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Wellbeing

January 29, 2025 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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Wellbeing Resources – JCSP Libraries

In the zeitgeist of the twenty-first century, “wellbeing” occupies a special place. It is an ideal of personal and communal living, as well as a concept to help us move beyond the tired old categories of progress — such as money, fame, and the gross national product.

But despite the noble sentiment around redefining our perception of wellbeing, what exactly it is and how we should measure it remains elusive, and certainly not for lack of effort. The last thirty years have seen a huge rise of investigations into wellbeing in the social sciences and humanities. This academic work has been institutionalized, with new journals, professional societies, and research centers. It is now making successful inroads into the worlds of public policy, commercial self-help, and HR management.

But has this latest wave of effort been a success?

A new research paper on The Science of Wellbeing, co-authored by philosopher Anna Alexandrova and public policy scholar Mark Fabian, dives deep into this question. Alexandrova and Fabian first discuss the state of wellbeing research across key disciplines before turning to look at current and emerging trends – including measurement, impact of wellbeing public policy, and integration of wellbeing theories and perspectives. 

The State of Wellbeing Research

The paper begins by discussing how we characterize the term “wellbeing” and then presents major achievements across research in philosophy, economics, and psychology. Wellbeing is a capacious umbrella term that gets filled in differently in different disciplines and even in different projects within the same discipline. Such vagueness and diversity is to be expected and no existing attempts to standardize its usage have so far succeeded. In any case, defining wellbeing requires making a value judgment about what is “good for” somebody, and variations in discipline or context can alter what counts as good. All this results in radically different operationalizations of wellbeing and arguably even in different concepts.

Part II of the paper turns to examine the various ways in which integration between schools of wellbeing research is possible and desirable. Alexandrova and Fabian begin Part II by identifying three applications of wellbeing research to explore: policy, measurement, and integrations. 

Public Policy

At the level of a nation, what measure would capture the quality of life of its people? That it should include more than the traditional economic indicators is slowly becoming the mainstream view. In 2009 three eminent economists Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen, and Jean Paul Fitoussi, produced a report commissioned by French President Nicolas Sarkozi outlining a multidimensional measure of national wellbeing that includes subjective indicators (Stiglitz et al 2009). Since then, national and state governments have been busy developing their own indices of wellbeing. 

Two requirements seem to be crucial to a notion of national wellbeing. First, such a measure needs to capture the values and priorities of the people whose wellbeing it is supposed to represent. Second, a measure of national well-being needs to represent a certain level of consensus, not a mere sum of individual wellbeings.

Measurement

There are many different ways in which researchers define wellbeing, and these differences enable them to produce theories and claims at different levels of analysis and from different perspectives. What does this say about measurability of wellbeing in general?

If we could summarize the state of the art with one sentence it would be as follows: wellbeing is measurable, but it depends on what you mean by measurement. We have already seen that the field as a whole does not operate with a single definition of wellbeing and this matters for measurability because some definitions are far more amenable than others. To measure a phenomenon is to assign numerical values that represent meaningful variations. Beyond this minimal definition, scholarly literature and scientific practice allow for different ways of assigning these values and justifying them.

Integration of Theories and Perspectives

The history of wellbeing research has been characterized by disagreements and ever more subtle differentiations. More recently, there has been a countervailing push to adopt more integrative attitudes to this field of study. Philosophers have always been somewhat aggrieved by psychologists’ reluctance to engage with the evaluative dimensions of well-being. Wellbeing, they argue, is what is “good for” somebody. This cannot be defined without making value judgments as to what the “good” is. But equally, no normative theory can possibly succeed without fitting human psychology and human sociality.

Ultimately, Alexandrova and Fabian conclude that decades of scholarly investment into the subject have borne many fruits, especially in ongoing research in clinical psychology, psychotherapy, and behavioral economics. 

Still Curious?

Read the full research review on the Science of Wellbeing by Anna Alexandrova and Mark Fabian.

Explore our other research reviews on topics such as:

https://www.templeton.org/discoveries/science-of-wellbeing?utm_source=Receive+News+from+the+John+Templeton+Foundation&utm_campaign=6ae982e261-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_wellbeing_20250129&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5bc9c58bd6-089c13fcee-97319042

Can Gen-Z Even Achieve The American Dream?

January 27, 2025 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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Reinventing the American Dream - Allstate - The Atlantic Sponsor Content


Jade ManningAugust 22, 2024 Teens in Print

Growing up my idea of the “American dream” was getting your first car at 16, going to college (or moving out) at 18, one day being able to buy a house, getting to go someplace beautiful at least once a year, and still having money for at least two weeks worth of groceries. But in recent years, as I grew up, what that idea means has completely changed. 

