Pittsburghs first experiment in creating an ecovillage is starting to take shape on the Eden Hall campus of Chatham University in Gibsonia.

Named after the schools most renowned student and environmental pioneer, the Rachel Carson EcoVillage is based on the concept of intentional community and is designed collectively by its residents.

Its a community of people who care about both living lightly on the planet, living with nature and also living with their neighbors, says Stefani Danes, an architect and Carnegie Mellon professor whos helping to guide the project. That idea of community is really at the heart of an ecovillage.

Also known as cohousing, an ecovillage typically includes 20 to 30 units of housing, in which everyone has a private house. However, theres also a common house with a large dining room where residents take turns preparing meals for one another along with guest rooms. There can also be everything from shared childcare space to shared tools and/or office equipment.

Theyve launched a website, and the first four homebuyers have committed, out of a core group of 30 to 40 people who are involved with the project. Construction is expected to start soon, once there are 15 homebuyers. More than 100 people have inquired about the project.

The plan for many years was to build an ecovillage in a walkable part of the city of Pittsburgh, but that never panned out.

Ive been attracted to ecovillages, intentional communities, and the like for about 25 years and have always wanted one in Pittsburgh, says Grace Astraea, who plans to move into the Rachel Carson EcoVillage. Having kept an eye on the Pittsburgh Cohousing Group for the last 20 years and their efforts to create something in the city has been akin to watching the worlds longest seed sprouting take place.

One would think that the pandemic would have dampened the interest in this sort of common, shared use of space. But that hasnt been the case.

Having neighbors you know is the best way of seeing through any emergency, says Danes. A community can thrive through all kinds of tough times There is a very strong interest now in intentional communities. Many people have seen the isolation that this pandemic has brought to the surface. Many people live alone, without knowing their neighbors.

The common dinners that are a primary and beloved feature of ecovillages might not happen in a pandemic. But knowing all your neighbors means knowing if someone has a special skill for making masks or knowing that someone is at-risk so a neighbor can shop for them.

The core planning group has even committed to learning a different style of collaborative decision-making called dynamic governance or sociocracy. Theyre taking an online course together to learn about the process.

Rendering of the Orchard Commons at the Rachel Carson EcoVillage.

The Eco part of the Rachel Carson EcoVillage is bound up in the notion of community, too.

Just like friends exercise better when they do it together, a community composts regularly, adopts sharing strategies that reduce the consumption of things and uses things more thoughtfully, explains Danes.

By sharing so much, people can live in a more sustainable, affordable way, notes Danes. Research done on an ecovillage in Ithaca, New York, indicates that ecovillagers average a 40% smaller carbon footprint than most American families.

The houses will be built according to passive house standards, designed with computer modeling to have ultra-insulated walls and windows that waste the least amount of energy possible.

Lots of collaborations are planned with Chathams environmental researchers at the Falk School of Sustainability & Environment, which is based at the Eden Hall campus. Everything from rainwater to trees will be carefully considered.

The trees we plant will become part of a maturing native forest, says Danes. Well be working closely with Chatham on this process of regenerative planting of the landscape.

When fully built out, the Rachel Carson EcoVillage will have 35 units and a common dining house. Two small units will be located above the dining house to provide affordable options. The other 33 will be built in clusters around three courtyards and will range from studios to 3-bedroom houses. Each will have a front yard and a backyard and share a common courtyard. The community will connect to the heart of the Eden Hall campus via a five-minute walk along a wooded trail.

Astraea says that a lot of things have attracted her to the project.

To name a few, the governance model that weve adopted (dynamic governance) is probably the best method available for efficient and effective governing, she says.The location is absolutely gorgeous. The meadow that the village will be built in has a wondrous trail around it that inspires and nurtures and has space enough for many people.

The prices arent out of the ordinary, even with the common facilities included. Studios range from $160-$180,000 and the 3-bedroom houses are in the $400,000 range. Most units will be $200,000 to $300,000.

Youre not paying for the developer who walks away with a pocket full of profit, says Danes. Were selling all of these at cost.

Rachel Carsons nephew gave the Rachel Carson EcoVillage permission to use her name, and is eager to attend the ribbon-cutting celebration, says Danes.

On Sunday, July 19 at 10:30 a.m., there will be a free guided tour at the Eden Hall campus which is open to anyone, including children, whod enjoy learning about our woods and meadows while having a fun walk, says Danes.

Chatham UniversityecovillageEden HallRachel Carson EcoVillage

Original post:

Pittsburgh's first ecovillage moves forward with four units sold. Tour the site on Sunday - NEXTpittsburgh

Every year, extreme heat kills more people in the United States than any other weather-related event and hospitalizes thousands more, disproportionately burdening communities with the least resources.

