Special WaPo report on youth…Education news from across the region…Local population boom slowing

March 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment

CHILDREN/FAMILIES | The Washington Post has a special section today on children and families. Here’s the editorial frame:

About 75 million Americans are under the age of 18, and more than 16 million of these kids live in poverty. Many sit in bright classrooms where they are taught by excellent teachers and go home to parents who shower them with every advantage. But far too many kids are stuck. They are trapped in drab schools of little learning and in troubled neighborhoods filled with jobless adults. These young people — and their difficulty in finding a path to a better future — are a growing national concern.

The full section of articles, opinions, and videos is located here. Highlights include:

- Opinion: Three simple rules poor teens should follow to join the middle class by the Brookings Institution’s Ron Haskins

- Opinion: Give low-income families the support they need to help kids succeed by Jared Bernstein from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

- After 20 years, some want more from Family and Medical Leave Act

- Policymakers, business leaders say preschool can pay big dividends

EDUCATION
- Prince George’s County has narrowed its schools superintendent candidate list to three – current interim superintendent Alvin Crawley, Durham superintendent Eric Becoats, and Chicago schools chief Harrison Peters. The Post profiles all three candidates and says that the stakes are very high (WaPo, 3/14):

The superintendent will step into a struggling system that is working to implement Common Core standards, reform its teacher-evaluation process and improve student achievement.

It is also a pivotal moment for Prince George’s County at large, as parents, elected officials and civic and business leaders have pinned much of the county’s future on the turnaround of its schools.

- Some District parents are concerned that some schools’ budgets will cause cuts to key staff and services while lower-priority positions get new funding. (WaPo, 3/14)

- As Montgomery Council considers budget, questions about “crown jewel” schools (WaPo, 3/14) I don’t think England would be very happy about us trying to pay for our schools with their jewels.

- In Montgomery schools, achievement gap widens in some areas, drawing criticism (WaPo, 3/13)

- Are early education (pre-K) efforts in the District working? (GGE, 3/13)

SEQUESTRATION | Here’s a brief look at some of the proposed tax hikes and service cuts that local jurisdictions are considering to deal with sequestration. George Mason University professor Frank Shafroth says of local officials (WAMU, 3/14):

The last decade, I think they saw everything growing…Now I think they are with Rod Serling in the Twilight Zone.

“It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition…and sequestration…and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.”

DEMOGRAPHICS
- Unfortunately we’re not dealing with imaginations here, and the Post reports that our region’s population growth rate is slowing down after years of “explosive” increases. (WaPo, 3/14)

- D.C. population swells, immigrants flock to suburbs (Examiner, 3/14)

COMMUNITY | Here’s a great look at Capital One’s method of aligning corporate social responsibility goals with its full body of work. (CSRwire, 3/13)

NONPROFITS | C.Fox Communications is accepting applications for its fourth annual inspired thought Award. The it Award is worth up to $20,000 of pro bono public relations services for nonprofit award winners. [More info.]

PHILANTHROPY | Providence has been announced as the winner of the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge for innovation in early childhood education. Read more about it and the five other winners. (Atlantic, 3/14)

DAILY | Tomorrow, Friday the 15th, the Daily WRAG will be offline for maintenance. When it returns, your minds will drift to thoughts of an ugly caterpillar that entered a pupa and emerged a beautiful butterfly.

Happy Pi Day, everyone! Here are some ways you can celebrate. I’ll be eating pie today, 3/14, at 1:59 and 26.54 seconds.

And an early Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Here’s my favorite song from the Irish band Flogging Molly – Rebels of the Sacred Heart.

See you Monday!

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Student proficiency rates diverge between charter and traditional public schools [News, 3.13.13]

March 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment

EDUCATION | The D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute has a new report that analyzes DC CAS test scores for trends. The key findings include (DCFPI, 3/13):

- The median proficiency level among all publicly funded DC schools fell slightly from 2008 to 2012.

- The typical public charter school showed improvement in proficiency, while the typical DCPS school declined.

- The typical DC schools east of the Anacostia River and in Ward 4 saw proficiency declines.

