The Burness Effect Blog

What Makes a Working City?

Up on the high hills of Potrero, California, you can see sweeping views of the Bay and the city. It’s a view shared by two very different worlds. One half of the hill is dotted with multimillion dollar homes—the other half of the hill makes up Potrero Terrace & Annex, a low-income housing complex. These kinds of disparities occur all over the country—from Miami to Chicago, from Brooklyn to Washington D.C.

Looking at Hunger ‘With New Eyes’

Our county must tackle food insecurity very differently, involving a business sector that steps up complement the pioneering work of our elected leadership and the demonstrated passion and excellence of our nonprofit sector.

Suburban Poverty: A Phenomenon That’s More Common Than You Might Think

According to “Confronting Suburban Poverty in America,” authored by Elizabeth Kneebone and Alan Berube of the Metropolitan Policy Program, the poor population in America’s suburbs is growing faster than anywhere else in the country, surging 64 percent in the past decade and growing at more than twice the rate of the urban poor population.

Burness Communications Announced as New Member of Community Profits Montgomery

Burness Communications today announced its acceptance into Community Profits Montgomery, a program that promotes companies that give back to the community and inspire others to do the same. The initiative stems from a simple idea: to create a platform that recognizes local businesses for giving back to the community, inspiring them to continue their good work—and encourage others to do the same.

What Works for America’s Communities?

The latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau reveals that poverty levels in the U.S. are stuck at historically high levels. The nature of poverty is also changing—it is increasingly suburban; it is deeper than it was just a decade ago. These new realities spurred the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF, a Burness client) and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco to publish the book Investing in What Works for America’s Communities.

Living, Working, Learning, Healing… Serving Together

The Mental Health Association of Montgomery County (a Burness client) launched the Serving Together website. The website is the first online home in the county coordinating local resources for service members, veterans and their families to help them stay healthy, find local jobs and transition to civilian life.

Safe Farming: No More Praying for Rain

Traditional crop insurance relies on farm visits, a proposition which doesn’t add up for small farmers. Kilimo Salama uses creative, low-cost methods, such as weather stations and mobile money transfers, to remotely determine whether weather conditions justify a payout for farmers.

Dental Checkup on Northern Virginia: It’s Not All Smiles

Northern Virginia is one of the wealthiest regions of the country, but it’s not all smiles along the Potomac. A significant portion of Northern Virginians have difficulty accessing needed dental care.

How will the world feed 9 billion people? In a nine-part special report, The Economist’s John Parker scrutinizes the multi-faceted challenges facing the expansion of the global food supply—from science to culture to policy—and explores the seeds of solutions to … Continue reading The Economist: Special Report on Feeding the World →