this estimate ranging from 55% and 100%. The data also suggest that approximately 13.6% of symptomatic cases are detected (i.e., reported as confirmed cases). We are posting these results prior to peer review to provide intuition for both policy makers and the public regarding both the immediate threat of COVID-19 and the extent to which early social distancing measures are mitigating that threat. Our projections indicate that the Stay Home-Work Safe has delayed and possibly even prevented a COVID-19 healthcare crisis in the region.
COVID-19 Healthcare Demand Projections: Austin, Texas
(2020-03) Pasco, Remy; Wang, Xutong; Petty, Michaela; Du, Zhanwei; Fox, Spencer J.; Pignone, Michael; Johnston, Clay; Meyers, Lauren Ancel
COVID-19 in Austin, Texas: Epidemiological Assessment of Grocery Shopping
(2020-04) Pasco, Remy; Wang, Xutong; Du, Zhanwei; Fox, Spencer J.; Meyers, Lauren Ancel
There are an estimated 24,000 grocery store workers in the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area (MSA) representing 2% of the labor force [1]. The Austin Stay Home - Work Safe order that was issued on March 24, 2020 and extended on April 13, 2020 restricts non-essential work, but permits work in grocery stores and public grocery shopping [2,3]. Daily interactions between grocery workers and the general population may undermine efforts to reduce person-to-person contact, and exacerbate the individual and city-wide risks associated with COVID-19 transmission. In response to a request from the city of Austin, we projected the epidemiological impacts of grocery work under different assumptions regarding the effectiveness of precautionary measures taken by workers and shoppers in grocery stores. To do so, we modified the Austin-Round Rock module of our US COVID-19 Pandemic Model to explicitly include a population subgroup representing grocery workers and contacts that occur between members of the general public and grocery workers in stores. As a base case scenario, we assumed that grocery workers would maintain typical workforce contact rates, estimated as twice the average workplace contacts for 18-49 year olds in the general population. Our analysis suggests that grocery shopping can considerably increase the community-wide risk of COVID-19 and that both shoppers and workers can and should do their part to protect themselves and others from transmission in stores. Furthermore, the risk of COVID-19 hospitalizations within the population of grocery workers is expected to be much higher than that in the non-working 18-49 year old population.
COVID-19 in Austin, Texas: Relaxing Social Distancing Measures
(2020-04) Wang, Xutong; Du, Zhanwei; Huang, George; Fox, Spencer J.; Meyers, Lauren Ancel
To support planning by the city of Austin and Travis County, we analyzed the Austin-Round Rock module of our US COVID-19 Pandemic Model to project the number of hospitalizations under different scenarios for relaxing social distancing measures following the March 24th Stay Home-Work Safe order. Note that the results presented herein are based on multiple assumptions about the transmission rate and age-specific severity of COVID-19. There is still much we do not understand about the transmission dynamics of this virus, including the extent of asymptomatic infection and transmission. These results do not represent the full range of uncertainty. Rather, they are meant to serve as plausible scenarios for gauging the likely impacts of social distancing measures in the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Area. We have updated our model inputs based on the daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the Austin-Round Rock MSA between March 13 and April 19, 2020. The data suggest that social distancing following the March 24th Stay Home-Work Safe order has resulted in a 94% reduction in COVID-19 transmission, with our uncertainty in this estimate ranging from 70% and 100%. The data also suggest that approximately 13.6% of symptomatic cases are detected (i.e., reported as confirmed cases). We are posting these results prior to peer review to provide intuition for both policy makers and the public regarding both the threat of COVID-19 and the extent to which social distancing measures can mitigate that threat. Our projections indicate that the Stay Home-Work Safe has likely prevented a COVID-19 healthcare crisis in the region during the first wave of the pandemic. When current measures are relaxed, we may see more COVID-19 transmission in the area leading to a second pandemic wave. Whether or not and how quickly COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise in the second wave will critically depend on the extent to which individuals and communities continue to take steps to reduce the risks of transmission.