Related: Median D.C. charter school outperforms median traditional, study finds (WaPo, 3/13)

HOUSING | Yesterday’s recommendations from the District’s Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force have taken some flack for being too vague. Following the release, the D.C. Fair Budget Coalition made its own specific recommendations for the $100 million housing investment. (City Paper, 3/13)

DEMOGRAPHICS | As Montgomery County tries to attract Millennials through development efforts, GGW takes a look at where the county’s young adults currently live. The implications of the identified trends extend across borders (GGW, 3/13):

These maps have implications not just for Montgomery County, but the whole region. They show that the District and Arlington aren’t the only places that can attract Millennials, so long as they can be near neighborhoods near transit, shopping and jobs. While many young families are choosing to live farther out, they’re still seeking a semi-urban experience.

PHILANTHROPY | Andres Spokoiny, CEO of the Jewish Funders Network, drafted his Ten Commandments of Smart Philanthropy. (TJW, 3/12)

HEALTH | Why’d your doctor move offices? It could be Obamacare. (WaPo, 3/13) Or the office might have been haunted. Didn’t think of that, did you, Washington Post? I’ll take my Pulitzer now, please.

DAILY | Apologies to email subscribers who have been getting the Daily at 3:00pm for the last two days. Feedburner is indeed set to deliver at 1:00pm, so it is either confused by daylight savings or it’s in a state of sentient rebellion.

Hopefully it starts behaving, but the good news is that we are currently testing a fancy new delivery system that will completely blow your minds (because it will deliver on time). More on that soon.

I was going to say that hell must have frozen over considering my following recommendation, but then I remembered that Dante’s hell was ice cold at its center anyway. So I’ll say that hell must be lukewarm because I’m going to recommend…a Justin Timberlake song! Yes, I know that he has a ton of fans. I’ve never been one of them.

But the SNL performance of his new track Mirrors was phenomenal. I can’t stop listening. He sounds great and his band absolutely nails the music.

Back to Dante – this interactive site is a really cool way to explore the Divine Comedy. Arrivederci until tomorrow!

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Coalition calls for $100 million in investments to reduce D.C. poverty…Life expectancy tied to wealth…Affordable Care Act aiming for the wrong goal? [News, 3.11.13]

March 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

BUDGETS | At an event co-sponsored by five D.C. Council members, the D.C. Fair Budget Coalition called for the FY14 budget, due to be released soon, to include $100 million in investments designed to reduce poverty. The coalition’s proposal includes money for affordable housing, homeless shelters, and workforce development. (WaPo, 3/11)

HOUSING | The Coalition for Nonprofit Housing & Economic Development has five recommendations for how Mayor Gray should spend the $100 million (unrelated to the above) he has promised for affordable housing. (CNHED, 3/8)

Related: Here’s why housing is everyone’s issue. Even yours! And mine! And ours! (Daily, 3/7) But not Henry Fonda’s or Lucille Ball’s, because they aren’t around anymore, unfortunately.

Related: Next week, former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros will talk about the importance of housing as part of WRAG’s Brightest Minds series. Register here!

EQUITY | Not surprisingly, researchers have found that life expectancy is tied to economic security. A study of two Florida counties – one affluent and one not – shows that the life expectancy gap between the two is increasing at a rapid pace. Our own region mirrors the study (WaPo, 3/11):

In Montgomery County, life expectancy was 81.4 years for men and 85 years for women in 2009. In Fairfax County, it was slightly lower — 81.3 years for men and 84.1 years for women.

In the District, where 18.7 percent of the population lives in poverty, life expectancy was 72.6 years for men and 79.6 for women in 2009.

YOUTH | Over the weekend, the D.C. Superior Court held mock trials to teach high schoolers from around the region about the court system. (WAMU, 3/11) I wonder if Judge Reinhold was there?

HEALTH | Opinion: According to Dr. Andrew Weil, the Affordable Care Act sought to answer a question – “How can more Americans get access to medical care?” Wrong question, he says, because our health care system is broken as it focuses on treating sickness instead of promoting health. What’s the right question? (CNN, 3/10):

How can we improve medical care so that it’s worth extending it to more people? In other words, how can we create a health care system that helps people become and stay healthy?

This is a really interesting read. Not coincidentally, it’s also a teaser for a CNN documentary that seems like it might be worth watching.

EDUCATION
- School lottery demand shows sharp east-west divide (GGE, 3/8)

- McDonnell achieves mixed results in trying to reform Virginia’s schools (WaPo, 3/11)

Writing about budgets and such reminds me of the scene in Austin Powers where Dr. Evil tries to hold the world ransom for $100 billion. In 1997, that amount was a tool of absurdist humor. Today, it’s not much more than a drop in the bucket when talking about things like sequestration. How the world has changed. Or not changed, considering the similarly reckless behavior of that chubby goon Kim Jong Un.

