Thoughts of a chief operations officer of a community based organization in San Diego on all things non-profit.For the last forty years I have been working in non-profit organizations building capacity and innovative practices. Today I work for Harmonium, a community based organization providing information and services to children, youth and families in San Diego. Adapting to change is nature's blueprint for survival. How non-profits must adapt to the changing economic and social landscape is the real subject of this blog. I hope it helps.
October is Health Literacy Month
Engaging the Patient, collected a roster of national experts to blog their own takes on the challenges of health literacy in America during the month of October.
According to Healthy People 2010, health literacy is … “The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions”.
Health literacy includes the ability to understand instructions on prescription drug bottles, appointment slips, medical education brochures, doctor’s directions and consent forms, and the ability to negotiate complex health care systems. Health literacy is not simply the ability to read. It requires a complex group of reading, listening, analytical, and decision-making skills, and the ability to apply these skills to health situations.
Taken from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine
F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2010, a report from the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). More than two-thirds of states (38) have adult obesity rates above 25 percent. In 1991, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent.
The idea that it’s possible to marry hard-nosed capitalism and bleeding-heart causes has been around awhile, with philanthropic institutions working hard to be more business-like even as many businesses pay more attention to the social and environmental impact of their operations.
From The New York Times (by Roni Caryn Rabin)
Scientists call it the “Hispanic paradox”: despite high rates of poverty and relatively low rates of health insurance, Hispanics in the United States tend to outlive African-Americans and non-Hispanic whites.
A government report last week provided…
The traditional community wasn’t too keen on the Twitter/Facebook stuff. However, monastics like Facebook because it connects them to their brothers and sisters in the different centers across the globe, so in many ways they are leading the way. This is why we see the online monastery concept happening. We definitely have both voices now – many new people and some longer term practitioners.
(via Being)
Lisa Gansky, author of The Mesh: Why the Future of Business is Sharing, makes the case for her version of a more sharing-friendly economy in this BoingBoing post.
In the next decade, I predict, this model will conspicuously shape how we think about our lives and work and will shake-up the buy-and-throw-away economy.
(via unconsumption)
(via poptech)
