Data Matters: How Cool Are Seniors in Your Neighborhood?

Temperatures in Chicago can reach dangerous levels in the summertime. The Social IMPACT Research Center took a look at the availability of public cooling centers in relation to senior poverty rates throughout the city, to examine what the options are for poor seniors who may be more susceptible to the negative effects of severe heat

Ramifications of State Budget Cuts to Human Services: Increases Jobs Loss, Decreases Economic Activity, Harms Vulnerable Populations

As Illinois struggles to recover from the worst recession in two generations, job growth and increased economic activity are of paramount concern to voters and lawmakers alike. The recent data make a clear and compelling case that cutting expenditures on human services in this environment would be counterproductive. It would be far better for state government to maintain human srvices spending and gain the positive effects on the Illinois economy

Life After Youth Media: Insights about Program Influence into Adulthood

* Do the skills, attitudes, and behaviors imparted in youth programs "stick" into adulthood?* If they do, how do they manifest in career, education, and life decisions?* How do the skills, attitudes, and behaviors that youth programs try to impart differ based on program intensity or levels of engagement?* Do these elements look different for people who went through youth media programs versus people who went through other types of youth programs?These are common questions that youth program providers, funders, public officials, and other leading thinkers regularly wrestle with. This report tells the story of a group in Chicago committed to providing quality youth media programming in the city and how, through a collective evaluation, they were able to begin to answer these critical questions

Need for Human Services in Illinois

This report aims to support the Illinois Human Services Commission in its effort to fulfill its charge to "undertake a systematic review of human services programs with the goal of ensuring their consistent delivery in the State of Illinois" and to "make recommendations for achieving a system that will provide for the efficient and effective delivery of high quality human service" by outlining basic population and demographic trends that impact human services and by diving deeper into seven human services categories to identify who is in need of services and how current realities and trends may impact the level and type of need going forward. The seven categories of human services were chosen based on their diversity, vulnerability in the state budget, and their potential to be impacted by emerging and likely trends. **More than simply a compendium of data on need, this report demonstrates how relatively simple data can inform program and policy decisions, which are far too often made in information voids. With Illinois human services plagued by increasingly scarce resources, cutbacks in services, and program closures in the last few years, such data-driven decision making is more critical than ever. To that end, the report concludes with a detailed account of how all need estimates in the report were developed and practical recommendations for how the state can incorporate this type of analysis into regular planning

Running on Empty: Nutritional Access for Children in Cook County, IL, Executive Summary

In an effort to make informed program expansion and improvement decisions, the Greater Chicago Food Depository commissioned the Social IMPACT Research Center of Heartland Alliance to conduct a study of child nutrition program coverage and child nutrition and hunger in Cook County, Illinois. ** This study examined the geographic coverage of child nutrition programs to identify areas that have the greatest number of unserved children and have the worst program coverage. The study also took an in-depth look at the nutritional lives of children attending summer nutrition programs. Insights in these two areas are vital to helping organizations like the Greater Chicago Food Depository make sound programmatic and expansion decisions that will best meet the nutritional and hunger needs of Cook County's most vulnerable children

From Page to Stage to Screen and Beyond

A group of Chicago youth media organizations have embarked on an evaluation process with adult program alumni to assess the degree to which hands-on media production and dissemination contributes to developing productive, independent, and engaged citizens. This report sets the stage for the evaluation, which began in late 2012 and will run through 2013, highlighting the work of youth media organizations in Chicago and exploring six dimensions, or outcome areas, that youth media organizations work within: journalism skills, news/media literacy, civic engagement, career development, youth development, and youth expression

McHenry County: A Place to Call Home, A Call to Action

The Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty conducted an assessment of the need for and the supply of affordable housing in McHenry County, Illinois. The study found that there is a serious lack of housing in McHenry County that falls in the price range of low and even middle-income families. The need is particularly salient for households with annual incomes below $35,000 and for people with special housing support needs

2009 Report on Illinois Poverty

In 2009, a family of four that is poor by the federal government's definition has an annual income below $22,050. A family that is extremely poor has an income less than half the poverty line for their family size -- under$11,025 for a family of four. As discussions continue on the best way to help the nation weather and emerge from the recession, the focus must be on meaningful policy changes that truly lift all boats and make us collectively a much stronger nation. If solutions do not specifically address the needs of those whose lives and hardships are reflected in this report, millions will be left behind, and we will all be left weaker and more vulnerable

The Value of the Nonprofit Environment Field in Illinois: A Social Return on Investment Analysis with Donors Forum

This Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis compares the public and private investment into the Illinois nonprofit environment field to the social, environmental, and economic value it creates for people who live in Illinois and for society as a whole. What does this investment in Illinois's environment yield?Every dollar invested into the Illinois nonprofit environment field generates an estimated $58 in socio-environmental-economic value.$45 of this socio-environmental-economic value accrues to the people of Illinois.$13 of this socio-environmental-economic value accrues to society through increased tax revenue, increased spending in the state due to environment sector jobs, and avoided spending to treat costly environmental problems.The real utility of an SROI lies in its ability to reveal if and how our investments into programs pay off. And on that, this SROI of the nonprofit environment field in Illinois is clear: investing in the environment yields dividends

Adsorption of atomic and molecular oxygen on Si(100)2x1: coverage dependence of the Auger O KVV lineshape.

By means of Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) we have monitored the room temperature adsorption of O2 and N2O on the clean Si(0 0 1)2 × 1 surface. We have found, for the first time, a significant variation in the intensity ratio of the K L1 L1 and K L23 L23 O Auger lines in the submonolayer range. This variation can be related to a change in bonding configuration of the oxygen atom/molecule in the initial adsorption stage in which the influence of inter-atomic matrix elements of the Auger process cannot be neglected