Investopedia defines “‘The American dream’ as the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for everyone.” I think that captures the raw meaning in such a beautiful way and also captures the American spirit.

However, the American dream, by that definition, is continuously being affected daily by inflation, everything from food to clothes to houses — the rise and demand for everything is at an all-time high. At the same time, job hunting and acceptance rates are at an all-time low. Before the election in 2020, the inflation rate was at a stable increase of 3.9% percent each year; a study in March of 2024 showed food prices have gone up to almost 26%, not including taxes. 

People are one medical bill away from homelessness. The average nuclear family is living on one income because one or both providers have lost a job or can’t even find one. U.S. bankreports “At the end of June 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 8.2 million job openings in the U.S., compared to 7.2 million unemployed persons.” That means there are more jobs than unemployed people but that doesn’t tell the full story as many people have been sharing their stories online of how they are perfectly or overqualified but still can’t get hired. 

A content creator by the name of Lohanny tells her story of how she graduated college with two degrees and the ability to speak three languages. She recounts how she applied for minimum wage jobs but was still turned down, and about how the jobs she applied to didn’t even look at her resume before turning her away. 

In an opinion article by Penny Redlin, she states “thoughtfully evaluating every penny spent and how the loss of that money today will impact other wants and needs in the future is critical. Our behaviors can be holding us back and keeping us from realizing the new American Dream.” But I believe that everyone should live comfortably and have the luxury of being able to buy something at least once a day (within reason) and not have to contemplate or be anxious about each purchase.

The Pew Research Center did a study on who still believes in the American Dream and who used to believe in it. “Today, about half of Americans (53%) say that dream is still possible. Another 41% say the American dream was once possible for people to achieve – but is not anymore. And 6% say it was never possible.” I personally never believed in the possibility of the American dream. The only reason why it was feasible, or seemingly so, is because of how the government-controlled public perception. Technology was new, but just even more recently social media platforms have lifted the veil between the government and society to be used as a way to spread information far and wide. When there was no easy or fast way to communicate, no phones, no way to see or hear information outside of the confines of local news, or what the government chose to put out, the American dream was marketed to the masses as an attainable lifestyle. 

Today, I see and hear countless stories of applicants never hearing back from job interviews. I personally have been turned down and ignored for jobs countless times. It is not unreasonable to note that everyone is not always qualified for everything, but I’ve applied to jobs from fast food to convenience stores. One could assume that as a high school student, I am not under nor am I overqualified to work in a McDonald’s drive-through. This is a growing issue that affects not only my generation but some if not most of the ones before me. 

While reversing the effects of inflation may seem impossible, we need to at least shine a light on the issue to save our generation and protect the next. Perceptions and unrealistic expectations about life in relation to the economy today are also holding the younger generations back. People need to know that it is okay to not get a car at 16, or a job at 18, we push these ideals that rush and put stress on kids and use the past as justification. That’s not okay. If we let people take their time, and help them to achieve then maybe the original dream with the white house picket fence won’t be revived but a new dream will be put in its place. One where people can achieve their dream, whatever that looks like in their own eyes.

Can Gen-Z Even Achieve The American Dream?

Americans are split over the state of the American dream

January 27, 2025 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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By Gabriel Borelli  Pew Research Center

“The American dream” is a century-old phrase used to describe the idea that anyone can achieve success in the United States through hard work and determination. Today, about half of Americans (53%) say that dream is still possible.  How we did this

A pie chart showing that Americans are split over whether ‘the American dream’ is possible to achieve.

Another 41% say the American dream was once possible for people to achieve – but is not anymore. And 6% say it was never possible, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey of 8,709 U.S. adults.

While this is the first time the Center has asked about the American dream in this way, other surveys have long found that sizable shares of Americans are skeptical about the future of the American dream.

Who believes the American dream is still possible?

There are relatively modest differences in views of the American dream by race and ethnicity, partisanship, and education. But there are wider divides by age and income.

Age
A horizontal stacked bar chart showing that older and wealthier adults are more likely to say achieving the American dream is still possible.

Americans ages 50 and older are more likely than younger adults to say the American dream is still possible. About two-thirds of adults ages 65 and older (68%) say this, as do 61% of those 50 to 64.

By comparison, only about four-in-ten adults under 50 (42%) say it’s still possible for people to achieve the American dream.

Income

Higher-income Americans are also more likely than others to say the American dream is still achievable.

While 64% of upper-income Americans say the American dream still exists, 39% of lower-income Americans say the same – a gap of 25 percentage points.

