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January 2019 Summary of Select Trends
Click on the source in (parenthesis) to visit the full article 2019 TRENDS The business leaders, authors, journalists and academics who gave us their 2019 predictions foresee a shaky economy, a troubled world order and continued anxiety — but also a renewed focus on caring for ourselves, for each other and for doing the right thing. Here's our annual look at the year ahead. (LinkedIn) INFRASTRUCTURE Until last January, China imported 40 percent of recycled gently-used paper, plastic, and metals from the US. One year later, cities are shuttering their recycling plants and programs. When the City of Franklin, NH started its recycling program in 2010, it was paid $6 per ton. Today, Franklin pays $129 per ton to dispose of the recycling materials collected. It’s much cheaper at $68 per ton to burn it - along with the regular garbage. (Governing) Another city following suit in this trend includes Charlotte, NC, as they’ve canceled their glass recycling program due to costs effective this month. (SmartBrief) EMPLOYMENT One-third of Baby Boomers reportedly had nothing saved for retirement in 2014 - at age 58. Those with positive balances had an average of only $200,000 saved, when $1M is the goal as people are living much longer today. One key contributor to low savings levels is high debt levels. Student debt held by people aged 60 or older quadrupled from 2005-2015. (CNBC) HEALTHCARE Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act has attracted the lethal combination of states outsourcing key services to third-party healthcare companies and additional layers between patients and the government. With fixed budgets, there are two schools of thought in population health: Keep the population healthier so they don’t need services or deny and/or skimp on services provided. In a few states, these third-party healthcare companies were found to have incorrectly denied coverage and skimped on services in favor of profits - with some said companies shuttering as quickly as they appeared. (Modern Healthcare) INFRASTRUCTURE More people are moving to cities - and with more people comes more traffic and waste generation. As temperatures climb across the globe, these issues intersect into ‘heat islands’ and are becoming more common, especially in cities in historically warmer climates. Hotter temperatures lead to many issues for local governments to manage, such as public health, transportation, and waste implications. Dallas is fighting this battle using data - and a lot of trees - to cool their city. (Governing) ENVIRONMENT As the wildfires on the West Coast fade from the headlines, the residents of those areas still grapple with the damage caused, both obvious and hidden. Like water safety. A resident of Santa Rosa, CA, contacted their city water department when they noticed a strong chemical smell from water in their house. Santa Rosa Water found plastic pipes in the neighborhood had melted during the wildfires and released a toxic chemical into the water supply. Water safety and supply is a growing concern for watchers of climate change and its effects on the environment. In the last 20 years, researchers have found the water supply in California has dropped 56 percent. (Enterprise-Record) Find additional information regarding natural disasters and their effects on water safety here. BIG DATA Government isn’t known for moving quickly - especially with technology. And tech is moving faster every day. In recent years, there’s been a lot of talk about investing in tech to help run government agencies more efficiently. But is data just a buzzword? Can we inform decisions and model policy change with data? The answers to both questions are both yes and no. (IBM) Every department in a local government has its own culture and use cases for data. Just one example of the public sector jumping on the trend: New York City’s finance department sought to improve productivity for its auditors by using performance analytics, allowing for a 22 percent increase in productivity over a three-year period (GovTech). The Philadelphia Police Department was able to identify at-risk neighborhoods to decrease home burglaries by 39 percent in 2012 and 2013. (Brookings) |
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Cobalt Community Research is a national 501c3 nonprofit, non-partisan coalition that helps local governments, schools and membership organizations measure, benchmark, and affordably engage communities through high-quality metrics, surveys, dynamic population segmentation, focus groups and work groups. 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 measure, benchmark, and affordably engage communities through high-quality metrics, surveys, dynamic population segmentation, focus groups and work groups. 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].