With fewer parks, trees, and open green space, many under-resourced Black and Latinx neighborhoods will swelter this summer as they continue to fight the pandemic. Findings from the Healthy Neighborhoods Study show that residents in our nine partner communities in Eastern Massachusetts will experience scorching heat with temperatures up to 20 degrees higher than in other parts of the region.

Thats not an accident. Its the result of decades-old racist policies and current development practices.

For years, majority Black and brown communities have been marginalized on many fronts because of intentional disinvestment, redlining, the location of brownfields a site targeted for redevelopment though it may be contaminated with hazardous waste and development that added gray surfaces at the expense of green spaces.

These are the communities that suffer from worse health over time and are most negatively affected by changes like climate disasters and gentrification.

In fact, research has found that communities across the United States that experienced redlining the formerly legal practice of restricting home loans for people of color to certain areas are hotter and have worse air quality.

Typically, cities provide resources like cooling centers at libraries or malls or splash pads during heat waves. But social distancing and state-mandated closures make that challenging this summer. Further, in-home air conditioning isnt an affordable option for many who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic.

It doesnt have to be this way. Communities and elected leaders can do something.

The COVID-19 recovery process offers an opportunity to prepare high-risk communities for the climate challenges they will disproportionately face as temperatures rise. In the short term, cooling plans need to support social distancing, and over the long term, equitable development plans need to green, cool, and resource Black and brown communities. There are practical solutions in the work our community-based partners have been leading for decades.

Recovery and resilience funds must be directed toward at-risk neighborhoods, including support for increased energy efficiency, green infrastructure, flood mitigation, and expanded public transit.

State and city governments must invest in the equitable development of parks and urban green spaces so that all residents have access to safer, cooler, and less polluted environments and a better quality of life. Parks and trees not only cool the environment, but they also create opportunities for people to exercise and play, reduce stress, and socialize.

Additionally, residents should help determine how to expand green space, whether its for a community garden or a park or a playground to mitigate heat island effects over the long run. They should have ownership over what happens in their communities which not only leads to more effective solutions but also meaningfully contributes to better health.

Thats why its essential to center plans and responses for heat and climate impacts on those living and working in the places most impacted. Leaders must spend time in these communities to learn about the unique challenges people face; meet residents where they are, when theyre available, in the languages they speak; and listen. Developers and decision makers need to commit to full community engagement on important infrastructure decisions, such as the proposed effort underway to build a power substation in East Boston.

Society cant continue to tolerate the same kinds of inequities that make some areas more vulnerable to both COVID-19 and extreme heat. Justice demands that policy makers correct generations of discrimination and work to create a future where health and well-being for all are prioritized.

Climate change and COVID-19 are everyones problems. Communities of color should not continue to bear the greatest burdens for our entire region.

Reann Gibson is a senior research fellow at the Conservation Law Foundation and manager of its Healthy Neighborhoods Study.

View post:

Communities of color hit hardest by heat waves - The Boston Globe

The Junior League of Richmond (JLR) is bringing new meaning to the phrase pop-up shop with the unveiling of its new mobile thrift shop, the Rolling Rack. The mobile boutique will provide a mix of free and low-cost clothing to JLRs nonprofit partners and the Richmond community.

The idea blossomed in the fall of 2018 when Jenna Casebolt, store manager at the Stratford Hills location of The Clothes Rack, one of JLRs two brick-and-mortar thrift shops, says she was trying to figure out how to make the business side of the store work with the nonprofit side.

Both stores have regular paid employees on staff, but they also make ample use of JLR volunteers. [We want] to keep as much money flowing back into our community projects and programs as possible, Jennifer Keegan, community vice president for JLR, says. Last year, The Clothes Rack locations grossed about $250,000.

Casebolt reached out to Keegan for ideas, and when Keegan proposed the idea for a mobile thrift truck, Casebolt was immediately on board.

The need for the truck was clear. Though JLRs two shops have long track records the Cary Street location has been around since the 1940s JLR Past President Savon Sampson says one question lingered: Why aren't we getting the foot traffic from underserved communities?

That question planted the seed for theRolling Rack and its ultimate purpose of serving the broader Richmond community by bringing clothing and other items directly to communities in need.

We really want to be intentional about helping women, Sampson says. She anticipates the truck will be used to partner with local organizations to help women to prepare to reenter the workforce or to help those who are coming out of difficult situations and need a fresh start, such as formerly homeless women trying to reestablish themselves.

[Thirty percent] of the homeless population is made up of women, Sampson says. Eighteen- to 34-year-olds are one of the largest [groups]. I couldn't imagine being homeless in those years. Ive been so fortunate that's never been a reality to me. But unless you have true generational wealth, most of us are one situation away from that experience.

The Rolling Rack is a nimble operation, able to communicate with local partners such as ChildSavers, the Peter Paul Development Center, Doorways and Communities in Schools and bring them only what they truly need at any given time.

