Street lights are one of many public services that residents take for granted. In addition to helping us avoid car crashes, alley and street lights allow us to be aware of our surroundings and can help prevent devastating crimes like theft and assault. But while residents don’t typically notice street lights until they stop working, [...]
Starting a new nonprofit is a difficult process. Besides choosing a mission, developing a strategy and hiring employees, a new organization must figure out how they fit into the larger nonprofit landscape and find support. “How can I attract supporters?” “With whom can I partner?” “What are people saying about me?” These are just some [...]
Empty and full stations pose a major problem in the Divvy system. After all, bike share really only needs two things to work: a bike to ride and a dock to leave the bike. Chicago's commuting cycle (get it?) means that all the bike share bikes will end up under the butts of the workers [...]
In a previous post, we asked how the Cook County Land Bank Authority ought to decide which vacant and abandoned properties to acquire. Let’s illustrate this question with a hypothetical comparison of two homes in Chicago. 39XX W Van Buren St. is a typical two flat multi-family property in Garfield Park, a neighborhood on Chicago’s [...]
This fall, more than 2 million American high school seniors will apply to college. A growing body of research tells us that low-income students are at a disadvantage in this process. Even when they beat the odds and do well in school, they often don’t know that they’re qualified to attend selective colleges, or that [...]
In October 2012, when Hurricane Sandy raged up the East Coast of the United States, many people in the path of the storm turned to a relatively new communication channel: Twitter. Between October 27th and November 1st, as the storm hit New York City and surrounding states, more than 20 million Tweets about the storm [...]
Obesity is a rapidly growing epidemic in the US. More than a third of American adults are obese, and another third are overweight. If this trend holds, 42% of American adults will be obese by 2030, making obesity one of the leading public health challenges of our times. Excessive weight is bad for people’s health, [...]
“Wow! What is that? Where’d you get it?,” the beach-going twentysomething asked me. I looked up from the map on my phone and steadied the powder-blue bike under me to answer his question. It was, of course, a Divvy bike - part of Chicago’s hot new bike share system. As a car-less visitor in Chicago, [...]
We've all been there: standing at an intersection, waiting for the bus to come. Passengers keep arriving at the stop, and you start to realize you could have a crowded ride ahead. When the bus finally arrives, it's packed. Should you wait for the next bus? Or will it be just as crowded - or [...]
There are thousands of organizations around the country that are dedicated to helping people in need. Yet despite those good intentions, few of those organizations are scientifically rigorous in evaluating their strengths and weaknesses in order to make changes to maximize positive impact in as many people as possible. The reasons are easy to understand: [...]
