Housing the Homeless in Utah, Tracking Diversity in NYC and Taxing Nonprofits in Maine – Social Impact Across the U.S.

This week in Social Impact Across the U.S.:

• Housing First is a strategy/philosophy for addressing homelessness that believes placing people in housing immediately, no strings attached, is the best way to help the individual and to tackle homelessness overall. Mother Jones reports on a Housing First success story in Salt Lake City, Utah.

• Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration is conducting a study of New York City’s cultural organizations to determine their cultural diversity, reports the New York Times. The effort is intended to see if the city’s vast cultural space reflects the diversity of its people and to make a general goal of increasing diversity, rather than establish quotas or punish organizations with a lack of diversity.

• Also from the New York Times: Maine Gov. Paul LePage is considering imposing a property tax on some nonprofits, making it the first state in the country to do so. The plan is aimed at large nonprofit institutions such as hospitals and universities. Only nonprofits with $500,000 or more worth of property will be taxed.

• Urban researcher Richard Florida writes in CityLab about how “gentrifiers” redefine neighborhoods by setting new boundaries and sometimes even changing their names. For a local perspective on the issue, read this City Paper feature from Cassie Owens.

What do you think about what’s happening in Social Impact Across the U.S.? How could Philly learn from other cities and states? Please leave a comment to help us bring the national and local conversations together.