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Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge Grantees Announced

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vermont as new state grantees to receive $280 million in grant awards from the 2013 Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) fund. The award will help to improve access to high-quality early learning and development programs throughout their states. These six states join the 14 existing state grantees who secured funding in the first two rounds, which began in 2011.

RTT-ELC has awarded over $1 billion under this administration towards states to align, coordinate, and improve the quality of existing early learning and development programs through multiple funding streams that support children from birth to age five.

Funds are used to:

1. Establish cultural, linguistic, and developmentally appropriate early learning and development standards across all the essential domains of school readiness for children from birth to kindergarten entry;

2. Ensure that quality program standards are applied to all early learning programs in the state;

3. Build and improve on state Tiered Quality Rating and Improvement Systems designed to improve and inform parents about the quality of early learning programs;

4. Promote health and family engagement strategies.

For complete details of this announcement, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website here.

White House Announces First Five Promise Zones

Today, the White House announced the first five Promise Zones. The first five cities to receive the Promise Zone designation include:

• San Antonio
• Philadelphia
• Los Angeles
• Southeastern Kentucky
• Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma 

Aimed at helping communities create jobs, increase access to quality, affordable housing, reduce crime and expand educational opportunities, the Promise Zones initiative will provide local leaders with access to the federal agencies, tools and resources needed to tackle these complex issues. Though the Promise Zones initiative does not provide cities with a financial award, designated Zones will work in close partnership with federal representatives and will have preferential access to existing grant programs.

The cities announced today – which represent urban, rural and tribal communities – have demonstrated their commitment to leveraging existing resources and working in partnership across sectors to invest to revitalize neighborhoods through existing grant programs, such as the Promise Neighborhoods and Choice Neighborhoods programs. Today’s announcement recognizes the outstanding efforts of these cities, as well as the federal government’s commitment to working in partnership with local leaders to create opportunities in our nation’s most distressed communities.

The Obama Administration plans to announce 15 more Promise Zones throughout the country in the next three years.

Want to learn more about Promise Zones? Check out the Center for the Study of Social Policy’s Promise Zones Brief. Stay tuned to our blog for updates about the work of the five Promise Zones announced today, as well as future application processes.

Center for the Study of Social Policy: Lessons from the War on Poverty

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared a War on Poverty, ushering in new initiatives and investments to help meet the needs of the poor. There has been much debate on the success or failure of these efforts. What isundeniable is that Johnson’s set of policy initiatives involved bold thinking and creative strategies.

Innovative changes for the time included an overhaul to our food and nutrition programs, improving healthcare access and utilization and a previously unmatched effort to help students pay for higher education.

These initiatives are still critical parts of this nation’s safety net for poor families. Unfortunately, today, many of these investments face significant cuts and political challenges. In a time of widening equity gaps we need to bolster our investments in the successful programs we have already put in place instead of constantly undermining them. In fact, this is the time for more. For a bigger vision, matched with real investments.

We must use today’s knowledge to make our own innovative strides to meaningfully address poverty. It is unacceptable that 22 percent of all children – and an even higher rate of children of color - live in poverty. We allneed to think about ways to contribute to the new ideas necessary for real change.

At the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), we believe there are many critical opportunities for developing and progressing new ideas and strategies. Among them, promoting comprehensive supports for children, for families and for communities, advancing equity in every aspect of policymaking and developing solutions that meet the needs of those families facing multiple barriers to success.

Removing Roadblocks
The burden of coordination should not be placed on poor families – but should be advanced through better organized government. Solutions should be streamlined at the federal, state and local level, allowing poor families to receive services and supports in ways that do not include competing or contradictory requirements, unreasonable timelines or overly prescriptive programing. Some of these principles are beginning to take shape through neighborhood-focused investments. Leveraging existing assets in communities and targeting investments to a specific place is a more effective approach to supporting high-poverty communities. When investments take into account the valuable resources – including human and social capital – that already exist, are coordinated with a range of community stakeholders and remove obstacles for people, they become more sustainable and likely more successful.

Advancing Equity
Racial and ethnic minorities face significant disparities in education, health, employment and social and economic mobility. If this continues, we will both undermine the values we hold as a country and lose the chance to capitalize on the significant advantages of our increasingly diverse population. Pursuing anti-poverty policy strategies that directly take into account the existence of disparate opportunities and outcomes for people of color is the best way to meet our broader societal goals – and the only way to significantly reduce poverty. This work should be done, not only in programs and policies where there is an explicit impact on people of color, but in every aspect of policy work.

