Immigration - Overview - Minnesota Compass

Immigration - Overview - Minnesota Compass

A new online resource makes it easy to find information on the changing demographics of Southwest Minnesota. Minnesota Compass is a nonprofit site let by Wilder Research and dedicated to research in the field of human services. The site provides information, data, and trends on many issues including immigration.
Data in the immigration section of the site can be broken down by region and then analyzed by age, employment, education, county of residence, country of origin, and many other factors.
The site also includes information on aging, education, transportation, the environment, and other issues. All data will be updated later this year to reflect the 2010 Census.
Minnesota Compass is located at: www.mncompass.org. Click on “Immigration” in the topic bar to view immigration data.

Kids Count: Southwest Minn. better than U.S. | Worthington Daily Globe | Worthington, Minnesota

Kids Count: Southwest Minn. better than U.S. | Worthington Daily Globe | Worthington, Minnesota

WORTHINGTON — Counties in southwest Minnesota have more children living in poverty than the state as a whole, according to KIDS COUNT data recently released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The organization releases an annual report on measures of child-well-being on the national, state and community level.

Of the six area counties analyzed, only two — Murray (11 percent) and Rock (11.2 percent) — had a lower percentage of children living in poverty than Minnesota as a whole (11.4 percent).

Considering data from 2008, the most recent available, Cottonwood County had the highest poverty rate with nearly 16 percent. But all area counties fared better than the nation as a whole, where 18 percent of children live in households where the income is below $21,834 for a family of four.

The only county with a significant fluctuation in the past decade was Nobles County, where the rate jumped from 13 percent in 2004 to 19.5 percent in 2007 and down to 15.3 percent in 2008.

Read more

Refugee Class Visits Okoboji

Refugee class visited Okoboji yesterday.

Program Evaluation Surveys

As the first year of our program comes to a close, we would like to evaluate our progress so far. Part of this evaluation is gathering feedback from you, the volunteers, about how we can help you have a more successful and enjoyable experience. We've put together a short survey for all Literacy Volunteers to complete. The survey is available either on paper at Community Ed or online here. Please only complete the survey once.

I'll be making an effort to come to each class and offer all volunteers a paper copy of the survey. These can then be turned in at the front desk in the office. All surveys and answers are anonymous and confidential.

We look forward to your feedback!

Quarter 4 Update--Good work!

We're just about finished with our report for quarter four of our first year and we have some great news to share with you all. As usual, all of our volunteers have come through strong and done a wonderful job! Of course we wouldn't expect anything else :).

During the 2009-2010 Adult Basic Education fiscal year (May-April), students in English, GED, and citizenship classes who worked with tutors had a level advancement rate (the percentage of students gained a level in their English literacy skills) of 61%! That is 26% higher than the level advancement rate of 35% for students who did not work with volunteers and 21% higher than the goal set by the state. Tutored students also had a higher retention rate than untutored students for May 2009-April 2010. 94% of tutored students stayed with their ABE program, compared to 70% for untutored students.

Our volunteers and students are also off to a great start this year. For the period of May-June 2010, 80% of tutored students were retained in their program and 26% have already completed a level. Among untutored students, 60% have been retained and 16% have made a level advancement.

What does all this mean? Basically it means that you are doing a great job! Working with adult learns can be slow, challenging, and occasionally frustrating, but as you can see, you are making a difference. Keep up the good work!

Even Start Summer Vacation

Even Start Family Literacy classes will be on summer vacation beginning the week of July 26th. Classes will resume in late August. All other Adult Basic Education classes will continue through the summer.

Want to volunteer with a different class while Even Start is on vacation? Ask the volunteer coordinator for a list of classes needing volunteers, literacy.volunteers@isd518.net or 507-372-1219.

Minnesota Profile - Volunteering in America

This year, Minnesota had the third highest rate of volunteerism in the nation, way to go!

Some facts about Minnesota volunteers:
* 1.5 million volunteers
* 37.5% of residents volunteer - ranking them 3rd among the 50 states and Washington, DC
* 171.1 million hours of service
* 42.1 hours per resident - ranking them 12th among the 50 states and Washington, DC
* $3.6 billion of service contributed

See the full report here.

Read the Star Tribune's article here.