Category: Blog

What Happens When Unemployment Runs Dry?

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[According to Forbes], short-term unemployment—six months or less—was 4.9% [in January 2013], […] only 0.7% above the pre-recession rate. Long-term unemployment […] is at 3%, which is three times higher than before the recession. The long-term unemployed make up 38% of all workers without jobs. This troubling [statistic] not only [affects] the societal safety net supporting them, but [also] their own personal well-being, because the longer they are out of the daily workforce, [the more quickly] their skills decline from [disuse].

Long-term unemployment is [seen] at a higher rate [in] young [adults], [older generations], the less-educated, and African-American and Latino workers, [according to a recent report in] The New York Times. Older workers are less likely to be laid off than younger workers, but they are about half as likely to be rehired. [As a result], older workers have seen the largest proportionate increase in unemployment during this recession recovery. Unemployment for people ages 50 to 65 has doubled, [a]nd, as their unemployment drags on longer, the reemployment of older workers declines severely. Older workers (those ages 50 to 61) who have been unemployed for [at least] 17 months have only a 9% chance of finding a new job in the next three months; [t]hose over 62 have only a 6% chance.

[Today, more than] four million Americans are considered long-term unemployed. They are not only disconnected from the workforce but, [often] mainstream culture. If we can’t get them reconnected, we are looking at devastating costs to not only them but [to] our society as a whole. There is a 50% increase in death rates for older male workers in the years following a job loss, and they can expect to live [a year-and-a-half less] than [someone] with a job. Unemployment [also] has a weighty effect on family members; [d]ivorce rates increase by 18%, [and] children whose fathers lost a job when they were kids earn 9% less annually as adults. […]

All of this takes its toll on the safety net provided for those out of work. Our government extends food stamps for those in need through SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), and the Workforce Investment Act, or WIA, helps equip workers with the skills they need to find jobs in [today’s] workforce. […] Churches constantly are helping those in need, and [The] Salvation Army is there to help the underprivileged, [b]ut […] all of this is being stretched to the limits. The latest controversy in Washington, [D.C.], is the issue with raising the federal debt ceiling to accommodate all the needs this country has. I am sure like all of the other [crises] recently in our capital, this, too, will [result in] cuts in federal spending [to] programs that help those who need it most—like the […] long-term unemployed.

To support this suffering segment of our population, we […] have to come together. The United Way, the largest nonprofit in the country, has […] a simple program where anyone can just pick up the phone and call 2-1-1 […] to obtain assistance from local and national social service programs, as well as local and national governmental agencies. […]

Unemployment takes its toll not only on those out of work, but it stresses an entire community. Our government can help relieve some of that stress by addressing the federal debt ceiling and making sure there are incentives left for everyone to contribute more to the nonprofits who help those most in need. […] The government can aid the long-term unemployed by […] increasing access to small-business financing so these business[es] can hire more people. Our leaders can help by implementing subsidies for businesses that make the effort to hire the long term unemployed. No one in America wants to be unemployed. No one in America wants to see our fellow citizens suffer emotionally and financially. This is truly a pulling-together moment.

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/what-happens-when-unemplo_b_2812090.html

Is Entrepreneurship Dead in America?

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Over 200 years ago, James Madison wrote, “[T]he greater proportion of citizens who are their own masters, the more free, the more independent, and the more happy must be society itself.” Entrepreneurship is a critical measurement of our country’s political vitality and our own personal liberties. The more independent citizens become, power and responsibility will be distributed broader, which, in turn, strengthens our democracy. We, as Americans, have always viewed entrepreneurship as a fundamental way for upward mobility, where average people can build their wealth through a business venture that can be passed on to their kids or sold at retirement age. It could be the family farm, a local restaurant or a retail store that provides income and a place to teach their children and others the value of responsibility and working hard.

The Washington Monthly reported that compared to a generation ago, it is now much harder to start a business in America and keep it running. In 1980, “young firms”—companies [fewer] than five years old—account[ed] for 50% of all going concerns; [t]oday, it is less than 35%. In 1977, there were 35 new employer businesses for every 10,000 citizens; [t]oday, there are fewer than 17—a 50% drop! Startups made up 12% of U.S. companies in 1980, and today, they are less than 8%. We now average 7.8 startup jobs per 1,000 Americans, compared to 10.8 during the Bush years and 11.2 during Clinton.

