Most kids in this country grew up in some sort of a neighborhood or even a cul de sac. Maybe you knew a few of your surrounding neighbors, or maybe not. Maybe Mom would wave at Jim across the street or sometimes chat with Karen on the curb/sidewalk/driveway/stairwell/apartment building hallway/what have you. Maybe your relationship with those who lived near you was friendly but never intimate or involved. Maybe you had one or two parents, or a big blended family, maybe one or more older siblings to teach you about life. Not me, though; I was raised by more than 15 adults.

It wasnt quite since birth, but since age three when my family moved to a commune called Tierra Nueva Cohousing on the central coast of California. This intentional of parents taught me everything.

Before I even learned how to share space with my younger sister, at the age of 3 I was already learning how to share almost everything with a community of over 20 families. Cohousing, which originated in Scandinavia, involves getting a like-minded group of people together and building a communal living arrangement. Typically, this means clustering houses so that cars are on the perimeter and open space is maximized. Though we lived in separate homes, we were all connected under a canopy of avocado trees through weaving terra cotta pathways.

In cohousing, sharing resources is key, and for this reason these communities have shared laundry facilities, workshops, game rooms, etc. We shared cars, cats, a garden, (free!) child care, a chicken coop, and a yoga studio. We also shared the common house, our general gathering place for shared meals, meetings, parties, and guest housing. (The common house was also where my friends and I would play dress-up, start a fire in the library unsupervised, sneak-watch inappropriate TV, and have our first spin-the-bottle experience.)

Tierra Nueva proper was established in 1997 after its founders Frank and Steph Recceri had already held years of meetings, retreats, and community-building activities in preparation. Cohousing is all about nonviolent communication, consensus-based decision making, and generally pitching in so the Recceris cultivated a community where families were happy to collaborate, share, and grow together. As kids, we always felt safe as well as encouraged to explore and figure things out on our own. I know it sounds like the wholesome beginning of the Rajneesh movement but dont worry: The Tierra Nueva community is to this day still thriving upon the same ideals it was built on over 20 years ago.

Growing up in this little community had its pros and cons. Living closely with people from all different backgrounds can be just as wonderful as it is challenging. I was not only raised by many adults; I was also raised and taught by my peers. But growing up on a commune was, for me, the best possible parenting I could have had. Heres what it taught me.

This became clearer to me when I was a teenager. Because we share almost everything in cohousing, there can be quite a lack of privacy. These adults watch you grow up, and then once youre a teenager you are under a microscope. They question your decisions and know all too much about that boy youre dating at school or that blowout fight you got in with your best friend. Sometimes its great; you feel loved and seen. Other times, it can be a drag, especially in that weird teen stage of life.

When my cohousing sisters and I hit around 15, we began to experiment with marijuana and alcohol. Unlike a normal household, where you usually keep this stuff from your parents, try it at a friends house or behind the school, we were trying it in cohousing. When one of my close friends started smoking weed out her window every night, the next-door neighbor threw a huge fit, called the cops, and threatened to send her to juvie. And this didnt happen only once: This happened nearly any time any of us would try to smoke inside, outside, on the roof, in the woods, you name it. Of course, we also tried to use the common house to throw a rager. And as any parent knows, teens can be careless, they dont necessarily clean up, they can be very loud, and they dont often give a rats ass about where they are partying as long as it isnt their place. Needless to say, the rager attempt did not go well for us.

The girls and I also used to brag about where we lived. We were the cool, easygoing hippies who always had a good unsupervised place to throw a party. But because we were using communal space, we were actually under a surprising amount of scrutiny. We would usually get a scathing email to the whole community the next day or a neighbor would just plain crash our party, frowning and muttering about the noise. But hey, sometimes we would actually get an elderly neighbor party crasher who just wanted to join in on the fun!

In cohousing, there was always something to explore, and we kids were lucky enough to do a lot of that exploration on our own. The entire community was a safe space in which we could play, grow, and use our imaginations. Every morning, I would wake up, run over to my best friends house, decide what game we were going to play that day, dress up, and hit the sidewalk. Our mothers wouldnt see us home until dinner.

We would spend all day playing out our elaborate imaginary games: Wed be orphans running away from the orphanage, wed set up camp and start some mud soup for dinner. If the boys ever found their way into our game, they would have to be the bad guys; we would run from them, through the common house, down the green road to the garden and onto the trampoline. Through unsupervised play, we gained independence, creativity, as well as rooted communication skills.

If conflict arose between us kids, we were taught the importance of nonviolent communication. For example, my best boy friend and I loved to fight with swords; we were usually Zoro and Elena or Lancelot and Guinevere. When it came time to pick out our clothes and character for the day, the adults around ensured that Riley and I used our words to get what we wanted instead of hitting each other immediately, which of course was what we wanted to do.

This simple reliance on verbal communication from such a young age proved to be more valuable than I could have imagined, and it would even set me up for success when I went off to college. There, I was sharing ideas and space all over again except this time, I got to show students from all different backgrounds the value of what was instilled in me so young. Throughout my life, this positive communication has improved my work, relationships, and creative endeavors.

If given the opportunity, would I raise my future children in cohousing? Absolutely. In the end, the pros outweigh the cons. I feel incredibly grateful that I experienced the childhood I did; being raised by a literal village provided me with a great sense of love, shelter, and what we all seek: community and connection. I learned how to empathize and walk in someone elses shoes.

There is wonderful value in humans working together to create something so special and sacred together, and each one of those 15+ adults as well as the kids in Tierra Nueva taught me and supported me in ways I will never forget.

Here are the best green gifts for your own little flower child.

Go here to read the rest:

I Was Parented by 15 Adults on a Commune & This is What It Taught Me - SheKnows

My inbox is flooded with news about the coronavirus outbreak. Every hour, Im hearing about how many people are infected and dying, how woefully unprepared we are for this pandemic, and how the economy is tanking. Its enough to make my head explode with panic and dread.

Of course, I want to stay informed, and its important to know what I can do to help prevent the spread of the infection. How can I do that without feeling overwhelmed? Is there a better way to consume the news?

It turns out that there is, according to media experts and researchers. Taking in a constant stream of alarming news increases your stress and anxietyand has long-term consequences for your physical health, too. The key is to balance your media diet with news stories that are more inspiring or offer solutions, and then share them with friends and family. Taking those steps will help instill a sense of hope and personal agency, in yourself and others.

Of course, we need to know whats going on with the coronavirus pandemic in order to make good decisions, like washing our hands regularly and social distancing. Those actions help us fight the spread of the disease. But, as a new paper published in Health Psychology suggests, constantly reading negative, sensationalist news stories can have long-term consequences for our well-being.

Alison Holman and her colleagues at UC Irvine have studied past epidemics and disasters to see how news reporting affects people. They found that those who read or saw more sensationalist, repetitive news stories experienced acute stress and other symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, with poorer health up to three years later.

These effects can be even harsher for people in communities that have already suffered disaster. In one study, Holman and her colleagues found that New Yorkers (who lived through 9/11) following sensationalist news stories about the Boston Marathon bombings had as much stress as people who actually lived in Boston where the bombings took place.

Media coverage tends toward sensationalism, showing repeated images designed to grab your attention, and repeated exposure to that is not good for our mental health, says Holman. This can become a distress cycle, where people have a lot of fears about what the future looks like, and it just gets worse and worse as people continue to pay too much attention to the media.

Holman also points out how a diet of bad news hurts our ability to make good decisionsespecially under circumstances where the future seems uncertain or ambiguous. In the current epidemic, she sees this playing out by people hoarding products like toilet paper or, more seriously, protective masks needed by health care workers. Overblown fears lead people to run to the doctor when they have even mild symptoms of infection, thereby clogging up health care facilities needed for more serious cases.

Luckily, there are ways to get factual information without gorging ourselves on negative news. Holman recommends going to The Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization websites for information about the virus that is less alarmist and also non-partisan. Reading the facts about the disease and what we can do to prevent its spreadmaybe once a day, suggests Holmanis infinitely better for us than scrolling through our newsfeeds on social media every hour.

Dont let yourself sit there in front of your computer and constantly look up and refresh your screen to see whats going on, says Holman. Things are changing fast, but we already know what we need to do.