On another subject, here’s a really innovative PR tactic that a German company used to drum up awareness of homelessness. Has anything like this been done locally?

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As the clock ticks down, a look at how sequestration would deeply hurt our region’s governments [News, 2.20.13]

February 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment

SEQUESTRATION | If federal spending cuts happen on March 1, our region is in huge trouble. Local governments are struggling to plan their budgets with so much uncertainty about what is going to happen, but here’s a look at the potential chain reaction (WaPo, 2/20):

If the worst is realized and jobs disappear by the thousands, the flow of money through the local economy could be choked off, leading to more foreclosures, slower growth among businesses and less spending among households.

All of that would greatly affect local governments, where budgets are inextricably linked to the health of the economy.
…
States and localities hit hard by cuts could have their bond ratings lowered, making it more expensive to borrow money for capital projects.

What are the chances that the can gets kicked down the road a few more months, and we get to look forward to more fire and brimstone stories like this? If I had to guess, I’d say approximately 100%. How about you?

Related: President Obama and Congress are pointing fingers at each other about who will be to blame if the spending cuts are triggered. (WaPo, 2/20) Ooh, ooh, Mr. Kotter! I have the answer: Congress and President Obama! That was easy.

DATA | The Atlantic looks at the massive rise in government spending on low-income populations over the last 40 years and through the next ten. In 1972, spending was at $55 billion. Now it is $588 billion and in 2023 it will be $877 billion. Most of the increase is related to healthcare programs like Medicaid. (Atlantic, 2/20)

Obviously there are a lot of factors related to these numbers to consider. But here’s a question: are these spending increases helping, hurting, or doing nothing for their target populations? It’s the same sort of question Carlos Slim had about philanthropy.

GIVING | Last week, the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation announced more than $1.2 million in grants focused on empowering youth with disabilities. Foundation director Kevin Webb says:

The Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation is proud to be part of this national effort. By investing in innovative projects designed to empower youth with disabilities, they have more promising employment prospects as they transition to adulthood.

PERSPECTIVES | Earlier this month, Tamara challenged us to read an article from a publication outside of our routine and comfort zone. Have you taken her up on the challenge? You can read her column about shifting our perspective here: When was the last time you read Ebony Magazine? (Daily 2/6)

ENVIRONMENT | Today, D.C. Mayor Gray released a 20 year plan called Sustainable DC that has a very specific goal: “In just one generation – 20 years – the District of Columbia will be the healthiest, greenest, and most livable city in the United States.” Read the full plan here.

FOOD | What Food Desert Maps Get Wrong About How People Eat (Atlantic, 2/20)

EVENT | On March 13th, the Student Support Center will honor the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation at the 2013 Successful Students Campaign awards reception. More information and tickets are available here.

YOUTH | Six students in Prince George’s County have been murdered during this school year in unrelated crimes – two during this week alone. The county is starting a task force to address the violence. (WaPo, 2/20) In the meantime, how much progress has been made on reducing gun violence?

I usually don’t post anything from BuzzFeed because the site is mostly mindless garbage. However, after re-reading Tamara’s great piece on perspectives, I did enjoy this neat list of 28 visuals that might change yours. Give the page a few seconds to load so that the animations work. And click around that site at your own risk – brain cells are a a precious commodity. 

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How local nonprofits are boosting our economy…Top 50 donors skewing younger, but giving still down…Examining the region’s class divide [News, 2.11.13]

February 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

NONPROFITS | How are local nonprofits affecting our economy? That’s the central question of a new report from Nonprofit Montgomery. Looking at the workforce in Montgomery County, the report finds (WaPo, 2/11):

- 10 percent of the county’s workers are employed by nonprofits
- 43,371 nonprofit workers earned $2.2 billion in 2011
- The nonprofit workforce grew 9.1% in 2011, compared to a 2.5% decline for total jobs across the county

The report concludes that the county’s nonprofit sector provides jobs, generates local spending, and supports growth in indirect ways like providing essential workforce development services for residents. The report is scheduled to be posted sometime today at Nonprofit Montgomery’s website.