For example, a partner like Doorways [a nonprofit that provides lodging for patients and their loved ones who need to be close to Richmond hospitals] might tell us, 'We have some folks who have been asking for coats they didn't expect to be here as long as they have. The Rolling Rack can zero in on those needs and work with whatever merchandise [we have] to provide whatever their constituents need, Keegan says.

She adds that there are other scenarios where the mobile thrift shop could be useful, such as for back-to-school shopping in under-resourced communities where transportation can present barriers for parents trying to acquire clothing for rapidly growing children.

We want it to be accessible to anyone because we want people to feel capable of buying what they need for themselves or their families, Keegan says.

Not everything went according to plan with the launch of the Rolling Rack. After a few delays at the end of 2019, things seemed to be progressing until the coronavirus pandemic descended in March, delaying the shops debut.

Keegan and Sampson hope the community will see the effort JLR is putting in to serve and partner with the broader Richmond community and attract new members.

Were an organization truly focused on developing women leaders and empowering the community that they serve, Sampson says. Were giving people opportunities to volunteer and leveraging those opportunities for the community.

Sampson says there are misconceptions about the Junior League that she hopes increased outreach can help debunk. The League has this stigma that its a white woman's organization, she says. Are we representing the Richmond community? Were growing there. Were in a lot of underserved communities, and a lot of the kids look like me. Im brown. I want to make sure it's not just white girls who are helping, it's brown girls, too.

Im hopeful we're seen as a benefit and tool to the greater community, Keegan adds. I hope [the Rolling Rack] gets people open to thinking of the Junior League for donating, and I hope women in the community see this as a great opportunity to serve and think, Id like to join.

The Rolling Rack will debut from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 25, at The Clothes Rack, 2618 W. Cary St. There will be music from a local DJ and food trucks including King of Pops, all outside for easy social distancing.

Never miss a Sunday Story: Sign up for the newsletter, and well drop a fresh read into your inbox at the start of each week. To keep up with the latest posts, search for the hashtag #SundayStory on Twitter and Facebook.

More:

Sunday Story: Ready to Rack and Roll - richmondmagazine.com - Richmond magazine

With their major institutions founded on white European models and obstinately focused on the distant past, classical music and opera have been even slower than American society at large to confront racial inequity. Black players make up less than 2 percent of the nations orchestras; the Metropolitan Opera still has yet to put on a work by a Black composer.

The protests against police brutality and racial exclusion that have engulfed the country since the end of May have encouraged individuals and organizations toward new awareness of long-held biases, and provided new motivation to change. Nine Black performers spoke with The New York Times about steps that could be taken to begin transforming a white-dominated field. These are edited excerpts from the conversations.

The first step is admitting that these organizations are built on a white framework built to benefit white people. Have you done the work to create a structure that is actually benefiting Black and brown communities? When that occurs, diversity is a natural byproduct. There needs to be intentional hiring of qualified Black musicians who you know are going to bring the goods to your audiences. Intentionally adding qualified Black board members to your organization: Thats going to allow access to these communities you need to bring into the circle. Administratively, people who are in the room will bring different perspectives. Chamber groups like mine, Imani Winds, have the ability to be more nimble; we can make our own rules and make our own platforms. As a chamber presenter, you can support groups that bring blackness and diversity in their programs.

Its incumbent upon leadership from the podium to be part of this: who gets hired, what repertory gets played, where the orchestra plays. If youre not willing, for example, to have minority music interns playing subscription concerts because they didnt take the audition, that doesnt make any sense to me. This person needs the opportunity to play this repertoire; you have to be willing to let that happen, and you cant bow to blowback from the full-time players.

In Philadelphia, for a community concert, they once found a high school that was acoustically inferior; aesthetically no comparison; the chorus in the audience behind me. It made no sense, except for the joy it brought to that community to have the Philadelphia Orchestra in their backyard. They want some sense that they count and they matter, and by going there its us saying yes, you do.

Composer

Im in my fifth year on the board of Chamber Music America, and more than half the board is people of color. Its very evenly balanced as far as gender and race; those changes were implemented through consulting work and training, and facilitated discussions among the board to make sure everyone was on the same page. Going through that process has been eye-opening, and proves how much time it takes. Now we are equipped to have these discussions about how this can trickle down to membership and granting opportunities. And I think presenting organizations need to take the time to get to know the artists. Getting to know new artists takes time and commitment; its a commitment to widen your perspective.

Conductor

I would like changes to be made in how we train musicians in conservatories and universities. A lot of our thinking, and our perceptions of whats good music, becomes indoctrinated at that stage. I say this because even though Im a person of color, I was guilty of not being accepting of new voices and styles outside of Beethoven, Schumann, all the usual music of the past. When we start with preconceived notions, we limit ourselves. People are afraid of being uncomfortable, but with discomfort comes growth. If students learn about composers like William Grant Still or Florence Price and their approaches to making music then they will become more versatile. And we will see that change taking place in our programming; schools wont just be producing conductors who want to do Wagner, Strauss and Mahler. I love these composers. But there are more voices to hear.

