Looking into the future

By Rachel Manuel

Reading this article in the DSM Register
yesterday about literacy reminded me of the Common Good Forecaster that United Way of America recently released, which shows what the impact of education has within your state or even as specific as the county you live in. You are given the ability to change variables to see how education impacts people in our community's health and income, as well as educational success.

I won't spoil the fun for you completely, because it is interesting to see the different possibilities. For example, if you increase everyone's education level up one category in the state of Iowa (less than high school to completed high school, and high school completed to associates degree, etc) some the following is predicted: there would be around 24,000 less obese people in the state, 29 fewer murders, around 60,000 fewer people in poverty, around 21,000 fewer people unemployed, 3,200 more kids would be proficient in reading during the eigth grade, 11,600 less people incarcerated, and 245,000 more people would vote.

United Way of Central Iowa is doing a lot when it comes to helping children and youth achieve their potential through early childhood development and educational success to help ensure children are ready to succed in adulthood to lead healthy and financially independent lives. Currently, UWCI has two groups that focus on education. Women's Leadership Connection focuses on early childhood development and Emerging Leaders Initiative focuses on educational success, especially through a child's tougher transition years in 5th through 9th grade. There is a lot going on, and in the coming year we will learn more about what as a community we can do to increase everyone's educational success to improve lives in our community.