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Every week Connections presents fresh links to the best the Web has to offer on issues related to the changing world of philanthropy. Subscribe to our biweekly Connections newsletter and receive two weeks' worth of links delivered to you by e-mail. If you have an item you'd like to share, drop us a line at connections@foundationcenter.org.
November 19, 2008
Education
Fulfilling the Commitment: Recommendations for Reforming Federal Student Aid
According to a new report from the College Board, federal student aid programs designed and implemented during the 1960s and '70s significantly increased the number of Americans able to attend college but have fallen short of expectations. Funded by the Spencer Foundation and the Lumina Foundation for Education, the report, Fulfilling the Commitment: Recommendations for Reforming Federal Student Aid (40 pages, PDF), shares recommendations from the Rethinking Student Aid study group, which looked at how the system could be made more effective for students. The report argues that federal grant aid in combination with a reasonable amount of loans and work-study should be enough for all qualified students to complete a four-year degree. The report also recommends that federal aid be provided as clearly, transparently, and simply as possible.
November 17, 2008
Public Affairs
Global Entrepreneurship Week
Sponsored in part by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Global Entrepreneurship Week — November 17-23, 2008 — is designed to encourage millions of young people around the world to explore their potential as self-starters and innovators. The week's organizers have released a list of suggested online and face-to-face activities (19 pages, PDF) to celebrate entrepreneurship across the globe, including a "Next Top Entrepreneur" game, a documentary entrepreneurship film festival, lunch with a mentor, and the FastTrac business development program. Scheduled activities are listed by country on the Global Entrepreneurship Week Web site.
November 15, 2008
Civil Society
The New American Electorate: The Growing Political Power of Immigrants and Their Children
According to a new report from the Immigration Policy Center, naturalized citizens and the U.S.-born children of Latin American and Asian immigrants comprise a large and growing bloc of voters that has been consistently overlooked and politically underestimated. The report, The New American Electorate: The Growing Political Power of Immigrants and Their Children (27 pages, PDF), found that between the presidential elections of 1996 and 2004 the number of "new Americans" registered to vote jumped nearly 60 percent, while the number of Latinos and Asian Americans registered to vote increased nearly 46 percent. Released in October, the report also predicted that 2008 would be a banner year for new American voters due to record-breaking naturalization rates, registration efforts, and voter turnout.
November 13, 2008
Health
Prevention for a Healthier California: Investments in Disease Prevention Yield Significant Savings, Stronger Communities
According to a new report from the Trust for America's Health and the Prevention Institute, an investment of $10 per person, per year, in proven community-based disease prevention programs could save California's healthcare system $1.7 billion within five years — a return of $4.80 for every $1. Funded by the California Endowment, the report, Prevention for a Healthier California: Investments in Disease Prevention Yield Significant Savings, Stronger Communities (44 pages, PDF), found that in ten to twenty years an investment in such programs — including those designed to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, and prevent smoking and other tobacco use — could grow to more than $1.9 billion annually.
November 11, 2008
Community Improvement/Development
Knight Creative Communities Initiative Evaluation Final Report
A recent assessment of the first year of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's Knight Creative Communities Initiative (KCCI) found that many of the community-transformation projects sponsored through the initiative ran into problems, but very few ceased to function. According to the Knight Creative Communities Initiative Evaluation Final Report (46 pages, PDF), most participants indicated they would see their projects through to completion. KCCI was launched as part of the foundation's interest in developing social entrepreneurs to promote community transformation based on Richard Florida's creative-class theory of economic development. The report recommends that future projects through the initiative focus on longer-term goals, create a clearer "roadmap" for achieving those goals, and more clearly define the scope of the projects, time and logistical pressures, and funding sources.
November 9, 2008
Women
2008 Stepping Stones Report: Blazing a Trail for Women's Economic Security
Launched in 2005, the Washington Area Women's Foundation's Stepping Stones initiative works to build the long-term economic security of low-income, women-headed families in the D.C. area. According to the 2008 Stepping Stones Report: Blazing a Trail for Women's Economic Security (12 pages, PDF), the foundation and its initiative partners — which include the Annie E. Casey, Rockefeller, Ford, and Kellogg foundations — have helped more than 3,160 women and families this year, up 15 percent from 2007. More than a thousand of those women and families increased their assets through financial education and wealth creation efforts, while 155 became homeowners with assistance from the foundation.