Still, its hard to pull our attention away from fear-inducing news; our minds fight us. As John Tierney, coauthor of The Power of Bad, explains, our brains have a negativity bias thats designed to root out danger so that we can stay safe. We cant help but be hijacked by bad news stories, and news sources want to capitalize on that by publishing the most sensational stories designed to invoke fear.

As an example, he points to the many articles and websites monitoring death rates from COVID-19 and speculating on how bad it could get without having all of the factslike how many real cases there are in a community, including people exposed to the virus without showing symptoms. Following this barrage of misinformation might incite fear rather than rational responses to the pandemic, Tierney says.

Media researcher Karen McIntyre of Virginia Commonwealth University also warns us that negative news can lead us to be less kind and helpful toward others, right at the time we need to come together the most. While research suggests that experiencing positive emotions can make us better friends and neighbors, consuming a lot of negative news leads people to be less tolerant of others, engage in more antisocial behavior, trust people less, and criticize the media more, she says. All of these general, negative effects of negative news are just exacerbated during a time like this, when were seeing even more negative news.

Sensationalist news is pretty hard to avoid, thoughespecially if you are tuned into social media. Social media has its upsides, of course, allowing us to check in with people we cant see in person due to social isolation. But it can also be a firehose of bad news, where stories about the pandemicwhether accurate or notare shared over and over again, perpetuating fear, anger, and hopelessness.

As media expert Jeff Hancock of Stanford University warns, Getting your news from news outlets in social media is problematic, because were still having a hard time distinguishing between reputable sources online and non-reputable ones.

To avoid being taken for an emotional ride by these highly emotional, clickbait, misinformation-type stories, he suggests avoiding them altogether and reading only news stories written by reputable journalists or looking to science experts to provide accurate information about the pandemiclike this site from John Hopkins University.

We also need to be careful about how a constant diet of negative news might affect our rational response to the pandemic. Cognitive biases impact how we process news, too, according to McIntyre. For example, our brains confirmation bias drives us to seek out only information thats aligned with what we already believe and to discredit the rest; the anchoring bias means we rely heavily on the first piece of information we hear and ignore what comes after. Biases like these can prevent us from learning from the ever-changing news around the pandemic, hurting our chances to fight it effectively.

The optimism biasthinking bad things are less likely to happen to us than to other peopleis a problem, too, says McIntyre. If you think youre unlikely to get COVID-19, you may be less inclined to take the necessary precautions to prevent it from spreading. So, we need to be careful about how these biases make us pay attention to certain types of news and ignore others.

Being aware of these biases can help you prevent yourself from falling prey to them, she says.

What can we do instead? We can be more selective about our media consumption and use it to promote more kindness, connection, and inspiration.

If you are going to use social media, Hancock suggests using it to see how the people you care about are doing, how you can keep calm, or how to help others in needespecially your nearby neighbors and communities.

Media can show us what people are doing so that we might feel like its not just usnot just mestuck at home, he says. If I can see what other people are doing, it can make us feel like were all in the same boat, and I think that can be really powerful.

While fear leaves people feeling helpless and exhausted, seeing that were in it together helps ease the emotional burden we feel and encourages more agencythe sense that we can do something constructive to fight the pandemic. You can encourage more coming together, McIntyre suggests, by reading whats called solutions-based journalismstories that go into depth around a problem, but also let you know whats being done to solve the problem effectively.

When you see whats workingthat the news isnt all bad, and there are a lot of things that the world is doing well right nowthat helps ease the helplessness and hopelessness you may be feeling, she says. And it can lead to more altruism, too, because reading a news story about how somebody is doing something to help inspires you to want to do something to help, too.

Where can people go to get this kind of news? McIntyre suggests the Solutions Journalism Network, where you can find a large database of solution-focused news storiesincluding stories related to the virus. She also mentions that several newspapers, including the New York Times and the Guardian, have sections that focus on uplifting news stories, which can help us break up our diet of bad news.

Though most newspapers operate on the assumption that if it bleeds, it leads, it may surprise you to know that positive, in-depth reporting engages readers more than sensationalist stories, says McIntyre. Research shows that people share uplifting stories more, and they keep their eyes on the page longer when they read solution-based storiesall the more reason for news outlets to provide more positive and in-depth coverage and for all of us to share it.

Its important that we do try to read the news thoroughly and listen to all the facts, says McIntyre. Making sure that youre checking your sources, that youre going to reliable sources to get information, and that you get a mix of sources, incorporating some constructive news into your mixall of these things help.

Staying informed without alarming yourself is not just important for you, but for everyone. If we can all do our part to put ourselves on what Tierney calls a low bad news diet, no doubt we will get through this pandemic together better and help preserve our own mental health in the process.

Read more here:

How to Be Intentional About Consuming Coronavirus News - Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley

By Livio De La Cruz, Committee MemberDemand to be Counted 2020 Census Project

Every 10 years the federal government counts everyone living in the United States through the census, and it is meant to make sure that when the government is distributing federal resources, the distribution is done equitably. The problem is, if people are not counted, funding is not distributed for them.

Its really easy to say government doesnt work, because for us and our communities, so often it doesnt. The census is not different. Historically, African Americans have been undercounted in the census. We already dont get the level of resources our communities need and that we pay for. Given that we are already undercounted and not receiving our fair share of the American pie, the changes made to the census process disproportionately threaten the future quality of our lives and our communities.

I dont remember the last census in 2010. I was still in high school. Im guessing an employee of the US. Census Bureau came to my house, just as theyve been doing for every household in the country every ten years for over 200 years. Clipboard in hand, the employee must have spoken with my parents to complete the questionnaire. I assume we were counted. But Ive never really given the census much thought until now.

Political scientists and statisticians have long since argued the census isnt the best way to get an accurate count of everyone in the United States; off the bat, its an imperfect method. Unfortunately, that doesnt change the fact that it is the method used to count us, and then to dedicate and distribute funding and other resources based on that count.

In the past the census was solely a door-to-door effort conducted by trained staff. That process is no more. In 2020 we are responsible for counting ourselves. The census is moving to the internet. This might seem like a great idea, and it may appear to make the census more accessible, but that isnt true for our communities. Black folks are much less likely to have access to the tools and resources needed to understand and complete the census.

Being undercounted in the census -or not counted at all- has real-life consequences. We are the very people who need these resources the most in our communities. We dont have enough affordable housing. We dont have enough affordable resources and activities for children and youth. We dont have access to healthcare in our communities at the level we need it. We dont have transportation options that serve our needs.

We dont have enough of anything.

As if those challenges arent enough, the current political climate is also a factor affecting whether we are all counted. People feel distrustful of the government. Even though there are strict laws in place that are supposed to protect the information we provide through the census, as people of color we know that our rights can be violated at any time.

The result? The census feels like a risk. Opting out feels easier. Opting out feels safer. Maybe it is.

But the only way to fight intentional erasure is by intentionally being counted. It takes all of us to make sure everyone is counted in 2020. Getting rid of the current systems that hurt our communities, and strengthening the systems that help us, requires many kinds of tools and actions. We have to fight for our own liberation on every front, including being counted in the census. This is something we need to be intentional about in solidarity with each other, in fighting for economic and social justice for those who need it the most.

We are doing outreach work for the census because we demand to be counted. We see all of the forces that are working to stop us from being counted, from having our voices heard, and we refuse to let them win. We refuse to be silenced, ignored, or erased.

The U.S. Census Bureau has already started mailing information to every household with instructions on how to be counted in the 2020 census. If you dont see anything in the mail, you still have until July to go online or complete the census by phone. Learn more at http://www.demandtobecounted.org, and do what you can to spread the word in your corner of our community: In 2020, demand to be counted.

See the article here:

2020 Census: The Only Way To Fight Intentional Erasure Is By Intentionally Being Counted - The Seattle Medium - Seattle Medium

San Bernardino County Superintendent Ted Alejandre on Wednesday came out in support of California Schools Superintendent Tony Thurmonds call for California school campuses to remain closed for the remainder of the school year with the expectation that students' education will continue through distance learning.

