The average household income grew 2.7 percent, though the average varied dramatically by neighborhood. Glover Park and Dupont Circle grew by more than 30 percent, while Chinatown and Downtown shrunk more than 20 percent. (Examiner, 2/23)

AGING | Why Retirement is Tougher for Blacks, Latinos (DCentric, 2/23)

HOUSING | Mayor Gray has announced a new Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force comprised of 34 local leaders, advocates, and experts. The task force is focused on a comprehensive strategy that provides housing, but also strengthens workforce development and education opportunities so residents are able to grow out of the system – “emphasizing that public housing is a temporary privilege, not an indefinite right.” (City Paper, 2/23)

Related: Lydia DePillis looks at affordable housing in the District and finds that the waitlist for vouchers continues to grow because current recipients aren’t exiting the system. (City Paper, 2/23)

EDUCATION | Charter schools get a lot of attention in the District, but the Post reports that Prince George’s County has “quietly amassed the largest cluster of charter schools in the Washington suburbs.” (WaPo, 2/23) “Quietly amassed” sounds nefarious or, at the very least, suspicious…

PHILANTHROPY | In Education: Charity for Black Students Diminishes With Age, Study Finds (Chronicle, 2/23) “[C]haritable support for African-American students diminishes as the children get older and negative stereotypes about black teenagers kick in.”

TAXES | Virginians will now have to pay state sales tax on purchases made on Amazon. (WaPo, 2/23) Quick, distract Mayor Gray and Governor O’Malley so they don’t read this!

70 degrees in February?! This can mean only one thing. We’re going to get a big snow storm in March. Rebekah has the Daily tomorrow, so here are my quick Oscar predictions:

Best Picture: The Artist. Actor: George Clooney. Actress: Rooney Mara. Directing: The Artist.

Of course, I’d rather have Hugo win everything, but I think it came out a few weeks to early to sustain buzz. 

- Christian

D.C.’s Contract Appeals Board…found “pervasive” failures and irregularities with the contract award process, including the fact that a dozen companies actually submitted more attractive bids than the group that ended up winning.

EDUCATION | D.C. schools with more low-income, academically troubled students should get more money, panel recommends (WaPo, 2/22)

GIVING | The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has awarded $2.3 million to support summer programs for low-income youth, including a grant to support youth in Prince George’s County. [Read more.]

PHILANTHROPY | Opinion: The Hudson Institute’s William Schambra asks, Is Conservative Philanthropy Ignoring the Poor? (Chronicle, 2/20)

Conservative philanthropy once helped dispel that stereotype by developing thoughtful private approaches to poverty. Unhappily, it now simply reinforces unfavorable impressions by focusing on short-term political advocacy rather than long-term civic problem solving.

This is a pretty broad critique – and it too easily assumes that there is a clearly-defined body of “conservative philanthropy” with a common agenda – but it is an interesting opinion nonetheless. What do you folks think? Comment below!

AGING/HEALTH | Older Arlingtonians with disabilities find a home (WaPo, 2/22)

TECHNOLOGY | The Chronicle looks at ten people who are creatively using technology to improve the world. (Chronicle, 2/20)

ARTS/HISTORY | Smithsonian Breaks Ground On African American History Museum (WAMU, 2/22) Hopefully, it won’t be inscribed with any out-of-context quotes about drum majors.

RULES | Following a verbal altercation between David Catania and Marion Barry, the D.C. City Council has banned profanity from its meetings. (WaPo, 2/22)

Do you love history? Do you love mysteries? Do you love historical mysteries? I bet you know where this is going…

The strangest unsolved mysteries of World War II!

Related: A local blogger ranks the “walkability” of all 86 Metro stations. Metro Center ranks first, Morgan Boulevard ranks last. (David Klion, 2/20)

EDUCATION
- Following last week’s story about DCPS suspensions, the Post’s Bill Turque finds some very surprising results with similar data from charters. Data show that one Ward 7 school, for example, expelled eight percent of its student body last year. (WaPo, 2/18) Is Donald Trump running that school?

