Introduction November 3, 2020 was the General Election in the United States. Most attention was on the Presidential and Federal races, but there were also thousands of state and local races going on at the same time. The Keokuk County Auditor has provided unofficial results, which will be certified in the next week. A short…
Regional Economic Development Strategies
Introduction Do you know what regional economic development is? Virtually every candidate who runs for elected office will mention economic development or some version of it. “Creating good jobs.” “Building our economy.” “Attracting new employers.” Rarely do people stop to consider the question at hand: what is economic development and how do we do it?…
I Completed the Lingoda Language Sprint
Introduction I’ve been interested in improving my French for a while. I’ve made it a part of my bucket list to complete the DELF B1 exam, and eventually to complete the DELF B2 so I can be independently conversational. One tool to do this is the Lingoda Language Mararthon, also called the Lingoda Language Sprint….
Social Workers as Elected Officials
Introduction Social workers play a lot of roles. As advocates, change agents, case managers, educators, facilitators and organizers social workers play an important part in helping people and communities make positive changes in their lives. Despite this, social workers are themselves sharply underrepresented among elected officials. Currently, while there are 682,000 Social Workers in the…
The Importance of Vote By Mail
Introduction With the COVID-19 pandemic threatening elections across the United States and the rest of the world, it’s been more important than ever to be able to vote at home and not risk being exposed. One way to do this is through widespread adoption of voting by mail. In most systems like this (adopted years…