"Our public school leaders in San Bernardino County recognize the significant impact the coronavirus is having on our students, staff and families, Alejandre said in a press release Wednesday afternoon. In the interest of their health and safety, and out of an abundance of caution, I am recommending San Bernardino County school districts extend school site closures through the end of the 2019-20 school year.

"We believe it is critical to move forward in a collaborative and unified manner in San Bernardino County about the status of our public schools amidst this public health crisis. I have conferred with San Bernardino County district superintendents and public health officials. There is agreement among us that the need to continue safety efforts and social distancing to curb the spread of COVID-19 warrants the continued closure of school campuses across our county.

"This is an intentional decision that puts the safety of students and staff first and foremost. While our school campuses are closed, we have an obligation to ensure our students continue to receive quality education services through the remainder of the school year, with a focus on the delivery of instruction through distance learning and providing school meals to our students.

"I want to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of school staff to serve our students and families with continuity of learning, nutrition and social/emotional supports during these unprecedented circumstances. We recognize the closure of school campuses through the end of the school year brings about many questions for students and parents-particularly our graduating seniors. We are collaborating with state leaders in the development of guidance on these matters and will continue to update our school communities. I encourage families to check local school district websites for additional information."

Follow this link:

San Bernardino County schools superintendent supports continuing the rest of the school year through distance learning - Redlands News

Our world has become very small and very large all at the same time. The novel coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting our communities and with it brings the emotional response to threats and crisis.

The human response to crisis has a cycle of emotional reactions, and with pandemics denial and fear are most prevalent in early stages. Denial is by far the most dangerous as it prohibits planning, prevention and response. You can visit denial for short periods, but it isn't a place you want to live.

Fear prompts anxiety, which can generate action and heightened awareness or vigilance. The eventual response state we can redirect and shift ourselves is to conscious awareness, where we can cope.

It is important to know what you are doing and how you are feeling is normal. We can learn from this experience and use it to create lasting change in our communities. This nation has stood politically divided and the space between has brought harmful words and emotions, as well as violence, hate and injustice.

You've felt fear for your family, friends and loved ones, not wanting them to be infected with the virus. That fear is no different than people of color feel in our country every day. They fear for their children, knowing they will likely experience explicit racism and the systematic racismthatdominates our social institutions. Parents of young black men know well the fear of violence or death, acts disproportionately experienced in Americabytheir sons.

You've experienced denial. Your mind needed breaks fromthe possibility the virus will affect you. This denial is no different than that of a young gay man wanting to experience love and physical intimacy with his partner without the fear or acknowledgement of possible risk of HIV infection. The denial is no different than for your friend who suffers the disease of addiction. They want nothing more than to share in the novelty of a glass of wine or beer at the barbecue each summer.

You've gone shopping and stocked food and household goods, afraid you or your family will go without basic needs and nutrition. Each month, low-income families ration and vigilantly count their WIC and food stamp assistance, afraid their children could go without basic needs and nutrition.

You've fled from public spaces and isolated to reduce the risk of exposure to the virus. The same action is taken by immigrants and refugees longing to stay in their countries. When presented with few options of survival, they fled to create a new life and keep their children safe.

You've become vigilant washing your hands, carrying disinfectant, and increased awareness of your surroundings. This risk of something you can't see is the same for transgender women of color, knowing those who have murdered and beaten women just like them who look just like their neighbors and coworkers.

Mainstream America is experiencing a glimpse of the emotional burden experienced daily by minorities in America. Human history shows those holding power in society do not create positive change for minority groups until they are affected. Today in this country is no different.

There is a phrase used in social work and additional fields for a practice of intentional use of our experiences to improve our work with others it is called use of self. This practice of humility acknowledges our own behavioral patterns, explicitand implicit biases, and emotions. This practice involves seeing the world not from a place of judgment but understanding while acknowledging the purpose of behavior. Sometimes we get it right, and other times we lean on peers to return to empathy.

Area nonprofits continue to respond to community needs and do it while pinching every penny and using every ounce of human capital they employ. Support them.

May we each use these experiences to inform and enhance how we see one another. May we gain empathy and understanding for those suffering from the yesterdays of oppression, the todays of the pandemic, and may we not rest until the tomorrows have less suffering for everyone.

These are simple steps toward solutions knowing that no one should live like this not in our community, not in this state, not in our America.

Read this article:

Pandemic coping mechanisms awaken us to others' reality | Columns | Journal Gazette - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

We find ourselves in unique and anxious times. People are frightened, people are unsure, and people are isolated. Quarantine and social distance have become common vernacular for us as we wait and watch for increased numbers of infection, for the COVID-19 virus to take hold of our own families. Being community has become a challenge.

As a new pastor, finding myself in this COVID-19 world is a challenge that they simply dont teach us in seminary. Faith leaders and faith communities have been hit hard by the imposition of crowd sized and quarantines. Our churches are closed and our people are scattered to their safest corners. For faith leaders, rebuilding community in a virus-shaped moment is a professional and spiritual requirement. Caring for congregations and neighbors is not an optional task, it is a divinely mandated part of our work in the world. In times like this, we are minister, chaplain, spiritual guide, factual news provider and a non-anxious voice for those around us.

As we go digital to worship, many ministers are reaching out to offer connection. worshippers join us from their living rooms, we are at home together. We are reconstructing the home church that was the ancient genesis of our churches today. We are gathering in groups, as did early Christians, in our virtual homes. These gatherings arent just an expression of religion, they are also a way to simple be with other people in intentional space. You neednt even be a Christian to encounter a newfound sense of community connection with us. You neednt be religious to find a willing listener and social contact in the ministers around you. Most of us are no longer concerned about shoving doctrine into your brain (some of us never were). We are learning one of the most important lessons of pastoral leadership in this crisis. We are learning to be lighthouse keepers keeping beacons of connection glowing in the dark and the fog. We are guardians of community.

Whatever your feelings on doctrine and dogma may be, no matter how you feel about churches and their leaders, please know that our most important proclamation these days is not a call to convert the masses, it is a call to sustain a sense of hope, to awaken the better parts of us. We are here for you working to follow a simple, gospel command to love our neighbors as ourselves.

The Rev. Benjamin Fitzgerald-Fye

Auburn

Continued here:

Letter: On our own, but we're still together - Blue Mountain Eagle

Deadly misinformation spread across social media long before COVID-19 emerged, but amid the ongoing pandemic attempts to tackle such content are once again in the limelight. These efforts provide an opportunity for classical liberals to emphasize the importance of freedom of association and to prepare for discussions about how private institutions handle misinformation amid acrisis.

Too often we think of the freedom of speech to be afreedom that protects speakers from government censorship. And while the freedom to speak is anecessary condition for afunctioning liberal society its not the only freedom implicated in what people refer to as the freedom of speech. The freedom of speech also entails afreedom for publishers and platforms to associate with whomever they want. That The Wall Street Journal is free to reject an oped submission written by the leader of the American Nazi Party is as important afreedom as the freedom of the leader of the American Nazi Party to write the oped in the first place.

The Internet has prompted arevolution unlike anything seen since the invention of the moveable type printing press. Billions of people are able to not only express themselves but form communities of likeminded people across national boundaries. Fortunately, the widespread availability of venues for online speech has not been accompanied by obligations on the part of Internet companies to host speech they find repellent or dangerous. The online site Medium, for example, removed acontroversial essay by Aaron Ginn apparently because they did not wish to be associated with it. In the U.S., Internet companies are shielded from liability for actions associated with removing content.

The freedom of private companies to disassociate from speech that they consider harmful is especially important during the current crisis. Social media companies have implemented avariety of policies aimed at dealing with COVID-19 misinformation. Twitter has expanded its definition of harm to include content that is contrary to health information provided by global and local authorities. Facebook established its COVID-19 Information Center and committed to removing content that could contribute to imminent physical harm. Twitter and Facebook joined Google, Youtube, Reddit, Microsoft, and LinkedIn to issue astatement on COVID-19 misinformation, stating that they are combating fraud and misinformation about the virus, elevating authoritative content on our platforms, and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world.

These policies have affected heads of states, publications, and individuals. Facebook and Twitter removed videos of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro falsely claiming that the antimalaria drug hydroxychloroquine was an effective remedy. Twitter also removed atweet posted by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that claimed ahomemade brew could be effective against the coronavirus.

