National Association of Planning Councils

Our Dysfunctional Relationship with Hard Work

2011-05-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

A big introduction for this is not necessary. Mike Rowe is the host of a Discovery Channel show called "Dirty Jobs".

He recently testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Please watch his iReport video for CNN. Leave any thoughts you may have in the comments, or click here to email me.

Economic Update and Other Business

2011-05-06T06:46:00.000-07:00

The New York Times tells us that we're looking at a strong jobs report in the U.S.

The United States economy added far more jobs than expected in April as the recovery continued to pick up steam.

The Department of Labor said Friday that 244,000 jobs were added last month after a gain of a revised 221,000 in March. The unemployment rate rose to 9 percent in April from 8.8 percent in March.

However, as we Dr. Heidi Shierholz told us at #NAPC11, there's still a very long way to go. (Find her PowerPoint here; find her latest video from the Economic Policy Institute here.)

Speaking of video, if you haven't already, take the time to watch some of our video vignettes from the 2011 NAPC Conference. You can also find a some interviews, a most of the conference presentations on the NAPC Forward YouTube page.

I'd love to keep that thing updated between now and the next conference. If you have some good video to upload, let me know and we'll work on it together.

Community Analyst - A Mapping Tool that Anyone Can Use

2011-05-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

Hello all. If you have not seen it yet, please check out the new Community Analyst tool that was recently unveiled by esri. This tool allows anyone, regardless of mapping experience, to develop interactive maps for your website where data for zip codes or census blocks is revealed to viewers as they scroll their mouse over the various areas. The tool can also be used to create shaded maps to highlight concentrations of certain populations. There are a variety of data linked to the mapping tool including the American Community Survey 2005-2009 estimates. The beta version of Community Analyst is available for free for 90 days. I recommend that you at least try it on and pass it on to your colleagues. This is invaluable for organizations that do not have staffers with GIS skills.

Below is a map that I created using the tool that shows concentrations of the Hispanic population in Travis County, Texas by zip code. Darker reds indicate higher concentrations with the darkest red showing zip codes where Hispanics represent AT LEAST 40% of the population. Just an example of what the tool can do.

2010 Census Analysis from DuPage, Illinois

2011-04-27T08:06:00.001-07:00

Great to see Phil Smith, Project Director for Human Services Planning at the DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform at #NAPC11, the 2011 National Association of Planning Councils Conference.

Phil has written up some information about demographic changes in the DuPage and West Cook, Illinois areas, and provided some interesting and informative visuals. Unfortunately, I was not able to upload his Excel spreadsheet due to the limitations of the Blogger software. You can email me here if you'd like to see it, or Phil has his contact information below.

There have been a number of stories in the local and the national media about the racial and ethnic demographic shifts indicated in the recent 2010 Census release. I have attached four files that provide additional detail on these shifts. The first three files are maps (produced by Ruth Anne Tobias at NIU) that show changes in the DuPage and West Cook area by municipality. They are fairly self explanatory, but note that the total percent change of the population of each municipality is also shown on the map to give additional perspective of the race/ethnic changes.

The fourth file is an extensive Excel workbook (with several tabs) that provides detail at the township level for Chicago and suburban areas. Note that I analyzed suburban Cook county as well as the West Cook area that is shown on the maps. There are two charts embedded in each tab. The first chart shows the change in the percent of the population for each race/ethnicity. As an example, if Hispanics made up 10% of a township's population in 2000 and 25% in 2010, the change is 15%. I believe that this more fairly shows the perceived change in race/ethnic make-up than showing the percent change in a population number (i.e., if the base is small, a large percent increase may not mean much). The second chart in each tab just shows the change in the numbers, which is also useful for seeing where people are moving to and from. All of the raw data for these charts are provided in the spreadsheets.

As an overall observation, it seems pretty clear that race and ethnic populations have been locating and moving around quite a bit. One big story in the Chicago region is the loss of population in Chicago (down over 200,000), and that a large portion of this (over 181,000) is a reduction of the Black population. Some media stories noted the large increases in the Black population in the south suburbs, but the attached numbers show that these increases only account for a little over one-fourth (26.6%) of the Chicago loss (see Rich, Thorton, Bloom, and Worth Townships). In fact, the increase in the Black population in all of the five counties in the attached analysis only accounted for 56.2% of the Black population loss in Chicago. So, the question is where did they all go? The answer is probably "everywhere." Another big story is about the increases in the Hispanic population, which appears to be occurring everywhere. Even the high-growth areas of Will and Kane Counties saw increases, not just in White population but in racially and ethnically mixed populations as well.

I hope you enjoy and/or find the attached information useful. Contact me if you have any questions or if there is any further analysis you would like me to do for you.

Phil Smith
Project Director, Human Services Planning
DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform
146 West Roosevelt Road
Villa Park, Illinois 60181
Tel: (630) 530-7802

This space is available to you! If you'd like me to post or re-post something you've produced in your organization, and it is pertinent to the work and mission of the NAPC -- or you think folks involved with NAPC would find it interesting, let me know. I'll be happy to consider it for posting here.

#NAPC11 -- Thank You For a Great Conference, NAPC!

2011-04-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it home from what I called #NAPC11 -- that was our Twitter hash-tag as well, and since I was tweeting through the whole thing on behalf of NAPC, it was just easier to remember that.

The Conference -- formally entitled the National Association of Planning Councils 2011 Conference: Communities in Transition -- was amazing.

On Friday afternoon, we heard from Irv Katz, the Executive Director of the Human Services Assembly. He talked a lot about what we could call "the state of the union" with respect to human service organizations and planning councils.

As a communications guy, I found his remarks about the need to better market our collective message to be very interesting. More on this in a minute.

We also heard from Tom Pollak, the Program Director at the National Center for Charitable Statistics. He had to wait for us to go buy a projector -- a mission on which I gladly helped Claudia Gooch of The Planning Council in Norfolk, VA -- and was very gracious about the whole thing.

One of the great things about this conference is how much gets done in so little time.

On Saturday, there were three roundtable breakfasts, and unless you could figure out how to eat three breakfasts in a short amount of time, you had to pick between the Canadian Caucus (since we covered health reform in-depth this year, our Canadian friends... well, let's just say they realized they have a lot to be thankful for), the strategic use of public benefits, and disaster preparedness. I sat in on that one with my colleagues from Pinellas County at the Health and Human Services Coordinating Council, Joe Baldwin and Denise Groesbeck -- kind of in the name of Florida solidarity.

The morning got off to a lightning-speed start. Xiaoyi Huang (@XiaoyiH), an Assistant VP for Policy at the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, talked about implementing health care reform, and what local communities need to know.

Guess what came up?

That's right: messaging.

After Ms. Huang's little eye-opener, we went in to a panel on implementing health care reform, with Allen Lomax of the Community Indicators Consortium, Lauren Shirey of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, Candace King of the DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform, and Joe and Denise from the HHSCC.

Following that, there was a great Annual Meeting. Some folks spoke very eloquently about Browning Spence, who had been President of the NAPC. I was not one of them, and fumbled my way through some comments about a friend, colleague, and mentor who meant a lot to me, to the Juvenile Welfare Board, to the NAPC, to Pinellas County and Florida... and to his family.

We had the Annual Judith Rothbaum Award as well. The award recognizes excellence in using social indicators for community action. The Award is supported by the United Way of Central Oklahoma in honor of the late Judith Rothbaum. The winner this year was Joe Ahern of the Center for Community Solutions.

I'm not going to lie to you: one of the highlights of the event for me last year as well as this year is the economic report from Dr. Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute. I have to give her credit: she really tries to put a good face on things (hard to do in these economic times).

We also heard from Demetra Smith Nightingale of The Urban Institute. She had good information about what these sometimes confusing economic trends may mean for local planning.

Following that (I told you it was a long day) was a panel discussion led by John Begala of the Center for Community Solutions, Martha Blaine of the Community Council of Greater Dallas, Ben Warner of the Jacksonville Community Council, Inc., and Tracy Viselli of ACTion Alexandria.

