The research project COVID Recovery: Understanding the Equity Needs of Nevadans seeks to gain an in-depth understanding of the policy needs of specific policy-influencing communities. As COVID tears through the United States, causing a public health crisis in all 50 states, the pandemic has also induced a deep recession with an asymmetrical impact across and within states.
As America recovers, it must learn the lessons from the asymmetrical recovery from the Great Recession and work to ensure individual Americans—and especially specific groups—are not left behind, while others thrive.
Since 2022, in partnership with researchers from Brookings Institution, I have been investigating creative approaches and opportunities borne from the COVID crisis to identify lessons learned and to position public policy for a more shared recovery in the state of Nevada. This research seeks to inform actionable policy recommendations for state and local policymakers to create opportunities for those most impacted and to position future public policy for future social and economic crises.
The objective of this research project is to offer an understanding of how the COVID recovery has affected specific sectors through an in-depth, qualitative understanding of five key social and policy domains including: state and local elected officials, heads of local government agencies, social service organizations, K-16 public education agencies, and business and industry organizations. Approximately 100 elite interviews will be collected in Nevada. Examples include municipal city managers, emergency managers, elected officials (state, local, and regional level), college and university presidents, school superintendents, and industry and trade organizations (economic development agencies and commerce chambers).
Conference presentations and briefs:
Martínez, M., Beavers, K., Cummings, T. (2023, Nov.). Post-Pandemic: Purposes, Politics, and Practices of Higher Education in Nevada. Paper presentation at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Minneapolis, MN.
Beavers, K., Martínez, M., Cummings, T., Salano-Patricio, E. (2023, April). Pandemic Inequity: Nevada’s Experience. Conference presentation for the Annual Western Political Science Association Meeting, San Francisco, CA
Beavers, K., Martínez, M., Cummings, T., Salano-Patricio, E. (2023, April). What Home Means in Nevada: A response to Inequity Amplified by Crisis. Paper presentation for the Urban Affairs Association Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN.
Resources on the project:
Western Political Science Association Virtual Community: http://www.wpsanet.org/virtual/2023pi.php