A fund created in Racine, called the Badger State Opportunity Fund, will try to ignite investments in Wisconsin's 120 Opportunity Zones.

Created by the 2017 federal tax cut law, opportunity zones were "designed to spur economic development and job creation in distressed communities," the IRS says, "by providing tax benefits to investors who invest eligible capital into these communities. Taxpayers may defer tax on eligible capital gains by making an appropriate investment in a Qualified Opportunity Fund and meeting other requirements."

City leaders in Racine say they've created the first statewide Opportunity Fund that offers investors diversified options for their money. Now, the leaders are recruiting upper-middle class and wealthy people, with a goal of raising $15-25 million.

Racine Mayor Cory Mason says for people who have sold stock or seen another sizable gain this year, there are advantages in putting money into an Opportunity Zone, compared to an area that's thriving.

He explains, "You could invest substantial resources here, and avoid tax liability on the gains that are made in that area. That has real value to it, particularly when you compound it over time. So, it allows us to say to the investors: 'Reinvest in the cities, reinvest in these 120 zones that are across the state of Wisconsin.' "

Mason joked that he's partial to the three Opportunity Zones in Racine. But he says at a meeting in July, the Urban Alliance, a coalition of Wisconsin's 30 largest municipalities, discussed ways to collaborate and said the federally-designated zones had not been attracting significant investment.

So, there was interest in a broader investment pool that could drawa wider group of people, and spread money across the state.

Racine's chief innovation officer, William Martin, has been closely involved in setting up the new fund. When Martin worked for former Republican Gov. Scott Walker's administration, he helped the state finalize the Opportunity Zone recommendations approved by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2018.

At a Thursday news conference at Racine City Hall, Martin took on one of the national criticisms of Opportunity Zones.

"You're going to see articles periodically from around the country that speak to inequity and how Opportunity Zones have been benefiting people with means, but maybe not as much people living in the neighborhood."

But Martin says with the new fund, "we're being very intentional, based on Mayor Mason's directive, that we ensure these projects be inclusive."

Martin touted aredevelopment project in Racine that promises people who live in an Opportunity Zone can help build the new project, and then work there, once the project is operating.

The Milwaukee-based Legacy Redevelopment Corporation has been working with Racine officials. The company's chief lending officer, Terese Cayo, says the fund won't be just for new real estate developments.

"This money is available for small businesses. It's going to be available for start-ups, which is huge. We also are looking for deals that could be acquisition-rehab projects for communities, and adaptive re-use of properties, as well," she says.

First, though, the Badger State Opportunity Fund has to bring in enough investors. Racine says census data indicate there may be as many as 90,000 Wisconsin households that qualify as "accredited," meaning people with high net worth.

To reach more of them, the fund has launched a marketing campaign to contact 14,000 accountants, who often help clients reduce their tax liability.

Support is provided by Dr. Lawrence and Mrs. Hannah Goodman for Innovation reporting.

Do you have a question about innovation in Wisconsin that you'd like WUWM's Chuck Quirmbach to explore? Submit it below.

_

See the rest here:

'Badger State Opportunity Fund' Tries To Spur Investment In 120 Wisconsin Neighborhoods - WUWM

Updated December 10, 2019 00:57:22

Cawder Ross has never fought a bushfire in his life but for the past four weeks, he has been trying to contain fires in a rainforest that he didn't think would burn.

At first, he was just defending homes on Siddha Farm, the cooperative he shares with 20 other households.

But then Mr Ross became one of a group of volunteers known as Community Defenders.

Siddha Farm is one of many land cooperatives, or intentional communities, nestled into the valley below Mt Nardi and Nightcap National Park on the New South Wales north coast.

On the 11th of November, with fire conditions predicted to worsen, Senior Deputy Captain of the Nimbin Rural Fire Brigade Charlie Cohen was concerned there were houses in these communities that could not be saved.

"We'll save some of them, but not all of them, some of them are just too hard," Mr Cohen said.

"I've been asking people for months and years to clear around their houses, and days like [Monday] and [Tuesday] are why."

Mr Ross decided to stay and defend his home, taking advice from the local brigade on clearing a containment line with bulldozers, rakes and leaf blowers, where homes on the community met the forest.

"Many sleepless nights and busy days clearing around houses", Mr Ross said.

"By the time the fire actually got here I was physically and mentally already exhausted."

The fire was contained just above the houses on the community's land, and then something happened that no one could have predicted.

A small army of volunteers turned up at the main gates of all the communities in the valley, including Siddha farm, wanting to help stop the Mt Nardi fire.

"Volunteers from neighbouring communities and all over the northern rivers just turning up in utes with rakes, leaf blowers and backpack sprays and excuse the term, but manpower," Mr Ross said.

The volunteers came not just to save houses but to also save the rainforest of Nightcap National Park.

This fire season has seen something that had been unthinkable wilderness rainforests burning in savage forest fires.

Nightcap National Park is now one of them.

It was listed as part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area after a four-year protest in the 1970s where environmentalists blocked the path of bulldozers from logging one of the last remaining stands of subtropical rainforest in Australia.

Botanist and farmer Nan Nicholson was one of the original protesters.

Her property at Terania Creek was in the path of the Mt Nardi fire.

"To come here now just utterly breaks my heart, we never thought it would burn," she told 7.30.

"It's normally really wet here in Terania Creek.

"These forests are going to continue to burn if we have hotter drier, extreme heatwaves.

"All these forests that we thought we could possibly control fire in, suddenly we can't."

Ms Nicholson is worried about the climate change feedback loop that could be created if these forests keep burning.

"We know these rainforests are priceless and often they can't be replaced," she said.

"The sceptics, they say that climate has always changed, we know it's always changed, but this is extreme change that is off the charts.

"It's well known that these moist forests help produce rain.

"This is all going to alter as our rainforests diminish with drying and increased burning, then we'll have more heat and drying conditions, which will be a vicious cycle."

Marcus Mantscheff, the Captain of the Nimbin Rural Fire Brigade, watched the volunteers arriving with some trepidation.

An untrained volunteer workforce on a fire ground was potentially a safety nightmare for the Rural Fire Service (RFS).

"It just took on a life of its own and the offers of help started coming in so many ways," he told 7.30.

"There's a real safety risk to that, there's no room for heroes."

But rather than turn them away, the communities, with the help of their local brigades, got organised.

The Tuntable Falls Community Cooperative took the lead, developing a check-in and check-out system for all the Community Defenders, making sure they had a specific task and were safe, properly clothed and rested.

The local CWA cooked and delivered food for both the RFS and the Defenders.

The system was shared with the other communities across the valley.

Cawdor Ross became one of the Community Defenders.

"We were cutting big containment lines to stop the fire spreading," Mr Ross said.

"A lot of spot fire control, a lot of cutting down dead trees and raking up the composting debris so it was just bare dirt, nothing to burn.

"I certainly learnt the value of leaf blowers."

It was a risky experiment that paid off.

While the RFS volunteers fought the fire on the frontline, the Community Defenders did the work behind the scenes.

In the past, the RFS would have tried to do both.

"The communities sought good and strategic advice from us and they worked with us", Captain Mantscheff said.

"Huge control lines were being consolidated and constructed.

"Their marvellous feats of endurance to drive them and construct six-lane highways that would make it very difficult for the fire to get across.

"It made our firefighting job so much safer.

"It bought time and no one lost a home there because of the work that was being done.

"Man oh man, they stepped up in such a way that we, all of us in uniform, were just completely blown away and continue to be because they're still out there now."

The Mt Nardi fire is still classified as being controlled, with persistent flare-ups and breaches of the containment line.

The Community Defenders are still on high alert, rostered on for day and night patrols on the Mt Nardi containment lines.

They are also still working in teams with the local rural fire brigades to put the fire out in problem areas.

Despite this work and the predictions of worsening fire seasons, the Nimbin Brigade's Captain Mantscheff is not convinced the Community Defender model would work across the rest of the country.

"I'm very impressed by the way this community managed itself in this crisis," he said.

"But these communities are already intentional communities, there's already that fabric that exists there.

"I'm not too sure how that might work in a different area where there are private leaseholds and people don't know their neighbours as well.

"I'm not advocating what's going on, but I'm really glad that what happened here happened in the way that it did."

Nicole Raward, one of the people looking after the Defenders on Siddha Farm, believes there are lessons for other communities in what they have achieved.

"It possibly isn't something that can be a model that can be used in very high fire danger places, but the idea of preparing together is," she said.

"Getting together with your neighbours and making plans about your street.

"I don't think we are unique."

For local rural fire brigade driver Nick Adams, the Community Defenders have become vital members of his Brigade's firefighting effort.

"Without the volunteers' work we would not have contained this fire and they are working their guts out," he told 7.30.

"I'm so proud of them and it's very emotional, it's very emotional.

