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August 2018 Summary of Select Trends
Click on the source in (parenthesis) to visit the full article Demographics The City of Washington, DC is being sued for gentrification - but, will it stick? The lawsuit claims the city has been actively trying to attract “creatives” to live and work in the nation’s capital at the expense of low- and middle-income African American families that can no longer afford to live in their neighborhoods. There’s no question the black population has drastically declined over the years. In 1970, 71 percent of the city was black. Today, about half the population in the city is black (The Root). Of course, gentrification isn’t a new issue. Portland, OR is experiencing an uprising from local activists to ensure the public has input earlier in the urban development process of city projects. (Governing) Technology Last year law enforcement at all levels - local to federal - made 130,000 requests for access to digital evidence to tech companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Oath, Verizon’s media vertical. What was most surprising about this study’s findings was the fact that the overwhelming majority - about 80 percent - of these requests were granted. And despite growing requests like these by law enforcement, tech companies are granting requests at consistent rates each year. (The Verge) Community A Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) environment is “techie” for safer, more efficient transportation systems. Panasonic is partnering with the State of Colorado to build a 90-mile digital highway that will operate a connected network among cars and law enforcement from Golden to Vail. The digital highway will track hundreds of data points to send out alerts based on speed, traffic, and more. In addition, Columbus, OH, and Tampa Bay, FL, are also currently working on projects with the same goal in mind through connected vehicle technology. (GovTech) Security A group of ex-Israeli military experts have set up a one-stop hacking shop for governments that require extra capability to fight terrorists and other threats to national security in the digital domain. Coming out of stealth Monday, Tel Aviv-based Toka says it'll provide spy tools for whatever device its clients require. But while it'll try to hack devices like Apple iPhones, it has a special focus on the so-called Internet of Things (IoT), covering tech like Amazon Echo, Nest connected home products, as well as connected fridges, thermostats and alarms. (Forbes) Workforce Summer is the time for family vacations, long weekends, kids home from school, and sunshine in every office’s windows. It’s tempting to take advantage of a lax vacation or PTO policy. FMLA is a different story, though. Here are ten tips for combatting FMLA abuse that could be especially useful during these warm, Summer days. (SHRM) Infrastructure Cashless toll booths lose money. An audit done by the New York State Comptroller found that roughly only 3.5 percent of the $5.5M in outstanding tolls were collected through billing, legal settlement, and collection last year. The audit findings did not mention the cost savings impact of cashless toll booths; however, the problem of outstanding toll collection is significant. (Governing) Workforce There are now more job openings than there are unemployed job seekers, as of June 2018. It’s a job seeker’s market. To attract and retain top talent, it requires a masterful blend of benefits, compensation packages, and workplace cultural factors. But what happens when you get a new hire that accepts the job but no-shows to their first day of work? It’s a trend that employers of all types - but especially those with less-than-spectacular features - are seeing every day. What do you do? One tip: Hire for job fit, not necessarily the one with the most impressive resume. (SHRM) Demographics Gen Xers - those born in the years 1965 to 1980 - recoup nearly all wealth lost in the Great Recession of 2008 and are enjoying a strong rebound in their home equity. After the housing crash, Gen Xers’ median household wealth was cut by nearly half - the worst hit any other generation suffered. Today, median household wealth for Gen Xers has increased by roughly 30% pre-recession. Unfortunately, they are the only generation to make up their lost wealth so far. (Pew) Technology Over 9 in 10 adults access some form of news through digital media, according to the annual State of the Media study by Pew Research Center. On average, online visitors of online news outlets stay on the site for only 2.4 minutes. As more content is more readily available, how we ingest news and media is ever-changing. With facts like these, communities may benefit from having an online channel in place to share information with your audience. (Journalism.org) Demographics Interested in how your community members get their news? Along with the annual release of the Pew Research Center’s State of the Media, the way we value and get our news is largely dependent on who we are demographically. For example, the younger you are, the less likely you are to watch TV news. And if you’ve completed a college degree, you’re more likely to check the local TV news station than cable news. Gender, ethnicity, and political affiliations are also explored in this study. (Pew) |
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Cobalt Community Research is a national 501c3 nonprofit, non-partisan coalition that helps local governments, schools and membership organizations affordably engage communities through high-quality surveys, dynamic population segmentation, focus groups and work groups that use instant audience feedback technology. Cobalt combines big data with local insights to help organizations thrive as changes emerge in the economic, demographic and social landscape. Explore how we can help by calling 877.888.0209, or by emailing [email protected].
Cobalt Community Research is a national 501c3 nonprofit, non-partisan coalition that helps local governments, schools and membership organizations affordably engage communities through high-quality surveys, dynamic population segmentation, focus groups and work groups that use instant audience feedback technology. Cobalt combines big data with local insights to help organizations thrive as changes emerge in the economic, demographic and social landscape. Explore how we can help by calling 877.888.0209, or by emailing [email protected].