In 1963, federal economist Mollie Orshansky devised a formula for measuring income adequacy and poverty in this country. The measurement was named the Orshansky Index and has been used for decades to determine eligibility for federal assistance programs.

It’s time for a new index, one that doesn’t measure economic security but provides an assessment of a community’s success at providing young people with support, empowerment, boundaries and opportunities.

This new index would be called the Benson Index, named after my friend Peter Benson who died this past week .  He introduced me to the concept of positive youth development and the importance of caring relationships. ‘Relationships are the oxygen of human development,’ he said.

During our conversations, Peter would point out that our national perspective of young people was incomplete and heavily skewed to focus on issues such as sexual activity, drug use and violence.    The Benson Index would help provide a fuller and accurate picture of youth in this country.   The index could be a number, or a score or a grade and would provide a snapshot of the presence of community supports available to young people, such as intergenerational relationship, caring neighborhoods, adult role models and opportunities for youth to join adults in enhancing community life.

Many cities already have some form of the Benson Index in place.  Bucks County, Pennsylvania, issues a ‘Student Support Card’ to report how the community is doing in providing support to the local students.  On the other side of the country, Ventura County, CA, publishes the Creating Asset Rich Environments (CARE) report every other year to document how well the county is providing young people with supports, opportunities and high expectations.  Over the coming years, these communities need to be the standard, not the exception.

As our country continues to face economic uncertainty and high unemployment, the Benson Index is especially important and timely.   Lifting young people out of poverty depends on changing their contexts – the people, places and settings that shape their economic and developmental fortunes.  The Benson Index can help with this.

I would want the results from the Benson Index to be posted at the city limits of every town in America, similar to the ‘fire danger’ needle you always see before entering a national forest.  If the needle is in the red, you know that young people aren’t getting the support they need. If the needle is in the green, then young people are thriving.

Local chambers of commerce would use the index to show businesses and families that the area is a great place for kids to grow up.  Presidential debates would focus on how well the candidates improved the Benson Index in their home state. The NFL wouldn’t host a Superbowl in a city unless the local Benson Index was above a certain level.  You get the idea.

In early 2010, after spending a day together meeting with offices on Capitol Hill, Peter and I grabbed a drink before he headed to the airport.  I asked him what was the next ‘big thing’ on his horizon.  Peter described his vision of being a ‘troubadour for youth,’ traveling the country and mobilizing communities to embed youth in networks of caring adults.  His goal was to engage ten million adults from all walks of life to develop sustained, caring relationships with children and adolescence both within families and in neighborhoods.

One of Peter’s favorite phrases was, ‘If you breathe, you are on the team.’  He used these words to encourage and empower all adults to play an active role in supporting and caring for young people.  You don’t need to be a professional youth worker, or a teacher or even a parent to get involved.  Everyone has a role to play.

Peter will not get the chance to play the role of national troubadour and any hope of fulfilling his vision relies on the rest of us choosing to know, name, move toward, care about, and connect with young people in every neighborhood of this country.

If you breathe, you are on the team.

Jon Terry is president of Capitol Youth Strategies, a government relations and advocacy firm based in Washington, D.C.

We members of a special bipartisan commission to help reform the federal appointments process support the enactment of the Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act (S. 679). It will significantly improve the federal appointments process, which most agree needs to be reformed to better serve our country’s needs.

S. 679 will make it possible for a new administration to fill very early in its first year about 70 communications and operations positions that new department heads need working with them to get off to a fast start and to communicate and work effectively with Congress, the public, state and local governments, and federal employees.

These offices affect the success of senior officials and the departments themselves, but they “don’t wield power that affects the American people.”

The power wielders are the policymaking offices and the senior-most offices in charge of communication, interaction with the other branches of government and department operations, to whom the subject offices report.

S. 679 will create more time and capacity for the Senate to confirm or deny the appointment of senior-most operational and policymaking officials, whose qualifications clearly warrant Senate scrutiny.

S. 679 will create a working group to develop a plan for improving the manner and speed of which background data is collected from potential nominees. The FBI, Office of Government Ethics and the Senate can receive a nominee’s information faster and begin his or her vetting sooner in the process, and the unnecessary data-gathering burden on the nominees can be significantly reduced.

