Human Services
Covering topics such as affordable housing, food security and child services.
Organic waste in landfills is a major source of methane emissions. Orange County, Calif., is making progress in diverting it.
Most American households don’t save enough for retirement, so some states are pushing private employers to make it easier through state-sponsored payroll withholding plans. Getting the structure and strategy right is crucial.
Artificial intelligence has potential, but it can’t replace simple, reliable technology solutions and the human touch. And there’s a risk that it will automate existing inequities instead of alleviating them.
Simply rehashing the problem does more harm than good. Instead, state and local leaders must help citizens see how solutions to homelessness benefit all of us.
The state’s Office of Public Advocacy is required to provide guardianship services for vulnerable adults, but recent turnover has increased workloads to approximately 1,600 cases per staff member. The agency wants it down to 60 each.
Local-government officials are sometimes overwhelmed by new and improved digital tools. But they need to be open to technology that can help residents and public employees deliver critical services.
State and local leaders will face implementation challenges of scale, complexity and accountability. To mitigate those and maximize the benefits of new federal programs, they need to have the right strategies in place.
Proposed legislation would abolish less than minimum wages for people with disabilities by August 2025. Minnesota has the third highest number of workers earning subminimum wages in the nation.
Pandemic assistance to families at risk of food insecurity has ended. As a “hunger cliff” looms, programs in public libraries can fill gaps.
In an effort to revitalize the largely empty mall, the California county is looking to revitalize the retail space by adding up to 3,000 residential units, 425 hotel rooms and a surrounding 17-acre park.
Five months after a federal court reaffirmed that voters with disabilities are entitled to receive help with their ballots, not all local Wisconsin election officials are clear about the rules on helping residents to vote.
All over the country, state agencies and people who receive aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, are reporting the theft of millions of dollars in benefits.
The practice is more eco-friendly than traditional burial or cremation options and a group of state legislators are working on crafting a bill to, hopefully, get voted upon this session. Five states have already legalized the practice.
Despite rising grocery prices, a little more than 1 in 10 Americans can’t get enough to eat, which amounts to around the same share of the country that was experiencing food insecurity before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every state has a law allowing unwanted infants to be surrendered, but the laws lack uniformity, there is no standardized training and there are no data-driven best practices. The result is a chaotic system.
An analysis of nearly 92,000 Road Home grants statewide found that the program to help homeowners rebuild after hurricanes Katrina and Rita gave more funding to wealthier neighborhoods than low-income ones.
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