"We expect to have 20 new members at the end of this event and I am so happy about that.

"I'm so proud to be part of this community."

Topics:emergency-planning,bushfire,community-organisations,lismore-2480,nimbin-2480

First posted December 09, 2019 20:27:29

Here is the original post:

The Community Defenders helping to save a Gondwana rainforest from bushfire - ABC News

On page 19 of its 2019 manifesto, the Conservative Party promises:

We will tackle unauthorised traveller camps. We will give the police new powers to arrest and seize the property and vehicles of trespassers who set up unauthorised encampments, in order to protect our communities. We will make intentional trespass a criminal offence, and we will also give councils greater powers within the planning system.

These words build on Home Secretary Priti Patels November 5 launch of a consultation on new police powers, following an initial consultation in AprilJune 2018. The timing of Patels announcement, its focus on settled communities and its inclusion in the manifesto reveal that the government are using prejudice against travelling communities to win votes.

The proposals could make trespass a crime resulting in prison, a fine or vehicles being confiscated. They promise to criminalise stopping on roads or beside them; to lower from six to two the number of vehicles sited on an unauthorised encampment before police action, and to increase the time trespassers are prohibited from an area from three to twelve months.

Such repressive measures risk inciting further hate towards travelling communities and disregard the issues behind unauthorised encampments, namely the governments failure to dedicate land to sites and stopping places. The Home Office proposals also ignore a key finding by Friends, Family and Travellers, a charity that works with Gypsies, Roma and Travellers, that the majority of police who responded to the governments initial consultation oppose increased eviction powers.

Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are subject to the UKs last acceptable form of racism and consequently experience extreme levels of exclusion, facing unsuitable housing, displacement and substandard service in health, education and the criminal justice system.

Their marginalisation results from a long history of UK government legislation targeting people seen to contradict the customs and norms of people who settle. The 16th century saw repressive laws threaten nomadic peoples with exile or death. In the 17th and 18th centuries, policy turned towards regulation.

From the 19th century onwards, seemingly benevolent approaches to nomadic peoples masked institutional desires to promote order. The growth of fascism across 20th century Europe resulted in the Roma holocaust, in which up to 500,000 people were murdered.

In the post-war period, spatial zoning initiatives instigated The Caravan Sites Act (1968) through which local councils allocated sites for travelling people, recognising their right to space. Thatchers neoliberal programme however departed from these more accepting politcies: the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994) introduced following a series of moral panics over New Age Travellers and illegal raves withdrew councils duty to provide sites and capital grants, and granted police greater eviction powers.

Following New Labours assimilatory policies of the late 1990s and early 2000s, a decade of institutionally prejudiced policies and cuts have harmed travelling communities. A reduction in stopping places and authorised sites has left many with no choice but to use unauthorised encampments, which can cause clashes with local residents. The alternative for community members bricks-and-mortar housing poses an existential threat to their identity.

Labours Race and Faith manifesto promises to develop a comprehensive Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community equality strategy to tackle persistent inequalities, in particular within housing, education and criminal justice. It also promises that a Labour government would end racism and discrimination against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, whatever their ethnicity, culture or background, whether settled or mobile, and protect the right to pursue a nomadic way of life.

The positive strategies a left-wing government could implement are still to be explored. Friends, Family and Travellers argue that focusing on service provision, as opposed to law enforcement, is vital for example, by restoring the legal duty on local authorities to offer official sites to travelling communities. But, ideas about special fixity need to be addressed.

Dualta Roughneed, author of The Right to Roam: Travellers and Human Rights in the Modern Nation-State (Cambridge Scholars Publishing) suggests that a flexible system of temporary sites, together with legislation to tackle the rigid perspectives of settler people, can help create an inclusive society.

London Gypsies and Travellers, a London-based charity, is meanwhile calling for a non-confrontational, negotiated stopping response to roadside camps, providing illustrations of how such an approach could work in practice.

In the face of increased right-wing ideology and rising racism, there has never been a more critical time to work towards a political project dedicated to commonality, pluralism and respect for travelling people.

The Tories direct attack on communities must be rejected, including by submitting a response to the consultation announced by Patel, which is open to the public until March 2020.If left uncontested, these dangerous proposals will intensify exclusions of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people, incite prejudice and suppress their notions of identity and freedom.

Bethany Holmes is a writer and editor, focused on cultural theory and history in relation to urban space, activism and social justice.

Read the rest here:

Election 2019: The latest attack on travelling communities - Red Pepper

In Her Shoes

A column about what real women wear when they need to get things done.

Photo: Gabriela Herman

Shahana Hanif is a 28-year-old activist and organizer who used to run a blog about her chronic illness. Now, shes running for New York City Council in the 39th District. She was spurred to become a candidate after helping a woman in her community a fellow Bangladeshi Muslim leave an abusive situation.

Women in politics frequently use fashion to communicate something larger than themselves. Think of Nancy Pelosis red burn coat, the Democratic women in matching suffragette white at last years State of the Union address, or, on the flip side, the deliberately icy blondes of Fox News and the Trump White House. Hanif knows this. As a young woman of color, shes intentional about what she wears because of comments she gets from veteran New York politicians, because she is a lupus survivor, and because each outfit is a chance to expand the definition of what professional dress looks like in progressive politics. We spoke with her about what she wears canvassing, shalwar kameez, and how she campaigns while managing a chronic illness.

On her everyday shoes: Im always on the go, moving within and across Brooklyn and communities throughout New York, always organizing. I might start a day riding my bike, since Im an active advocate for safe streets and designated bike lanes. Then, I might slip on my work loafers to meet with constituents to provide advocacy and support on pressing issues like domestic violence. I end the day at events or fundraisers in support of local community-based organizations, and for those Ill change into block-heel pumps. Most days, the shoe change isnt seamless, and Im moving about in one pair all day.

On dressing to honor her roots: I often wear a midi dress paired with pants that can be dressed up with an embroidered, paisley-print shawl. During the warmer months, Im likely to dress in colorful, printed cotton shalwar kameez, which is the original dress over pants and has roots in my Bangladeshi heritage.

Im a first-generation Bangladeshi woman, born and raised in Kensington, Brooklyn, the largest Bangladeshi Muslim community in Brooklyn. As kids, my sisters and I played on our block in flowy, bright shalwar kameez and Payless sneakers. Wed get made fun of for dressing like this, but now these very cuts, textiles, and concepts have proliferated in Western fashion. Wearing shalwar kameez is an act of reclamation.

When I was growing up, I often felt shame around wearing shalwar kameez or other traditional Bangladeshi or Islamic clothing in non-Bangladeshi or Muslim gatherings. This shame is rooted in white supremacy and the standards of professional-wear. While working to expand the electorate to include women like me in legislative and political leadership, I find it critical to challenge the politics around fashion and professionalism. I dont shy away from wearing a shari (sari) to public events.

Botkier Stella Block-Heel Pumps

Everlane Day Heel in Cognac Suede

Stuart Weitzman Laney Suede Pumps

On her personal style: Its never been easy to dress. I was a chubby kid. Lupus severely impacted my body and weight. Im between sizes 1014. And the truth is, its hard to feel comfortable in my skin or when entering rooms with all eyes on me, because Ive been taught larger bodies are not good bodies. But Im living in a time with fat fashionistas and influencers wearing whatever they choose to, confidently and fearlessly. Big love to Ushshi, Nabela Noor, Megan Jayne Crabbe, Fabliha Anbar, and Leah Vernon.

It is critical for me to dress for the body that has survived going under the knife for two full hip- and left-shoulder-replacement surgeries. Ive survived many months in the hospital, painful periods, medications, achy joints. Surviving and organizing in my community is an honor, and entering rooms tall and extra large, powerfully femme, and looking past the patriarchal bullshit is my aesthetic.

On her greatest challenge: Running for office with lupus is hard. I knew this, and its what paused my decision to run in the first place. Our electorate isnt a space for politicos with disabilities, degenerative diseases, or mental-health issues. But its also true that health care is one of the top issues impacting women, people of color, and immigrants. I have worked day in, day out to help immigrants in the district access health care and better understand their health insurance. Some days, I experience severe imposter syndrome. I remind myself Im capable and prepared. My ancestors are proud.

On fashion in politics: I love a powerful, monochromatic look, especially with a balloon-sleeve top. If you look at what Im wearing on my website, I drew inspiration from shalwar kameez, many of which are monochromatic-outfit sets. You cant see my shoes in that photo, but theyre also a shade of blue with a golden block heel.

When Ive been on the trail, men in New York City politics have said things to me like, Youre in a tough spot. You cant win in this district, or Im running maybe down the line, you can too, or I was an idealist like you in my 20s. You should pace yourself. Young women in politics are scrutinized for everything, from how we dress to whether were capable of running a city. Im confident that I can do both well.

