Category Archives: Articles

How to Save a High School Dropout

New research shows the key role of relationships in preventing dropout.

While the nation’s high school drop out rate has been steadily declining, young students who face tough times, such as by having a child, becoming homeless or struggling academically, are still at much higher risk of dropping out. Every year, says the America’s Promise Alliance, 485,000 young Americans leave school.

But whether a student drops out – and drops out for good – might depend on this key factor: whether the adults around them can be counted on to help them cope with adversity.

Continued at the Washington Monthly…

Retirement Raidings

Americans are borrowing record amounts from retirement savings. Should 401(k) loans be limited?

In good news for Americans’ retirement security, new data shows Americans might finally be saving more for retirement. But Americans are also borrowing more from their retirement accounts, thereby potentially erasing a big chunk of these gains.

Over the 12 months ending in June 2015, Americans on average socked away a record high of $10,180 into retirement savings, according to recent data from Fidelity Investments. At the same time, more than 1 in 5 Americans – or 21.9 percent -have an outstanding loan against their 401(k). According to Fidelity, the average balance for these loans at the end of June was $9,720 – up from $9,500 a year ago.

Paradoxically, says Doug Fisher, Senior Vice President at Fidelity Investments, larger account balances might be prompting bigger loans. “I call it the ‘false sense of continued prosperity’ effect,” he said. “When 401k balances go up because the stock market rises, people feel like they have more wealth and borrow more.”

The actual result, however, could be significant long-term damage to Americans’ retirement security.

Continued at the Washington Monthly…

Which States Are the Most Small-Business Friendly?

Rhode Island and Illinois are among the worst states for small business owners, says a new survey, while Texas and New Hampshire are at the top.

A new survey of nearly 18,000 small business owners nationwide finds that entrepreneurs really want just one thing from government – simplicity.

Thumbtack.com’s 2015 small business friendliness survey finds that the states ranked highest by small businesses are the ones that offer the easiest-to-navigate licensing and tax regimes, along with proactive help for entrepreneurs. What matters much less: the actual burden of taxes or regulation.

“The tax rate is often talked about, but it’s not a particularly meaningful measure,” says Thumbtack’s chief economist, Jon Lieber. “The amount paid in taxes matters significantly less than the complexity of the tax system and the difficulty people have complying.”

By these standards, the states ranked best in Thumbtack’s survey are Texas, New Hampshire and Utah, while the states ranked worst are Rhode Island, Illinois and Connecticut, along with New York and California.

Continued at the Washington Monthly…

From Garbage to Gas

Landfills and sewage treatment plants are an overlooked source of clean energy – but a boom in bio-methane might be coming.

What was once the I-95 landfill near Lorton, Virginia, is now dozens of acres of rolling green fields – dotted by more than 200 metal pipes emerging from the grass.

The pipes are wellheads for natural gas, and they are collecting the methane generated by more than 10 million tons of decomposing garbage dumped by Washington, D.C.-area residents over the course of 30 years.

A vacuum pump draws the gas from underground, through the wellheads, and connects it to roughly 14 miles of pipeline that run throughout the landfill. Under each wellhead, says Mike Malfitano, an environmental technical specialist for Fairfax County, “there’s a three-foot bore hole that goes 110 feet down into the waste mass.”

Although it closed in 1995, county officials expect the landfill to keep emitting gas for at least the next decade. On its best days, says Fairfax County environmental engineer Chris Meoli, the landfill generates 2,000 cubic feet per minute of gas – enough to create 4.9 megawatts of electricity. It’s more than enough to power the Noman M. Cole wastewater treatment plant three miles down the road, saving the county as much as $500,000 a year in power costs, according to a 2015 county report. What’s left over is sold to the grid.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), landfills are among the nation’s largest sources of methane, accounting for nearly one-fifth of all methane emissions generated by human activity in 2012. That’s why advocates of landfill gas projects like the one in Fairfax County say these efforts have enormous environmental benefits – first, by capturing harmful methane emissions that would otherwise contribute to climate change and second, by replacing more carbon-heavy fuels for power and transportation.

Moreover, there’s no shortage of garbage. According to the group Energy Vision, Americans dump about 250 million tons of municipal solid waste per year – including 70 million tons of food and yard waste. It’s a clean energy opportunity the nation is literally throwing away.

Continued at the Washington Monthly…

 

Getting Child Care Off the Mommy Track

Child care is more than just a “women’s issue.”

Long relegated to the back bench of “mommy issues,” child care may finally get its chance on the national policy stage.

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has made child care access a signature plank of her nascent agenda, urging middle class tax cuts to make child care more affordable and endorsing universal preschool. The Washington Post also recently devoted rare front-page space and a poll to this topic, finding that more than half of all parents (including three-quarters of moms and half of dads) have passed up job opportunities or even switched careers to help take care of their children.

Surveys show that millennial workers especially treasure work-life balance. And as more of the oldest members of this cohort – now entering their mid-thirties – become parents, child care access and affordability will increasingly become a concern.

These are all welcome developments for those of us who’ve long believed that child care is a universal economic concern – not just for mothers, but for fathers, grandparents, non-parents and employers, regardless of income or education. The cost and quality of child care have enormous impacts not just on parents’ career choices, but on a family’s quality of life, the productivity that employers see and – of course – the wellbeing and future success of a child. Nevertheless, policymakers have consistently treated child care as a niche-within-a-niche inside larger agendas around “women’s issues” or poverty.