Sunday was a pretty fantastic day as well. Phil Dessauer of the Community Service Council in Tulsa, Oklahoma led a book discussion of "The Watchman's Rattl e -- Thinking Our Way Out of Extinction." Claudia Gooch, Ben Warner and other NAPC Members talked about indicators over breakfast as well.

In the 9:00 a.m. hour, we started talking about immigration (an issue with which I am woefully unfamiliar). I may have learned more from Margie McHugh at the Migration Policy Institute on this issue in about an hour than I ever have. And Frank Sharry of America's Voice talked a great deal about how you talk about immigration.

There's that messaging piece again.

Vanessa Sarria of the Austin Community Action Network moderated a great panel on local responses to immigration issues. Both Kate Hanley of the Te mpe Community Council and Cheryl Little of the Florida Immigration Advocacy Center had remarkable stories to tell about immigration... and deportation.

After the conference ended, there was a NAPC Board Meeting.

I am pleased and honored to tell you I'm a Board Member -- and I've got some work to do.

The Board was good enough to entrust me to help put together our program for next year: NAPC 2012.

Pretty exciting stuff.

Three things I can tell you about it right now: I'll work day and night to help make sure it's as good an event as this year.

I'm going to engage good people like Katie Ross of JCCI, who did great work interviewing folks for our YouTube channel, and make sure they're involved next year.

And we're going to talk about messaging.

There is a lot to do before next April.

For now, though, I'm going to take a breath, and regain my bearings here in Florida.

After all, there's no place like home.

#NAPC11 Day One

2011-04-15T18:56:00.000-07:00

A really interesting and informative first day here at #NAPC11 -- that the Twitter hash-tag you can use to find tweets from Ben Warner (@BenWarner ), me (@bkirby816) @JWBPinellas, @N_A_P_C, and others on the NAPC 2011 Conference: Communities in Transformation. I did a very brief vlog (that's "video log") of day one and have uploaded it to the NAPCForward YouTube channel. Watch for more great stuff to be uploaded to the YouTube channel soon. And follow along on Twitter: just find the #NAPC11 hash-tag (hint: you can search for it, and you'll find the tweets for all of us who are using it). Tomorrow is a full day -- see you there!

Packing Up

2011-04-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

I am terrible at packing. I either over-pack or under-pack. Usually the latter, which means if you see me at the NAPC 2011 Conference in Alexandria with no socks, don't laugh.

Just a quick reminder: if you can't join us in Alexandria tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday, you can still participate. In fact, we hope you do.

Follow along on Twitter @N_A_P_C. We'll update this blog soon with a hash-tag.

Also, watch for video on the NAPC Forward YouTube Channel here. I've gotten some new equipment, and we're going to have a bit of help this time, so I think you'll be pleased with the quality of the videos as well the amount of stuff we manage to capture.

You can find us on Facebook, too.

It looks like an exciting and informative agenda. I look forward to participating with you in this great conference -- whether you have to pack to get there or not.

See You in DC: The 2011 NAPC Conference - Communities in Transformation

2011-04-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

I admit it: I am excited to once again travel to D.C. for the 2011 NAPC Conference: Communities in Transition.

However, I would say that I prepare to travel with mixed emotions, for our community -- our Pinellas County community, our Florida community, our national and global community -- has been in great transition, often tumultuously so.

Revolutions have rocked North Africa and the Middle East, aided by new technologies like Facebook and Twitter. The face of our world is changing.

Here at home, we are struggling through what many call a "jobless recovery" -- and I have no doubt that Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute and Demetra Smith Nightingale of The Urban Institute will discuss this during the Saturday sessions.

In Florida, we are once again facing a multi-billion dollar state-wide budget deficit.

Here in Pinellas County, the impact of transition was more personal with the loss of Browning Spence.

Frankly, this has been a tough year for JWB -- for Floridians generally, and even for Americans, even for people around the globe. We took the loss of Browning very hard, and his passing leaves a vacuum at JWB, and I suspect at the NAPC as well.

If you're planning on attending this year, I hope you'll have a good thought for Browning, who would have loved to be there with us.

As we did last year, this year we'll be videotaping most parts of the event, and doing some web-only exclusives, like interviewing the presenters after the fact.

Please don't forget to follow along for daily updates on this blog, on our YouTube page (http://www.youtube.com/NAPCForward), and on our Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/n_a_p_c).

I'll have an updated post some time soon to remind you of those important links so you can follow along. Look forward to updating you from the 2011 Conference in Alexandria, VA.

Communities in Transformation: The 2011 NAPC Conference

2011-02-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

Get your day-planner out -- it's time to make some travel arrangements.

NAPC has announced the details of the 2011 National Conference, entitled "Communities In Transformation: National perspectives, and what communities are doing to respond to the new realities".

We hope you can join us in Alexandria, Virginia April 15-17 (Friday-Sunday). The conference will be at the Embassy Suites Old Town.

You can find information on the conference, including the agenda, registration information, and hotel information by clicking here.

Community planning leaders and practitioners from across the United States and Canada will gather to learn from top experts and exchange real-life experiences and insights.

This year's conference will focus on the economy, health care reform, and immigration ...major issues impacting our local communities and the people we serve.

We must be prepared with the knowledge, perspectives and skills to help our organizations lead and support community progress when faced with complex challenges and rapid changes.

Click here today, learn more about the conference, and register! Look forward to seeing you there.

Consumer Spending Rises

2011-01-31T10:22:00.001-08:00

Finally, a bit of good economic news to kick off 2011: consumer spending for December rose.

Consumer spending in the U.S. rose more than forecast in December, giving the world’s largest economy a lift heading into 2011.

Purchases, which account for about 70 percent of the economy, increased 0.7 percent after climbing 0.3 percent the prior month, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Another report showed businesses expanded in January at the fastest pace in two decades.

In other good(ish) news, the Department of Labor reported that the U.S. unemployment rate fell... by .4%. That's point-four percent.

In this terrible job market, we'll take whatever we can get.

The Judith Rothbaum Award - 2011 Call for Nominations

2011-01-06T13:40:00.000-08:00

Judith Rothbaum had a passion for community service. She was a leader in the social indicator movement.
As research director of the Community Council of Central Oklahoma, Rothbaum created one of the first community indicators projects in the nation. She used her understanding of the importance of measuring data to plan for and stimulate community action. The Judith Rothbaum Award is given in honor of her legacy.

The award will be presented to a single individual who exemplifies professionalism and dedication to the use of social indicators for community action. Nominations will only be accepted from NAPC members. The award will be presented at the NAPC national conference April 15-17, 2011 in Washington D.C. It is desirable for the winner to be present to accept the award at the annual meeting and luncheon on April 16, 2011. The winner will be invited to offer remarks about their work (3-5 minutes), and will receive an award item and nominal cash award.

For more information on the award visit: http://www.communityplanning.org/images/2011%20Call%20for%20Nominations%20-%20NAPC%20Judith%20Rothbaum%20Award.doc

Investment in Education Matters

2011-01-03T06:18:00.000-08:00

Happy new year.

Here's a really fascinating -- and frightening -- piece from former Labor Secretary Robert Reich on why we need investment in education in America. Here's the excerpt:

Over the long term, the only way we’re going to raise wages, grow the economy, and improve American competitiveness is by investing in our people — especially their educations.

You’ve probably seen the reports. American students rank low on international standards of educational performance. Too many of ours schools are failing. Too few young people who are qualified for college or post-secondary education have the opportunity.

I’m not one of those who thinks the only way to fix what’s wrong with American education is to throw more money at it. We also need to do it much better. Teacher performance has to be squarely on the table. We should experiment with vouchers whose worth is inversely related to family income.

But more resources are a pre-requisite for any major reform.

Nobel Laureate and Economist James Heckman makes the case here as well -- it's a must-see website.

This is a growing area of interest that crosses party lines. And if leaders like Heckman and Reich are to be believed, there's not a moment to lose.

