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This mixed-methods study reports on an outreach clinics program designed to deliver genetic services to medically underserved communities in Wisconsin.

We show the geographic distribution, funding patterns, and utilization trends for outreach clinics over a 20-year period. Interviews with program planners and outreach clinic staff show how external and internal constraints limited the program’s capacity. We compare clinic operations to the conceptual models guiding program design.

Our findings show that state health officials had to scale back financial support for outreach clinic activities while healthcare providers faced increasing pressure from administrators to reduce investments in charity care. These external and internal constraints led to a decline in the overall number of patients served. We also find that redistribution of clinics to the Milwaukee area increased utilization among Hispanics but not among African-Americans. Our interviews suggest that these patterns may be a function of shortcomings embedded in the planning models.

Planning models have three shortcomings. First, they do not identify the mitigation of health disparities as a specific goal. Second, they fail to acknowledge that partners face escalating profit-seeking mandates that may limit their capacity to provide charity services. Finally, they underemphasize the importance of seeking trusted partners, especially in working with communities that have been historically marginalized.

There has been little discussion about equitably leveraging genetic advances that improve healthcare quality and efficacy. The role of State Health Agencies in mitigating disparities in access to genetic services has been largely ignored in the sociological literature.

Since 1945, there have been significant changes in the pattern of Indian overseas immigration. Australia has become a popular destination for Indians, particularly skilled immigrants, during this time. Until the 1950s, Australia maintained a strict ‘White Australia’ immigration policy, which was eased by a formal agreement to favour immigrants from select European nations, particularly the United Kingdom. The policy’s original aim was to increase the population for defence purposes. Its goal in the 1950s and 1960s was to bring in workers to help with Australia’s industrial development. It wasn’t until the 1970s that Australia began to see the benefits of a multicultural immigration policy, a mostly bipartisan approach that has helped Australia’s economy grow and its society become one of the world’s most progressive. By the early 1990s, the immigration policy had become more flexible, incorporating humanitarian, social, and economic goals. Over the previous two decades, the policy has placed a strong focus on skilled immigration. As a result, Australia now has a genuinely global immigration policy that promotes a culturally diversified and socially united society. In Australia, the pattern of immigration has changed dramatically, and the Indian population is rapidly growing. Even though most of the research on cultural diversity in Australia has centred on unskilled foreign labour, many immigrants hold management positions. On a daily basis, however, several of them face prejudice, discrimination, and racism.

In 2007, the development of Ireland's first eco-village began in the small town of Cloughjordan, which is in a scenic rural area of the midlands region in Ireland. Approximately 1.5hours from the capital city of Dublin, it is accessible by train from a number of urban centres. In the past the town had suffered from both population decline and population ageing. Some of its key services, such as the bank, post office and a school, were either under threat or had already closed. However, the town and its hinterland are rich in both natural and social amenities. Before embarking on the empirical analysis of the Village, which is based on interviews with a range of stakeholders and local residents as well as site visits and documentary research, it is useful to reflect on the concept of sustainable housing.