WRAG’s vice president, Gretchen Greiner-Lott, was at the report release event this morning. She shared some quick thoughts:

A key discussion point was that nonprofits currently play a role in helping to prepare the workforce that the county needs. But more must be done – with all sectors working together – to prepare individuals for the county’s jobs of the future. Throughout the discussion, there was a repeated call for a collective effort to more strategically plan for and fill jobs.

REGION | The Atlantic’s Richard Florida dives into data from the American Community Survey to look at how the Greater Washington region is divided into three classes: creative, service, and working. Here’s the big takeaway (Atlantic, 2/11):

The most striking thing on the D.C. map is how much purple there is. More than any other metro we’ve covered, greater Washington, D.C. is a creative class region. That’s not surprising actually. The creative class — which includes people who work in science and technology, business and management, arts, culture, media and entertainment, law and healthcare professions — make up nearly half of the metro’s workforce (46.8 percent), which is the third highest percentage in the nation (14 percentage points above the national average of 32.6 percent).

The article zooms in on different parts of the region. As is typical of most discussions about division in the city, the District is basically split down the middle with creatives to the west and the service class to the east.

GIVING | The Chronicle of Philanthropy has released its annual list of America’s top fifty donors and two trends stick out. First, the bad economy is still putting a damper on things. The median gift from donors on this list was $49.6 million in 2012, nowhere near the pre-recession median of $74.7 million in 2007.

Second, the demographics of major donors are changing (Chronicle, 2/11):

Among the five top philanthropists last year, three were couples under 40. The youngest was Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook co-founder, who is 28, and his 27-year-old wife, Priscilla Chan.

Drawn to the possibility of influencing social issues for decades to come, the young and super-rich are turning philanthropy into a newlywed activity instead of a deathbed one.

It’s worth clarifying that most of the donors on the top fifty list aren’t actually on their deathbeds, though the age gap between the younger donors and olders ones is noticeable. Here’s the full list of donors and profiles for each.

EDUCATION | Following last week’s data on the growth of charters and decline of traditional public schools in the District, politicians and education advocates are debating what the numbers mean for the future. (WaPo, 2/11) The article also mentions that Rocketship Education has applied to open eight charters here. Hopefully they will allow me to go back to school so I can tell people that I go to school in a rocketship.

HEALTH | Baby boomers are less active and more obese than researchers previously thought. A new report on their general health finds that they are in worse shape than their parents’ generation. (WTOP, 2/10)

Hope you all had a nice weekend! I’m never going near the ocean again because apparently scientists have confirmed that squid can FLY.

Once (or rather if) you get over that terrifying news about sea monsters, you might enjoy seeing the trailer for Pixar’s prequel to Monsters Inc. Here’s a question for you. Which do you prefer, Monsters Inc. or Up? 

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Navigators needed for health exchanges, but funding is unclear [News, 2.5.13]

February 5, 2013 By 3 Comments

HEALTH | Under the new health law, tens of thousands of “navigators” are required to help consumers understand the system and all of its options. Funding for the navigators is shaping up to be a major problem though. In theory, their salaries will be covered by fees that insurance companies pay for participating in health exchanges. But those fees won’t exist until after the navigators already need to be in place. As the Post puts it (WaPo, 2/5):

Signing up an estimated 30 million uninsured Americans for coverage under the health-care law is shaping up to be, if not a bureaucratic nightmare, at the very least a daunting task.

Is there a role for philanthropy to play here? The government’s involvement certainly makes things tricky. Perhaps we could advocate for legislation that requires politicians to think through details and not write 2,000 page laws? Also, this was the best navigator.

EQUITY | A number of Montgomery County officials are taking the SNAP (food stamps) challenge and trying to eat on $25 over five days. The exercise is designed to simulate the challenges of negotiating poverty. County Council member Craig Rice says (WaPo, 2/5):

“This isn’t about us…It’s about making sure people understand how tough it is.”

One might argue that it is exactly about the politicians though – that’s why they get a big story about themselves in the paper. They could do this without fanfare. I think we’d get a much better perspective on “how tough it is” if we heard stories from people living on SNAP benefits for months or years.

PHILANTHROPY
- Yesterday, Pablo Eisenberg wrote about the parting thoughts of a veteran board member at the Public Welfare Foundation. The Chronicle has published a letter from the foundation’s board chair, Lydia Micheaux Marshall, in which she disagrees with “many mischaracterizations” that Eisenberg made in his column. (Chronicle, 2/5)

- The MacArthur Foundation has opened a competition seeking innovative ideas about improving our democracy. The prize is $100,000. (Chronicle, 2/5) Nowhere else in the country are people as exposed to the shortcomings of our government as we are in this region. All of you should enter this competition!