In the U.S publications and pundits have seen their content removed. The Federalist published an article calling for intentional infection gatherings akin to chickenpox parties. Twitter locked The Federalists account in response. President Trumps personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, like President Bolsonaro,supported the hydroxychloroquine remedy in atweet quoting ayoung conservative activist. Twitter removed the tweet. Conservative pundit Laura Ingraham had to remove asimilar tweet in order to avoid her Twitter account being suspended.

Social media companies are not the only Internetbased firms attempting to stop the spread of dangerous information hurting customers. Amazon is attempting to remove scams associated with the ongoing pandemic, removing more than one million products so far.

Social media companies are often relying on other organizations such as government agencies or the World Health Organization as proxies for content moderation and factchecking. While there are certainly advantages to such an approach, it is not without risks, as my colleague WillDuffield has explained.

Popular Internet companies ought to be free to take steps to tackle COVID-19 misinformation. The spread of bogus claims about cures can result in death. But at atime when official organizations have reversed recommendations on the wearing of face masks we should prepare for abreakdown of these organizations reputations to affect the perceived legitimacy of Internet companies content moderation decisions. Amid misguided calls to breakup socalled Big Tech and to amend the law that allows for social media companies to moderate content without fear of liability we should be especially wary of such an outcome.

Special thanks to Cato Institute intern Stephanie Reed and Cato Institute Research Associate Rachel Chiu for their research for this post.

Read more from the original source:

Combating COVID-19 Misinformation with Disassociation | Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute

As the Covid-19 crisis continues to wreak havoc on small businesses across the country, local and national actors have begun to realize the enormity of the economic challenge at hand.

Shortly after a record high 3.3 million in weekly unemployment claims were announced, President Trump signed the CARES Act into law. The race to save our small businesses is on, and it promises to be a challenging one.

Over the past several weeks, many cities enacted local emergency relief funds to give small businesses the capital infusions they need to survive until larger pools of capital are made available through the federal government.

The federal governments CARES Act created two relief vehicles: (a) a ~$350 billion Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program and (b) a Federal Reserve Main Street Business Lending Program.

In theory, there would be a natural staging and sequencing of these relief packagesinitially locally generated, then federally supported.

In practice, it appears that the sequencing of relief packages will be anything but linear. Like the public health response, this will be messy and chaotic.

Many small businesses will collapse in the process. This is less a criticism of Congress and the agencies administering relief than a reflection on the complexity of the challenge before us.

Let us start by reviewing

Local economies have not had the luxury of waiting for the passage and implementation of the CARES Act. Across the country, municipalities, philanthropies and related intermediaries have created emergency funding facilities for their small businesses, targeting a narrower definition of small businesses (generally 25 or fewer employees).

These facilities vary widely based on the needs and capabilities of any given place. This week, we detailed a typology of local funds that shows the disparate sources of capital, terms and conditions, and delivery systems organized into five main categories based on the entity leading the charge: city government funds, public entity funds, philanthropic funds, financial institution funds and business chamber funds.

From $100 million in Chicagos Small Business Resiliency Loan Fund seeded by the City and administered by local Community Development Finance Institutions to the Indy Chambers proposed $10 million Rapid Response Loan Fund, community leaders are on the front lines trying to stop the bleeding.

Going forward, the Small Business Administration (SBA) will be a key scaled funding resource for businesses with under 500 employees: The CARES Act appropriated almost $350 billion to the new Paycheck Protection Program.

The program facilitates zero-to-low interest loans that are forgivable if businesses retain their employees through June 2020, making them similar to repayable grants if conditions are met. In addition, applicants can qualify for a $10,000 forgivable advance (grant) within three days of application.

The program appears to be well structured and accessible, but the quantity alone represents a massive distribution and execution challenge for many banks and the chronically underfunded and understaffed SBA (and may nonetheless prove to be insufficient in scale).

The Federal Reserve is also wading into uncharted waters with its proposed Main Street Business Lending Program as part of the estimated ~$4 trillion of capacity created by the CARES Act.

The program is light on details to date, but the Fed is working to put it together. Some estimates predict an allocation of ~$1 trillion to this particular Main Street initiative, which will be focused on small businesses but also include midsize companies with up to 10,000 employees.

The Fed will look to bank intermediaries in order to distribute its loan program. It remains to be seen whether the program will truly reach small businesses in the most need, or be gobbled up by midsize corporations.

The presentation of this hierarchy of small business relief efforts is logical and ordered. But the real world of small businesses and the communities in which they are situatedatomistic, distributed, with intermediaries of widely varied capital and capacitymeans that implementation of these packages will be more symbiotic and iterative than sequenced and separate.

The bad news is that the existence of CARES Act capital does not guarantee that it will serve its intended purpose. The good news is that the circumstances have forced action at the local level.

The SBA, and eventually the Fed, face an enormous challenge of scale, distribution, and delivery.

The SBAs single largest FY2019 program represented $23 billion in loans. Moreover, during hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, the SBA averaged a 70-day timeline to go from acceptance to initial disbursement.

The SBA has already had difficulty with its disaster loan application website in the face of Covid-19. Disbursing ~$350 billion represents an unprecedented challenge under any circumstance, not only for this agency but also for the many financial institutions tasked with deploying the capital. In these circumstances, with severely curtailed social interaction, timely distribution presents an even greater challenge.

While the Paycheck Protection Program allows access for microbusinesses with ~10 or fewer employees (including sole proprietors), the systems in place are not set up to reach them.

This is a recurring problem weve seen with programs aimed to provide capital to places that need it the most: To be effective, these programs must establish local distribution capacity.

In particular, we worry about black-owned businesses which are already less likely to be approved for small business loans, compounding their already-stacked deck of less start-up capital and lower revenues than white-owned businesses.

If proper distribution systems are not set up, the nation risks losing tens of thousands of our most vulnerable businesses, hitting black-owned businesses and the neighborhoods they support especially hard.

SBA certified lenders comprise a relatively small proportion of existing institutions. Distributing the volume of money that the SBA is tasked with will necessarily require a larger number of lenders.

The groups currently offering their help to reach the most vulnerable businesses include Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFI) and to lenders without SBA certification such as Financial Technology companies.

Fortunately, the SBA and Department of Treasury have authority to determine additional lenders.

The economic effects of the Covid-19 crisis have already been devastating, and like the virus itself, have the potential to rapidly multiply in the absence of well-targeted intervention.

Despite the best intentions of policymakers, we believe that local efforts and intermediaries will play a larger role in providing relief to small businesses than previously understood.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean these intermediaries must be properly empowered. This requires that the full financial systemlayers of governments as well as multiple actorstake several intentional actions:

We are increasingly convinced that local funds will have to play an ongoing, indefinite, and expanded role in mitigating this crisis, and believe an initial $25 billion is needed for these funds immediatelycompared to $500 million currently raised, by our conservative estimate.

We propose that already appropriated federal funds, to the greatest extent possible, be used to support local emergency funds to support small businesses and nonprofits, in addition to their efforts to reach businesses directly.

In the meantime, we encourage local governments, philanthropies, and private sector partners to continue supporting these funds.

It is perpetually difficult for the federal government to understand the vast and varied needs of the smallest businesses in far-flung corners of the country. In this, local communities play a vital role in mobilizing to communicate the needs of their at-risk constituents upwards.

As President Roosevelt said in the depths of the Great Depression, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. This crisis demands that successful local experimentation rapidly informs the ongoing federal responses.

We propose that the federal government expand the remit of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council to act as a channel between a subset of the local emergency funds that have been established and the federal agencies tasked to lead the economic rescue.

Many local economic development institutions are repurposing their focus in response to this crisis; so too can the federal government.

Our assessment of local relief efforts shows the critical role being played by local, regional and national CDFIs, private financial institutions that are 100 percent dedicated to lending in ways that support broad-based community wealth.

Financial technology companies offer intriguing but largely untapped assets that have platforms to speed the delivery of resources to cash-strapped small businesses.

