|
|
|
|
Travis County Voters Join National Electorate in Returning Barack Obama to the White House
|
| Politico Election Results by County |
A little more than 60% of the Travis County electorate voted for Barack Obama. Click on the map at left to see how other counties voted.
About 61% of registered voters in Travis County participated in yesterday's election, which is down from the 66% voter turnout in the presidential election of 2008. In addition to sending Barack Obama to the White House for another four years, Travis County voters approved Proposition 1, calling for a health care property tax increase, by almost 55%.
The City of Austin will begin moving to a 10 Single Member District election system with the passage of Proposition 3. Austin voters approved all of the bond propositions on the ballot except Proposition 15 which would have provided $78 million for affordable housing.
Find all election results on the Travis County Clerk's website.
|
More Renters and Less Affordability
|
Austin's economic success and population growth over the past decade has put significant upward pressure on housing costs. The Capital Area Council of Government's Data Points newsletter describes the dual effect of falling home ownership rates and rising rental rates as a "canary in the coal mine" for the Austin metro area's economic future. The article notes that renters are far more likely than homeowners to be "housing cost burdened" or to pay more than 30% of their total income for housing costs.
 | CAPCOG Data Points www.datapoints.org |
Click here to read Data Points and subscribe to this monthly data analysis by CAPCOG.
|
Austin Metro Job Growth
|
The Austin metro area added 26,400 jobs from September 2011 to September 2012. This was the third highest job growth rate among the 50 largest metro areas in the United States, according to a report by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. Total jobs in the Austin area surpassed pre-Recession levels in 2011 and have continued to increase since then.
 | Austin Chamber Central Texas Economy in Perspective |
The Chamber's Central Texas Economy in Perspective newsletter also notes that the unemployment rate in Austin has remained consistently lower than other major cities in Texas for at least the past two years.
|
|
 |
CAN Policy Palooza Highlights & Video
|
About 135 people attended CAN's first Policy Palooza on October 17th at the UT Alumni Center. Read the highlights of the full day policy forum.
View the video "Central Texas: Creating the Future We Want" which was unveiled at the Policy Palooza. Thanks to the many community leaders who participated in the video and to KLRU for producing it.
|
CAN Community Dashboard
|
The CAN Community Dashboard tracks key socio-economic indicators for the Austin, Travis County, and the larger 5-county metro area.
|
CAN Board of Directors Focus on Basic Needs |
At its meeting this Friday, November 9th, the CAN Board of Directors will discuss the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan and the ECHO Plan to End Community Homelessness.
Attend the 1 p.m. meeting at Austin City Hall, or watch live on Cable Channel 6.
|
CAN Events Calendar |
Keep up with community events and post your own events on the CAN Community Events Calendar.
|
Connect to Research |
Visit the CAN website for links to new research and reports. You can also catch up on the latest CAN twitter feeds at caction.org. |
Follow CAN's Tweets |

Get short, timely updates on meetings, research and more on CAN_Austin. |
|
|
Austin Ranks Low for Violent Crime, High for Property Crime Rates
|
New FBI data on crime rates for 2011 show Austin with the third lowest violent crime rate among the 33 U.S. cities with populations over 500,000. Austin's violent crime rate of 430 per 100,000 population represented almost a 10% decrease from 2010 to 2011.
Austin's rate of property crimes, however, was among one of the worst in the nation, ranking 27th out of 33. In 2011, there were 5,235 property crimes per 100,000 people. Even though the rate is high compared to other cities, it represents a 9% decrease from the 2010 rate. Read this Austin American Statesman article about the crime rates.
|
Post-Election Debriefings
|
The Belo Center for New Media on the UT Campus is the location for two different post-election debriefings this Friday, November 9th.
- The Road Ahead- A First Look at the 2012 Election and What's Next is hosted by Be One Texas, along with the Texas Civic Engagement Table, Engage Texas and Progress Texas. The event will be held from 1 - 3 and can also be watched live on-line. Click here to learn more and to register.
- The Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life will hold a New Politics Forum Post-Election Debriefing from 4:30 - 8:30 p.m. with speakers from POLITICO, CNN, Glenn Beck TV, PBS NewsHour, and Latino Decisions. Click here to learn more or to register.
|
Veterans Benefits Added to Benefit Bank |
Just in time for Veteran's Day, the Benefit Bank of Texas is adding Veterans' Education Benefits to its on-line portal of benefits enrollment as of November 12th. Now, in addition to SNAP, CHIP, Medicaid, TANF, Earned Income Tax Credits, and other benefits, veterans will also access a variety of education benefits. The Texas Benefit Bank equips volunteers and case managers with the ability to help clients access a one-stop on-line portal for a wide array of benefits and resources.
