If you are a local public agency, nonprofit or business leader, how do you think about the people who live in your area? Are they voters? Donors? Customers of your product? Of a service? Volunteers? Leaders and staff at agencies routinely use language and practices that regard residents in terms of the function they play in [...]
How do we make sense of the difficulty employers are having when looking for workers when there are so many people unemployed or underemployed hoping to get a job? One major factor is that the online resume screening that most companies use is deleting all kinds of people who could be strong candidates if the criteria [...]
Public agencies are on the receiving end of a lot of complaints. Some may be due to things that are within their control, but several complaints encompass larger challenges, beyond what an agency can impact with its programs and policies. As agencies grapple with how to address this negative input, often overlooked are the parts of [...]
Adult students at California’s library literacy programs have long been some of our most valued co-creators and collaborators in designing accessible nonpartisan election information, such as the Easy Voter Guide. Last year, the California State Library supported a refresh of the Key to Community Voter Engagement Project. Adult learner leaders from around the state came to [...]
As a mother of three daughters, ages 10 to 15, for many years Monica Cañas has been an active volunteer in Larkspur-Corte Madera School District’s Cove Elementary School and Hall Middle School in Marin County. Her sustained efforts led to her being appointed to serve on the school board in 2018. In addition to those official [...]
With California voters already beginning to receive their ballots by mail, many people have questions about this year’s election. The Easy Voter Guide is here to help. Designed for busy voters as well as new voters, the guide is a nonpartisan starting point to get oriented about changes in how to vote in the Nov. 3 [...]
When it comes to providing information on complex issues, such as housing, it can be hard to know where to begin. Some people seem to know a lot, some not very much and confusion feels prevalent. Click the image above to see a larger version of Half Moon Bay's housing background handout. For the [...]
Redwood City Public Library Director Derek Wolfgram and the entire RCPL leadership team are committed to inclusion. The first of the library's five operating principles is: "Our community is welcoming and inclusive, celebrates the diversity of our population, and enjoys a friendly, neighborly community spirit. The Redwood City Library has been using innovative programming to build relationships [...]
Communities across California are being challenged by rising housing costs. For example, in reports about recently released data from the California Realtor’s Association, only 27% of Californians have adequate income to buy a median-priced home. That’s less than half the 56% peak rate in the first quarter of 2012. In California’s San Mateo County, the rate [...]
Common Knowledge was pleased to partner with the Pacific Library Partnership (PLP) to help design the recently launched News Literacy Toolkit with resources for librarians as well as the community at large. The array of free materials was developed with a multi-level “community-driven design” approach that began with a survey and regional forum of library leaders [...]
