Blog

Four foundations will join forces to fund civic projects in four cities for a full $40 million. But instead of big anchor projects, this initiative is focusing on the little guys—on a bet that the investment will pay off in equitable revitalization, to be enjoyed by many, not just neighborhood elites. On Thursday, the JPB Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation are launching a new initiative, “Reimagining the Civic...

A few weeks ago, Snapchat released a new photograph filter. It appeared alongside many of the other such face-altering filters that have become a signature of the service. But instead of surrounding your face with flower petals or giving you the nose and ears of a Dalmatian, the filter added slanted eyes, puffed cheeks and large front teeth. A number of Snapchat users decried the filter as racist , saying it mimicked a “yellowface” caricature of Asians. The company countered that they meant...

The Department of Justice released a startling 163-page report last month that details widespread discrimination and excessive use of force in the Baltimore Police Department. The report concluded “the relationship between the BPD and many of the communities it serves is broken.” The year-long investigation uncovered shocking statistics about the systemic abuse and racial bias by police in Baltimore, such as: 90 percent of excessive force incidents reviewed by the Department of Justice...

Part of the philosophy for creating a separate juvenile-justice system in the United States is the idea that the state can act as a parent, or parens patriae—protector, caretaker, disciplinarian—when a young person fails to respect the rights of others, commits petty or serious crimes, or shirks age-based societal norms by committing so-called status offenses. But parenting is hard. Even for the state. Sometimes the lessons learned with one generation benefit the next. Sometimes cultural...

The 57th Boyer Lecture Series : Over four lectures and four weeks, the World Medical Association president, professor Sir Michael Marmot, explores the challenges communities face in solving issues of health inequality. In episode two, professor Marmot explains how the good and bad things that happen in early childhood set the stage for health and well-being throughout a person’s life. “Early child development is influenced in part by quality of parenting or caring from others; which in turn...

My first foray into the world of social services led me to become involved with what I thought was an under-appreciated aspect of parenting: the role of a father and the problems caused by an absent father. I drew from my own experience growing up. My parents first separated when I was about four-and-a-half years old. There were four children in our family. The youngest was only about six months old when the separation happened. My parents reconciled long enough for a fifth child to be...

A recent report by Child Trends estimates that more than 127,000 foreign children will enter the U.S. by the end of 2016, up from about 90,000 in 2015. Each of these children has a legal designation. That designation—not their physical or psychological needs, or even the mere fact that they are children—determines the level of support and protection they receive under U.S. law. Child Trends’ researchers found that the overwhelming majority have experienced various forms of trauma. When...

Brothers Atman and Ali Smith, and their "brother from another mother" Andres Gonzales decided in college that after they graduated, they were going to do something about the suffering they saw in the world, in a holistic way. They moved back into the neighborhood they grew up in, and started an after-school program for the problem children in a school around the corner from their childhood home. Watch what love and compassion can do for children who live in the equivalent of a war zone in...

Meditation, yoga, a vegetarian diet and massages are good for your health, according to a study released Friday by the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. In a novel controlled clinical trial, participants in a six-day Ayurvedic-based well-being program experienced measurable decreases in a set of blood-based metabolites associated with inflammation, cardiovascular disease risk and cholesterol regulation. The findings were published in today’s issue of “Scientific...

Nine months ago, I stood at my father’s burial trying to gather my thoughts before speaking about his life to family and friends. It was particularly difficult because I had arrived at a day I had been trying to prevent, and had feared, for a very long time. My dad had just ended his life. But then, as I was standing there searching for the words, I remembered an article I had read only seven days prior. It was about ways to help yourself feel safe in an insane world . And so I began by...

Donovan Smith knows what it’s like to be in need: He lived in a New Mexico homeless shelter after his single mother lost her job and their apartment. For six months, the Henderson House in Albuquerque, N.M., was his home. That was about five years ago. Today, Donovan has his own business — an online shop that sells artisanal bath soaps he made himself using aloe vera and goat’s milk. He’s donated hundreds of dollars of his earnings to a nonprofit that helped him and his mother when they were...

The owner of a secondhand bookstore in a northern English market town was sorting through a pile of old books when an envelope fell from one. Inside was an undated letter and a faded photo of a woman holding a little girl on her lap. The letter was addressed to “Bethany (My tiny treasure)” and signed “Mam.” It said if Bethany was reading it, it meant the letter’s author had died. Gordon Draper’s eyes welled. These were a dying woman’s last words to her child. He had to find Bethany. He...