blog posts

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  Give Local this Holiday: iSPI Holiday Shop

  Dec 10, 2020 9:00 am65 views

  This giving season, we're celebrating the small businesses who have established their headquarters at Innovate Springfield, in the heart of our community, and who proudly call Springfield their home. Welcome to the iSPI Holiday Shop, a curated selection of Innovate Springfield member-owned products and services.

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  Seven Tips for Crisis Leadership

  Dec 8, 2020 9:00 am26 views

  While a time of crisis is daunting for any team, strong leadership is needed to help the organization move forward well and perhaps even find a few positive outcomes.  In this blog, we will examine seven tips for crisis leadership that may help lead toward positive results.

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  Gloves, boxes, and masks: Waste visibility, challenges, and opportunities during and post COVID - 19 pandemic

  Dec 3, 2020 9:00 am216 views

  Garbage is everywhere but is mostly overlooked in our everyday environment. Though as individuals we deal with municipal solid waste every day, waste infrastructure – like black bags, covered bins, enclosed trucks, industrial waste cycles, and publicly inaccessible landfills - keeps the majority of garbage out of sight and mind.  In reality, in Illinois, landfill space is limited (average lifespan = 21 years), and the Covid-19 pandemic is exposing just how essential, complex, and fragile our waste cycle is.

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  A Customized Approach to Maintain Good Financial Condition for Illinois Local Governments

  Dec 1, 2020 9:00 am45 views

  During the pandemic, state governments in the U.S. have experienced dramatic declines in revenues.  In addition to the current budget situation, the states face economic uncertainty in future fiscal years about the path of the economic recovery. However, Illinois had already been running structural deficits over several years prior to the outbreak. The combination of that structural deficit and pandemic driven revenue shortfalls have created extreme fiscal stress for the state.   For local governments, one of the main concerns is that the state may cut state aid as a part of its budget balancing strategies.  In this post, we suggest a set of bespoke strategies for Illinois local governments.     

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  Thanksgiving 2020: What It Really Means?

  Nov 25, 2020 9:00 am24 views

  I don’t think there is any way to sugarcoat the fact that this Thanksgiving may not be the best Thanksgiving of record for many people.

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  Setting Policy in a World of Science

  Nov 24, 2020 9:45 am38 views

  Since COVID-19 debuted in our world, there has been no end to politicians, pundits, and social media sirens crying out something along the line of “we are following the science” or “because the science says so” as they support one new policy or another or to bring down one political view or another.  As professionals who set, guide, and lead public policy, we need to start asking questions of “show me the science” or “where does the science say this” when we are faced with the never-ending barrage of “because science says so” claims in relation to public policy.

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  What Has Health Got to Do with It?

  Nov 19, 2020 9:00 am44 views

  Supreme Court Determines Fate of the Affordable Care Act During a Pandemic.  Health policy has absolutely nothing to do with the United States Supreme Court’s pending decision in California v. Texas, according to newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett

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  Can you see me? Children in the Shadows of the Pandemic

  Nov 17, 2020 10:45 am46 views

  In March, schools sent children home and students across Illinois and the nation sequestered in their homes where they attempted to continue their schoolwork remotely, in front of their computer screens.  Before too long child advocates nationwide observed an alarming trend – significant decreases in calls to child abuse hotlines.  States reported precipitous drops – upwards to 50% in some states. 

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  The Economic Impact of COVID-19

  Nov 12, 2020 9:45 am15 views

  The coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) and associated COVID-19 disease pandemic have wrought tremendous damage to the world's health. But the pandemic, and the public health mitigation policies brought on by it, have wrought an equally large amount of economic carnage.

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  Thank you to our Veterans

  Nov 11, 2020 9:00 am11 views

  Much can be said to our veterans…but it starts with a simple “thank you” for your service!