- Only 55 percent of students in Alexandria public schools go to college,  which is nearly 20 points behind Fairfax County and seven points behind the state average. (Examiner, 2/21)

Related: Graduation Rates Increase Around The Globe As U.S. Plateaus (WAMU, 2/21)

AGING
- Baby boomers retire at a pace of 10,000 a day, and the trend of retirees moving to suburbs is causing the cost of care for the aging to soar. A Salon columnist explores the idea that a way to solve the “boomer retirement crisis” is to encourage boomers to stay in (or move to) cities. (Salon, 2/18)

- For boomers, it’s a new era of ‘work til you drop’ (WTOP, 2/21) For some people, this isn’t necessarily bad news. One interviewee says, “I think I would be bored if I just all of a sudden quit everything and did whatever it is retired people do.”

HEALTH
- New Dental Clinic Bolsters Access for D.C.’s Low-Income Patients (WAMU, 2/20)

- United Medical Center asks for $15 million from D.C. (WBJ, 2/21)

GIVING | Local developer John Akridge announced a $1 million gift to help repair the National Mall. (DCist, 2/21)

CRIME | New statistics show that violent crime in the District has nearly doubled compared to last year, though homicides are declining. (Times, 2/20) So it’s more dangerous, but you’ll probably survive.

TRANSIT | A Metro survey is asking for help naming new Silver Line stations. You can vote for their suggested names or use the “other” box to suggest better names like “Christian Clansky Station at Tysons Corner.”

EVENT | This Friday, February 24, from 3:30pm to 5:00pm, The World Bank is hosting a community conversation for funders and nonprofits on behalf of the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation. Ellen London, president of the Trust, and BB Otero, District Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, will discuss the Trust’s current challenges and the road ahead. For more information and to register, please contact Tessie Marfori at tmarfori@worldbank.org (note: corrected email from previous listing).

Happy Mardi Gras, folks! I can’t believe it’s that time of year already. I’ll be making pancakes for dinner. How about you?

To help you celebrate, here’s a video of Louis Armstrong and Danny Kaye singing the Mardi Gras staple When the Saints Go Marching In.

WORKFORCE | On the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region‘s blog, Ben Murphy writes about the Greater Washington Workforce Development Collaborative’s new policy brief, Beyond Good Intentions: Using Data to Promote Economic Opportunity. The brief looks at how the District must develop a “data-driven culture” to strengthen its workforce development programs with better data collection and analysis. (CFNCR, 2/16)

EDUCATION | DCPS overestimated its enrollment numbers for the 2011-2012 school year by 2,056 students, netting it an extra $18.4 million in funding. (WaPo, 2/16)

HOMELESSNESS | Homeless Veteran Resource Center Coming to Rhode Island Avenue NE (City Paper, 2/17)

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | The DC Fiscal Policy Institute looks at the impact of the planned streetcar lines in D.C. from the perspectives of job growth and availability of affordable housing. (DCFPI, 2/15 and 2/16)

DEMOGRAPHICS | A new study from Pew shows that demographic shifts are leading to a rapidly increasing rate of intermarriage in the United States. Virginia has the highest rates of marriage between blacks and whites, and the District’s intermarriage rate is almost 20 percent of new marriages, well above the national average. (WaPo, 2/16)

Related: Demographic shifts across our region are being reflected in many different ways. Don’t miss demographer Jim Johnson’s highly anticipated talk on this topic on March 15. More information and registration is here.

EVENT | On February 24 from 3:30pm to 5:00pm, The World Bank is hosting a community conversation for funders and nonprofits on behalf of the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation (Trust). Ellen London, president of the Trust, and BB Otero, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, will discuss the Trust’s current challenges and the road ahead. For more information and to register, please contact Tessie Marfori at tmarfori@worldbank.org.