HOUSING | Mayor Gray delivers the State of the District speech tonight and the Post expects him to discuss affordable housing, especially in light of the city’s budget surplus. (WaPo, 2/5)

ARTS | In the excitement of the inauguration, it might have been easy to miss how integral the arts were to the event. Americans for the Arts’ Bob Lynch analyzes the inauguration and concludes quite correctly that the arts have an “undeniable place in the ethos and the spirit of America.”

The lead singer of the Troggs, Reg Presley, passed away yesterday. If you don’t recognize the band’s name, I would venture a guess that you don’t know a single person who doesn’t recognize their most famous song.

Also, if you are following the gun control debate, this Fox News interview between Chris Wallace and the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre is worth watching – especially since LaPierre considers himself an expert on D.C.’s gang problem.

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Legislation to prosecute parents of truant students…Hospitals straining capacity to help psychiatric patients…Region wants transportation fixes, but doesn’t want to pay [News, 1.23.13]

January 23, 2013 By 3 Comments

EDUCATION | D.C. Council member David Catania has introduced legislation that would have parents prosecuted by the Attorney General if their child has missed 20 or more school days. The punishment would be parenting classes or community service and is aimed at combating the city’s very high truancy rate. About 3,000 students miss at least a month of school every year. (WaPo, 1/23) Good idea or bad idea? I like the creative thinking.

FOOD | The Healthcare Initiative Foundation’s Crystal Townsend writes about the work of WRAG’s Convergence Partnership and how addressing local agriculture challenges is critical to implementing a thriving regional food system. (Daily, 1/23)

MENTAL HEALTH | Hospitals in our region and nationwide are cutting back on the number of inpatient beds. As a result, an increasing number of psychiatric patients are being held in emergency rooms – sometimes for days on end. Sensory overload and long wait times can worsen a patient’s mental health crisis. One doctor poignantly warns (WaPo, 1/23):

Emergency doctors are trying to put out fires they can see, and in these patients, there are fires that smolder inside.

LOCAL | On Friday, news broke that D.C. Council member Jim Graham is trying to have himself appointed to the board of the Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation,  for which he already has oversight via the council’s human services committee. The Trust’s board chair, Robert Bobb, wrote a letter to Graham expressing his concern about the move and then Graham wrote back. Following the initial back and forth, things have become heated in subsequent letters. (CityPaper, 1/18-23)

HOMELESSNESS | During the inauguration, the District kept homeless shelters open during the day – something unusual save for the coldest days of the year, though this decision was made exclusive of weather concerns. It seems obvious that the move was done for cosmetic reasons (and possibly security ones), but ThinkProgress raises an important point (TP, 1/19):

[T]he question is are they willing to be as generous when the cameras are off and the city isn’t the center of attention? Last year’s city budget, which cut homeless services by $7 million even as the District enjoyed a $140 million surplus, might be an indication.

TRANSIT | A new report from the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board finds that residents are in favor of much-needed transportation improvements but are resistant to the proposed ways of paying for them. (WaPo, 1/23)

COMMUNICATIONS | Here’s a great little article about your organization’s branding. Can you sum up what you do in a short sentence? (Chronicle, 1/18)

EVENT | This afternoon at 2:30, Arabella Advisors is hosting a webinar titled Helping Grantees Build Management Skills. Click here for registration and more information.

Chilled to the bone? Maybe Buster Poindexter can help warm you up! You can dance around your office like a maniac to get the blood flowing. Bonus points for getting coworkers to rumba with you.

Special bonus: what would happen if you took the words to a popular song, used Google to translate the lyrics into another language, and then translated back to English? Something truly hilarious, I assure you.

- Christian

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Understanding local agriculture is the key to an equitable food system

January 23, 2013 By 1 Comment

Last week, Crystal Townsend, president of the Healthcare Initiative Foundation, attended the Farming At Metro’s Edge Conference. The conference was co-sponsored by The Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers’ D.C. Regional Convergence Partnership* and gathered together over 240 farmers, foundations, consumers, environmentalists, government agencies and other interested parties to discuss the current state of agriculture in Frederick and Montgomery counties. Below, Crystal shares some of the lessons learned and discusses how a group of WRAG members are taking action.

by Crystal Townsend
President, Healthcare Initiative Foundation

Farmers in the area face a multitude of challenges: continued residential development; limited marketing opportunities and connectivity with local consumers; increased local and state regulations; and decreased technical assistance and capital investment supports to incorporate innovative farming techniques. As a result, the number of farms and agriculture activities are in decline.