Middle-income Americans fall in between, with a 56% majority saying the American dream is still possible.

Race and ethnicity

Roughly half of Americans in each racial and ethnic group say the American dream remains possible. And while relatively few Americans – just 6% overall – say that the American dream was never possible, Black Americans are about twice as likely as those in other groups to say this (11%).

Partisanship

While 56% of Republicans and Republican leaners say the American dream is still possible to achieve, 50% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say the same.

Education

A 57% majority of adults with a bachelor’s degree or more education say the American dream remains possible, compared with 50% of those with less education.

Age and income differences within both parties

A dot plot showing that, in both parties, lower-income, younger adults are less likely to say the American dream is still possible.

Age and income differences in views of the American dream persist within each political party.

Age

Clear majorities of both Republicans (64%) and Democrats (67%) ages 50 and older say achieving the American dream is still possible.

In contrast, just 38% of Democrats under 50 and 48% of Republicans under 50 view the American dream as still possible.

Income

In both parties, upper-income Americans are about 25 points more likely than lower-income Americans to say it is still possible for people to achieve the American dream.

Do people think they can achieve the American dream?

Americans are also divided over whether they think they personally can achieve the American dream. About three-in-ten (31%) say they’ve achieved it, while a slightly larger share (36%) say they are on their way to achieving it. Another 30% say it’s out of reach for them. These views are nearly identical to when the Center last asked this question in 2022.

A horizontal stacked bar chart showing that a majority of Americans say they’re on their way to achieving the American dream or have already achieved it.
Race and ethnicity

White adults (39%) are more likely than Black (15%) and Hispanic adults (19%), and about as likely as Asian adults (34%), to say they have already achieved the American dream.

Black (48%), Hispanic (47%) and Asian adults (46%) are more likely than White adults (29%) to say they are on their way to achieving it.

Party

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they have achieved the American dream (38% vs. 28%). But Democrats are somewhat more likely than Republicans to say they’re on the way to achieving it (38% vs. 34%). Democrats are also more likely than Republicans to view the American dream as personally out of reach.

Income and age

Older and higher-income Americans are more likely than younger and less wealthy Americans to say they have achieved or are within reach of the American dream. These patterns are similar to those for views about the American dream more generally.

Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and its methodology.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/02/americans-are-split-over-the-state-of-the-american-dream/

The American Dream is losing it’s dreamers.

January 27, 2025 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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The American Dream Is Real for My Family - WSJ

As the United States prepares to turn 250 years old in 2026, the largest youth generation yet is crossing the threshold into adult citizenship. Today’s youth are tomorrow’s founders, setting the agenda for America’s future. 

But warning bells are ringing. Amid polarization, eroded trust, and threats to well-being, young adults belief in democracy is waning:

  • Only 39% of 18-29 year-olds think the “American Dream” is still possible. 
  • 81% think “the system is rigged.”
  • 72% say America used to be a good example of democracy, but isn’t anymore.
  • More than half say it’s a good thing for citizens to give up democratic powers so the government can function more effectively.

For the last 5 years, Made By Us has developed activities and content with hundreds of historic sites and history museums to inform and inspire young adults’ civic participation, bringing credible context to bear against apathy, misinformation and “hot takes.” By meeting young people where they are, working within the constraints of institutions, they operate like an iterative “test kitchen” to discover what interventions work best. Programs like 60-Second History, Democracy Vibe Check podcast, partnerships with Airbnb and Teen Vogue, or Civic Season (Juneteenth to July 4th) have invited millions of young adults ages 18-30 to play a role in civic life.

Now, Made By Us has launched Youth250, to ensure youth input into how the nation marks this moment, for the future thriving of our democracy, communities and institutions. The national Youth250 Bureau offers real-time Gen Z advice to organizations and institutions planning for this moment.

Join us on Wednesday, February 12th from 3-4pm ET to learn how and why they built this engine, what young people want and need in a democracy, what works when it comes to authentic and sustained engagement and key signals for the future of democracy.

Register for the webinar

What connecting to your future self can mean to your present

January 8, 2025 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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You in Charge of Yourself: Part IV Present Self vs. Future Self, Edition 25

By Katherine Ellison Washington Post January 5th 2025

When asked why he didn’t begin writing novels until his 30s, the celebrated Czech author Milan Kundera said he didn’t have the requisite experience when he was younger. “This jerk that I was, I wouldn’t like to see him,” he added.Y

Many of us look back at our former selves and wince at our immaturity. We vary quite a lot in the degree to which we feel friendly toward, and connected to, both our former and our future selves. Psychologists call this trait self-continuity and suggest that it carries enormous weight in determining our long-term well-being.

