Insights Archives

Mike Newman is vice president of the Travelers Foundation. He has been with the company since 1997. Prior to that, Mike worked in the nonprofit and government sectors. He has served on the boards of the Minnesota College Access Network, the Page Education Foundation, the Minnesota Association of Volunteer Directors, Dakota Woodlands, Minneapolis Red Cross, and Minnesota Children's Trust Fund, among others.

If a 4th grader from Lincoln, Jackson, Marshall, Rock, Pope, or Traverse county challenges you to a game of Scrabble, you may have met your match. Last year, while in 3rd grade, more than 9 out of 10 of kids in these counties were proficient in reading, the highest performance across the state. With these counties sprinkled mostly along the western edge of Minnesota, one wonders whether there is something in the Red River – or the Dakotas' influence.

The Compass research team has been hard at work collecting, analyzing and uploading data for all 87 counties. The experience has been rewarding and eye-opening. We asked each of them what was most exciting about the creation of Minnesota Compass. Here, they share some of their insights into the process, and the project.

St. Paul is one of 21 communities recently awarded a $500,000 Promise Neighborhood planning grant from the U.S. Department of Education, to help communities gain the supports they need to be successful. The grant was the only one awarded in Minnesota and one of just two awarded in the Midwest. The Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood is coordinated by The Wilder Foundation (as is Compass), and we talk this month with Hamilton Bell, principal on special assignment from The Saint Paul Public Schools and director of The Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood.

Carolyn H. Roby, vice president of the Social Responsibility Group, Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota, shares her remarks from the Compass "Fact-based fundraising" brown bag seminar.

Compass has added a host of disability data, looked at by age, race and income. Craig talks more about the findings.

In June, Compass convened an advisory group, comprised of local leaders, to help us better understand issues related to aging and help us effectively present aging data on the web site. Researcher Andi Egbert shares insights from working with this group, and the implications of the aging population in the region.

Twin Cities Compass tracks the disparities in quality of life for different groups in the region. Susan answers questions about disparity-related trends, family composition, and who is likely to be hardest hit by the current recession.

Twin Cities Compass tracks obesity as a Key Measure of health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally; today more than 300 million adults meet the clinical definition of obese. The Twin Cities region is no exception to this alarming trend: Obesity has also reached a record high; approximately one in four adults in the 7-county metro are obese.

Graduation rate is a major indicator of future success, for individuals, our region, and the state as a whole. Here are some trends in graduation rates, and what they may portend for the future.