Blog
Latest News
Meet the Working Poor: Learning not to Judge
From a US Bureau of Labor Statistics perspective, the working poor are defined as “…people who spent at least 27 weeks in the labor force (that is, working or looking for work) but whose incomes still fell below the official poverty level.” -1. For a family of four,...
Joplin’s EF-5 Tornado: 3 Lessons Learned about Crisis Leadership
Crisis happens. Sometimes a major crisis occurs with a sudden shift in the economy. It can occur with the sudden loss of a key individual without a succession plan in place. Major changes in policy, laws or regulation can also cause organizational upheaval. And...
The Trouble With Disconnected Youth
The Measure of America project, sponsored by the Social Science Research Council defines disconnected youth as “…teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 who are neither working nor in school. There are 5,527,000 disconnected youth in America today, or...
Growing Resilient Kids
The study of resiliency goes back several decades. However, recent economic challenges, natural disasters, and the prevalence of violence, among many other factors, have brought a laser focus to this growing body of research. Although I can’t bring my own personal...
The Power of Trajectory
A few years ago I had the opportunity to spend some time with Missouri Senator Roy Blunt. We were walking around a retrofitted big box store at Joplin's Northpark Mall that had been converted into our temporary 11th and 12th-grade campus following the Joplin Tornado...
Relationships Matter Part 2: Outside the School
In one of my blogs, I shared my thoughts on the importance of building relationships within the school with a commitment to follow up with a Part 2 focusing on relationships outside the school. Over the past 20 years, I have had the opportunity to work with community...
