--- description: States stepping up for community colleges, color blind prisons, rebuilding rural America w/recent immigrants, integrating elections & more. title: These Are Today's Best Ideas image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Innovation](/tag/innovation/) ## Innovation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Five Best Ideas of the Day: October 29 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 29, 2014 5:18 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 29, 2014 5:18 PM CUT **1\.** [**Community colleges should lead the way in preparing America’s workforce, and states need to join the effort.**](http://www.ccdaily.com/Pages/Government/Its-time-for-states-to-step-up.aspx "undefined") By Matthew Dembicki in Community College Daily **2\.** [**To bring Asian-American communities to the ballot box, we must overcome cultural barriers, and that starts with language.**](http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-10-28/getting-asian-americans-vote-means-breaking-language-barrier "undefined") By Akiko Fujita at the World **3\.** [**We should be honoring, not quarantining, health care workers who put their lives at risk to fight Ebola abroad.**](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe1413139?query=featured%5Fhome "undefined") By by Jeffrey M. Drazen, Rupa Kanapathipillai, Edward W. Campion, Eric J. Rubin, Scott M. Hammer, Stephen Morrissey, Lindsey R. Baden at the New England Journal of Medicine **4\.** [**Prison officials should judge inmates by their actions, not the color of their skin.**](http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-prisons-race-high-desert-lawsuit-20141029-story.html "undefined") By the Editorial Board of the Los Angeles Times **5\.** [**Deliberate efforts to welcome and nurture immigrant families can help reverse the trend of shrinking rural populations.**](http://rufes.org/2014/10/20/austin-welcome-center/ "undefined") By the Rural Family Economic Success Action Network  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3545059/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-29/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3545059/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-29/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: October 29","datePublished":"2014-10-29T17:18:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:07:14.969Z","description":"States stepping up for community colleges, color blind prisons, rebuilding rural America w/recent immigrants, integrating elections & more.","url":"https://time.com/3545059/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-29/","keywords":["Innovation","California","Education","Prisons","Voting","Election","vote","ebola","Quarantine"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3545059/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-29/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: October 29"}}]}] ```