Strengthening Families
It is critical to focus on families facing the most significant obstacles. For example, while the majority of children, youth and families living in poverty never come to the attention of the child welfare system, those who are reported for alleged child neglect - and those families who remain involved for extended periods - are often the ones whose financial struggles are exacerbated by social isolation, housing instability, mental health issues and other barriers. Coordinated policy innovations that help families in child welfare meet concrete needs can be a means of prevention – as well as a means for ensuring families are both socially and financially stable. This is a critical way to successfully address the causes and impact of poverty.

Poverty is a complicated issue. One that still affects far too many children, families and communities. There is no simple solution, but as we reflect on where we are 50 years later, one thing is clear. We cannot be afraid to act due to complexity. CSSP is committed through all of our work to advocate for and promote innovative policy and program strategies that eliminate inequities and ensure the well-being of children, families and communities.

Want to learn more about how to promote policies and strategies that strengthen families and communities?  Check out PolicyforResults.org. 

Join CSSP and the Annie E. Casey Foundation for a Webinar on Redevelopment, Partnerships and Philanthropy in New Orleans

Eight years ago, the Annie E. Casey Foundation joined a collaborative effort to help rebuild and revitalize a low-income New Orleans neighborhood devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Resident leaders and philanthropic partners both played crucial roles in ensuring the redevelopment project in the historic neighborhood of Central City met the needs of the community. 

Join the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) for a webinar on Monday, January 27 at 2:00 p.m. (ET) to explore the multifaceted partnerships that guided the post-Katrina transformation of Central City's C.J. Peete public housing complex into the mixed-income Harmony Oaks community. The webinar will feature the key players involved - resident, developer and funder - as they talk about their rebuilding experience and lessons that could help inform future redevelopment efforts.

Webinar Participants:

• Frank Farrow, director, Center for the Study of Social Policy (moderator) 
• Leila Fiester, writer and author of Investing in New Orleans: Lessons for Philanthropy in Public Housing Redevelopment 
• Sandra Moore, president, Urban Strategies 
• Jocquelyn Marshall, former president of the C.J. Peete Resident Council and Harmony Oaks resident
• Mindy Turbov, director of Choice Neighborhoods, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Click here to register.

CDFI Fund Launches 2014 Webinar Series for Small and Emerging CDFIs

As part of its Capacity Building Initiative, the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund at the U.S. Department of the Treasury recently announced its 2014 webinar series designed to strengthen small and emerging CDFIs. The webinars, which kick off on January 8, are free and open to all.

CDFIs provide residents and business owners in underserved communities with access to affordable and responsible financial products and services. The CDFI Fund seeks to promote economic revitalization by providing grants and technical assistance to CDFIs at all stages of development.

The “Strengthening Small and Emerging CDFIs” webinar series, delivered by the Opportunity Finance Network, will provide best practices and tools on a diverse range of topics. Advance registration is required. Upcoming webinars include:

• The Four Stages of CDFI Growth (Wednesday, January 8, 2014, 1 p.m. EST): This webinar will provide participants with an organizational development framework and help them to identify their organizations’ place within it. It will also identify common organizational issues and offer practical solutions to managing growth.

• Capitalization: Raising Debt and Equity for CDFIs (Tuesday, January 21, 2014, 1 p.m. EST): This webinar will explore the various sources of capital available to CDFIs and discuss how to develop a plan to access appropriate sources of capital.

• Leading Organizational Change (Wednesday, February 5, 2014, 1 p.m. EST):  This webinar will walk through the steps for successfully leading organizational change as CDFIs prepare for growth. 

Registration can be completed up until the start time listed for each individual session. Click here to register and stay posted to the "Strengthening Small and Emerging CDFIs" webpage for future offerings. All past webinars will be posted to the “Strengthening Small and Emerging CDFIs” Resource Bank, which includes additional training and reference materials.

U.S. Department of Education Announces Grantees for Race to the Top—District Competition and Investing in Innovation 2013 Competition

The U.S. Department of Education made recent award announcements about two programs: the Race to the Top-District (RTTT-D) program competition and the Investing in Innovation (i3) program competition. Five applicants were selected as grantees for the $120 Million Race to the Top—District competition, and the highest-rated applications secured match funding and became grantees for the 2013 Investing in Innovation competition.

Race to the Top-District Winners

The Race to the Top-District (RTTT-D) winners represent a range of districts, and 5 winning applicants have been chosen for four-year awards, which will vary from $4 million to $30 million depending on the population of students served through the plan.