Here’s an interesting way to think about aging…human wormholes.

Enjoy the holiday weekend! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there’s no snow.

Rebekah

Related: PBS is airing a special tonight called U.S. Health Care: The Good News that will look at the country’s most successful local models for healthcare.

- 5 years after boy dies from toothache, Maryland Medicaid dental care is on mend (WaPo, 2/16)

COMMUNITY
- The Community Foundation for Prince George’s County has named William M. Shipp, managing director of O’Malley, Miles, Nylen & Gilmore in Calverton, as chairman of its board. Desiree Griffin-Moore, the foundation’s executive director, says (Gazette, 2/16):

“Bill’s commitment to the greater Prince George’s community — not only through his professional work but volunteer efforts including citizen boards and commissions, business and charitable organizations — make him an asset to The Community Foundation, our donors and the nonprofit organizations we serve.”

- World Bank President Robert Zoellick will step down in June. (Reuters, 2/16) The article cites rumors that both Hillary Clinton and Larry Summers are interested in the position. I would throw my hat in the ring too, but I’m booked with this gig writing the Daily.

- Maryland Nonprofits’ President and CEO, Darryl A. Jones, has announced his resignation in light of health concerns. Sally Peterson, President of Radiant Communications, will serve as interim president and CEO.

WORKFORCE | The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region just released a new briefing titled Using Data to Promote Economic Opportunity about improving local workforce development by strengthening data capacity.  (CFNCR, 2/16) Not this kind of Data capacity.

EDUCATION | Following up on the Post’s article about elementary school suspensions, the Children’s Law Center’s Judith Sandalow calls for out-of-school suspensions to be taken off the table as a disciplinary measure in elementary schools. (HuffPo, 2/15)

Well, this might be the coolest marketing campaign ever. To promote a new ride, a theme park in England commissioned an artist to create a terrifying illusion in a London mall’s elevator. And, for some unrelated chuckles, here’s why you shouldn’t text while walking.

Rebekah has the Daily tomorrow and we’ll be observing President’s Day on Monday, but I’ll see you all on Mardi Gras next week. I hope you have a great long weekend – and I hope we get a huge snowstorm.

- DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson talks about the shifting enrollment balance between public schools and charters. (WAMU, 2/15)

- MoCo. Board of Education approves $2.13 billion spending proposal (WaPo, 2/15)

EQUITY/YOUTH | Arlington County has the third-highest salary average in the country – but nearly one-third of its public school students receive free or reduced lunch. Those students all come from households that are at or below federal guidelines. (Patch, 2/15)

HOMELESSNESS | Getting a Handle on Veteran Homelessness (Street Sense, 2/7) A study shows that while veteran homelessness in the District remained flat in 2010 and 2011, it has fallen by 23 percent since 2008.

HIV/AIDS | President Obama’s Budget Maintains Strong Commitment to Domestic HIV/AIDS Programs (Newswire, 2/15)

CRIME | The Post has a fairly dramatic front page article on drugs and gangs in the District. Not happy reading, but it is worth exploring this vivid look at the underbelly of the region. (WaPo, 2/15)

I have three cousins and a close friend who have had babies in the past two weeks, so this story caught my attention. New research suggests that babies can understand what you are saying at only 6 months old. Also, the article refers to babies as “pudgy poop machines”.

