Projects
Our ongoing projects represent the research we are actively conducting to better understand how social, economic, and policy environments shape health.
Ongoing Projects
The State of Stuckness
Stuckness in America examines why so many people across the U.S. feel unable to move forward in their lives, and how those experiences shape health and well-being. Drawing on a first-of-its-kind national survey, this project explores “stuckness” as both a lived feeling and a material reality, rooted in economic insecurity, housing, work, relationships, and limited opportunity.
IGNITE
The IGNITE Study – a joint project between Opportunity for Health, the Penn Urban Health Lab, and multiple community partners — is testing this “big push” approach through a cluster-randomized controlled trial in 58 low-income neighborhoods in Philadelphia, where life expectancy gaps of up to 20 years have been documented. We, along with our community partners, are implementing a multi-component intervention that combines place-based improvements, such as vacant lot greening, tree planting, and trash removal, with financial supports at the household level, including financial counseling, a one-time microgrants, help accessing public benefits, and tax preparation services. By working across community, organizational, and individual levels, the study aims to tackle the root causes of health inequities through coordinated environmental and economic investments.
WORKS
The WORKS study is a partnership between Opportunity for Health and the Skills Initiative (SI), a Philadelphia-based workforce development program that provides adults from marginalized communities with the training and career support needed to secure stable and high-quality employment. SI’s model – which has attracted interest from other cities in the U.S. — integrates employer-driven job-specific training placement, career coaching, and soft skills development, with the goal of creating a robust pipeline to economic opportunity in communities with persistently high poverty rates. Since 2021, SI has trained nearly 1,000 individuals over 56 different training sessions into full-time positions and over 80% of participants retain employment one year out.