Universal Standard Iris High-Neck Swiss-Dot Chiffon Top

Rachel Rachel Roy Felicity Sweater

Shahana wears Stuart Weitzman boots.

If you buy something through our link, New York may earn an affiliate commission.

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What to Wear When Youre 28 and Running for Office - The Cut

AUSTIN (KXAN) Austin Independent School Board members met Monday to discuss the next step in the districts plan to shutter four schools and what that transition will look like.

Over the next several days, a member of the districts transition team will be at each school the district plans to close: Metz, Pease, Sims and Brooke elementary schools.

When youre taking a whole community and putting them into another community, theres just as much research out there that that receiving community is affected academically as well as socially, emotionally, and so I would really prefer to see really specific lines in [the transition report] about how the receiving community is going to receive assistance, as well, Amber Elenz, a board trustee said.

Elenz represents the district where Pease Elementary is located.

Its one of the biggest concerns that Pease has expressed about doing this is they dont want to invade another school community, Elenz said. I think that the really heavy lifting in bringing those communities together has got to be very intentional.

She said these closures will not only affect four schools, but nine. Taking into consideration the schools where students from the closing schools will be transferred to this upcoming school year.

District leaders are also working on organizing planning teams for each one of these campuses. Each of these teams is different because the needs are different at each school.

However, some parents feel like theyve been left in the dark due to a lack of communication.

The concern I heard from some parents at Brooke (Elementary School) was that in the week or the days after the Board decision, there was a lot of confusion about what was going to happen and of course a lot of grief and so I was curious as to why there wasnt more outreach from staff to Brooke to communicate that A) were going to develop a really detailed plan, asked Ann Teich, District 4 Trustee. I know that counselors were on site, but when youre dealing with the amount of grief and anger that was on that campus, some of the counseling activities had no effect. So I think that parents would have felt a little bit better if they had this amount of detail available to them ASAP.

The districts associate superintendent, Gilbert Hicks acknowledges those issues and said theyre working on it.

We have been working with the Brooke principal to develop the plan and so its now ready to share with the community but we havent done that yet the details of it. The overall plan but not the details, Hicks said.

Another issue, many have wondered what will happen with the closing schools history. Several parents have told KXAN they attended Metz, and so did their parents and grandparents. Many are hoping the schools history will be preserved. The transition team says that history will be preserved but did not give details on what that might look like.

A parent meeting is scheduled at Pease to gather their input. At present, two tours at Zavala have taken place with each tour consisting of 30 parents each.

Link:

AISD Board worries about feelings of invasion as schools consolidate - KXAN.com

Inequality risks splitting society apart on scale not seen since industrial revolution

A new generation of inequalities risks splitting communities around the world on a scale not seen since the industrial revolution. Thats the message from the 2019 Human Development Report, produced by the UN Development Programme, UNDP.

The report suggests that, although people worldwide have seen some progress in securing access to education, healthcare and technology, disparities are high, or increasing, between the so-called haves and have-nots.

Taking the example of two 20-year-olds the first from a developed country and the second from a poor one - UNDP said that while the first individual was likely to be a healthy, highly-skilled graduate, the second was much less likely to be alive.

Achim Steiner, head of the UN agency that produced the report, highlighted the wave of demonstrations sweeping across countries as a sign that something in our globalized society is not working.

Full story here

Protection for besieged communities has been given a boost after International Criminal Court (ICC) States Parties agreed to prosecute intentional starvation in civil wars as a war crime.

The move, brought by Switzerland, amends the courts statute, which already includes starvation as a war crime, but only for international conflicts.

The initiative received the unanimous support of 122 member states to the court in The Hague at last weeks annual meeting.

In a statement, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said that the majority of the over 800 million people who suffer from hunger every day, live in conflict zones.

The fact that the International Criminal Court will now be able to prosecute such acts as a war crime will help to prevent this crime and bring justice to victims, the Swiss ministry maintained.

Meanwhile, the impact of climate change on human rights was raised by UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, ahead of Human Rights Day, which takes place on Tuesday.

In a message to mark the day on 10 December 1948 when UN Member States adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Ms. Bachelet asked whether world leaders today still stand by the UNs opening statement, that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Highlighting how 2019 had seen tremendous activism by millions of young people over the climate emergency, the High Commissioner insisted that hostile nationalism and short-term financial gain would tear our world apart.World leaders everywhere should do more to fight discrimination, Ms. Bachelet said, and reply to peoples concerns with more effective, and more principled strategies.

Ethiopia is embarking on a reform process that is both encouraging and fragile, David Kaye, an independent human rights expert, declared on Monday, following a week-long visit to the country.

In his preliminary statement on Ethiopia, Mr. Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, said that the situation in the country has changed dramatically, since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who will receive the Nobel Peace Prize on 10 December initiated change by ending the state of emergency, freeing journalists and human rights defenders, and opening up civil society, just 18 months ago.

However, Mr. Kaye noted that these efforts are only the start of a process that will take years of legal and policy commitment, and persistent dedication to public participation and human rights oversight.

Hate speech in the media, he warned, remains a major cause of concern, and poses a threat to the stability of the process. In October, for example, 86 people were reportedly killed in unrest attributed partially, he said, due to an environment of hate speech and disinformation, including on social networks.

With elections due in May 2020, Mr. Kaye urged the Government to renew its efforts to promote and protect freedom of expression, take strong measures to combat any forms of harassment, attacks or violence against journalists, protesters and anyone exercising her right to expression, and strengthen a national dialogue and tolerance across the country.

Read the statement here

Listen to or download our audio News in Brief for 9December on SoundCloud:

Continued here:

Monday's Daily Brief: increasing inequality, human rights and climate, civil war crimes, Ethiopia reforms - UN News

Ron Charles, The Washington Post

House Intelligence Committee chair, Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) looks on as Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) speaks during an impeachment inquiry. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

House Intelligence Committee chair, Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) looks on as Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) speaks during an impeachment inquiry. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post, The Washington Post

House Intelligence Committee chair, Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) looks on as Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) speaks during an impeachment inquiry. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

House Intelligence Committee chair, Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) looks on as Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) speaks during an impeachment inquiry. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Book World: In the impeachment spin wars, only the English majors can save us

Throughout the impeachment hearings, historians and political scientists have been hogging the limelight with their sage commentary, but really this is a crisis designed for literary critics.

English majors, cast off your Starbucks aprons: A desperate nation finally needs you!

Beneath all the debate about quid pro quo and obstruction of justice, the impeachment of President Donald Trump hinges on the interpretation of a literary document: the transcript of Trump's call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25. Suddenly, we're all obsessed with (BEGIN ITAL)explication de texte(END ITAL). "Read the transcript!" both sides tweet. But why isn't that simple instruction delivering us all to the same conclusion?

We may or may not be witnessing the collapse of American democracy, but we're certainly getting a crash course in literary theory.

Democrats trying to reconstruct omitted words from the president's transcript are like Shakespeare scholars struggling to deduce the original script of "Hamlet." Meanwhile, Freudian critics are analyzing Trump's Oedipal frustration with the Mother figure who tempts but rejects him: "When I was speaking to Angela Merkel," the president complains, "she talks Ukraine, but she doesn't do anything."

Oh, Angie - assume a virtue if you have it not!

Forget Watergate. The real precedent here is Allen Tate. In the mid-20th century, Tate and other writers, particularly John Crowe Ransom and I.A. Richards, developed a school of thought called New Criticism. Reacting against their genteel predecessors, these New Critics claimed that the meaning of a written document - like, say, a metaphysical poem or the transcript of a presidential phone call - was self-contained, discoverable and stable. Whether you think the call is "perfect" and "beautiful" is entirely irrelevant to the New Critics. They wanted to get away from such subjective tweets. They said, in essence, "If you look carefully at the words on the page, you can determine with scientific objectivity what the president's dialogue means."

We may want to know what the president (BEGIN ITAL)intended(END ITAL), but that internal motive is "neither available nor desirable," as two New Critics wrote in "The Intentional Fallacy" (1946). Stick to the words on the page!

New Criticism held sway over English departments for decades, forcing countless high school kids to pick apart John Donne's images the way Adam Schiff pores over Donald Trump's threats. But as you may have heard, this rigorous approach to literary criticism has not brought Americans together. We can all agree that the imagery in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" is oddly erotic. But when we read the transcript of Trump's conversation with Zelensky, we see very different things in such phrases as "I would like you to do us a favor." Some hear a presidential gangster using the federal government to shake down a foreign official; others hear a leader trying to root out corruption in a fragile ally.

Don't despair, confused voter! Reader-response critics can help. These ecumenical scholars claim that divergent interpretations demonstrate that meaning is produced by each individual's subjective experience with the text. Of course, Nancy Pelosi and Devin Nunes see different things in the president's transcript; they're approaching it from entirely different "interpretive communities."