In recent years, research has shown that a sense of coherence between our past and present selves can bolster mental health and, particularly, emotional resilience. Our connection to our future selves, on the other hand, can sway choices with long-term impact on our future welfare, from watching our diets to saving for retirement.

Self-continuity gives us “an understanding of where we came from and where we’re going,” says Cornell University gerontologist Corinna Löckenhoff, who researches the trait. “It gives us direction and purpose and identity.”

Perched in the present

The 19th-century psychologist William James compared human experience to being perched on a saddle “from which we look in two directions into time.” But modern researchers have found that the ability — or willingness — to look meaningfully in either direction varies from person to person.🧘

“Some people feel a great degree of overlap and continuity with their future selves, and some people don’t even think about that self, and it feels almost like a stranger,” says psychologist Hal Hershfield of UCLA.

Most studies of self-continuity look to the future, not the past. Researchers typically measure future self-continuity by asking people how similar they feel to an imagined future self. In a 2009 study of 164 people, for example, Hershfield and his team employed Venn diagrams, with two circles overlapping to various degrees. Participants were asked to pick the circle pair that best described how alike and connected they felt to themselves 10 years in the future. People’s responses ranged from almost no overlap to almost complete overlap.

The differences between people depend on a hodgepodge of factors, in addition to basic influences of nature and nurture.

Studies have reported that older people, whose expected time horizons are shorter, tend to have a greater sense of self-continuity, as do members of East Asian cultures, which, as some scholars speculate, tend to have a more holistic, connected worldview.

But researchers have found that people struggling with depression, poverty and childhood trauma tend to feel less connected to their future selves.

Morning guy vs. night guy

The degree of coherence we feel with ourselves over time can support or sabotage us. People with a sturdier connection with their future selves may be more likely to pay short-term costs for future benefits and vice versa.

The comedian Jerry Seinfeld illustrates the conflict in his riff about how Morning Guy always suffers for the carpe-diem antics of Night Guy: “You get up in the morning, your alarm, you’re exhausted and groggy,” he says. “Oh, I hate that Night Guy! See, Night Guy always screws Morning Guy.”

The same tension is evident in the failure by many Americans to save for retirement. In a 2022 survey of more than 1,100 retirees, 70 percent said they wished they’d started saving earlier.

Hershfield says this emerging crisis is what drew him to focus his research on self-continuity and its behavioral consequences. He and others have found that people with more self-continuity are more likely to engage in behaviors that deliver future benefits, including not only saving for retirement but also taking better care of their health in the present.

People with stronger self-continuity are also more likely to behave ethically and responsibly, Hershfield’s research suggests.

In a 2012 study, he and colleagues measured the self-continuity of 85 Northwestern University students, then followed up with a test of a smaller group to assess their ethical conduct. Only 50 percent of those who scored low in self-continuity showed up for the follow-up, they found, compared with 73 percent of those who scored high. What’s more, of the low scorers who did show up, 77 percent were willing to lie to an anonymous partner to earn more money when tested with a “deception game,” while only 36 percent of the high scorers would do so.

A stronger sense of connection with one’s future self may also push people toward environmentally responsible behavior.

In a 2022 study, researchers recruited 175 undergraduate students at an unnamed U.S. public university, randomly assigning them into three groups: one that was encouraged to visualize themselves at age 60, and the others told to visualize themselves, or another person, in the present. Afterward, all of the students played a game in which they could take simulated fish from a pool.

The students who focused on their future selves limited the number of fish they took each round to conserve the pool of fish longer, the experiment revealed, while those who focused on the present were more likely to quickly exhaust the pool.

Write yourself a letter, then write back

For more than a decade, scientists have searched for ways to manipulate self-continuity in study participants to encourage them to behave more prudently. They have reported success with a variety of approaches, including having people interact with a computer-generated older version of themselves, sometimes with the help of virtual-reality glasses.

Most recently, a new program called Future You, developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, offers young people a chance to chat with an online simulation of themselves at age 60 that is generated by artificial intelligence. A recent study of 344 participants found that users who interacted with their future selves reported “increased future self-continuity” and, perhaps as a consequence, reported significantly less anxiety, compared with those who did not.

Future You is a high-tech version of a technique long practiced by high school teachers and counselors who encourage students to write letters to their future selves.

In a pilot study of high school students in Japan, social psychologist Anne E. Wilson, at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, took the exercise one step further. She and her colleague, Yuta Chishima, instructed students to respond to their letter to their future selves as they imagined their future selves might.

