"As legislators continue action on issues affecting the well-being of Floridians, it's useful to measure the needs facing the state. On many comparisons with other states on education, health and human services, and tax fairness, Florida ranks near the bottom of the nation. The rankings paint a picture of a state with millions of residents needing jobs, services, and other supports from state government as they struggle to make ends meet." Read  The State of the State of Florida. 

The House Appropriations Committee has recommended the elimination of AmeriCorps. Here in Miami, the elimination of AmeriCorps would dramatically reduce the impact of popular and successful job placement programs such as Public Allies, City Year, VISTA and the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, among others.   

You can do two things now to save AmeriCorps: 

1.       Sign this letter to support AmeriCorps refunding.

http://www.voicesforservice.org/SignOnForm_020711/action.php

2.      …

Interesting conversation with Rich Harwood, president of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation. "First and foremost, we need to turn outward. Our orientation, our posture, our stance needs to change." 

From Catalyst Miami, part 1 of a discussion with Adam Fletcher on meaningful ways to engage youth in communities. You can view part 2 of this discussion HERE

Watch the video of the Miami Today profile of Isaac Prilleltensky, who heads the University of Miami's School of Education

Follow THIS LINK for a roundup of conferences and events scheduled in the nonprofit and social change sector in 2011, with a few related events tossed in as well. 

In this strip, Scott Adams offers a classic take on empowerment in organizations. Sound familiar?

This post by Mario Morino from Venture Philanthropy Partners raisies some important questions about our obsession with efforts to implement outcomes thinking. Do we risk failing to keep our eyes fixed on the ends we are trying to advance? I share his belief that our dialogue on outcomes should be 95% about mission and 5% about metrics.

"The main reason the dialogue on social outcomes is off track is because we have failed to keep our eyes fixed on the ends we are trying to advance. Every ounce…

Interesting post from John Brothers in the Stanford Social Innovation Review:

When my colleagues discuss nonprofit organizations, often they use a variety of analogies and comparisons. Sometimes an analogy is made between a nonprofit and a hospital, often discussing the nonprofits challenges with words relating to "surgery" or at times "life support." Sometimes they are compared to a car, comparing the…

When I looked at these characteristics I began thinking about the earlier classroom analogy…