That's so clear in the separate reports issued by Democrats and Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee. Read together, these narratives feel like two sections of a novel experimenting with radical shifts in point of view - something like "Trumpman Is in Trouble" (apologies to Taffy Brodesser-Akner). Democrats claim that "the President placed his own personal and political interests above the national interests of the United States, sought to undermine the integrity of the U.S. presidential election process, and endangered U.S. national security." Republicans counter that "the evidence presented does not prove any of these Democrat allegations." Partisans claim that one side or the other is merely lying, which may be true in some cases, but that judgment flattens these rich characters. Instead, step back and try "reading" the impeachment documents as a single novel about America's juxtaposed delusions and secrets about itself. If only Lauren Groff hadn't already used the title "Fates and Furies."

From a stylistic point of view, it's fascinating that this conflict extends to competing diction. For instance, in their impeachment report, Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee use the illicit-sounding word "scheme" almost four times as frequently as their Republican colleagues. Meanwhile, the GOP is twice as likely to use the word "whistleblower." Here's a curious list of words that each report uses at a more frequent rate than the other:

(BEG ITAL)Democrats(END ITAL)

Scheme

White House

Yovanovitch

Crime

Giuliani

Sondland

Russia

Ambassador

Meeting

Call

(BEG ITAL)Republican(END ITAL)

Schiff

Government

Whistleblower

Zelensky

Political

Trump

Impeachment

Biden

Assistance

Ukraine

Nowadays, though, we know that the "true" meaning of the transcript will be determined by who has the power - that is, the votes. That might sound like a cynical capitulation to pure partisanship, but once again, the literary critics got here before us. In the 1970s, subversive new ideas from France began leaching into American English departments. Academics were excited - and sometimes alarmed - by the radical approach of Jacques Derrida, who seemed set on unmooring the stability of language. Suddenly, it felt as though every document was just a web of ambiguities and inconsistencies. Conservatives complained that this so-called deconstruction would render meaning itself arbitrary.

Irony alert: Their dire prediction came true around the time Trump forced Sean Spicer to make up a fairy tale about the size of his inauguration crowd. Shortly afterward, the official court deconstructionist Kellyanne Conway affirmed the ascension of "alternative facts." A year later when President Trump told us, "What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening," it became clear that we're all post-structuralists living in a Derridean nightmare. No wonder "Read the transcript" changes nothing.

Don't you wish you'd paid more attention in English class?

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In the impeachment spin wars, only the English majors can save us - SF Gate

In February, the Knight Foundation announced a $300 million initiative to strengthen journalism and democracy. Five months later, as part of this initiative, the foundation committed $50 million to support research to better understand how technology is transforming our democracy and the way Americans receive and engage with information.

Knight President Alberto Ibargen laid out the initiatives philosophical underpinnings, calling the proliferation of digital communications and social media the most profound shift in how we communicate with each other since Gutenberg, and that to understand what is actually happening, we need independent research and insights based on data, not emotion and invective.

Recently, Knight revealed the latest move in its ambitious plansmore than $3.5 million in new funding to generate research that equips federal lawmakers and other decision-makers as they attempt to govern and manage the evolving digital public square. Twenty-two universities, think tanks and advocacy organizations will study diverse, timely topics including content moderation by social media companies, antitrust enforcement in big tech, and online disinformation.

I recently checked in with Sam Gill, Knights vice president for communities and impact, and John Sands, director for learning and impact, on the initiatives philosophical underpinnings and where things stand so far with this work.

A Clear Need for Fresh Thinking

Sands told me that the main principle underlying Knights initiative is the promotion of the health of our information ecosystem. Today, he said, more and more information is mediated by digital technology and with impacts that are not yet understood.

A key part of the story here is the rise of unregulated digital information at the same time that established print media and trusted local outlets are in decline. The information gatekeepers of the past, Sands said, are no longer able to contain harmful or deceptive information as effectively. Journalists and editors are no longer the principal arbiters of facts because the production and dissemination of information lie in the hands of anyone with an internet connection.

Many of the information challenges we currently face, such as misinformation and the proliferation of hate speech, are not new, but in this age of many-to-many communication, there is a clear need for fresh thinking and research to inform a new generation of democratic institutions and norms that will promote an informed society and support democratic outcomes.

Knights efforts come as other funders are grappling with how to stem the tide of misinformation. In 2017, a consortium of funders including Knight, Facebook, the Craig Newmark Philanthropic Fund, Ford Foundation and the Democracy Fund launched the News Integrity Initiative, a global consortium focused on helping people make informed judgments about the news they read and share online.

A few months later, its managing director, Molly de Aguiar, presented a roadmap for the project moving forward. The initiative narrowed its focus to supporting activities that, among other things, build enduring trust and mutual respect between newsrooms and the public through sustained listening, collaboration and transparency and demonstrate ways to improve community conversations and increase understanding and empathy among opposing viewpoints and experiences.

Informing Policy

Despite all the work that funders have set in motion since the 2016 election to deal with misinformation, philanthropy is still feeling its way forward in this terrain, which is ever-shiftingwith the internal policies of social media companies in flux at the same time that talk of regulation is evolving in both Washington and on the Democratic presidential campaign trail. While theres plenty of agreement that private companies can adversely influence civic discourseand maybe even sway electoral outcomesby spreading misinformation online, a clear menu of policy options for curbing this problem has yet to gel.

Knights recent $3.5 million grant cycle seeks to provide decision-makers with guidance on that front. The recent slate of 22 investments, Sands said, was focused on issues with real currency in policy conversations in Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley. These concern the increasing shift of the public sphere to a digital realm owned by private internet technology companies and the immense powers that these companies have assumed in recent years to mediate speech, commerce and information flows.

Both houses of Congress are holding hearings about these issues, the DOJ and various state attorneys general have launched their own investigations into potential antitrust abuses, so there is real immediacy, real urgency. But given this urgency, the lack of clarity around potential policy remedies is worrisome, so the research investments were making are very intentional about the aim to inform debates happening today.

Bottom line? Our goal with this initiative is to ensure that policy decisionsboth in government and in the tech companiesare made with the benefit of sound, independent research.

Understanding Social Medias Impact on Politics

Last October, when Knight issued a call for proposals, Gill said, We aim to be intentionally broad. From access to information, to the proliferation of misinformation, to the nature of online speech to issues like anti-trust policywere not setting limits. A little over a year later, Knight has begun to fill in the gaps.

That same month, Knight awarded $5 million to New York University to launch the Center for Social Media and Politics. The center also received a $5 million matching grant from the Charles Koch Foundation. The Siegel Family Endowment, Craig Newmark Philanthropies and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation will provide additional funding.

The center will bolster ongoing research conducted by NYUs Social Media and Political Participation Lab, which explores areas related to social medias impact on politics, such as the effects of exposure to misinformation on political beliefs and behavior, whether social media exacerbates or mitigates political polarization, and how authoritarian regimes respond to online opposition. The lab is currently funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rita Allen Foundation, Intel Corporation, the Democracy Fund, the Knight and the Hewlett foundations, and others.

This effort stemmed from a recognition of the grave impacts of a decay in information quality at the societal level, Sands said. The symptoms are easily identifiablemisinformation/disinformation, the proliferation of hate speech, electoral interference, declining trust in journalism and media, etc.but the underlying causes are considerably more difficult to diagnose.

What is clear is that the internet, social media and other digital platforms are having far-reaching effects on how we encounter and process information, on communities, and on the structures of our democracy. These effects are not always visible, not always measurable, and therefore not well understood. And while there is no shortage of conventional wisdom about these challenges, much of it doesnt hold up under rigorous scrutiny.

NYUs team, Sands said, is led by political scientists and a computational biologist who are developing groundbreaking methods and tools for parsing social media data to gain insight into political behaviors. The new center gets at the heart of questions animating Knights interest in this space: How are people encountering information in the digital public sphere, and how are those encounters and engagements impacting democracy?

A Question of Values

The institutions receiving the recent $3.5 million in support were selected through an open funding opportunity to expand fundamental research on the norms, rights and responsibilities that govern digital services and social media in particular. I encourage you to read the full list of grant recipients here to get a deeper understanding of the kinds of issues that Knight has deemed worthy of further exploration.

The biggest of the grants, for $400,000, went to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., to establish a new "digital governance project at the conservative think tank that can be a resource for policymakers. Other grantees include the American Antitrust Institute ($100,000) to support new research that enables better understanding of the reach, capability and effectiveness of antitrust enforcement to promote competition in digital markets; Santa Clara University School of Law ($150,000) to support the continued development of a body of research and policy proposals with regard to intermediary liability for content on digital platforms; and the University of Iowa Law School ($100,000) to support legal research that applies principles from constitutional law and institutional political science to the challenges of platform governance. The Economic Security Project, co-founded by Chris Hughes, got $250,000 to support its new anti-monopoly work.

