Emily F. Keller

Advice on Archives from a Knowledge Manager: A Q&A with Alan S. Divack of the Ford Foundation

    Click here to read an interview with Alan S. Divack, Senior Project Manager for Archives and Knowledge Management at the Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program, published on Transparency Talk, a Foundation Center blog. Divack was a guest at the recent Philanthropy New York forum, "How Will Your Foundation's Story Be Told in 100 Years: Why Archives Matter," which was chronicled in a blog post here.

 

Preparing for the Future of Philanthropy by Learning from its Past: Examining Trends in Foundation Archives

    In recent years there has been much written about the future of philanthropy. But what about its past and what we, as a field, can collectively learn from it? On December 11, Philanthropy New York sponsored a program exploring these themes. The program, "How Will Your Foundation's Story Be Told in 100 Years: Why Archives Matter," featured insights from archivists and foundation leaders about the significance and logistical issues of creating and maintaining archive records that are timely and accessible to internal staff and the public at large.

    Read the full article on Transparency Talk, a Foundation Center blog, by clicking here.

Demystifying Corporate Responsibility Rankings

    Corporations have long collected data generated by and/or relevant to their operations –- everything from sales figures, to permit applications, to industry trends and customer behavior. Increasingly, however, regulatory and watchdog groups are demanding that companies provide information about the impact of their activities on society and the environment.

    As the corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement has gained traction, indices and lists that seek to quantify and rank company activities according to sustainability principles have proliferated. Financial analysts, media groups, and independent consultancies today produce annual assessments of everything from the amount of carbon companies put into the atmosphere to the sustainability of their supply chain management and the diversity of their boards. Those metrics, in turn, are often used by customers, investors, and prospective job candidates to determine their level of engagement with a particular company.

    Read the full article on PhilanTopic, a Foundation Center blog, by clicking here.

Book Review - The Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm Community on the Brink of Change

     Leonida Wanyama sat at her living room table in her mud-and-sticks house at the base of the Lugulu Hills in western Kenya contemplating her assets. Her fifteen-year-old son Gideon had been sent home from boarding school because she couldn't pay the latest tuition bill. Her four-year-old daughter Dorcas was begging for more food, even though the cupboard was bare. Her husband Peter, weak from malaria, a condition worsened by malnutrition, did what he could to feed his family, but the planting season was just beginning and themaize crop wouldn't be ready to harvest for months. Leonida decided to sell her last goat for a thousand shillings -- enough to convince Gideon's principal to take him back as she struggled to come up with the remaining tuition. Food would have to wait.

    Click here to read the review of The Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm Community on the Brink of Change by Roger Thurow. The review is published on PhilanTopic, a Foundation Center blog.

Book Review - Changing Business From the Inside Out: A Treehugger's Guide to Working in Corporations

    The most effective way to create change that benefits humans above the bottom line is to combine social change efforts with the profit motive under the umbrella of a multinational corporation.

    So writes Timothy J. Mohin in his new book Changing Business From the Inside Out: A Treehugger's Guide to Working in Corporations. And with an eighteen-year career in the field known as corporate responsibility (CR), he provides a wealth of knowledge to back up his claim.

    Read the full article on Philanthropy News Digest, a Foundation Center blog, by clicking here.

Appeals Panel Overturns ‘Disability Advocates v. Paterson’

    A federal appeals court has overturned a ruling that would have required New York State to offer relocation to more than 4,000 people with mental illnesses from group homes to the community.

    A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said that the plaintiff, Disability Advocates, Inc., did not meet the legal qualifications to sue state agencies on behalf of its clients. The panel did not disagree with the lower court’s finding that keeping the clients in institutional homes violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Health Foundation Releases Dual Eligibility Report

    The New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth) has released a report about the 700,000 people in the state who are enrolled in both Medicaid and Medicare, with the goal of improving the coordination and integration of care.

    Mathematica Policy Research completed the report that was funded by NYSHealth and titled, “Integrating Care for Dual Eligibles in New York: Issues and Options.”

Coalition Files Amicus Brief for Affordable Care Act

    A coalition of 79 groups has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case, Florida v. HHS (United States Department of Health and Human Services).

    The amicus brief, or “friend of the court” brief, is a response to the State of Florida’s lawsuit that seeks to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The document says the Supreme Court’s challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid eligibility will endanger a range of federal-state programs.

Gov. Cuomo Releases 2012-13 Budget

    Advocates for people with disabilities are having mixed reactions to the New York State Executive Budget for 2012-13, released by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on January 17th.

    The Center for Disability Rights, Inc. (CDR) issued a statement supporting the budget’s proposed reinvestment of Medicaid savings from hospital and nursing home closures or bed de-certifications toward housing but specified that the funds should support inclusive housing.

Changes Proposed to the Definition of Autism

    A panel appointed by the American Psychiatric Association has proposed changes to the definition of autism that advocates fear could curtail heightening rates of autism diagnoses and make it more difficult to receive treatment.

    The proposal comes as part of an update to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) for its upcoming fifth edition.

    The proposed changes would compress Asperger’s syndrome, “pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified” (PDD-NOS) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) into one group.