Alex Cohen is the Director of Learning and Evaluation for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. Early childhood investments like state-funded Pre-K targeting low-income students have received a lot of attention in Indiana lately. At the same time, state and local leaders continue to grapple with how to improve test scores and graduation rates in K-12 schools. Some have questioned the benefits of investing in Pre-K. These people wonder: Won’t the impacts of early childhood investments be diminished if students enter a K-12 system that has problems, too? Aren’t we better off focusing state dollars on strengthening K-12 schools? Others have raised an alternate perspective: Won’t investments in K-12 have limited […]

Claire Fiddian-Green is the President & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. There are many important efforts underway across Indiana to tackle the opioid epidemic. Stakeholders in the public, private and non-profit sectors – first responders, health systems, government agencies, employers and others – are allocating significant resources to help Hoosiers struggling with addiction find effective treatment, to help family members impacted by a loved-one’s addiction receive support and services, to make it harder for people to access opioids illegally, and to reduce the negative health consequences often associated with addiction. Most of these efforts are focused on addressing the challenges that occur when someone has already become addicted […]