Giving up on Black Friday, Embracing ‘Giving Tuesday’

For the first time in years, I skipped Black Friday.  I’m usually out there with the best of them, looking for discounts and enjoying the chaos.  So no disrespect to brave souls who faced the crowds this year, but I couldn’t bring myself to tackle the early morning mayhem.  There were some perks to sitting it out.  It not only felt good to sleep in, but it gave me time to examine what I really wanted to do with my money and time this holiday season.  That isn’t to say I stayed home all day.  I was out that afternoon, visiting friends and tending to the necessities of life, like getting a tire fixed.  So giving up on Black Friday was not an attempt to fend off the approach of carols and decorations, so much as it was an effort to reprioritize things. I want to take part in the Season, but on different terms this time.

Then on the way to work yesterday, on the sleepy Monday morning following a four day weekend, I heard a story that renewed my interest in post-Thanksgiving traditions.  NPR was reporting on the first ever Giving Tuesday.  More than 1,400 groups are launching an event to kick-off the holiday giving season, and it starts today. While I am usually skeptical of “new” traditions, I hope this one catches on.  Corporate marketing has given us Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and even Cyber Monday, each an attempt to boost participation and bring in revenue.  However, the shopping casts a shadow on other priorities, so reinventing how we promote and practice the holiday tradition of charity is probably long overdue.

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Urban Institute Event on Assets for Economic Security

A NEW SAFETY NET FOR WORKING FAMILIES:

ASSETS FOR ECONOMIC SECURITY

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

9:00–10:30 a.m. ET / 8:00-9:30 a.m. CT

To sign up for the audio webcast visit http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=54377.

Panelists:

• Greg Acs, principal research associate, Income and Benefits Policy Center, Urban Institute
• Leonard Burman, senior fellow, Urban Institute, and director, Tax Policy Center (moderator)
• Caroline Ratcliffe, senior research associate, Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population, Urban Institute
• John Weicher, director, Center for Housing and Financial Markets, Hudson Institute, and former assistant secretary, federal housing commissioner, and chief economist, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Andrew Yarrow, vice president and Washington director, Public Agenda, and author, Forgive Us Our Debts: The Intergenerational Dangers of Fiscal Irresponsibility.

Asset building and saving are essential components of a strategy for promoting economic advancement and security. While public policy has focused on increasing income for low-income working families, far less has been done to encourage them to save. For example, just 3 percent of the more than $400 billion in annual federal tax breaks subsidizing assets (such as the mortgage interest deduction) benefit the lowest-income 60 percent of households. In today’s uncertain economy, putting something aside for the future is more important than ever.

Be part of the conversation as experts discuss and debate proposals aimed at improving low-income families’ opportunities to save and invest. These include tax subsidies that increase disposable income for working families and policies directly aimed at helping families reduce debt and increase savings.

To further new thinking on protecting vulnerable households and helping them thrive, the Urban Institute published “A New Safety Net for Low-Income Families” (available at http://www.urban.org/projects/newsafetynet). Two of its papers — “Making Work Pay Enough: A Decent Standard of Living for Working Families” and “Enabling Families to Weather Emergencies and Develop: The Role of Assets­” — will be the focus of this forum.

Note: Speaker bios and resource materials will be posted at http://www.urban.org/events/other/SafetyNet-Assets.cfm by January 12. Audio files of the event will be posted on the same page soon after January 13.

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Event: Combating Poverty through Place-based Initiatives

The Urban Institute and Chapin Hall hold a monthly forum called Thursday’s Child. This one looks pretty interesting to me, since I’m joining up with a place-based initiative at Eugene Field:

Location, Location, Location: Combating Urban Poverty through Place-Based Initiatives

December 11, 2008

Listen to a live audio webcast 10 am ET / 9 am CT / 8 am MT / 7 am PT Program length: 1.5 hours Register

Soon after the new administration begins governing in January, it is expected to propose an ambitious, multipronged urban policy that includes both housing and community-development activities, and the establishment of “Promise Neighborhoods” that provide networks of community-based diversified services for low-income children and youth. Do these two approaches run on parallel tracks, or can they be interwoven so they more effectively stem the cycle of concentrated, intergenerational poverty? Please join us in exploring how initiatives that integrate services for high-need young people can complement the kind of comprehensive neighborhood development work now being enacted in Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, Detroit, and other cities. Panelists will discuss lessons learned from established community-building initiatives, as well as the research agenda that is still needed to strengthen new and continuing efforts. Speakers will examine models of place-based integrative services and analyze how such initiatives can best help young people living in poverty and improve their academic achievement. The role of federal urban policy and programs for children, youth, and families will also be discussed.

Speakers include: Robert Chaskin, Chapin Hall research fellow and associate professor, School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago Ajay Chaudry, director of the Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population, the Urban Institute Celena Roldan, director of child care, Erie Neighborhood  House Moderator: Matthew Stagner, executive director, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago

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Medical Homes Webcast

The Urban Institute is hosting a webcast that should be especially interesting to our friends at OU-Tulsa, called “Combating Medical Homelessness: What is the role for academic medicine?” This is obviously an issue we’re dealing with as an agency – what’s the best way to provide meaningful medical homes to every one of our children? CAP and the OU School of Community Medicine are partnering to make that happen. Anyway, the webcast is Oct. 1 at 8am. Description below the fold.

COMBATING MEDICAL HOMELESSNESS:

WHAT IS THE ROLE FOR ACADEMIC MEDICINE?

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

9:00-10:30 a.m. ET

To listen to the live audio webcast or a recording, register at http://urban.framewelder.com/.

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Politics and Poverty Webcast

Guest Lecturer: E. J. Dionne, Washington Post columnist

on

PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS AND POVERTY

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Noon ET/ 11:00 a.m. CT/ 10:00 a.m. MT/9:00 a.m. PT

Duration: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Sign up for the live audio webcast at
http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=51269.

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Webinar: Working Women and Social Security

The National Women’s Law Center is hosting a webinar on September 10, noon Central time, called “Planning for the Future: What Working Women Need to Know about Social Security and Retirement Savings.” The webinar is aimed at service providers, advocates, and individuals. Registration is free – Register here.

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Webinar on Job Advancement for Low-Income Workers

The Urban Institute is running a series of papers and seminars called “A New Safety Net for Working Families.” They’ll be hosting an event on September 9 from 8-9:30am (central) that’s about connecting low-income workers with appropriate skills training for “today’s job market.” Sounds right up our alley as far as TI/Harvard’s objectives in a jobs program. Not sure if I’ll get a chance to listen, as we have another Harvard visitation that day, but if you get the chance click here to register and feel free to comment below to let me know what I missed!

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