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  Let me State the Obvious – 2020 has been a Heck of a Year

  Nov 10, 2020 10:30 am14 views

  Those of us in Public Affairs (professors, practitioners, public officials, students and keen observers) are always trying to learn from previous events and past decisions and try to predict or forecast the future to some extent. The goal is to take those lessons and learn and do better the next time around. At least we try in a public policy context.

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  Ensuring A Just University

  Nov 5, 2020 2:15 pm51 views

  As an educator and a civically engaged citizen, I believe we will never fully realize “this great experiment of democracy” until we fully realize the common cause for justice. We cannot have justice until we reduce racism to such a level that the civic life of our society can conduct itself in a forward and consistent fashion to ensure that all people, no matter their race, can expect and receive the fruits and benefits of our society. 

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  Protests on the Streets: Seeing From the Lens of Goodness

  Nov 3, 2020 9:00 am132 views

  A beautiful Arabic proverb teaches us that a vessel only spills that which it contains. If a cup of water falls, it will spill merely that which it holds. Our heart is also a vessel of sorts. If it harbors prejudice and hate, what it divulges is simply a manifestation of what was in it. But if it houses compassion and love, then it will accordingly release what it bears.

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  Election Day 2020: More than a Presidential Election

  Nov 2, 2020 9:30 am76 views

  Every four years, we elect a president based upon each candidate’s vision for the future and our assessments of who is most capable of addressing the issues facing the country.  As is common in most presidential elections, supporters of both candidates are calling this the most important election of their lifetime.  Of course, no matter how important the presidential election may be, it is not the only important decision voters have to make this year.

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  Effect of K-12 instruction types on reported COVID-19 cases and deaths in Illinois counties

  Oct 29, 2020 8:45 am8 views

  Few decisions made by state and local governments in response to the coronavirus pandemic have affected families as much as decisions about K-12 instruction types – whether to provide in-person instruction, online-only instruction, or a hybrid of in-person and online instruction. Decisions about instruction types this fall have varied widely across states, counties, and school districts, partly because of differences in COVID-19 case metrics and partly for other reasons, including political differences.

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  Building Board Diversity is a Win for Springfield and Beyond

  Oct 27, 2020 9:00 am23 views

  When Raychel McBride and Sarah Tapscott contacted Innovate Springfield about an initiative encouraging more diversity on local nonprofit boards, we only had one question. “When do we start?”

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  Illinois Municipalities Face Difficult Decisions during COVID 19 Pandemic

  Oct 22, 2020 11:15 am35 views

  Six months ago, the world was a completely different place. The American economy was growing. Families were regularly coming together for birthdays, weddings and other special occasions. The 1,298 cities, villages and towns throughout Illinois were providing regular and critical services to support the health, safety and welfare of their residents.

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  Is It A Lost Cause To Get Young People To Read Newspapers?

  Oct 20, 2020 9:30 am678 views

  When we think about the average reader of a newspaper – the actual paper kind – the profile tends to be older, more educated and more affluent compared to a non-newspaper reader.  Combine that with the stereotypical image of a college student – younger and less affluent with their eyes and fingers glued to a screen – and you might think there’s little chance of ever turning a 20-something into someone who sips their coffee over the morning paper.  It might not all be a lost cause, however.

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  Ushering in the New Clean Energy Economy

  Oct 15, 2020 9:00 am46 views

  It was hard to miss the attention-grabbing headline last month: “California Governor Signs Order Banning Sales of New Gasoline Cars by 2035” (NPR, September 30, 2020). But is the internal combustion engine about to go the way of the horse and buggy within the next 15 years? That much remains to be seen. But with little doubt, California is ushering in a new era of green technology, and it is government “driving” the market, not the other way around.

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  Not Voting is Never an Option

  Oct 13, 2020 9:00 am68 views

  In my role as Dean of a College of Public Affairs, I am bound to the promotion of civic engagement, participation in democratic institutions, and encouraging citizens to vote and participate in our system of government.