Writing a letter from the future made the students feel more connected to their future selves, the researchers found. A month later, students who had written back from their future self’s perspective reported “more intensive career planning and a greater willingness to study hard at school even when temptations beckon,” vs. students who wrote only the single letter, according to Wilson and Chishima.

To be sure, there are times when a shorter horizon may be useful, researchers from Britain’s University of Southampton note in the 2023 Annual Review of Psychology. For example, too strong a sense of continuity with one’s past self might hamper efforts in the present to abandon “sunk costs” — investments already made in a doomed plan or project — they report.

The same may apply to quitting a bad habit such as drug addiction. “A bad past could be like an anchor for someone,” Wilson says.

“On the other hand,” Wilson says, “a bad past could be something that we learn from and then figure out different strategies for the future, so we don’t keep making the same mistakes.”

Perhaps like Kundera, who so forcefully repudiated the man he was in his 20s, and died at 94 in 2023, after a long and celebrated writing career.

This article first appeared in Knowable Magazine.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/01/05/future-self-continuity-planning-wellbeing/

In the ‘SNAP Gap,’ a mother struggles to feed her kids and gets some help

January 6, 2025 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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By Katie Shepherd   Washington Post Dec 23 2024

A cluster of nails pierced Fallon Shoemaker’s tire as she drove her pickup truck along a busy highway in Maryland — a few short, sharp inches of bad luck that threatened to throw the single mother of three into another financial crisis.

Shoemaker’s mental math immediately kicked in: What could she sacrifice to pay the $135 bill to replace it? Would she need to ask the real estate company that employed her for an advance on her paycheck? Could she afford, on an annual salary of about $65,000, to pay for the tire, make rent and buy enough food for her three children?

For more than a month, she scrimped where she could and drove, very cautiously, on a doughnut tire — typically meant for a short trip to the repair shop — until she saved enough to buy a used permanent tire.

“Luckily, it held,” said Shoemaker, 39.

Such is the life for thousands of people who fall into what poverty experts call “the SNAP Gap,” or “self-sufficiency gap,” a growing segment of the population that earns too much to qualify for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program but not enough to avoid being thrown into crisis by an unexpected expense, such as a flat tire or a medical emergency.

Shoemaker, who was the sole provider for her kids — ages 5, 14 and 16 — until her ex-husband recently began contributing child support, is among the first participants in a program launched by Montgomery County earlier this year that seeks to help that population.

Through a partnership between the county and the Instacart food delivery company, the MC Groceries Program provides $100 per child to eligible families each month, with the county allocating $1.82 million for the program, which will eventually serve 2,000 families.

Those participants can use the Instacart benefits to buy food and have the groceries delivered to their doorstep, saving them time and transportation costs. The program also expands access to stores that are farther from home, including markets that cater to some of the county’s largest immigrant communities and increase access to foods that families know how to cook and enjoy eating.

So far, the MC Groceries Program has enrolled 498 families in Maryland’s largest county, almost all of whom reported experiencing financial challenges that made them unable to afford food. To qualify for the program, a family of four must bring in more than $39,000 — the cutoff to receive SNAP benefits — and less than $124,800, or 400 percent of the federal poverty level.

Montgomery officials say the need for such assistance is pervasive, even in one of the Washington region’s wealthiest counties, where large mansions and pristine golf courses are a short drive away from neighborhoods where going to a food shelter is a regular routine.

Across the nation, the number of food-insecure households with childrenis rising fast as pandemic-era assistance has dried up. In 2023, 1 in 6 families with kids struggled to afford food at some point, the highest number in nearly a decade.S

Montgomery County officials estimate that kids from families that may struggle to afford enough food make up about 10 percent of the overall population: Roughly 36,000 children live in households that qualify for SNAP, and another 77,000 kids live in families that make too much to qualify for food assistance but not enough to meet all of their basic needs.

Heather Bruskin, director of the county’s Office of Food Systems Resilience, said food pantries and kitchens have been reporting longer lines and increased demand in recent years. The growing need spurred county officials to experiment with new programs to catch families, like the Shoemakers, who may fall through gaps in the existing safety net.

“Layering programs is a key way to really achieve that self-sufficiency of families,” Bruskin said.

Shoemaker recently started a job at an in-home care company that serves people with disabilities, marketing those services to hospitals and other clients for a salary of $85,000 per year. That salary is about to drop, however, to $60,000 with commissions. As it is, she said, she spends just under half of her monthly paycheck on rent for her three-bedroom townhouse in Rockville.

The MC Groceries Program means an extra $300 a month to cover food purchases — enough cushion to cover about half of her grocery budget and absorb the cost of a ruined tire without sending her finances into a tailspin.

