condom qr code

Young People “Checking In” Using Condoms With QR Codes

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Young people using social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and the location-based Foursquare are often criticized for posting photos from drunken parties or sharing mundane personal details such as what they ate for breakfast. Now, new geo-tracking condoms are taking the concept of over-sharing to a whole new level, encouraging young people to “check in” wherever they are having sex. Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest—serving Alaska, Idaho and western Washington, including Seattle—has been distributing to college students 55,000 condoms with QR codes (small, square barcodes that can be scanned by smartphones). Condom users scan the code, which takes them to a website called “Where Did You Wear It?” that allows them to anonymously post the location of their sexual encounter. The website asks for details such as age, sex and relationship type, and users can even rate how good the experience was.

Cookie Cutters Are Not Tools in Our Business

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Got up early this morning and began my daily reflection with my cup of coffee in hand and it hit me -- there is an interesting paradox about how we use the adolescent brain research. On one hand, those of us who call for reform in juvenile justice, especially in the area of detention, adult transfers and life sentences (especially without parole) rely heavily on this research showing that kids are wired to do stupid things. They are neurologically immature---still under construction. The adolescent brain research is often touted by advocates like me as evidence in support of detention reform. On the other hand, what does this research mean when applied to those kids who are just plain scary?

Senate Bill to Extend Current Student Loan Interest Rates Defeated

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Tuesday, Republicans in the U.S. Senate blocked a bill backed by Democrats that would have kept interest rates for certain federal student loans from doubling this July. By a 52-45 majority, GOP senators effectively killed the proposal – entitled the Stop the Student Loan Interest Rate Hike Act of 2012, it marking this Congress’ 21st successful filibuster of a Democratic-sponsored bill, according to The New York Times. If an extension of current federally-subsidized student loan rates does not occur, loan rates for undergraduate students are expected to jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8 later this summer. According to recent reports, American students took out almost twice the value of student loans in 2011 - estimated at about $112 billion – than they did a decade ago. In 2010, student loan debt totaled approximately $1 trillion, eclipsing credit card debt as the nation’s second largest form of debt behind mortgages, USA Today reported.

Confessions of a “Failing Teacher”

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Like most teachers I’ve gotten some praise from my high school students over my 26 years of teaching—a lesson “wasn’t bad,” or a particular class was “sorta interesting.” I’ve even been told that I was a “pretty good teacher.” High praise coming from teenagers. But the truth is I wasn’t a “good teacher.” I was a “failure,” at least according to America’s “education reformers”—that “odd coalition of corporate-friendly Democrats, right-wing Republicans, Tea Party governors, Wall Street executives, and major foundations” as Diane Ravitch aptly defines them—because the kids I taught consistently lagged behind their peers in every measure, performing well below grade level, failing state standardized tests. Given the present state of teacher evaluations, with a significant portion allotted to student performance on mandated tests, I’d be in big trouble if I hadn’t left teaching recently. I certainly wouldn’t get any bonus pay. If it were up to the Obama Administration I might not even have a job since I would be one of those teachers who, as the President noted in his 2012 State of the Union address, “just aren’t helping kids.” And if I still taught in New York I’d be facing the prospect of having my name and ratings published in newspapers and on the internet if the Legislature gets its way in what the New York State Union of Teachers called the “name/shame/blame game.”

But I know that I wasn’t a “failure,” and more importantly, that the hundreds of kids I’ve taught weren’t either.

americorps joplin

Americorps Volunteers to be Honored for Service in Joplin After 2011 Tornado

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Only hours after a devastating tornado tore through Joplin, Mo., on May 22, 2011 killing more than 160 people, the first team of AmeriCorps volunteers arrived in the community. Ultimately, more than 300 AmeriCorps volunteers, lead by Kelly Menzie-DeGraff, director of disaster services for the Corporation for National and Community Service, would come to Joplin and help with everything from cleanup and rebuilding to serving meals to residents, all while coordinating more than 60,000 unaffiliated volunteers. In recognition of their efforts, the Partnership for Public Service named Menzie-DeGraff and her team finalists for the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals honoring federal employees. Menzie-DeGraff, along with 32 other finalists, will be honored in Washington Wednesday as part of Public Service Week. The finalists are in contention for nine Service to America awards to be announced Sept.

H&R Block

College Assistance Program Praised By Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy

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Earlier this month, the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy – a nonprofit organization that frequently assists Congress in identifying successful social program models – gave H&R Block’s College Financial Aid Application Assistance Program a “Top Tier” rating denoting “sizable, sustained benefits to participants and/or society.”

According to a recent Top Tier Evidence Initiative report, the H&R Block program – which provides streamlined personal assistance to low-to-moderate income families with dependent children that wish to complete college financial aid applications, such as the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) – resulted in a notable increase in retention rates for students that took advantage of the program. The Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy stated that students that had H&R Block assistance in completing their FAFSA forms were almost 30 percent more likely to attend college for two consecutive years than students that did not receive program assistance and approximately 36 percent more likely to receive a federal “needs-based” assistance, such as the Pell grant. The Top Tier Evidence study consisted of a four-year, multi-site trial that tracked more than 1,000 college students in Ohio and North Carolina. According to the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy, the estimated per-person cost for the H&R Block intervention is approximately $90 – resulting in an aggregate $375 in Pell Grant allotments for students given assistance by tax professionals in completing their application forms.