Posts by Kristin Wolff

What would the world look like if we all adopted a social solutions mindset?

Greg Dees invited a diverse group of students, professionals, and community members to explore this question during his "Open Solutions Society" talk Friday night at the Pacific Northwest College of Art (@PNCA). Portland State University Social Innovation Incubator (@PSUImpact) co-hosted the event. 

Here are three things I valued most about the experience.

Design is a discipline from workforce professionals could hugely benefit, if only the word "design" didn't make us so uneasy. Among American public policy and program stakeholders, "design" is often perceived as having to do with aesthetics alone—as not central to the serious business of work, learning and economic opportunity.

The Annie Casey Foundation's Annual Kids Count Data book for 2011 is out.

And in what should be no surprise for anyone and a giant disappointment for everyone, childhood poverty is up, again.

"[O]ver the last decade there has been a significant decline in economic
well-being for low income children and families. Data also reveals the
impact of the job and foreclosure crisis on children. In 2010, 11
percent of children had at least one unemployed parent and 4 percent
have been affected by foreclosure since 2007."

Go ahead and see for yourself—here's the book.

What to do?

Collaborative consumption.

Rachel Botsman coined the phrase, but the movement away from individual ownership to sharing is big—and it's global. If you are not familiar with the idea of collaborative consumption, here are three ways to catch up fast: