Money, money, money

March 29, 2013 By Leave a Comment

BUDGETS
Lots more coverage today of Mayor Gray’s proposed 2014 budget:

- Vincent Gray’s budget calls for new $1.38 billion in spending projects (Examiner, 3/29)

- Vincent Gray proposes $442 million for school construction (Examiner, 3/29)

- Gray, in budget, proposes $100M overhaul of MLK Library (WaPo, 3/28)

- Among all this increased spending, however, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities budget is back down to its 2012 level, after a sizable one-year bump in 2013. (City Paper, 3/28)

HEALTH | On the Consumer Health Foundation blog, Yanique Redwood considers the connection between health and money (Game Changer, 3/26):

I am always talking about money! Whether it be wages earned through work or strategies like worker-owner cooperatives that not only facilitate income generation but also wealth
building, I find myself gravitating to issues related to the almighty dollar. “Why is the leader of a health foundation always talking about money?” you ask. To which I reply, “Because access to it and all the benefits it corrals is fundamental to one’s ability to live a healthy and dignified life.”

TRANSIT
- Purple Line a Tough Sell To Many Affected Maryland Residents (WAMU, 3/28) As the segment points out, however, people might not have much to worry about after all if lawmakers don’t approve additional transportation funding.

- Arlington streetcar forum gets raucous (WaPo, 3/28)

CHILDREN/YOUTH | A program at a Prince George’s County library uses the board game Monopoly to teach young people financial literacy. (WaPo, 3/29)

PHILANTHROPY | The Open Society Foundations and the Foundation Center have launched BMAfunders.org, an online portal intended to “facilitate engagement, catalyze collaboration, and promote strategic decision-making in the field of black male achievement.” Our colleague organization in New York has more information on their blog. (Smart Assets, 3/28)

This is a sport?

-Rebekah

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New study looks at the ‘vicious cycle’ threatening nonprofit stability [News, 1.15.13]

January 15, 2013 By Leave a Comment

NONPROFITS | A landmark new report, UnderDeveloped: A National Study of Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising, analyzes the results of the first-ever national survey of thousands of development and executive directors on fundraising. The report comes from CompassPoint and the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund and identifies a “vicious cycle” that is threatening the long-term stability of nonprofits. Key findings include:

REVOLVING DOOR – Organizations are struggling with high turnover and long vacancies in the development director position.

HELP WANTED – Organizations aren’t finding enough qualified candidates for development director jobs. Executives also report performance problems and a lack of basic fundraising skills among key development staff.

IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN ONE PERSON – Beyond creating a development director position and hiring someone who is qualified for the job, organizations and their leaders need to build the capacity, the systems, and the culture to support fundraising success. The findings indicate that many nonprofits aren’t doing this.

The report was advised by a research committee that included The Meyer Foundation’s Rick Moyers (a WRAG board member) and was supported by partner organizations that included The Meyer Foundation and the Nonprofit Roundtable.

Thoughts from Tamara: UnderDeveloped should be a wake-up call to our community. It’s an opportunity for funders to take a frank look at what’s asked of grantees. Are we really maximizing impact with our grant dollars, or are we offsetting the value of a grant with the amount of staff time required to secure it? Are there ways in which we can streamline our requirements to ease the burden on the nonprofits that we’re really trying to help succeed? Maybe it’s time to revisit a conversation WRAG had a few years ago.

COMMUNITY | The Consumer Health Foundation has launched a great new blog – Game Changer. In the inaugural post, CHF’s Dr. Yanique Redwood shares her vision for the blog:

We are excited to be kicking off 2013 in dialogue with you here in the D.C. metropolitan area and around the country. This blog will be dedicated to ideas, public policies, and the work of our non-profit partners that are game changing. And, in 2013 we will zero in on testing some assumptions that we all make about each other and our society that keep us from moving just beyond the darkness that we now find ourselves in as a nation to the dawn of a thousand possibilities.

PHILANTHROPY | New Study Reveals Reach, Economic Impact of Foundation Grantmaking (COF, 1/14)

EDUCATION | According to an analysis from the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, the District’s plan to close 20 schools in the next academic year won’t actually save much money. The savings on staffing would be almost completely offset by costs associated with shutting down the schools. (WaPo, 1/15)

TRANSIT | If you thought that Metro couldn’t possibly sustain their schedule of massive track work and station closures for years and years, then I’ve got a bridge to sell you. (Examiner, 1/15) Ever wondered where that bridge phrase came from?