Philanthropy: For the fifth time in his presidency, the president calls for limits to charitable deductions. (Chronicle, 2/14)

Arts: Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts would increase. (Arts USA, 2/14)

Education: Budget would increase. Funding for Race to the Top and a similar new program for higher education would be boosted. (WaPo, 2/14)

Health: “[M]odest, familiar sets of cuts in Medicare benefits, as well as Medicaid.” (Hill, 2/13)

Housing: Aid would remain flat overall, but homeless assistance grants and Choice Neighborhoods funding would increase. (Chronicle, 2/14)

Local: The budget would hurt our region’s economy. (WaPo, 2/14)

Poverty: The Community Services Block Grant would be cut by 50 percent. (WaPo, 2/14)

Promise Neighborhoods: This initiative sees a 65 percent increase at $100 million, up from $60 million the previous year. (Chronicle, 2/14)

Transit: Metro’s budget would get cut by $15 million. Ugh. (WaPo, 2/14)

EDUCATION | Enrollment in the District’s charter schools rose 8 percent this school year. Charter schools now educate 41 percent of the city’s youth. At the same time, DCPS enrollment is declining – though combined enrollment is up 2 percent. (Examiner, 2/14)

Related: President’s Budget Proposal Fails to Fund D.C. Voucher Program (PR Newswire, 2/13)

ARTS | Art losing its toehold in downtown Washington (WaPo, 2/14)

PHILANTHROPY | One of WRAG’s Philanthropy Fellows, Ryan Steinbach, talks to the Baltimore Sun about how his fellowship with the Calvert Foundation is broadening his horizons. He says, “I think that it’s really opened my eyes to this entirely different community.” (Sun, 2/12)

Related: More info on WRAG’s Philanthropy Fellows program – a pipeline and professional development program linking graduate and undergraduate students with local funders, in partnership with the University of Maryland.

Ok, it’s Valentine’s Day. I know how sappy this is, but here’s a fun compilation of “I love you” scenes from Hollywood’s greatest movies. There’s also, inexplicably, a quick clip from one of the worst movies ever made – Twilight.  Face-palm. If the sentimentalism makes you cringe, you can at least see how many of the clips you can identify.

And if you really don’t like Valentine’s Day, you can get your history on with the Chicago Tribune’s original story about Al Capone’s St. Valentine’s Day Massacre from February 14, 1929.

According to data compiled by the New York Times, government benefits – including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security – now account for an average of 17.6% of Americans’ personal income. That percentage has more than doubled over the last forty years.

The Times has created a detailed map of statistics about benefits. In our region, every county and the District receive a lower-than-average percentage of total benefits. For individual categories, our region is lower-than-average in all but two areas:

- Medicaid accounts for an average of 4.05% of personal income in the District, compared to 3.1% nationally.

- Prince George’s, Charles, and Prince William counties are slightly above the 0.4% average for veterans benefits.

There’s a lot to digest, so take a few minutes to interact with the map. The good news is that our region has remained below the average for the last four decades. (NYTimes, 2/11)

Related: Here are accompanying infographics about our country’s increasing reliance on the safety net. (NYTimes, 2/11)

EDUCATION | The Post takes a look at our region’s school districts and finds that more than 6,000 students from pre-kindergarten to grade 5 were suspended last year. Education advocates are critical of the disciplinary practice – which they say young children comprehend no differently than a snow day – and of many of the reasons for imposing it.

The Children’s Law Center’s Judith Sandalow says that suspensions for young children miss the point: “It is a sign they are experiencing something in their lives, and they should be helped.” (WaPo, 2/13)

HOUSING | Prince George’s County’s housing department is getting some help. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development is dispatching specialists to help the county “do a better job of managing housing programs and other community revitalization efforts.” (WaPo, 2/13) Hopefully not this dud of a “specialist”!

DISTRICT
- Here’s a recap of Mayor Gray’s One City Summit, which gave citizens an opportunity to vote on city priorities. (WaPo, 2/13)

- Obama Budget Includes Language on D.C. Budget Autonomy (DCist, 2/13)

IDENTITY | WAMU takes a look at the conversation around the terms “black” and “African American” as racial identifiers – and the complications that arise for groups like Black Latinos that are stuck having to identify (on paper) as one group or another. (WAMU, 2/13)

I didn’t catch much of the Grammy Awards last night, but I did see the Beach Boys reunion performance with Brian Wilson. It was awesome. But the best part was when the camera cut to Lady Gaga in the audience, who looked really uncomfortable trying to dance to real music.