Clarinetist

Over the last month, youve seen all these outpourings, and its in these moments when you see: Are we really connected with the communities were doing this work in? At the New York Philharmonic, where I am principal clarinet, I think theres been incentive to partner up with the Harmony Program, which does after-school music education. Im doing the Music Advancement Program at Juilliard; the mission revolves around students from underserved communities. Its being a citizen in that way. The new way is actually getting on the ground and teaching, getting on the ground and having tough conversations about the state of our field and who were trying to reach. Being there to help people understand that the orchestra is there for them.

Singer

Artistic institutions need to be focused on representing and really serving the communities that theyre in. There needs to be community engagement, not community outreach. Outreach is something you do occasionally. But youre always in the act of engaging; its a constant effort. If there are changes in the administration, and the makeup of the board every level of every artistic organization that will spill into how this stuff is packaged. This is the beginning of change that can be meaningful. If we reinvent what the opera or classical music audience is, we wont have the disparities in people hired, people attending, even whats presented, because you will have different people coming up with new ideas.

Composer

Its like anything else: The organizations need to represent what America looks like. Well-intentioned people can just have blinders on. I dont look at it like a sinister plot; I look at it as people are going with what theyre comfortable with. If we had more representation in the leadership, in terms of who is signing off on projects, youll have more people bringing things to the table. What I saw at Opera Theater of St. Louis where I did Champion and Fire Shut Up in My Bones, which is going to the Met is those people are open to a lot of ideas. But we have to bring the ideas to them. We have to open their eyes. I really think in the art music world, people are clamoring for something different. When we did Champion in New Orleans, this African-American guy in his 70s said, If this is opera, I will come. Thats a new audience member we didnt have before. La Bohme doesnt mean anything to him. But these contemporary stories do.

Singer

Please, in the future, cast with your heart, not just with your eyes and your ears. Who gives you the goose bumps? Pick them. Some people see a Black tenor, and they think Otello. Or they see a Black soprano and they think Aida. Who wants to see a Black Cio-Cio San? Youll hear that. But yes, opera is a suspension of disbelief. When someone does Eugene Onegin, they will often cast someone Russian or fluent in Russian. It doesnt have to be who you expect. There are other people who can sing it. When it comes to Otello, you could paint everyone blue and paint Desdemona green. When it comes down to it, its not about color; its about difference.

Composer

Certain groups of people have felt that they did not belong, because most of the time they didnt see people who resembled them onstage. But even if things look good onstage, internally is that what is happening in the institution? Its a family type of thing. That person working in the office goes home and tells the people at home, and they usually have other friends. That is how audiences change. It has to be from the inside out. And if the stage reflects the society, you can find the best artists to be the ambassadors to those coming, and put them in front of the people. It could be the administrator, the person in charge of programming or a member of the orchestra. People have to address the audience, to let them feel I am one of you. And you will see: The whole thing will change like you have no idea.

Link:

Black Artists on How to Change Classical Music - The New York Times

This article contains spoilers.

I went in completely blind to David Marmors feature-length directorial debut, 1BR. No trailers, no reading a synopsis. Really, its the best way to go into a movieespecially a horror movie, but I must admit it doesnt happen for me nearly enough. Im just a sucker for trailers, plus I have to review press kits a lot, all kinds of reasons. But when I have zero expectations, its impossible for a movie to fall short of them. Granted, its also impossible for a movie to exceed them, but I maintain, Im most likely to be impressed if I just walk in with as little context as possible.

This is to say, if nothing else, 1BR got a fair shake from me. My initial reaction to the first 15 minutes or so of 1BR was a bit of indifference as Sarah (Nicole Brydon Bloom) fumbled her way through a new job and the awkwardness of getting to know her neighbors. Initially, I felt like Id just stumbled into yet another generic horror movie where I found myself struggling just to reach the end. And that sucks because, while I dont really mind writing negative reviews, so much as I just struggle to find anything to say when I dont like a movie. I feared the worst.

Then one of the neighbors in this movie puts Sarahs cat in an oven and, well, I perked up a bit. Im really just a simple creature. If you want to get my attention in a horror movie, bake someones beloved pet. Ill go wide-eyed every time.

1BR is a horror film about a cult that inhabits an apartment complex and their attempts to brainwash Sarah into becoming a member of this cult. They torture her psychologically, emotionally, and physically, all in an attempt to undo the bad conditioning brought about by living in American society.