To ensure the continued viability of agriculture in Frederick and Montgomery counties, a concerted effort must be made to understand agriculture as it exists today, to anticipate the challenges it will face tomorrow, and to encourage its continued growth in the metropolitan area.

The Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers’ D.C. Regional Convergence Partnership, a group comprised of cross-sector funders, is committed to advancing a more equitable regional food system examining:

1) land/food/agricultural production;
2) food processing and distribution;
3) marketing, consumer choices, and access; and
4) consumption and public health.

The farmer and agricultural communities are essential partners for this work. Examining how to more fully integrate agriculture production and stewardship into the Greater Washington region will require private, public, and nonprofit collaborations to creatively address innovations in land use planning, creation of an equitable food system, infrastructure needs, expanding institutional markets, farm transitions, and environmental issues.

*The Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers’ D.C. Regional Convergence Partnership was one of the conference sponsors representing contributions from: The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; The Community Foundation for Montgomery County; Consumer Health Foundation; Corina Higginson Trust c/o Accokeek Foundation; Healthcare Initiative Foundation; and Kaiser Permanente.

If you are a funder who is interested in joining the effort and learning more about the Convergence Partnership, please contact Mardell Moffett, associate director at the Cafritz Foundation.

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Horizon Foundation launches Better Beverage Finder…D.C. neighborhood ranks among the best for arts in the country…State education policies graded [News, 1.8.13]

January 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment

HEALTH | The Horizon Foundation leads a group that has launched a project called the Better Beverage Finder, an online database that compares sugar content in hundreds of drinks. The database aims to help parents find alternatives to sugary drinks like soda. The project also features facts that seek to discourage consumption of health drinks. For example (WaPo, 1/8):

[I]f each student in the typical Howard County middle school drank just a single 12-ounce can of soda each day, they would consume approximately 10 tons of sugar over the course of a year.

ARTS | ArtPlace released a report that names 12 communities nationwide that “most successfully combine art, artists and venues for creativity and expression with independent businesses, retail shops and restaurants, and a walkable lifestyle to make vibrant neighborhoods.”

Ranking up there with San Fran’s Mission District, NYC’s Manhattan Valley, and Seattle’s Pike-Pine Corridor is our very own intersection of Adams Morgan, U Street, and Dupont Circle! Check out pages 31-32 in the report to see what makes this neighborhood so unique. Also included in the longer list of top 44 metro areas is Alexandria. (ArtPlace, 1/8)

EDUCATION
- Michelle Rhee’s nonprofit, StudentsFirst, has released a list of grades for education policies across the 50 states and D.C. The District ranks 4th (C+) while Maryland is 17th (D+) and Virginia 38th (D-). The rankings are based on categories including teacher quality, parental involvement, and financial management. (Examiner, 1/8) D.C. was graded well thanks to the IMPACT evaluation system, which Rhee created.

- Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has proposed $336 million in spending for school construction and improvements next year. (WaPo, 1/8)

- Federal complaint details cheating allegations at D.C. public school (WaPo, 1/9)

HIV/AIDS | Whitman-Walker Health has announced that it will open a new health care facility on 14th St. in mid-2014. Executive Director Don Blanchon says:

Whitman-Walker has nearly doubled our patient base over the past six years and we expect growth to continue as more residents access care through the new health reform law…This new facility will enable WWH to meet the health care needs of our community and provide the highest quality care in a 21st Century health care home.

LOCAL
- If you see a helicopter buzzing a few feet over your head, don’t worry – you aren’t about to be abducted as part of some ultra-secret government conspiracy (probably). The National Nuclear Security Administration is just testing D.C. for gamma rays using a specially outfitted helicopter. Which leads me to believe that we could have a real hulk of a problem on our hands. (WaPo, 1/8)

- Our region’s natives and those who have lived here for a while are probably familiar with Randy Lokke, either by reputation or from seeing him around town. Randy, who passed away recently, was a local legend. He rode his bike all over the region and supported high school sports teams.

