How healthy is your county?

By Carmen Nobel, Journalist’s Resource Today the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute released their County Health Rankings, an annual report on the health of counties in the United States. Journalist’s Resource has summarized this year’s rankings, which focus on the connection between housing and health. Among the findings: “Across counties, every 10 percent increase in the share of households that are severely cost burdened is linked to: 29,000 more children in poverty; 86,000 more people who are food insecure; 84,000 more people in fair or poor health.”

Elsewhere on Journalist’s Resource, our new science explainer looks at the nascent science of organoids— explaining what they are and, just as importantly, what they’re not. (Pro tip for journalists:  Stop calling them “brains in a dish.”) And this week’s standout study investigates the relationship between parental happiness and family finances.

You’ll find more information on our new features below. But first I want to take a moment to thank all of you who participated in our annual survey. We’ll be sharing the results soon. And if you didn’t get a chance to participate in the survey but still have something to say about Journalist’s Resource, I encourage you to share your thoughts by replying to this e-mail. Our team is always eager for feedback, and we take it seriously.

Yours in knowledge, Carmen Nobel, program director of Journalist’s Resource https://journalistsresource.org