The Texas Benefit Bank holds a weekly webinar each Monday from 2 - 3 p.m. for volunteers and case managers who want to learn more about helping people they serve access services. |
Reagan High School
|
Reagan High School Football is in the running for Sports Illustrated's Underdog of the Year Contest. Click here to vote for the Reagan High School Football team and to watch a Sports Illustrated video clip about the team. The winning team will get a $25,000 grant and a trip for 10 to the Sportsman of the Year banquet in New York City!
Reagan High School has been in the national spot light several times this year. Author Michael Brick wrote a book, Saving the School, about the efforts of administrators, teachers, students and parents to improve their school. Read this Austin Chronicle article which includes interviews with the author and with Reagan High School principal Anabel Garza.
|
Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week
|
 A total of 7,726 individuals were housed in a homeless shelter in Austin from January 1 through November 3 of this year, and more than 1,000 of those people were children. Homelessness is a painful but real part of the daily lives and struggles for many in our community. The Ending Community Homelessness Coalition sets aside one week each year to raise awareness about homelessness in our community. A full calendar of events is planned for Austin's Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week November 10 - 17. A few highlights include...
- Family Festival this Saturday, November 10th, will educate and empower families to lend a hand to homeless neighbors in a fun, positive and supportive environment.
- Walk A Mile Through Homelessness, next Wednesday (Nov. 14) evening at St. Edwards University, is a poverty simulation exercise that takes attendees out of their comfort zone and in to the real-life challenges of living in poverty or being homeless.
- The Homeless Resource Fair on Saturday, November 17th at Austin State Hospital provides medical services, referrals to social service agencies, benefits enrollment, food, and much more.
|
Webinar: Power of Data in Driving Education Change
|
The E3 Alliance will host a webinar on the power of data and action-oriented research in driving programmatic and systemic educational change in Central Texas. The webinar, on Wednesday, November 14th, will include an overview of how E3 Alliance accesses and leverages education data and action research to drive better outcomes in college preparation, access and success. Specific examples of systems change will be provided through E3 collaborative partners' work in the Austin College Access Network and the STEM Pipeline Collaborative. Click here to register.
|
Healthcare Legislative Quarterly Forum
|
Austin Travis County Integral Care is hosting a community conversation about local priorities on health and human services with members of the Travis County legislative delegation. Texas State Representatives Donna Howard, Elliott Naishtat, Eddie Rodriguez, and others will be joined by Texas Senator Kirk Watson. The forum will be held on Tuesday, December 4th from 10 - 11:30 a.m. at the IBC Bank Community Room, 2817 E. Cesar Chavez. Click here for more information.
|
Collective Impact Workshop for Nonprofit Organizations
|
Nonprofit organizations are invited to a workshop on how to use the principles of Asset Based Community Development and Results Based Accountability to achieve greater results and impact. ACC's Center for Community Based & Nonprofit Organizations is hosting the event on Wednesday, December 5th at the Highland Business Center.
Workshop topics will include collective impact; an introduction to and examples of Asset Based Community Development and Results Based Accountability; and why Place-Based Strategies and Community Engagement are Critical to improving communities. Click here to register and to learn more.
|
Recovery Oriented System of Care Survey
|
Recovering from substance use addiction is often a life-long effort, requiring community and professional support. The Austin Recovery Oriented System of Care Initiative is a group of service providers and peer mentors who are working together toward a long-term recovery model of integrated Behavioral Health and Recovery Support Services.
The Austin Recovery Oriented System of Care Initiative is conducting a confidential survey to gather important information from Austin area providers and leaders about how "ready" our community is to transform from an "acute care" to a "chronic care" model. Completing the survey takes about 10 minutes. The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AustinROSC.
|
2-1-1 Training |
2-1-1 Texas offers free monthly trainings on when to use 2-1-1 Texas and how to search the 2-1-1 Texas database to find information about available community resources. The targeted audience for these trainings is social services professionals and volunteers. Registration for the training sessions, offered the last Friday of each month, is not required.
Training sessions are held on the last Friday of every month at 2 p.m. at United Way for Greater Austin, 2000 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and last about an hour and a half. For more information, call 2-1-1 and select option 1 or email Amy Price at amy.price@unitedwaycapitalarea.org.
|
|
|
 Working to promote equity and opportunity. Community Action Network (CAN) is a partnership of government, non-profit, private and faith-based organizations who work together to enhance the social, health, educational and economic well-being of Austin/Travis County. As a convener, connector and informer, CAN... - enhances awareness of community issues,
- connects efforts and strengthens partnerships across issue areas, and
- provides a collaborative forum for developing strategies that promote equity and opportunity for all.
CAN Partners: Austin Chamber of Commerce, Austin Community College, Austin Independent School District, Austin Travis County Integral Care, Capital Metro, Central Health, City of Austin, Community Justice Council, Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce, Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Huston-Tillotson University, interfaith Action Central Texas (iACT), One Voice Central Texas, Seton Healthcare Family, St. David's Foundation, St. Edward's University, Travis County, United Way for Greater Austin, University of Texas at Austin, and Workforce Solutions - Capital Area. www.caction.org |
|
|
|
|