We propose that the SBA speed the eligibility process for banks, while the federal government explores waysthrough the SBA, Fed, or otherwiseto engage local CDFIs and financial technology companies as additional outlets and intermediaries to increase its reach and speed to market.

We also propose major financial institutions explore partnerships with CDFIs to bridge the distance between large capital institutions and small businesses.

The economic effects of the Covid-19 crisis have already been devastating, and like the virus itself, have the potential to rapidly multiply in the absence of well-targeted intervention.

The bad news is that the existence of CARES Act capital does not guarantee that it will serve its intended purposethe capital is unlikely to be delivered fast enough to avert economic disaster for many small businesses and the communities they support, the products are unlikely to reach the smallest businesses that may be the most in-need, and the institutions charged with distribution lack a comprehensive network of capable intermediaries.

The good news is that the circumstances have forced action at the local level. If we can cooperate to support and understand the best practices being established on the ground, funnel that information into a feedback loop to inform other communities and the federal response, and engage a more holistic set of intermediaries to execute on these learnings, we may yet stand a chance to salvage our small businesses and establish a more effective financial system going forward.

Bruce Katz is the director of the Nowak Metro Finance Lab at Drexel University, created to help cities design new institutions and mechanisms that harness public, private and civic capital for transformative investment.Michael Saadine is a real estate and social impact investor. Colin Higgins is a program director at The Governance Project.

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We need more than the CARES Act to save small business in Philadelphia - The Philadelphia Citizen

Artist and curator Amy Jorgensen (courtesy Amy Jorgensen)

This is the latest installment of the interview seriesMeet the Art Community of the US Southwest. Check out our past interviewshere.

Amy Jorgensen is cofounder of Granary Arts and is currently their Executive Director and Chief Curator. With the vision of supporting long-term engagement between artists and communities, she has curated over 50 exhibitions of artists working in contemporary art and produced companion exhibition catalogues. In addition to developing a spectrum of cultural and educational programming, she launched the Granary Arts Fellows program, Film Feast, and the initiative Critical Ground which explores the impact of art criticism hierarchies and the democratization of art critique. Dedicated to the arts as a maker, facilitator, and educator, Jorgensen was recently honored as one of Utahs Most Influential Artists. In 2019 she spearheaded the publishing of the portfolio and exhibition of DE|MARCATION, the first comprehensive look at the state of contemporary photography in Utah.

Jorgensen is also an interdisciplinary artist whose diverse practice involves creating conceptual, immersive works that blend photography, performance, and video. In the realization of her work, she mines historical and contemporary perspectives to explore alternate and intersecting narratives of the body, desire, violence, and power.She is an Associate Professor of Visual Art at Snow College where she is head of Photography and Media, a member of the Board of Directors for the Utah Arts Council, and a member of the Acquisition Committee for the State of Utah Allice Merrill Horne Art Collection.

Born in Milan, Italy, she received a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Tufts University, and an MFA from the University of California San Diego. Jorgensen lives and works remotely in the high plains desert of Utah, and wholeheartedly embraces the practice of building the community you want to be a part of.

***

How long have you been in Ephraim/Utah?

I moved to Ephraim, Utah 15 years ago after an equal amount of time living in major metropolitan areas. It was an intentional move designed to cultivate a life with greater access to the wide open spaces of the West, and be in closer proximity to family. I finished high school in Utah, and placed some deep roots on this turf, the landscape holds formidable ground in my imagination.

What is the first strong memory you have of art?

My parents home was filled with art every wall, table, surface, and stairwell covered. They had a deep appreciation for the relationships and attachments they made with artists and places, in many ways they were collectors of both memory and objects. My childhood friends jokingly referred to my house as the museum. So, I suppose Ive been living and working in museums and galleries for a lifetime. They had a large-scale painting that hung over the dining table, my recollection is that it came from Germany or Poland. It was a heavy and dark scene of a nighttime forest in the depths of winter, and deeply marked with visible brush strokes, more like peaks and troughs. In the midst of this low-key sea of murkiness, there was one blob of creamy white paint. It was my favorite part of the painting, a kind of visual lifeboat in this emotionally hopeless image. This one, creamy, solitary mark on the surface of that canvas is my earliest and strongest memory of art. In retrospect, its such a powerful and visceral indicator of the connections we build to art, and the experiences of the artists who create it.

What are you questioning through your practice right now?

At the time of this interview, the world has been utterly upended by the coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, and most of the country is under some form of isolation or lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus. Its difficult to think of anything else; this is a defining moment. I am questioning how this will change us. What are the long-term impacts going to be for artists and creative communities? And how will the arts speak to this moment from the perspective of the future?

As Granary Arts transitions from a physical to a virtual space as part of this global response, we are collaborating with the PARC Collective as our next Granary Arts Fellow. They will be exploring the impact of incubation in communities through online content sharing.

What challenges do you face as an artist in Ephraim/Utah?

Ill respond from two perspectives, first, as a curator. In the state of Utah, there are only a handful of museum-based curators dedicated to contemporary art, and they are all located in urban areas. Im the curator at a non-profit contemporary art space located in rural central Utah in a county with a population of roughly 30,000. There are many challenges embedded in the above statistics isolation, politics, resources, networks, poverty all of which are amplified tenfold as a rurally-based curator. Yet, Granary Arts and our mission of supporting contemporary practice is thriving. Built into heart of our structure is the interchange between local and global what has meaning and value to one is also relevant to the other.

Responding as an artist, isolation is the most significant hurdle. In a rural area, there is no immediate access to the vast cultural network and resources found in urban centers, so you have to work much harder to build those systems yourself. I recall when I first moved to Ephraim, the people taking my ticket at the local movie theatre were also the police chief and a city council member. It was fantastic, yet it was the moment I realized everyone in small towns wears multiple hats. The vision for cofounding Granary Arts with fellow artist and long-time friend Kelly Brooks emerged from a similar realization. We recognized that we wanted to live in a place with access to great contemporary art, and that meant engaging in the community, and making it happen.

What is the most impactful or memorable art experience youve had in the last year?

A project many years in the works, I was able to see the completion of DE|MARCATION: A Survey of Contemporary Photography In Utah, a limited edition portfolio co-curated by myself and Edward Bateman, and published by Red Butte Press. Originally inspired by a visit to the archives of the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, I began to think about how the portfolio format, popular in the 1970s, could be used in contemporary practice. There were multiple goals: build the photographic community, provide a platform for Utah voices, support the working careers of artists, and place the work of Utah photographers, as a group, on the national radar. The project took three years, dozens of collaborators, and thousands of hours to create.

The collection surveys the contemporary photographic landscape of creative practice by artists in the state of Utah as they navigate new territory in the global dialogue of imagemaking. The works delineate new boundaries and challenge the photographic traditions of the West as a hallowed land the landscape as a rugged vista to be conquered and tamed under the banner of Manifest Destiny and the settling of Zion. Intended to serve as a record of a historical moment, the collection reflects the dynamics of shifting cultural narratives and our relationship to place in a richly interconnected world.

When you are working a project do you have a specific audience in mind?

In curating programming at Granary Arts, I map out an 18-24 month trajectory. Within that timeframe I create a narrative arc for exploring a cross-section of ideas, voices, and perspectives that will resonate with our audience. Its a wholistic approach recognizing the spectrum of the art ecosystem, and the interesting challenge of building real connections with those who may have limited experience with contemporary art.

What questions do you feel arent being asked of or by creative people in your community?

How do we communicate the value of creative labor to audiences, and ultimately increase monetary compensation for creative work? Artists, writers, curators, and other creative collaborators contribute significant time and energy to cultural programming. Yet, most art labor is unrecognized, undervalued, and underpaid. As a small non-profit we feel this burden and would like to contribute to a change in the system. Weve been collecting data to quantify the amount of work involved in our programming for many years, and recently have launched an internal initiative to map how we can share this data most effectively with the public, and then share the template with other arts organizations. Stay tuned

How do you engage with and consume culture?

