GIVING | Earlier this week, billionaire Bill Conway asked for suggestions about how to spend his wealth on creating jobs for the poor. He’s already received more than 700 responses. Robert McCartney surveys the overwhelming number of submissions thus far and says, “Above all, I was impressed by the degree of difficulty in the challenge that Conway has set for himself.” (WaPo, 9/29)
- First Half of 2011 Was Sluggish for Fund Raising (Chronicle, 9/29) Bad news, but at least “sluggish” is a fun word to say.
POVERTY | A new report from the Pew Hispanic Center finds that for the first time, there are more Latino children living in poverty (6.1 million) than either white (5 million) or black children (4.4 million) in the country. Locally, the numbers are distributed differently (WAMU, 9/29):
130,000 young people live in poverty, with blacks accounting for half of those numbers and Hispanics about a quarter, but moving up quickly. The jurisdiction with the highest rate of poverty among Hispanics is Arlington County, where nearly 40 percent of poor kids are Hispanic.
PEOPLE | Atlantic Philanthropies has appointed Christopher Oechsli, who has been serving as interim leader over the past few months, as the foundation’s new president. (Chronicle, 9/29)
SUNNY DAYS | American landmark Sesame Street, which you’ll recall was created through a philanthropic partnership, has a new goal as it starts its 42nd season – “tackling math, science, technology and engineering — all problem areas for America’s students — in hopes of helping kids measure up.” (ABC, 9/28) Ah, what the heck. Here’s the theme song. Sing along and cheer up any grouches you might work with.
ARTS | TheatreWashington is a new service organization, spun-off from the Helen Hayes Awards, that aims to “serve as the concentrated voice of theater here and to cement a stronger identity for the area as a theater destination.” (WaPo, 9/23) Thanks to the Cafritz Foundation’s Michael Bigley for pointing this out.
- The city-owned Lincoln Theater on U Street is on the brink of closure as the District budget doesn’t include funding for it next year. (NBCWash, 9/29)
LOCAL
- Rebekah went on the Community Foundation’s first installment of its new Putting Race on the Table Community Tours series. The group explored H Street, and Rebekah reports back. (WG Daily, 9/29)
- Walter Reed’s closure is hurting local businesses, including delicious Ledo’s Pizza. (WTOP, 9/29)
TRANSIT | Arlington, Fairfax bringing streetcars back to life (WaPo, 9/29) There are so many cool transportation projects being planned in the region. I wish they were cheaper and didn’t take so long to build though (this one is slated for 2016). Somebody should plan high-speed mule barges for the C&O Canal.
 |
How much do you know about the constitution? We should all get 100 percent on that quiz, but I bet we won’t! I didn’t, and it wasn’t because my brain was sluggish today. Time to hit the books!
