Sentinel Communities Insights—Impacts of COVID-19 and Pandemic Response on Children and Families: Harrison County, Texas
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Report Publish Date: March 2021
This report examines decisions officials in Harris County, Texas, made during the pandemic about preventing the spread of COVID-19 and reducing its economic effects, as well as the impact those decisions had on children and families.
Primary Takeaways
The compounding of previous economic downturns with the effects of the pandemic, as well as extended school and childcare closures, affected many families in Houston and the rest of Harris County. The pandemic also exacerbated housing challenges in the area.
“State and local leaders have disagreed about the policies to support health and economic recovery,” the authors write. “Harris County attempted to implement more restrictions and guidance to support residents and businesses as COVID-19 cases continued to rise in mid-to-late 2020, despite delays from state leadership in offering similar guidance.”
Government and philanthropic funding have been directed toward meeting the immediate needs of families, the authors write, but “there is less evidence that the community has been working to address the needs of children and youth specifically.”
Overview and Objectives
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation began tracking response and recovery in nine communities that were part of its Sentinel Communities Project, including Harris County, Texas.
In this report, the authors wanted to explore the effect Harris County's pandemic response had on children and families.
Hypothesis or Approach
The authors collected information available through early February 2021.
How This Influences Change
Understanding how local officials responded to the pandemic and how policies affected children and families can help shape future policies and responses to new health threats.
Research: Go Deeper
In 2020, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) began tracking the COVID-19 response and recovery efforts of nine communities across the United States with the goal of better understanding how the pandemic, and the local response to it, is impacting health, well-being, and equity in those communities.
Previous reports summarized the pandemic’s early impacts (released July 2020) and the ways cross-sector collaboration has contributed to ongoing response and recovery efforts (released October 2020). In this series of reports, we examine the impact of the pandemic on children and families.
When COVID-19 began rapidly spreading in the U.S., policymakers issued stay-at-home orders, closed businesses, and restricted group gatherings. Schools also moved to remote instruction and many child-care services closed. Since then, response and recovery have been shaped by decisions made by local and state officials with respect to the reopening of businesses, schools, and child-care facilities, and the investments that communities are making to support the safety and well-being of working families and to facilitate remote learning.
In this report, based on information available through early February 2021, we look at decisions the community of Harris County, Texas, has made with respect to its economy and COVID-19 mitigation, and the impacts those decisions are having on children and families and on equity.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, March 2021
Research Team
This study and report was conducted and created by the following people.
- RAND Corporation
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