This Week's Facts:
-
EPA Hosting Contest for
Environmental Activists
-
IDOE Introduces New Tool to
Track Students Progress
-
Last Minute Census Jobs Still
Available
-
Fed Takes Step to Open
Government, Encourage Dialogue
Census Bureau Begins Delivering
Questionnaires
According to a
Monday press release from
the U.S. Census Bureau, census questionnaires are currently
being hand delivered to U.S. residents in rural areas of the
country. The rest of the U.S. should receive their census forms
in the mail in mid-March. The questionnaire will have 10
questions and should only take a short time to complete. It
needs to be filled out and sent back via mail. Response is
required by federal law. Beginning March 22, curious U.S.
residents can view a map showing how far their community has
come in filling out & submitting its census forms by visiting
the
2010 Census website. Don’t
forget to check out
Indiana’s Census 2010 website
for up to date local news about this year’s census.
-------------------------------
Friday Facts Editorial Team:
Katharine Springer
State Data
Center Coordinator
Elisabeth
O’Donnell
Federal Documents Librarian
&
Kim Brown-Harden
State
Documents Coordinator
-------------------------------------
Join the
FDLP-IN
listserv
for the latest
government info
 
 |
EPA Hosting
Contest for Environmental Activists
 In
honor of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the Environmental
Protection Agency is now accepting entries for their
Faces of the Grassroots
video contest. Entrants are encouraged to be creative – videos
can describe the importance of environmental activism, highlight
a local project or even be a music video! The important thing
is that each video highlight the importance of environmental
justice. The EPA defines environmental justice as “the fair
treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of
race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the
development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental
laws, regulations and policies.”
There are two categories: a 30-60 second public service
announcement and a 3-5 minute informational video. Monetary
prizes will be awarded to the top three videos in each. The
winners will also be featured on the EPA website and may be used
as public service announcements. To submit a video, entrants
should upload their video to YouTube by 11:59 PM April 8, 2010
and submit an
entry form. Complete
rules can be found on the
EPA website.
This is a great opportunity for anyone with some technological
know-how and a passion for the environment. People of all ages
are encouraged to apply.
IDOE Introduces New Tool to Track Students
Progress
 As
Indiana students prepare for ISTEP testing and new testing
formats, the
Indiana Department of Education
has a new tool to help track student progress based on where
each student began.
Indiana’s Growth Model
uses ISTEP+ scores to help parents, teachers, and the state
understand how
schools and corporations
are progressing yearly. The tool also assesses how much growth
students of each school have achieved. The Growth Model has a
user-friendly display; with a move of the cursor, you can track
school growth and achievement. For more information about the
Growth Model, visit the
Frequently Asked Questions
page of
fact sheet. With the
necessary measurement tools and resources, parents, teachers,
and students can work together to have successful testing
outcomes and experiences.
Last Minute Census
Jobs Still Available
 Short-term
jobs are still available for the 2010 Census. Visit the Census
Bureau’s
2010 Census Jobs website
for more information about available positions or call
1-866-861-2010. You can also call your Local Census Office to
find out what hiring is still taking place. Identify the office
closest to you using the
Local Census Office Map.
Keep in mind that there are two local census offices in the
Indianapolis area – one designated Indianapolis and one
designated Marion County. You can call either one for employment
information for those areas.
Fed Take Steps to
Open Government, Encourage Dialogue
 The
Open Government Initiative
has been in the news a lot recently. The
Open Government Directive,
issued in December of 2009, instructed federal agencies to take
specific actions to provide for the three principles of open
government: transparency, participation and collaboration. Each
agency is to create an open government plan. To fulfill these
plans, the agencies must publish government information online,
improve the quality of government information, create and
institutionalize a culture of open government and create an
enabling policy framework for open government.
As part of the initiative, federal agencies are providing online
dialogs, where citizens have the opportunity to share ideas and
vote on the ideas of others. For example, do you think that the
National Science Foundation should be doing more to promote
science education? Visit their
dialog and tell them! A complete list of
agencies using dialog tools can be found
here. Citizens have until
March 19, 2010 to make comments. |
