Two years after announcing a new racial equity and economic inclusion agenda, the San Francisco Foundation has undergone an organizational culture shift and implemented an integrated strategy to achieve its goals, two reports from SFF emphasize. People, Place and Power: Advancing Racial and Economic Equity (26 pages, PDF) and an accompanying...

A positive school environment and explicit instruction in social, emotional, and cognitive skills tend to reinforce each other, resulting in better support for children’s learning, a report from the Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development finds. Based on a case study of an elementary school in...

Despite talk of stepped-up foundation funding for nonprofit journalism initiatives, an analysis of 2010-15 grants suggest that support for innovative projects remains well below what is needed, a report from the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Northeastern University School of...

The new and evolving field of data philanthropy — sharing private data assets to advance the public good — can help a company demonstrate good citizenship, provide greater insight into social issues that require multi-sectoral solutions, and/or help spark innovation and mitigate business risk while allowing policy makers, practitioners, and...

While schools and community organizations in Boston provide students with unprecedented levels of support with respect to college access and persistence, improved coordination and sharing of knowledge and resources would increase the effectiveness of those efforts, a report from Success Boston, a public-private partnership that includes...

In 2016, 40.3 million people — 71 percent of them women — including a much higher number in developed nations than previously estimated, were living in some form of slavery, a report from the Walk Free Foundation finds. According to the 2018 Global Slavery Index (276 pages, PDF), more than 45 million people in seventy-nine countries found...

The more than $4.5 million the Kresge Foundation has provided in support of the Detroit-area arts community has had a clear impact on recipients, the local arts ecosystem, and civic leaders and infrastructure, an evaluation of the first eight years of the effort finds. Based on interviews with seventy award recipients, other artists, local and...

Five years after the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter was launched following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, public opinion about the effectiveness and viability of using social media for political engagement and social activism remains divided, a report from the Pew Research Center finds. Based on a survey of...

College students of color are more likely than their white peers to report feeling overwhelmed most or all of the time during their first term on campus and less likely to seek help, a report from the Steve Fund and JED finds. Based on a literature review, a survey of existing evidence-based programs, input from mental health and higher...

Although the incarceration rate in the U.S. has leveled off after climbing steadily for three decades, the twenty-first century has seen the emergence of trends which suggest that real criminal justice reform remains elusive, a report from the Vera Institute of Justice finds. Funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the...

Efforts to build public awareness of the factors that can prevent or mitigate adolescent substance abuse as well as support for evidence-based interventions should include appeals to moral responsibility and an explanation of the harmful effects of substance use on adolescents, a report from the Frame Works Institute suggests. Funded by the...

Early childhood educators in the United States are underpaid and in economic distress, with many lacking access to services and benefits such as health care and paid leave, a report from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley finds. Funded by the Foundation for Child Development, the Alliance...

In the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Irma and María in 2017, philanthropic, local government, and federal recovery funds must be used to rebuild Puerto Rico in ways that strengthen the island — physically, economically, and socially — and leave it better prepared to meet future challenges, a report from the Resilient Puerto...

More than a quarter of all Philadelphians — some 390,000 people as of 2016 — are either immigrants or the children of immigrants, including about one in four children under the age of 18, a report from the Pew Charitable Trusts finds. According to the report, Philadelphia's Immigrants: Who They Are and How They Are Changing the City (39...