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Philanthropy News Digest invites opinion and commentary on topics of importance to the philanthropic sector. For more information on this feature, contact Mitch Nauffts, PND's publisher/editorial director, at mfn@foundationcenter.org.
Finding the Voice of Hope in the Struggle to Make Ends Meet
by
Gary
Cunningham,
Vice President of Programs/Chief Program Officer,
Northwest Area Foundation
We've all seen the news stories and read the reports: People across the country are struggling to makes ends meet. It seems as though every month there are two or three studies or opinion polls that reaffirm what we at Northwest Area Foundation have witnessed ourselves — a growing number of Americans at risk of losing their homes or jobs, children and families without access to affordable health care, and a growing racial dimension to the complex issue we call poverty.
Posted on July 18, 2008
No One Left Behind: Re-Considering Adult Basic Education
by
Jerry
Rubin,
President and CEO,
Jewish Vocational Service
This year's presidential primaries have been marked by a surprising lack of discussion about education. While candidates of both parties have occasionally addressed the topic — usually focusing on K-12, with rare mention of post-secondary education — adult education has simply not been an issue for serious consideration. Given recent trends in the economy, the labor force, and education overall, overlooking the importance of adult education could prove to be a terrible oversight.
Posted on May 23, 2008
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Commentary & Opinion From Other Sources
Op-Ed: Red, White, Blue... and Green (Sacramento Bee 8/14/08)
When we think of what kind of country we wish to leave our children and grandchildren, we probably would rather not hand down a nation bereft of its natural wonders with its once-abundant resources depleted, gone forever. We need places such as Yellowstone and Yosemite, the Arctic Refuge and the Grand Canyon, just as they are, for future generations of Americans to marvel at, as we have had the good fortune to do. So despite calls today for more drilling, I think most people understand that we need to strike a common-sense balance between our hope of passing along something for the next generation and our need to tap into our shared domestic resources today. To do so, we must be forward-looking, by providing some places the strongest protection possible.
The current Congress has laid the foundation and could before the end of the year achieve impressive gains in land conservation. Legislation now awaiting final approval would safeguard forested valleys in Virginia and West Virginia, sweeping sagebrush canyons in Idaho, lush mountain meadows in Colorado, and magnificent desert hills in southern California, among other wondrous natural spots. More than a million acres, and perhaps as much as 2 million, could be added to the National Wilderness Preservation System before the November election....
Editorial: Three Years After Katrina (New York Times 8/12/08)
The pace of recovery is slowing in New Orleans as the city approaches the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina late this month. The next president and Congress will need to expedite assistance before the city’s mood turns from guarded optimism back to despair.
With a mélange of federal, state, city and private recovery efforts under way, it is difficult to grasp what is really happening in the stricken city. Fortunately, two reports on New Orleans’s condition have just been issued by authoritative outside organizations....
Op-Ed: 'Blood Money' That Became a Force for Good (Financial Times 8/12/08)
Like everyone who lost a loved one on 9/11, Steve and Liz Alderman were devastated when their 25-year-old son, Peter, was killed in the World Trade Center attack. Like many, they chose to honor their son's memory by creating a foundation in his name.
Of the 303 nonprofit organisations launched in response to 9/11, only 27 were still operating five years later, according to a study by the NonProfit Times. What has kept the Peter C. Alderman Foundation going is his parents' focus on maximising the impact of their foundation through rigorous analysis. In the words of Peter's father, Steve: "We will abandon anything that doesn't work."...
Editorial: United Way Takes Lead in Preventing Dropouts (Detroit Free Press 8/11/08)
Leadership requires more than just talking about a problem. It takes commitment and action. The United Way for Southeastern Michigan is truly taking a leadership role in attacking the issue of high school dropouts, a critical challenge for the economy and well-being of this region.
For the second time this year, the United Way is putting action behind its expressed concern for improving the educational outcomes of students in high poverty districts. The first step was to host a first-of-its-kind regional summit, to expose the painful societal costs of having 30 of the nation's so-called dropout factories right here in metro Detroit....
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