Rachel Riskind, Guilford College’s Christina B. Gidynski ’54 Associate Professor of Psychology, was featured this week in a WalletHub survey about the Most Caring Cities in America.

Using a complex algorithm that considers data set ranges from the share of sheltered homeless people to volunteering hours per capita to the share of income donated to charity, WalletHub – a financial product and credit review service — determined that Virginia Beach, Va., is the nation’s most caring city.

Rachel and Vance said that local governmental authorities can help people feel and act in caring ways. For example, they said, authorities can set aside funds for multigenerational social gatherings, including concerts and street festivals, where people can strengthen social ties.

They can consider scheduling civic meetings much more flexibly so that people who have caretaking responsibilities can still participate meaningfully in municipal deliberations. That could include providing online options, asynchronous options, language translators and child- and eldercare options.

And, they can help remove some of the obstacles that make caretaking very difficult for working people – including people who provide care to other people’s families. For example, they can advocate incentives or subsidies to local businesses for daycare and aftercare at workplaces.

They can also advocate for and incentivize inclusive leave policies, flexible work schedules and flexible modes of work (remote, hybrid, shared positions) that encourage multiple caregivers within each family and that normalize care work for everyone, not just for women.

By the way, Greensboro was ranked 88th in the country for caring behind Toledo, Ohio, and ahead of San Antonio.