November 7, 2008
Hispanics/Latinos
Latino Settlement in the New Century
Reversing past trends, Latino population growth in the first decade of the twenty-first century has been more a product of natural increase of the existing population (i.e., births minus deaths) than of immigration, a new report from the Pew Hispanic Center finds. According to the report, Latino Settlement in the New Century (35 pages, PDF), Latinos have accounted for more than half of the overall population growth in the United States since 2000 — a significant demographic milestone for the nation's largest minority group. Compared to the 1990s, the dispersion of Latinos in the new century also has tilted more to counties in the West and Northeast, although the South continues to account for the greatest share of overall Latino population growth than any other region.
November 5, 2008
Higher Education
The Promise of Faculty Inquiry for Teaching and Learning Basic Skills
A new report from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching examines how faculty inquiry has been mobilized to improve the teaching and learning of basic skills at California community colleges participating in the foundation's Strengthening Pre-Collegiate Education in Community Colleges initiative, which is also funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The report, The Promise of Faculty Inquiry for Teaching and Learning Basic Skills (52 pages, PDF), found that asking good questions, gathering and examining evidence, experimenting with new approaches, and circulating knowledge are critical to the continued improvement of basic skills programs. The report also recommends creating a "teaching commons" — a set of interconnected forums where conversations about learning take place — on each campus.
November 3, 2008
Health
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation has released the results of the final poll in a series focused on the presidential candidates' positions on health care and the public's views of health reform. Based on a survey of 1,217 adults age 18 and older, the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008, Issue 11 (19 pages, PDF) found that approximately one-third of Americans report that their family has had problems paying medical bills in the past year — up from about 25 percent two years ago — while nearly half (47 percent) report that someone in their family has done without necessary health care in the past year because of cost concerns. The poll also found that voters believed making health care and health insurance more affordable (50 percent) and expanding health insurance coverage for the uninsured (23 percent) were the most important healthcare issues.
November 1, 2008
Children and Youth
Growing Up in North America: The Economic Well-Being of Children in Canada, the United States, and Mexico
According to a new report from the Children in North America Project — a partnership of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Canadian Council on Social Development, and the Child Rights Network in Mexico — half of all Canadians and Americans and one-third of Mexicans feel uncertain about their children's financial futures. Part of a series of reports that aims to build an improved knowledge base in the area of child well-being, the report, Growing Up in North America: The Economic Well-Being of Children in Canada, the United States, and Mexico (59 pages, PDF), found that rates of child poverty in North America are high compared to those in developed countries elsewhere, while food insecurity is a problem in all three countries, but especially in Mexico. The report is available in English, Spanish, and French.
October 30, 2008
Arts and Culture
Rhizome Blog
Funded in part by the Rockefeller and Verizon foundations, Rhizome is a nonprofit based at the New Museum in New York City that focuses on the relationship between art and technology. The Rhizome blog typically offers four posts a day written by artists, curators, and critics from around the world. The blog, which is available as an RSS feed, also includes interviews and information about funding opportunities. Recent posts include a video of Rick Silva's "Rendered Spirits," a link to the short play "Web Is Dead," and an article on the "After October" exhibit at the Elizabeth Dee Gallery in New York City.
October 28, 2008
Civil Society
Advice to the President
With the election of a new president a little more than a week away, the Carnegie Corporation of New York has launched Advice to the President, a Web site that presents reports, articles, and other publications produced by thought leaders, analysts, scholars, and policy makers designed to help shape the agenda of the next POTUS. The site offers materials related to some of the most critical topics facing the country — including defense, foreign policy, homeland security, and the economy — produced by organizations and publications like the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for Global Development, and TIME magazine.
October 26, 2008
Public Affairs
SCORE Small Business Success Podcast Series
SCORE, a nonprofit that works to educate entrepreneurs and promote small business growth in the United States, has launched the Small Business Success Podcast series for start-up entrepreneurs and small business owners. Two podcasts a month will be published on topics such as branding, networking, home businesses, solo entrepreneurship, social networking, sales growth, franchising, voluntarism, and mentoring. Funded in part by Bank of America and Google, the organization recently released the first two podcasts in the series: "Marketing Your Biz in a Weak Economy" by New Haven SCORE marketing expert Julie Brander and "Get More Done in Less Time" by Atlanta SCORE blogger and productivity expert Peggy Duncan.