This movie came out about a year ago, back when most of us still disagreed with the cult. Today? Its not like this cult doesnt have a leg to stand on. Are we not all products of bad conditioning? Are we not sick and depressed and anxious and half-insane from living in this society? Now more than ever, doesnt it seem like the easier way out is to just say fuck it and join a cult? Let someone else do all the thinking? Be pointed to a simple job that allows us to contribute and not have to worry about anything else? Of course, its enticing. Cults arent that tough of a sell when you really think about it. Theres a reason they continue to gain members no matter how batshit insane the members are. Were all tired of navigating in this hell hole called society. Is it really so insane to want to leave it and join a bunch of people with a sense of community? In 2020, youd be insane NOT to at least consider it.

As I watched 1BR, a recurring question proposed to Sarah is Do you want to be a part of this community? She continues answering no until she finally relents and says yes, but I found myself sitting on the couch answering for her, and my answer was kinda.

Of course, no, Id never really join a cult, and I dont condone cults in any way. Theyre harmful to everyone involved, they strip people of their individuality, theyre dangerous, often deadly, and members rarely dress well. Also, theres sexual assault and abuse to consider. Dont join a cult. But as to how people can ultimately be convinced to join one anyway? I get it. Oh, boy do I ever get it.

Sarah is convinced to willfully join the cult and, of course, like all cults, it basically turns out to be a sex thing. Her role is to marryor at least play house withthe one-eyed community weirdo, Brian, played brilliantly by Giles Matthey. Matthey gives my favorite acting performance in 1BR. Everyone was great but his acting really stands out.

Fortunately for Sarah, theres some light at the end of the tunnel, as Brian is somewhat empathetic to her apprehension about joining the community and understands her desire to escape. That light becomes muddled when one of Sarahs friends ventures into the apartment complex and is captured and imprisoned for reconditioning. She essentially convinces Sarah that, enticing as it may be, allowing these people to think for her is not whats in her best interest. Its Sarahs life and Sarah should be in control of it.

I dont know, Sarah. I really just dont know. I mean, youre smart, youre a strong independent woman who dont need no man, all this is true. And I have no doubts you can fight your way out of this cult. Even when the cult ends up being much bigger than you ever imagined in a brilliant plot twist. But I want you to sit down and think about whats coming. COVID-19 lockdowns, idiots refusing to wear masks because they think they know more than scientists, police brutality, mass riots, Tiger King, unemployment, and maybejust maybe four more years of Trump.

You might have an okay thing going with this cult. I mean yes theyre psychotic but they also have your back against the outside world. If America is currently a massive prisonand its seeming more and more like it might bethat cult is the prison gang protecting your ass from the rest of gen-pop. You might not like the cult, but you may very well need them. Just some food for thought, Sarah.

Im not going to delve in-depth into the ending. Its left open-ended to a degree, but I felt like it was a hopeful ending. I personally think Sarah got away, but perhaps she didnt. Even if she got recaptured and killed she didnt go down without a fight.

All in all, 1BR is a clever, smart, tense, and suspenseful ride that I quite enjoyed. Ive never seen anything David Marmor has done prior to 1BR, I know he did some TV work and some shorts, but whatever his next feature film may be, Ill definitely be checking it out. Theres a ton of talent behind 1BR.

In the end, I cant speak for anyone else but 1BR left me wondering if were entering a time where cults and cult-like organizations might become more the norm. As regular society seems more and more insane, I think were going to see a lot more division. And in that division I can see a lot of tight-knit communities emerging. Communities not entirely unlike the one in 1BR.

For the record, Im not claiming 1BR is a political horror film. Its really not. It is a bit of a social one though. Im not sure if that was entirely intentional or not, but either way, its a thinker and a truly well-made film that Ill probably be watching again in the near future.

What did you think of 1BR?

Excerpt from:

1BR: Do You Want to Be A Part of This Community? - 25YearsLaterSite.com

At the start of Michigans COVID-19 shutdown in March, a lot of work came to an abrupt stop.

But organizations that support the states nonprofit sector actually got busier albeit from home.

For us, our work increased, said Kelley Kuhn, Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for the Michigan Nonprofit Association. We had to look at ways to help organizations navigate through this time of uncertainty, and help them stay informed about new opportunities.

That pivot included regular, check-in phone calls, policy updates, and a four-part, expert-led webinar about Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Were trying to make sure nonprofits know what these programs are, since many of them offer capital that nonprofits havent traditionally had access to, said Kuhn.

Thats not to say these shifts came easily, given the collaborative nature of nonprofit support organizations.

All of our work is about gathering people: for leadership development, supporting nonprofits mission, or providing a physical space for that work, said Hillary Watson, Nonprofit Enterprise at Works (NEW) Building Coordinator. We believe that physically bringing people into the same room is what will reach our vision of empowered leaders, flourishing nonprofits, and vibrant communities. We didnt have a virtual room.

However, NEWs team has built virtual rooms over the last four months, so theyve been bringing people together online to discuss racial equity, board training and more.

