Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Investing In The Future: A Case Study On Demographic Trends And The Policy Implications For Clark County School District, Joshua Alexander Padilla

Student Research

Clark County School District (CCSD) is the 5th largest school district in the nation. Through the use of the United States Census Bureau’s 2020 ACS 5-year survey, demographic trends will be analyzed for CCSD. This brief will focus on three demographic trends that have direct connections to educational success. Those three demographic trends are: internet access, poverty level (households on SNAP), and school enrollment. Potential policy interventions include technology device loan programs, adopting meal programs for students and their families, and new staff recruiting plans for CCSD.

Strengthening The Southern Nevada Workforce Pipeline, Katie M. Gilbertson

Policy Briefs and Reports

This report analyzes the Southern Nevada employment ecosystem by utilizing occupational clusters recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor. The first section examines occupations in the tourism industry using three occupational clusters: hospitality and leisure; arts, audio/video technology and communications; and the transportation, distribution, and logistics. Next, this report utilizes the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance’s 2022 Workforce Blueprint to identify the top 15 in-demand occupations for Southern Nevada and occupational clusters. A case study of the MGM College Opportunity Program (COP) is presented to demonstrate an existing workforce training program that promotes upward mobility of leisure and hospitality employees …

Shortage Of Affordable Rental Homes In The Mountain West, Joshua Padilla, Kelliann Beavers, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Housing & Real Estate

This fact sheet examines data from the 2022 report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), “The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes” for the Mountain West region. The original report includes data from 2016- 2020 American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) to help “determine the availability of rental homes affordable to extremely low-income households.”

Strengthening The Southern Nevada Workforce Pipeline, Katie M. Gilbertson

Student Research

Workforce development has been a keystone in the discussion of economic diversification of Las Vegas for decades. The leisure and hospitality industry is the lifeline for the Southern Nevada economy due to the reliance on tourism as the city’s main economic driver. The leisure and hospitality industry requires physical labor and more face-to-face customer interaction than other employment sectors. Thus, these jobs often do not require high educational attainment, but rather sharp soft skills like effective listening, nonverbal communication, and negotiation strategies. While these are valuable traits, the lack of educational attainment within the leisure and hospitality workforce suppresses employees’ …

2023 Graduate Program Rankings, Unlv & Unr, Olivia K. Cheche, Joshua Padilla, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

This fact sheet highlights the 2023 U.S. News and World Report graduate program rankings for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). Rankings are displayed for graduate programs in the following fields: business; education; engineering; fine arts; law; medical; sciences and mathematics; and social sciences and humanities.

Both UNLV and UNR first achieved Carnegie R1 status in 2018 and retained the designation of very high research activity in December 2021. The graduate program rankings explored in this fact sheet help to illuminate efforts toward enhancing graduate education, an important metric to achieving and …

Dirtiest Cities In The Mountain West, 2021, Olivia K. Cheche, Kristian Thymianos, William E. Brown Jr., Caitlin J. Saladino

Environment

This fact sheet presents rankings of the dirtiest cities in the Mountain West, as originally reported by LawnStarter in “2021’s Dirtiest Cities in the U.S.” The original report examines various measures for 200 major U.S. cities. Twenty-five Mountain West cities are included in the original report and are showcased here.