So what is causing Americans to be less entrepreneurial than their fathers and mothers? We can all point to this recession we have been grappling with over the last four years, but I think it is deeper than that. In addition to new regulations of healthcare reform, an increase in regulatory activity in several industries, and the uncertainty about taxes, there are several causes that come into play that make it so hard to become an entrepreneur today:

  • There continues to be a shortage of financing alternatives to start businesses. Before the housing bubble, many Americans were using the equity in their homes as collateral for the financing of their business. Now that this equity has disappeared, borrowing against your house is just a pipe dream. [While] venture capitalists are in the news [almost every day] funding the big hitters, in truth, only an extremely small fraction of startups have access to venture funds. Venture investors with billions of dollars are pursuing a select group of entrepreneurs. Even though they fail to recoup their cash on 75% of their deals, the other 25% is big enough for investment companies to continue to be looking for those few new cutting-edge companies but has no effect with the mom-and-pop shop[s]. Add to this that bank loans to small businesses fell to a 12-year low in 2012, and financing may be the most powerful reason for the dramatic drop in entrepreneurship.
  • Technology […] is also responsible for displacing independent businesses across several […] verticals. How many travel agents have lost their business to the Internet? Where are the video stores, the record stores, the bookstores? Why do you need to see a middleman to buy products when you can go right onto the Internet to find goods? [T]echnology [also] provides the opportunity to combine small businesses into a few big ones—just ask Amazon.
  • The well-financed chain businesses are killing the little guy. Look what Staples has done to the office supply industry or [what] The Home Depot did to hardware stores or Best Buy did to electronic stores. Walmart controls close to 50% of some lines of the grocery and the general merchandise business, where a generation ago, thousands of families made their living selling these goods.

The Economist though still thinks America is a beacon for entrepreneurs. Our country was settled by innovators and risk-takers who were willing to sacrifice what they knew to be safe for new opportunities. In our current day, we continue to read about Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, who inspire us with how they built companies out of their garage. In a sense, this country was set up to encourage individuals to follow their dream:

  • Our culture encourages risk-taking. American companies have the unusual freedom to hire and fire workers and at the same time workers have the freedom to leave companies for better opportunities. We [believe] our fate still lies in our own hands.
  • Throughout our country, there are close relationships between universities and industry. Our universities are economic engines rather than ivory towers. They promote technology offices, science parks, business incubators and venture funds. Stanford University gained $200 million in stock when Google went public, [and] close to half of the startups in Silicon Valley have their roots in the university.
  • Historically, the United States immigration policy has been fairly open. We are a country of immigrants, and the brightest from overseas can see this. Just look at Silicon Valley again, where 52% of the startups were founded by immigrants, up from 25% just 10 years ago.
  • American consumers are unusually willing to try new products of all kinds, even it means learning new skills and taking a bigger chunk out of their savings. The bold American consumer is vocal in getting manufacturers to improve their products to meet their needs. This is not a bashful country.

On one hand, we have statistical proof that entrepreneurs are fading from the American landscape; on the other hand, we have many pieces in place to nurture and grow the entrepreneurial spirit. Are we at a crossroads where the determination of our forefathers built our great society, yet this generation is going to let it fade away?

America has realized that we have to do more to encourage entrepreneurs to follow their dream. Startup America Partnership was formed by the Kauffman and Case foundations to help entrepreneurs get their companies off the ground by delivering free or low-cost services and connecting them with larger corporations. Score is a nonprofit association helping small businesses succeed by using volunteer mentors who share their knowledge in an effort to give back to their community.

These are challenging economic times. A third of all startups fail within the first two years, and 60% are doomed to fail by the fourth year. Who in their right mind would play these odds, especially during these financially uncertain times? [A]s a society, we must look back to our founding fathers, [who] had the vision to create a nation that strengthens democracy through individuals taking the initiative and the chances to better those around them. Entrepreneurship is not dead; it is just reemerging on a different playing field, where innovative people need to be technologically in tune with new roads to travel. Now is the time to stop dreaming and begin to act on your dreams. When you think that 16 out of the 30 corporations that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average started during a recession, why can’t that be you?

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/is-entrepreneurship-dead-america_b_2551281.html

Everyone Needs a Bed

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Homelessness, poverty, recession—you would hope that a new year would wipe away all of the bad things that have happened to our nation, but it does not. We still wake up in 2013 with the same issues we had in 2012. Is there any hope in sight?

According to the U.S. Census, the official poverty rate was 15%. There were 46 million people in poverty. Mississippi was at 20.8%, New Mexico was 19.7%, Louisiana was 18.2%, South Carolina was 17.7%, and Arizona came in at 17.6$. To add more heartache, the poverty rate for children under age 18 was 21.9% across the country, with 32% of children in poverty in Mississippi, 31% in New Mexico and 29% in Louisiana.

