

Cartoons by Speartoons
Food, Housing, Clothing, Jobs and the Environment are the basic elements for survival.
Food: access to sufficient foods to have a balance diet and access to sufficient water.
Housing: affordable housing stock at a cost that is 30% of individual’s income. A living wage standard is critical to make this happen.
Clothing: protection from the environment and supportive role for individual
Jobs: training our youth, training the hard to place, and retraining.
Environment: Whether it is global warming or safe drinking water, or the poisoning of children and adults by the environment or violence, it is a critical element for the survival of individuals. This area should include equal access to any service, which should include music, arts, sports, and education.
To more adequately serve a community the nonprofits, government, donors and business partners need to be committed to sharing and distributing the wealth of the USA to provide equal access to services. Geo coding of all available resources and needs will create a priority map and percent of need for every community. While each nonprofit cannot be held responsible to create such a database, it does not stop an organization from strategically producing a sub set of the information for their organization. This should be the blue print for an organization to think about for what services to provide and where to provide it.
In converting to a geo coding way to allocate resources, one other factor needs to be taken into consideration. What is a reasonable distance for an individual to travel to have equal access? I advocate that if access is within a 20 minute drive that access has been provided. However, if the access is for individuals that do not drive then the next measure is what transportation options provide the 20minute access. An exception should be made for specifically accessing youth programs. It requires adapting the geo coding to an ability to walk to and from the program safely.
The main obstacle to GEO coding is that it documents why a community should or should not get resources. Who should be prioritized and makes it harder politically to allocate resources based on personal preference.