LOCAL/ARTS | The Post’s Petula Dvorak has a good column today that asks why our region doesn’t better appreciate the wealth of free art and culture we have here. Are we jaded? Spoiled? (WaPo, 1/15) Or perhaps we’re too darn busy.

Did anyone see the front page of the Post today? What in the holy heck is going on in that picture? What kind of skill, exactly, is being demonstrated? “If a terrorist attacks you, disarm him by flipping him onto his noggin.”

Speaking of crazy pictures, here are 25 of places that look like they should only exist in George Lucas’ head – but they are real!

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Consumer Health Foundation names Dr. Yanique Redwood next President and CEO [News, 10.5.12]

October 5, 2012 By

Yesterday, the Consumer Health Foundation announced the organization’s next President and CEO, Dr. Yanique Redwood. Dr. Redwood currently serves as the senior associate for health and mental health at the Annie E. Casey Foundation and will begin at CHF on November 1.

Christopher King, the Foundation’s Board Chair, praised her as “a visionary who brings an extraordinary breadth of skills – a broad public health background, a deep commitment to social determinants of health and health care, and experience in philanthropy. She brings passion, outstanding communication skills and innovative thinking that will advance the CHF mission.”

Added King, “She was the ideal candidate, because, beyond her obvious credentials, she is clearly willing to take risks to move a community-defined, owned and led agenda. The profound understanding that change must necessarily be based in the community is very much a part of Yanique’s DNA, and we are totally in synch with her vision for how the Foundation can help drive a healthier Washington region.”

Outgoing president and CEO (and WRAG Board member), Margaret O’Bryon, says she is “so excited that Yanique will be leading the foundation into the next phase of its work. Her skills and experience are perfect for the position; more importantly she is passionate about issues around equity, justice, and social change.”

WRAG President Tamara Copeland commented, “I look forward to working with Dr. Redwood when she joins the local philanthropic community. The Consumer Health Foundation, under the leadership of Margaret O’Bryon, has been a leader in this community through its important work on equity and health justice in the Greater Washington region, and I am excited to hear of Dr. Redwood’s experience with, and commitment to, this work. I am sure my enthusiasm is shared by other members of the region’s health funding community.”

Welcome, Dr. Redwood!

COMMUNITY | The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has announced the 15 recipients of its 2012 Graduate Arts Award. The award supports exceptional students in the arts for three years of graduate school. (JCKF, 10/4)

HOUSING
- Lisa Sturtevant and Agnes Artemel, of the Center for Regional Analysis at GMU, look at the factors that have caused the cost of housing in the region to increase at a much faster rate than the growth in incomes. (Greater Greater Washington, 10/4)

- The Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development has released a new report looking at the impact of D.C.’s Housing Production Trust Fund on affordable housing in the city. (CNHED, October 2012)

EDUCATION | Fairfax County school system will apply for Race to the Top grant (WaPo, 10/4)

HEALTH | The D.C. Health Benefit Exchange board is requiring all small businesses and individuals to purchase health insurance through the exchange. (Examiner, 10/5)

REGION | Tysons Corner is unofficially dropping ‘corner’ from its name (WaPo, 10/4). Because the ‘corner’ was the problem all along.

TRANSIT | Despite a number of injuries and fatalities, a quarter of metro stations don’t have the bumpy tiles along the edges of the tracks meant to let blind people know the edge is close – and won’t be getting them for quite some time. (Examiner, 10/5)

CORRECTION | The child poverty report mentioned in yesterday’s Daily was produced by DC Action for Children, which is the District grantee for KIDS COUNT.

Here’s a really cool video – “A Day in the Life of Washington, 1936” produced by FDR’s Works Progress Administration. 

Have a great holiday weekend. The Daily will be back on Tuesday.
- Rebekah

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Generating impact and returns: How area funders are using impact investments

August 7, 2012 By

By Rebekah Seder, Program Manager

Funders who want to make an impact on entrenched social issues are increasingly moving beyond traditional grantmaking to use return-seeking investments to achieve change. Last week, WRAG and Arabella Advisors co-hosted a discussion with local funders engaging in impact investing – investing that generates social and financial returns – to maximize the impact of their work.