Budgets Look Tough at the State, Local Level

2010-12-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

The Huffington Post has the story on state and local budgets -- it's a tough picture.

The future looks bleak for state and local government budgets.

Even as states struggle to cut services, many could soon be in the position of New Jersey, California and Illinois, facing billion-dollar deficits that, unlike the Federal deficit, must be filled. And there's no easy way to repair the budget: When local governments' problems worsen, it becomes more expensive to borrow money. New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who has ruthlessly slashed funding for state programs, might soon see other states following his lead, 60 Minutes reports.

In Memoriam: The Passing of Dr. H. Browning Spence

2010-12-06T09:44:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, November 27, 2010, H. Browning Spence, Ph.D., a leading advocate for children and families in Pinellas County, and most recently the Deputy Director of the Juvenile Welfare Board (JWB), died at his home.

Dr. Spence joined the Board of Directors of the National Association of Planning Councils (NAPC) in 2005 and was elected Board President in 2009. In recognition of his service, he was named NAPC Director Emeritus upon his retirement.

Please click here to read the full statement from JWB.

Please click here to read the Epilogue of Dr. Spence from the St. Petersburg Times.

Deficit Reduction Commission Makes Tough Recommendations

2010-11-12T10:53:00.000-08:00

The Deficit Reduction Commission is out with their recommendations -- and according to the New York Times, they're not very popular.

Mr. Obama, on a diplomatic tour of Asia in which the fiscal condition of the United States has been a recurring backdrop, maintained his silence on Thursday about the particulars of the draft deficit-reduction plan the commission chairmen had released the day before.

“The only way to make those tough choices historically has been if both parties are willing to move forward together,” he said at a news conference in Seoul, South Korea. “And so before anybody starts shooting down proposals, I think we need to listen, we need to gather up all the facts. I think we have to be straight with the American people.”

Mr. Obama’s stance was at the request of the chairmen, Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican Senate leader, and Erskine B. Bowles, a White House chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, who wanted to avoid any statements that might prejudice the panel’s deliberations before its Dec. 1 deadline. But it was also a response to the outcry from both conservatives against taxes and from Mr. Obama’s liberal base against the plan’s proposed long-term cuts in domestic programs across the board, including Social Security and Medicare.

The liberals are already frustrated with the White House on issues like the Afghanistan war and what to do about the Bush-era tax cuts, which expire Dec. 31, and are increasingly uncertain about Mr. Obama’s willingness to fight for long-held party priorities. That question loomed over a meeting at the White House on Thursday between progressive activists and administration aides about strategy for dealing with the Bush tax cuts in the Congressional lame-duck session that begins next week

There's more on the Deficit Commission report here, and from Reuters here.

Please Vote

2010-11-01T10:17:00.001-07:00

I am sure all the readers of the NAPC blog have either voted early, or are planning to vote on Election Day.

Please vote.

Surely War is Not the Answer

2010-11-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

I hope those who read my postings on this blog can appreciate that I have worked very hard to keep them apolitical. It is my strong view that this is not about left or right, conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican. My posts specifically center around the economy, and though I intend to expand into other areas of public policy on this blog soon, I am proud of the fact that no political position is advocated here.

That being said, I was appalled at David Broder's column in the Washington Post today in which his recovery to the economic solution is: war with Iran.

Look back at FDR and the Great Depression. What finally resolved that economic crisis? World War II.

Here is where Obama is likely to prevail. With strong Republican support in Congress for challenging Iran's ambition to become a nuclear power, he can spend much of 2011 and 2012 orchestrating a showdown with the mullahs. This will help him politically because the opposition party will be urging him on. And as tensions rise and we accelerate preparations for war, the economy will improve.

Nice to see that Obama would benefit politically, too. Of course, Broder lets himself off the hook with:

I am not suggesting, of course, that the president incite a war to get reelected. But the nation will rally around Obama because Iran is the greatest threat to the world in the young century. If he can confront this threat and contain Iran's nuclear ambitions, he will have made the world safer and may be regarded as one of the most successful presidents in history.

I'm not suggesting war, but boy would it be helpful!

We have seen a lot of resources and a lot of ideas on how to hasten the economic recovery which we can all agree is coming far too slowly. I'd humbly suggest from a public policy point of view that war is a last-resort kind of answer, if it is one at all.

Shocking: Americans on the Brink as Jobless Benefits Wind Down

2010-10-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

This is a must-read from the Huffingtonpost: New Figures Detail Depth Of Unemployment Misery, Lower Earnings For All But Super Wealthy

One out of every 34 Americans who earned wages in 2008 earned absolutely nothing -- not one cent -- in 2009.

The stunning figure was released earlier this month by the Social Security Administration, but apparently went unreported until it appeared today on Tax.com in a column by Pulitzer Prize-winning tax reporter David Cay Johnston.

It's not just every 34th earner whose financial situation has been upended by the financial crisis. Average wages, median wages, and total wages have all declined -- except at the very top, where they leaped dramatically, increasing five-fold.

Johnston writes that while the number of Americans earning more than $50 million fell from 131 in 2008 to 74 in 2009, those that remained at the top increased their income from an average of $91.2 million in 2008 to almost $519 million.

It's scary stuff, and the article features a must-watch embedded video from 60 Minutes on "the 99ers" -- those who have reached the 99th week of their unemployment benefits, which are now coming to an end.

Please take the time to read the article and check out the video.

New Unemployment Figures Out Today: The News is Bad... Again

2010-10-08T07:04:00.000-07:00

The economic news remains glum...

Nonfarm payroll employment edged down (-95,000) in September, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

The number of unemployed persons, at 14.8 million, was essentially unchanged in September, and the unemployment rate held at 9.6 percent.

Read more on the Department of Labor site.

As always, there is a political angle here:

These are the last monthly figures the Department of Labor will release before the November midterms. Republicans will surely seize on them to argue that the Democrats' economic agenda has failed -- though most economists, and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office agree that unemployment would be about two percent higher than it is without the stimulus.
Over 600,000 people were added to the ranks of the involuntarily part-time work force.
About 2.5 million people, unemployed for more than a month, have stopped looking for work. That number is up from 2.2 million last month.

More to follow soon.

Administrative Business and the Economic Latest

2010-09-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the absence -- it's been almost two months since this poor blog has been updated.

I will be doing more to post information on the economy in this space. I only have one request: help me by telling me what you're looking for. You can email me:

bkirby@jwbpinellas.org

Is the economic information helpful? Would you like to see more localized information? If so, where should we focus?

The purpose of this blog is to provide helpful information to our NAPC friends and partners, and I'd really like to help make it as good as we can -- I'll be watching for your feedback!

American Employment & the Economy: Resources

2010-08-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

There are a few links you should be checking regularly, especially considering the slow pace of the recession. I'll post them below, with a brief explanation of each.

The Economic Policy InstituteThese are the folks who send over Dr. Heidi Shierholz at the annual conference. Keep these folks bookmarked, and check out their frequently updated website often.

Recovery.gov is the official government website of where stimulus dollars are going and how they are being spent. This is a fantastic interactive website, with lots of good mapping and data tools.

The U.S. Department of Labor. These are the folks who calculate and produce those jobs numbers every month (along with a lot of other great data). You should have this as one of your regularly visited sites, for sure.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities -- be sure to check out their State Fiscal Analysis Initiative.

The Brookings Institute - Economy page

The Bonddad Blog is the blog of a tax lawyer with lots of insight into the economy and the markets.

Robert Reich -- the former Labor Secretary has a lot to say about the economy and the job situation in America.

The White House Office of Management and Budget blog

The Economist - Free Exchange

Economix -- a blog of the New York Times.

Economist Mom -- where analytical rigor meets a mother's intuition.

The Big Picture -- the blog of a Wall Street money manager.

Calculated Risk -- a blog on finance and economics

The Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch. Don't forget their online tracking tool, Big Charts.