COVID-19 scenario projections for Austin, Texas - August 2021
(2021-08) Fox, Spencer J.; Lachmann, Michael; Bouchnita, Anass; Woody, Spencer; Pasco, Remy; Johnson-León, Maureen; Ingle, Tanvi; Johnson, Kaitlyn; Meyers, Lauren Ancel
To support public health decision-making and healthcare planning, we developed a model for the five-county Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area (henceforth Austin) that can provide real-time estimates of the prevalence and transmission rate of COVID-19 and project healthcare needs into the future. The model incorporates key epidemiological characteristics of the disease, demographic information for Austin, local vaccination estimates, and local mobility data from anonymized cell phone traces. It uses daily COVID-19 hospitalization data to estimate the changing transmission rate and prevalence of the disease. In this report, we use COVID-19 hospitalization data for Austin from March 13, 2020 to July 28, 2021 to estimate the state of the pandemic in the summer of 2021 and project hospitalizations through November of 2021.
COVID-19 scenario projections for Austin, Texas - July 19, 2021
(2021-07) Lachmann, Michael; Bouchnita, Anass; Woody, Spencer; Pasco, Remy; Johnson-León, Maureen; Johnson, Kaitlyn; Fox, Spencer J.; Meyers, Lauren Ancel
To support public health decision-making and healthcare planning, we developed a model for the five-county Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area (henceforth Austin) that can provide real-time estimates of the prevalence and transmission rate of COVID-19 and project healthcare needs into the future. The model incorporates key epidemiological characteristics of the disease, demographic information for Austin, local vaccination estimates, and local mobility data from anonymized cell phone traces. It uses daily COVID-19 hospitalization data to estimate the changing transmission rate and prevalence of disease. The framework can be readily applied to provide pandemic situational awareness and short-term healthcare projections in other cities around the US. In this report, we use COVID-19 hospitalization data for Austin from March 13, 2020 to July 13, 2021 to estimate the state of the pandemic in mid-summer of 2021 and project hospitalizations up to October, 2021.
Duriba Khan Interview
(2019-03-04) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life
Exploratory study on factors impacting job satisfaction among ethnic minority employees
(2011-12) Koo, Lamont Bon-gul; Lewis, Kyle, 1961-; McCann, Bruce
As organizations are being confronted with the pool of people seeking employment that are increasingly diverse in terms of ethnicity (Oerlemans et al. 2008), and as job satisfaction has been one of the important drivers for work-related well-being in employees, there have been a number of studies about job satisfaction among ethnic minorities (Spector 1997). Although there is a growing body of research on job satisfaction and ethnic minorities at work, there is still a paucity of studies regarding factors impacting job satisfaction among ethnic minorities specifically. The present study explores contributing factors impacting ethnic minorities’ job satisfaction, using qualitative method based on Motivator-Hygiene Theory (Frederick 1966, 2003) and Job Characteristics Theory (Hackman and Oldham 1976). Three Hispanic/Latino Americans and three Asian Americans, all workers in construction sites in Samsung semiconductor in Austin, Texas, were individually interviewed with open-ended questions by the author in the summer of 2010. Participants reported professional development opportunities and appropriate and well-deserved compensation as the main factors impacting job satisfaction, while heavy workload, not being recognized, time constrains, and stressful work environment were reported as factors in dissatisfaction. Family, personal goals and money were the three most important personal values that participants considered when making decisions about their career paths. It is important to continue to examine other predictors of and contributing factors to job satisfaction of ethnic minority employees, so that their employers and managers in the work place can form a better understanding of these populations and work effectively with them. It is also important to educate human resources professionals about ethnic minorities’ needs and how those needs can be met for work-related well-being.
