update

The latest data trends with Kai Teoh

We’re excited to welcome nextLI’s new data journalist Kai Teoh to our team. Since joining us in February, Kai has been responsible for data crunching and analysis. A Malaysian expat, he has worked in Minnesota as a photographer and columnist, the lower Hudson region as a newsroom web developer and the Pacific Northwest as a data journalist and product developer, before finding himself back on the East Coast at Newsday.

Off to a quick start, Kai has been analyzing data sets about Long Island and writing daily posts for next.newsday.com. His posts have already garnered a lot of conversation across our social media platforms. Make sure to check them out.


On our site
  • Pre-school enrollment: Long Island compares favorably against New York as a whole. Generally speaking, children are more likely to be enrolled in nursery or pre-school, and that has stayed relatively stable from 2012 to 2017.

  • How healthy is Long Island?: A new study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Health Population Institute has Nassau County ranked second-healthiest in New York State, while Suffolk County ranked 16th.

  • ‘Poverty has no color’ a Q&A with Theresa A. Regnante: Theresa A. Regnante serves as president and chief executive officer of United Way of Long Island, where she has been pushing for positive change since May 2009. She sat down with us for a Q&A about poverty in the region and ALICE.


  • Voting now open

    nextLI’s video contest to encourage students to document their interactions with culture, race, ethnicity and gender through the lens of their high school experience has some moving entries.

    Voting is now open to select the semifinalists, who will visit Newsday to work on their final submission for a BASH award, from Stony Brook University. You can view the videos and cast your vote here.

    Finalists will be announced on Friday, May 3, 2019 at the BASH awards ceremony at Stony Brook University.


    What we’ve been up to

    The results of our inaugural research survey on the next generation of Long Islanders are being compiled. The survey will be presented on May 10 at a Long Island Association breakfast.We hope to have tickets we can offer to nextLI subscribers. Please keep an eye out for our next newsletter for more details.


    What we’re reading

    We’re always on the lookout for articles, websites and projects to inspire our work. Here are a few links that caught our attention since our last update:

    • The youngest Americans — millennials and Generation Z — are set to exercise their political muscle in 2020, making up 37 percent of the electorate, according to a new study by Pew Research.

    • The sharing economy was supposed to transform our world for the better. Instead, the only thing we may be sharing is the mess it could be making.

    • Watch this — a fascinating animation of American relationship habits from the 1970s vs. now.

    • After a civil rights backlash, Facebook will now treat white nationalism and separatism the same as white supremacy, and will direct users who try to post that content to a nonprofit that helps people leave hate groups.


    • Happy Women’s History Month

      This Women’s History Month, let’s remember to give our thanks to the women who inspire us. The Urban League of Long Island did just that when they recognized members for their commitment to the economic, social and political equity for black Long Islanders. Our very own advisory board member, Retha Fernandez, was one of more than a dozen women honored that day.