My remote location certainly dictates much of this. I stay engaged via the more traditional forms of publications, journals, and conferences. However, online formats are critical at this juncture, particularly as we are all now working from home, and in the era of coronavirus. Online content is my initial means of accessing exhibitions, artists, critical content, etc. I really love being able to follow artists work in progress on Instagram and Facebook. And of course, doing studio visits, visiting museums, galleries the best part of my job is supporting and connecting creatives. There are so many ways in which we can engage with one another, and I approach it as participating in culture rather than consuming active rather than passive. Its a larger question of how do we support our community, and keep this art ecosystem alive, fed, and thriving.

What are you currently working on?

We recently launched Critical Ground, an initiative exploring how the dialogue of art critique might shift towards communities and artists working outside the frameworks of NYC and LA. It explores the impact of art criticism and the democratization of art critique through the sharing of ideas and experiences with the intention of mapping an alternate way forward that is more inclusive of the spectrum of work created across the country. In practice, its a series of conversations and brainstorms between visiting critics and artists, curators, writers, and other stakeholders from the region. The conversations are roving: they are studio visits, site visits, and formal and informal discussions. It is a space where strategic thinking meets creative action with the intention to shift the current framework of art critique hierarchy to highlight work outside metro-centered locales. An experimental venture, the intention is to create a platform and space for this conversation in Utah, and to serve as a model for other places in the country with like-minded vision.

Who in your community of artists, curators, archivists, organizers, directors, etc. is inspiring you right now?

Im a huge fan of the ACME initiative at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City. Its a hybrid working model using Art, Community, Museum, and Education to explore themes and issues under the umbrella of activism and engagement.

Where are the centers for creative community in your region?

I live in a region called Sanpete Valley, defined by classic basin and range geography. Artists have been moving to this area for decades, as its a haven and home to several artist-run collectives and nonprofits. Casino Star Foundation, Spring City Arts, Hub City Gallery, Summer Snow, and The Fairview Museum all host exhibitions, open studios, festivals, workshops, lectures, and performances.

See original here:

Meet the Art Community of the US Southwest: Amy Jorgensen Wants to Democratize Art Criticism - Hyperallergic

APPLETON, Wis. A Wisconsin police officer was ambushed and stabbed in the police department parking lot. A second officer was injured while taking the suspect into custody.

The following information was provided by the Appleton Police Department on Tuesday:

On March 31, 2020, at approximately 4:15 A.M., an Appleton Police Department Officer was stabbed with a knife, after being ambushed in the parking lot of the Appleton Police Department. A second officer was also cut; while taking the subject into custody.

This morning, around 2:17 A.M., an officer, in a marked squad car, observeda vehicle following him for an extended distance. The officer drove toward the police department and notified other officers. Officers were advised of the vehicle being previously involved in similar activity in a different jurisdiction. An attempt was made to stop the vehicle. The driver fled but officers did not pursue the subject because of the lack of any serious charges.

Around 4:15 A.M., the officer, followed earlier in the night, was in the parking lot of the Appleton Police Department. When he got out of his squad he noticed a car parked in the street by the parking lot. It appeared to be the same vehicle that was following him earlier.

The officer saw a male standing near the employee entrance to the police department. When he tried to speak with him the subject charged at him. The subject had concealed his right hand behind his leg and appeared to be holding something in it. The officer created distance between him and the individual, while trying to identify what the male was concealing. The male attacked the officer. During the attack, the subject stabbed the officer several times with a kitchen-style knife. The officer fought back and brought the male on the ground. Additional officers responded and were able to get the subject under control and into custody. One of the other officers involved also suffered a cut, from the subjects knife, to one of their hands.

The male was taken to a local hospital for treatment. When he is medically cleared, he will be placed in jail. The Appleton Police Department will be requesting charges of Attempted First Degree Intentional Homicide and Battery to a Police Officer. Additional charges may be filed as a result of our ongoing investigation. The subject arrested is Troy J. VanGrinsven, a 49 year-old male from Kaukauna. The officers names will not be released. Both officers were medically treated and released.

It is only because of the outstanding tactical skills, and the mental and physical fitness of the officer involved, that this incident didnt end more tragically. These are the threats that all our law enforcement officers are facing more frequently. No matter what uniform they wear, we thank all of them, and their family members, for the sacrifices they make every day to serve their communities. Chief Todd Thomas

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Officer ambushed and stabbed in police department parking lot - LawOfficer.com

Atlanta's East Lake Meadows housing project, which opened in 1970, was demolished three decades later. Walter Stricklin/Atlanta Journal Constitution/PBS The new PBS documentary film from Sarah Burns and David McMahon chronicles the fall of an Atlanta housing project through the residents who once called it home.

Beverly Parks grew up in a house in Atlanta in the 1960s, where she and her siblings took turns sleeping in one bed. Huddling in the living room during the winter, shed take a breath and see the frost hang in the air. But in 1970, her family moved into the East Lake Meadows public housing development, and things changed. For $45 a month, her mother could afford a three-bedroom apartment.

When you come from an environment of no food, no heat, cold, to a housing project, that was just like heaven to us, she said.

The images of East Lake Meadows that linger in history books dont look like heaven: Nicknamed Little Vietnam within a year of its opening in 1970, it was one of the many American public housing projects cast as dysfunctional when crime, drugs, and government disinvestment both intentional and negligent tore through the property in the 1970s and 80s. Today, the neighborhood is unrecognizable: In 2000, the development was demolished and rebuilt as a mixed-income project. The original residents were promised they could return, but most were displaced.

In the new PBS documentary East Lake Meadows, directed by Sarah Burns and David McMahon and produced by famed documentarian Ken Burns, those former residents help trace the trajectory of East Lake Meadows with candor, revealing what made it such a special, and eventually, after years of negligence, such a horrible place to live.

Like the 2011 documentary The Pruitt-Igoe Myth, which centered on a St. Louis public housing project made famous in videos of its decline and subsequent implosion, East Lake Meadows uses the history of one development to explain the calcification of segregation in America and the damage thats done when divisions are drawn between a deserving and undeserving poor. Along with former residents, the film features a whos who of contemporary voices on American inequality, such as New York Times Magazine reporter Nikole Hannah Jones and historian/New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb. The feature film, which premiered on PBS this week and is available to stream online, also serves as a powerful call to action: The reason some public housing failed was not because it has to fail, but because there was a lack of will to make it succeed.

We could do this better. We could provide decent housing to the people who need it most, said Burns, who also co-directed the 2012 documentary The Central Park 5. Ultimately thats the message of the film: We could be doing this, we just have to decide we want to.

CityLab spoke to Burns and McMahon by phone their tour to promote the film was cancelled because of Covid-19 concerns, so the couple and their son were staying in with family in South Carolina.

The documentary used one distinct public housing development to tell such a sweeping story. Why did you choose to highlight East Lake Meadows?

Sarah Burns: We originally learned about East Lake because wed been told about the new community there the narrative that is out there about all the successes of the new community, and how much things have changed. But we immediately recognized that that was a really incomplete version of the story, and that in order to think about this place thats there now, it was much more important to consider the place that was there before.

The best way to follow issues you care about.

David McMahon: It felt like in this case that people who had a vested interest in the success of the place had been the ones who put the story out there. And it is an extraordinary success story in certain ways; as Ed Goetz says in the film, you could hardly believe you could remake a community to the extent that they did. But it was just a little digging and we discovered that it wasnt [a success story] for the people who had been living there when it was East Lake Meadows.

Why Atlanta?

Burns: While Chicago has been the focus of much of the academic research and writing about public housing certainly a theme is places like Cabrini Green because of Atlantas history of being the first city that started building these federally funded housing projects in the 30s, and then being so aggressive beginning in the 90s with tearing it all down, it was actually a great place for telling these stories.

We felt like in some ways we could have chosen any housing project and that we would have had stories from residents that we would have been able to explore many of these same issues. When we were sharing the film with public housing residents in other cities, people have found that they recognize something in these stories that they can relate to those experiences and feel in some way that its their story too.

How did you find so many former residents of East Lake Meadows?

McMahon: The tricky thing was that a lot of people did not come back: It was 20 years since the original housing had been bulldozed.

When they were in the 4th, 5th and 6th grade, in the late 90s, theyd begun doing video diaries of the experience of watching their housing come down around them their teacher had given them cameras and told them how to use them. The teacher eventually made the video diaries into a feature-length documentary which premiered at a local library.