The Consumer Health Foundation (CHF) has taken a number of steps to use the investment process as a tool for supporting its mission of achieving health justice in the region. Rachel Wick explained how CHF engages in mission-consistent investing using local and minority managed funds; banking with a community development financial institution (CDFI); and making program-related investments (PRIs) – which generate a below-market rate of return while advancing specific program-related goals – to support the D.C. Primary Care Association’s Medical Homes D.C. initiative.

The Walton Family Foundation (WFF) has embraced program-related investments in support of its work strengthening charter schools throughout the country. Anne Stoehr discussed how WFF complements its grantmaking strategy with PRIs administered through intermediaries like CDFIs. One of the successes that WFF has seen through its investing is a leverage rate of 10 to 1 as its investments attract other capital to the charter school sector. Likewise, Robin Hacke, who leads the Catalyst Fund at Living Cities, explained how the fund provides flexible capital to innovative projects that advance Living Cities’ mission of revitalizing American cities. The fund provides below-market rate loans to “unlock more money” for organizations and provides investors with a low risk way to have a big impact.

Impact investing represents a paradigm shift for both philanthropy and finance. Changing the thinking in the foundation boardroom about how to creatively use endowments – and also among fund managers whose focus is traditionally on maximizing the rate of return on investments – is an undeniable challenge. However, impact investing allows funders to maximize their impact by providing flexible capital through PRIs and by supporting a broad spectrum of intersecting issues through mission-consistent investing. As Ms. Hacke put it, philanthropy has no choice but to push the field toward embracing impact investing – and at the same time push the financial community to better understand its social impact – because there is nowhere near enough grant money in the world to solve the deeply entrenched social problems that philanthropy seeks to improve.

WRAG will be continuing the conversation about impact investing at our final Brightest Minds program of the year. On October 4, Dr. Susan Raymond, a noted economist from Changing Our World, will discuss impact investing and other innovations in the social sector. More information and registration.

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Margaret O’Bryon receives Terrance Keenan Award…Region in danger of another recession…What can DC do to stop rise in family homelessness? [News, 3.15.12]

March 15, 2012 By

HEALTH | At last week’s Grantmakers in Health annual conference, the Consumer Health Foundation’s Margaret O’Bryon received the 2012 Terrance Keenan Award. The award was established in 1993 to honor leaders in health philanthropy “whose work is distinguished by leadership, innovation, and achievement.” In her remarks, Margaret reflected on how her personal passions and professional experience with the Consumer Health Foundation have given her an optimistic perspective on health philanthropy:

[W]hile, we don’t have all of the money needed to finance the change we all seek…we are stewards of enough money and other resources to substantially spark the conversation around change and to show – much like Terry Keenan did – how change can be done in keeping with our aspirations for a just society. What an amazing privilege.

Read her full remarks here. Congratulations on a well deserved honor, Margaret!

Related: For the conference, Margaret co-authored an article with CHF’s Rachel Wick – who currently serves as the chair of WRAG’s Health Working Group – titled Charting a Path Toward Health Equity. (GIH, page 15)

REGION | George Mason University economist Stephen Fuller warns that our region’s economy is in danger of a “mini-recession” if the federal government sticks with its plan to cut spending. (Examiner, 3/15)

HOMELESSNESS | What Can DC Do to Stop the Dramatic Rise in Family Homelessness? (DCFPI, 3/15) “Family homelessness has increased by 46 percent since 2008.”

HIV/AIDS | The changing AIDS epidemic – and what to do next (New Yorker, 3/14) “Today in the United States, estimates are that there are as many as a million people living [with] H.I.V. Further studies suggest that roughly a quarter of them do not know they have H.I.V.”

SOCIAL MEDIA | Podcast: Building Better Nonprofit Blogs from Allison Fine. (Chronicle, 3/15)

LOCAL | Apparently the land near the Washington Monument has been sinking at a quicker rate than expected – likely because of last year’s earthquake. One geological surveyor, whose picture is only in the print edition and can be seen here, has a name that I can trust. (WaPo, 3/15) Born on a mountain top…

If you come across a soothsayer who warns you to “beware the Ides of March,” I’d go hide in a closet until tomorrow. Or at least watch out for colleagues with sharp objects.

Rebekah has the Daily tomorrow, meaning that I’ll see you on the other side of St. Patrick’s Day. As such, I leave you with the story of Charlie Mopps and best wishes for a fun weekend!