The winners are:

• Clarendon County School District Two (consortium of four rural districts), South Carolina
• Clarksdale Municipal School District, Mississippi
• Houston Independent School District, Texas
• Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (consortium of 18 rural districts)
• Springdale School District, Arkansas

These winners demonstrate innovative work going on in rural school districts across the country to tailor education for all students and provide school leaders and teachers with key tools that support them in meeting students' needs.

The Race to the Top-District program will provide approximately $120 million to support locally developed plans to personalize and improve student learning, increase student achievement and educator effectiveness, close achievement gaps, and prepare every student for success in college and careers.

For more information on the Race to the Top-District (RTTT-D) program, click here.

Investing in Innovation Grantees

The 25 highest rated applications for the fourth round of Investing in Innovation (i3) program competition have secured private-sector matching funds and will be awarded approximately $134 million by the end of December to expand innovative practices designed to improve student achievement.

The grantees address a variety of issues, including four projects that focus on family and parent engagement; four grantees serving rural students and communities; and five projects focusing on Science, Technology, and Engineering, and Math (STEM) course content and instructional practices to increase student engagement and academic achievement.

For more information on Investing in Innovative Funds (i3) program, click here.

Skillman Foundation Launches Youth Development Resource Center

The Skillman Foundation has launched the Youth Development Resource Center – a new initiative that will help Skillman-funded organizations collect and use data as a key part of their youth development strategy.

Focused on ensuring that Detroit youth have access to the resources needed to thrive, the Skillman Foundation invests in neighborhoods and the community-based organizations that support children and families. However, the Skillman Foundation recognizes that simply investing in programs and services is not enough. In addition to traditional support, Skillman has committed to helping organizations build their capacity to collect and utilize data - an essential component of tracking outcomes and improving programs and services over time to best meet the needs of Detroit youth. Though many youth organizations regularly collect data, such as the age of participants and daily attendance, it is important to understand the different kinds of data that can be collected and how data can generate evidence about a program’s success. Indeed, data is more than just numbers of statistics – it is a powerful tool that can tell a story about the challenging conditions many youth, as well as the outcomes that can be achieved.

In an interview about the Youth Development Resource Center, Sara Plachta-Elliot – a fellow at the Skillman Foundation and a community-based researcher – explores how the Center will support Skillman’s youth development grantees. Specifically, she highlights how the Youth Development Resource Center will help organizations to generate data that is both practical and easily accessible to staff, especially youth workers who spend most of their time working directly with youth. Though a youth worker’s job many not involve collecting data, it is essential that youth workers use data to understand the challenges a youth is facing and track his/her progress to ensure that the right kinds of supports are in place to achieve success.

Moving forward, Youth Development Resource Center staff will engage in a series of listening sessions both in the Detroit and across the nation in search of data collection practices implemented by youth programs. In the coming year, the Youth Development Resource Program will share these learnings through capacity-building opportunities.

Do you know of a youth program that is doing a great job both collecting and using data? Reach out to the Youth Development Resource Center to let them know!

Data Resources:
Making a Difference In Your Neighborhood: A Handbook for Using Community Decision-Making to Improve the Lives of Children, Youth and Families.

BNCP Resource Center – Useable Data Tools and Templates

Apply for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Fellows Program

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is currently soliciting applications for participation in a three-year fellowship program focused on community leadership. The program’s goal is “to nurture and inspire developing or established leaders, helping them to become transformative change agents in their communities, guiding vulnerable children and their families toward optimal health and well-being, access to good food, academic achievement and financial security.” 

The foundation will select 100 fellows working in priority locations in the United States: Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans. Another 20 fellows from throughout the country will be selected to serve as a national cohort, focused on racial healing and equity.

Fellows will meet quarterly for three to four days at a time each year, with a focus on strengthening their skills and competencies—both within their place-based cohorts and as a national class. Fellows will also commit to applying these skills through a community-based action project and participating in a leadership network focused on improving the lives of vulnerable children. Fellows will receive an annual stipend of $20,000.

Candidates must be 23 years of age or older. According to the foundation, “ideal candidates are developing or established leaders who grasp the importance of working with others and can:

• Engage in exploring solutions and invite others to help solve conflicts.
• Empathize and connect to others through voice, action or presence.
• Respond to new opportunities and relationships, maximizing social change.

Applications are due on Friday, Jan. 10, 2014 by 11:59 p.m. ET. For more information, including frequently asked questions and the application itself, click here.

