Habitat for Humanity in Portland, Oregon is buying up land, taking advantage of banks’ huge inventory of empty lots that have been abandoned by builders stopped in their tracks by the recession. They plan to spend the next five years filling those lots with homes for low- and moderate-income families.
Another nonprofit hospital executive is under attack for his high salary, this time in Rhode Island. The hospital union is leading the charge.
How should publicly elected school boards improve their democratic processes? In Iowa City, one school board member suggests learning from the debates within nonprofits regarding the principles of board governance and democratic process. And maybe nonprofits should listen carefully to her critique.
Is reviving organized labor dependent on acknowledging the role that religion has played in its history? How has the rising secularism of American progressives affected the strength of organized labor, as well as the social justice beliefs and traditions that are shared by both labor and religion?
Have the Obama Administration’s efforts to rein in lobbyists in Washington, D.C. had the perverse effect of reducing lobbyist transparency and driving public-service-minded people away from government jobs? The Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest thinks so.
Shocking perhaps, but not really surprising: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it plans to launch a pornographic website later this year. Its rationale is unusual. What do NPQ readers think of this?
The prize for this nonprofit contest is intriguing. One hundred and thirty rooms in a Lake Placid resort hotel for two nights. We hope other resorts take the plunge because this sounds very useful to us!
A surprisingly high percentage of DNA evidence collected at hospitals using “rape kits” is never actually analyzed. A sexual-assault survivor is starting a new nonprofit to study the issue but the real point is that social change movements must always monitor policy and practice to ensure that new laws are really carried out.
Among those who express a preference, both men and women prefer to work for men rather than women, but the gap is shrinking. A plurality of U.S. workers have no preference.
Is the Philadelphia City Council the appropriate venue for debating the merits of a potential UN vote on Palestinian independence? Some nonprofits think so, and they’ve managed to get the Council to pass a resolution opposing the vote. Is the UN paying attention to the City of Brotherly Love’s official view on the issue?
MontPIRG leaders contend that the organization “teach(es) citizens, particularly students, how to participate in democracy,” that is, “how to fulfill your democratic duty,” so it makes sense that they take time out to find out what the students want them to focus on. But getting there has been a rocky path.
A prestigious Baltimore medical institute has been accused of knowingly subjecting research subjects—in this case, children—to dangerous experimental environments. The CEO washes his hands and says it’s the city’s responsibility, not theirs.