Lancaster fights to save its young people

If you haven't read this story from the Lancaster Sunday News, yet, read it. The city of Lancaster unveiled a new program, one modeled on a similar program in High Point, N.C., that takes a new and some might say risky approach to combating drugs, gangs and violence. On Sunday, leaders from law enforcement, the courts and the community confronted four people who thought they were headed for prison. Four convicted felons, caught selling drugs to police, were given a choice - go to prison for a two-year minimum, or sign up.

Sunday News Reporter Chip Smedley described the program this way:
"'The Fortunate Four' are the first given the opportunity to take part in a new city program that lets selected small-time dealers (with minimal prior records) caught in direct sales to undercover police avoid jail if they agree to abide by a long list of strict guidelines. The program, they were reminded often, is not a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card. One misstep and they're done."

The four heard real-life stories - from a U.S. attorney; from the Lancaster County DA; and from a mother's whose daughter was shot and killed while dealing.

"My daughter is dead, five bullets in her back" Diane Johnson said. "She thought she was smooth; she thought she knew the streets."

York's Gang Prevention Initiative will be watching. In the meantime, good luck to Lancaster.

And read the story.

- Dan Fink

Creating a 21st-century workforce

Here's something to think about. Louis Soares, the director of the Economic Mobility program at the Center for American Progress, made this point about a new approach to training workers in a 21st century economy. He spoke recently at a workforce event in Washington, D.C.:

"(Soares) argued that in today’s dynamic labor market workforce policy should focus not only on emergency unemployment counseling but also on making career coaching and skills training available to all workers. This requires reforming and integrating the education and workforce development systems by retooling the employment service as a 'one-stop' career center, making financial aid available for working learners, and investing in and improving community colleges."

YorkCounts has tried to encourage more connections among local workforce development stakeholders. What should York County be doing with its investments in worker training that will help Pennsylvania and the United States produce the best-trained workforce in the world?

- Dan Fink

Hear about smart growth

The York/Adams Regional Smart Growth Coalition still has space available for the Aug. 20 smart growth panel discussion in York. Learn more about what smart growth is and why it's important for York and Adams counties. Panelists include Judy Schwenk of 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania; Felicia Dell, director of the York County Planning Commission; and Dick Schmoyer, director of the Adams County Planning Commission. The event will be at the offices of the Realtors Association of York and Adams Counties, 901 Smile Way, York. RSVP to Shanna Wiest, shanna@rayac.com or 717-880-1230.

- Dan Fink

June-July YorkCounts e-Newsletter

The latest YorkCounts e-Newsletter is out. We used to post the e-newsletters here on the Count Me In blog. Now, you can find them on our Web site. This month, read about the work that's starting on a community effort to reduce obesity in York County; plans for a series of YorkCounts town halls; recent projects from Better York, one of our funding partners; and changes in a couple of key YorkCounts Indicators.

- Dan Fink

Gauging interest in the IB charter school

We're pretty excited here to have received funding for the International Baccalaureate regional charter school. But we'd like to know more about how you see this effort. Specifically, we'd like to know if there are individuals with school-age children or soon-to-be school-age children that would consider enrolling their kids in a future York IB school. Remember: This school would create classrooms with a mix of students from the city and the suburbs, hopefully offsetting the negative effects of classrooms filled with overwhelmingly poor children. And it would represent an attempt to make available a high-quality public education to parents all around York County.

Tell us what you think in a comment, and if you're comfortable, leave your name and e-mail address.

- Dan Fink

Learning from Lancaster

Keystone Edge, which describes itself as a Web site that "tells the story of the new economy in Pennsylvania," had a cover story last week detailing Lancaster's revival. I saw four things they've done that York might think about as our city continues its redevelopment efforts.

1. Forge partnerships. In Lancaster, Franklin and Marshall College and the James Street Improvement District remade an entire quadrant of the city. The YWCA showed that kind of collaborative spirit with its Renaissance Project. On York's south side, York College could team up with Crispus Attucks or a revived South George Street Community Partnership to expand the improvements that have happened there.

2. Use arts and culture. With its Artist Homestead Program, York already recognizes the potential of the arts community for improving the quality of life in the city. The Cultural Alliance, the Strand and the Heritage Trust seem like logical candidates to continue the work.

3. Promote the city lifestyle. Codo has taken the lead on this in its effort to attract young professionals. Somebody needs to think about ways to promote the city's great housing stock, its farmers markets, the developing restaurant scene and other amenities. See Lancaster City Living's approach.

4. Enhance and build on key resources. York doesn't have anything to compare with Lancaster's new convention center for attracting visitors. Hopefully, the study from Roger Brooks will go a long way in identifying the resources that do exist and figuring out how to use them to increase visitors to the downtown.

- Dan Fink

A good read on health care

The conversation is heating up on health care reform. We'll be hearing lots of industry jargon in the next few months, especially about the so-called "public option." It will be difficult to stay on top of it all.

This recent article from the New Yorker is a good primer on how soaring health care costs are at the heart of the debate. The author, Atul Gawande, suggests that providers have undergone a subtle shift in the past 20 years, one that has created an environment of overuse. Unfortunately, more tests and more surgical procedures haven't produced better results, Gawande argues. They do make providers more profitable. And they drive up costs for insurers, consumers and the governmenet.

Doctors and hospitals, among others, disagree. Take a look and decide for yourself. Because a key point Gawande makes is that a lot of these high costs are local; they vary from one area to another based on the philosophy of the local system of providers. It made me wonder what the costs might look like if someone crunched numbers for York County the way Gawande did for the two towns in Texas in the article.

Are we more or less profit driven here? What would your guess be?

Update, 11:41 a.m. July 15: The U.S. House introduced comprehensive health care reform legislation this morning. Here's an analysis of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office. I'd love to hear somebody in the health care business take a whack at explaining the good and bad of this.

- Dan Fink