Justice Partners with National Indian Tribal Youth, Inc.

The Office of Justice Programs’ Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has announced a partnership with the National Indian Tribal Youth, Inc. (UNITY). This partnership will provide UNITY with $850,000 to launch the National Intertribal Youth Leadership Development Initiative.

UNITY is a national network organization promoting personal development, citizenship, and leadership among Native American youth. Supporting Native American youth for 37 years, UNITY has more than 132 youth councils operating in 35 states and Canada. The National Intertribal Youth Leadership Development Initiative will provide training and learning opportunities for Native American youth in an effort to increase positive outcomes in their school, community and family environments. Specifically, youth will learn how to plan and carry out service projects within their communities – an opportunity that will provide young people with a chance to learn important skills that can be used in future work opportunities and leadership roles.

Click here to learn more about UNITY.

Virtual Stock and Options Trading

Do you have a virtual stock and/or options trading account? I recently opened up a Virtual Trading account at OptionsXpress for the sole purpose of practice trading. It is a way to test out trading ideas without risking any real money. When you sign up, they put $25,000 of "play" money in your virtual trading account. Virtual trading lets you use the optionsXpress (by Charles Schwab) platform to screen stocks and options. You can then go through the motions of using the trading tools and resources to execute practice trades. This is a way to test trading strategies on stocks, options, and futures without risking any real money.

My biggest complaint so far is the sign up process. They claim that it only takes 5 minutes, but it seemed to take longer than that. You will be asked for all the personal information that you would need to open a real trading account. You are not required to provide a checking account or credit card, and you are not required to fund your account (with real money) at all. You also have to provide your social security number, so I can understand if people think it is not worthwhile. But if you're willing to go through this process, you will have access to the exact same platform as a real OptionsXpress account.

For the record, I also have an OptionsHouse account (different company) that I keep around for the purpose of virtual trading. My real OptionsHouse has a balance of $0.01. OptionsHouse starts you with $5,000 of virtual "play" money.

If you decide to open a real brokerage account, consider taking advantage of one of these great offers:

Open up a new optionsXpress account and get $100
Sign Up for an OptionsXpress Account and Choose Your Free Investment Book
Get a FREE Xbox 360 when you open and fund a new OptionsHouse account

DC

Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative Announced as Finalist for the Innovation in American Government Award

The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School has announced the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative as one of five finalists for the Innovations in American Government Award. Established in 1985, the Innovations in American Government Award recognizes public sector programs that promote excellence and creativity in trying to address our nation’s most pressing challenges. Since the award’s inception, more than 27,000 programs have submitted applications and nearly 500 government initiatives have been recognized.

This year, five programs representing innovations at the city, county, state and federal levels of government have been selected from a pool of more than 600 applications and chosen as finalists. After several rounds of evaluation, these programs were chosen based on their novelty and effectiveness, as well as the degree to which they can be replicated in other government entities. The Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative – supported by the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice and Treasury – aligns resources across federal agencies to address interconnected and complex challenges in neighborhoods throughout the country.

The Center for the Study of Social Policy congratulates the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI) for being chosen as a finalist and is proud to support several NRI initiatives, including Choice Neighborhoods, Promise Neighborhoods and the Building Neighborhood Capacity Program.

Want to learn more about the Innovations in American Government Award? Click here. Want to learn more about the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative? Click here.

50th Anniversary of the War on Poverty

January 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the “War on Poverty.” Launched by President Johnson in 1964, the “War on Poverty” introduced key programs that still exist today, such as food stamps (now the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Head Start, Medicare and Medicaid. Though these programs have had a positive impact and improved outcomes for those in poverty, more than 46.5 million people remain in poverty, according to 2012 Census data.

On January 8, 2014, The National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, the Russell Sage Foundation, and Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the “War on Poverty” and foster conversation about the challenges that remain. The event – Legacies of the War on Poverty & Lessons for the Future - will offer diverse perspectives on the effects of anti-poverty policies in the U.S. in areas such as educational attainment, employment, earnings and living standards, and health over the past five decades and in the years to come. Using research highlighted in the new book, Legacies of the War on Poverty (Russell Sage Foundation, September 2013), a panel that includes the book’s editors, as well as commentators from across the political spectrum, will address policies that grew out of the War on Poverty, as well as the gaps that exist as we continue to fight poverty and promote opportunity throughout the nation.

Click here to learn more about the event, including how to RSVP. The event will also be webcast live.

