Help us recognize individuals and projects in Indiana that have made a positive impact on the Hoosier community development field!   

Nominate worthy individuals and organizations for one of the Statewide Conference on Housing and Community Economic Development Awards by clicking here. The nomination form includes details on the criteria for each award. Winners will be honored on September 19, 2012 at the Awards Luncheon.

Senator Coats Hosts the 2012 Hoosier Job Fair

Hundreds of job seekers and employers attended the 2012 Hoosier Job Fair hosted by Senator Dan Coats (R-Ind) and held at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds, according to WLFI.  Tippecanoe County Commissioner Tom Murtaugh, State Senator Brandt Hershman, Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski and West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis also took part in the event and noted the magnitude of unemployed, but well-trained workers looking for jobs in the state, especially veterans. Senator Coats' office said it hopes to organize more job fairs like this one in other parts of the state in the near future. To read details on the event, check out the event announcement on our blog by clicking here.

According to a recent Evansville Courier & Press article, Evansville-based homeless services providers are now reevaluating the outcomes and metrics of their 10-year plan to end homelessness in the community.  Originally devised in 2010, the article notes that nearly 200 volunteers worked to create a plan to eradicate homelessness by 2014.

Aurora Director Luzada Hayes, an IACED member, helped draft the plan and explains that the recent economic recession coupled with issues with a tracking system hindered their success in achieving that goal.  The article also details how human service providers have been impacted by decreases in spending on these programs during a time of increased demand for their services.  The challenges for providers detailed in this Evansville-based story have been echoed by IACED member organizations across the state.  To read the full article, click here. 

Microbusiness Conference Highlights "One in Three"

A staff member at IACED recently attended AEO's (Association for Enterprise Opportunity) 2012 Conference: The Power of Microbusiness. AEO is generally recognized as a national expert in microbusiness development in the U.S. They've helped more than two million entrepreneurs support themselves and their families through business ownership. Earlier this year, IACED was named Indiana's State Microenterprise Association - creating a major advocacy partnership that seeks to strengthen and grow underserved Hoosier microbusiness initiatives.

Workshops at the conference focused on tracking credit outcomes for microbusiness development organizations; finding creative ways to make money from entrepreneur services; crowd-funding; and bringing immigrant entrepreneurs into the financial mainstream - to name but a few. AEO also rolled out its national campaign, "One in Three: The Power of One Business." "One in Three" says that microbusiness holds the power to get America working again. IACED will work with AEO to create a healthier climate for Hoosier microbusinesses. But we need your help to do it. If you want more information about microbusiness development in Indiana, check out our blog post by clicking here for more information.

Across the Nation   

UNICEF: U.S. Child Poverty Second Highest Among Developed Nations

According to a new report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United States has the second-highest rate of childhood poverty in the developed world.  Out of the 35 wealthiest countries analyzed, only Romania exceeded the 23 percent child poverty rate in the United States. The rate is based on the definition of relative poverty used by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which states a child is living in poverty if he or she is growing up in a household where disposable income, when adjusted for family size and compensation, is less than 50 percent of the median disposable income for the country in question.

Using that calculation, the report finds that 30 million of the 200 million children across the 35 countries in the study are living in poverty.   Researchers for this report also reviewed the link between poverty rates in industrialized countries relative government spending on targeted anti-poverty campaigns. One figure in the study shows that Canada and the U.S. have the same relative child poverty rate, 25.1 percent, but after government taxes, benefits and other social programs, Canada's child poverty rate drops to 13.1 percent, while America's rate remains above 23.1 percent.  To read our full blog post, click here.

Diabetes and Community Health - A Role for Human Services Providers?

Consider the facts: There are 25.8 million children and adults in the United States with diabetes and 79 million people with prediabetes. Is this growing health epidemic a source of concern for community development? Absolutely. Since many people, particularly in minority communities, have undiagnosed diabetes and a significant number of people diagnosed each year don't have the skills to manage their diabetes well there is an opportunity for those who work in human services to be sure that diabetes screening is included in health assessments, free diabetes risk analysis and screening is provided at health events, referrals (and financial assistance) can be provided to people who are not educated on diabetes management, and the like to minimize the impacts of diabetes on society and the communities/populations we serve.   

Diabetes can cost our families, neighborhoods, communities, states, and nation significantly in financial and social asset terms when we don't treat it as a public health issue and acknowledge the role that human services agencies play.  To read more on this critical issue, click here to read our blog post.

Joseph A. Smith, Jr., Monitor of the national mortgage servicing settlement, has announced the launch of an online tool for consumer advocates to report their clients' mortgage servicing complaints. The online form can be found here:  www.mortgageoversight.com/report-client-issues/. Last month, Smith officially assumed his position as Monitor of the mortgage servicing settlement among 49 states, the federal government and five major banks. In this role, Smith works to ensure that the banks comply with the requirements outlined in the settlement agreement. Find additional information about the settlement here, http://www.nationalmortgagesettlement.com/  

Former IACED Board Member and Hoosier Community Development Leader Joins New Federal Agency

Patty Avery, a long-time consumer advocate from Evansville, Ind. recently accepted a position with the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in Washington D.C.  Avery started her position this month in the Office of Financial Empowerment at the CFPB, an agency established as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, after serving as the Community Outreach Officer for Old National Bank.  Avery's breadth of community development experience has certainly prepared her for this distinguished position.

Prior to her work at Old National Bank, Avery spent a total of 15 years serving homeless adults and children in Europe and Brazil.  After moving to Evansville in 1999, she took the role of education, consumer and medical reporter and producer for Fox 7 News for two years.  From there, she then joined the Vanderburgh County Commissioners' office, where she developed a number of events and programs and was the lead editor on the task force that produced The Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness in Evansville and Vanderburgh County.  She is well known throughout the state for her work in Evansville on the City-County Commission on Homelessness and on the boards of various local and statewide charitable organizations, including IACED.

When Avery joined Old National Bank, the organization drew on her extensive work with underserved populations in the community as it sought to build and Evansville-based version of the Bank on Cities model.  She became a champion of the "Bank on Evansville" project, an initiative designed to help area residents outside the banking system keep more of the money they've earned through access to second chance and starter bank accounts.  Her experience in instituting that program made Avery an invaluable asset to the Indiana State Treasurer's office as it worked to create a statewide version of the same program.

Click here to read a description of the department's goals and mission written by its new Assistant Director, Cliff Rosenthal.