Our building reopened in June, but three quarters of our tenants have opted to stay home, said Watson. Its so encouraging to see that while we can offer a range of resources, and our nonprofit clients and partners are having the courage to say this feels safe to us, this feels beyond our risk tolerance, and we can adapt. Its all about adaptation, so that people can engage with their work, and theyll be comfortable enough to actually really focus and achieve their goals.

Kuhns MNA team, meanwhile, will be working from home until at least the end of September.

Some of the nonprofit groups we work with were deemed essential, though, so they modified the way they operated, and their offices stayed open, said Kuhn, noting examples like housing and food assistance organizations. A wave of nonprofits are waiting for Labor Day, as a kind of target date to re-evaluate where things stand, and a lot of organizations are watching to see what happens with schools.

Ironically, the isolation has created more opportunities for partnership, Watson said. Some nonprofits are finding this is the ideal time to do board development or strategic planning work, because their client-facing work is more limited. Others are finding that racial equity is more central to their mission than they thought, and are tapping into the Centering Justice conversations to expand their toolbox for that work. During a crisis, were more aware of where our buckets are full and where theyre empty, and were finding a lot of energy to exchange knowledge and learn from each other.

Both nonprofit support organizations are focused on staying nimble and engaged in this time of constant change. But Kuhn has also found that strengthening the bonds between her coworkers has also been key.

Were very intentional about checking in with our team members, to help people navigate and manage the stress theyre feeling, Kuhn said. Weve sent out care packages were teeing up another one thats about to go out now and scheduled virtual happy hours and things like that. Some team members are struggling, as they deal with losing someone to COVID, or with a spouses job loss, or with having to balance being a teacher and an employee. So were trying to be sure that were addressing these situations and supporting them where they are.

In a way, though, profound disruptions to our day-to-day operations can also make blind spots visible; so while the last few months have presented NEW and MNA with a whole host of challenges, it also offers a rare opportunity for clarity.

The number one lesson is that a powerful vision will always take you where you need to go, said Watson. The nonprofit sector is about improving peoples lives in tangible ways in good times and hard times, in sickness and in health. The pandemic might change how we work, but it doesnt stop the work. We have returned over and over to our vision empowered leaders, flourishing nonprofits, vibrant communities and asked, How do we get from here to there? The here may have changed, but the there is still exactly where we want to go.

MNA, meanwhile, continues to advocate for and inform Michigans nonprofit sector (regarding up-to-date policy changes, federal and state loan programs, etc.), in part through a newsletter thats available on MNAs website.

Were cautiously optimistic about the future, said Kuhn. Were managing as well as we can, and preparing the best we can, but obviously, we cant predict the future. Nobody can. So weve just given ourselves some grace by planning in larger chunks of time. Were looking ahead in three-month increments, so by not just waiting for orders, weve afforded ourselves some extra flexibility, and this allows us to be more focused on the nonprofits we serve.

According to Watson, NEW has arrived at a similar conclusion.

Our end goal is the same [as before], Watson said. So while were constantly tweaking things, from whether or not well be able to have a retreat for our program participants to what benchmarks would cause us to shut down the building again, we know our preferred future happens within a range of options. So we work toward our goals as best we can, we hold the future lightly, and continue our work.

More:

'Holding our future lightly': How Michigan nonprofits have adapted and arrived at a new normal - Concentrate

In the two months since George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police, American Jewish day schools have begun to rethink how they teach students about the brutal legacy of American racism.

Among the subjects theyll have to examine? Their own history.

As the day school movement has expanded, its created a deep passion about the need for institutions that, in a secularized America, affirm and enrich Jewish identity. For day school communities, its impossible to imagine that the educational model that dominated the first half of the 20th century in which Jewish students attended public schools and received supplemental Jewish education might be a sufficient incubator of religious and cultural character.

But the origins of some day schools, particularly those founded in and after the 1970s, are connected to a dark narrative of 20th century American history: That of the backlash among white families against the racial integration of public schools. And as day schools reconsider how they teach students about the realities of American racism, they face questions about how those realities intersect with their own institutional heritage.

The Jewish day school movement was founded when the U.S. public schools integrated, said Ilana Kaufman, executive director of the Jews of Color Initiative, in a June 21 conversation hosted by Temple Emanuels Streicker Center, because there was white flight from U.S. public schools.

The actual story, say historians, is a little more complicated. (Kaufman did not respond to requests for comment.) As European immigration expanded the American Jewish population around the turn of the 19th century, said Jonathan Sarna, a professor of Jewish history at Brandeis University, American Jews developed the sense that the public school was crucial to the making of Americans, that it was truly un-American not to send your children to public school. For decades, attending public school was something Jewish immigrants and their children saw as a matter of principle. Jews were very proud that in America the schools accepted Jews, there were no quotas, everybody studied together, Sarna said.