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New one-stop resource for regional health info launched by Consumer Health Foundation [News, 3.5.12]

March 5, 2012 By

HEALTH | In 2004-2005, the Consumer Health Foundation held a number of town hall events across the region to gather information from residents about ways of improving health and access to care. One participant suggested the creation of a consumer-focused resource that would centralize information to help people “empower themselves with information about their health care options.”

Following extensive research and planning, the Consumer Health Foundation has launched the Ngozi Project – named after the Prince George’s County resident who suggested the idea. The multi-lingual website is a one-stop hub of critical health information for residents of the Greater Washington region.

- D.C. pays almost $700k for dead patients’ health care (Examiner, 3/5) There has to be a good joke to be made here, but my Monday morning cobwebs seem to be blocking inspiration.

YOUTH | WRAG’s Children, Youth, and Families Working Group recently held a session to explore school-based mental health services in the region. Rebekah wrote a recap of the event. (WG Daily, 3/5)

HOMELESSNESS | With fiscal difficulties leading to reductions in social service spending, officials in Montgomery County are struggling to deal with a surge in chronic homelessness (WaPo, 3/5):

From 2005 to 2011, the period for which regional data is available, total homelessness numbers dropped in Prince George’s and Fairfax but increased in Montgomery. Over that same period, the population of chronically homeless in Montgomery has more than doubled, to 344 in 2011.

PHILANTHROPY | In the Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Meyer Foundation’s Rick Moyers says that the collapse of Chicago’s Hull House “provides a sobering lesson for nonprofit boards and chief executives.” (Chronicle, 2/27)

EDUCATION | Ed Lazere, executive director of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, analyzes the findings and recommendations of the District’s Public Education Finance Reform Commission, which he chaired. One of the recommendations focuses specifically on low-income students (WaPo, 3/4):

The school funding formula does not take poverty into account, despite widespread acknowledgment that low-income children face extra academic needs. The commission recommended adding a supplement to the formula for students who are both low-income and behind academically.

WORKFORCE | Opinion: One of Greater Greater Washington’s editors testified before the DC Council about the performance of the Department of Employment Services. His testimony makes an interesting recommendation – privatizing the city’s one-stop career centers. (GGW, 3/2)

ENVIRONMENT | Both the Prince George’s County Council and the county House delegation have passed legislation for a bag tax. The final vote goes to the county’s Senate delegation where it is expected to pass – though the per-bag tax rate has yet to be determined. (Examiner, 3/5) It seems like at least sixteen other legislative bodies should consider this before it is finalized.

And here I thought we were supposed to get some snow today. This winter has been a real bummer for snow lovers like me.

On a more somber note, hats off to the great artist Ralph McQuarrie who passed away this weekend. If you don’t know his name, you should. He designed some pretty iconic things – like this.

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New report: Does nonprofit advocacy pay off? [News, 1.19.12]

January 19, 2012 By

ADVOCACY | A burning question in philanthropy: does funding advocacy actually pay off? A new study from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy says yes, it definitively does.

Advocacy by 110 nonprofit organizations over a five-year period has brought more than $26.6 billion in benefits to low-wage workers, communities of color, rural residents and other marginalized groups…

The report titled “Leveraging Limited Dollars: How Grantmakers Achieve Tangible Benefits by Funding Policy and Community Engagement,” found that every dollar grantmakers and other donors invested in policy and civic engagement provided a return of $115 in benefit.

Read: Full Report.

GIVING | The Carlyle Group’s David Rubenstein, who recently donated more than $17 million to the National Zoo and the Archives, has announced that he’ll donate $7.5 million to help fix the Washington Monument’s earthquake damage. (WaPo, 1/19)

WORKFORCE | Following up on yesterday’s article about job training funding, WAMU says that the city has frequently offered training for industries that don’t have a high rate of hiring. The city is now working to focus its training opportunities in “high-growth, high-demand” industries. (WAMU, 1/19) There goes my hope of being trained as a private eye for animals.

COMMUNITY | Rebekah attended the Consumer Health Foundation’s annual meeting last week, and says that keynote speaker Angela Glover Blackwell gave a powerful talk about the need for an equity-driven model of growth in our region and across the country. Here’s her recap of the event. (WG Daily, 1/19)

YOUTH
- Junior Achievement of Greater Washington announced that it has opened the brand new College and Career Center at its Finance Park thanks to sponsorship from Deloitte. Read more about the new center and the Finance Park – which teaches students critical financial skills. (Junior Achievement, Jan ’12)

- Fairfax Starts Domestic Violence Support Group For Children (WAMU, 1/19)

TRANSIT | Three Metro stories today:
- Metro may install shields on buses to keep drivers safe (WaPo, 1/19) And what about the passengers? If somebody bothers me on the bus, I just make really loud noises and wave my arms around in kung fu motions. It usually scares people away, although sometimes I just end up fitting in with the other people on the bus.

