What is the "real" poverty rate?
A single person, living alone, with earnings from employment totaling $10,000 falls below the United States poverty threshold ($10,890 for a one person household in 2011). The Census Bureau classifies...
View ArticleThankfulness in an Adverse World
Should we give thanks this Thanksgiving? Unfortunately, my job often confronts me with reasons to despair, including some of the economic trends in our communities and the seeming inability of our...
View ArticleCrowd Science, for Improving Our Communities
“Crowd science” has entered the realms of physics, biology, classical studies, and the applied social research we do here in Saint Paul.Crowd science? The term refers to the increasingly common...
View ArticleChristmas and Research
Searching the web for “Christmas” and “research” (Why would I do that?), as I drink some Christmas tea and munch on Christmas cookies. The search evinces some very disparate types of connections...
View ArticleNew Year's Resolutions: Who Makes Them? Do They Succeed?
How many people make New Year’s resolutions? How many resolvers follow through on their intentions? Do any characteristics of the resolvers or their situations predict “success”?Surveys from the...
View ArticleViolence Among Humans: Up Or Down?
“Car wash shooter has violent past” “Saint Paul man charged in fatal shooting of woman, 21” “Police arrest two after man brandishes gun, officer fires” These stories appeared in the Local Briefing...
View ArticleShould Martin Luther King Day Be A "Holiday"?
I wrote this last year and received many comments and questions (most of them positive). So, I'm bringing up these thoughts again, as we approach Martin Luther King Day. Should it be a...
View ArticleUbuntu: Inspiration to Work with, through, and for Others
Naomi Tutu promoted the principle of “ubuntu”, during her keynote speech at this morning’s Martin Luther King Holiday Breakfast in Minneapolis. She emphasized that we have not yet reached “the Promised...
View ArticleLiberal research? Conservative research? Or reasonable and credible research...
People love to label. Yet, as one of my professors and mentors used to say, “Every label is a libel.” That is, we tend to classify individuals into categories because we think it creates an easier way...
View ArticleMinnesota Vikings 53. Minnesota Residents 5.3 Million
The Minnesota Vikings have an active roster limit of 53 players. Meanwhile, the state of Minnesota has a 100,000 times larger “active roster” of residents: 5.3 million.I like the Vikings; I hope they...
View ArticleIt Takes More than a Village
“It takes a village to raise a child.” The expression derives from a theme found in a variety of African proverbs, and became popular in the United States in the mid-1990s as a result of a book by...
View ArticleTrack across the Heart of MSP
With pride, I participated in the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative Annual Meeting on Wednesday, the 9th of May. The Funders Collaborative, supported by a group of local and national philanthropic...
View ArticleCutting the Census, Impairing Our Democracy
At this moment, researchers of many persuasions – Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives, and libertarians as well – from research institutions as varied in their points of view as the...
View ArticleFathering Children Through Our Research
To father implies insemination. First meaning in the dictionary: to beget; to sire. However, I like the later definitions: “to accept responsibility for”; “to care for or look after someone”. Research...
View ArticleWhat works for the French, in bed and out?
After listening on Bastille Day morning to a rousing version of La Marseillaise, performed by the Royal Opera Covent Garden Orchestra, the French Army Choir, and soloist Roberto Alagna, my caffeinated...
View ArticleNonprofits in post-recession times: rebuilding; merging; thriving
Hull House in Chicago, the iconic model of a nonprofit multi-service agency, the original “settlement house” founded by the Nobel-prize-winning social worker, Jane Addams, closed its doors abruptly in...
View ArticleWill Robot Day Replace Labor Day?
“A new wave of robots, far more adept than those now commonly used by automakers and other heavy manufacturers, are replacing workers around the world...”We can’t glibly dismiss this statement in a...
View ArticleConnecting for Health - Do our friends really affect our blood pressure?
Not only do our friends affect our blood pressure, but our “social connectedness” can influence our levels of stress, how our immune systems respond, and possibly even our susceptibility to chronic...
View ArticleWhat's up, Doc? What's really happening with the trends?
As election time draws near, we hear a great deal about conditions in our communities, our state, and our nation.Opposing candidates have their own spins on what has gone well and not so well. The...
View ArticleThe Study We Wish Didn't Happen, and the Presentations We Love to Do: Both...
Two major events occur this week at Wilder Research. One event: Our statewide homelessness survey. As part of our triennial study of Homelessness in Minnesota, we undertake a comprehensive effort to...
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