Quick Links – May 10, 2010
Community Economic Development #ced2
- Long Overdue Change to Help Young Adults Get Coverage
- Where is everyone moving?
- One more youth program in Congress Heights just too much for neighbors [DC]
- New Alarm Bells About Chemicals and Cancer
- Poverty, low property values make it difficult to fund city services despite economic development [PA]
- Maryland already is home to six Fortune 500 companies. For now, at least, it will have to do without a seventh
- Santa Clara County Officials Want to Take Toys From Fat Kids [CA]
- Study: Raleigh-Durham area ranks high for biotech jobs, pay
- Housing advocates warned Councilmembers that the money used to build and renovate affordable units in the District will be completely out of money by the end of this year. [DC]
- Group opposes Wal-Mart plans for Marple center [PA]
- Virginia Beach expands development office
- Loudoun County’s Economic Development Focus Goes National [VA]
- Secretary of State of Maryland Welcomes Mina Mar Group to Maryland International Incubator Program [MD]
- Landrieu Sends Letter to SBA in Support of Small Business Owners Impacted By Oil Spill Disaster
- About 40% of freelancers had trouble getting paid in 2009
- The Charlotte Regional Partnership – as well as the state’s six other regional economic-development groups – face budget cuts [NC]
- Energy Efficiency Grants, $125K, Awarded by SBA to Assist Small Businesses
- Greensboro, High Point economic development groups to have first joint session
Technology
- Apple Confirms AT&T Has iPhone Exclusivity Until 2012
- Twitter to Launch Twitter Business Center [SCREENSHOTS]
- Everything You Need To Know About Who’s Using Twitter
- Surprising statistics about Twitter : 87% of Americans know about Twitter but only 7% use it
- Life in 2020: Your Dating History on Display and Other Faintly Disturbing Predictions
- 20 Twitter Directories to Find More Friends and Followers
- SkedgeMe Gives Small Biz Simple, Social Scheduling App
Our Government Needs Your Help
President Obama released the Open Government Directive to encourage participation and collaboration while developing a more transparent government.
The Open Government Directive required all federal government agencies to receive public feedback and integrate advice and ideas from average citizens. The Directive was designed to make government think more strategically and function more efficiently while improving the overall availability and accuracy of information.
The first version of the Dashboard tracks agency progress on the deliverables set out in the Directive and links to each agency’s Open Government Webpage. You can see a full timeline of Directive milestones and deadlines here.
The U.S. General Services Administration has provided the technology, powered by IdeaScale under a free citizen engagement license, to make it easier for you to interact with each federal agency.
The Agency Contact Information for IdeaScale is a list of all agencies and their contact information. Ideas and comments submitted via email, phone, or other means will be posted on the agency’s website by moderators which will allow others to comment and vote on these ideas.
Americans are also encouraged to use social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Haiti Earthquake: How You Can Help the Victims
By now you’ve heard that Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, was hit by a magnitude-7 earthquake on Tuesday. The Creole- and French-speaking Caribbean country was still struggling to recover from the 2008 catastrophic storms when disaster unexpectedly struck again.
Many schools, hospitals and other buildings collapsed and now fires are spreading quickly with no water to contain the flames. The numerous deaths and destruction have only contributed more suffering to an already impoverished nation. Haiti needs immediate aid and will continue to need aid to rebuild.
The support of the online community has been overwhelming between people using Twitter and Facebook to share information on ways to help and ways to donate and the U.S. Department of State’s use of their blog and Twitter to provide updates and attempt to reunite families. Organizations like the Red Cross and musician Wyclef Jean’s nonprofit Yele acted quickly by accepting donations through cell phone text messages. Rescue teams from the D.C. metro area, in particular Fairfax County,VA and Prince George’s County, MD, united with other organizations from across the country to support our brothers and sisters in Haiti during this time of need.