Yahoo! Finance

The Street

Reuters Business

Forex Blog -- currency trading and analysis.

Morningstar

Bloomberg News -- a must read!

What have I missed? A lot, I'm sure! Feel free to add your own resources in the comments. We'll try to get a blogroll going for folks based on this post and your comments. Thanks for your input.

Jobs: The Latest

2010-07-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

Our job problems in America could last more than a decade.

The U.S. Senate's epic struggle just to reauthorize unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless suggests that policymakers in Washington fundamentally don't understand the jobs hole we're in, according to a team of trained economists.

The progressive Center for Economic and Policy Research reports that it could take an entire decade for the national unemployment rate to come down to pre-recession levels.

In some good news on this front, the filibuster has been broken on Capitol Hill on moving forward with unemployment benefits.

And a quick resources for you: via our friends at the Economic Policy Institute and EconomyTrack, a great interactive graphic on unemployment in the states.

Interesting to note: 16 states have double-digit unemployment. Except for Nevada (14.2%), California (12.3%), and Oregon (10.5%), all of the states are either Rust-Belt states (Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania), or are east Southern states (Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky). Yes, Missouri is in there, too -- but you can see a definite geographic trend.

Why? Better question, maybe, is what has New England (Vermont at 6%, New Hampshire at 5.9%, for example) done right? What has the South (Arkansas at 7.5%, Oklahoma at 6.8%, Louisiana at 7%) done right? What have the Corn Belt and the upper mid-western states done right?

Are there lessons to learn? Or is it just a geographical disparity, a glitch?

Towards a Double-Dip?

2010-07-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

By now, you probably get a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you see my byline on this blog. Maybe your heart rate speeds up. Your palms sweat. You start breathing hard.

I'm trying to cover some economic news for us, and it hasn't been pleasant. We have been slow to come out of this recession. And now the news is about to get worse.

Get out the Tums.

There has been talk of an impending "double-dip" recession, which is just what it sounds like. Here is former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, on his blog you should be reading regularly.

The economy is still in the gravitational pull of the Great Recession and all the booster rockets for getting us beyond it are failing. The odds of a double dip are increasing.

In June the nation added fewer jobs than necessary merely to keep up with population growth (private hiring rose by 83,000 after adding only 33,000 jobs in May). The typical workweek declined. Average earnings dropped. Home sales are down. Retail sales are down. Factory orders in May suffered their biggest tumble since March of last year.

He goes on to say we're doing "less than nothing," that states are running an "anti-stimulus program" in cutting taxes, cutting services, and laying off state and municipal employees, like teachers. He notes that the low short-term interest rates provided by the Fed aren't doing any good, either, because nobody has any money to buy anything.

Okay, dry your tears and take a deep breath. Not everyone thinks we're headed towards a double-dip recession. Some -- like Hale "Bonddad" Stewart, who is a regular contributor to the popular political and public affairs polling evaluation blog Five Thirty Eight, as well as much more technical economic and financial stuff on his own blog -- make a solid case with lots of graphical evidence that we are in fact growing the economy, just in "fits and starts" or at least very, very slowly.

At the end of last August, I wrote a price titled The Fits and Starts Expansion. I used that title specifically to illustrate the type of growth we would see: one area of the economy will lead for a few months, then another would take over as the first fell back. So instead of all parts working in harmony, parts would take turns leading. As a result, we would experience slower growth, largely in the 1%-2% range. That is still the primary scenario I see going forward. It won't be pretty, but it will be growth.

Our friend Dr. Heidi Shierholz at the Economic Policy Institute says we are we're running out of steam with respect to the recovery.

In December of 2007, the start of the recession, weekly jobless claims were in the mid-300,000 range. As the job crisis worsened, weekly jobless claims rose sharply, peaking at 651,000 in March of 2009. Although the number of weekly jobless claims started to decline after that point, it has been stuck in a range of 440,000 to 480,000 for 19 weeks, with 454,000 new jobless claims in the week ended July 3. Although the official unemployment rate has edged down recently, that improvement is largely due to discouraged workers dropping out of the work force altogether. The country is emerging from the worst downturn in seven decades but the recovery is excruciatingly slow. The pace of job creation in recent months, while a dramatic improvement over last year’s job losses, is not nearly sufficient to put America’s 14.6 million unemployed workers back to work in the foreseeable future.

The bold is mine, because I think we're starting to see a little common ground. The economic is improving on technical points, but in a practical sense it is not. In other words, some people are in fact going back to work in anticipation of a recovery. But it's a slow process -- made all the slower given the lack of political interest in another round of stimulus spending.

Nobody likes the taste of medicine, even if it's what we need.

The Summer of Our Discontent: Jobs Picture Stays Gloomy

2010-06-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

Several links I want to share with you on the jobs front.

First, stocks fell to their lowest point of the year today based on some new jobs data coming out -- it's not good. The bad news on jobs hit the European markets as well.

Here is the link to a story on that jobs report.

One of the political fights out there is between those who think we should work on deficit reduction, and those who think we should extend uneployment benefits. Well, our friends at EPI definitely have an opinion on that issue: Deficit reduction should take a back seat to job creation.

EPI Research and Policy Director John Irons said during a June 30, 2010 testimony before the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform: "Major deficit reduction should not be on the table until the recovery is firmly on track, that is, until unemployment has dropped significantly and is on a downward trajectory. To be concrete, unemployment should reach 6 percent or lower, and be trending downward, before any fiscal contraction should be seriously considered. In fact, with unemployment hovering near 10 percent and with projections putting unemployment at elevated levels for at least the next couple of years, further job creation is indeed necessary."

I wonder if anyone was listening to Mr. Iron's testimony. There are a bunch of people without jobs who probably hope so.

Tough News and Tough Messages on the Job Front

2010-06-04T13:10:00.001-07:00

Some news on the recession and jobs came out today -- and that news is not good. From Michael Powell of the New York Times:

A shadow fell across America’s economic recovery on Friday, as the Labor Department’s monthly report showed that private sector job growth was considerably weaker than expected.

The headline numbers suggested a reason to be optimistic — employers added 431,000 jobs and the jobless rate fell to 9.7 percent from 9.9 percent in April. But the underlying numbers showed that almost all of the job growth came from the 411,000 workers hired by the federal government to help with the Census. Most of those jobs will disappear in a few months.

Emphasis is mine. What that means is, job growth has stagnated. If this doesn't scare you, then here's a great chart, courtesy of TalkingPointsMemo:

Also from the New York Times:

Students seeking summer jobs, generally 16 to 24 years old, are at the end of the job line, behind the jobless baby boomers who are competing with new college graduates who, in turn, are trying to elbow out undergraduates and high school students.

With so many people competing for so few jobs, unemployed youth “are the silent victims of the economy,” said Adele McKeon, a career specialist with the Boston Private Industry Council who counsels students on matters like workplace etiquette, professionalism and résumé writing.

During the NAPC Conference this year, we had a great presentation on the economy from the Economic Policy Institute's Heidi Shierholz. Dr. Shierholz's own assessment is that there was no job growth in May. It's a serious enough issue that she has written a post on the widely-read and influential HuffingtonPost, calling for the Obama Administration to take a strong lead on this critical issue.

To get back to the pre-recession level of 5 percent unemployment, we need to create 11 million jobs. If the U.S. economy started adding jobs fast - say, as fast as it did during the late-90's boom - it would still take until 2015 to get back to 5 percent unemployment.

It's almost certain that we won't see such rapid job growth in coming years. What today's report demonstrated, more than anything else, is that the private sector isn't anywhere close to being in a position to create sufficient numbers of jobs on its own. It needs a boost.

And, she goes on:

The President should show some strong leadership and push ahead with aggressive efforts to put people back to work. There are plenty of good policy options for doing this, like the Local Jobs for America Act. There are also crucial steps that we must take both to aid unemployed workers and strengthen a recovery, like extending unemployment insurance.

And the news continues to get worse for state and local governments as well. More of the same.