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  The Great Dissenters: “Writing not for today but for tomorrow”

  Oct 7, 2020 2:00 pm163 views

  In the last decade of her life, Justice Ginsburg was revered as a genuine American cultural icon.  Her life serves as a testimony of the importance to fight for the equal citizenship stature of men and women in the U.S.

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  Promoting Equity through Digital Inclusion

  Oct 6, 2020 9:00 am33 views

  In today’s world where everyone needs to be able to connect through the Internet for school, work, and socialization, it is critical that we prioritize finding equitable ways to connect our urban, suburban, and rural areas.

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  Politics Suck: Can I get an amen?

  Oct 1, 2020 9:00 am109 views

  Now, do I have your attention? Good, but this article is not about Donald Trump or Joe Biden.

  It’s about you. It’s about me. It’s about us.

  It’s about the type of office politics that we all engage in that undermine the health of our workplaces and our own futures.

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  Is It Too Early to Talk About a Post Covid-19 World?

  Sep 24, 2020 10:45 am56 views

  In our CPAA All-College meeting last week, we discussed the topic of navigating in a “post Covid-19” environment; a future we all look forward to sharing. In the meantime, Covid-19 looms large in each one of our lives. I am pleased to share two important initiatives to move us toward the post-Covid-19 goal.

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  Fed Up with the Status Quo: Read This

  Sep 17, 2020 9:45 am191 views

  Look around your organization. Are you amazed at just how resigned everyone is to the status quo? Does the seeming acceptance of mediocrity bother you?  Despite severe environmental pressures, are the people around you behaving in obviously ineffective ways that could be threatening the very survival of the organization?  The problem is that most organizations are incapable of learning or changing themselves in response to experience (i.e., the discrepancy between expectations and results).  So what is the solution?

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  Trump Controversies Raise Journalism Ethics Questions

  Sep 15, 2020 9:15 am99 views

  An analysis:  two recent news stories that make President Trump look bad have launched important discussions about journalism ethics. 

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  When Rhetoric Becomes Reality: Trump, Latinos, and COVID-19

  Sep 10, 2020 9:00 am34 views

  COVID-19, the global pandemic that resulted from it, and the insufficient U.S. response revealed a multitude of issues but none perhaps as pressing than the direct challenge to President Trump’s nationalist agenda and anti-immigrant rhetoric. As the nation prepares to vote with the effects of the pandemic still looming and President Trump seeking re-election, what must be called to question is the voracity with which he launched his “America first” campaign.

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  September Public Affairs Minute: The Labor Day Blues

  Sep 8, 2020 10:30 am22 views

  The COVID Pandemic has pushed unemployment rates to historic highs (inclusive of swings both up and down).  With sooo many businesses closed or experiencing slowdowns and layoffs occurring across all sectors in response to COVID is this really the time to celebrate Labor Day? Well despite the pain and economic hardships many families are facing maybe there is a reason to actually use Labor Day as a wakeup call to action.

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  Race, Housing and Equity

  Sep 3, 2020 9:15 am222 views

  When we examine housing policy in the United States today, we find huge disparities along racial lines in terms of home ownership, the value of property, and the ability to obtain a mortgage.  These disparities still exist even when accounting for things like geographic location, down payment, and income.

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  Can the COVID crisis teach us to respond to climate change with more justice and impact?

  Aug 27, 2020 9:00 am28 views

  As the COVID crisis began to bite in Central Illinois this past spring, my Introduction to Cultural Geography students packed up their belongings, left campus, and settled into whatever housing they could, where, among myriad other tasks, they completed their current events papers for my course.  Several of them centered those papers on a developing media narrative:  perhaps Covid-19 held a silver lining for the environment, including the climate, as humans’ greenhouse gas emissions plummeted around the globe.

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  Power in Other Places: On Uprisings, Black Lives Matter, and Politics

  Aug 20, 2020 9:00 am195 views

  I have always been drawn to the politics of everyday people who act outside of and against conventional politics. This grounds my interest in the resurgence of Black Lives Matter uprisings. I am interested in those moments when presumptively “powerless” people mobilize and realize other powers than those of the established institutional apparatus of politics, an apparatus which includes the police, prisons, courts, and military.

