Automatic Assumptions?

Posted on May 10, 2012 by mrodgers

So there I was, sitting on a curb waiting for the police. A minivan had just turned in front of me on a busy two-lane road at 5:30 on a Friday afternoon, totaling my beloved 18 year old car with 360,000 miles on it. I’m sitting there in my mechanic’s t-shirt and work shorts, boots and slightly grease-stained hands.

The two state troopers that finally arrived spent all their time talking with the minivan driver who had paid more attention to spying an open space in the parking lot in front of her kid’s swim club than the road in front of her. Finally one of the troopers sauntered over to me and, I guess to make “guy talk,” asked, “So, did you just slide into her?” Continue reading →

Financial Literacy: What About The Schools?

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Stan Holt

As some of you might know, we have created a matched savings program for young people who are aging out of the foster care system. Two years were spent planning and developing the program. We’ve been talking with people in the community about the program and about the need for opportunities for these young people to not only earn money, but to learn how to manage their money. Financial literacy develops the knowledge and skills needed to make deliberate and effective financial decisions. According to the Jump$tart Coalition’s 2008 study of high school seniors and college students, financial literacy for high schoolers has fallen to its lowest levels.

When volunteers and experts from the community began planning the program, there was a question about working in the public schools in the Triangle. At the time, it seemed like too big a target to create an impact. We wanted to start with a smaller population and have some success before we took whatever program we created to a larger scale. Eventually, we agreed that working with young people aging out of foster care is a finite number of at-risk youth that we can help and we can evaluate the program effectiveness quickly. Continue reading →

Light rail and affordable housing as a step in poverty reduction in the Triangle.

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Stan Holt

Image from transportation.tsu.edu

Triangle Transit just announced that the Orange Durham section of a 30 mile light rail transit system connecting Wake, Durham, and Orange County will be built first. It certainly is exciting news. It also presents a great opportunity to help reduce poverty.

Transportation is a key element in helping people move across the community. Enabling an individual to easily and efficiently get from home to work creates an opportunity to improve a household’s income. Linking services along transportation corridors, also makes those services accessible to those who need the help. However, all of this requires planning.

Furthermore, it is important to preserve affordable housing close to transportation hubs in the community. Affordable housing enables lower income families to readily access the transportation. Senior citizens and others who are dependent on others for transportation will be able to go to the grocery store, shop and socialize if we locate affordable housing around these transportation hubs. It is tempting for a community to let higher property values drive low wealth households from a transportation hub, but the benefits enabling them to stay close to this valuable resource are far greater.

I hope that planners in Durham and Orange County begin the process of discussing how to preserve affordable housing close to the transportation hubs created by this new light rail system.

Not Without My Dog…

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Jennifer Bosk

Think about losing your job and having your lights turned off. Now think about being locked out of your home by the mortgage company. Then the repo guy comes for your car. No cell phone. No computer. Not even a change of clothes. You sit on a street until you are run out of the neighborhood because now you’re a vagrant – no longer wanted.

You walk and walk until dark falls. You hover under a bridge for shelter from the rain and find a beat up cardboard box you crawl into for the night. Everything is gone. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. Days turn into weeks. You beg on the corner for loose change while people drive by yelling, “Get a job!” You have nothing.

Then one day she comes loping down the street. She’s dirty, thirsty, and has a wary look in her eye. She draws near and you offer this four-legged visitor some water, keeping your distance. She laps the water quickly, looks up and for the briefest of moments, she wags her tail. You extend your hand. She slowly crawls to you. And now you have someone else to focus on. Someone who is as beat up as you. Someone homeless like you. Someone without anything in the world – except now she has you and you have her.

You bond. She follows you. You share your food from the dumpster. She sleeps next to you at night, keeping you warm. Where you go, she patiently follows. You talk to her, tell her it will get better…someday. She becomes your world.

Then someday it does get better. You hear about an open shelter. You head that way hoping to be first in line. You reach the building and there, in bold letters, is a sign that says, “No Pets”. You look at your companion. You turn and walk away to find a new bridge and a new box. Continue reading →

Jennifer R. Bosk is the Vice President of Marketing and Communications at United Way of the Greater Triangle. Jennifer believes people read her blog posts because she is a pop culture diva, a survivor and thriver of single Mother/Grandmother-hood and the biggest cheerleader for education as a solution to most problems. These areas/topics of passion allow Jennifer to share her thoughts from her heart.

It’s not just a computer that’s needed

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Edwin Jeffords

Here at United Way of the Greater Triangle, we are very proud of our Teaming for Technology program. If you haven’t heard about it yet, you will. T4T, as we affectionately call it, takes in old computers that people and businesses no longer use. Then, they clean them thoroughly, update them, and add a new operating system and Microsoft Office to the computer. After the computer is refurbished, it is ready to be put back in the hands of schools or nonprofits across North Carolina.

Sounds like a great program right? It is! Last year alone, T4T distributed over 2,200 computers to schools and nonprofits, and this year expects to top the 3,000 computer mark. All of this work is being done in order to “narrow the achievement gap by bridging the digital divide.” This means, we want to eliminate the divide between those students who have regular access to a computer and those who don’t. It’s a simple enough concept, and one that almost everyone can get behind.

However, there is one piece of the puzzle that is vital to bridging this divide – the internet. While a low-income student may get one of the T4T refurbished computers through his/her school or a local nonprofit, that’s only half of the issue. Using a computer for research, schoolwork, or even just email requires an internet connection. North Carolina has a wide variety of Internet Service Providers from Dialup, DSL, Cable, Fiber, Fixed Wi-Fi, etc. But, even the least expensive internet packages can sometimes be cost prohibitive for a low-income family.

There is hopefully, relief for these families, right around the corner in the form of the Lifeline program. According to Mashable.com, “The Lifeline program was formed to help low-income Americans pay for telephone connectivity. Lifeline subscribers have been able to receive as much as $10 off their monthly telephone bills for either a landline or mobile phone. But high-speed Internet has been replacing the telephone as the main connectivity choice for Americans, and the FCC recognizes that shift.”

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, recently ordered a massive overhaul of the Lifeline program. He states that Lifeline will be restructured in the following ways:

By establishing a pilot program to determine how Lifeline can best be expanded to include broadband access.
By increasing digital literacy training at libraries and schools.
By building on the FCC’s efforts to expand broadband access and adoption rates.

If these changes take hold and are permanent, this could go a long way in helping to bridge the digital divide. While Teaming for Technology is doing great things by distributing the thousands of computers that they have distributed over the years, it is still only half of the problem for the recipients. Without the internet, the computer isn’t much more than a word processor.

I’m excited to see the FCC step in and realize the shift in communication trends. Hopefully the changes Lifeline makes will be enough to enable thousands more low-income families to become “wired.”

Edwin Jeffords is the Vice President of Information Technology at United Way of the Greater Triangle. He blogs about technology, health, outdoors, social media, and generational issues. He says people read him because "I'm the biggest technology geek you'll ever meet, a budget-conscious marketer, and a social media ninja." His opinions are his own personal opinions, and are not necessarily representative of United Way of the Greater Triangle.