October 24, 2008
Arts and Culture
Cultural Engagement in California's Inland Regions
A new report from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts and WolfBrown investigates patterns of cultural engagement in the San Joaquin Valley and Inland Empire region. Funded by the James Irvine Foundation and based on a survey of some six thousand Californians, the report, Cultural Engagement in California's Inland Regions (189 pages, PDF), found a wide range of activity in music, theater, literature, dance, and the visual arts, with much of it occurring outside the traditional infrastructure of arts nonprofits and facilities. Among other things, the report recommends that cultural providers and funders look more closely within their communities for new partners, new settings, and innovative approaches to drawing residents into cultural experiences.
October 22, 2008
Environment
International Commission on Education for Sustainable Development Practice: Final Report
The International Commission on Education for Sustainable Development Practice, a project of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, has issued its final report. Funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the report, International Commission on Education for Sustainable Development Practice: Final Report (100 pages, PDF), highlights the need for more "generalist" practitioners — those who understand the complexities of various fields and can coordinate among them — and graduate degree programs focused on sustainable development and outlines a series of recommendations for building a comprehensive new system of professional education for sustainable development practitioners.
October 20, 2008
Education
Toward a Systematic Evidence-Base for Science in Out-of-School Time: The Role of Assessment
The Program in Education, Afterschool, and Resiliency (PEAR) has published a new report that reviews the state of assessments in informal, afterschool, and summer science programs. Funded by the Noyce Foundation, the report, Toward a Systematic Evidence-Base for Science in Out-of-School Time: The Role of Assessment (87 pages, PDF), found a need for foundations and leaders in the field to support the creation of valid and reliable assessment tools that can be used across programs. The report also advocates for the development of a quantitative tool consisting of student surveys to assess participant outcomes and an observation-based "qualitative-quantitative" tool to assess program quality.
October 18, 2008
Arts and Culture
access+ENGAGE
access+ENGAGE, a Minnesota-focused alternative arts e-magazine published twice a month by mnartists.org, a project of the McKnight Foundation and the Walker Art Center, offers cultural commentary, art by established and emerging artists, and information about artist opportunities and upcoming events around the state. A recent issue features a short story by John Jodzio from the miniStories series, several requests for art and proposals, and an essay on this year's SAGE Dance Award nominees.
October 16, 2008
Public Affairs
Economic Crisis Survey
According to a new survey from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, more than 70 percent of American voters say the health of the economy depends on the success of entrepreneurs, while 71 percent believe the current economic crisis has made it more difficult to become an entrepreneur. Conducted over the final weekend of September, the Economic Crisis Survey (20 pages, PDF) found that 49 percent of respondents see opportunities for entrepreneurial activity in the current environment, but only 26 percent said they would actually consider starting a business in the next five years. In addition, 34 percent of respondents see their jobs, homes, and investments as equally vulnerable and at risk, while 60 percent said the impact of the financial crisis will either be "very bad" or "devastating" and another 34 percent said it will be "pretty bad" for them personally.
October 14, 2008
Civil Society
New Experiments in Minority Voter Mobilization
According to a new report from the James Irvine Foundation, the key to reaching voters in low-income and ethnic communities in California is quality personal contact, including such things as live phone calls in an individual's native language or a personal visit from a member of his or her community. Based on data from a series of voter-outreach experiments in communities throughout central and Southern California, the report, New Experiments in Minority Voter Mobilization (18 pages, PDF), found that electoral participation among low-propensity ethnic voters increased by as much as 13 percent when they were contacted personally. Thorough training of those conducting the outreach and proper timing of their efforts also was found to be of crucial importance.
October 12, 2008
Health
Beds for Boomers: Will Hospitals Have Enough?
The population of Californians 65 or older is projected to more than double between 2000 and 2030, and that will have a significant impact on the state's acute care hospitals, since seniors are hospitalized at much higher rates than younger people. According to a new report from the California HealthCare Foundation, Beds for Boomers: Will Hospitals Have Enough? (21 pages, PDF), acute care hospital days are projected to increase by 76 percent over that period, and by 2030 the over-65 group will be using use more than half of the state's acute care days, while representing only 18 percent of the population. Moreover, only three of the seven regions examined in the report — the Greater Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Orange County — are expected to have a sufficient number of beds to meet demand, while the Sacramento area, the San Joaquin Valley, and the Inland Empire may experience a shortfall in beds as soon as 2020.
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