In the late interwar period, that began to change. The day school movement starts in the 20s and the 30s, said Jonathan Krasner, a Brandeis professor currently writing a history of Jewish day schools. That, according to Krasner, was the first of several discrete periods in the evolution of the day school system. Next came a really big push in the post-war era, primarily from the Orthodox community. There were a lot of refugees that came here just before or after the war, and they didnt have the same allegiance to public schools, Krasner said. They were influenced more by things like the Holocaust and the creation of the state of Israel, events that, for some, prompted a renewed interest in ensuring that new generations would cultivate a strong Jewish identity.

But the day school movement didnt blossom until the 1960s and 70s, an era that proved particularly fruitful for community schools, non-Orthodox institutions catering to students who, while discontented with the public school system, were unlikely to attend rigorously religious alternatives.

What lay behind that discontent? One major and frequently forgotten factor, Sarna said, was the mass flight of Evangelicals into private schools after Supreme Court decisions in 1962 and 1963 effectively banned prayer from public schools. That exodus, Sarna said, dealt a serious blow to the Jewish belief in public schools: How could they truly be said to be essential to the American character, if so many of their students were abandoning them?

At the same time, much of American Jewry was on the economic ascent, entering class ranks in which private schools were increasingly considered the norm. The fear was, if we dont have Jewish schools, Jews will simply go to those private schools run by Protestants, Sarna said. And, in the late 60s, the country was transfixed by incidents like the Ocean Hill-Brownsville conflict, in which a predominantly Black school district in Brooklyn terminated the contracts of a number of white, Jewish teachers, drawing allegations of anti-Semitism and prompting a two-month-long teacher strike. Those very, very well publicized incidents suggested to Jews that the public schools were no longer friendly to Jews, Sarna said.

But in many communities particularly urban ones, according to Krasner the decisive moment for day schools came in the early 1970s, as the Supreme Court issued a series of decisions mandating that school districts use busing to integrate schools. (Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 case establishing that school segregation was unconstitutional, didnt address the de facto school segregation that resulted from Black and white people living in largely different neighborhoods.) The impact of those decisions was particularly visible in Los Angeles, said Sara Smith, Assistant Dean at the Graduate Center for Jewish Education of American Jewish University.

Before busing, there were two Conservative elementary day schools in L.A., Smith said. After, there were five. Before busing, there was one Reform elementary day school in L.A. After busing, there were two. The increased number of schools wasnt the only indicator that Jewish parents were fleeing the public school system for the day school system: Enrollments skyrocketed, too.

There was really a sense community rabbis certainly spoke about this that on the one hand we as Jews should be supporting integration, because thats a value that we hold, Smith said. But, she said, there was a real fear and paranoia from parents who didnt want to send their kids to be bused across the city to go to schools that were going to be populated by non-whites. Between 1966 and 1980, Smith wrote in her 2017 NYU doctoral dissertation, the number of white students enrolled in Los Angeles public school system decreased by 269,373. That reduction was accompanied by a rise in the number of local private schools. Jewish students, and Jewish schools, were clearly identifiable participants in that change.

To date, Smiths dissertation is the only intensive work of scholarship on the intersection between the desegregation of public schools and the rise of Jewish day schools. But Rivka Press Schwartz, a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and associate principal at Riverdales SAR High School, is sure that the pattern Smith identified in L.A. was replicated across the country. There is a great deal of evidence of people moving to the suburbs, pulling their kids out of public schools and putting them in private schools, Schwartz said. It is 100% true that Jewish parents, then and now, cared about their kids Jewish education, and sacrificed to afford their kids a meaningful Jewish education. But it can also be true that if your neighborhood public school was all of a sudden about to be subject to busing, then sending your kid to a Jewish school might appeal more.

Were adults, she said, and more than one thing can be true at the same time.

How should the day school system reckon with this history? First, said Krasner, its important to note the scale of the issue, which largely doesnt involve Orthodox schools; the Orthodox commitment to day schools, he said, is more fundamental than any change that took place within American society. A 2013-2014 survey by the Avi Chai Foundation, Krasner said, suggested that about 13% of Jewish day school students in the U.S. attend non-Orthodox schools. A fair proportion of those schools were founded before the start of desegregation efforts, meaning that the number of schools whose history was genuinely informed by a rejection of desegregation may be comparatively small.

For those schools, what comes next? The legacy is the legacy, and thats the way that it happened. And, these institutions have done many great things for Jewish identity for many people, Smith said. To meaningfully grapple with their history when it comes to race, she said, schools have to start thinking about real intentional ways to build bonds that dont just feel like service. Too often, she said, day schools fail to place value on cultivating student relationships with those from other communities. In her view, its time for that value to become central to day school curriculums.

What do we do with complicated, painful parts of our history? Schwartz asked. While shes worked to incorporate a more comprehensive education about structural racism into SARs curriculum, shes long had the sense that turning the conversation to the origins of the day school system would be unproductive. Pirkei Avot says, dont say something that cant be heard, she said. I did have the sense this was something that couldnt be heard.

