News and information on the role that government, small business, the nonprofit sector and philanthropy play in creating healthy and vibrant communities.

People More Disturbed by Animal Rather than Human Suffering, But Not Children

A paper on "Are People More Disturbed by Animal or Human Suffering? Assessing the Influence of Victim's Species and Age on Empathy" shows people have more empathy for battered dogs and puppies...more

Mapping the Homelessness Problem in America

Nonprofits, designers, and technology specialists have gathered together at the recent Hack to End Homelessness event in Seattle to visualize and contextualize the homelessness problem across the...more

Behavioral Science with Social Media Lead to Improved Health Behaviors Among HIV-Risk Men

In the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Internal Medicine, a UCLA study documents an evidence-based approach that behavioral science with social media and online communities can lead to improved...more

Atlanta Works to Put Hundreds of Homeless into Homes

An Atlanta initiative aims to help hundreds of homeless veterans and other chronically homeless people get off the streets and into homes of their own. Atlanta's efforts in tackling homelessness...more

Early Implementation Findings Of Teacher Incentive Fund Grantees

Mathematica conducted a national evaluation of the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) for the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences and found that after the first year, two key...more

Underage Youth Who Use False ID to Obtain Alcohol at Risk for AUDs

In a soon-to-be published issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, underage youth who use false identification (ID) in order to obtain alcohol are more likely to engage in high-risk...more

Poverty in the United States

The US poverty rate remained high since the Great Recession, and has been unchanged from 2011. Unemployment rates dropped and unemployment benefit lifted 1.7 million people out of poverty in 2012....more

Children in Afterschool Programs Less Likely to Have Emotional Problems

According to Penn State researchers, children participating in after school programs benefit from positive peer influence and are less likely to bear emotional problems. The researchers also...more

An Unprecedented Look at Gender Gap in College Enrollment

In the October 2013 issue of Educational Researcher (ER), it examines the role of sorting between boys and girls across public U.S. high schools in explaining the gender gap of college enrollment...more

A Nurturing Home May Safeguard Children from Brain Changes Associated with Poverty

Researchers of a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis identified brain changes that can lead to lifelong problems like depression, learning difficulties and limitations...more