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Tracking Progress Toward Tackling Housing Affordability
- Preserve existing affordable housing options
- Continue investing in affordable housing
- Leverage ways to stretch the dollars we spend on housing
- Foster partnerships between public and private entities
- Create affordable housing in all parts of Austin, through new policies.
The 2015 HousingWorks Crossroads Housing booklet explores the progress Austin has made toward implementing these steps. The booklet maps out where affordable housing is located and how Austin's Density Bonus programs are bringing more housing options to the urban core.
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Texas Education Scorecard - how is your county doing?
The Center for Public Policy Priorities has released a new data tool, the Texas Education Scorecard, which compares counties on the policies and practices that affect school readiness, education funding, and college success.
Using the most recent data available on key milestones in a student's journey through the "education pipeline," from their first days in pre-school through higher education, the Texas Education Scorecard assigns letter grades using five key indicators of "leaks" in the education pipeline.
Check out the data for these Austin metro counties:
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Job Growth & Unemployment Report
Following are a few highlights from the November 24th edition of the Austin Chamber's twice-monthly Central Texas Economy in Perspective:
- Austin added 32,100 net new jobs, or 3.5%, in the 12 months ending in October, making Austin the sixth fastest growing major metro.
- Since just prior to the start of the Great Recession in October 2008 (seven years ago), Austin has added 165,800 jobs for a growth rate of 21.0% compared to 11.8% for Texas and 4.6% for the US.
- The number of unemployed in Austin has declined by 5,093 or 12.6% in the last 12 months.
- Austin's seasonally adjusted unemployment is 3.3%, up from 3.2% in September.
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Planning Commission Studies Austin's Loss of Families
At its most recent meeting, the Planning Commission took a look at how decreased affordability is impacting families in Austin and started a conversation about how it might address the issue. City Demographer Ryan Robinson delivered a picture of the city that posed the question: "Are we becoming an overpriced playground for the rich and famous?"
Robinson's presentation provides a demographic overview of families in Austin and the larger five county metro area with a spatial representation of where families are increasing as a share of total households and where they are decreasing. The presentation also charts housing affordability compared median family income.
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Get free help enrolling for healthcare - enrollment deadline is December 15th
EnrollATX is a local partnership between Central Health, United Way 2-1-1 and many local non-profit partners to help people enroll in health insurance. The deadline to enroll for coverage that will begin in January 2016, is December 15th.
Find what you need to enroll, a map with enrollment locations, and information about upcoming community enrollment events at the link below.
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ACC Saturday gets students enrolled in ONE DAY!
The Austin Community College District (ACC) is hosting an open house for students who want to sign up for spring classes but haven't started or haven't finished the process. ACC Saturday will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 5th at three campuses: ACC Highland, Round Rock, and South Austin.
"There's still time to get into classes for spring. This one-day event makes it easy to get started," says Patty Behr, ACC director of enrollment management. "We have a team of faculty and staff who are eager to help students explore their options and get through the enrollment steps."
Prospective students and their families can learn about ACC programs, enrollment steps, financial aid, career planning, and transfer guidance. Computer stations and one-on-one assistance will be available for visitors wanting to complete an admissions application or other online steps.
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Eco-Apartheid and Giving Voice to the Voiceless: An Evening with Antwi Akom
Dr. Antwi Akom, an internationally known expert on the green economy, climate justice, and racial inequality, will be the featured speaker at the Imagine Austin Speaker Series event, scheduled for the evening of December 9th. The event is free, but registration is required.
Akom's talk will focus on the following:
- How can we create linkages between community place-making, green infrastructure and neighborhood advocacy to make great neighborhoods?
- What can Austin do to increase community participation in economically disadvantaged communities to create more neighborhood activists and leaders?
- How can we build a vibrant, resilient, and diverse economy that celebrates innovation and creativity, provides equitable opportunities for all people, and protects the environment?
The Congress for the New Urbanism Central Texas Chapter will also be hosing a luncheon December 9th: Race Power Equity - Building For The Common Good with Dr. Antwi Akom. The event will take place at the JW Marriott from 11:30am - 1:00pm. This event is not free, tickets are available online at the link below.
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African American Family Support Conference
The Central Texas African American Family Support Conference is dedicated to strengthening family and individual awareness of available health care services, behavioral and physical, through culturally sensitive education, supports, and partnerships. Registration for the February 25-26, 2016 conference is now open.
This annual conference is hosted by Austin Travis County Integral Care (ATCIC) and sponsored by community partners from the public and private sectors. The conference provides information and educational opportunities to consumers, families and the community about mental health, developmental and intellectual disabilities, chemical dependence, co-occurring disorders, and physical health issues.
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Become a Health Champion
Central Health is inviting adults in Travis County to become Community Health Champions. This is a new initiative to recruit people who are interested in gaining an up-close look at Central Health's efforts to improve access to quality health care for all people in Travis County. To learn more about becoming a Health Champion, contact Claudia.Herrington@centralhealth.net or visit their website at the link below.
More about Community Health Champions
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Give Feedback on Community Engagement at the City of Austin
The Task Force on Community Engagement is charged with making recommendations for improving the ways Austinites can take part in the affairs of their city. The Task Force hopes to expand engagement by increasing and improving the ways that people can provide input or participate in activities that guide the way the City of Austin does business and the decisions it makes.
Complete the survey
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Expanding Opportunity: A Central Texas Summit on Bridging the Economic Divide
Over 220 p olicy makers, business and community leaders, service providers, and educators from across the five-county Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area came together to consider how to ensure that the opportunity provided by our region's growth is expanded to all people.
A full recap of this event, held at the Bastrop Convention Center on November 18th, will be released soon.
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Building a Person-Centered Community: A Participatory Summit
About 90 people participated in this summit to explore how we can take steps to build a more person-centered community, by making changes in our own work and by making systemic improvements. The Summit employed "Liberating Structures" to harvest the wisdom and knowledge in the room and to explore common ground in moving forward.
Watch this brief video about the conference and review a summary of the day at the link below.
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CAN Board of Directors
The CAN Board of Directors held a 3 hour Work Session on November 13th to consider what initiatives should be the focus for the CAN 2016 Work Plan. The Board will consider adopting a final Work Plan at its December 11th meeting. The Board will also receive a report from the CAN Community Council on its efforts to explore how we can work toward becoming a more person-centered community. CAN Program Coordinator Hannah Brown will report on CAN's efforts to facilitate Food In Our Community Forums in Manor and Del Valle. The meeting will take place from 1 - 3 p.m. in the Boards and Commissions Room of Austin City Hall and can be watched live on ATXN.
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CAN Community Council
The CAN Community Council elected new members at its November 16th meeting. The Community Council also elected Ara Merjanian to serve as Vice Chair of the CAN Community Council in 2016. The Community Council will not meet in December.
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CAN is a partnership of governmental, non-profit, private and faith-based organizations which leverage mutual resources to collective improve social, health, educational and economic opportunities in our community.
CAN Partners: Austin Chamber of Commerce, Austin Community College, Austin ISD, Austin Travis County Integral Care, Capital Metro, Central Health, City of Austin, City of Pflugerville, Community Justice Council, Del Valle ISD, Goodwill Industries of Central Texas, Greater Austin Asian Chamber, Greater Austin Black Chamber, Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber, Huston-Tillotson University, Interfaith Action of Central Texas (iACT), Manor ISD, 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
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