Swimming in statistics

Incoming Freshman: It's not too late to sign up for the 14th annual Day of Service! (you may also fill out page 57 of the Big Book of Forms).
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Welcome, LEADS students!  :)
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This weekend I sifted through all the wonderful research and articles Claudine left behind for me on poverty in Ohio, Lorain County, and Oberlin.  I'm trying to put together some informational sheets to hand out this week at LEADS.   What I'm discovering is poverty is such a complicated issue with so many aspects that it is hard to boil it down to simple statistics. 
 
The argument over how to measure the number of people in poverty is the best example to begin the conversation.  Currently the U.S. government looks at how  much it costs to eat cheaply and nutritiously for a year (as determined by the USDA standards).  This number is then multiplied by three to calculate the income below which people are considered to be in poverty.  The total number has been readjusted each year to account ONLY for inflation.

Cost of food in the 1960's      x    3    =    Federal poverty level

When this measure was established in the 1960s, it was estimated a family spent 1/3 of its income on food.  Do you spend 1/3 of your income on food?  I don't.   I spend more on rent and my cell phone and my car insurance.  There are many costs we pay today that I doubt were as significant in the 60s.  If I can get people to think deeply about how poverty is calculated, I think I can make them understand how many things poverty affects and hopefully get a glimpse of how many facets poverty has.  The more an issue is understood, the better and more nuanced the solutions are...in summary:

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Gearing Up

Incoming Freshman: It's not too late to sign up for the 14th annual Day of Service! (you may also fill out page 57 of the Big Book of Forms).
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Things are starting to get crazy at the BCSL. As school approaches, the majority of the staff is hurrying to get things done, be it recruitment or reports or public relations or last minute details. We also welcomed Avi (Policy Options Intern) and Sarah Ho (Civic Engagement Intern) back to after their summer travels. Yay! Tuesday's staff meeting had a full table and a high laugh volume.

As a student, I am used to the craziness starting on the first day of school, so it is interesting to see the craziness from the flip-side. First year students don't arrive for two weeks, but Avi thought he spotted one out the window yesterday. Here's what the pre-student organized chaos looks like:

Day of Service: Christina, DOS Coordinator, is reporting 370 freshmen are signed up, which breaks last years records! (And you can still sign up!) She has the site leader t-shirts coming and is getting ready for a last wave of recruitment.

LEADS: Brenda, LEADS and CSWSP Coordinator, is working out the last minute details on the LEADS schedule, looking for paint, and trying to come up with menu items. The LEADS opening dinner is this Sunday!

Bonner Scholars: Donna, Director of the Bonners, is working on the fine details for the Baby Bonner orientation and looking for one last 2014 candidate.

BCSL, general: Beth, Director of the BCSL, is disappearing to undisclosed locations for stretches of time so she won't be bothered while putting the final touches on a major report that is due really soon.

Education Outreach: Andy Frantz, who directs programs related to education, is handing out schedules for Education Discussion Lunches and America reads tutoring orientations as well as organizing the launch of the Oberlin-wide book reading of Farenheight 451.

Events: Sarah Ho, Civic Engagement Intern, jumped right back into the thick of it by planning madly for the BCSL Open House during orientation and ordering tasty food for the Baby Bonners.

Food Policy: Avi (Policy Options Intern) is getting back into the swing of things and organizing lots of big meetings to talk about Policy Options to get the ball rolling.

Data/PR/Benefit Bank: My Benefit Bank training on Saturday was canceled, so maybe I'll have time to get some of this stuff done: I'm putting finishing touches on graphics for a BCSL Banner, the annual report, doing massive updates to the new BCSL website that will hopefully go live before students get back, aiming to have a Science Center Display done before classes start, gathering statistics for the poverty simulation, and trying to help the Benefit Bank clients trickling from OCS. And next week I'm hanging out at the Lorain County fair, promoting the Benefit Bank with Community Action. Phew.

Happy weekend!