Brain Food
BRAIN FOOD
Statistics and community indicators are a starting point, only one component of the full story. The stories behind the numbers provide important context for our indicators, painting the more complex realities of society.
These discussion topics can help remind you of these larger narratives, shaping the way things are, the way things work, and the way things could be.
Consider this your BRAIN FOOD, nutrition for healthy thought!
Explore Topics
- Achievement Gap
- Arts and Culture
- Banking
- Belonging
- Bill Gates
- Catalyze
- Census
- Common Ground Health
- Communicate
- Community Vitality
- Connect
- Continuous Improvement
- Curate
- Data
- Demographics
- Early Childhood
- Education
- Environmental Justice & Sustainability
- Equity
- Gentrification
- Housing
- Impact
- Inclusion
- Inclusive Recovery
- K-12 Education
- Measurement
- Mental Health
- PDSA
- Poverty
- Public Safety
- Research Design
- Social Capital
- Transportation
- Upward Mobility
- Voter Participation
- Workforce
- Youth
- Zoning
Happy Back to School!
As local students and families adjust to the school routine, I wanted to call attention to a couple of education-related items on our site:
Community Indicators K-12 Education category is a How-To Guide for the New York State Department of Education dashboard. All school districts in our region are included on the dashboard!
Check out Brain Food with the Education tag, including a Guest Post from Dr. Tyana Velazquez-Smith
Check out education resources from national organizations under Resources, including:
The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University is a great resources for interactive data tools and research, including the 2019 to 2023 Education Recovery Explorer. See also related article published in The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/05/upshot/a-better-way-to-compare-public-schools.html and https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/01/upshot/learning-loss-school-districts.html
The Education Data Initiative is a wealth of information on a range of topics including financial aid statistics, student loan debt, and education spending statistics.
Enjoy some Brain Food to kick off the 2024-2025 school year!
Curated Article: Promoting a Culture of Caring in Education
In the summer 2024 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, there is an article that uses many of the buzz words and phrases that our community has oft discussed lately: systems change, mental health crisis, change organization, and social connectedness. The article, found here, is a comprehensive look at efforts to improve mental health for school-age youth.
With the 2024 Olympics in Paris coming up and athletes like Simone Biles and Michael Phelps working to reduce the stigma around mental health, there is momentum toward positive change. What can you learn? What role can you play?