We tracked the students down using a private investigator. It took months. Some of them gave us on-camera interviews, but they were there at the very end they had 9- or 10-year-olds perspectives. They werent going to be enough.

So we started, at the suggestion of our colleagues, a Facebook page. After a couple of days, something like 1,500 people had come to the page, all eager to share their memories: Many of them remained connected. In some cases [they left] in the late 70s after saving enough to buy a house; in other cases it was under, eviction or leaving with the sense that the housing was coming down and there was nothing left for them, in other cases it was a Section 8 voucher. We were trying to show there were a lot of outcomes over the years.

Burns: So many of the people we talked to said, Are you going to talk about the good stuff, too? Even the idea of that was really important to people. They recognized that the way their community had been portrayed, to the extent that it had been, was always with this focus on the Little Vietnam aspect of it the crime, violence, the drugs, the problems. It was really important to so many of the people we talked to that that not be the only thing that was covered, because that had been very much their experience so far.

And people were not shy about telling us about that stuff too: They werent saying that that wasnt the case. That there was crime and violence and it could be scary, especially for people who were parents there, the ways you try to protect your children. But that also there were also happy memories, and ways that people came together.

McMahon: Everyone talked in one form or another about how they were able to keep life moving there in the absence of services that other communities are provided or the businesses that we take for granted that grow around all of the communities that are not abandoned.

One of the most compelling figures was Eva Davis, a resident of East Lake Meadows and a fearless tenant leader whos described by her granddaughter, Evette El-Amin, as a fiesty young old lady. Shes the one who, by the end, convinces many tenants that demolishing and rebuilding East Lake Meadows is the only realistic way forward. How did you find her story? Were there other examples across the country of these strong matriarchs who led movements in public housing?

McMahon: Eva Davis had died a year or two before we began production, and we found her family and her passing was very raw for everybody. It was not only the family. Everyone had something to say about Ms. Davis. She had impacted everybodys life there. And certainly across Atlanta and I think well beyond, projects have tenants association leaders, theyre often women and they often have political clout. They often are dealing with problems as diverse as how do we get people to stop buying drugs on our corner to how do we get a toilet fixed in the third building in 3C. All day long she was advocating for these people.

[Before moving to East Lake Meadows, Davis] comes up from a rural area south of Atlanta and gets engaged in civil rights actions there and really cuts her teeth marching with the ministers in Atlanta at the height of the civil rights movement. Shes a perfect person to begin organizing the tenants; she could get 400 people out to vote if the city councilman who represented the district was there to support them. She was a bulldog, as one of her daughters says. Ms. Davis is totally unique. Yet a lot of these spaces have a Ms. Davis, and often its Ms.

The film outlines a forgotten origin story of public housing, which was first marketed and intended as a home for respectable, middle-class-presenting, low-income white people. In the 1930s, for example, Atlanta bulldozed an integrated neighborhood to build Techwood Homes, a public housing development that was made for white families only. Why is that history important, and what does it say about public housing?

McMahon: Theres an evolution across the years of who we think deserves public housing. When [the U.S.] began public housing, we had identified a class of people, white people largely, who had fallen from the middle class in the Great Depression and perhaps lost their housing. It was thought we could give them a step back to the middle class. In designing it, they had to do it in segregated terms. With the societal trends of white flight and white people leaving the city [in the 1950s and 60s], there was a loss of a tax base, a divestment, a lack of commitment to [public housing]. That really happened when it was exclusively black and brown people.

Burns: The reason why we need to cover that history was both to know how different it was in the beginning, and that different intent, but also to understand that we can do this well. The image you get of public housing in the media over the last decades is the one of the Cabrini Greens, the East Lake Meadows, the Pruitt-Igoes these large public housing projects serving an extremely poor community, frequently one that is majority African American in population and that is challenged in many ways with crime and drugs. Thats what we see on the news and thats the sense we walk away from of what public housing is. It comes to define the whole of public housing.

Over the years its been done in different ways. There have been times when we have funded it and taken care of it and provided solid buildings that actually provide decent housing. There was a time when this served a different purpose that it served fairly well the people who lived in it, that it was safe and decent housing, and that it did help people as a sort of stepping stone. It was a different demographic that it was serving in that way.

To [New York Times Magazine reporter] Nikole Hannah Jones point: We could do this well. We have done this well. Weve just never done it well for the most vulnerable, for the people who need it the most.

McMahon: I also dont think we want to touch the entirety of public housing with this brush exclusively. There are 3,000 housing authorities across the country and some of them succeed beautifully. I think that that gets to how do we do this well going forward: that perhaps theres not a one-size-fits-all solution.

But it does seem to be a universal thing that if you decide to start tearing down the public housing, we know now to put the people who were living there at that time in the foreground, and make sure theyre engaged in the solution in a neighborhood thats not serving its residents very well.

Atlanta was doing something radical in the mid-90s: They had a dramatic plan to tear down all of this housing. I think its a cautionary tale.

Sarah Holder is a staff writer at CityLab covering local policy, housing, labor, and technology.

Continue reading here:

'East Lake Meadows' Filmmakers on Race and Housing - CityLab

THESE are extraordinary times. As we take refuge in our homes to slow the spread of the coronavirus, life as we know it has drastically changed.

The Movement Control Order (MCO) was announced by the Prime Minister on March 16, imposed under the Control of the Spread of Infectious Disease Act 1988 and the Police Act 1967 from March 18 to April 14.

This partial form of lockdown has seen all places of learning, from kindergartens to higher institutes, and vocational schools closing for the duration of the MCO, with higher education institutes transitioning to online lectures in some cases.

All mass gatherings in the country, including religious, sporting, social and cultural events, have been (and should be, if they havent already) postponed or cancelled. All places of worship and businesses, excluding essential services, have been closed as well.

Through the MCO, the government has established a form of mitigation of flattening the epidemic curve to lower the odds of a spike in infected numbers which are even at this stage overwhelming the healthcare system.

As terrifying though the coronavirus may be, it can be turned back. China, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan have demonstrated that, with furious efforts, the contagion can be brought to heel.

For Malaysia to repeat her successes will take extraordinary levels of coordination and money from the countrys leaders, and extraordinary levels of trust and cooperation from her citizens. It will also require international partnerships in an interconnected world.

So how does that affect us? We. Need. To. Stay. At. Home. As limiting as it may feel, and while some of us may be experiencing a bad case of cabin fever, this may be our only chance of combating the spread of this pandemic.

With people being told to work from home and stay away from others, the pandemic has deepened reliance on services from the tech sector, with an array of lifestyle solutions making social distancing easier.

But more than that, now is the time we need to also spare a thought about how we can make the lives of the underprivileged easier. There are ways to do this, and there are new ways organisations are trailblazing to reach out to those in need.

Here are some examples of how people, organisations and businesses are spearheading and turning to ways into bringing services to the masses while observing the necessary precautions that have been set to protect people.

Theres a chance to stop the coronavirus. And we have a role to play in this.

DAILYMUSCLE GYM

Kimbeley Yap conducting one of Daily Muscle's virtual classes.

With the MCO announcement on March 18, gyms, fitness centres and even public parks are closed, making at-home workouts the only option if you wanted to get some exercise in.

Despite the availability of workouts on the Internet, lets be honest, its hard to stay motivated when you exercise alone at home and there are plenty of distractions.

Noel Maniraj Chelliah and Kimbeley Yap-Chelliah, the husband-and-wife team who run the DailyMuscle gym at Glomac Damansara, realised that their members would be missing out on staying active so they established [emailprotected], a series of live-stream group exercise classes run over video-conferencing.

Each class is 30-45 minutes long and capped at 30 people so that everyone gets individual attention, live feedback and coaching. The classes are designed so that they can be done in limited space, with zero equipment and at any time. Those who missed them can watch the class recordings to follow along.

I finally got around to work out at home when I saw that these classes were available. I appreciate the efforts of Noel, Kim and their team to keep us connected while were all quarantined at home. Even my two kids joined in the classes and they loved it! says Charlotte Robert, one of the class participants.

Since the launch of [emailprotected], DailyMuscle has gained over 30 new online members from around the globe, and Noel and Kim are eager to spread the happiness of fitness around.