More grants are sure to follow this initial round. The funding opportunity is ongoing, since, as Sands noted, these issues are not going away in the foreseeable future. Were actively seeking other opportunities for collaboration and we welcome ideas and proposals.

Its also worth remembering that we shouldnt view Knights initiative solely as a wonky exercise to suss out policy options. The accumulation of data and research is a means to a far more consequential and civic-oriented end. In a post on Knights blog last month with the ominous title Big Tech Could Break Democracy, Gill laid out a potentially dystopian future driven by unchecked tech giants and enumerated a number of pressing questions:

Should a company like Facebook be able to host the majority of public conversation in the digital age? Should it be able to do so without any responsibility for what its users are saying or doing? Should we allow business models that eviscerate the competitiveness of other community goods, such as local news? Should we tolerate algorithmically driven systems that focus on engagement and attention over other values like tolerance and understanding?

Presumablyand hopefully!citizens will collectively answer no to each of these questions. But it will take a lot more research and policy development before decision-makers can translate societys values into new laws and regulations to govern the digital era.

In taking on this work, Knight and other foundations aim to shape an arena now dominated by some of the worlds most powerful companies. While thats obviously an uphill climbApple alone is worth more than the endowments of all private U.S. foundations combinedsome of philanthropys finest moments have come from similar David vs. Goliath battles.

We think the commercial internet is a great thing that has unleashed incredible good in the world, Gill told me. We also think that were learning a lot about new challenges this technology is causing for democracy. Philanthropy has a strong track record in funding research, evidence and ideas. Then its up to companies, governments and citizens to put those ideas and that evidence to work in building the society we want to live in.

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Knight's Initiative on Tech and Democracy Comes into Sharper Focus - Inside Philanthropy

By Allan Lazo and Andrea Durbin

Lazo is executive director of the Fair Housing Council of Oregon. Durbin is the director of the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

Portland is a beautiful place with a strong economy and long tradition of civic pride and engagement. Those of us who were born and raised here as well as transplants and newcomers can attest to the fact that Portland is growing quickly.

Growing pains manifest in a shortage of housing units, skyrocketing housing costs and displacement of communities of color. So we need to expand our toolbox and the geographic areas in which we can build more housing while also paying attention to the potential impacts on vulnerable communities.

Why is this important? Housing is one of our most fundamental human needs. Today, however, too many Portlanders struggle to find an affordable house or apartment to buy or rent. And the vast majority of them are people of color who have been historically marginalized. Our city abounds with opportunity, but we have a shared history that belies the prosperity our region offers.

As we seek to create a fair and inclusive city, we need to understand our history and how past city zoning and land use plans have had dire and lasting consequences for communities of color today.

The city recently released a report called Historical Context of Racist Planning. It shows that Portland, like many U.S. cities, has a long-standing history of racist housing and land use practices that created and reinforced racial segregation and exacerbated displacement trends. While some of these practices were conducted with discriminatory intent, others resulted in discriminatory outcomes regardless of their intent that continue to perpetuate disparities today.

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For example, numerous communities adopted exclusionary zoning policies that allowed only single-family residences and, by extension, barred lower income residents and communities of color from certain parts of the city. Some neighborhoods also specifically adopted racially restrictive covenants that prohibited homeowners from selling their properties to nonwhite buyers. Banks also played a role in discriminating against communities of color by refusing to lend money to would-be homebuyers in minority neighborhoods, a practice called redlining. The result of these practices can be seen today in the exclusionary neighborhood pattern still visible on Portlands zoning map. Today, single-family zoned land makes up 44% of the zoned city (and 75% of zoned land suitable for housing), yet only 18% of homeowners are people of color.

Along with exclusionary practices, the city and other government agencies engaged in planning practices designed to increase investment in select areas without protecting against displacement. These practices preserved the exclusivity of predominantly white, single-family neighborhoods. They also accelerated gentrification and displacement of people of color by concentrating growth in vulnerable areas.

As a result, these policies and decisions created benefits for white homeowners, whose family wealth grew due to property-value appreciation and tax benefits such as the mortgage interest deduction. Today, single-family zoning patterns in historically exclusionary neighborhoods uphold and reinforce racial segregation in our city, while prolonging the barriers to homeownership for people of color.

Past planning policies and actions have resulted in the benefits and burdens of our city being inequitably distributed, leading to prosperity in some areas and vulnerability to displacement in others. Communities of color, especially African Americans, have been repeatedly burdened, excluded, displaced and otherwise harmed by explicit and implicit racial discrimination and segregation. In the Albina neighborhood alone, roughly 10,000 black residents were displaced from 1990 to 2016.

We can and must do better. It is urgent that we do this work together and do it now. We seek new decision-making and planning processes that address these challenges head on. We commit to more intentional and equitable outcomes, framed in creating justice for frontline communities, those most targeted and impacted. This requires that we confront the historic and structural racism that created deep inequities, which continue to harm people of color in Portland.

How can this history inspire us to learn from a harmful past to work toward racial justice together? We know major changes in land use currently under consideration by City Council were not designed to directly address this history but will provide tools that allow us to address the exclusivity that we see across the city.

We invite you to read this report at https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/79790 and reflect on its significance for our community. Then listen to a City Council work session Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. to hear how our city leaders are using this history to inform future decision-making. Lets write the next chapter of our collective story together.

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Opinion: Learning from a harmful past to work toward racial justice together - oregonlive.com

The latest bread offering from Michigan-based Zingermans Bakehouse is State St. Wheat, a five-ingredient sandwich loaf created to bring the nutrition and flavor of artisan baking to the sandwich bread aisle. Its made with natural ingredients and no added preservatives, making it dramatically different than a typical sandwich loaf.

State St. Wheat is part of the Bread Lab Collectives sandwich loaf program, which aims to improve access to nourishing bread, crafted by artisan techniques, made with seven or fewer ingredients, and at least 50 percent whole grain flour.

We hope the launch of State St. Wheat inspires other artisan bakers to join us so Bread Lab Collective sandwich bread is available in every state, says Amy Emberling, co-managing partner of Zingermans Bakehouse, By returning to artisan techniques, intentional ingredient choices, and including freshly-milled whole grains, were able to connect to our communities, our land, and our traditions in a meaningful, nourishing way.

The Bread Lab Collective is a group of artisan bakers working in collaboration with the Bread Lab of Washington State University. More than a dozen bakeries across the country are participating in the Bread Lab Collectives sandwich loaf program. Among those is King Arthur Flour Bakery (Vermont), Barrio Bread (Arizona), Seven Stars Bakery (Rhode Island), Breadfarm (Washington State), Prager Brothers (California), and Elmore Mountain Bread (Vermont).

Ten cents of every loaf will benefit the Bread Lab, so that it can continue its role in moving food systems forward in more meaningful directions.

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Zingerman's Bakehouse introduces new sandwich loaf in partnership with The Bread Lab Collective - bake Magazine

Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly has promised to work on police attitudes toward racialized people.Jean Levac / Postmedia News

Today is International Human Rights Day, an opportunity to acknowledge what has been accomplished so far towards making our communities more inclusive. Its also a chance to look ahead.

At the top of Ottawas list of achievements is the recent commitment by City Hall to create an anti-racism secretariat. Proposed by Rideau-Rockliffe Coun. Rawlson King, Ottawas first black municipal representative, the secretariat would focus on addressing the lack of diversity in our municipal workforce. Currently, visible minorities represent only 9.5 per cent of middle and senior managers at the City of Ottawa, despite making up 20 per cent of the population.

The new office would also examine how various communities are able to access city services and examine potential barriers.

Among the initiatives it could explore is a youth fellowship program that provides recent graduates from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds an opportunity to work at city hall. In Toronto, the Muslim Youth Fellowship has helped dozens of young leaders develop valuable skills and pursue civic careers.

Then theres the pledge made a few weeks ago by Ottawas first black police chief, Peter Sloly. He promised to do more to make sure his officers arent discriminating against residents. Like all of us, hes seen the dismal numbers: recent analysis shows that Middle Eastern and black drivers were more likely to be stopped by police than other drivers in this city. We want to get to zero instances of racism and discrimination in policing, in any aspect of public life, said the Jamaican-born Sloly.

There are also concerns around how the force addresses hate crimes in this city, particularly when it emerged that Ottawas hate crimes unit had been quietly disbanded, even as incidents continued to climb. Community advocates are still waiting for the details on how the force plans to tackle hate and whether plans will include anti-bias training for all personnel and annual reporting on whats going on in our neighbourhoods.

Nevertheless, it shouldnt be lost on anyone that some of the most impactful steps to address racism in our city were prompted or led by people of colour. This is why representation is important.

Those who do not face racism themselves must make space for racialized leaders and community members to lead the way towards collective action.

