Speak United

An Exercise in Understanding Poverty

Elena Sokolow — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:12:13 -0400

This past Monday a group of United Way staff and board members participated in an exercise called a poverty simulation. The basic idea is for participants to gain a sense, even for just a moment, of what life is like for those in our communities who struggle to make ends meet. Every participant is assigned a role to play, whether it is as part of a family unit or a service provider or company. read more »

Summer Jobs for Youth: The State of Teen Employment

Elena Sokolow — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:48:47 -0400

As the school year ends and summer now honestly feels like it is upon us, I can't help but think of a few things that I have always associated with the season. As a twenty-something, for me this means weekend trips with friends, outdoor festivals and hopefully some time for a little rest and relaxation. For many teens, however, the summer is not just school vacation, but a time to gain critical employment skills through a summer job. Accoridng to New York Times article I read a few weeks ago, however, finding that job opportunity is not as easy as one might think. read more »

UWA Common Good Report: A Lesson in the Importance of Measurement and Message

Elena Sokolow — Thu, 22 May 2008 11:25:35 -0400

As Meghan said in her last blog, the United Way of America (UWA) recently unveiled what they are calling The Common Good Report which identifies three broad issue areas that UWA believes are the essential building blocks to a successful life, these being education, income and health, and goes on to articulate four indicators within
each of those categories, which they plan to track over time. More importantly though, is the fact that in this report and the communication that has accompanied it both in the press and at the UWA Community Leaders Conference, UWA has put forward what I consider to be both very bold and very specific goals around what they are commiting to achieve in the next ten years. Cutting to the chase, these goals are: read more »

New Research on Dropouts

Elena Sokolow — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:10:42 -0400

Last week the news media seemed unable to stop talking about America’s dropout crisis. So what is this all about, and why all the sudden attention?

Well last week the Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) Research Center with support from the America’s Promise Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, released a report called Cities in Crisis, which explored the dropout issue with a specific focus on the graduation rates of America’s 50 largest cities. The study found that overall, graduation rates are significantly lower in the largest US cities, and further, that large disparities exist in some of our country’s largest metro areas, where students in a suburban school system may be twice as likely as their urban counterparts to graduate from high school. When EPE employed its own method of calculating the dropout rate, they found that only 52% of students from the largest districts in the 50 largest cities complete high school with a diploma, a rate well below the national graduation rate of 70%. How does this play out in the Commonwealth? read more »

Survey Says, Few Potential Nonprofit Leaders Want the Top Job

Elena Sokolow — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:22:31 -0400

Last week the Chronicle of Philanthropy ran a story that highlighted the results of a survey implemented with 6,000 potential nonprofit leaders. The headline? When asked if they wanted to fill the top position at the organization they currently work for as a career goal, only one third responded yes. In addition, the key findings included the following... read more »

Inspired 4 Life: A Day That Truly Blew My Mind

Elena Sokolow — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:55:27 -0500

Who inspired you?

This question bounced around my brain all day last Tuesday, as I was one of over 600 people who attended United Way's Inspire 4 Life Conference, a full day of workshops that focused on issues impacting youth in our community and a variety of approaches to address those issues. It was a day filled with learning on a wide variety of topics ranging from the practical, such as engaging families, engaging youth in career exploration, bridging the divide between schools and after-school programs to the more theoretical and technical such as applying brain science to adolescent development. It was this last session that seemed to leave one of the biggest impressions. read more »

When Does Adulthood Begin?

Elena Sokolow — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 16:52:43 -0500

Researchers are finding is that youth in this age bracket who in the 1960’s would have been in a long term relationship, finished with school and either in a full-time job or full-time parenthood by their early 20s, are no longer engaging in those activities. Furthermore, when asked if they feel like adults, 20-somethings respond that they feel independent in some ways but not entirely, and an overwhelming 80 percent of parents do not consider their children between the ages of 18-26 to be adults. So what does this mean for the field of youth development? ... read more »

Many Youths Fearful in Their City

Elena Sokolow — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:09:50 -0500

A recent Boston Globe Article reflected upon something which seems to be rarely discussed in the media: how youth who are not directly involved in a violent incident are significantly affected, and often traumatized by it... read more »