- Metro’s Silver Line to Dulles might not go to Dulles anymore. (Examiner, 1/19)

- Two Metro employees have been arrested for stealing thousands of dollars in coins. (Examiner, 1/19) To make up for the lost revenue, Metro has proposed another fare increase. No, just kidding! Not yet, anyway…

LOCAL | The Post’s Robert McCartney tackles a pressing regional controversy and has a wise answer. (WaPo, 1/19)

Ever wonder what Abraham Lincoln really looked like…in color? Here’s a cool photo gallery where artist Sanna Dullaway adds vibrant color to iconic black-and-white photos.

On a related note, here’s a picture of (brilliant) actor Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln for Steven Spielberg’s now-shooting biopic. Day Lewis is known for staying in character for the duration of every movie shoot.

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Margaret O’Bryon to step down as Consumer Health Foundation president and CEO [News, 12.19.11]

December 19, 2011 By

Late last week, the Consumer Health Foundation announced that Margaret O’Bryon, who has led the foundation since it started its work in 1998 and was recently awarded Grantmakers in Health’s Terrance Keenan Award in Health Philanthropy, will be stepping down as president and CEO next September. She will remain involved with the foundation part-time as a senior strategist.

WRAG’s President, Tamara Copeland, says:

Margaret is an integral member of our region’s philanthropic community. In particular, her leadership within the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers – as both a co-founder of the Health Working Group and a member of the WRAG Board – has been genuinely transformative.

We wish her the very best of luck as she prepares for the next stage of her career.

PHILANTHROPY | The Washington Post has a fascinating, three-part series that looks at the results of a long-term philanthropic project. In 1988, two local businessmen – Abe Pollin and Melvin Cohen – told a class of 59 fifth graders at Seat Pleasant Elementary in Prince George’s County that their college education would be paid for. The ensuing questions – “Would they graduate from high school?  Would they make it to college? What would they make of their gift?” – are answered in the series. (WaPo, 12/18)

- Part I: The Promise
– Part II: The Reality
– Part III: The Legacy

EDUCATION | The Harlem Children Zone’s Geoffrey Canada talks about how early lessons in management and leadership have helped guide him. When asked what qualities one needs in his line of work, he says, “[P]eople need a pretty decent sense of humor to work here.” (NYTimes, 12/18) That should be a requirement in every job!

JUVENILE JUSTICE | Assaults, crowding plague Prince George’s youth detention facility (Examiner, 12/19)

TRANSIT/EQUITY | The D.C. Department of Transportation is partnering with the District Government Employees Federal Credit Union for the “Bank on DC” program. The program uses Capital Bikeshare memberships (awesome) as an incentive for “unbanked” residents to sign up for bank accounts. (DC.gov, 12/19)

BUDGETS | Virginia’s McDonnell unveils $85 billion spending plan (Examiner, 12/19) It’s a “spending plan that boosts funds for education and transportation without any tax increases but cuts nearly $900 million from programs, services and aid.”

Not to start the week on a gloomy note, but I wanted to quickly pay my respects to Christopher Hitchens. His ability to comprehensively observe and critique the world is a tremendously rare quality these days. I didn’t agree with everything he believed – and I can imagine his dedication to atheism being tested in death – but the world was a much better place for the ways in which he engaged it.

I was always amused when his opponents tried to label him – everything from neo-conservative to radical leftist – because the labels were never close to being correct. It was incredibly refreshing to have his aggressive, articulate voice bringing a unique perspective to conversations that were otherwise dominated by narrowly-focused talking heads.

Here’s a touching memorial from Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter. Rest in peace, Hitch.

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Prince George’s ranks among worst in Maryland for health outcomes…Young parent homelessness on the rise…District’s unemployment disparity examined [News, 12.5.11]

December 5, 2011 By

HEALTH | A new report from Maryland Nonprofits, based on data from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, finds that Prince George’s County ranks among the worst in Maryland for health outcomes for residents.