Talking about our kids, the Annie E. Casey Foundation reported that the number of working youth dropped by almost half since 2000, and employment among young people is at the lowest level since the 1950s. Nearly 6.5 million U.S. teens and young adults are neither in school nor in the workforce, which will lead to chronic underemployment as adults and failure to gain the skills employers will need in the coming years. This just feeds the cycle where they become another taxpayer cost with our government spending more to support them. When you consider that 20%, or 1.4 million, of these youths have children of their own, the cycle accelerates where this group can’t find full-time work and build a career, which now perpetuates an intergenerational cycle of poverty.

The dire consequence of poverty is homelessness. The National Alliance to End Homelessness reports there are 633,782 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States. Of that number, 239,403 are people in families and 392,945 are individuals. About 10% of the homeless population, 62,619 are veterans. During the year, 3.5 million Americans experience homelessness. Twenty-three percent of people experiencing homelessness on any given night are children. Seven-hundred [and] seventy thousand homeless children are enrolled in public schools. An estimated 50,000 youth experience long-term homelessness. Also, homeless people spend four days longer per hospital visit than the normal population.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has $2.146 billion to spend to help the homeless, which is an increase of $245 million from last year, [b]ut this is really a town-by-town, city-by-city issue that has to be solved locally with help from the HUD budget. The Chicago Tribune reported in December where the DuPage County Public Action to Deliver Shelter, or PADS, finished 12 apartments partially funded by HUD to help transition the homeless into permanent residence. One woman had been homeless for nearly five years after working for more than 30 years. A family affected by unemployment and a disabling health condition was moved into an apartment. PADS served 1,398 individuals and 138 families that included 236 children. This was a 29% increase in families and 30% increase in children from last year. PADS gets the children enrolled in school and gets the family into a healthcare system so they don’t have to continue to use the emergency rooms.

As was reported in The Boston Globe, the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless did a recent count one night, and 150 individuals were sleeping outside. The total number of homeless was 1,000 compared to 850 last year. Advocates say they need over 400 more beds to meet the demand of the winter season. [I]t goes on city by city, state by state—we are all counting those sleeping outside and the number of beds we need to take care of the underprivileged.

Now that the holiday season is over, many of us are suffering from compassion fatigue. We showed kindness, consideration and care to those in need from Thanksgiving through Christmas. It’s a new year, and we need to move on with our lives. The homeless, the poor—they can’t move on like the rest of us.

No one wants to be poor. No one wants to be homeless. As our leaders are battling in Washington, [D.C.], about how to spend our taxes, the issues of poverty and homelessness have got to be top of mind. Our leaders need to know that we as a nation can’t stand by and watch our fellow Americans suffer. Write your congressman. [W]rite your senator. Everyone needs to have a bed as we head into 2013.

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/everyone-needs-a-bed_b_2396580.html

The Poor, the Elderly, the Disabled Stand to Lose the Most

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More Americans used food stamps to buy their Thanksgiving dinner than any time in our history according to U.S. News & World Report. Forty-two million of us are on food stamps, and the food-stamp program (now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or “SNAP”) cost the U.S. government $72 billion last year. This means one in seven U.S. residents receive[s] SNAP benefits.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, three out of four SNAP households include a child, a person age 60 or older, or a disabled person. Households with [a] very low income of about $8,800 a year are the receivers of SNAP. The average monthly SNAP benefit per household was $287, or $4.30 per person per day. This was a 70% increase in SNAP benefits from the 26 million people who received benefits in 2007. If we need one measurement of how crushing this recession has been, this is it.

So here we are in the last month of 2012 with our government facing another crisis (commonly now referred to as “the fiscal cliff”), and wouldn’t you know that charitable giving is once again in the forefront of cuts. According to CNN, the charitable deduction is the ninth-largest tax expenditure in the federal budget. In 2014, the amount of revenue the government would forgo from those claiming charitable deductions is estimated to reach $52 billion. Currently, the wealthiest Americans can write off as charitable deductions 35% of their total contributions, and President Obama wants to move that down to 28% in the latest rounds of negotiations on Capitol Hill.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that there are significant differences in how much we give. In Utah and Mississippi, households average 7% of their income to charity, while in Massachusetts and three other New England states, giving is under 3%. Middle-class Americans give a far bigger share of their discretionary income, with households earning $50,000 to $75,000 giving an average of 7.6% of their income to charity compared to 4.2% of people making over $100,000. Religion has a big influence on giving patterns. Two of the top nine states giving the most as a percent[age] of income are Utah and Idaho, [which] have a high number of Mormon residents [who] have a tradition of tithing 10% of their income to the church. All of the other seven top states are in the Bible [B]elt.

Although not all [of a] nonprofit[‘s] income is tied to tax incentives, the fear among nonprofits is that much of it is tied to what Washington, [D.C.], will be deciding in the next few weeks. According to The Arizona Republic, […] 28% of Arizonans claimed federal tax deductions for nonprofit organizations that totaled $2.73 billion. The charitable deduction is especially popular as you climb the income scale; whereas 12% of taxpayers earning less than $50,000 claimed this deduction, 81% of those making more than $100,000 claimed the charitable deduction.