Coun. Rawlson King has moved to set up an anti-racism secretariat at City Hall.Wayne Cuddington / jpg

As Robin diAngelo, the author of White Fragility: Why Its So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism, wrote earlier this year, We can attempt to understand the racial realities of people of colour through authentic interaction rather than through the media or through unequal relationships. We can insist that racism be discussed in our workplaces and a professed commitment to racial equity be demonstrated by actual outcomes. This takes courage, and niceness without strategic and intentional anti-racist action is not courageous.

It is the kind of courage that led the University of Ottawa to hold a forum on anti-Black racism this past November to hear from students. This was part of the universitys response to two cases in which black students were singled out for identification by campus security officers between June and September.

The trauma coming back to school on my first day of classes for my special topics course and being locked out of the classroom and seeing none other than the guard that put me in handcuffs and made me sit there for hours be the one to come unlock the door was more than horrible, Jamal Koulmiye-Boyce told the forum. An investigation determined that Koulmiye-Boyces treatment amounted to racial discrimination.

With more and more people rightfully demanding change, the political will to respond is growing.

Led by the United Way, a group of community organizations, municipal leaders and representatives from key city institutions have now formed United For All. Its a coalition that aims to strategize ways to make our communities safer for everyone. It was launched last month, and time will tell if it will make meaningful change in the lives of Ottawa residents.

Those of us committed to this work are hopeful.

Amira Elghawaby is a human rights advocate and a member of the United for All campaign. See her TedxOttawa Talk here. Twitter: @AmiraElghawaby

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Elghawaby: Ottawa is working to address racism and must do more - Ottawa Citizen

Sarah Colburn, Special to the Times Published 5:10 p.m. CT Dec. 10, 2019 | Updated 5:13 p.m. CT Dec. 10, 2019

From dance and fashion to music and visual arts, this years Global Wonderland holiday showcase will feature art inspired by different cultures of the world.(Photo: Boys & Girls Club of Central Minnesota)

From dance and fashion to music and visual arts, this years Global Wonderland holiday showcase will feature art inspired by different cultures of the world.

The annual showcase event by the Boys & Girls Club of Central Minnesota features the work of local kids from area clubs.

"Were teaching kids about the world around them, different cultures, different heritages, helping them find out about their family in other cultures,"said Aimee Minnerath, marketing manager. "If we teach our kids early to celebrate cultures, celebrate diversity, to teach that early on, its going to improve peace in our communities."

The clubs are providing those lessons through an arts lens. The effort is part of the clubs Youth Arts Initiative, a formal program and grant that helped the organization cover the cost of hiring full-time and part-time art mentors to work with kids.

From dance and fashion to music and visual arts, this years Global Wonderland holiday showcase will feature art inspired by different cultures of the world.(Photo: Boys & Girls Club of Central Minnesota)

Though the funding has ended, the Central Minnesota board voted to continue the effort and the focus, now raising dollars through community fundraising to support the program.

This years event will include a formal fashion show with designs created completely by kids even a dress inspired by 1850s England. The showcase also includes live, on-stage dance performances, live beatboxing, spoken word and displays of digital arts, interior design, visual arts and food samples from the culinary arts.

Natalie Carr is the lead dance artist mentor and said students learned about cultural holidays and used that as inspiration to create their own pieces.

Additionally, students studied with Ballet Hispanico and learned not only choreography, but lessons on the importance of culture.

"Its giving them more intentional cultural understanding,"Carr said.

From dance and fashion to music and visual arts, this years Global Wonderland holiday showcase will feature art inspired by different cultures of the world.(Photo: Boys & Girls Club of Central Minnesota)

Each week in the visual arts students focused their learning on a different culture and then created artwork representative of their teachings.

As important as the artwork itself, Minnerath said, is that students chose an area of study and worked on it, beginning to end, during a six-week session.

"Its about the process our kids are taking, developing as young people, developing as artists and committing to an art form,"Minnerath said. "Its about the process of youth development using the arts as a catalyst."

Carr sees first hand as students work through elaborate choreography.

"Its teaching them to follow through with it and not stop when something gets hard,"she said. "Theyre building skills for life."

This years Global Wonderland event is free. The event begins at 6 p.m. on Dec. 18 with holiday activities, an art exhibit in the gym and food samples. The showcase begins on stage at 6:30 p.m. and will run at least 60 minutes. The Global Wonderland event will be held at the Eastside Boys & Girls Club, 320 Raymond Ave. NE, St. Cloud. Cookies and cocoa will be available.

Read or Share this story: https://www.sctimes.com/story/entertainment/2019/12/10/global-wonderland-holiday-showcase-features-art-inspired-different-cultures/2629925001/

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Global Wonderland holiday showcase features art inspired by different cultures - SC Times

Environment, Labour December 9, 2019 Rebecca Keetch

One year ago, GM announced the closure of the Oshawa Assembly Plant. Workers in the community faced the crushing reality that their livelihood was being stolen. At a time of record profits, in the billions of dollars, GM showed a complete disregard for thousands of workers and their communities.

Out of this devastation Green Jobs Oshawa was born. Green Jobs Oshawa is a coalition of workers, environmentalists, academics, and community members. We recognized, in the midst of a climate crisis requiring immediate action and a community facing massive job loss and disruption, the need for a bold idea: bring the plant under democratic control through government ownership and build battery electric vehicles or other products that meet community need instead of corporate greed.

Green Jobs Oshawa recognizes we must take on both climate justice and social justice. The environmental movement and the labour movement must come together and demand with a united voice a Workers Green New Deal that fights the climate crisis and fights for workers and communities.

Not only do we need to move away from fossil fuels and wasteful consumption from harm and devastation but we must build healthy, resilient communities while creating a strong sustainable economy.

We must demand massive government investment in green energy, green technology, and electrification. The government must take action, such as the immediate electrification of government fleet vehicles and public transportation. This must include public ownership of key manufacturing and resource sectors.

The environmental movement and the labour movement must demand this transformation include just transitions for workers and communities.

A just transition means environmental justice, social justice, and economic justice. It means leaving no community or worker behind while creating a sustainable future.

A Just transition is intentional. It is done with commitment and planning. It means properly funding strategies for success.

A just transition is about respect. Respect for our planet, for the environment and respect for each other and the future.

We need to invest in people not profits, protect communities not corporations, and we need to think bigger than we ever have before. Public need must come before corporate greed. Corporations continue to show complete disregard for environmental and social devastation caused in the pursuit of profits and they wont stop if we dont demand change.

We need to change the system. This is the way to protect communities, provide decent jobs, and create a sustainable future for the planet.

And Green Jobs Oshawa proposes a concrete example of something that could be done immediately if the political will is there. Make use of the Oshawa facility, electrify government fleet vehicles, and provide thousands of workers in the community with good jobs.

We cant make this happen without you! Please go to http://www.greenjobsoshawa.ca and send a message to government. We need change. We need action. And we need to make sure no one is left behind.

This article is a revised version of a speech at the Fridays for Future Climate Strike in Toronto, 29 November 2019.

Rebecca Keetch is a GM worker and Unifor member, activist with Green Jobs Oshawa.

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Green Jobs Oshawa and a Just Transition - The Bullet - Socialist Project

According to the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey, 19% of students who said they were bullied also reported being bullied or harassed weekly in the last 30 days. Students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and LGBTQ+ students reported the highest rates of bullying.

Clayton Cook, professor of educational psychology in the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development, answers questions about how schools and communities can work together to ensure all students experience healthy environments free of bullying, discrimination and harassment.

Q: What is bullying?

Cook: I had the privilege of serving on the CDCs Expert Panel to develop a uniform definition of bullying. We defined bullying as any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or group of youths who are not siblings or current dating partners that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated. Bullying may inflict harm or distress on the targeted youth including physical, psychological, social or educational harm.

First, bullying involves a power imbalance. The power is in favor of the youth who exhibits the bullying behavior because they are physically stronger, more popular, in a position of authority and/or have access to embarrassing information. The youth who is being bullied feels like they have no recourse and cannot make it stop, which causes harm and distress.

Second, bullying is a subset of aggressive behaviors those that are intended to harm someone psychologically, emotionally and/or physically. Although there is no uniform agreement among researchers, it is helpful to think about the different types of bullying: physical bullying, verbal bullying, relational bullying (e.g., exclusion, gossiping to hurt someones relationships with others), cyberbullying, sexual bullying and prejudicial bullying (i.e., based on a persons race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation).

Q: Where does bullying happen?

Cook: Unfortunately, bullying is found in virtually every setting where people regularly interact with one another workplaces, community centers, religious organizations and schools. Power differences emerge between individuals due to positions of authority, social status, resources (e.g., money and information) or physicality, and those in more powerful positions act aggressively towards those with less power. Many people with varying levels of power due to physical stature, social capital, resources and positions of authority work and learn in schools. If schools and child-serving organizations, such as after school programs or sports teams, are not intentional about creating norms and teaching, modeling and recognizing prosocial behaviors, higher rates of bullying rates are likely to emerge. For this reason, policies and practices that prevent and address bullying, as well as other forms of aggressive behavior, are essential.