“It gives me that tiny, tiny, tiny bit of security,” she said.

Even still, her day-to-day budget balancing is a juggling act. Many days, the kids are hungry, the fridge is empty, and the bank account is low. But Shoemaker has a system.

She sits down at her kitchen table and fires up her laptop. She starts with a budget, a meal plan and a grocery list. Then she opens a browser tab for several nearby stores — Costco, Walmart, Giant — to compare prices. She notes where milk is cheapest this week — $2.42 on a recent week in November — and where a loaf of store-brand white bread is on sale for $1.42. She also considers the healthy choices encouraged by the program on a special online storefront, which highlights fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, eggs, yogurt, cheese and lean meats.

After she chooses the best deals, Instacart does the rest of the work and groceries arrive at her doorstep. When the MC Groceries money is spent, Shoemaker drives to whichever grocery store has the best deals, using her own money to finish her list of needs.

November MC Groceries order

Fallon Shoemaker gets $300 a month through MC Groceries to spend on eligible food items for her family. She scrolls between grocery stores on Instacart in search of bargains to make her budget work. In a recent order, here is what the money got her.A list of program-eligible food items ordered by Fallon Shoemaker in November 2024 through MC Groceries.

ITEMTOTAL
Cheese slices*$2.48
Pineapple chunks in fruit juice*$1.28
Chocolate chip mini muffins*$2.78
Honey$4.22
Sweet potato$1.07
Broccoli$2.12
Sports drink powder$3.97
2-liter soda* (2)$2.00
Wild berry flavored water (2)$3.86
Strawberry kiwi juice pouches$2.98
Apple juice pouches (2)$7.96

The chore is a time-consuming part of an already hectic life spent working to ensure her kids are happy and healthy.

She wakes up around 4:30 a.m. to do laundry, dishes and sweep the floors. Then she wakes her oldest kids and gets herself ready before nudging her 5-year-old, Holden, awake.

She helps him get ready and packs his lunch. Then, it’s time for school drop-off at kindergarten. By 9 a.m., she’s off to work.

Holden needs to be picked up at about 5 p.m., and then it’s time to take her daughter, 14, to volleyball practice. Shoemaker might swing by the grocery store or put in an Instacart order before cooking dinner for the family. And finally, it’s bedtime — she gives Holden a bath and tucks him in at around 9 p.m.

The next day, it’s the same routine, performed all alone.

Married at 22, Shoemaker dropped out of college to be a stay-at-home mother and homemaker while her husband pursued a career as a lawyer. When the marriage ended six years later, she was left without a degree and faced the prospect of finding a job with no prior work experience.

She moved the family from Maryland to Florida and back for jobs that often didn’t make ends meet. At times, she said she depended on friends and family. And she relied on other government programs for food and health care for her kids. The reality left her feeling like an outcast, she said, because she couldn’t afford to go to a restaurant on special occasions or shop in a grocery store without people seeing her bright orange EBT card.

“But it also gave me massive amounts of relief because at the end of the day, I will bear the weight of any shame that may come, whether warranted or not, to guarantee my kids have their needs met,” Shoemaker said.

Tens of thousands of families in Montgomery County are experiencing the same struggle in a region with a median income that surpasses $128,000 and where the median rent is $2,030.

County Executive Marc Elrich, a former public school teacher in the county, said he has seen firsthand the problem of childhood hunger in the county, where students in his class relied on school cafeteria food for nourishment while weekends often meant going without a healthy, cooked meal.

“I had hungry kids in my classroom,” Elrich said. “I had kids whose last hot meal was lunch on Friday and next one was lunch on Monday.”

Hungry kids often have a harder time keeping up with class and homework, Elrich said, and the consequences spill over into their lives as adults. But when low-income families are faced with the choice between food on the table and a roof over their heads, many parents choose tightening belts over losing a home.

Elrich said the MC Groceries aid is part of a bigger push he has championed to make life more affordable for working families who struggle to keep up with rising rents in Maryland’s largest county.

“Over the years I’ve pushed to do things like rent stabilization to make sure people aren’t taking bags of food off their table for families to pay for rent increases,” Elrich said. “For low-income people, that’s a real thing.”

Shoemaker said her mission has always been to find stable financial footing. Years of hard work have almost delivered success. She built up an eclectic résumé with nothing more than a high school diploma and determination. She worked in contracting and biodegradable manufacturing before getting a real estate license. When the pandemic upended her real estate career, Shoemaker picked herself back up and started her current job.

Shoemaker has almost reached a place where she can afford everything her family needs, but the extra help has made her family’s life better. She especially feels that around the holidays, when the pangs of financial stress become even sharper.

