GOOD

Mysterious Anthony Foxx: Who Is Obama’s New Transportation Secretary and What Will He Do?

When President Obama announced Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx as his nominee for Secretary of Transportation last week, the New York Times noted...

When President Obama announced Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx as his nominee for Secretary of Transportation last week, the New York Times noted the pick for adding “a rising young African-American from the South to balance out a cabinet criticized for a lack of diversity,” and The Washington Post pointed out that if Foxx is confirmed, “the Cabinet may be getting a little spryer,” as the 42-year-old would be the Cabinet’s youngest member. But neither of these descriptions tells us anything about what Mr. Foxx would do, if confirmed, as Obama’s new Secretary of Transportation.

Keep Reading Show less
government white house transportation policy cities anthony foxx
Articles

Digital Civil War: Secession and Viral Petitions of Incivility



President Barack Obama was reelected in a tense and polarized political environment—we knew there would be anger, disappointment, and ranting tweets from Donald Trump—but secession?

In just one week since voting day, almost 700,000 people from all 50 states have signed petitions to secede from the union of the United States of America and to create their own new government. Although keep in mind that the names of the signatories have not been verified and anyone can sign as many petitions as they like.

Keep Reading Show less
president election white house u.s. texas citizenship secession petitions secession petitions second civil war ricky perry elections and politics
Articles

Why Social Entrepreneurs Could Use a Little More Faith

Long before Toms, Kiva, and Warby Parker, churches, synagogues, and mosques have pushed social change, so why so little secular collaboration?


As your average Fast Company subscribing, TED Talks-watching, New York Times reading, SXSW obsessed pop culture junkie, I know a few things about social innovation. Having followed the game-changing efforts of TOMs Shoes, Kiva, Kickstarter and Warby Parker, it's easy to think of social innovation and entrepreneurship as a secular thing. A recent Southern California Faith-Based Social Innovation Forum showed though that when it comes to collaboration with faith-based social entrepreneurs, there's plenty of room for growth.

The forum, held in Los Angeles and co-hosted by Jewish Jumpstart, and Community Partners, was organized on the heels of this summer's White House Faith-Based Social Innovators Conference. Jumpstart co-founder and CEO Shawn Landres attended the White House summit and saw an opportunity to inspire local change. He and fellow White House guest Paul Vandeventer, head of Community Partners, began working on the idea of a regional follow-up.

Keep Reading Show less
culture nonprofits social innovation white house kiva faith toms jonathan greenblatt jewish jumpstart community partners paul vandeventer shawn landres cities business and entrepreneurship crowdfunding
Articles

A Bee You Cannot Eat: Education Reform After the SOS March

The march may be over, but the battle for public education is just getting started.

When 5,000 educators, parents, students, and other citizens concerned with the state of education come to Washington, D.C. ready to answer the call for change, you respond. When they come together in a coalition for educational social justice and activism, you listen. When you’re asked as a teacher to speak on behalf of these thousands—and the many more who couldn’t show up—you stand up and represent. More importantly, when students of all backgrounds deserve better, you fight for it.

Keep Reading Show less
white house civil rights activism miami policy cities atlanta jon stewart richard whitmire diane ravitch matt damon sabrina stevens shupe deborah meier jose vilson miami-dade county the bee eater this is not a test kaney west gil scot heron comment #1 who will survive in america east st. louis sherman dorn university of south florida political conventions ceresta smith pedro noguera john kuhn elections and politics education
Articles

Is the White House Committed to Addressing the Role Poverty Plays in the Achievement Gap?

The Department of Education is allocating more money to the Promise Neighborhoods program. Is it enough to make a real difference?


More money is coming to the U.S. Department of Education's year-old Promise Neighborhoods program. Modeled after Geoffrey Canada's successful Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) initiative, the Promise Neighborhoods program awarded $10 million in 2010 to 21 mostly nonprofit and higher education-based applicants. That money funded the planning stage of comprehensive, cradle-through-college-to-career wraparound services with great schools at the center. Now, starting today, the USDOE is launching a second phase of the program and will provide $30 million to a new round of grant applicants and fund the implementation of 4-6 existing projects.

But given that 20 percent of American students live in poverty, will this limited amount of money scale up the interventions fast enough to make a difference for kids?

Keep Reading Show less
health economy nonprofits white house communities testing universities arne duncan geoffrey canada safety no child left behind promise neighborhoods obama administration nclb department of education harlem children's zone student achievement education reformers u.s. department of education hcz education secretary arne duncan reading tests grant money indian tribes $30 million jim shelton assistant deputy secretary for innovation and improvement black male eighth graders urban areas rttt wraparound services teacher performance ratings turn around schools school staff role of poverty in education cradle to college to career promise neighborhoods grant grant application elections and politics economic justice
Articles

Obama's "Secret" Climate Adaptation Plan

Whether he'll talk about climate change publicly or not, the President is preparing all federal agencies for its inevitable impacts.

On March 4th, in a move surely designed to side-step Congress, Obama's Council on Environmental Quality issued instructions to all federal agencies on how to adapt to climate change. All agencies, from the Food and Drug Administration to the Department of Defense, will be required to analyze their vulnerabilities to the impacts from climate change and come up with a plan to adapt. Thousands of governmental employees will be trained on climate science, like it or not.

The changes aren't limited to just federal agencies. Countless numbers of private businesses that sell, build, provide logistics or maintenance, or anything else to the government will be forced to comply with new Federal climate adaptation guidelines—all because of Presidential Executive Order 13514.

Keep Reading Show less
environment president climate change white house resiliency adaptation executive order navy climate adaptation icebreaker elections and politics
Articles