Is racial equality being sacrificed on the altar of class equality?

Thanks to a Linkedin group, I read an article that came out a few weeks ago from the New York Times that seems to caution readers that race, particularly in the context of college admissions, is starting to fall behind economic class in the affirmative action hierarchy.

Lending circles

I’m so excited about this. In Forbes this month was an article about lending circles in the Mission District of San Francisco and what a positive impact it had on the credit ratings and savings habits of people who are traditionally underserved by traditional banks.  I LOVE this, I want to study it and replicate it.

What’s in a Burger?

So – the 2% meat went to impoverished school districts? I need to do some fact checking on this, obvs, and I want to read the actual report, but the idea adds to the thoughts about food deserts and poor nutrition for low-income adults and children.

Vacationing with a social worker?

The next couple of months are going to be active with roadtrips and other vacations, and my SO Batman and I are going on vacation in a few days, and I’m so excited.  We haven’t been on the road together since the end of last September, and we both love to travel, so this is rough for us.

Whenever we’re on the road, no matter where we are, I can usually tell the homeless people around us.  There’s just a look that’s distinctive. It very hard for social workers to pull their heads out of their work, hard to turn off the training (at least for me).

Since Batman and I got together a few years ago, my travel style has been totally different, mainly because he’s not interesting in backpacking the way that I am.  He can also afford to do it differently. (I actually think a lot about that, struggle with it, but that’s a topic for another post.)

But no matter where we go, I’m asking about the homeless problem, the addiction problem. I usually try to stay with other social workers so that we can talk shop.  I couchsurfed with an American ex-pat in Bromley outside of London to do that.

Out travel style is so very different, or rather, my style is so very different when I’m with him.  I later learned that he takes me on vacations like he does so I can’t think about work. Very shrewd, that man.

The social cost of payday lending

Finally! I have found a paper that begins to address the social cost of payday lending!  The costs of payday lending on the individual consumer have been widely researched, but I’ve wondered about the social costs of payday lending. By that I mean the costs incurred by a neighborhood or society because a payday lender is operating there.

Heretofore, I had always thought of court cases that a state spends resources on trying This paper looked at crime rates, but also suggested comparing property value differences, among other things.  I haven’t finished reading the paper yet, but I’m so excited about it that I wanted to share it.