An interesting read on the role that lobbying, activist, and advocacy groups play in choosing candidates, before voters get a chance to vote. The grown of the “invisible primary”
AZ ranks 51 for teachers…
Free land, diverted taxes, create a “community fund” for Amazon to direct its taxes to projects it chooses, reduced construction costs…
What cities will do to attract Amazon for “economic development” opportunities. Who pays? Who benefits?
President Donald Trump is set to sign a new executive order today that is expected to reduce the enforcement of laws and regulations limiting political activity by tax-exempt churches and other religious groups.
American women are now more educated than men, but they still earn less than their husbands.
Interested in learning more about policy process, in particular in the AZ legislature? If so, this class is for you!
The same day as our lecture on lobbying and advocacy among nonprofits, Dr Ashcraft does an interview on KJZZ about changing organizational tax status.
He notes that most nonprofits are public charities, why organizations want to 501©4 status, and what the expenditure test means. Everything we talked about in class!
What happens when a program doesnt results in the intended output and outcomes? Are they measuring the effect wrong? Should there be a new policy? Does this mean the policy isnt working? Or maybe the police force in DC was already doing a good job and not using force unnecessarily? Are body cameras in DC a solution in search of a problem? Do the cameras still increase legitimacy? Should they keep them or get rid of them?
This article posted the same day as our class discussion comparing public, non-profit, and for-profit organizations.
The Mentor Network is the largest for-profit foster care company in the US. Investigations note 86 children had died between 2005 and 2014 in the company’s care. The report concludes that
“profit at times came before child welfare“
Are there some public services / goods that we don’t want for-profit companies managing? Are there other services and goods we don’t want government managing? When are nonprofits the best option for balancing mission, financial motive, and speed / flexibility?
A great presentation of data and indicators to show how Trump’s policies will affect energy & environment. There are especially nice data visualizations related to the North Dakota Access Pipeline, withdrawal from Paris Climate Agreement, proposed changes to national parks & monuments, and ending the reduction of reliance on coal. Some are predictions of outputs & outcomes, others are outputs and outcomes that have already occurred.
Thaler was in the nudge video we watched in class. He just won the Nobel Prize for his work!
In local news, Arizona state agency, a public organization, refuses to allow a member of the public (e.g. media) to view records.
The child-poverty rate fell to a record low in 2016 (15.6%). But it’s still too high - way too high for a country with so much wealth (we are behind 30 other industrialized economies including Poland, Mexico, and Estonia, as well as countries like Japan, Germany, and France.
The causes of this decline in the US child-poverty rate:
Expansion of the safety net—in particular through the food-stamp program and provisions like the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit.
That finding comes from a new analysis of government and academic data by Isaac Shapiro and Danilo Trisi, both researchers at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan, Washington-based think tank. The child-poverty rate declined to 15.6 percent in 2016, the researchers found, down from a post-recession high of 18.1 percent in 2012 and from 28.4 percent in 1967.
Regulatory policy gone awry
The FDA sent this to the company:
“Your Nashoba Granola label lists ingredient ‘Love,’”
“‘Love’ is not a common or usual name of an ingredient, and is considered to be intervening material because it is not part of the common or usual name of the ingredient.”
Policy design and implementation we can learn from. Banning rapid-fire firearms has helped reduce mass shootings and total firearm deaths in Australia from 1979-2013 - the same time that mass shootings have been increasing in the US. Just one of the many policy tools the US could use to address mass shootings. Others might include:
Partial bans: automatic assault rifles
Tax: raise prices on all gun sales and gun related equipment (use tax revenue for emergency victim funds)
inconvenience: reduce number of places people can buy guns (currently you can buy guns at more places in US than there are Starbucks in the world)
Regulate: require licenses and annual renewal for all gun purchases, ownership, etc (we do this for cars)
Insurance: require insurance for gun owners (like cars)
Age limits: set age restrictions
This example from Australia is often used by gun control advocates as evidence (an example) of how to pass successful gun control legislation and how hard it is to implement real reform.
The massacre was a turning point for Australia, which incentivized “the ruling center-right Liberal Party” to join “groups from across the political spectrum to work on legislation to sharply restrict the availability of guns.” We haven’t seen these events move parties to work together on gun control in the US.
What is preventing this policy problem from moving beyond debate to enactment and implementation?
The Onion publishes this headline regularly
What prevents mass shootings from being the policy window that John Kingdon predicts will lead to policy change?
This article raises interesting questions about prisoner rights, rehabilitation, and government services. Are in-person visits too costly for the prison to manage, so video is cheaper? But then why charge for the video service? Is this for the correctional center to recoup costs or just profit for a private company? If videos are cheaper and easier for correction facilities and enable prisoners more time to chat with families, why not use free services such as SKYPE? And how does video visitation only hurt families who dont have access to internet services and video capabilities?
What problem is this policy aiming to fix? Who pays the costs of moving from in-person to online visits only? What are the outputs we expect? And outcomes?
Collaborative outreach team working 5am-11pm daily to address homeless encampments. The slide show illustrates numbers and responses to various components of the multi-pronged approach to responding to homelessness
Using an image to show support and opposition for Cassidy-Graham proposal. Surely more than just Cassidy supports this bill. But the opposition lists aims to sway views with a list of trustworthy associations, lobbyists, and nonprofits
here we see the presentation of official actors, media, celebrities, lobbyists and nonprofits and where they stand on the Cassidy-Graham health care bill
According to this article “about 20 percent of DACA recipients” came to the U.S. from Asia. South Koreans make up the majority of that demographic.
When public opinion and perceptions don’t align with reality.
DACA Workshop and Information Session
For DREAMers, families and allies
Wednesday, Sept. 13
5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
AE England Building
Learn more about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), recent changes to the federal program and issues impacting Dreamers. Connect with local attorneys, advocates, access community resources and hear from DREAMers.
Be an ally and support DREAMers and families in our community!
FREE | Open to the EVERYONE interested in this issue
Bring your laptop for assistance on your renewal application.
Food will be provided.
Sponsored by:
Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, Congressman Ed Pastor Center for Politics and Public Service, DREAMzone and the School of Community Resources and Development
If you are interested in studying nonprofits in graduate school, consider applying for this amazing opportunity to attend the top academic conference on nonprofits. You will meet faculty from the best nonprofit studies programs across the US
Open Enrollment for health insurance purchased via the Affordable Care Act marketplaces begins November 1st, 2017! https://thndr.me/lqVwfA
This is an excellent overview of policing research - with simple data visualization.
An example of Black Lives Matter using social media to promote information about specific legislation being considered in Atlanta. Their post reads: “Atlanta: .@ATLCouncil MUST take action to stop racial profiling & biased policing. Vote Yes on ordinance 17-O-1152!”
Here a nonprofit is using political education to raise awareness and advocate for policy that will help their membership and advance their mission.
There are over 135 tax marches planned to protest Trump not releasing his tax returns (which all former presidential candidates have done).
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