Blog
Learning never stops.
The UPD team is constantly looking for ways to learn more about our industry and, by extension, improve the results we achieve for our clients. Our blog is where we share our latest thinking.
Outside the (check)box
In the year since George Floyd’s murder, there has been a heightened sense of urgency among many organizations to better understand the extent to which their people, processes, and systems are perpetuating supremecist culture and…
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Use HUD Rescue Dollars to Support School-Centered Housing
The nearly $2 trillion in federal rescue dollars presents exciting prospects for states and districts to advance education innovations. One of the opportunities that state and local education agencies are likely overlooking is the opportunity…
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Listening, Belonging, and Equity Assessments
How do we create pathways and experiences where all identities are not just represented, but deeply integrated into the core of who we are as a community? How can we create a culture of belonging? …
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No Rest for the Weary
It didn’t take long, did it? We had barely five hours to absorb and process the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd before Ma’Khia Bryant was shot four times and killed…
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Going the Distance: What Analysts Can Learn from Boxers
As public sector organizations grapple with changing operational models to meet the demands of a significantly evolved world—especially around systemic equity—analysts can gain a lot of perspective from a boxer’s approach to maintaining and improving…
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A Model for Multi-Agency Work
UPD is working with the Baltimore Department of Housing and Community Development to develop a School Centered Housing Research (SCHORE) model connecting affordable housing opportunities to families through their elementary schools. (Read more about the...
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When “good enough” isn’t
This is a sad parable about a good public policy ineffectively implemented. When the pandemic hit and the nation was forced to close its schools, one of the casualties was the Free and Reduced Lunch…
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With Great Data, Comes Great Responsibility: How Data Governance Can Be Leveraged to Support Equity
With entire schools and school systems online, this year education entities stand to collect more data than they could have ever imagined, anticipated, or, quite frankly, desired; and to paraphrase Spiderman, with great data comes…
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Prioritizing Well-Being as Schools Reinvent
The Need to Support Student Well-Being In a flash, the pandemic disrupted the social and emotional well-being of many students. While some students appreciated having agency over their learning pace in the spring, large scale…
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Census 2020: The Count for Our Communities
We are approaching the September 30th deadline (as of 9/21/2020) to participate in a critical opportunity to influence how our communities are viewed, funded, represented, and invested in for the next ten years. That opportunity…
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