HUD Awards 2013 Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants

Last week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded nine communities with planning grants through the Choice Neighborhoods program, a signature effort of the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative. The grantees will develop plans to revitalize and transform public and other HUD-assisted housing, while seeking to improve outcomes on other interconnected neighborhood issues including public safety, education, health, transportation and employment.

The Choice Neighborhoods program emphasizes the importance of taking a comprehensive approach to neighborhood revitalization and “linking housing improvements with necessary services for the people who live there.” The grantees will develop their plans through a collaborative process that engages diverse stakeholders across sectors, including residents of the affected housing development(s) and the surrounding neighborhood, local government officials, service providers and business owners.

Since 2010, HUD has awarded 56 planning grants, totaling $16.9 million. For summaries of the 2013 planning grants, as well as past recipients, click here.

Policy for Results in 1 Minute and 36 Seconds

Why Policy for Results?

The Center for the Study of Social Policy is proud to present an introductory video to the new Policy for Results site! CSSP believes policymaking should begin with the concrete results we want to achieve and that using reliable data leads to better decisions and ultimately to improved outcomes for children, families and communities.

CSSP has expanded, refreshed and restructured the PolicyforResults website, which provides data, holds hundreds of resources and highlights our public policy agenda. Policyforresults.org is a streamlined and modern tool that features strategies, funding resources, policy papers, briefs, blogs and more authored by CSSP and other experts. The goal is to use the site to advance the policy field's knowledge of equity and create more results-based resources that lead to action.

New Report: Access to Healthy Food & Why It Matters

PolicyLink and the Food Trust have released Access to Healthy Food and Why It Matters: A Review of the Research - a report detailing the latest research about how access to healthy foods has improved in recent years, as well as the impact that limited access continues to have for both individuals and communities throughout the nation.

The report highlights three primary findings:

• Accessing food remains a significant challenge for many families, particularly those living in low-income neighborhood, communities of color and rural areas. The report suggests that an estimated 25 to 30 million Americans – roughly 9 percent of the population – live in communities with limited or no access to healthy food options. In New York City, for example, one-third of predominantly black census tracts lack walking or subway access to healthy food retailers.

• Living closer to healthy food retail is among the factors associated with better eating habits and decreased risk for obesity and diet-related diseases. The lack of access to healthy foods – combined with other obstacles, such as limited transportation – pose significant challenges for families and can lead to several negative outcomes, including poor health. According to the report, nearly half of black and Hispanic children are overweight or obese. Ensuring that families have access to healthy food options is essential to creating communities that promote healthy lifestyles.

• Healthy food retail stimulates economic activity. Beyond ensuring that families have access to healthy food options, food retailers can have a major impact on the local economy. According to the report, it is estimated that 24 new jobs are created for every 10,000 square feet of retail space. Thus, new retail opportunities in low-income communities and communities of color can be a critical piece of a neighborhood's revitalization strategy. In addition, government food benefits, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), provide a further economic stimulus when spent at local retailers. It is estimated, for example, that ever $5 in new SNAP benefits generates $9 in local spending at SNAP-accepting retail outlets.

Though there has been increased attention to the challenge of healthy food access in recent years, ensuring that communities have access to healthy food options remains a great challenge. The implementation of federal programs, such as the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, has stimulated both interest and action in communities throughout the country. However, increasing access to healthy foods remains a challenge that all communities – particularly those that are low-income – should continue to address.

Want to learn more? Check out the resources blow.

• Check out the Center for the Study of Social Policy’s brief – Aligning Resources and Results: How Communities and Policymakers Collaborated to Create a National Program – to learn more about the development of the Healthy Food Financing Initiative.

• Check out the Investing in Community Change blog’s Healthy Food Access label (located on the right sidebar) to learn more about healthy food access, including reports, tools and funding opportunities.

• Want to know where areas with limited access to healthy foods are located? Check out the USDA’s Food Access Research Map.

3 Key Questions To Help Boost Youth Employment

In October, The Bridgespan Group, a consultancy for nonprofits and philanthropists, published a short paper urging organizations and individuals concerned about youth unemployment to consider several key questions. Entitled "Three Questions to Ask if You're Serious about Jobs for Youth," the piece begins by painting a stark picture of the employment prospects of young people in America. According to Bridgespan, 14 million young people ages 16 to 24, representing more than a third of individuals in this age group, face some sort of "employment challenge," ranging from a lack of connection to education or employment opportunities to working in a position that does not take advantage of their formal education. Approximately half of these young people are "disconnected" from education and employment, a disproportionate number of whom are black and Latino.

