Our Stories

What We’re Reading, 10/30/19

Check out our top three reads covering the challenges and opportunities in American communities. This month, we’re thinking about how to best connect workers to manufacturing jobs, the positives of walkable cities, and the need for strong relationships between healthcare providers and communities.

Have something to add to our list? Let us know on Twitter at @LISC_HQ

TheManufacturing Mismatch
By Esther Yoon-Ji Kang, WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

“Connecting workers to manufacturing jobs is a lot harder today than it was 50 years ago. Manufacturing is no longer what it once was in Chicago. Many of the industry’s low-skilled jobs have moved abroad, while others just grew obsolete with technological advances. Several companies also moved to the suburbs. Still, hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs have remained in the region. But those jobs may seem like a world away from many communities on Chicago’s South and West sides that relied heavily upon the industry decades ago.” Continued [+]

Kids Raised in Walkable Cities Earn More Money As Adults
By Richard Florida, CityLab

“There are several reasons, according to the study, why growing up in a walkable community leads to greater upward economic mobility. For one, families and kids growing up in walkable neighborhoods are less dependent on cars. This saves them a major expense. And being in walkable neighborhood also likely brings residents into closer proximity to a wider range of jobs and economic opportunities. To get at this, the study uses data from the American Community Survey on more than 3.5 million Americans to look at the connection between walkability, car ownership, and economic opportunity. “By reducing the need for a car,” the authors write, “a more walkable city opens its employment possibilities up to a far wider range of prospective employees than in a less walkable city.”” Continued [+]

When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested
By Lizzie Presser, ProPublica

“Across the country, thousands of people are jailed each year for failing to appear in court for unpaid bills, in arrangements set up much like this one. The practice spread in the wake of the recession as collectors found judges willing to use their broad powers of contempt to wield the threat of arrest. Judges have issued warrants for people who owe money to landlords and payday lenders, who never paid off furniture, or day care fees, or federal student loans. Some debtors who have been arrested owed as little as $28.” Continued [+]

None
Want our top reads delivered to your inbox?
Sign Up Now



The views and opinions expressed in the articles above are those of the authors and publications we are listing, and do not necessarily reflect LISC’s perspective.