We recently surveyed a sample of our agencies to find out how well they’re weathering the recession. Not surprisingly in times of economic hardship, needs are up and resources are down. Three-quarters of the agencies are seeing more clients (compared to two-thirds when we asked the same question last year).

Not only are agencies seeing more clients, they’re seeing clients with more needs. Again no surprise: They’re seeing more needs around unemployment and underemployment. But they’re also seeing more clients who need assistance with basic needs, mental health issues and healthcare in general. More than half of the agencies report seeing more clients who are either homeless or at risk of being homeless.

On a more surprising note, when we asked about budgets for 2010, over one-third of the agencies indicated their 2010 budget is larger than their 2009 budget. That’s not as many as reported their 2010 budget is smaller, but it was a significant bright spot in an otherwise sobering report.

In terms of revenue, 80% of responding agencies report they lost revenue from at least one source and more than half lost revenue from more than one source (most commonly foundation grants and government grants). How are they coping? Salary freezes (53%), layoffs (40%), hiring freezes (30%) and reduced staff hours (28%) are the most common strategies implemented in 2009.

Given projections on how long it’s going to be before employment levels seriously improve (3-5 years), agencies will likely continue to face these challenges for at least a few more years. For more information, read the full report.

I just finished reading the winter issue of Contexts, one of my favorite magazines.

Contexts has much to recommend it. One of the more interesting articles in this issue was on hunger, wherein I learned that for the first time in human history, the world is home to more than one billion hungry people. Interestingly, the article suggests that hunger has less to do with a shortage of food than with a shortage of affordable or accessible food. In other words: We have plenty of food, it just isn’t going where it’s needed (or if it is, the people there can’t afford it). Population has grown, yes; but food production has grown even faster.

In Minnesota, more than 1 in 10 households are what is called “food insecure,” meaning that they have difficulty obtaining enough food for all their members due to a lack of money and other resources. One of the things Greater Twin Cities United Way is doing to help address hunger is working with food shelves and food banks to make systems more efficient—primarily by increasing capacity—so that we can get more food to hungry people. You can read more about these efforts on our Website.

A few other things that caught my eye in the winter issue:

• Ageism in the workplace
• Sexism in food advertising
• Civility in U.S. society (going downhill)
• Redefining retirement

And then, when I went to get the links for this blog, I found the most interesting thing of all: Sociological Images. As you might guess from the title, it focuses on interesting visuals—maps, graphics, etc.—that viewers/readers submit. (You know, I wouldn’t have thought that you could even get 2,800 pigs in a square mile.)

While some of the visuals focus on advertising (truth in advertising, silly advertising, misleading advertising), many are simply good depictions of data, like this age pyramid: such a good way to see where we’re going over time in one graphic. Look at all those 85+ women—by 2050, they will be the largest age demographic!