Q: What are the effects of bullying?

Cook: Bullying can negatively impact all parties involved individuals who are bullied, bullies and bystanders to the bullying. Children who are bullied may experience problems at school and with their mental and physical health. Victims of bullying are at an increased risk for depression and anxiety, sleep problems and school absences. These risks may continue into adulthood. When people feel they are not wanted, valued and respected their flight or fight response can be activated, resulting in withdrawal, avoidance or acting out behaviors.

Children who bully are at-risk for other negative long-term outcomes, including substance abuse issues, relationship problems and risky behaviors. Although the behavior of bullies is unacceptable and must be addressed, it is critical to view them through a lens of compassion. These young people have not learned critical relationships skills and are unaware that their behavior puts them at-risk for longer-term negative outcomes when they are an adult.

Lastly, even bystanders to repeated instances of bullying or situations involving bullying are at increased risk of substance abuse problems, mental health issues (including anxiety and depression) and school truancy.

Q: What can schools and other organizations do to prevent bullying?

Cook: On average, research indicates bullying prevention programs result in a 20% to 23% decrease in perpetration of bullying and a 17% to 20% decrease in victimization.

The first thing schools can do to prevent bullying is to establish norms for positive and prosocial interactions that encourage social acceptance and friendship. Adults should model behaviors they wish to see students learn and exhibit. Examples of positive and prosocial interactions include: intentionally greeting others to establish positive connections; treating one another with respect and kindness; and paying attention to and reflecting on what others are doing right rather than emphasizing what others are doing wrong.

Another effective way schools can prevent bullying is to support parents through the delivery of training activities hosting information meetings, sharing information about bullying and how to talk to their child about it.

Schools can also prevent and address bullying through developing social-emotional learning (SEL) programs which help children learn and apply specific skills aimed at establishing and maintaining healthy relationships. These skills enable children to better regulate their emotions and behavior during certain situations and, ultimately, be a positive contributing member of any setting in which they function.

Q: What work is the U of M doing surrounding bullying prevention?

Cook: At the University of Minnesota, we are working to reduce bullying in our state and across the country by translating research on bullying prevention into practice. Ive had the pleasure of working with many schools across Minnesota to help build sustainable SEL programs and know many more are hard at work.

Finally, there is a statewide shortage of mental health professionals in schools. In the Department of Educational Psychology, we train school psychologists, special educators and school counselors to help prevent bullying and make healthy learning environments a reality.

Clayton Cook is the John W. and Nancy E. Peyton Faculty Fellow in Child and Adolescent Wellbeing and a professor in the College of Education and Human Development. Cook works in the Department of Educational Psychology where he trains and conducts research with future school psychologists.

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Education experts talks about bullying in schools | Opinion - Southernminn.com

Like a lot of cities, Fort Worth has been working to recruit and hire a more diverse police force.

Researchers have found strong support nationwide for the idea that a police department should look like the city it serves, but most departments don't they're a lot more male, and a lot whiter.

After a string of controversial policing incidents in recent years involving people of color in Fort Worth and elsewhere damaged trust in police, building a more diverse police force has been seen as a way to restore trust and strengthen ties between officers and the residents they're sworn to protect.

About 40% of Fort Worth residents are white, but 65% of Fort Worth police officers are white. In 2010, nearly 70% of the department was white.

An analysis of the last 10 years of Fort Worth Police Department staffing data shows the department growing more Latino as it becomes less white. Latino representation on the force has grown from 16% to 21%. In 2017, 35% of Fort Worth residents were Latino.

In that same time period, the police force has seen a small decrease in the number of officers who are black, from about 12% to 10%. Black residents represent about 19% of the city's population.

'We're Trying To Make Changes'

Cory Session is vice president of the Innocence Project of Texas and sat on Fort Worth's Task Force on Race and Culture. He said, "If you don't have a police force that is represented or looks like your city, you run into issues cultural issues, biases."

The race and culture task force was charged with investigating, and recommending strategies to reduce, racial disparities in the city after the 2016 arrest of Jacqueline Craig, a black woman, and her daughters by a white police officer threw the city in the national spotlight.

Among its findings, the task force pointed to even starker disparities among higher-ranking members of the police department. Only 27% of people above the rank of corporal, the first tested rank, are non-white. Just 14% are women.

Session said he often sees bias, stereotypes and a general lack of understanding overshadow police interactions, especially when officers are "looking for a problem." He cautions against painting all cops with a broad brush he is married to a police officer but he said a lack of cultural competency among cops is dangerous.

"We all have prejudices, but for a [police] officer, these are life-and-death situations, they can turn on an instant, so you've got to be careful," Session said.

Assistant Fort Worth City Manager Jay Chapa, who oversees the more than 1,600-member police department, said the city is committed to increasing the diversity of its police force. It's a way to engender trust and legitimacy in the department, he said, and improve communication between Fort Worth's diverse communities and its police force.

"We're trying to make changes to improve the situation when it comes to having the police department and the city as an organization reflect the community," Chapa said.

The city is reviewing its vetting process to eliminate bias and targeting police recruitment efforts to reach more people of color. There's a volunteer bootcamp to help women train for the physical test, and the city is re-instating a police cadet program to introduce high school and community college students to law enforcement careers.

But Chapa said a strong economy means some well-qualified candidates aren't applying to be cops because there's better pay and easier work outside of policing. Plus, Fort Worth is not alone in focusing on diversity.

"Minority and women candidates are at a premium, and every city's after them. There's competition when it comes to that," he said.

Though law enforcement agencies have grown more diverse nationwide in recent decades, the field still skews whiter and more male than the general population, says Nelson Lim, senior social scientist for the Rand Corporation who studies recruitment.

"Unfortunately, it is extremely common across the whole country," Lim said. "It's not necessarily that it's all about racism or [intentional] discrimination, but it's more subtle. It's more nuanced."

There are two common issues even the best-intentioned departments struggle with, Lim said. The first is propensity: who actually wants to become a police officer? Many young people of color are reluctant to pursue a policing career, he said, and may hold police officers in less esteem.

"So if minority youth and a minority population has a lower propensity to serve as a police officer, then you already start from behind," Lim said.

For those who do apply, Lim said the vetting process can disproportionately sideline people of color and women. Entry tests may be written in a way that offers white people an advantage, more women fail physical tests than men, and background checks can disadvantage people who grew up in communities that are more heavily policed.

Racial Diversity Alone Is Not Enough

Researchers have found that most Americans say their police departments should be as racially diverse as their cities, though research into the benefits of increasing officer diversity in police departments is mixed.

Women use force less as police officers and communicate more effectively, researchers have consistently found. Studies have shown increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of police forces makes them friendlier and less cynical about their work, and they have fewer misconduct complaints filed against them.

A 2016 report from the Department of Justice and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission points to "decades of research" that shows increased diversity within law enforcement agencies defined broadly to include sexual orientation, religion, language ability and other categories beyond race and gender can improve trust in the police and help police departments more effectively protect public safety.

But policing experts say increasing officer diversity alone won't solve issues that upset police-community relations. Researchers found that diverse police departments don't have significantly lower rates of police-caused killings, and a 2004 study found black officers were more likely to use force than white officers.

Manny Ramirez, a police sergeant who heads the Fort Worth Police Officers Association, is a product of the police cadet program, which city leaders shuttered during the recession. He said it's important to give young adults who might be interested a pathway to a policing career. The program is expected to be up and running in February.

While he thinks department diversity does help build community trust, Ramirez cautions that it's no silver bullet.

"We need to look at diversity in our patrol staffing levels, we need to look at how do we incentivize officers to live in the community they serve, how do we make sure that they're comfortable and have time to build bridges with their community," Ramirez said.

Race and Culture Task Force member Cory Session said recruitment should also focus on attracting people committed to serving the public and helping in order to improve police-community relations.

"That's the majority of your calls [as a police officer], so if you thought you were becoming a police officer to fight crime, think again," Session said. "You're a social worker. You're a referee. The majority of your calls are going to be customer service related."

He said increasing diversity on the police force is only part of the recipe for ensuring every Fort Worth resident gets equal justice.

Updated 7:45 a.m. Dec. 11

Read more here:

Why Fort Worth And Other Big Cities Struggle With Police Diversity - KERA News

So here comes the Horowitz Report. The general speculation, as you know, is that hell wag his finger at some FBI officials for showing political bias or failing to uphold proper procedure under FISA laws. But its apparently not going to support the contentionpushed continuously by President Trumpthat the government of the United States spied on candidate Trump.