“I have three thriving children, and I’ve been doing it on my own,” she said. “And without those things, truly, it would have been a much more desperate picture.”

The extra help also means her family can enjoy the holidays with a little less stress over money.

On a chilly December Sunday, Shoemaker loaded her kids into the car and drove the family to the Christmas Village in Baltimore, an annual tradition for the family because of their German roots. They laughed at each others’ jokes as they waited in line for bratwursts. Shoemaker’s 5-year-old, Holden, threw his arms in the air as he rode a reindeer around the $5 carousel.

Inside the market, Shoemaker sneaked off with Holden so he could pick out one small gift for his older sister. The little boy, tucked inside his winter coat and hat, spotted a booth selling dog-themed socks and carefully selected a bright blue pair decorated with corgis.

“These are sissy’s favorite,” he said, already planning to show her the gift before it was wrapped.

In the kaleidoscope color of the Christmas market, the boy spotted many trinkets he said his sister would like, but his mom told him to put everything else back. The market was a little expensive, she said.

“Let’s just get one gift here,” Shoemaker said, calculating that a local discount store would offer cheaper options for other presents. “We’ll go to Five Below for more.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/12/23/snap-gap-montgomery-county-instacart/

An Exercise in Self- Esteem

January 3, 2025 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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6 ways to boost your confidence as a teacher
No matter how brilliant an idea might be, for it to be truly ‘useful’, we must also understand how to put it into practice. To help, The School of Life will be bringing you a new exercise every week… giving you the means of turning wisdom into reality. Underconfident people are not born, they’re made – and the more we find out about how they are made, the better our chances of reshaping ourselves in the direction of greater freedom and strength. To generalise hugely but usefully, under confidence tends to have its origins in a deficit of love. Probably someone, somewhere in the past – most likely a primary parent, or caregiver – didn’t give us the support, attention and kindness we needed. And so we developed patterns of timidity and fear, and became much less than we could have been. Under confidence, therefore, is merely a symptom of a much more serious, underlying issue: a lack of self-esteem. The route to greater confidence begins by assessing our own level of self-esteem – and identifying the negative patterns of thought and behaviour that are holding us back.  To help you, we’ve designed a short exercise – taken from our new book The Confidence Workbook – that we call A Self-Esteem Audit.

Download Our Free Exercise
The difference between a successful and a disappointing life often comes down to a critical ingredient that we overlook at our peril: confidence. The Confidence Workbook is a book with an explicit and practical purpose: to take us through some exercises that will help us rediscover the confidence we all already have inside us but have neglected for too long out of habit, fear or misplaced modesty. This book demonstrates that confidence is not a gift of the gods but a faculty we are all endowed with and that can flourish with the right kind of practice and encouragement. Here are exercises – practical, entertaining and most of all useful – that flex our confident faculties and guide us to greater effectiveness in our relationships, in our working lives and in our approach to ourselves.
The Confidence Workbook

A glimpse at what inspired President Carter

January 3, 2025 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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A headshot of President Carter.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter served others his whole life, and we’ve been honored that this incredible passion led him to partner with Habitat for Humanity for over 30 years. President Carter shared with us what inspired him to pursue a lifetime of helping others – a mission that has changed thousands of lives.

Q: We often talk about the benefits of service to strengthening and improving the community at large. But with Habitat, we also often hear the individuals who serve share how their actions help them strengthen and improve their own lives. What do you as an individual like best about service, and why do you think it should be an important part of everyone’s life?

A: A Habitat project in a deprived community inspires other property owners in the area to improve other homes and the general environment in the larger neighborhood. Dwellers there get the Habitat spirit of volunteering and helping each other. The Habitat homeowner’s family members participate in work on their own homes and are then inspired to help others.

Perhaps the most significant after-effect is on the Habitat volunteers who join us in building projects, who almost unanimously agree that the personal benefits to their lives always exceed their own financial contributions, time and effort — and that this incentive lasts for years in the future, or for a lifetime.

President Carter with a crowd of homeowners and volunteers.

Q: Your own service has taken many forms — your time in the Navy, your tenure in public office, your work with Habitat and The Carter Center, your regular presence as a Sunday school teacher. What do all of these kinds of service have in common for you?

A: Like other Habitat volunteers, I have learned that our greatest blessings come when we are able to improve the lives of others, and this is especially true when those others are desperately poor or in need.

Q: So many people look to you as a model of public service and servant leadership. Tell us where this impulse to serve first originated. Who or what inspires you?