Be sure and watch for more posts on the economy and job creation here at the NAPC blog.

An Outreach Story: The Florida Children's Budget

2010-05-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

A quick story about our latest outreach effort at JWB.

Back in 2007, Governor Charlie Crist created the Florida Children and Youth Cabinet. The cabinet consists of 20 members and will coordinate state agencies and programs that deliver children’s services. One of those members is JWB Executive Director Gay Lancaster.

As the cabinet moves ahead with their coordination efforts, they realized they would need to put together a "children's budget." Interesting that no one had ever thought to do it before.

How much money does the State of Florida spend on children? No one ever added up the numbers.

Well, a long story short, Michael Warner (there to the left with our own Karen Sierra at a working lunch in Alexandria) -- who joined us at the NAPC Conference a few weeks ago -- has taken the staff lead in putting this budget together. It will be introduced formally to the cabinet at a meeting in Orlando next week.

Once the cabinet adopts the budget, how are we going to distribute this important document?

Figuring that one out is, in large part, my job. And I realized early on that I was engaging in some "old school" thinking.

With our Twitter feed, our Facebook page, and our YouTube page, we can give this thing some real reach. This is, of course, in addittion to the regular modes of getting something like this out -- because it's graphic-heavy and about 40 pages, we'll stick with PDFs and email them to our partners, the media, and other interested parties.

Now we have a much broader reach. This thing will go around the world in an afternoon. Just imagine what we can acccomplish once all the other Children's Cabinet members will do when they engage their own social media tools.

Watch for the report soon!

Lethal Generosity: Reshaping the Social Sector

2010-04-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

At the National Association of Planning Council's 2010 Conference there was a session to discuss a publication by the James Irvine Foundation titled, " Convergence: How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector." One of the key trends highlighted in the report is the blurring of sector boundaries. This trend is due in part to a "growing empasis on corporate social responsibility."

Today, I came across a blog, Communication Overtones, that expands on how this trend is developing. Basically the blog describes the concept of lethal generosity which is preliminarily defined as "when a corporation applies its core competencies to advance social change in a way that contributes to business results and gives it a competitive advantage." This is essentially a way for companies to integrally tie corporate social responsibility to their core mission. The blogger, Kami Huyse, states:

"It takes a dialog with the community to make [lethal generosity] work, and a commitment on the part of a company to make real social change. The non-profit community calls this the Theory of Change and it requires an expected outcome and a roadmap to get to that social change outcome."

What becomes integral for non-profits in the concept of lethal generosity is to become part of businesses' dialog with communities as they work to make social change. If non-profits do not become engaged in these growing efforts, the James Irvine Foundation warns, we may end up competing with businesses in certain initiatives. How can we increase cross-sector collaboration in a way that genuinely ensures that duplication of services remains low and that each entity can adapt their programs to the populations that they are best able to serve?

The New Normal Sets a New Standard

2010-04-19T07:53:00.000-07:00

Extraordinary.

It's the word my colleagues and I keep coming back to when we're describing the 2010 NAPC Conference. I will follow this up with a more in-depth post soon giving some specific thoughts on specific presentations (they were all good, but there were some big take-aways in particular sessoins).

But first, I wanted to thank Sharon Clark for basically holding my hand through this whole thing. She has been an excellent guide through the NAPC and the Conference, and I regret not being able to meet her in Alexandria.

I'd also like to thank my co-panelists on the new media panel, Rick Cohen and Melanie Herman. They were really great.

Finally, I'd especially like to thank Chantel Bottoms and Valerie Venezia -- they were inspiring, on the panel and throughout the conference. They made the live-tweeting a success, and they were just a real pleasure to work with on this thing. I thought we made a great team, and look forward to doing even bigger and better things next year.

Please don't forget the videos on our YouTube page. There are more to come, including the full board meeting the award presentations.

Look forward to seeing everyone again in person next year -- and in the virtual world in the meantime!

Off to the Races

2010-04-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

What an impressive group of folks. We've just gone around the room here at the 2010 NAPC Conference, and there is a lot of talent and dedication in the room.

Hope you're following along on our Twitter feed -- we're sparking an excellent online conversation.

Dr. Heidi Shierholz from the Economic Policy Institute is up next on the new normal as it relates to jobs, the economy, and the end of the recession. Watch for pictures and video!

NAPC Channel: Community Indicators and Performance Measure Integration

2010-04-16T20:31:00.001-07:00

Our YouTube channel is live!

The first video is Ben Warner talking to Allen Lomax about community indicators and performance measures -- it's a great conversation. Check the YouTube channel again throughout tomorrow, and I'll try to have video just like this uploaded.

Remember -- you can subscribe to the YouTube page (just scroll down).

Also one more reminder: find our Twitter feed and follow us. We are using hash-tag: #NAPC10 (that's like a subject line in an email).

See you tomorrow!

Turn to Channel NAPCForward!

2010-04-15T13:09:00.001-07:00

I hope you are all packed up and ready to head out to Alexandria, Virgina for the conference. I'm really looking forward to it.

One last link -- and it's an important one: www.YouTube.com/NAPCForward

I'll have a little video-camera with me uploading cool videos of sessions and speakers to our YouTube page. So if you miss something live and in-person, or we didn't cover it on the Twitter feed, then visit YouTube and check it out!

Don't worry. I have a little bit of experience with the whole TV thing.

See you soon.

See You On Friday

2010-04-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

I am very much looking forward to seeing you at the NAPC Conference this Friday.

I don't want to overload you with information before we get to the conference, and I certainly don't want to overshadow my co-panelists (not that I really think I could, even if I wanted to) -- but I did want to share a story and offer up a few resources.

I recently fielded a call from an organization -- I won't name names -- who had "a Facebook issue." Their issue amounted to image postings from a staffer which were subsequently invoked in a formal legal setting against that staffer by someone who might best be described as an adjudicated individual under the purview of this organization. In other words, the client of this organization justified his own bad behavior by referencing what could be construed as bad behavior on the part of a staff person with a Facebook page.

Uh-oh.

My advice remains the same: organizations need to utilize these new media tools to tell their great stories -- but there is no question that you need quality policies in place. Again, I don't want to step on the toes of Melanie Herman, Rick Cohen, Valerie Venezia, or our moderator, Chantel Bottoms, but here are a few links to get you thinking. Explore:

A fairly comprehsive list: Web 2.0 Governance Policies and Best Practices

Another good list, well done from Altimeter: Social Media Policies

Social Media Policies of 113 Organizations

Social Media Convergence

Finally, a couple of quick reminders: don't forget to set up your Twitter account! And the very first thing you should do is find @N_A_P_C (that AT sign, then N_A_P_C) and "follow" us. It will be an integral part of the conference, so sign up soon.

Don't forget: sign up for your delicious account. I personally guarantee you that before the conference ends, someone will forward you a link and you'll open it, and you won't have time to read it. Don't forget it -- bookmark it!

I'll be there with my colleagues from our JWB Contract Management Department, Michael Warner and Karen Sierra. I know that they are looking forward to a great event as well.

See you soon!

Convergence: How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector

2010-04-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

The James Irvine Foundation published this report which proposes that due to the recent economic downturn non-profits have been forced to change the way that operate. These changes are so substantial that the social services sector will not return to its pre-crisis state. There authors of the report suggest that there are five major trends that are defining social sector changes. They will eventually drive a new state for non-profits.

Demographic Shifts - The number of young workers is increasing. Older workers must look towards succession planning. The combination of these two shifts mean that many organizations may find themselves with younger persons taking on leadership positions. All staff must learn to overcome generational stereotypes and adjust to different generational approaches to various business operations.

Technological Advances - As social media and other techology tools become increasingly available, nonprofits must not only take advantage of the tools, but also develop strategies for using them. One strategy that is emerging is moving from a single organizational spokesperson to empowering everyone in the organization to become a spokesperson.