Concern has been expressed that each time Congress removes the Senate from a role in the appointment of a federal office, the institutional influence of the Senate diminishes.

Fact: The Senate has untold ways to influence every government process. The Senate can help set high standards for government functions and programs and use hearings, Government Accountability Office reports and requested reports to Congress to help hold the responsible offices accountable for performing to expectation, regardless of whether the appointed persons in those offices are confirmed by the Senate.

Concern has been expressed that Congress doesn’t have the power to regulate the manner in which a president decides whom to nominate to federal office.

Fact: Senators are calling on the executive branch to develop a plan to speed up the process by which they get nominees’ background information, so they can begin their vetting process sooner and increase their capacity to confirm nominees. And Congress is not trying to regulate what use a president makes of an applicant’s background information in deciding whom to nominate.

Concern has been expressed that the stature of an appointed position is diminished if it no longer requires Senate confirmation and that this status reduction can make it more difficult to attract highly qualified candidates.

Fact: Some of the types of appointed positions for which Senate confirmation is no longer recommended are currently Senate-confirmed in some agencies and not Senate-confirmed in other agencies. There is no evidence that those appointees requiring Senate confirmation are more qualified and talented than those with the same job at other agencies not requiring Senate confirmation.

Concern has been expressed that the background of every political nominee be investigated by the FBI.

Fact: Every political appointee, Senate-confirmed or not, receives a full FBI background check.

We members of the Aspen Institute Commission to Reform the Appointments Process support the enactment of this bill: Bill Frist, co-chairman and former Senate Majority Leader; Chuck Robb, co-chairman and  former Senator; Mack McLarty, co-chairman and former White House chief of staff; Clay Johnson, co-chairman, former director of the Presidential Personnel Office and deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget;  Len Downie, Weil Family professor of journalism, Arizona State University; Bob Edgar, president and CEO, Common Cause;  Mickey Edwards, former Member of Congress and director of the Aspen Institute-Rodel Fellowships in Public Leadership;  Susan Eisenhower, president of the Eisenhower Group Inc.; Tom Korologos, former ambassador to Belgium and senior counselor, Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad;  Sheila Krumholz, executive director, Center for Responsive Politics; John Podesta, president and CEO, Center for American Progress;  Roger Sant, regent of the Smithsonian Institution; Melanie Sloan, executive director, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington; Margaret Spellings, former secretary of Education; Terry Sullivan, Campbell Fellow in national affairs, Hoover Institution;  Nancy Tate, executive director, League of Women Voters of the United States; William Webster, former director, FBI and CIA; Walter Isaacson, ex-officio member and president of the Aspen Institute.

Note: This column originally appeared on the website of Roll Call, and is reprinted here with its permission.

Entry 6 and Entry 7: Springing into a Slump

Because a few blogs in row were time sensitive, we had to bump Harriet’s March 4 entry. But when her diary entry came in this week, we thought it was appropriate to run both at once.

March 4, 2011

Spring has sprung in Dallas!!  My Redbud tree is blooming, as is my Yellow Jasmine.  My Japanese Maple has tiny buds just about to burst into beautiful red leaves, and my Jonquils are very yellow! No purple Iris yet, but they will emerge soon, I’m sure. 

The dead plants in my various porch planters look REALLY dead now that other stuff is blooming, so I guess I know what I’ll be doing this weekend. 

I LOVE Spring and Summer! I’m sorry for those of you up North who are still waiting, but I am jumping up and down with glee over the “bustin’-out-all-over” I see happening in Big D.  The azaleas are just about to add to the riot of color all over town (my all time favorite!), and the Dallas Arboretum is literally bursting with color and a zillion new flowers!

Time to get the screen porch spiffed up and cleaned for porch-sittin’ and spying on the neighbors (one of my favorite past times), put some color in the porch planters, clean out the flower beds (of course, I’m not going to do that, but time to do it anyway), and generally do some spring cleaning.

Speaking of which, what kind of Spring cleaning do you need to do?  Besides all the house stuff, how about clearing the cobwebs out of our brains and letting in some new thoughts, ideas, and information? Time to take the vacuum cleaner to our heads and clean out all that dead stuff that’s been hibernating all winter. Time to breathe in new life and exhale all that old, dusty stuff. 