A: My earliest and most basic service inspirations have come from my Christian faith, encouraged by others who have been dedicated to serving others and learning to treat those who are served with mutual respect as equals.

Q: Historically, we as a nation have invested in the concept of service. Why do you think public recognition of and support for service is so vital?

A: America is the most diverse or heterogeneous nation, comprised primarily by immigrants who were not afraid of an unpredictable future in a strange land. Almost all of them had great need when they arrived here and were then inspired to be of help to others. This concept of service to others is still a crucial element in the American character and has always prevailed in overcoming challenges and correcting societal mistakes.

Q: What would you say to the next generation to help encourage them to serve? How does service impact our collective future?

A: “Enjoy your American freedom, and utilize it to expand your own opportunities and God-given talents as much as possible. You will find that these investments in helping others will always pay rich dividends.”

Carter Work Project

We have been honored to have two of the world’s most respected and renowned people as dedicated and hardworking Habitat volunteers for more than 35 years. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter have been tireless advocates, active fundraisers and some of our best hands-on construction volunteers. Learn more

https://www.habitat.org/carter-work-project/glimpse-what-inspires-president-carter

Americans end 2024 feeling pessimistic about the U.S.

January 3, 2025 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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Poll: Americans Remain Pessimistic on the Economy and Personal Finances

Just 19% of Americans believe the country is heading in the right direction as 2024 comes to a close, per Gallup’s latest monthly survey.

Why it matters: Gallup’s monthly data reveals a deep-seated pessimism among Americans about their country. You’d have to go back two decades to find a time when half of Americans felt the U.S. was on the right track.

  • The last time even 30% of Americans felt the U.S. was heading in the right direction was summer 2021.

By the numbers: December’s finding was down from 26% in October, largely because satisfaction among Democrats has fallen from 47% to 30% since the election.

  • Only 9% of Republicans think the country is on the right track. That number jumped from 5% in October to 16% in November before sliding back down.
  • 19% is the lowest result since July. The 2024 peak was 26% in October.
  • President Biden’s approval rose to 39% from 37% in November.

Flashback: Gallup’s highest-ever finding (71%) came in Feb. 1999, while the lowest (7%) came in Oct. 2008, during the financial crisis.

Between the lines: The pessimism about the direction of the country comes despite a fairly positive economic trajectory.

  • The percentage of Americans who view the economy as the main problem with the U.S. has fallen steadily in recent months, per Gallup.
  • Democrats tend to cite President-elect Trump as a top concern, Republicans are more worried about immigration, and respondents from both parties still have concerns about inflation.

Zoom out: Americans are sending mixed messages across the economic spectrum.

  • Consumer confidence surged in November as Republicans cheered Trump’s victory, but then pulled back in December.
  • Retail sales over the holiday look better than the National Retail Federation forecast, but not great for brick-and-mortar stores.

https://www.axios.com/2024/12/26/americans-direction-country-poll-trump

American Pessimism Highest in Six Years… Americans Who Say Personal Finances Will Worsen Climbs

January 3, 2025 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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Optimism vs Pessimism Build an optimistic mindset and focus on what you can control. #growthmindset #optimism #resilience #mentalhealth #fortismentalhealth

Nearly six in ten Americans, the highest since 2018, report that they are more pessimistic than optimistic about the coming year. While more than seven in ten Americans believe their personal family finances will either stay the same or get better in 2024, three in ten expect their personal finances will get worse. This marks the largest proportion of Americans in more than a decade who say their financial picture is bleak. Americans’ Outlook for 2024 Thinking about what is ahead for the world in 2024, are you generally: Source: Marist Poll National Adults. Interviews conducted December 13th through December 14th, 2023, n=1,130 MOE +/- 3.5 percentage points. Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding.

  • 59% of Americans say they are more pessimistic than optimistic (40%) about the year ahead. Pessimism in the United States has steadily increased since this question was first asked in 2018.
  • While Democrats divide, nearly seven in ten Republicans (69%) and independents (67%) say they are more pessimistic about what’s ahead in 2024.
  • Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 (54%) are the most optimistic of all U.S. residents.
  • Although the plurality of Americans (38%) say they expect their personal family finances to stay the same in the coming year and 33% say they will get better, three in ten Americans (30%) believe their personal finances will worsen. The proportion who believes their financial picture will deteriorate is the highest in 14 years.
  • Republicans (48%) are more likely than any other group to expect their finances to get worse.

“The state of the economy is likely to be a major story of the 2024 campaign,” says Lee M. Miringoff, Director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. “Right now, President Biden needs to convince more Americans that his economic policies are working.”

https://maristpoll.marist.edu/polls/outlook-for-2024/