Networks Enable Work to be Organized in New Ways - Technology has eased organizations' ability to collaborate with one another locally and across broader geographic regions. Because of our increased flexibility in collaboration, we must begin to look at work in a new way. Organizations must consider how work is organized and impactful in entrepreneurship, programs, organizations, and networks of organizations rather than just thinking in the box of how their singular organization operates and impacts things.

Interest in Civic Engagement and Volunteerism is Rising - Young professionals raised with community service and an unprecendented number of active retirees are becoming a broad pool of potential volunteers. Virtual volunteering (where volunteer tasks are completed online) and micro-volunteering (where volunteers help in small ways that do not require a long-term commitment) are increasing in popularity. In developing volunteer opportunities, organizations must offer a variety of options as volunteers have different senses of what a meaningful contribution is depending on their race, ethnicity, or age.

Sector Boundaries are Blurring - Corporate responsibility efforts are increasing. Non-profits are often pursuing for-profit ventures. As a result, there may begin to be more collaboration between for-profit and non-profit organizations OR new organizations may emerge that are for-profit in nature but work towards some goal of social benefit.

We have an opportunity to pursue innovative change and embrace our new landscape. Are nonprofits up to the challenge? Join the National Association of Planning Councils at our upcoming conference in Arlington, VA where we will further review this exciting report and have a broader discussion about implications for community planning practice. Learn more about the conference here.

Let the Countdown Begin

2010-03-17T09:24:00.000-07:00

I am pretty excited about the upcoming NAPC Conference: Community Planning for "The New Normal". Washington, DC is my old stomping ground for a lot of years, so it'll be nice to get back and visit, if only for a short time.

In just over four weeks, I and a few of my colleagues from JWB (I'll update you as to who in a later post) will join you all in Alexandria -- I know we're going to learn a lot, and I hope we'll be able to leave you with a little bit of knowledge as well.

If you haven't already, be sure to sign up for a Twitter account (and follow NAPC!). We'll have more information on this at the conference on Saturday morning -- but you may want to get a head start. It's easy, fast, and free. Also, don't forget my homework assignment from last time: get yourself a delicious account.

I am wildly impressed (and a little intimidated) by the remarkable array of people who will be presenting and serving on panels at the conference. I look forward to meeting you in person next month!

Sifting Through

2010-02-24T11:15:00.000-08:00

I hope you'll permit me a quick personal update.

Emeline Diana Kirby was born on Wednesday, February 3rd. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 2 ounces, 19 inches long. She passed all her tests and seems to be doing great. She keeps me and her mother mesmerized, even when she's sleeping.

Duncan is recuperating and doing fine. I'm learning the fine art of burping and diapering. It's a process, but it's going well, and to be totally honest, it's more fun that I ever thought it would be.

So I was gone for almost three weeks, but now I'm back here at work. I do miss Emeline and her mother like crazy, but I must confess something to you: it's sort of nice to be back, to begin to find a routine.

As nice as it was to begin to figure out the new routine, I had a brief freak-out on Monday morning: it occured to me that I hadn't followed any news, any blogs, hadn't read any email, hadn't checked any messages for nearly three weeks.

It was as bad as it sounds. Today is Wednesday, and I'm still digging out. The truth is, I'll probably never catch up.

This isn't because I'm not organized (though I'm not, really). It's because of the glut of information out there. The Internet is not a stream of data, or a river of information. It's the most vast ocean mankind has ever known.

Forget taking three weeks off. How are we supposed to navigate this seemingly desolate sea day to day?

Believe it or not, there are certain tools -- think of them as data North Stars, informational jetstreams, search term currents -- to help us get around this crazy ocean and sift through the stuff we don't want and find and keep the gems we do.

The Atlantic Wire (a blog published by The Atlantic Magazine) had a neat series that caught my eye. Under the "Media Diet" heading, it's "What I Read". The most recent entry is from journalist and New Yorker writer Steve Coll. Be sure to check out what the other journalists read as well (the links are at the bottom of the Steve Coll piece).

I counted nearly twenty different news sources he reads. I'll talk about how we choose what news sources later.

But for now, I want you to focus on the stuff to the right, just below the headline (follow the orange arrow I put in there):

What about when you click the little "plus" and "more" icon?

These are examples of what are called bookmarking and sharing tools. They are designed to do exactly that -- and they have the added benefit of sorting through what you want... and weeding out what you don't.

Okay, rather than try to explain the differences in each and every social bookmarking tool, I'm going to give you some homework. And if you do it right you'll thank me, because it will de-clutter your in-box, cut down on your surfing time, and begin to organize your online life. (Yes, the tools to organize the overwhelming content have themselves become overwhelming.)

The most popular -- and most efficient -- social bookmarker is called Delicious. I use it. And it's been a life-saver. If I see an article that I just don't have time to read, and this little icon is attached somewhere (as it was in the Atlantic Wire story), I can simply save it to my bookmarks on Delicious.

The link from the story, along with the name of the story and a brief description, is saved on my Delicious page, and I can come back and click it any time I want. No more trying to remember key search terms, or what I read where to find an old article online.

Delicious is like your own personal library. And you know where everything is "shelved".

Your homework assignment is to sign up for a Delicious account. It's free and easy.

Then go out and bookmark a couple of articles. Once you get the hang of bookmarking, begin to investigate the "tagging" feature, which allows you to organize all your articles by the key words you choose. You can share all of the things you bookmark with your friends and co-workers, too.

The second part of your homework assignment is to explore RSS feeds.

You've seen this icon on your browser and on web pages, I'm sure:

Try it out. Sign up for an RSS feed. Just click that little orange button on your browser.

Don't worry: it's not as scary as it looks. And although it sounds like a big hassle, you'll see that it actually frees up more of your time. Remember how we talked about Twitter as a sort of personal news feed about you or your organization? Think of the RSS feature as forcing all the things you read to become more streamlined -- more like a news feed... a news feed of the things you want to read.

Go out and get that Delicious account set up, and fire up your RSS feeds. I look forward to your feedback on how it's going!

Looking Towards the Future

2010-01-27T07:58:00.000-08:00

I don't think I have mentioned this -- which is surprising, because I mention it to everyone, a lot -- but I am expecting my first child next week. Our daughter, Emeline Diana, will be born on Wednesday, February 3. Or sooner. To say the least, we are excited.

Not yet born, and I intend to use my daughter as a intro point for today's post. (The poor kid doesn't even have a chance with a father in the communications business...)

I think about her all the time now, and one of the things I think about is how she will be communicating with her professional colleagues, friends, community members, and neighbors when she's a kid, or in high school, or in college, or when she's the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (her mother and I have set modest goals for her, you can tell). Where will she get her news? Where will she get her content? Who will provide it?

The reference point is my own childhood. When I was a kid, there were three channels on TV in Little Rock, Arkansas -- 4, 7, and 11 on the dial, all affiliates of NBC, CBS, and ABC. There were the usual array of radio stations, and I and my siblings typically listened to either "Crazy" Craig O'Neill on the pop station, or the Outlaw Tommy Smith on Magic 105 and their steady stream of what is now called classic rock. No Internet, no cellphones. No Blackberries, no iPhones, no satellite radio. We got our information from the evening local and national news (I come from an NBC family) and the daily paper. As a kid, I read "Marmaduke" as much or more than the editorial page.

The truth is, that paradigm has only changed for me in the last 15 years or so, as is the case for most of us. I still listen to NPR on the radio, and I still read the local paper. But now I can also read my beloved Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the old hometown newspaper, and usually three or four others (I criss-cross the nation, typically). I also look at all the wire services -- Reuters and UPI and AP -- and C-SPAN, CNN, Bloomberg, FOX News. There are more in-depth outlets as well.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I haven't mentioned the news alerts -- not to mention the Facebook alerts or the Tweets -- I get on my Blackberry.

If it seems like too much, that is because there is too much. We will talk about ways to narrow your focus and find the content you want to find in a future post.

But let's get back to generations.

