Obama’s Jobs Bill: Ready to Take a Chance Again? (Nonprofit Quarterly): Wondering “which parts of the president’s plan are most relevant to nonprofits, and what effect are they likely to have on the sector?” NPQ’s intricate piece walks through both the President’s “track record on nonprofits” and six points of interest to nonprofits in the jobs bill (#4: “Are there any parts of the American Jobs Act that appear to take advantage of the unique skill sets and missions of nonprofits?”), and concludes that “the American Jobs Act must do a better job than ARRA did in involving and including nonprofits of all stripes in its implementation.”

How do we make cities greener? Start by growing smarter?(Greater Greater Washington): Continuing on the green cities theme of yesterday’s article, check out this post on GGW: “a fixed set of people is more sustainable the fewer acres they collectively use. At one point, some viewed the ideal sustainable lifestyle as one where a small bubble of trees and grass surrounds each household. But instead, that just means a lot of heating and cooling energy is wasted to that bubble, and we spend far more energy moving among them [...] The way we grow in the future is likely to be the most significant factor in how sustainable a region we have for generations to come.”

Washington economy grows 3.6% (Washington Business Journal): “Washington’s gross domestic product grew 3.6 percent in 2010, reaching $425.2 billion, the fourth-largest metropolitan economy in the nation. Washington also ranks as the third-fastest growing metropolitan economy” behind Boston and New York. For some additional positive news, metropolitan economies across the country grew in size by 2.5% in the past year, whereas they declined by that same percentage in the previous year.

Can job training help solve the jobs crisis? (Washington Post Blogs): “In the southern US, 51 percent of current job openings are middle-skill, but only 43 percent of the region’s workers are trained to that level, according to a recent study by the National Skills Coalition [...] In a major speech next week, [President Obama]‘s expected to propose support for job training as part of his renewed push for job growth, focusing especially on the 6.2 million Americans who’ve been out of work for more than six months.” In other words, the current jobs crisis is two-fold: too few entry-level jobs and too few workers for middle-skill opportunities. For some innovative solutions right in DC, check out CFP non-profits Byte Back (where adults can access Advanced Certification training and mentorship in technological fields) and New Course Restaurant and Catering (where the kitchen staff all receive comprehensive on-the-job training in commercial food preparation and customer service). Or learn about one our newest non-profits, the DC Students Construction Trades Foundation. Read all »

S&P’s Credit Downgrade for the U.S: Its Significance to Nonprofits and Communities (The Nonprofit Quarterly): “… its downgrading of the credit rating of the U.S. is, nevertheless, a powerful, serious and very conscious act, albeit mostly symbolic. But symbols are powerful [... And] if you listen to the television pundits, they seem to be floundering about how important the credit downgrading is, how the markets will react, and whether the solution is raising more revenues, cutting deeper into spending, reworking entitlements, or all of the above.” The NPQ points out that the nonprofit sector has not yet weighed in on the downgrade and what it could portend, and points to several areas of the S&P report that hold particular significance to that sector; but the article also adds that those points are, for the most part, old news. Do you agree or disagree? Let them know! Read all »

This week’s bundle of non-profit news — most of it national this time around!

The Unemployed Cutting Corners in their Diets (DCentric): “Eating healthy can be a matter of having access to stores, but it’s also about having enough money to buy healthy food and having the time to cook it.” And to quote from the Huffington Post’s article, “Since housing costs tend to be fixed, many underemployed and unemployed people save money by eating cheaper and unhealthy foods.” That latter point is especially striking. Housing rarely comes cheap or simple, but food does. And inexpensive, convenient foods tends to be less healthy. Obviously, fixing the price of food benefits no one — so how can we keep the flexibility, but improve the health?

The Giving Pledge: Bill Gates, Warren Buffett Visit Obama (Huffington Post): “President Obama will host the nation’s two wealthiest private citizens, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, at the White House on Monday to receive an update on the Giving Pledge. [...] As the White House and congressional Democrats push for a debt ceiling deal that includes taxes on the wealthiest Americans, the event shines a spotlight on the very people who would bear that burden.” So what should be the topic of chief conversation, the former or latter? Read all »

Given the volume of coverage over the past few days (260 articles in my latest Google-powered count), I thought that I should touch upon the recent “rare and remarkable” interview that the UK’s Daily Mail landed with Bill Gates.

