Here's today's feature in my community-building diary series, "Houston, Texas news you can use." I'm a native Texan who spent time in San Francisco and Los Angeles before returning to the Lone Star State and the hot, steamy, sticky, mosquito-infested city on the bayou, aka Htown.
Opinions are my own. Links, re-posts, comments etc., not necessarily endorsements. I'm an out loud and proud liberal, card-carrying LGBT community member, nonprofit professional, and DKos Trusted User. I appreciate any/all feedback.
COMMUNITY
Texas Children's Hospital team looks to prevent child abuse (quotes Bridge Over Troubled Waters)
9 children have died as result of child abuse at Texas Children's Hospital in 2012. Last year, 231 children died in Texas as a result of child abuse. For April's Child Abuse Awareness month, 2,500 blue ribbons were tied outside Texas Children's, each one honoring children needing medical attention for suspected abuse and neglect. While cases are down slightly, experts said the ones they see are disturbingly severe.
http://www.click2houston.com/...
Study finds recess program reduces bullying in schools
A study has found that a recess program can reduce bullying in schools. Playworks is a national nonprofit organization that brings safe, healthy, inclusive play to low-income schools. A recent study comparing schools with and without the program found those who participated had a more positive school environment and greater focus on learning.
http://www.click2houston.com/...
HUD subpoenas Harris County housing authority records
Federal investigators issued a subpoena for a sweeping range of financial records from the Harris County Housing Authority Wednesday amid allegations that former agency executives wildly misrepresented HCHA's assets and improperly spent down accounts restricted to its rental voucher program. The subpoena from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General asks the authority to produce thousands of documents, including personnel and payroll records, bank statements, receipts and vouchers, as well as all paperwork related to investments, procurement, contracts, correspondence with contractors and tax records.
http://www.chron.com/...
Effort to 'Shape Up Houston' starts at the Medical Center
There's a new plan to help Houston beat the bulge that earned us the "Fattest City in America" distinction again this year. Shape Up Houston, an effort to address the obesity epidemic in the Bayou City, kicks off Thursday with a "health rally" in the Texas Medical Center. The project was conceived by businessman Lan Bentsen, who lost 25 pounds last year and has become an anti-obesity evangelist who doesn't sugar coat - for obvious reasons.
http://www.chron.com/...
Former Rose employee charged with stealing thousands
A League City woman and employee of The Rose who was featured in The Bay Area Citizen in 2010 for her work guiding uninsured breast cancer patients through treatment is now charged with felony theft. Lynn Tran, 38, is accused in Harris County court documents of stealing more than $37,000 from the nonprofit organization, which provides mammograms and breast cancer diagnosis for uninsured patients and helps those patients get the care they need. The Rose has two locations, one in southeast Houston near Fuqua Street and one near the Galleria on Houston’s west side.
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/...
BUSINESS
Report finds women, minorities shut out of city work
Discrimination to blame, Houston City Council is told. Discrimination against black-, Asian- and woman-owned construction businesses in the Houston area is preventing them from getting their share of city contracts, according to a 300-page report delivered to City Council on Wednesday. The report covers the period from fiscal 2005 to the first half of fiscal 2010. For 28 years, the city has run an affirmative action program that seeks to increase the share of city business that goes to minority- and women-owned businesses. There are no quotas, set-asides or preferences for these companies.
http://www.chron.com/...
Job Prospects for New College Grads Looking Up
In KUHF Business News, the prospects for entry-level job candidates are improving along with the economy. But while this year's crop of college graduates should fare slightly better than last year's, they’ll still face stiff competition. Andrew Schneider has this morning's business report.
http://app1.kuhf.org/...
Merger costs hit Kinder Morgan profit
Pipeline leader Kinder Morgan Energy Partners reported a 39 percent decline in its first-quarter profit Wednesday, attributing the drop to one-time costs associated with selling assets to win federal approval for its $21 billion acquisition of El Paso Corp. The Houston pipeline and storage business recorded a net income of $206 million during the first three months of the year, down from $338 million during the same period in 2011. Revenue fell to $1.8 billion from $1.9 billion in the first quarter of 2011.
http://www.chron.com/...
Companies struggle to manage customer feedback on Twitter, Facebook
With employee and customer feedback coming from phone calls, Twitter, Facebook, emails and other sources, companies can often get confused as to how to manage this information. And customer expectations are mounting. Information technology management is a problem for many businesses now that there are so many different forms of feedback, said John Mancini, president of the Maryland-based Association for Information and Image Management, which is hosting a free content management “boot camp” in Houston May 1 to help businesses better manage social, mobile and cloud technologies and information.
http://www.bizjournals.com/...
Small Businesses Anxious Over Slated Postal Cutbacks
The USPS plans to close 250 post offices and distribution centers May 15. Small business owners across the country are becoming more anxious about slated May 15 cutbacks by the U.S. Postal Service, CNN reports. If Congress doesn’t step in, the USPS plans to close 250 post offices and distribution centers in order to consolidate and save money. While it will save money for the postal service, the move could result in lost money for small businesses who still rely heavily on their local USPS services.
http://wire.inc.com/...
NONPROFIT / OTHER
New Roles, New Responsibilities in the Social Contract
"What brings us together this year is the sense that the social contract is fraying, but that it is also evolving." So began this year's Global Philanthropy Forum, "Towards a New Social Contract," kicked off yesterday by GPF's president and CEO, Jane Wales, in Washington DC. The conference focus is on the changing nature of the global social contract -- how globalization is changing the way our societies choose to divide up responsibility and allocate resources to improve the public good.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
To Address the Digital Divide, We Must Go Beyond the Headlines
The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently released a comprehensive report on the evolution of the digital divide in the U.S. over the past five years. Two findings from the report are making headlines in the popular press. One much-reported finding suggests that one in five people don’t use the Internet—primarily because they are not interested. The other pushes the argument that smartphones are narrowing the Digital Divide.
http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/...
Should Nonprofits Issue Shares?
Yale economist Robert Shiller is exceptionally well known for his housing analysis, including his co-development of the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index, but his new book addresses philanthropy and the nonprofit sector and proposes a concept of nonprofit stock. He described his proposal in an interview with CNN Money:
http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/...
Track Thyself: Quantify Your Life For Productivity And Fun
There are plenty of tools for tracking just one thing you care about and regularly update on your own--exercise, eating, places you feel comfortable “checking in.” But well-kept personal data is useful, revealing, and hits a sweet spot between curiosity and action.
http://www.fastcompany.com/...