I read and scan a lot of different stuff, and we all agree it's way, way too much. But just imagine what this will be like for Emeline. In twenty, thirty, forty years, how will all of this have evolved? No one really knows the answer to that question.

But what we do know is that the younger generations are increasingly relying on the web and new media to get their information.

In my last blog post, we talked a little bit about the numbers with respect to new media and how far we've come since Marconi was messing around with radio signals in 1895. With this post, I want to introduce you to the concept of the generational division, and perhaps demostrate why we need to begin to communicate the message of NAPC across a broader spectrum. Let's look at some numbers again:

In 2006, a Harris poll showed:

88% of those aged 59+ watch local broadcast news or cable. Only 52% of those 18-27 do. 69% of Generation X aged 28-39 do.

That's a 36% jump between those in their twenties and the so-called Baby Boomers. Generation X -- my generation -- is somewhere in the middle, as you can see.

80% of those aged 59+ read a daily newspaper. Only 43% of those 18-27 do. 49% for Generation X.

If a thirty year difference in age means a 37% decline in newspaper readership, then that means by the time Emeline is 30, only about 6% of the population will be reading a newspaper. Similarly, the old format of talk radio is on the decline:

41% of those 59+ listen to talk radio. 24% for 18-27. 35% for Gen X.

What are some of the reasons for the decline of traditional media?

As of 2008, nearly two thirds of Americans - 67% - believe traditional journalism is out of touch with what Americans want from their news. [We Media/Zogby Interactive]

Nearly half of respondents (48%) said their primary source of news and information is the Internet, an increase from 40% who said the same a year ago. [We Media/Zogby Interactive]

In other words, what all of this polling and all of these numbers tell us is that the world of my old 3-channel stations and Marmaduke morning papers is on its way out the door, and a whole new world is about to be ushered in. And as younger people become more adept at new technology, the better the systems of communication news and information.

I brought up Emeline for a couple of reasons. The first was to explain how new generations are going to expect to be communicated with in new ways.

And the second was to say that after next week, I may be a little light on posting. But I'll be returning to work on February 22nd, and will look forward to providing you with another post then!

Free Webinar Tomorrow!: Website Conversion & Social Media

2010-01-26T10:40:00.000-08:00

Part One: The 7 Habits for Maximizing Website Conversions

Go beyond the landing page and learn how to develop strategies for guiding visitors toward conversion. Darren Guarnaccia, expert in enhancing business website value, discusses the leading principles of conversion and how to maximize ad spend. This part of the webinar will explain how to make improvements to your website in order to generate conversions and add value to your business.

Part Two: Harnessing the Conversation Economy: Keys to a Holistic Social Media Strategy

The rise of social media has created a paradigm shift in how we market businesses throughout the Internet. Search is no longer king; and conversation now reigns. Adam Mertz, product marketing manager at Jive Software, discusses how to succeed in a conversation economy by leveraging social media for a competitive advantage. Using real-world case studies, Adam will show you how to create sustainable differentiation within the social media spectrum.

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
2:00 p.m. Eastern/11:00 a.m. Pacific
Duration: 90 minutes

Register here: https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=189140&sessionid=1&key=FD9AECD353CA5AF6A1AE8BAD32D312F3&partnerref=clickzblast012610-btbutton&sourcepage=register

Join the conversation!

2010-01-22T09:51:00.000-08:00

Want to converse with other NAPC members about something you read on this blog? Scroll down to the end of the blog post and click on comments...

When the comment box pops up type what you want and then use the drop down box to select the "Comment as Google Account" option...

You will be redirected to a page that prompts you to sign in with your Google account. If you don't have a Google account, click on "Create an account now."

Filling out a quick sign up page will create your google account and redirect you to the NAPC blog to post your first comment...

From then on you will be set to have blog discussions with NAPC members. Just use your Google sign-in information each time. We look forward to you joining the conversation!

Add It Up

2010-01-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

As a kid, I was terrible at math. My poor parents tried everything -- helping me with homework, tutors, prayer -- nothing seemed to work. Numbers are not my friend.

Which should make today's post especially fun. After all, it's all about the numbers.

I get asked to talk to a lot of web and web technology skeptics. I'm not entirely sure why -- when it comes to much of this stuff, I'm self-taught and a late adopter at that. My assumption is that it has more to do with me being a communications guy...

Anyway, I am asked to "sell" technology to skeptical observers. I always start by saying I have nothing to sell. This isn't a sell or don't-sell proposition -- it's living history, and it is evolving even as I type this post. I have had leaders in the non-profit community, for example, say "Oh, we don't need Facebook [or Twitter, or whatever other technological thing they can think of off the tops of their heads] -- that's just kid's stuff!"

My response usually is something along the lines of: "Do you agree that as a non-profit, you need to tell a compelling story in the community in order to not only perpetuate (through donor dollars, for example), but also to continue the focus of your work?"

They always answer "Yes, but if I want to tell a lot of people the story of my great non-profit, I'll just by some radio time! Or cut a TV public service announcement!"

I usually tell them that there's nothing wrong with TV or radio -- but to ignore the reach of web 2.0 is to make a potentially fatal error.

"Prove it," they say, indignant. And now it gets fun.

First, a little history lesson as we look back at the progress of radio and TV, to the new age:

-- In 1895, an Italian inventor named Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) sent a radio signal across his family estate. He is the father of radio.

-- Seventeen years later, in 1912, the United States Congress passed the Radio Act.

-- In September of 1927, Philo T. Farnsworth transmitted his first successful electronic TV images.

-- In 1931, NBC began its first TV station in New York.

-- Ten years later, in 1941, the FCC issued its first ten licenses.

It only took 46 years from the time the first radio signal was ever sent before the FCC started handing out broadcast licenses.

Let's check back in with our numbers and see if things pick up at all.

-- In 1949 there are 2,881 radio stations and 98 television stations. By 1960, there were 4,309 radio stations, 569 television stations. [Adam Thierer, Heritage Foundation, 1993]

-- By 1989, there were more than 10,000 radio stations and nearly 1,400 TV stations. [Adam Thierer, Heritage Foundation, 1993]

-- Jeff Bezos founds Amazon.com in 1994. Today it is America’s largest online retailer, with more than 20,000 employees, and bringing in more than $20 billion in revenue in 2008.

-- In 1995, there were 18,000 websites in the world. [Netcraft]

-- More than 58% of homes had basic cable in 2006. [Wikipedia]

-- As of January 2008 there were (appx.) 156 million websites on Earth [Technorati]

-- As of 2010, there were more than 200,000,000 websites on Earth [Netcraft]

-- Today there are more than 3 million subscribers to XM Satellite Radio. [Satellite Radio USA]

-- Sirius has more than 1 million. Sirius has 65 channels of music and 52 channels of information. [Satellite Radio USA]

-- In August 2006, YouTube hosted about 6.1 million videos. They had about 500,000 accounts. [Wall Street Journal]

-- It is estimated that in 2007, YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000, and that over 13 hours of video are uploaded every minute. [Wall Street Journal]

-- As of April 2008, a YouTube search returned about 83.4 million videos and 3.75 million user channels. [Wall Street Journal]

-- Today there are more than 110 million active users of Facebook. [Wikipedia] I am one of them.

-- There are more than 106 million MySpace accounts as of September 2006. [Wikipedia]

-- As of October 2008, there are 3,200,000 Twitter accounts. [Wikipedia]

-- There are at least 56 web-based news aggregators, five cross-platform aggregators, nine for Macintosh, around 30 for PC (Windows), seven for Linux, nine e-mail based aggregators, and ten for mobile devices.

In other words, there are more news aggregators now than there were TV stations in 1949.

It's true -- as community planners, we have to tell a great story. And we have to tell it right here, because this is where you will find your audience.

Are You Following Us on Twitter STOP (A Brief Introduction to Twitter)

2010-01-15T06:49:00.000-08:00

Have you ever gotten a telegram? You know, the little piece of paper with just a few words on it, frequently delivered by Western Union? Telegrams were the Twitter of their day -- passing along bits of information in as compact a manner as possible.