Who is going to help those in need if our government decreases the incentive many Americans have to give? In states where the population has a tendency to give anyway, those in need may be propped up, but in states where tax incentives drive giving, those in need may be in real trouble. […]

In reality, giving has got to come from the heart, not because you are saving some money in taxes. In actuality, though, movements by the government to guide how we live and spend our money are a major influence on how nonprofits get funding. All of us who trust in the good of nonprofits must let our leaders know that we believe it when the nonprofit organizations tell us that they fear this fiscal cliff will shut down donations, and this result touches us all. […]

This recession has taken its toll deeper than anyone expected. When over 42 million Americans have to rely on our government for food stamps and most nonprofits must also rely on our government to help influence donations coming their way, we cannot absorb any more hits to our charity safety net. The lame-duck session is now going on in Washington, D.C. We cannot afford lame-duck results.

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/tax-incentives-donating-_b_2203796.html

Holes in the Safety Net

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America’s national safety net of social services is a curious public/private mix supporting the most vulnerable people in our society. It has been clearly pointed out to us this fall that in our current economic crisis, the government will have to be doing less, because the dollars are not there.

According to the [National] Council of Nonprofits, because [C]ongress has failed to act to reduce the deficit, $54.6 billion will be chopped from domestic programs. This includes $600 million from Head Start, $140 million in financial aid to college students, $2 billion from rental assistance programs, and $600 million for disaster relief and block-grant funding for health and human services. They also posit that special education will be cut by $1 billion; childcare and development cut by $187 million; and food for women, infants and children (i.e., the WIC Program) will be cut by $543 million. America is very lucky that in just about every community, there are nonprofits there to help catch us as we fall, although these government cuts will certainly be more than they can handle.

Let’s take a look at a few of the nonprofit safety nets that are out there today to help:

  • The Salvation Army […] is the second-largest charity in America. […] There are […] nearly 8,000 Salvation Army locations and more than 4.5 million volunteers assisting 32 million people each year. [T]he charity operates in 125 countries [and] in 175 different languages. They operate over 1,300 thrift stores in the United States and support causes for disaster relief, soup kitchens, drug and alcohol counseling, camps, community centers, and homeless shelters.
  • Goodwill […] was founded in 1902 in Boston, where they began to collect used household goods and clothing in the wealthier areas of the city, then trained and hired those who were poor to mend and repair the used goods, which were then resold or given to the people who repaired them. Goodwill has turned into a $4 billion nonprofit organization operating a network of 165 independent community-based organizations in the United States, Canada and 14 other countries. They provide employment, training and support services to 4.2 million individuals.
  • The Association for Gospel Rescue Missions (AGRM) [Editor’s note: In fall 2018, AGRM became CityGate Network] was founded in New York City in 1913 to provide emergency shelter, food, youth and family services, education and job training programs, rehabilitation programs, assistance to the elderly poor, and assistance to at risk youth. AGRM has a network of 275 rescue missions providing 43 million meals and 26 million nights of lodging with 300,000 volunteers.
  • [The Marine] Toys for Tots [Foundation] began in 1947 in Los Angeles and then expanded nationwide. They have provided 351 million toys to 166 million needy children and conduct local campaigns in 516 communities.

The Wilmington Star News [in North Carolina] reported this October that nonprofits have seen huge cuts in government support, including agencies that help seniors, children and the mentally ill, and organizations that oppose domestic violence. […] One-third of [the state’s] nonprofits cut services. In North Carolina, nonprofits create 450,000 jobs, which is one-tenth of all state jobs, equal to the employment in retail. [North Carolina’s] nonprofits pay $13 million in wages. Add onto this the planned government cuts at the end of this year, and [the] state […] will be reeling in cutbacks to those who need it most. I don’t know how our big charities can step up any more than they are doing now to pick up the pieces.

In this election year, the Social Science Research Network published a report comparing the charitable giving based on your political affiliation. They concluded that conservatives and liberals are equally generous in their donation habits. They then showed that while levels of giving were roughly equivalent, liberals are much more likely to donate to secular organizations, while conservatives are more likely to donate to religious causes. Their final conclusion was that charitable contributions fluctuate based on the political landscape. [One of the two major parties] donate[s] less money when [the other major party] occupies the White House.