Through their interviews with a range of nonprofits, foundations, and large employers concerned about youth employment, Bridgespan identified three key questions that can help to guide the work of organizations interested in helping to combat youth unemployment:

1. Who are the employers most likely to hire youth in my region? - Bridgespan's interviews revealed the importance of connecting job training programs with the business sectors that are most likely to be looking to hire entry-level employees. This involves understanding which local sectors are growing and what types of skills are needed to obtain positions in those sectors. The article also notes that, while large companies, defined as those with over 500 employees, make up less than 1% of all employers, they employ more than 40% of youth who work in the private sector, suggesting that the potential payoffs of building relationships with these companies can be substantial.

2. How do I present employers with the business case for hiring youth? - One nonprofit highlighted in the article spoke about the importance of changing the mindset of both employers and youth about the value of youth employment. By providing young people with both technical and professional skills, and offering staff support to help deal with problems that might arise on the job, the organization is able to make the case that hiring youth has real value for a business. Most of the nonprofits interviewed were interested in hiring staff who had business experience or backgrounds that would allow them to better connect with potential employers. Some organizations Bridgespan interviewed worked with employers to determine the skills and competencies that they needed potential employees to have, and further engaged employers by having them teach portions of workforce development programs.

3. How do I tailor skills training to what employers really need?- A number of of organizations interviewed for the article described partnerships between workforce development nonprofits and employers that resulted in stronger training materials that better reflected the types of skills, such as conflict resolution and customer service, that are needed in the real world. In one case, a partnership with a local business association helped to identify an opportunity to develop a customized training program for youth to meet a need for employees in a local industry.

To read the full piece, please visit Bridgespan's website here.

Location Affordability Portal Launched

The U.S. Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have launched the Location Affordability Portal (LAP) – a cost calculation tool that allows individuals to estimate housing and transportation costs in neighborhoods across the nation.

According to the LAP, nearly half of the average U.S. household’s budget is used to cover housing and transportation costs. Though housing costs, such as rent or a mortgage, are often easy to estimate, transportation costs are often less clear as they are likely to vary with changes in gas prices, public transportation rates, access to transit, street connectivity and other factors.

In order to help families make informed decisions about where to live and work, DOT and HUD have launched the LAP as part of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities to provide information about how housing and transportation costs differ across potential residential locations. The LAP uses two tools to provide users with access to cost estimates – the Location Affordability Index (LAI) and the My Transportation Cost Calculator (MTCC). The LAI is a database of predicted annual housing and transportation costs for a particular area, while the MTCC allows users to customize data based on their household’s unique characteristics, such as income, travel patterns and the number of cars owned by a household.

Interested in learning more? Check out the Location Affordability Portal to begin calculating the cost of housing and transportation in your neighborhood!

Continuing the Conversation on What Works for America’s Communities

Last fall, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the Low Income Investment Fund published a compilation of essays from leaders across the public, private and nonprofit sectors: Investing in What Works for America’s Communities. The book examined what proven models and innovative ideas can help practitioners, policymakers and academics work together across disciplines and sectors to achieve better outcomes for families and communities.

In partnership with the Low Income Investment Fund, Citi Ventures and Citi Foundation are continuing the dialogue sparked by the book through the What Works Challenge. Readers are invited to submit ideas about how to “encourage collaboration and integration between those working to revitalize communities and improve opportunities for all.” Participants will be eligible to be selected as a guest blogger for the What Works Ideas Blog.

To learn more about Investing in What Works, watch the half-day summit recently hosted by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Low Income Investment Fund, and Citi Foundation.

Best Buy Black Friday Preview

Like Walmart, Best Buy just released their Black Friday Doorbusters Preview on the BestBuy.com website. It seems like Black Friday now actually starts at 6pm on Thursday, 11/28. I quickly glanced through the advertisement, and noted a few interesting deals:

• LG 55-inch 1080p 120Hz LED HDTV for $499.99
• Apple iPad 2 16GB WiFi Tablet for $299.99
• Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7-inch 16GB for $99.99
• Insignia 24-inch LED (1080p) HDTV for $79.99
• Sony Smart Wi-Fi Blu-ray Player for $54.99
• Google Chromecast HDMI for $29.99
• LG G2 for $49.99
• Samsung Galaxy S4 for FREE
• Microsoft Surface RT 32GB for $199.99
• D2 Android Tablet 4GB for $39.99 (online only)

Did you see any deals you like?



PFS