Flow, nutrient, and stable isotope dynamics of groundwater in the parafluvial/hyporheic zone of a regulated river during a small pulse
(2014-08) Briody, Alyse Colleen; Cardenas, Meinhard Bayani, 1977-
Periodic releases from an upstream dam cause rapid stage fluctuations in the Colorado River near Austin, Texas. These daily pulses modulate fluid exchange and residence times in the hyporheic region, where biogeochemical reactions are pronounced. We installed two transects of wells perpendicular to the river to examine in detail the reactions occurring in this zone of surface-water and groundwater exchange. One well transect recorded physical water level fluctuations and allowed us to map hydraulic head gradients and fluid movement. The second transect allowed for water sample collection at three discrete depths. Samples were collected from 12 wells every 2 hours for a 24-hour period and were analyzed for nutrients, carbon, major ions, and stable isotopes. The results provide a detailed picture of biogeochemical processes in the bank environment during low flow/drought conditions in a regulated river. Findings indicate that a pulse that causes a change in river stage of approximately 16-centimeters does not cause significant mixing in the bank. Under these conditions, the two systems act independently and exhibit only slight mixing at the interface.
Greenways for Asheville
(2014-12) Melville, Erich Andreas; Oden, Michael
Greenways offer multiple social, environmental, and economic benefits to communities, which has led to their increasing popularity. Social benefits include increased recreational opportunities; alternative transportation options and connectivity; preservation of historical and cultural landmarks; and access to nature. Environmental benefits include cleaner air due to less automobile congestion; increased awareness of environmental issues; improved ecological balance; and disaster mitigation. Economic benefits include reduced natural disaster damage and costs; increased activity, tourism and business opportunities; and revitalization of the area. Implementing greenways, however, also face many challenges, such as funding, public support, land acquisition, political will, planning and maintenance. This report looks at three case study cities: Greenville, SC, Chattanooga, TN, and Austin, TX to examine their successful greenway projects and learn best practices and implementation strategies. The lessons learned from these case study cities are then used to recommend best practices to the City of Asheville, NC, as they embark on an ambitious riverfront greenway plan of their own.
Joanna Crawford Interview
(2020-10-20) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life
This interview is with Reverend Joanna Crawford from Live Oak Unitarian Church. Joanna left a career in marketing and was interested in process theology, eventually running a liberal church in Cedar Park, an area in Austin that is slowly becoming more racially diverse. Joanna has dealt with a fair share of hardships, like her daughter surviving cancer as well as being a woman minister, but all that has shaped her religious views in a positive way. Joanna also speaks to the hardships of virtual church service, which luckily, she’s accustomed to.
Jump : time travel, resistance, and healing in devised work and performance by queers of color
(2021-08) shorb, k. t.; Rossen, Rebecca; Gutierrez, Laura G., 1968-; Alrutz, Megan; Chambers, Edward
This dissertation argues that queer people of color (QPOC) performers and theatre artists create ruptures of temporal pockets—jumps—that can only be described as time travel. Through performance analysis, artist interviews, auto-ethnography, and practice-as-research, I delineate how QPOC artists draw on our personal histories of resistance to prophesize the future, commune with ancestors, and embody simultaneous and layered temporalities. The dissertation begins with analysis of two process-oriented solo works by Allison Akootchook “Aku” Warden, a Iñupiaq/Native Alaskan artist, and collaborative works initiated by Anna Luisa Petrisko, a Filipino American artist/director. The second half of the dissertation focuses on the devising process and performances of two full-length shows, The Mikado: Reclaimed and Scheherazade, which I directed for my own theatre troupe, Generic Ensemble Company. QPOC not only learn from the past and imagine a new future, we physically inhabit those pasts and futures defying traditional notions of time via prophetic divination, ancestral communion, and healing trauma through resistive creative acts. Through the direct, honest, and painstaking confrontation with histories of violence through devised theater and performance, QPOC artists employ resistive healing strategies that invite temporal jumps and enact utopic futures.
Karen Thompson Interview
(2020-10-06) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life
This interview is with Karen Thompson, Pastor of Uprising Austin. Karen was an avid church go-er in Pflugerville and involved in youth work. She came out as lesbian during the process of becoming a minister and was eventually ordained in Metropolitan Community Churches, creating a safe space for the LGBTQ community. Speaking on the pandemic, Karen moved into the church for three months to make sure the food and clothes delivery services to Austin’s unsheltered population were able to continue. Now, Karen is in the process of founding a daycare for deaf infants and children as well as children from low socioeconomic backgrounds.