There’s Still Plenty to Talk About.
December 18, 2012 in Conversation, Health, Homelessness, Jobs & Training, Poverty, United Front Blog Archives
Last March when United Way launched its conversation series, Faces of Poverty, our goal was to have an open and honest discussion about how living in poverty impacts the lives of individuals and families in our community. And while we weren’t sure where the conversation would take us, we felt a sense of responsibility as one of the largest funders of social service programs in the Twin Cities whose very mission is to build pathways out of poverty, to lead by example. Read the rest of this entry →
There are some things we’d rather not talk about. Politics, race and religion are almost always off-limits. Approaching any one of these hotbed issues, even with the best of intentions, is a risky proposition. With a failing economy and eroding confidence in our government, is poverty yet another conversation we’d just as soon avoid? 
With half of Minnesota’s youth entering kindergarten unprepared, the State took a large step forward today to ensure all young children will have access to high quality early learning. At an event at the White House, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced that Minnesota has won a federal Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant to advance early education efforts. 
A colleague of mine on the West Coast recently quipped that nonprofit boards of directors operate at “glacial” speed.” I knew what she was talking about. Many boards of directors (and their staff leaders) are stymied by how to make sense of the rapid changes in funding streams, client needs, and external factors that are threatening the very existence of many organizations. Many nonprofit board responses can be best described as “stalled out” or “deer in the headlights.”
