The N.C. Center for Public Policy Research has won two prestigious national awards for high-quality policy research from the national Governmental Research Association (GRA). The Association is a group of 33 public policy organizations in 22 states.
Award for Most Effective Education of the Public
The N.C. Center won the top award for Most Effective Education of the public for its study of key issues affecting the elderly and aging in North Carolina. In an issue of its North Carolina Insight journal, published earlier this year, the Center examined these issues facing North Carolina’s 65-and-over population.
With the Baby Boomers beginning to turn 65 in 2011 and North Carolina’s 65-and-over population expected to increase by 80 percent by 2030, the Center said this is the largest demographic change affecting the state.
This demographic shift has huge implications for the state budget. The biggest challenge is in the Medicaid program, which provides health care for individuals with low incomes, nursing home care for the elderly, and services for people with disabilities. The Center found that Medicaid already is the fastest-growing program in the state budget.
Fraud committed against the elderly is a growing problem. North Carolina ranks 28th among the 50 states in the number of fraud complaints and 21st in the number of identity theft victims. Thirty-five percent of all consumer fraud complaints and 28 percent of identity theft complaints were lodged by individuals 50 aged and over. Many scam artists specifically target seniors because they are more likely to be at home to respond to calls or door-to-door scams, they are more trusting of others, their memory can be poor, and their assets often are easily converted into cash.
The Center also found that the civic contributions of the elderly are a huge civic resource for the state and will be even more important as the state’s population ages. The elderly vote at higher rates than the population at large. They return the census at higher rates than other age groups. They give a higher percentage of their income to nonprofits in the community. And surprisingly, for seniors that use the Internet, they are even more likely than the Baby Boom generation (born in 1946-64) to be civically engaged online in contacting public officials, signing a petition, or sending letters to newspaper editors.
Public Education Through the Media
The Center’s public education efforts included coverage in 111 articles in 66 newspapers in North Carolina. The research also was featured on public affairs programs on statewide public television (“North Carolina Now”) and statewide cable TV.
Three statewide cable TV programs about the Center’s research on aging issues were broadcast on “Open/net” – a live, one-hour, call-in television show produced by the N.C. Agency for Public Telecommunications. “Open/net” airs on 53 cable systems that serve more than 400 communities across our state. Time Warner Cable also featured each of the four pieces of Center research on aging issues on its statewide news channels.
Center staff also appeared on talk radio programs in Asheville, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Winston-Salem, as well as on the N.C. Public Radio Network and the 72 stations in the N.C. Radio News Network.
Reaching Out to the Elderly Themselves
Center staff took their research to elderly citizens at retirement centers, statewide aging conferences, senior centers, and advocacy groups for seniors. The GRA award also specifically cited the Center’s innovative efforts in making the research available online to the news media and public. Center speeches and PowerPoint presentations now are available on the Center’s Website (
www.nccppr.org) for civic groups to use.
Educating Policymakers
The Center took its research findings and recommendations to state policymakers in both the legislative and executive branches. It sent the research to all 170 legislators and testified by video before the N.C. Legislative Study Committee on Aging. The Center also briefed the Governor’s advisors, officials at the N.C. Division of Aging, and Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging.
The national GRA cited these actions taken by state government as evidence that the Center’s public education efforts were effective. In Executive Order #41, Governor Beverly Perdue reestablished the N.C. Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service. This commission adopted a state service plan for 2010-2013, which specifically aims to harness the experience of Baby Boomers, as suggested by the Center’s research on the civic contributions of seniors. The Center is working with the Division of Aging and this commission to help them match seniors with opportunities to volunteer at nonprofits and public agencies.
The legislature voted to add staff at the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Investigations Unit, which the Center profiled in its research on Medicaid. This followed the Governor’s announcement in March of a campaign to crack down on Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse.
The Governor sponsored six policy roundtables across the state on key issues affecting the aging in April through June 2010. The Center produced a video (see it at
www.youtube.com/nccppr) summarizing its research that was shown at each roundtable.
Finally, in Executive Order #54, the Governor directed every state agency “to assess their readiness to serve our aging population” and “to develop strategies and proposals to strengthen their preparedness for and response to North Carolina’s aging population.”
Award for Outstanding Policy Achievement
The Center also won an award for Outstanding Policy Achievement, which goes to the state-level policy group whose research leads to “tangible improvements in public policy.” The Center was honored for its three-year effort to get policymakers to address critical issues facing North Carolina’s community colleges.
The Center first published research on community colleges in 2008. Since then, the N.C. General Assembly has passed legislation implementing four of the Center’s recommendations.
The Center found that lack of up-to-date equipment for worker training had forced community colleges to cancel 98 programs. As a result, the N.C. General Assembly appropriated $5 million in 2008, $9 million in 2009, and $12 million in 2010 to address these equipment needs.
1. The Center documented the need for 9,000 more nurses and other allied health workers in North Carolina. It recommended additional funding for these higher-cost programs. As a result, the General Assembly appropriated $4 million in 2008, $4.8 million in 2009, and $6.2 million in 2010 to address work force shortages in nursing and other allied health programs.
2. After the Center’s study showed that the number of black male community college graduates had declined for three years in a row and constituted just 8 percent of the student population, the N.C. General Assembly appropriated $985,000 in 2008 and $900,000 in 2010 for mentoring of minority males, a group the Center said needed special attention. In addition, the State Board of Community Colleges instituted a policy of recruiting minority males. Community colleges are now marketing 32 pilot programs statewide and contracting to provide summer enrichment programs.
3. The Center was shocked to find in its study that only 21 of the state’s 58 community colleges made federal loan programs available to their students. This means that 55 percent of the students in community colleges – more than 177,000 students – were being denied access to the safest and most affordable way to borrow money for college. In 2009, the N.C. General Assembly established a Joint Legislative Study Committee on State-Funded Student Financial Aid to study, among other topics, community college participation in federal student loan programs. The 2009 legislature then urged all community colleges to participate in federal student loan programs, as recommended by the Center. The colleges did not act, so the Center testified before this study committee in April 2010 and recommended that all community colleges be required to participate in the federal direct loan program. The study committee agreed, and the 2010 legislature passed a law that requires all 58 community colleges to participate in the federal direct student loan program.
Insight editor Mebane Rash and Center director Ran Coble accepted both GRA awards on behalf of the Center. This is the sixth year in a row that the Center has won GRA awards.
About the Governmental Research Association
The national Governmental Research Association is comprised of 33 policy organizations in 22 states. GRA organizations span the country – from the Center for Governmental Research in New York and the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation to the Washington State Research Council, Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, and Citizens Research Council in Michigan. The GRA holds a national conference each year that focuses on key policy issues facing state and local governments across the country. It also publishes a newsletter and gives national awards selected by independent panels for policy studies that educate the public and improve public policy at the state and local levels. GRA organizations promote transparency in state and local budgets and provide information to citizens about the performance of government programs.
About the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research
The N.C. Center for Public Policy Research is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit research corporation created in 1977 to evaluate state government programs and to study critical public policy issues facing North Carolina. It is supported in part by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem, with additional support from eight other private foundations, 120 corporate contributors, and about 500 individual and organizational members. The Center publishes a journal called North Carolina Insight, a citizens’ guide to the state legislature, and in-depth research reports. It recently has conducted studies of ways to reduce high school dropouts, issues affecting the aging, and key issues facing community colleges. Upcoming studies will examine mental health reform, state water policy, and policies on financial aid for students in public and private colleges and universities.
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For more information, call Ran Coble, executive director of the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research, at (919) 832-2839, send a fax to (919) 832-2847, or visit the Center’s Website at www.nccppr.org.