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  We Don’t Want to Hear about Kamala Harris’ Shoes

  Aug 18, 2020 10:15 am111 views

  When vice presidential hopeful Kamala Harris delivers her prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, pay attention to the words used to describe her.  Unfortunately, commentators, opinionmakers and sometimes even news reporters have a bad habit of describing female politicians in ways they rarely or never do about male politicians.

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  Many of Your Employees are Miserable: Three Reasons it Could be Your Fault

  Aug 13, 2020 9:00 am108 views

  Look around you, how many of your employees are fully engaged or immersed in their work? How many seem to be finding fulfillment or joy in what they do?  Now, how many of your employees are apathetic and, at best, grudgingly complying with directives and carrying out their roles and responsibilities?

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  August Public Affairs Minute: Baseball, Politics and Ethics…The National Pastime?

  Aug 11, 2020 2:00 pm32 views

  Where might I even begin with such a title? And how does baseball relate to public affairs or developments in the College?  Given the serious themes of my past Minute segments, and as a keen baseball fan, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try to blend baseball and public affairs and offer an upbeat reflection of our current circumstances in relation to our national pastime. This seemed timely given that the abbreviated Major League Baseball Season has finally started.

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  COVID and its Impact on Higher Education

  Jul 23, 2020 9:00 am193 views

  In our article recent article for Administrative Theory & Praxis “COVID and the Impact on Higher Education: The Essential Role of Integrity and Accountability”, we discuss challenges facing postsecondary institutions due to the COVID crisis and the critical roles that institutional integrity and accountability will play for postsecondary institutions in the COVID era, as well as the importance of embracing the role higher education plays in advancing social equity.

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  ‘Make a little noise with your pens, your pencils, your cameras’

  Jul 21, 2020 9:00 am22 views

  John Lewis had a familiar directive when it came to standing up against racial injustice – get yourself into some “good trouble” while doing it.  As tributes to the civil rights icon and congressman pour in following his death on July 17 at age 80, journalists need to remember those words apply to them, too.

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  International Students Make Our Education System Richer, Better, and Stronger

  Jul 16, 2020 9:00 am119 views

  On July 6th, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a guidance that announced: “The U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will U.S. Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States.” As institutions continue to grapple with COVID-19 and how to reopen campuses safely for the fall semester (which is just a few weeks away), the administration’s decision to potentially penalize universities for going fully online in the fall sent shockwaves to all constituents of the U.S. higher education system.

• 2020 Reset: Do not give up on the year just yet …

  Jul 10, 2020 3:15 pm163 views

  We recently past the 2020 half-way point. Have you given up on your hopes and dreams for the year? Do you feel like the goals that you set for this year are no longer possible? Have you settled into a wait-and-see pattern, and now just trying to tread water? It’s understandable. After all, we all tend to move toward urgency, and we are still dealing with a global pandemic.

  For many of you, it is time for a reset. Many of you need to pick a direction and start swimming so that your long-term goals do not drown (i.e., die) along with your yearly goals. 

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  Dean's July Quarterly Connection - COVID-19 Update

  Jul 9, 2020 9:15 am35 views

  An update on response to COVID 19 by the U of I System, UIS, and College , and an outline of the disruptions, our responses, and our plans.

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  Economic Update July 2020: The Shortest? And Deepest Recession in Generations?

  Jul 7, 2020 1:15 pm98 views

  At the time of this post, the United States economy clings is at a crossroads. The economic slowdown engendered by the coronavirus pandemic and measures to contain its spread were the deepest on record, but there are already signs that the recession may be over. There are lingering issues and pain from the recession, especially in the labor market. But there is a palpable sense that the situation may be resolving itself. However, the economy faces many uncertainties going forward. The question is whether the sense of recovery comes from false hope generated by temporarily good economic news or whether it signals a return to a “normal” economic situation.