But in the last three months, Schwartz said, those around her have suddenly become more interested in the issue of day school origins. So far, she said, discussions around that subject have been preliminary; the educators in her sphere, preoccupied with the difficult educational conditions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, have yet to begin planning around whether and how to incorporate that history in their teaching. There are certain things that make it hard for the Jewish community to come into this conversation, she said. Its not just youre racist, or youre clueless, or youre living out your lives as upper middle class white people. There genuinely are things that make it very difficult, which the people who want to make this conversation happen have to also think about.

Smith says that as she wrote her dissertation, she spoke with the founders of several of the Los Angeles schools whose histories she was researching. They werent surprised by what she was uncovering, she said, but they also werent particularly interested in it. I think people understood that these schools are able to exist and thrive because of busing, and that was just the way that it was, she said. Now I think were turning back, and trying to understand, ok, how did we get here?

More:

Will Jewish schools finally address their segregationist past? - Forward

Teaching is the art of developing students to think critically for themselves and to work with others to create solutions and advocate for their ideas. For those working in education, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to rethink how we engage with young people.

As the pandemic unfolded, our team at SMASH, a nationwide summer residential program for STEM education serving students of color, had to move an established, 17-year program into a virtual learning environment. This was new to us and, needless to say, presented a challenge: We had to evolve to stay true to our mission while, at the same time, deliver a program that worked for our learners.

Our experience leading up to this summers program (running throughout July) was both humbling and exhilarating. Along the way, we focused on five areas that we felt were necessary to serve our community of young people:

Access to computers and a dependable internet connection is critical to delivering any form of online learning. This was particularly true of our program as our students needed to successfully leverage the design, prototyping and augmented reality software we leverage in our STEM curriculum and be able to connect using tools such as Zoom.

We also knew that not every learner in our community had the technology resources to access these opportunities. To counter these gaps, we provided our students with laptops and hot spots where necessary. For some students, we also needed to provide headsets to help mitigate in-home distractions and improve communication.

Many high schoolers from underserved communities have never interacted in virtual professional or learning environments before. Moreover, students have different at-home settings, and not everyone is comfortable sharing their private environments with their peers.

All of our students are being educated on how to interact in professional learning environments. This includes basics like expectations on muting and creating virtual backgrounds, and best practices on virtual engagement. Discussions focus on providing constructiverather than criticalfeedback to peers and instructors, and implementing digital best practices such as establishing daily checks-ins, setting well-defined agendas before each meeting, and clearly defining participation roles.

As high school students begin to further develop their identity and voice, we had to be intentional about ensuring that they authentically connect with the work to be done. In this vein, we deemed it essential to stay rooted in an integrated project-based learning approach that provides students with the opportunity to tackle real-world problems relevant both to them and their communities.

STEM is relevant to a wide range of fieldseven beyond STEM professions. Ensuring our revised curriculum helps 15 year olds see how STEM is used to solve real-world problems is critical to driving engagement in this new learning environment. Certainly this is the case with the pandemic as data scientists, epidemiologists and engineers all came together early on to help understand the impact of the disease and generate solutions to the healthcare crisis.

The curriculum also deeply integrates design thinking as a framework for solving complex problems, with a focus on empathy. Understanding a users needs and context in order to develop solutions through an equitable lens is keyand so is the ability to adapt and adjust. Design thinking is not a linear process, rather one that requires multiple iterations, a growth mindset, and perseverance.

This summer, we are providing our scholars with weekly stipends to help them mitigate wages they could have earned in lieu of participating in our program, and to help offset any household income challenges experienced as a result of the current economic downturn. While providing incentives to young people to pursue their education has been met with controversy, the income inequalities faced by our students and their families are real, and we felt it was important to reward their commitment to education.

A sense of community is vital in any learning process. And with students being able to connect with one another virtually without being bound to geography, the team sought opportunities to increase peer engagement and network building across the country. Our students projects will culminate in a national pitch competition that will enable cross-regional engagement and friendly competitionall with the goal of driving for excellence.

In preparation, students are spending the summer doing weekly mock presentations, providing constructive feedback to each other, and iterating their projects to incorporate learnings. Students will pitch the solutions they prototyped to address the real-world problem of their choice to a panel of judges. The competition will showcase the students best work to the national SMASH community and friends of the program, allow them to receive immediate feedback and provide them with an opportunity to win scholarship prizes.

As STEM educators, we believe in the power of learning and iterating. These times have shown us the importance of not staying fixed in our ideas of what should be and, instead, seek out growth opportunities when faced with the unexpected. With continued reflection and evidence-based evaluation, we are confident that we will learn from the five focus areas and use the learnings to further drive the impact of our programming.

Originally posted here:

Moving a Summer Program to the Virtual World While Closing the Digital Divide - EdSurge