The court case considering the constitutionality of the Texas public education finance system working its way through the court system, has placed legislative debate over public education funding on a relative back burner in the 2013 Texas Legislative Session. While education budget bills are progressing through committees — and will likely receive increased scrutiny later in the Legislative Session — the relative quiet in school finance discussions has opened the door for increased attention on school accountability, standardized testing and choice discussions, including charter schools.
As legislators grapple with these issues around school models and programs affecting Texas education outcomes, Forefront Austin offers a review of ten recent stories featuring unique education programs in Central Texas. The stories spotlight nonprofit, education and corporate ideas that are improving educational outcomes for Central Texas-and may provide food for thought as Texas Legislators grapple with ways to ensure today's students are prepared to meet tomorrow's demands.
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What better place to spark some new ideas than among 1 million light bulbs and 400,000 of our closest friends?
Great things happen when Austinites get together. The 2012 Trail of Lights provided just the opportunity to bring together citizens with community leaders to start conversations about creative ideas and solutions that will advance Austin's most pressing issues. Here, we capture the accomplishments and ideas highlighted by the community partners featured at the 2012 Trail of Lights to inspire you to continue the conversations into 2013.
In a world that is getting faster by the minute, it’s easy to try to get caught up in the hectic pace of our own daily lives. But across our community, individuals, corporations and nonprofit organizations are carving out time and dedicating resources to advance the issues that affect us all. In Forefront Austin’s fourth installment of our special Trail of Lights series, we bring you perspectives from the people who are moving Austin and Central Texas forward.
The 2012 Trail of Lights, powered by H-E-B is our opportunity to celebrate together, share our traditions and continue to advance this place we love to call home. We hope you will join us to celebrate our community and our accomplishments in Zilker Park, December 16th through 23rd.
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Most school classrooms look much as they did 50 years ago, but the skills that students need to succeed in the workplace have changed dramatically in the past few decades. Children still spend much of the day listening to a teacher, reading textbooks and answering multiple-choice questions. Yet jobs increasingly require knowledge that students cannot learn in a traditional classroom, such as advanced technological skills and an ability to collaborate with people from many different cultures. To cultivate leaders in the 21st century, we will need to rethink what we teach and how we teach it.
In Forefront Austin’s third installment of our Trail of Lights series, we bring you perspectives from community leaders in Central Texas that are expanding the way we tackle education to ensure that students are prepared for the jobs of the future.
Habits can be positive, creating routines that allow us to reach new opportunities or potential. Practicing lay-ups day after day allows a basketball player to shoot the winning goal practically on instinct. But the same tendency toward routine can produce bad habits that limit us or, even worse, cause harm. Continually overeating, smoking or getting angry causes real physical damage. Both types of habits, multiplied over a community, can propel its members forward, or create pitfalls and burdens with social and economic costs.
In Forefront Austin’s second installment of our Trail of Lights series, we bring you perspectives from community leaders that are guiding Central Texas towards habits that can keep us healthy and happy for decades to come. And mark your calendars to attend the 2012 Trail of Lights where you can connect with these community leaders and continue to celebrate Austin’s most beloved tradition.
Demographers paint a vivid picture of the future of Central Texas, foreseeing significant changes in the way we live and the individuals who make up our community. As our population increases, ages, moves and diversifies, all of us -- both newcomers and long-time residents -- will be challenged to find new commonalities to unite, rather than divide, us as we shape our region’s future together.
To meet that challenge, Forefront Austin is partnering with the RunTex Carrozza Foundation to turn the lights back on at Austin’s Trail of Lights, restoring a community event that connects Central Texans from all corners of our community.
When economic constraints forced the closure of the Trail of Lights in 2010, we learned that the Trail of Lights is much more than some twinkling lights. It’s an opportunity for people from all walks of life—natives and newcomers, young and old, musicians and tech entrepreneurs, Latino and Anglo—to forge connections that improve the community we all love to call home.
The 2012 Trail of Lights offers the opportunity to engage Central Texas in advancing the issues facing our community. Over the next few months, Forefront Austin will spotlight organizations that, as part of the 2012 Trail of Lights, are leading change in healthcare, education, the environment, poverty and more. Look for ongoing updates and new opportunities for you to engage with the Trail of Lights and these organizations.
We start this special series with perspectives from organizations who are responding to the demographic shifts under way in Central Texas. Read these perspectives to gain insights into how, no matter how much we change, Central Texas remains the place we all want to call home.
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In this Forefront Austin back-to-school issue we look at some of the ways that members of our community support the positive development of young people. Increasingly, groups in Austin are adopting a common-sense approach that uses the 40 Developmental Assets, a list of personal characteristics, relationships, experiences and opportunities developed by the Search Institute in Milwaukee, Minn.
The stories presented below offer a glimpse into how organizations are increasing assets for the youth they serve and opportunities for how Central Texas can build assets to serve our entire community.
Does a community thrive because its citizens are happy? Or are its citizens happy because their community is thriving? Surely, the answer is not a chicken-or-egg equation. Individually and together, citizens create the vibrant community where they can work, play, create, contribute, live in safety, and stay healthy, i.e. a community in which they’re happy.
This month, Forefront Austin considers opportunities to measure and advance the idea of Gross Domestic Happiness. We kick off our conversation with a perspective from RunTex's Paul Carrozza who is reimagining Austin's iconic Trail of Lights as a platform to advance community connections and happiness. Then, explore features about how Austin stacks up on seven happiness measures and who is moving the needle to keep everyone happy.
Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution. If you don't have any problems, you don't get any seeds. ~Norman Vincent Peale
Austin, for all its growth and advancement, faces a number of challenges. It’s pretty easy to focus on the problems—this doesn’t work, that person needs to change, that is broken. But what happens when we flip those problems around to find the opportunities?
This month, Forefront Austin explores the people and initiatives that are forging solutions from Central Texas’s challenges. Read on to examine the facets of leadership that propel individuals and groups to solve a problem, stir a pot and envision a path forward for our community.
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The journey home for a veteran can be just as challenging as the steps that lead into combat or conflict. Veterans return to a civilian life that is markedly different from a structured military life. Their communities have changed. They have changed. They must learn to reintegrate a world that is very different, often bearing physical and psychological scars.
In mythology, there are eight stages of a hero’s journey, from the call to adventure to the return and reintegration to community. When classic hero Odysseus returned to his home after his 20-year journey, disguised and transformed, only his ancient and loyal dog Argos recognized his master. As Argos mustered the energy to lift his head and wag his tail, Odysseus found the strength to finish his task and reclaim his home.
Few modern veterans return home without a transformation. As we look ahead to Memorial Day (May 28), Forefront Austin highlights the support offered by Central Texas to guide veterans upon their return and complete their hero’s journey.