Now that child care has a shot at front burner status, one way to keep it there is to ensure its broad relevance – and to avoid the policy and messaging traps that could make it too polarizing or insignificant. Here are a few ideas to help make child care an integral component of a broadly appealing “middle class” agenda:

Continued at the Washington Monthly…

 

Fixing Food Deserts, One Grocery Store at a Time

Alabama joins a growing list of states promoting supermarkets in low-income neighborhoods.

In and around Birmingham, Alabama, fast food is more than easy to find.

A search for “fast food” on yellowpages.com serves up a smorgasbord of options, including Chick-Fil-A (20 locations), McDonald’s (38 shops), Taco Bell (24 stores), and Church’s Chicken (19 outlets), as well as multiple locations for Hardee’s, Krystal, Burger King, Captain D’s Seafood Kitchen, Bojangles, Sonic, Whataburger, Wendy’s, Subway and Jack’s.

Supermarkets, on the other hand, are much scarcer. The grocery store chain Aldiboasts just three locations in Birmingham proper, while the more upscale Fresh Market chain owns just one store.

In fact, according to a report by The Food Trust, large swathes of Alabama are “food deserts” lacking access to supermarkets with fresh fruit and vegetables and other healthier foods. Nearly 1.8 million Alabama residents – including half a million children – live in low-income areas without adequate access to full-service groceries, the report concludes.

“People are traveling 10 to 20 miles outside their communities to purchase food,” says Jada Shaffer, campaign manager for the non-profit VOICES for Alabama Children, which commissioned the study along with the Alabama Grocers Association.

And that’s assuming people have transportation. More often than not, Shaffer says, families are relying on what’s nearby: gas stations, convenience stores – and fast food.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, Alabama has among the highest obesity rates in the country. More than 32 percent of Alabama adults are obese, while 35 percent of children are overweight.

Continued at the Washington Monthly…

Manufacturing’s Branding Crisis

Millennials could save U.S. manufacturing from a severe looming talent shortage – but they need to be interested first.

Despite a gradually recovering job market, many millennials still feel their job prospects are dim. One Federal Reserve survey found that just 45 percent of young workers ages 18 to 30 are “optimistic about their job future,” and that only 29 percent of young workers have held the same job for one year.

But millennials might have more reason for optimism if they considered an industry they’re currently overlooking: manufacturing.

Continued at the Washington Monthly…

The Myth of Mobility

A new study finds that the best way to get ahead is to be born there.

Americans enjoy an enduring belief that by dint of hard work and perseverance, anyone can attain the American dream.

Surveys find that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe it’s “still possible to start out poor in this country, work hard and become rich,” while also discounting the value of family background and connections in achieving success. In a 2014 surveyby the Pew Research Center, just 18 percent of Americans said “belonging to a wealthy family” was “very important” for getting ahead.

But a mounting pile of evidence is beginning to show that family background is, in fact, determinative. Family incomes, for example, are highly correlated to rates of college attendance and completion.

Adding to this evidence is a new study – based on a unique longitudinal analysis of income tax data – finding that children largely inherit the income prospects of their parents.

Continued at the Washington Monthly…

How Obamacare Is Winning Young Invincibles

More than 5.7 million young Americans have become insured since 2010.

When the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed in 2010, one of the biggest unknowns was this: Would enough young, healthier Americans sign up for Obamacare to keep the fledgling health insurance marketplace viable?

“Young invincibles,” many believed, were critical for balancing out the older, sicker – and more expensive – enrollees who would otherwise dominate the market. Without enough younger participants, experts feared, the market would see a “death spiral” of rising premiums that could lead to its eventual collapse.

But since 2010, more than 5.7 million young Americans ages 19-to-25 have gained coverage, according to government figures, including significant numbers of African-Americans, Latinos and other minorities. And of the 8.84 million Americans who chose a plan during the most recent open enrollment period, 28 percent were millennials ages 18-to-34. These figures are all the more remarkable given that in 2010, the uninsured rate among 19-to-25 year olds was 34.1 percent – more than double the uninsured rate among the population as a whole.

How is Obamacare winning millennials?

Continued at the Washington Monthly…

Growing numbers of benefit companies pursue both purpose and profit

30 states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation legally recognizing “triple bottom line” businesses.

Among the many dozens of delivery vehicles that hit the streets of Portland, Oregon, every morning, B-Line’s colorful “cargo trikes” stand out.

Looking something like pedicabs on steroids, the company’s electrically boosted but human-powered vehicles can haul up to 600 pounds of goods. Every morning, B-Line’s fleet of eight trikes deploys itself across Portland, delivering organic produce, coffee and artisanal bread before switching to parcel deliveries for the remainder of the day.

The company calculates that since its founding in 2009, when it began with just two trikes, it’s made more than 10,000 deliveries and – more importantly – reduced carbon emissions by an estimated 350,000 pounds.

“We aim to be a more environmentally and social friendly delivery service for inner cities,” says company founder and CEO Franklin Jones.

More than that, B-Line is legally obligated to pursue its social mission. Along with a growing number of socially-conscious businesses across the country, B-Line is a “benefit company” with special legal status under state law.

Under this legislation – variations of which have also been adopted in 29 other states and the District of Columbia – businesses choosing to be “benefit companies” must include a social purpose in its charter, adopt a third-party standard and prepare an annual report for shareholders assessing how well it met its social goals.

Continued at the Washington Monthly...