He was a good luck charm for many of the teams, a cherished community member, an avid volunteer, and the subject of so many wonderful stories. My favorite is the urban legend that Randy wound up on the front page of the Post standing behind Bill Clinton at a press conference. You never knew where he’d pop up. Read more about him here. (Georgetowner, 1/8)

EVENT | Over the last year, a group of WRAG members have been convening as the Convergence Partnership – funders who, as the name suggests, are interested in the ways in which various issues affecting our region converge with each other. The group has been exploring food systems as an intersection of issues like health, obesity, and workforce development.

This Friday and Saturday, WRAG’s Convergence Partnership is excited to co-sponsor an Agricultural Planning Conference that will look at how the next generation of farmers in Montgomery and Frederick counties can be productive and profitable. Read more and register here.

As our country’s infrastructure continues to crumble, the Netherlands is implementing an efficient, effective, inexpensive, and really freakin’ cool new road project – glow in the dark roads. Photo-luminescent powder will line the roads. It charges with sunlight during the day and glows for ten hours in the dark. Plus, snowflake shapes will show up on the road when there is a danger of ice. Amazing stuff!

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Susan Raymond on the next decade of philanthropy…Public transit use way up in our region…Should student proximity be given preference for charters? [News, 12.18.12]

December 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

PHILANTHROPY | Our final vignette from Reflections on the Past & Possibilities for the Future comes from Changing Our Future’s Susan Raymond. She says that philanthropy’s future over the next decade will be exciting – and also challenging. (Daily, 12/18)

GIVING | If you’re thinking about making a year-end donation, The Community Foundation for Montgomery County and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County have compiled a list of recommended nonprofits for Bethesda Magazine.

EDUCATION
- A District task force was, uh, tasked with considering changes to the charter school lottery system. Some major cities require preference to be given to kids who live close to the schools, but the District holds a citywide lottery. The task force’s report has recommended that the citywide lotto be preserved. (GGW, 12/17)

- Maryland releases new rating system for schools (Examiner, 12/18) The Schools Progress Index aims to “measure student growth, graduation rates and progress toward closing the achievement gap for minority students.”

FOOD | Greater Greater Washington looks at the geography and demographics of Ward 8 to consider where a grocery store could thrive. (GGW, 12/18)

TRANSIT | The Examiner compares census data from 2011 to 1999 and finds that the number of people riding public transit has increased considerably across the region. (Examiner, 12/17) I’m not sure why they didn’t compare the data to 2001, but I assume it has something to do with the fact that Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was released in 1999. And my assumptions are usually correct.

VIOLENCE | Courtland Milloy’s column this week makes a great point. In the wake of the Newtown shootings, we must take the time to reflect on smaller (but not lesser) acts of violence happening right here at home. (WaPo, 12/17)

Related: The Post has a wonderful story about a Fred Rogers quote and photo that went viral this weekend. I won’t spoil it, but it is worth a read. (WaPo, 12/18)

LOCAL | Trying to win support for a bill that would give new protections to ex-offenders, Marion Barry wrote a letter to D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson in which he said, “You sound like the white southerners who opposed the public accommodation bill and the Civil Rights Act.” (Examiner, 12/18) No, this isn’t an article from The Onion.

DAILY | What the heck…some how the holidays are upon us already! Rebekah is going to close out the week for the Daily. After that, the Daily will be taking a holiday break until January 2nd. Well, technically the editors will be taking a break until then.

In the meantime, we’re excited to announce something new for 2013. As you may have noticed, this blog was created when the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers (WRAG) went by the shorter name “Washington Grantmakers.” That shorthand did a disservice to the important concept of regionalism, so our organization has been going by “WRAG” for a while now – but we haven’t changed the blog’s name.

Next year, we are going to be weaving in more content to the blog to complement the news roundup – guest columns from experts, unique perspectives from funders, thoughts from the WRAG staff. It’s going to be great and it’s going to be fun. And to mark the expansion, we’re introducing a new name: The Daily WRAG. Stay tuned for more details to come!

So, the world might end on December 21st and we might go off the ominous fiscal cliff before I get back. Dramatic times we live in! But I don’t actually think either of those things is going to happen, so I instead want to wish all of you the happiest of holidays. Enjoy your time with friends and loved ones – and make sure to do something nice for a few people. Also, find a reason to laugh! If you’re in the market for some humor, Elf is a very funny seasonal movie. This is one of my favorite bits.

See you all in 2013!

- Christian

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