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  Let’s all use July 4th to celebrate and learn!

  Jul 3, 2020 9:00 am21 views

  Once again it’s the July 4th Holiday. A celebration of Independence Day for our nation. But it’s also a sure sign of summer, barbeques and family gatherings, fireworks, and trips to the mountains, lakes and beaches. Well, it traditionally has been. COVID 19 has likely put a wrench into many family plans and vacations. For many of us, we will still try to get away somewhere, maybe locally get together with friends and colleagues, maybe even teach or take courses! But no matter what you do, perhaps the best Fourth of July wish from us to you is to please stay safe and healthy!

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  Taking Stock of Bostock

  Jul 2, 2020 9:00 am159 views

  Last month, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) handed down a 6-3 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County. The central finding from SCOTUS was that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects employees based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Put more simply, an employer cannot fire an employee simply for identifying as a LGBTQ+.

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  Reducing the Use of Plastic Bags: Five Lessons from Illinois Communities with Plastic Bag Laws

  Jun 30, 2020 9:00 am1612 views

  This summer, we have been busy interviewing active citizens, elected officials, and public employees in five Illinois communities that have passed laws designed to curb the use of plastic bags to understand why they took an action on the plastic bag issue, how they designed their local ordinances, and what challenges they have faced during implementation.  Our research project is still in progress, but we would like to offer a sneak peek at what we have learned from our interviews - here are five things you should keep in mind if your city is thinking about adopting a plastic bag ordinance.

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  A Place to Call Home – But Not For Everyone

  Jun 23, 2020 9:45 am141 views

  Dismantling systemic racism must include addressing the denial of rentals to voucher holders. The seemingly neutral policy of refusing to accept Housing Choice Vouchers (commonly known as Section 8), often disproportionately affects minorities.

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  Returning to work: Here is one way to focus your energy & attention

  Jun 18, 2020 9:00 am491 views

  As you return to work, I want to invite you to wrestle with an important question. Where should I focus my energy and attention right now?  Better yet, there is a different form of this question that you should use as the starting point for rethinking how you work. On whom should I focus my energy and attention right now?

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  Trump targets Twitter; what will happen to free speech?

  Jun 16, 2020 9:00 am67 views

  "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."  Back when I was the online editor of The State Journal-Register, this sentence went through my mind often as I kept track of the flood of reader comments that appeared under the online version of our journalists’ news stories.

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  June Public Affairs Minute: Time for Action

  Jun 11, 2020 9:00 am20 views

  In the midst of coping with the devastating COVID 19 Pandemic, we are now facing yet another complicated societal tragedy stemming from the death of an African American, George Floyd, at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The outrage, especially in the African American community, has spilled out across the country with protests, marches and demonstrations. This event and the response reveals the sharp racial and other divides that still exist in this country.  Those of us with degrees in the public affairs and professional disciplines, like those from our College, understand and lament the lack of progress in American society on so many fundamental social issues.

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  Centering the Ocean in an Uncertain World: A Post for Inland Communities on World Oceans Day

  Jun 8, 2020 4:30 pm146 views

  June 8 is World Oceans Day. And on every June 8 since 1992, this day has marked an opportunity to raise awareness about the benefits humans derive from the ocean, as well as humans’ reciprocal duty to protect the ocean and use its resource responsibly and sustainably.

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  Statement of Educational Priorities of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at UIS

  Jun 8, 2020 9:45 am515 views

  At UIS, the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department works to prepare our students for the challenges they will face in careers that focus less on social control strategies and military tactics and more on critical thinking and understanding world views beyond only their own.

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  COVID-19: Present and Future Challenges for Education Leaders

  Jun 4, 2020 9:15 am155 views

  When Governor JB Pritzker issued a Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 12, 2020, the effects on the P-20 education spectrum were complex and far reaching.