March 8, 2019

The People’s Session

Should North Carolina finance school infrastructure improvements with a statewide bond? Should individual school districts have the authority to determine when their school calendars begin and end? You have one more day to share your opinions on these statements and more with the People’s Session. The People’s Session is an online project from EducationNC and Reach NC Voices that lets you weigh in on key education issues and even add your own statements to be considered. Check it out here.

In the Weeds

I never thought I’d be including a policy paper from Walmart in Friday@Five, but here it is: A few weeks ago, Walmart published a report, “America at Work: A National Mosaic and Roadmap for Tomorrow,” that looks at 3,000 counties in the U.S. and their capacity to change in the face of automation. Partnering with McKinsey on this effort, the report breaks down the urban-rural classification and defines eight community archetypes: Urban Centers & Core Suburbs, Urban Periphery, Smaller Independent Economies, Americana, Distressed Americana, Rural Service Hubs, Great Escapes, and Resource-Rich Regions.

walmart

More interesting than the report (I think) is their interactive dashboard. You can explore each community type to see data on labor force participation, unemployment rate, household income, total population, and more. You can also see their recommendations to respond to automation for each community type.

For Your Consideration

NC Child published a report last week highlighting the implications for North Carolina of undercounting Latino children in the 2020 Census. The author looks at why this could be a bigger problem in 2020 and the impacts it could have. A few facts:

  • Latino children make up approximately 18 percent of North Carolina’s children under 5 despite being less than 10 percent of the state’s overall population.
  • Of the estimated 25,000 children not counted in the 2010 Census, over one third were Latino (9,000 children).

census undercount

In addition to the factors contributing to the undercount of Latino children, the author highlights the Census Bureau’s reduced funding and capacity along with a potential citizenship question as new challenges for the 2020 Census.

Why does this matter? There are several reasons, but two of the most important are: 1) Almost 300 federal programs that send more than $16 billion in federal funding to North Carolina rely on Census data. Undercounting residents means North Carolina receives less funding than it needs. 2) Census counts are used to determine North Carolina’s representation in the U.S. House of Representatives.


  • Why Home Cooking Isn’t Possible For Everyone – And What We Can Do About It

    NC State News | 03/04/2019

  • How Federal Disaster Money Favors The Rich

    NPR | 03/05/2019

  • New study of NIH funding says women get smaller grants than men

    Inside Higher Ed | 03/06/2019

  • The Servant Economy

    The Atlantic | 03/06/2019

  • Where is America Growing the Fastest?

    Pew Charitable Trusts | 02/27/2019

  • The Cost of Financial Precarity

    Stanford Social Innovation Review | 03/04/2019


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