Prince George’s County is one of the lowest ranked counties in Maryland for health outcomes, ranking 17th out of 24 counties. One of the driving factors behind this lower ranking is a high rate of premature death, as measured by Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL) before age 75 per 100,000 residents. With 8,374 YPLL, Prince George’s County falls behind the national benchmark of 5,564 as well as the state average of 7,537.

The country also ranks poorly for measures of low birth weight, obesity, sexually transmitted infections, and insurance rate. The report was sponsored by the Community Foundation for Prince George’s County, the Consumer Health Foundation, and Kaiser Permanente.

HOMELESSNESS | The D.C. Alliance of Youth Advocates finds that the number of homeless parents younger than age 24 is rising. In addition to contributing factors like poor education and high unemployment rates, about eighty percent of the surveyed homeless say that they were forced to leave their own parents’ homes for economic reasons – “because of eviction or because their homes had become too crowded with multiple families in one house.” (WaPo, 12/5)

WORKFORCE | Division of Labor: Examining D.C.’s Unemployment Disparity (WAMU, 12/5) “D.C. has more jobs than residents. Yet, large sections of the city… are facing Depression-era unemployment rates.”

GIVING | Forbes interviews Tom Tierney, co-author of Give Smart: Philanthropy That Gets Results, about strengthening donor-grantee relationships. (Forbes, 12/4)

Related: Rebekah read Give Smart last month. Check out her review.

POLITICIANS | As former Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson awaits sentencing for being completely corrupt, the FBI has raided D.C. Council member Harry Thomas’ home as it investigates allegations that he funneled city money to himself. (WaPo, 12/5)

LOCAL LEGEND | For at least the last ten years (and probably more), a local man has spread holiday cheer by singing Christmas carols on the Metro. He’s been spotted again this year!

Here’s some  humor to start your week. Two comedians write each other an absurd shopping list. The challenge – ask a store employee for help finding items, and see how many you can get through before the employee walks away.

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Ted Leonsis’ vision for philanthropy in our region…Health affected by your neighborhood…We’re revising the Common Grant Application [News, 10.20.11]

October 20, 2011 By

Yesterday, Ted Leonsis hosted family philanthropists at the Verizon Center for WRAG’s Philanthropist to Philanthropist luncheon sponsored by the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. Above, Leonsis shares his vision for philanthropy in our region:

We’ll have a full recap with some cool pictures. In the meantime, here’s Tamara’s tweet and a picture from the event:

At WRAG’s Philanthropist2Philanthropist, #TedLeonsis advice: the thrust must be social, local and mobile #RegionForward

NONPROFITS | WRAG is revising its Common Grant Application. Before we make final changes, we want to give our nonprofit readers the opportunity to weigh in. (WG Daily, 10/20)

HEALTH | A new medical study confirms that living in wealthier neighborhoods makes you healthier. (WAMU, 10/20)

Related: The Consumer Health Foundation’s Margaret O’Bryon talks about Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?, a documentary that explores the social determinants of health. (WG Daily, 6/7)

Related: In 2009, WRAG and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments released a report called Community Health Status Indicators for Metropolitan Washington. It includes the graphic to the right which illustrates life expectancy by geographic location in our region.

HOMELESSNESS | As part of a week of community service, Montgomery County held Homeless Resource Day yesterday, where homeless and transitional individuals were offered services ranging from medical care to legal help. (WAMU, 10/20)

WEALTH | The Greater Washington region is the wealthiest in the nation, according to census data. (Bloomberg, 10/19)

JUVENILE JUSTICE | Follow up to last week’s article on the Youth Court of the District of Columbia – “Why does it work? One theory is that anything would do better than the juvenile justice system, the worst place to send an angry or confused teenager.” (NY Times, 10/20)

ARTS | Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center, considers possible answers to the question, “[W]hy, given so much social progress, have we failed to produce more leading arts organizations of color?” (HuffPo, 10/19)

TRANSIT | More Than 200 Area Bridges “Structurally Deficient” (WAMU, 10/20) Meaning that we’ll see a major increase in drivers wearing life jackets.

When Paul Simon played at Constitution Hall this year, he pulled up an audience member to help him sing the song Gumboots. The guy was clearly thrilled, and Simon seemed to really enjoy it. It was a nice moment. When Beyonce similarly gave a fan the mic recently, well…the result might be a good feature for a haunted house.

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