We all know that the most vulnerable part of our society is going to be in real trouble for the next several years as we struggle to get this economy back on track. This is the season where the rest of us have got to pitch in and support those fine organizations that are creating the safety net while our government gets its act together. Get interested in The Salvation Army. Get interested in Goodwill. Get interested in AGRM. Get interested in Toys for Tots. […]

It does not matter if you are a Democrat or Republican or Independent; [w]e are all obligated to help the less fortunate in our community. If you can’t help out with cash or donated clothing, help out by becoming one of the volunteers that ring the bell or sorts the toys. We, as human beings who have compassion and humanity taught to us from the beginning of life, can make a difference for those less fortunate.

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/non-profits_b_2057546.html

Who’s Your Best Friend?

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We at DollarDays noticed this year on our Facebook page that every time we posted a picture of a dog or cat, it was shared five times more than any other picture we posted. In this modern world of us all moving in so many different directions at such a high speed, why do people slow down to smile, laugh and gush about pets?

We have all read about the medical reasons to have a pet. WebMD, in an article this summer, told us that pets are natural mood enhancers; […] only a few minutes with a dog or cat or watching fish swim [can make] us feel less anxious and less stressed. They said pets help keep blood pressure in check, and children with hypertension lowered their blood pressure while petting their dog. Pets are good for your heart, help lower cholesterol and help fight depression. People who own dogs tend to be more physically active, and, in reality, walking your dog daily may be one of the main reasons animals help with your heart and stress. WebMD went on to say that researchers have found that when children grow up in a home with a dog or cat, they are less likely to develop allergies, and the same is true for kids who live on a farm with large animals. [M]aybe pets are the miracle drug [for which] we have all been waiting!

The Hartford Towns reported last month that the American Pet Products Association, in their latest 2012 survey, said 62% of U.S. households own a pet, [or] 72.9 million homes. While the number of cats outnumber dogs by eight million, more households have dogs. Americans will spend $53 billion this year on food, supplies, vets and other services for our pets.

[Indeed, some may argue that] America is obsessed with our pets. As The Huffington Post reported, the Walker Art Center, a well-regarded museum of modern art in Minneapolis, presented in late August its first “Internet Cat Video Film Festival” to showcase the best in feline web videos. They received 10,000 submissions of one-minute cat videos and picked the top 70, which were shown on an outdoor screen at the museum.

We know about the medical reasons for a pet, but what about the psychological advantages? The American Psychological Association published a study done at Miami University of Ohio and St. Louis University, where they concluded that people with pets were closer to other important people in their lives and received more support from these people, not less. […]

I heard on NPR Radio that Clifford the Big Red Dog is celebrating his 50th anniversary. There have been 90 Clifford books selling 126 million copies in 13 languages. Clifford kept getting bigger and bigger because of all the love children showed him, eventually ending up 25′ tall, full of kids’ love.

Not every animal is a Clifford. According to the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), there are close to 5,000 community animal shelters that house up to seven million animals a year. Of these, 60% of dogs and 70% of cats are euthanized each year. For anyone who has ever looked into the eyes of their pet and felt that unconditional love looking back, we cannot continue to let these animal shelters go underfunded and undermanned. This is National Pet Wellness Month, and all of us need to reach deep in our pockets to help these shelters find homes for these innocent animals. Learn more from the American Humane Association or the ASPCA, or get your teen involved in the site DoSomething.org, where it will teach them how to fight to help homeless shelter animals get adopted with a new app for their phone.

Pets complement our social lives with other humans. They also comfort us when we are all alone. These pets sitting in these cages at these animal shelters are all alone with no one to comfort them. Most won’t make it out of these cages. During this month honoring our pets, these other innocent animals need our help. Helping to support homeless pets is an act of kindness that pierces to the core of human existence. These blameless animals sorely need our help. Americans have always stepped up to help those in need. These guiltless animals give us so much joy, let’s work hard together to eliminate their sorrow.

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/whos-your-best-friend_b_1940214.html

Kids Without Sports

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Now that school is back in session, it is difficult for all of us who grew up with ample access to sports and the arts to see how our school systems have evolved and have practically eliminated the character-building program of sports participation.

According to Yahoo!, in a study of 35,000 student athletes in Los Angeles, there is a striking correlation between [a] student’s participation in interscholastic athletics and [his or her] performance in both attendance and in the classroom. Student [athletes] attended an average of 21 more days of school per year than their counterparts, and their grade point averages were 0.55-0.74 [points] higher than non-athletes. If sports are among the most potent ways to help create academic achievement, how can schools continue to improve in the classroom without the money to fund sports?

The other side of the argument to curtail spending in sports was reported on in USA Today. Len Stevens, an ex-high school and college coach, feels we should put an end to high school sports. Stevens points out that high school coaches were supposed to be teachers first, and now, fewer than half of them are. A recent study shows that only 10% of students attend games. High school principals say their greatest headache is dealing with parents who have complaints about their child’s experience in sports. [A]re any of these reasons the true underlying explanations [as to] why schools are cutting back on sports spending?