The most oft-quoted element of the interview, it appears, concerns his three children’s inheritence. Deducting the $28 billion donated to charity, Gates is now worth $56 billion. Yet his children “aren’t going to inherit anything like that much [as he doesn't] think that amount of money would be good for them.” He also added that he has denied their requests for iPods and that they own the Windows equivalent. A Zune music player, if you are curious. But overall, as the Wall Street Journal blog Tech Europe summed up: “What did we learn? Sadly not a huge amount.”

That said, the WSJ latched on to this particular quotation, as did the Huffington Post:

I don’t want a legacy. [...] I want a malaria vaccine. If we get one then we’ll have to find the money to give it to everyone, but the impact would be so huge we would find a way. Understanding science and pushing the boundaries of science is what makes me immensely satisfied. What I’m doing now involves understanding maths, risk-taking. The first half of my life was good preparation for the second half. Read all »

Welcome to a sweltering Wednesday, Washington! New news coming your way …

DC Region Faces Another Day Of Extreme Heat– Just an important reminder, as the temperatures climb into the mid-90s: the city operates Cooling Centers within the senior service network in every ward during heat emergencies. The Code Orange alert should continue into today; and WAMU cautions that “pollution levels may be unhealthy for children or anyone with a breathing or heart condition.” DCist also offers “more [information] about watering and pledge to take care of trees near you” during the heat wave.

7 Obvious Things in Education That Are Ignored –First written for the Education Week Teacher’s blog, this post by educator Anthony Cody (an 18-year veteran of inner-city Oakland schools) appeared in the Post blog Tuesday morning. #5 sure jumped out to me: “When unemployment levels are high, and opportunities are few, students struggle to see the purpose in their education. I do not have a study for this one, just my own observations [...] There need to be visible, viable pathways to successful careers in order to keep students motivated.”

Pas de Deux With Parkinson’s – The current addition of Dance Studio Life includes a great feature on the weekly Dance with Parkinson’s Disease program, an ongoing collaboration between CFP non-profit Bowen McCauley Dance and the Parkinson Foundation of the National Capital Area, which is in turn modeled on a program pioneered in 2001 by the Mark Morris Dance Group. While certainly not a cure for the disease, “dance classes help alleviate symptoms and promote a stronger sense of well-being and physical agility.” CFP cheers to Bowen McCauley!

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Talk about an intense matching grant. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Massachusetts (my place of residence from age 0 to 18) has begun consideration of “a financing approach for social-service projects that would require charities and philanthropists to obtain private financing and show results before getting state money.” In other words, public support would be contingent on a match from private donors and a “match” (in the form of results) from the non-profit itself.

Reuters reports that “President Barack Obama’s 2012 budget plan includes $100 million for these ‘social impact bonds,’ which more closely resemble private loans than debt.” For example? In the UK, the Rockefeller Foundation invested half a million dollars in an 8 million dollar project to reduce recidivism; were the project to succeed the Foundation “could reap the equivalent of up to a 13 percent annual interest rate payment.”

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When we think about literacy, we often consider letters rather than numbers. But over the past few years, financial literacy has become ever more crucial — and more widely-discussed. And as of this past week, even Elmo has joined that discussion.

For his preliminary lessons in personal finance, Elmo learns the difference between a “need” and a “want,” emphasizing that his father likes the word “prioritize.” The three-and-a-half-year-old Elmo also learns about “deferred gratification” when he realizes that he needs four more dollars to buy a sparkly “stupendous ball” rather than a standard, less-stupendous rubber ball.

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Expanding upon yesterday’s post, check out more news coverage for our non-profits!

What do women really want? — Earlier in April, Joan Kuriansky, executive director of Wider Opportunities for Women, contributed this opinion piece to Politico, addressing the unique concerns of women voters in this election cycle. She points out that “female voters, like men, are focused on the economy. But women care about kitchen-table issues — investments in public education, affordable health insurance, protecting Social Security, equal pay enforcement, minimum wage increases and job training … Polling shows women are more concerned than men that family income will not be enough to meet basic expenses.” But has either party addressed those concerns directly?

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Good morning, folks. Here comes Wednesday’s bundle of news items …

Finalists for the Washington Post Award for Excellence in Non-profit Management – Many congratulations to Horton’s Kids, Prince George’s Child Resource Center, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, all of whom were announced as finalists by the Center for Non-Profit Advancement this past Monday. According to their press release, “The Award Selection Committee judges applicant organizations in the areas of fiscal management, information and communication, organizational development, people development, planning, resource development, risk management, and use of technology.” The winning non-profit will “receive a $10,000 grant and a scholarship for one person to attend the Georgetown University Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership?s Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program.”

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