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University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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Public Policy

Brookings Mountain West Publications

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Should Las Vegas Bet On Homeownership? Trends In Housing Affordability And Homeownership, Jenny Schuetz Nov 2019

Should Las Vegas Bet On Homeownership? Trends In Housing Affordability And Homeownership, Jenny Schuetz

Brookings Mountain West Publications

In many parts of the U.S., rents and housing prices are rising faster than household incomes. Low-income families have always been stretched to pay for housing without sacrificing other necessities. In recent years, housing costs have become a larger source of financial stress for middle-income families. While homeownership has been the primary channel for wealth building in the U.S., two recent trends raise questions about whether this is a viable strategy. First, many homeowners suffered severe financial losses due to housing price declines during the Great Recession (2007-2009). Second, homeownership rates for Black and Latino families lag those of white …

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The 2018 Midterms In The Mountain West, Molly Reynolds Apr 2019

The 2018 Midterms In The Mountain West, Molly Reynolds

Brookings Mountain West Publications

The 116th Congress has begun with a bang, with a protracted government shutdown and promises of aggressive oversight from the new Democratic House majority. To understand how we got to this point—and where we might be going in 2020—a look back at the 2018 elections is valuable. As a region, the Mountain West—Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah—provides useful insights into broader national political dynamics across all levels of government, from Congress to state legislatures.

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The Growing Need For Diverse Teachers In The Mountain West, Michael Hansen, Diana Quintero Dec 2018

The Growing Need For Diverse Teachers In The Mountain West, Michael Hansen, Diana Quintero

Brookings Mountain West Publications

This policy brief examines the racial and ethnic diversity of the public teacher workforce in five Mountain West states, drawing on survey data from 1993 to 2016. We find increases in student diversity are generally outpacing teacher diversity in the region, though important differences in teacher-student parity and access to nonwhite teachers across states are also evident. In addition, we demonstrate the recruitment and retention of nonwhite teachers in these states lag considerably behind the rest of the U.S. This brief concludes with recommendations to help Mountain West states and districts promote greater racial and ethnic diversity among their teacher …

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The End Of The Road: The State Of Urban Elevated Expressways In The United States, Daniel Waqar Jan 2016

The End Of The Road: The State Of Urban Elevated Expressways In The United States, Daniel Waqar

Brookings Mountain West Publications

In a January 2016 meeting, the Clark County Commission heard a proposal from the County Public Works Department about a $200 million plan to build two urban elevated expressways constructed above existing roadways, potentially linking McCarran International Airport with the Las Vegas Strip’s resort corridor. Commissioners lauded the project with a “high degree of confidence” for funding sources and praised the “magnificent way of moving traffic” and “out of the box thinking” of these urban elevated expressways. Yet the positive feedback that County Commissioners showered on this proposal flies in the face of decades of history on urban elevated expressways. …

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Consumer Protection And Cybersecurity: The Consumer Education Gap, David Serabian Jan 2015

Consumer Protection And Cybersecurity: The Consumer Education Gap, David Serabian

Brookings Mountain West Publications

Consumer cyber protection as it relates to the threat of cyber insecurity is an increasingly critical issue with cyberattacks on major businesses such as Target and Sony. Over 100 million Americans to date have had their financial information compromised, and in the ten-year history of Verizon’s Payment Card Industry investigations no companies were compliant with Payment Card Industry standards at the time of the attack. In March 2015, the FCC fined AT&T $25 million for failing to adequately provide cybersecurity that resulted in almost 300,000 people having their personal and financial information compromised. It was the largest in FCC history …

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English Language Learners In Nevada, Robin Gonzales Jan 2014

English Language Learners In Nevada, Robin Gonzales

Brookings Mountain West Publications

While leading the rest of the country in population growth, immigration, and increasing ethnic and linguistic diversity, Nevada’s mostly Latin American population experiences high poverty, low educational attainment, and high employment. As a result, Nevada has increasingly high numbers of English Language Learner students (ELLs) – students who speak a language other than English at home – and show low educational attainment compared to their English speaking counterparts. According to a 2013 report from the Lincy Institute of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, if the state wants to reverse its populations’ dismal educational attainment and poor national rankings in …

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Advancing Southern Nevada’S Regional Priorities: Overview Of The 77th Session Of The Nevada Legislature, David F. Damore Dec 2013

Advancing Southern Nevada’S Regional Priorities: Overview Of The 77th Session Of The Nevada Legislature, David F. Damore

Brookings Mountain West Publications

On January 10, 2013 the elected leadership of Southern Nevada met to discuss the region’s governance, K--‐12, higher education, infrastructure, economic development, and health care needs. From that bipartisan discussion emerged policy priorities for the 77th Session of the Nevada Legislature. This report examines the degree to which the region’s elected senators and assembly members advanced these priorities and represented the interests of Southern Nevada in state government.

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Structurally Unbalanced: Cyclical And Structural Deficits In Arizona, Matthew Murray, Kristin Borns, Susan Clark-Johnson, Mark Muro, Jennifer Vey, Brookings Mountain West, Morrison Institute For Public Policy Jan 2011

Structurally Unbalanced: Cyclical And Structural Deficits In Arizona, Matthew Murray, Kristin Borns, Susan Clark-Johnson, Mark Muro, Jennifer Vey, Brookings Mountain West, Morrison Institute For Public Policy

Brookings Mountain West Publications

Though the Great Recession may be officially over, all is not well in Arizona. Three years after the collapse of a massive real estate “bubble,” the deepest economic downturn in memory exposed and exacerbated one of the nation’s most profound state fiscal crises, with disturbing implications for Arizona citizens and the state’s long-term economic health. This brief takes a careful look at the Grand Canyon State’s fiscal situation, examining both Arizona’s serious cyclical budget shortfall—the one resulting from a temporary collapse of revenue due to the recession—as well as the chronic, longer-term, and massive structural imbalances that have developed largely …

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The Intermountain West Today: A Regional Survey, Ruy Teixeira, Karlyn Bowman Oct 2010

The Intermountain West Today: A Regional Survey, Ruy Teixeira, Karlyn Bowman

Brookings Mountain West Publications

What does it mean to live in the Intermountain West today? What issues are most and least important to the region’s residents? Do Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah have a collective identity or are state-level differences too great? Is there an identifiable Intermountain West personality? Today we will present the results of a unique survey that attempts to answer these questions.

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