Welcome to a sweltering Wednesday, Washington! New news coming your way …
DC Region Faces Another Day Of Extreme Heat– Just an important reminder, as the temperatures climb into the mid-90s: the city operates Cooling Centers within the senior service network in every ward during heat emergencies. The Code Orange alert should continue into today; and WAMU cautions that “pollution levels may be unhealthy for children or anyone with a breathing or heart condition.” DCist also offers “more about watering and pledge to take care of trees near you” during the heat wave.
7 Obvious Things in Education That Are Ignored –First written for the Education Week Teacher’s blog, this post by educator Anthony Cody (an 18-year veteran of inner-city Oakland schools) appeared in the Post blog Tuesday morning. #5 sure jumped out to me: “When unemployment levels are high, and opportunities are few, students struggle to see the purpose in their education. I do not have a study for this one, just my own observations [...] There need to be visible, viable pathways to successful careers in order to keep students motivated.”
Pas de Deux With Parkinson’s – The current addition of Dance Studio Life includes a great feature on the weekly Dance with Parkinson’s Disease program, an ongoing collaboration between Catalogue non-profit Bowen McCauley Dance and the Parkinson Foundation of the National Capital Area, which is in turn modeled on a program pioneered in 2001 by the Mark Morris Dance Group. While certainly not a cure for the disease, “dance classes help alleviate symptoms and promote a stronger sense of well-being and physical agility.” Catalogue cheers to Bowen McCauley!
Study Shows How Changes to the Tax Code Could Affect Giving — Courtesy of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, check out this study from the Congressional Budget Office, which examines how “changes in the way donors calculate their tax deductions for charitable donations would affect giving — and the federal budget.” While not directly connected to such calculations, a breakdown of allocations of charitable contribution by income group are included. For example, contributions to educational organizations leap from 3% to 25% (more than eight times) from the sub-$100,000 income group to the $1 million-plus category — interesting!
Social Media’s Greater Role in Cause Engagement – The Center for Social Impact at Georgetown released further findings in its social media/cause engagement study this week, focusing this time on the ethnicity. An excerpt: “African-Americans and Hispanics are significantly more likely to believe that they can help get the word out about a social issue or cause through online social networks (58% and 51%, respectively, vs. 34% of Caucasians) [...] They also are significantly more likely to feel that it is important that their family be involved in causes.”