All over the country, schools just don’t have the funds to keep sports programs going. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported this summer that the Gateway school board took the full-time athletic director to part-time and changed middle school sports to a pay-to-play program. 27east.com reported that even in the wealthy East Hamptons, Springs School cut boys’ and girls’ track and field, lacrosse, and cross country, as well as boys’ wrestling and football. The New York Times reported that the San Antonio Northside School District cut 28 athletic coaches. Ypsilanti, Mich., cut their cheerleading squad, and Steamboat Springs, Colo., cut eight coaching positions—[a]nd it goes on and on in rich and poor districts all over the United States.

With all of this bad news about sports in public schools, it is hard to believe that in June of this year, we celebrated the 40th Anniversary of Title IX, which, back in 1972, said, “[N]o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational programs or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” We definitely saw the impact that this powerful law had for women in this summer’s London Olympics. For the first time ever, women outnumbered men on the Olympic team. Women won 29 of the 46 gold medals and 58 out of 104 medals. In 1972, 300,000 high school girls played on sports teams; in 2011, three million played. The results of Title IX alone show that if our government believes in a program that can truly help the underserved in America, positive results will follow.

[W]e know sports [help] mold character and focus, as was proven in the Los Angeles study and shown in the Olympic results. We also know that this recession we are fighting through has dramatically cut the funds schools have to operate, and learning to add and subtract is more important than running a football. Forbes just ran an article debating whether pay-to-play should become a permanent part of school sports. They noted that in the southwestern Ohio school district of Lakota, the pay-to-play fee is $550, up from $300 last year. In northeastern Ohio, the Riverside district charges $521 to participate in cross country, $715 for golf, $783 for football and $933 for tennis. If you weren’t a star in these sports and just wanted to try them, most families would walk away from these fees, [a]nd if you live in a poor area and your priority is putting food on the table, America can be assured these kids won’t have a chance in a pay-to-play world.

NBC Sports reports that the Saginaw School District in Michigan does not have to deal with cutting sports or charging fees because LaMarr Woodley, a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, donated $60,000 for students to play sports in the school district that gave him the chance to excel at sports. Not every school district has a LaMarr Woodley, but America has concerned citizens in every county who could help make sure this generation has the opportunities to experience the positive influence of sports in molding character and values. […]

Eliminating or having to pay for sports takes away from the basic principal on which this country was built and then was strengthened with equal-opportunity laws and Title IX, just to name a couple of programs that have helped lift kids from poverty to the NFL or the NBA or the WNBA. Most kids won’t go pro in sports, but we know sports [help] build stronger social skills and [teach] kids how to set goals and stay focused, which are building blocks to creating a successful life. If being involved with sports of any kind is one of the best ways to support academic accomplishment, how can our schools continue to improve in the classroom without the money to fund sports? The United States has proven time and time again that it is the greatest country on earth. Sports is a lesson in winning and losing, and if we don’t come to the realization that sports in school is part of the fabric that built this great country, all of us become losers.

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/kids-without-sports_b_1857511.html

No School Left Behind

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Now that we are entering another school year, it is hard to believe that our modern school system is less than 100 years old. According to Wikipedia, in 1900, out of 45 states, 34 had compulsory schooling laws for elementary education, of which only four were in the South. As a result, in 1910, 72% of American children attended elementary school, of which half attended in one room schools. Finally, by 1918, every state required students to complete elementary school.

In the 1880s, American high schools were preparatory academies for colleges, but, by 1910, they had been transformed into what are now the core elements for the high-schools system. In 1890, there were 200,000 high-school students, which grew to one million by 1910 and two million by 1920. Seven percent of kids [ages] 14 [to] 17 were enrolled in high school in 1890, rising to 32% in 1920. In 1910, 9% of Americans had high-school diplomas, which grew to 40% in 1935 and 50% by 1940. Today, 88% of all Americans age 20 and older have graduated from high school.

Obviously, our public education system is so much better than it was 100 years ago, [b]ut are our schools any better than they were last year, five years ago or even 10 years ago? In the most recent decade, the “No Child Left Behind” act was passed by a bipartisan coalition in Congress and signed by President Bush on January 8, 2002. [The act] marked a new direction in education. In exchange for more federal aid, the states were required to measure progress and punish schools not meeting the goals measured by standardized state exams. According to Education Week, 38% of schools were failing to make adequate yearly progress in 2010, up from 29% in 2006, [a]nd now, right before our new school year begins, six more states […] and the District of Columbia were the latest to be approved for waivers to this law. This brings the total to 33 states that have been granted waivers to get out of the tough test requirements in order to get more federal funds. In 2011, $14.5 billion was spent by the federal government on this program, so it is a program every educator must live and breathe.

