We have just released our new report on domestic violence. The report is the product of a partnership between United Way and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety-Office of Justice Programs, and we’re really excited about it.

In addition to information about the prevalence of domestic violence (approximately 75,000 victims in Minnesota each year), the report has information about what kinds of actions victims take after experiencing domestic violence:

•  41% end the relationship (this was much higher than I had expected!)
• 36% got help from family, friends, or neighbors
• About one-third (32%) reported they didn’t take any action in response to the violence

Most victims do not report domestic violence to the police, most often because they consider it a private matter (33%). But 15% didn’t report because they believe the police wouldn’t do anything, and 16% were afraid that the abuse would get worse if they called. And a small but sadly significant 3% didn’t report because they thought the abuse was their fault.

Overall, 27% of the women surveyed reported they had experienced domestic violence at some point in their lifetime. That’s more than 1 in 4 women! Men are also victims of domestic violence, though not as frequently: 7% (or 1 in 14) men reported experiencing domestic violence at some point in their lifetime.

The beautiful cover art was donated by author and artist Angela Hayden, herself a survivor of domestic abuse.

One of the functions of the Research & Planning Department is to verify and source various facts and data points.

Photo by idrewuk

One “fact” that we get asked to source on a regular basis is that third grade reading scores are used in the state of (Virginia, California, Indiana—fill in the blank) to project how many prison beds will be needed in the future. What a compelling statement! It just begs to be repeated.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), it isn’t true.

It has an impressive pedigree:  Colin Powell has cited it, as has Hillary Clinton. The Washington Post and New York Times have both published opinion columns that reference it. A quick Google search of “third grade reading” and “prison beds” came up with 36,400 matches (and fewer than 4,000 matches if you add the word “bogus”).

We have contacted officials in both California and Virginia (the two most frequently cited states) and have come up empty. We have searched the web and scoured research articles. Plenty of references to the alleged fact, but not a single one of the purported sources pans out.

So it was with no small amount of relief that not too very long ago I ran across this article in the Washington Post debunking the claim.

If the Washington Post with its myriad resources, national and international, couldn’t track down a reliable source, I’m inclined to believe it doesn’t exist. If anyone out there knows otherwise, please let me (and the Washington Post) know.

I’m a reader. I love to read. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry; local, national, international; heavy, light, thick, thin—you name it, I read it. (Well, okay, I don’t read Regency Romances, but I do read graphic novels, so that sort of balances out.)

Photo By Rudy A. Girón

I was not an early reader. I wasn’t one of those kids that already knew how to read when I started kindergarten. But I do remember going to the library the summer after kindergarten and plopping myself down in front of the bookshelves filled with all the little-kid books and bringing home as many as I could carry. And I remember reading aloud at the dining room table while my mom ironed and helped me pronounce some of those crazy Dr. Seuss words.

My parents were very supportive of my reading. They let me buy endless books from the scholastic books catalog that we got in elementary school. I even remember some of the titles—Katie Kittenheart and Brighty of the Grand Canyon come to mind. (On the other hand, I also remember Mom telling me to go out and play with the other kids after I had spent two days straight sitting on the porch swing reading Lord of the Rings.)

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
– Dr. Seuss

He’s right. I went to college and then I went on to graduate school. I credit my love of learning to my love of reading. That’s why I’m so pleased that our United Way has a new goal area focused on helping kids read at grade level by grade three. We start earlier, of course, but grade three is critical because up until then, kids are still pretty much focused on learning to read. After third grade, that equation flips, and kids are reading to learn (although reading comprehension and vocabulary development continue to grow).

If you don’t know how to read by third grade, chances are you’ll fall further and further behind as you progress (or not) through school. But how do you get kids to read? Isn’t that the job of the schools? Well yes, it is, but families also play a critical role (see above). And the nonprofit sector can also pitch in and help. Through a variety of strategies, including sophisticated technology, one-on-one tutoring, and family involvement, we’re aiming to move the needle on reading. We even have a literacy project that works with kids in homeless shelters.

Here’s Meghan Barp, United Way’s Impact Manager working in the goal area of reading by third grade, to tell you a little bit more.

I managed to finish several books on my recent week off, and at one point I felt surrounded by beauty.  First, Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate devotes an entire chapter to beauty:  Beauty Counts. 

At the same time I’m reading the novel Three Junes (for my June book club). The protagonist wants to go home after a long day with his sister-in-law, but she wants to make one final stop at a garden, scolding him: “There is always time for beauty, would you not say?”  

 Fast forward a few days. I am reading Alice Walker’s Revolutionary Petunias and she has this epigraph from Camus:

Beauty, no doubt, does not make revolutions. But a day will come when revolutions will have need of beauty.     

In her book Belonging: A Culture of Place (read earlier in June), bell hooks talks about her grandmother’s quilting: “Fundamentally in Baba’s mind quiltmaking was women’s work, an activity that gave harmony and balance to the psyche.” Each quilt had a story, that “began from the moment she considered making a particular quilt. The story was rooted in the quilt’s history, why it was made, why a particular pattern was chosen.” Beauty.

As all this beauty kept pushing itself to the top of my awareness, I was seeing some beautiful things outside, too.  The columbine blossomed. I saw (and heard) my first Western Meadowlark. 

As a result of all this reading and experiencing and blogging, I’m realizing the importance of beauty. And even, perhaps, the ubiquitousness of beauty, if one would simply pay attention. 

Today I saw a ripening raspberry. A singing wren. My neighbor gave me a pint of organic strawberries.

What would a community of beauty look like? What beautiful thing have you seen today? Please tell.

One of the things we’ve been working on for the last few months is a partnership with Wilder Research/Twin Cities Compass to put together a quarterly publication focusing on current economic conditions, particularly as they affect the nonprofit sector. Our first issue of the Economic Pulse is complete, and you can find it here. I’d love your feedback: What works, what doesn’t, and what would make it more useful?

Wilder Research also has an excellent blog written by Executive Director Paul Mattessich.  I particularly appreciated his recent post where he so eloquently addresses the concerns Michele Bachmann has raised around completing the census form. The data gathered for the census is so critically important and used for so many things. Be informed. Get the facts. Read it here.