The IGNITE for Kids Study on Concentrated Investment in Black Neighborhoods and Child Health and Well-Being

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Concentrated Investment in Black Neighborhoods to Address Structural Racism as a Fundamental Cause of Poor Child Health

Black children and adults in the United States fare worse across nearly every health indicator compared to White individuals. In Philadelphia, the location of this study, these health disparities result in a stark longevity gap, with average life expectancies in poor, predominantly Black neighborhoods being 20 years lower than in nearby affluent, predominantly White neighborhoods. The investigators will conduct a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a suite of place- based and financial-wellbeing interventions at the community, organization, and individual/household levels that address the social determinants of racial health disparities. At the community level, the investigators address underinvestment in Black neighborhoods by implementing vacant lot greening, abandoned house remediation, tree planting, and trash cleanup. At the organization level, the investigators partner with community-based financial empowerment providers to develop cross-organizational infrastructure to increase reach and maximize efficiency. At the individual/household levels, the investigators increase access to public benefits, financial counseling and tax preparation services, and emergency cash assistance. The investigators will test this "big push" intervention in 60 Black neighborhood micro-clusters, with a total of 480 children. The investigators hypothesize that this "big push" intervention will have significant impact on children's health and wellbeing.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Health, Subjective; Health Behavior; Environmental Exposure; Financial Stress; Mental Health Wellness; Economic Problems
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Assigned Interventions

Detailed Description

Black individuals in the United States fare worse than White individuals across almost every social, economic, and health indicator. The Black health disadvantage starts at birth, reflecting the cumulative toll of racialized social stressors and healthcare discrimination on maternal health and resulting in higher rates of pre-term birth and low birth weight. Black youth are disproportionately exposed to environmental toxins such as lead and adverse childhood events such as financial hardship and neighborhood violence. Black children also have higher rates of chronic disease, including asthma and diabetes. These and other forces result in inequities in child health and well-being and can also impact children's educational and earning potential. Furthermore, these inequities culminate in a stark racial longevity gap: in Philadelphia, the location of this study, life expectancy for people living in a poor, predominantly Black neighborhood is 20 years lower than for people living in a nearby affluent, predominantly White neighborhood.

The fundamental cause of these striking and pervasive disparities is structural racism - the confluence of deep historical, institutional, cultural, and ideological forces that unequally distribute resources and risks across racialized groups. Structural racism patterns health by affecting a range of interconnected, mutually reinforcing social determinants of health at the national, neighborhood, household, and individual levels. Most notably, longstanding, systematic disinvestment has resulted in highly segregated Black neighborhoods with dilapidated environmental conditions and severe economic insecurity within Black households, leading to a "feedback loop of concentrated racial disadvantage," all of which have been strongly tied to poor health.

Most interventions seeking to address racial health disparities focus on individual-level behaviors and outcomes, or individual channels by which structural racism harms health. However, by failing to address upstream social determinants, these interventions have had limited population level impact. A multi-level, multi-component intervention package focused on a range of social determinants of health is necessary to meaningfully address structural racism as a fundamental cause of racial health disparities. In this trial, we aim to implement such a multi-level, multi-component intervention and then evaluate its impact on child health and well-being.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 221
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
      • University of Pennsylvania

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 5 years to 18 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Child is between the ages of 3 and 17 years at the start of the trial (between the ages of 5 and 19 years at the end of the trial)
• Parent/caregiver is at least 18 years of age
• Parent/caregiver has the ability to communicate via text messaging
• Parent/caregiver is comfortable communicating in English
• Child is a permanent resident of the home where they are to be enrolled
• Parent/caregiver has knowledge of their household finances

Exclusion Criteria:

• Children who plan to move out of the study microcluster within 6 months
• Children whose caregivers are unable to fully consent and participate based on CC team assessment

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention Arm; At the individual level, participants in the intervention arm will receive place-based and financial well-being interventions. These will include, at the individual level: Tax preparation; Access to public benefits; Financial counseling and microgrants At the neighborhood level: Abandoned house remediation; Trash cleanup; Vacant lot greening; Tree planting	Other: Assigned Interventions; Financial well-being interventions: • Tax preparation; access to public benefits; financial counseling and microgrants Place-based interventions: • Vacant lot greening; abandoned house remediation; trash cleanup; tree planting
No Intervention: Control Arm; Participants in the control arm will not receive any of the listed interventions

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Child Health Questionnaire Parent Form 28 (CHQ-PF28) Composite Score	Composite index using CHQ-28 scoring method, based on a series of 28 questions focused on overall child health, activity limitation, emotional/behavioral difficulties, mood, relationships, and family cohesion. (Child Health Questionnaire)	24 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Parent-reported child health	(5-pt Likert ranging from poor to excellent) (Child Health Questionnaire)	24 months
Caregiver-reported child health care utilization, well child visits	Well child visits in previous 12 months (National Survey of Children's Health)	24 months
Caregiver-reported child health care utilization, sick clinic visits	Sick clinic visits in previous 12 months (National Survey of Children's Health)	24 months
Caregiver-reported child health care utilization, emergency room visits	Emergency room visits in previous 12 months (National Survey of Children's Health)	24 months
Caregiver-reported child health care utilization, hospitalization	Hospitalizations in previous 12 months (National Survey of Children's Health)	24 months
Forgone health care	Caregiver report of whether the child needed but did not receive medical, mental health, dental, or vision care in the previous 12 months (National Survey of Children's Health)	24 months
Uninsurance or gaps in insurance	Uninsurance or gaps in insurance in the previous 12 months (National Survey of Children's Health)	24 months
School attendance	School attendance, based on Philadelphia school district data (Proportion of school days attended, internally developed)	24 months
School performance	School performance, based on Philadelphia school district data (Grade point average over previous 12 months, internally developed)	24 months
Rate of preterm birth	Rate of preterm birth (birth < 37 weeks of gestation age), based on Pennsylvania birth certificate data	24 months
Rate of low birthweight	Rate of low birthweight (birthweight <2000 grams), based on Pennsylvania birth certificate data	24 months
Health care utilization: hospitalizations	Health care utilization: hospitalizations in the previous 12 months, based on Children's Hospital of Philadelphia EHR data	24 months
Health care utilization: emergency room visits in the previous 12mon	Monthly or quarterly data from 2 years prior to enrollment through approximately 1 year after from HealthShare Exchange	24 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Pennsylvania
• Collaborators: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Eugenia South, MD, MSHP, University of Pennsylvania; Principal Investigator: Aditi Vasan, MD, MSHP, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Principal Investigator: Atheendar Venkataramani, MD, PhD, University of Pennsylvania

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 10, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 23, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 7, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): March 8, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 8, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 4, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological; Behavior; Financial Stress; Health Behavior
• Other Study ID Numbers: 850178b

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No