According to the New America Foundation, America spent over $500 billion a year on public elementary and secondary education. This averages $10,591 per student. The federal government picks up $40 billion of this, or 8%, which is less than 3% of our total federal budget. This means 92% of public schools are funded by the states and local government. […] Wealthier states like those in the Northeast have more funding available than states with limited resources. Is this fair for the children of the United States?

Not everyone has kids [or] grandchildren in school, so many of us tend to not pay much attention to the status of education, [b]ut even if you do support your local schools, there are so many other schools we can all help that are struggling because they just don’t have adequate funding. Take a look at Donors Choose, which is an online charity connecting donors to classrooms in need. Here, public school teachers from every corner of America post needed projects, and donors can give any amount to help these classroom projects succeed. […]

To think that the federal government spends less than 3% of our budget to educate the upcoming generation to be smarter and better than us is an embarrassment for the American way of life. To realize that more schools today are failing to make progress than schools just five years ago is appalling. If we could just educate the next generation on how to eliminate poverty or war, we could then use that savings from our federal budget to fund more education for the following generations.

This cannot be the start of another school year where we fall behind the year before. It looks like the only way we can avoid this American tragedy is to get involved. Volunteer at your local schools so schools can move their paid staff to help the students most in need. Give your time and your money to help your local PTA to fund the extracurricular activities that may have been lost over the years, [a]nd, as important[ly], lobby your local, state and federal government to increase the funding needed to make this generation of kids better than the last generation. With the major election cycle coming up this November, this is the time to elect representatives who know a better education for all is tied to the future of America. Help our kids now so they can help us later.

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/no-school-left-behind_b_1735175.html

Step up to Our Teachable Moments

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We are all teachers, whether we want to be or not. You are a teacher when you help your child take their first step. You are a teacher as a grandparent when you teach the grand kids how to make cookies. You are a teacher at work when you take a younger co-worker under your wing and mentor them to make sure they do the task correctly. So if we are all inner teachers, why do we not show more respect for the teachers who make teaching our children their career?

According to the Institute of Educational Sciences, close to four million Americans make their living teaching our kids. Our children, who are enrolled in schools starting at Kindergarten and going through high school, are 16.3% of the total population. America has 13,600 public school districts made up of 98,800 public schools. Public schools will spend $525 billion, with an average expenditure per student of $10,591. This year, 3.2 million students graduated from high school. The percentage of high-school dropouts declined over the last 10 years from 11.8% to 8.1%, indicating that our teachers are truly getting better at engaging our kids.

Our education system is making progress in bringing the teachers closer to the students. In 1955, the number of pupils per teacher was 27.4; in 1960, it was 26.4; [and] in 1965, it was 25.1. [The number] dropped to 17.9 in 1970, and, today, it is 15.6, [s]o with this progress, you would think we would have the best […] schools in the world—[b]ut we do not.

According to USA Today, 15-year-old students in the United States perform about average in reading and science and below average in math against the rest of the world. Out of 34 countries, the United States is ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math. The top-performing countries were Finland, South Korea, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Australia. Canada, which, like the United States, has a decentralized education system, has their 15-year-olds perform more than one school year ahead in math than in the United States and more than a half-year ahead in reading and science. The United States spends more per student, on average, than any other country except Luxembourg.

Stanford University translated these scores into economic terms, and the impact of improving math, reading and science scores in the United States would be far-reaching. By increasing the average score by 25 points over the next 20 years, there would be a gain of $41 trillion in the U.S. economy over the lifetime of the generation born in 2010. Better yet, bringing the United States up to the average performance of Finland, the best-performing educational system, would result in gains of $103 trillion.

We, as a society, can argue all day long about class size, number of teachers and quality of teachers, but if we step back and think about the radical impact smarter and better-trained kids today has on our future tomorrow, why are we even arguing about the money we spend on education? For our society, obviously, it is the best investment we can make. Unfortunately, we are always asking our government what it can do for me today, rather than taking the longer-term view knowing that an investment in our kids’ future today will pay off for us in the next generation.

If we could fix our education system from Kindergarten through high school, think what that would do to our improvement in college scores. The United States slipped over the last decade from second in college graduation to 13th. According to The Washington Post, the United States has also slipped from 12th to 16th place in the share of adults (ages 25-34) holding college degrees. Thirty-seven million Americans have gone to college but never graduated. The shame in all of this is the best U.S. universities are still the best in the world; U.S. colleges claimed four of the top five spots on the Higher Education World University Rankings and 14 of the top 25.