Or, if you’ve been incubating new plans, ideas, or projects all winter, NOW is the time to put them into action! The death of Winter gives way to the newness of Spring and all the possibilities that come with it. Time to come out of hibernation and create something grand! 

OMG! I just saw a Robin for the first time this Spring!  How cool is that?

March 21, 2011

I find myself in a very big slump.  Spring has sprung, the flowers are blooming, trees are greening, days are extending, grass is growing, and I am slumping.  I have little to no desire to write and honestly feel there is nothing much to write about. 

What has happened to me? Daylight Savings Time kicked my you-know-what this year…..me! I’m the one who waits with bated breath for the day when light extends to 8:00 in the evening. This year, however, all I can think about is how DARK it is in the mornings!

What has brought on this slump, this depression, this listlessness, this ho-humness? 

Upon careful analysis, I think I’m suffering from too much bad news, too often. Every day I am bombarded with advocacy alerts to save something our fine legislators are trying to skewer.  On every level of government, the ax is hard at work hacking away at any semblance of safety for our most vulnerable citizens.  It feels like that stupid pop-up game where you have to hit these things that pop up out of a very big board.  They pop up faster and faster until you can’t keep up.  Or the episode of “I Love Lucy” comes to mind…..the one with Lucy and Ethel and the assembly line that keeps moving faster and faster……Hilarious to watch, but in real life overwhelming, mind-numbing, bringing on feelings of helplessness, and apathy. 

I call it advocacy fatigue. There is too much to care about….too much to save, too little time, too few people who care. 

So…..for a person like me, who is in this world to have an impact, to then feel I have no possibility of changing things, of having no impact, is pretty soul crushing.  Soul crushing enough that not even Spring can cheer me up. Which is NOT to say I’ve quit trying.  I’m still in there, still going to Austin, still sending e-mails to legislators, still doing the deal. 

But some days I just feel like lying down and surrendering…..admitting defeat. The tide is too great, the blood-lust to cut too far reaching. 

I think I might need a vacation…..  What do you think?

In 2009, the American Humanics board of directors moved forward to study changing the organization’s name. Perhaps it would have been easier to have held a contest, changed the name, and moved on. However, bringing the level of thought leadership to the organization itself that it has brought to the nation demanded a more profound approach.

Incorporated into the decision- making process were such considerations as:

Who are the organization’s customers/stakeholders?

What branding strategies should the organization embrace?

What value the organization brings to its stakeholders?

Since 1948, the name American Humanics has been emblematic of the idea that linking the education of students to the needs of such organizations like the Boy Scouts, the YMCA and others was a wise investment.

It was difficult to know exactly why founder H. Roe Bartle used the term Humanics. The word, after all, was not in the dictionary. The closest I got was “humanism”. I found that the word, humanism, dates back to the early 1800’s serving as a descriptor for both a devotion to the field of humanities as well as a description for values that embrace a belief in the worth of all mankind, and the ability of all to realize excellence.

H. Roe Bartle’s life and career in service had an enormous impact. His Boy Scouts career, service as mayor of Kansas City, national presidency of Alpha Phi Omega and the fact that he served as president of Missouri Valley College, underscored that this was not an easy decision. Many were invested in this man, his ideals and the name he gave to this organization. This was a decision that invited passionate argument. Historians, donors, alumni, friends and more were going to be affected or at least had the potential of having something to say.

The board’s marketing and communication committee was charged with leading the name change. This board has a very strong committee structure and trusts that committees have done their due deliberation before bringing an issue or decision to the full board. Fortunately, a board member who owns a marketing and communications firm had made the commitment to provide the expertise of his firm pro bono.

The first thing his firm did was research the organization’s customers. From surveys and focus groups, gaining knowledge of what was important to students and campus program leaders was seen as critical. Understanding their values provided a foundation for understanding what words could be used in naming the organization and determining a new tag line. Not only did the firm conduct the research they also provided the intellectual capital needed to interpret the information gained, comparing it to other national branding and rebranding efforts.   