Along the same lines, here’s a truly embarrassing commentary on pop culture today – the Twitterspehere’s reaction to Paul McCartney’s performance. Who?

REGIONALISM | WAMU has an interview with David Robertson, executive director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, about how our region must position itself for economic growth in ways that reduce its reliance on the federal government. (WAMU, 2/9)

EDUCATION
- Several new studies are showing that the educational achievement gap between rich and poor children is growing, a reality that experts think will be exacerbated by the recession. (NY Times, 2/9)

- New D.C. Ad Campaign Encourages School Attendance (WAMU, 2/10)

- The D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education has reduced the number of classrooms it will have investigated for possible cheating on standardized exams, from 128 to 35. (WaPo, 2/9)

BUDGETS | Arlington is considering a small tax increase to fund a new homeless shelter and allow libraries to stay open later.  (Examiner, 2/9)

ENVIRONMENT | The Maryland general assembly failed to move forward with the five cent bag fee in Prince George’s County. (WaPo, 2/8)

PHILANTHROPY | Presented without comment. (WAMU, 2/10)

You might want to skip this if you’re eating lunch right now. Next time I hear an older person go on about “kids today….,” I will just point them to this. 

-Rebekah

- Press Release
- Ward data snapshots

HOUSING | A massive $26 billion settlement between state and federal officials and five major banks will help reduce the financial burden on as many as one million troubled homeowners. The settlement helps homeowners by “reducing the amount they owe on their mortgages, lowering their interest rates and paying restitution to homeowners who suffered mortgage-related abuses.” (WaPo, 2/9)

Related: Full details of the settlement

COMMUNITY

- Former WRAG Board Chair Maxine B. Baker has joined the AARP Foundation as senior vice president for Impact Programs. Her work will focus on the issues of hunger, housing, isolation, and income for aging adults. AARP Foundation president Jo Ann Jenkins says:

Maxine brings a wealth of experience and is widely acknowledged as an energetic and visionary leader who will be instrumental in realizing the goals of the Foundation and making a difference in the lives of so many individuals.

- David Robertson, executive director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, has announced that he will be leaving the organization in January 2013. Robertson has served in his current position since 2003, and has been with COG in other capacities for more than 20 years. He has also been a key leader in both the Region Forward plan and the 8 Neighbors group.

In a press release, COG Board Chairman Frank Principi said:

“Mr. Robertson has been the consummate professional in his capacity as COG’s executive director. He leaves big shoes to fill and the Board will use the next few months to find the best qualified person to build on his record of leadership and success.”

- Congratulations to Joseph Rigby – Chairman, President, and CEO of Pepco Holdings Inc. - who has been voted “Best Business Philanthropist” in a poll conducted by the Washington Business Journal! Rigby also chairs the United Way for the National Capital Region. (Informer, 2/9)

DISTRICT | Most of the D.C. workers accused in the unemployment benefits fraud scheme won’t be prosecuted. The city’s attorney general estimates that the threshold for prosecution will likely be $20,000. (Examiner, 2/9) The lesson here: If you plan to steal from the government, make sure to steal less than $20k.

EDUCATION | Maryland AP scores top nation again; Virginia at #3 (Examiner, 2/9)

LISTEN | Allison Fine’s latest podcast discusses The Power of Stories in Social Change (Chronicle, 2/9)

NONPROFITS | The Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Washington, DC (YNPNdc) is capturing the demographics and opinions of our region’s emerging leaders in the nonprofit sector. Here’s a short survey – which they would appreciate if you also share with your colleagues in the local nonprofit world. Added incentive: your participation could win you a $100 AMEX gift card or a $25 donation to the charity of your choice!

Does it seem a bit odd to anyone else that the Post has an op-ed from Vladimir Putin?

Rebekah has the Daily tomorrow. See you all on Monday – and stay warm this weekend!