Not long ago, some of the most important messages in the world were sent using telegrams. For example, this one:

That's Orville Wright telling his father to alert the press -- he and Wilbur had flown a plane for 57 seconds. They'd be home for Christmas.

Twitter continues the tradition of delivering important messages in small packages. It is an innovative business concept which seeks to have you answer one question in 140 characters or less: what are you doing?

Like telegrams, though, we can convey much, much more information than simply "I'm eating leftover pizza, drinking a beer and watching re-runs on TV!" For example, at JWB (where you can find us via Twitter @JWBPinellas -- more on what that means in a second), we not only post links to our data website (http://www.aboutpinellaskids.org/), we also live-tweet (posting on Twitter is called "tweeting") our Board Meetings.

In this way, you can start to think of Twitter as less of a micro-blog and more of what it really is -- a news feed from an organization or person. And it's a kind of super-news feed. With Twitter, you can link to pictures, video, audio and other blogs. There's even a website which shrinks lengthy URLs to save you characters.

Yes, Twitter has spawned a whole culture of its own -- even it's own language. (Check out the Twictionary here). And it has proven itself. Much of the news of the disastrous earthquake in Haiti is being posted on Twitter. Iran still continues to go through what is being called "The Twitter Revolution." Twitter is playing such a major role in global affairs that the United States Department of State has launched its own Twitter contest.

What does this mean for NAPC (on Twitter @N_A_P_C)? Well, Twitter is nothing more than a community building tool. Again, take a look at JWB -- we have 238 people who follow what we post. That is 238 people (a very modest number we intend to grow) who -- simply by being logged on to Twitter -- can get updates on what we're doing and what we're saying as we do it and say it. The AARP's Create the Good has 3,816 followers -- a bit more reach. So my real goal now is to post something so interesting, so provocative, so helpful, and with such a far-reaching message that the team at Create the Good will repost it (called "re-tweeting" and identified as RT) to their nearly four-thousand followers.

See how the network gets built?

If you're still skeptical about Twitter, that is understandable. For all of the important information shared on the platform, there is plenty of what you might call the "beer and pizza" posts. Weeding through the junk can sometimes be a challenge -- but there are resources... a lot of resources, in fact.

My recommendation is to start a Twitter account of your own. It's easy and free. And subscribe to a few different Twitter feeds (start with @N_A_P_C, which is the username for NAPC -- search for "N_A_P_C" and you'll find us.) Simply watch what people are doing and saying. You'll get the hang of it.

See you in the Twitter-verse!

The Most Important Blog Post You'll Ever Read

2010-01-14T14:03:00.000-08:00

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit.

But before I tell you why I lied to you in the title of this post, please let me introduce myself and explain why I'm here.

My name is Benjamin J. Kirby, and I'm the Communications Manager for the JWB Children's Services Council of Pinellas County. A Children’s Services Council -- or CSC, as we call it -- is a countywide special taxing district created by ordinance to fund programs and services that improve the lives of children and their families. Examples of programs and services funded by CSCs include school readiness, after school care, prenatal care, youth development, and foster care review.

I am here because the Deputy Director of JWB (and one of my bosses), Dr. Browning Spence, asked me to join the NAPC Forward group. Dr. Spence, as you likely already know, serves on the Board of NAPC.

Since a lot of what I'm doing for JWB in my capacity as Communications Manager revolves around introducing us to new media -- or web 2.0 -- he thought my working with NAPC Forward would be a good idea. So far, so good, from my perspective.

Now, every time some techno-geek such as myself begins evangelizing on the wonders of the Internet, or blogs, or Facebook, or YouTube, or Twitter, or Delicious, or whatever the latest thing I've fallen in love with is, I always get a few eye-rolling skeptics. That's fine. Skeptics keep us true believers honest.

So let me pitch the benefits of all of this -- and more -- this way.

According to the NAPC materials (yes, the website):

NAPC is a national non-profit organization which seeks to improve the human condition through encouraging research-based community planning and action.

Planning councils bring people together to identify needs and work toward solutions, mobilizing community involvement, developing and coordinating services, advocating for informed decisions by funders and policy makers, and linking people with community resources.

I really like that second paragraph. It sounds a lot like what we do here in the communications world. We "bring people together," we help "identify needs and work towards solution." We even "mobilize" folks, and "advocate for informed decisions."

The way we do that is by telling great stories. You'll hear it called "messaging" or "scripting" or "staying on-point" or a million other things. But it all comes down to communicating a good story -- a story good enough to move someone to action.

The tools we're talking about utilizing for NAPC allow us to tell the same good story we've always told -- but to a wider, more diverse audience. How could this not be a core principle of encouraging "community planning and action"?

This is not the most important blog post you'll ever read. (One of my NAPC Forward colleagues will likely provide that post.) But I hope that it caught your attention enough to read this story -- and to come back to this blog and read more stories. It is my intention to talk about how things like Twitter (where you can find NAPC @N_A_P_C), Facebook (where you can find the NAPC Forward group), and much more -- and how it can help you and the important mission of NAPC in very practical ways.

Thanks -- and be sure to check back with us soon.

Webinar: The Science of Social Media Marketing

2010-01-12T12:05:00.000-08:00

Thursday, January 28, 2010
10am PT, San Francisco

Presented by: Dan Zarrella

Duration: Approximately 60 minutes.

Cost: Free

More and more people are using social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to talk about companies and products with their friends and colleagues. Learn what drives people to share information and opinions online and learn scientifically proven best practices for spreading your content virally through social media. You'll have plenty of time for Q&A with Dan Zarrella, social media and viral marketing scientist and author of "The Social Media Marketing Book."

Dan will cover:

The history of word of mouth marketing, from pre-web to online

Lessons from social psychology, memetics, and statistics to understand what motivates people to share information

Scientifically proven best practices for getting people to talk about your business online

To register for this free webinar visit O'Reilly Webcasts.

Webinar: Finding the Perfect Social Media and Communication Blend

2010-01-12T12:01:00.000-08:00

Finding the Perfect Social Media and Communication Blend

FREE Webinar, Tuesday, January 19

3–4 p.m. EST

You’re connected on LinkedIn, have built a community around your blog and tweet from your iPhone. Still, it can be difficult to strike a balance between your personal and professional involvement with social media; your traditional media relations and social networking; and your actions as a public relations pro, marketer and customer service rep when engaging online. In this advanced webinar, Heidi Sullivan and Jay Krall will show you how to harmonize your personal and professional lives online; how different types of social media are looking more and more alike; the best practices for sharing content; how public relations, marketing and customer service can operate symbiotically on the social Web; and how to identify future trends.

Vist the Public Relations Society of America to sign up for this free webinar.

Webinar: Social Media Risk Management for Associations

2010-01-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

Thursday, January 21, 2010 12:00 pm

Central Standard Time (GMT -06:00, Chicago)

Both professional and trade associations are increasingly using social media to connect with members, recruit members and sponsors, and inform various constituencies of the importance and value of their industry.

With social media becoming so important for associations, some organizations are moving slowly and cautiously while others have jumped in with both feet.

As with any new program or initiative, there are significant risks involved.

Join risk management consultant Leslie White of Croydon Consulting, LLC for a webinar that will explore the risks inherent to social media and associations including:

* Business-related risks

* Methods to successfully manage these risks

* How to respond to an incident

* How to respond to unfavorable media

* Managing familiar risks including defamation and invasion of privacy

Visit Avectra to sign up for this free webinar.

Welcome to NAPC's new blog!

2010-01-12T10:34:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow community planners! The National Association of Planning Councils has an initiative called "NAPC Forward" which focuses on using new media, including social networking tools, to engage and connect people in community planning. This blog, which has sprung from the NAPC Forward initiative, will serve as interesting new forum for NAPC members to share information, have conversations, and learn about new media in community planning. We will be posting new blog entries on a regular basis so check often. Also, don't forget to follow NAPC on Twitter @N_A_P_C