During the course of more than a year, the information gained was discussed by the marketing and communication committee. They led the board’s discussion of the research conducted. By the time the board began to consider new names for the organization, they also were in the process of hiring me as the organization’s new president, and an already challenging process then got a little more complicated. To the board’s credit, they facilitated meetings between myself and the board member’s firm. The process of decision-making was extended for almost six months past the board’s projected timeline.

The decision to allow the new CEO to inform the process of decision-making was not easily made. Many constituents had been involved and there was anticipation of the outcome. There was a great deal of investment in this process by a lot of people.

I came from a community college background, and therefore my perspective was that the new name had to acknowledge that the very definition of the words college student has changed. No longer are the organization’s affiliated programs preparing 17- to 22-year-olds, they are also enrolling some of those currently unemployed who are seeking to find jobs in the nonprofit sector.

This perspective presented some challenges that needed to be worked out. Younger, traditional age students value different words than baby boomers and even the millennial generation, those in their 40s and early 50s.

What complicated the process even more was the opinion of the organization’s attorneys. Copyrighting and protecting the organization’s new name was something that was not only important, but actually played a significant role in the choice to be made. The attorney’s advice was that descriptive names are harder to protect. The attorneys stated that names like American Humanics, more abstract names, were easier to protect.

This provided some angst for the board. But ultimately, they decided that giving the organization a name that was descriptive of its work would be the focus, which then underscored that achieving a new understanding of the organization’s work needed to occur.

Through the process all came to realize that this was not simply changing the name of an organization on company letterhead or plaques. This was truly evolving the image of an organization. This was about achieving currency in the market place. It was through sound business practices, including the process of study and decision-making that led to not just changing the organization’s name, but to the recognition that changing the name was just the beginning of the journey to transform the organization.

In March 2010, the American Humanics board of directors voted unanimously to change the name of the organization to the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. Now the link between the organization’s name and its mission is unmistakable.

Wayne Branch is president of The Nonprofit Leadership Alliance, which is the only national alliance of colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations and corporate leaders dedicated to educating, preparing and certifying professionals to strengthen and lead nonprofit organizations. The organization’s first significant endeavor under its new name will be to publish the results of the first-ever, comprehensive national survey assessing the competencies required by the nonprofit sector.

I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but at least y’all will listen to my rant about the slicing, dicing legislatures at all levels of government in this country of ours.

There is SO MUCH getting gutted that I can’t even keep up! Every day I get at least three legislative alerts about MORE cuts, the latest including the entire federal Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Programs!

What is with these people? 

What is most troubling to me, in Texas at least, are the proposed cuts to services for kids who have been removed by the state! Through no fault of their own, they have been ripped from their homes by the state, probably shuffled around the system ad-nauseum by the state and now will receive even less help from the state. How does that make sense?

I just can’t get my head around this total lack of compassion, this total unwillingness to raise even one iota of taxes – not on cigarettes, not on alcohol, not on gasoline, chocolate, soap, toys – nada, nothing, in order to shrink these deficits. Even worse, Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, claims the budget deficit is “not that big of a deal”.  According to him, “The sky is not falling,” and there is no need to do anything but cut, cut, cut. 

Well, for these kids the sky has already fallen, and they will now be in the dungeon where there is no sky at all!

I’m going to Austin Monday as part of a big Prevention Day at the Capitol. I gotta say, though, I have never been more discouraged, less hopeful, or more frustrated at the immovability of our legislature. I need Norman Vincent Peale or Pollyanna to help me get in a more positive frame of mind before I try and talk to these folks. 

Why won’t they get it? Why won’t they GET that prevention programs are SOOO much cheaper and more effective than jails or juvenile detention? WHEN will our legislators get that we will NEVER end homelessness until we stop the primary pipeline into homelessness…..kids aging out of systems like foster care and juvenile justice?

And most importantly, WHY won’t they understand that cutting or reducing funding for these programs costs us so much more in the long run?

It makes me crazy…..gives me apoplexy….makes me want to go sell shoes.  I think I need a good therapist.

Harriet Boorhem is the president of Promise House, which provides a multitude of services to homeless youth in the Dallas area, and Youth Today's first online diarist.