Weve opened the classes to all so even if youre not an existing DailyMuscle member, we still want you to be able to work out with a community, says Noel.

BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT YOUR WELLBEING

Exercise aside, being deliberate about daily routines and habits during the MCO period is also key to maintaining good physical and mental health.

The extra time that we have at home now can be used to eat mindfully, move more when doing errands (such as walking to your TV remote), drink more water, and catch up on sleep. Our bodies fare best with structure, so we can use this time to train ourselves to build better habits, advises Noel.

Adding, he says: Its normal to feel more down than usual because our routine has been disrupted. Eating nourishing foods and keeping a daily gratitude journal help me stay focused and to serve our 400-plus member gym community who are all staying at home now, yet connected virtually, so we can come out of this season feeling like weve achieved something instead of just wasting time.

[emailprotected] is priced at RM97 for 14 days of unlimited classes, however it is now being offered for free to everyone who wishes to join. For more information, contact Noel at [emailprotected] or send him and Kim a DM on Instagram at @dailymuscle and @kimbeleyyap.

C3 (CHRISTIAN CITY CHURCH) RELIGIOUS ORGANISATION

C3 Senior Pastor Joseph Ramayah recording his sermons with the help of his wife Pastor Stella Ramayah.

GROWING THE FAITH VIRTUALLY

We had to be crystal clear when the MCO was given. We wanted to hear it from reliable sources as speculations were aplenty which only created fear. We want to work with wisdom and prudence, says senior pastor, Joseph Ramayah.

The leaders of his churches were assembled and put their heads together to figure out how to reach and encourage their many members spread throughout Malaysia. They used technology and social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and emails, and ensured that none were left out.

Some of the steps included counselling via phone calls and WhatsApp calls, and mobilising members to help the elderly in doing their shopping for them while observing the necessary social distancing and sanitising.

Encouraging messages on social media are posted almost every day, including devotions and prayer. Sermons are pre-recorded from the pastors and leaders, and broadcast via YouTube and other platforms on Sundays.

Were focusing on building faith in God while respecting and obeying the instructions given by authorities. As this has never happened in our country before and everything is new, touching base with our members is important as we want our people to know that the church isnt a building but a community of people who are precious and important to God and to us, says Joseph.

The social recession, he points out, will hit certain groups especially hard older people, people with disabilities, people who live alone. But well all feel isolated to some degree. And as long as it remains unwise to gather in physical spaces, well need to create virtual spaces that can encourage and build our faith.

BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT YOUR SPIRITUALITY

Attending Sunday service online.

Plagues of global proportions might seem biblical, but coronavirus is creating new challenges for faith leaders. Many mosques, churches and temples have decided proactively to cancel their normal gatherings.

Resist panic. This isnt to say there isnt any reason to be concerned, or that we should ignore the sound advice of medical professionals and public health experts, says Joseph, adding: Panic and fear are not from God. Peace and hope are. And its possible to respond to a crisis seriously and deliberately while maintaining an inner sense of peace and hope.

Care for the sick and underprivileged. This pandemic may be a long haul. Do what you can to help others, especially the elderly, disabled, poor and isolated. Take the necessary precautions; dont be reckless and dont risk spreading the disease, but also dont forget that its our fundamental human duty to help others, he advises, before concluding: Well move through this together, with Gods help.

THE LOST FOOD PROJECT NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATION

The Lost Food Project practices social distancing when delivering food to their charities.

The Lost Food Project (TLFP) is still in operation as theyre deemed essential service, i.e. TLFP provides food for our charities. However, it is forced to minimise its operations due to food shortage as a result of the closing of Pasar Borong Kuala Lumpur, which was one of its main sources of fresh ingredients.

Usually the charities receive their vegetables weekly, however, this is no longer possible as they have to respect the actions taken by the government.

TLFP has 55 charities under its care that receive food and other goods weekly, but TLFP doesnt have enough right now to provide for all. Weve decided to focus on our most vulnerable charities; the ones with little support and rely mainly on donations for sustenance, says general manager Mohd Syazwan Rahimy, adding: The good thing is that were receiving lots of calls and people sounding out their support in wanting to donate food to our charities.

The support TLFP gets from people, points out Syazwan, is tremendous, be it from those who want to donate financially or want to contribute their time and energy for their cause.

This crisis has shown us that humanity isnt lost, and this is best exemplified by our volunteers, many of whom would go to great lengths to help us even during these trying times, says Syazwan.

A lot of their deliveries are still being conducted by their volunteers. Of course, he says, theyre reminded to always take precautions when carrying out their tasks, and theyre more than willing to follow advice given by (WHO) the World Health Organisation and the Health Ministry.

We realise this is a difficult time for everyone, especially for the underprivileged who are sometimes unable to provide for themselves in the best of times, let alone during a global pandemic crisis, says Syazwan.

As such, TLFP will continue to provide sustenance for the most economically-vulnerable members of the community and help alleviate some of the burden felt by the charities.

BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT YOUR RESOURCES

For anyone whod like to support this cause, TLFP is in need of essential foods like rice, noodle, cooking oil, milk products, canned goods and others, including vegetables, onions, potatoes, etc. which can be delivered to its warehouse located at Persatuan Bulan Sabit Merah Malaysia, 54 Lengkok Belfield every Monday and Thursday (9.30-11.30am).

You can email to [emailprotected]@gmail.com if youd like to identify the charities that you can deliver directly to. Donations are also welcomed so that they can continue operating during this crisis and after. Donations can be made to its Maybank account The Lost Food Project 514897068927.

There can be a temptation during times of crisis to think of oneself and ones family first; and depending on your situation, you may not have the resources to do more. But for people who do have the ability to support others, its a crucial time to do so, says Syazwan, concluding: You can still help and make a difference.

PIT STOP COMMUNITY CAFE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

With the help of RELA members, Pit Stop Community continues to feed the homeless and the urban poor.

Malaysias my home, and this is my home improvement, Joycelyn Lee declared in an earlier interview, while explaining the start of the social initiative called Pit Stop Community Cafe.

Together with co-founder Andrew Tan, Pit Stop Community is a social enterprise focusing on homelessness, urban hunger, urban poverty and those with food security issues.

The social enterprise runs as a commercial eatery by day; by night, it turns into a soup kitchen of sorts where it serves between 130 and 180 people and up to 250 portions of food six days a week.

After a year of feeding the homeless (or street clients as Lee and Tan refer to them) and the urban poor, the cafehas now become a known place of refuge and respite among the community.

We also function as a food rescue facilitator, rescuing food for both our own use and for our partners and beneficiaries, including food banks, soup kitchens and other grassroot organisations dealing with marginalised communities, explains Lee.

But with the Covid-19 outbreak and with dozens of new cases confirmed every day, Lee knows theyd have to make changes. For decades, soup kitchens have relied on a cadre of volunteers who quite suddenly arent able to show up. With millions staying home during the pandemic, charities that help the countrys neediest are finding themselves in need.

We got feedback that food on the streets have dried up; no more random drive by groups, no more makeshift soup kitchens on the streets, wrote Lee on the social enterprises Facebook, adding: They were hungry, thirsty, tired, many with their shoulders slumped, some with their heads hanging down.

We have to continue helping, says Lee, pointing out that the social enterprise is now working closely with the Kuala Lumpur City Hall, the Federal Territory Ministry and the social welfare department to ensure the continuity of food supply on the street for the homeless and the urban poor.

Social distancing is a major challenge when dealing with hungry people but were managing, with the help of Rela personnel, courtesy of the ministry, says Lee.

BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT YOUR GIVING

For members of the public who want to help, please visit Pit Stop Community Cafes Facebook page at the Pit Stop Community Cafe and find out how you can contribute food/non-food items and even financially.

Furthermore, if you want to help and dont know where to go, visit http://www.kitajagakita.us, where theres a list of organisations there. Choose one closest to you if you want to donate items.

Please, please listen to the authorities, obey the MCO. Stay at home, pleads Lee, adding: Break the chain. We need everyone to be healthy so that we can take care of those who have the least.

[emailprotected]

See more here:

How you can make the most of your time and still contribute during the Movement Control Order! - New Straits Times