[I]t looks like we have the university systems in place to train this next generation. [I]f we could just get them out of high school a little better prepared…

Every teacher I know is hardworking and passionate about their job. They seem to have a higher calling than the average American. According to The Journal, public school teachers in the United States spent more than $1.33 billion out of their own pocket on school supplies and instructional materials. This averaged out to $356 for each teacher, [or] 92% of [all] teachers spent. […] Whether we have kids in school or not, it is our generational obligation to help our teachers raise the bar with these children. One person acting along with our fellow Americans chipping in can help lift this next generation. We can start by helping these teachers pay for the supplies that make a difference. […]

We all have memories of one or more teachers [who] made a difference in our lives. I am sure we all have memories of teachable moments shared with the younger generations, as well as our peers. Working together to educate our children is not a new idea. Back in the 1990s, we learned from Hillary Clinton’s best-selling book, It Takes a Village, that all of us need to work together with our teachers to [shape] the younger […] population. We teach so the next generation is better than us. That has been the evolution of man since the beginning of time. Our teachers need your help, especially when this economy is so uncertain.

No teacher should have to spend their own money to help our kids. […]

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/step-up-to-our-teachable-_b_1647764.html

Giving is Down, but Caring is Up

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[In 2011], the people of the United States were ranked as the most generous in the world in terms of giving time and money to nonprofits, up from fifth place in 2010, according to The L.A. Times. [Approximately] 65% of Americans said they donated money to charity, 43% volunteered their time, and 73% helped a stranger. As far as giving money, Thailand is the most generous, with 85% of their population donating money. [I]n the United Kingdom, 79% gave money, but the British and most of the rest of the world are about half as likely to do volunteer work as Americans, so that is how America regained its No. 1 ranking in 2011. The top-ranked United States was followed by Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

The Center of Philanthropy at Indiana University reported that Americans overall contributed 2% of disposable personal income to philanthropic causes, which is the percent[age] that has remained consistent over the decades. […] This tells us that, despite personal and economic hardships, Americans remain steadfastly committed to each other and their communities. Philanthropy is at the heart of who we are as a society. The Center breaks down our giving as:

Religious Donations35%
Education14%
Foundations11%
Human Services (Emergencies)9%
Public-society Benefits8%
Arts, Culture & Humanities5%
International Affairs5%
Environment/Animals2%

We have always believed that our top 1% is the most generous part of our population to nonprofit organizations. According to Philanthropy.com, the top 50 donors in 2011 contributed $10.4 billion, of which $6 billion was from Margaret Cargill, who died in 2006 and her assets [were] formed [into] a foundation in 2011. [W]ithout this, the top 50 total was $4.4 billion. In 2007, the top 50 gave $7.3 billion, and, in 2008, the top 50 gave $15.5 billion. Twenty-nine people on the top 50 list in 2011 gave $50 million or more, [b]ut wealthy people still are not feeling as generous as before the recession. […] The median gift from these donors is $61 million, compared to $74.7 million in 2007.

This top 50 group gives differently than the rest of the United States. [Roughly] 36% [of their donations] went to higher education, 35% to foundations, and 15% to hospitals, medical centers and medical research. No one in this top 50 gave […] $5 million or more to a social-services group. Many philanthropists don’t see human-service organizations as the best way to alleviate America’s problems. Quoting Eli Broad, “[H]e has some sympathy for the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protestors, but their message of inequality supports his diagnosis of what ails America. [A] poor education system and education will help solve many of our problems.” Interesting[ly], within this top 50 group, only two people who made the biggest gifts of the year are among the 69 who signed the Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates “Giving Pledge,” which promises to commit at least half of their wealth to charities.

Forbes reported that the 200 largest U.S. charities are only 0.002 of 1% of the country’s 1.5 million tax-exempt organizations, [y]et these top 200 received $41 billion in gifts, which is one-seventh of all charitable contributions. The largest charity is the United Way, with No. 2 being The Salvation Army and No. 3 Feeding America. In June 2011, 275,000 nonprofit organizations lost their tax-exempt status for failure to file legally required documents for three consecutive years. In fact, according to the IRS Tax-exempt Organization’s Table 25, there are [fewer] tax-exempt organizations in 2011 than in every year since 2003. With this turmoil in nonprofit organizations going in and out of business, it is no wonder that our largest donors tend to migrate to the nonprofit organizations that have been around awhile and have a track record.

The rest of us 99% don’t have the luxury of giving millions of dollars to our favorite charity, [b]ut we can give a little, even if it is the national average of 2%, to support causes we believe will help change the world. […] Giving is as good for your own soul as it is for the people you help. If you don’t have the cash, do what 43% of Americans do: volunteer to help a nonprofit that helps others. This is an honorable way to be part of giving back so those in need don’t give up. Giving your time or giving your hard-earned dollars has a rippling effect. A single act of kindness can change lives—and statistics.

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/donating-non-profits_b_1570890.html