In 2005, Florida implemented a new "Stand Your Ground" law, which legally protected the use of deadly force in self-defense. The law, which removes the "duty to retreat" when a person is threatened with serious bodily harm, gained national attention after George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin in 2012. Soon after its passage in Florida, [...]
Import is a new series of guest posts from friends, colleagues, and collaborators in the data science for social good community. This post is by Ben Wellington, who writes the open data blog I Quant NY Every year, New York City public schools conduct an in-depth survey of their parents, students and teachers. According to [...]
“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” - Mahatma Gandhi The Affordable Care Act enacted broad reforms across the United States’ healthcare system. But while the healthcare landscape has changed drastically, one important constant has remained the same: a person’s health is affected significantly by non-medical factors. For [...]
[Apply today for DSSG 2015!] Previously, we wrote about the problem facing Mexico and many other countries: maternal mortality. In 2000, Mexico joined many other UN countries in committing to reduce maternal mortality, making it a high priority initiative for its current administration. But over the past 10 years, the country’s maternal mortality rate has [...]
[Apply today for DSSG 2015!] “The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.” -- Alexis de Tocqueville Why Are Earmarks Still Relevant? Congressional earmarks are legislative provisions that direct federal funds to specific projects. Even though the House Appropriations committee [...]
In our previous post, we described the challenge faced by our partners at Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). We analyzed a sample of about 11,000 MCPS students to determine if the MCPS early warning indicator system was reliably identifying students who may be off track and therefore at risk for not graduating on time. [...]
[Apply today for DSSG 2015!] Rapid growth, followed by a period of suburbanization and instability, ending with a gradual rebirth of the core: that’s the last hundred years in a nutshell for most American cities. But the recent wave of urban reinvestment has been uneven, especially since the financial meltdown of 2008. Some central city [...]
"We believe that ending homelessness is possible and that, in Chicago, everyone should have a home." - Chicago's Plan 2.0: A Home for Everyone Problem definition On a bitterly cold night in January 2013, Chicago counted more than 6,000 people without a home. While so many Chicagoans are without one of the most basic human [...]
Despite advances in prenatal and postnatal health care, maternal mortality remains a major medical problem around the world. According to the World Health Organization, 800 women die every day from preventable pregnancy and childbirth-related causes, with 99 percent of those deaths occurring in developing countries. In 1990, the United Nations made reducing maternal mortality by [...]
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela In today’s world where innovation and creativity are the key drivers of any economy, the importance of educating young minds is unquestionable. Governments invest massive resources to ensure that primary and secondary education is within reach for all [...]