Theyre girding themselves over in Wingnuttia. Poor Mollie Hemingway is reduced to warning her readers at The Federalist: Many critics of that surveillance hope that this Inspector General report will bring some justice. They should get rid of that hope as soon as possible. John Solomon told Sean Hannity that there will be six to 12 findings of wrongdoing in the report, but he conspicuously didnt say that they would be bombshells. Fox News Gregg Jarrett tried to dismiss the early leaks as multiple hearsay (by the way, the absence of links to any of these people is intentional).

Assuming the leaks are accurate and the report is not going to drop any nuclear bombs on the deep state, itll be the second reality-based setback for the president and his lickspittles after last weeks reports that John Durham, the prosecutor Bill Barr sent traipsing around the world to find evidence of an anti-Trump conspiracy, is turning up goose eggs.

Will reality stop the Trumpists? It never has. Theyll turn to three (at least!) tried and true methods of the demagogue.

One: Theyll dump on Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Well-known deep-stater, etc etc. Dont buy it. Last week, the Center for American Progress put out an eye-opening report about Horowitz. Turns out that during the Obama administration, Horowitz issued two reports on Fast & Furious, the scandal that was supposed to lead to Obummers impeachment, while during the Trump years Horowitz has not launched a single investigation into any allegations of corruption within the Department of Justice.

More, from the report: Horowitzs lack of action in this regard is a significant anomaly among his peers. Public records suggest that he is the only inspector general at a major federal agency who has not investigated at least one potential instance of corruption or abuse of power by a Trump appointee. In fact, even a non-exhaustive review of inspector general reports from across the government quickly demonstrates that the majority of Cabinet-level agencies have launched multiple investigations. While some did not lead to findings of wrongdoing, others prompted the resignations of high-level Trump officials.

You really have to go out of your way to find no corruption in this administration. But this is what Horowitz has done. If hes a deep stater, hes a pretty incompetent one.

Two: Theyll try to characterize the findings as bombshells anyway. I obviously dont know as I write what the findings will be, but it sounds as if theyre likely to be violations of procedure of the type that probably happen a lot of the time, because we live in an imperfect world where investigations are conducted by imperfect people with imperfect information making the best judgments they can. People can make mistakes and still not be guilty of advancing a conspiracy against the president.

Three: Theyll just lie. Theyll dismiss the report as propaganda and keep on saying the same things theyve been saying. Trump will certainly do that. And as long as he does it, his apologists will do it too.

So the questions now are what will Bill Barr do about all this, and what will the Democrats do about Barr.

While Horowitz and Durhams less-than-bombshell reports suggest that there are still limits to how far the Justice Department will go to defend Trump, the more that we hear from the attorney general, the more he sounds like an out-and-out fascist.

There was the Notre Dame speech in October, where he denounced liberalism and secularism and warned that militant secularists were out to destroy Americas moral order with rhetoric that would have fit right in at Nuremberg.

Then, last week, came that shockingand not much shocks anymore, but this one really didspeech about how the police just might stop protecting communities that didnt show them the proper respect. The American people, he said, have to start showing, more than they do, the respect and support that law enforcement deserves. And if communities dont give that support and respect, they might find themselves without the police protection they need.

Barr didnt say which American people he meant, but I think we know. This is straight out of the fascist-authoritarian playbook. You think Jews had great police protection in Germany after 1933? Those are the kinds of regimes that contemplate things like that. I cant recall ever hearing a prominent American politician say such a thing in my lifetime. To hear the attorney general of the United States dangle such a notion is terrifying.

This man is a clear and present danger. Even worse, in a way, than Trump himself, because Barr has daily decision-making power over how what forms of justice will be pursued in this country. Hes on record calling the FBIs 2016 investigation into the Trump campaigns Russia ties spying. He defended that claimahead of any investigative findingby calling spying a good English word that he wasnt using pejoratively.

Ive written, as have others, that every sign is that Barr is going to use the Justice Department to launch show trials next year against people like Peter Strzok and more generally use the department to re-elect Trump. Why wouldnt he? When you believe godless Democrats are hellbent on destroying the country, everything is permitted to re-elect Trump.

Democrats have to stop this man. When the House Judiciary Committee finishes with Trump, it better turn its attention to Barr. If he succeeds, were cooked.

The rest is here:

Bill Barr Remains a Menace to Society Even if the Horowitz Report Falls Flat - The Daily Beast

MORE traveller caravans are pitching up on unauthorised sites in Southampton than a decade ago, figures reveal.

But members of the Traveller community have accused the Conservative Party of treating them as "political footballs" for pledging to tackle unauthorised traveller camps, despite a decline in their number across England.

Councils carry out a count of caravans on traveller sites twice a year to provide a snapshot of the numbers in permitted and unpermitted spots.

It includes those lived in by Gypsies and Travellers, as well as non-traditional groups who live in moveable homes.

Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government data shows that 19 traveller caravans were on sites without planning permission in Southampton in July, up from 11 counted in July 2009.

The total number of caravans in the area also rose over the period, from 28 to 47.

This means that 40 per cent were in unauthorised locations this year.

All the dwellings on unpermitted land were not tolerated, meaning active efforts were being made to move them on.

The trend in Southampton bucked that across England, where 3,082 caravans were on unauthorised sites 17 per cent fewer than a decade previously.

This was despite the total number of dwellings increasing by a third, to around 23,000, meaning the vast majority had planning permission.

The Conservative Party has pledged in its election manifesto to tackle unauthorised traveller camps by giving the police new powers to arrest and seize the property and vehicles of trespassers on unauthorised encampments.

The document adds: We will make intentional trespass a criminal offence, and we will also give councils greater powers within the planning system.

The Traveller Movement, a charity that fights discrimination against the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community, says the national figures show that only a tiny minority of Travellers reside on unauthorised land.

Why is this Government pouring so much money into this issue when it would cost far, far less to provide sites? asked Yvonne MacNamara, the groups chief executive.

While local authorities pump millions annually into removing unauthorised encampments, the other issues facing communities are ignored.

This includes high rates of anxiety and suicide, poor health outcomes, school exclusions and cuts to Traveller education services.

In criminalising the most marginalised and vulnerable members of the community, we risk pushing them over the edge. It solves nothing.

Ms MacNamara added that Gypsies and Travellers were being treated as political footballs once again.

More:

More traveller caravans pitching up on unauthorised sites in Southampton than 10 years ago - Daily Echo

Vaccination can be a tricky subject. For many parents, the choice to abstain from immunizing their child is a religious choice. For others, the decision is based on information gathered from any number of sources, many nonscientific, found online. For medical health professionals, this fight against inaccurate information is real: one that may be a life or death struggle for communities with a high rate of unvaccinated children who are lacking the benefit of herd immunity.

The state of Michigan, which in 2017 was ranked 29th in the nation for vaccinations for the combined rates of eight standard vaccines,has its own issues when it comes to large numbers of unvaccinated schoolchildren. Many health professionals have pointed to the dissemination of inaccurate information via the internet as well as Michigans statewide non-medical exemption policy that allows parents to opt out of immunizations for philosophical reasons as the cause of recent outbreaks of previously eradicated diseases like the Measles.

But for educators, doctors, nurses, and other health professionals, there is a silver lining: many groups in the state of Michigan have doubled down on their efforts to collate, disseminate, and constantly update credible, scientific information on immunization. Whether families find this information online or at the doctors office, this credible data is undertaking the Herculean effort of truth-telling for childrens health.

Education at the state level

When you Google pretty much anything some people, based on their previous searches, dont always get the most scientific-based [information], says Heidi Loynes, BSN, RN, Immunization Nurse Educator at the MDHHS Division of Immunization. "That is one of the hardest things to talk about, she adds, referring to the constant battle against click bait and algorithms that make non-credible information-sharing a profitable business.

To counteract disreputable online sources, Loynes works at the state level to ensure that all doctors offices have easy-to-understand, up-to-date, and credible information to provide to patients and their parents face-to-face. The providers are a trusted source, she says. Physicians dont get as much push back We just keep reinforcing that this is the credible source, this is the correct information.

To create documents like brochures and posters for physicians offices, Loynes is consistently working to update her documents based on the newest information from the CDC. We use the CDC all the time, says Loynes. They have some great resources and parent resources.

Another part of Loynes daily work is to monitor the Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR), a website that not only offers links to relevant vaccination information, but also serves as a comprehensive lifetime registry for all residents in the state of Michigan. On MCIR, schools and healthcare providers can directly report vaccination information to the state, allowing for real-time information on potential outbreaks. MCIR is a terrific tool for providers to help ensure that their patients have accurate immunization records and are protected from vaccine preventable diseases, says Loynes.

Dr. Laura Champion, Medical Director at Calvin University. Information at work on college campuses

MCIR is a resource utilized by school officials throughout the state to report and download vaccination information, from grade school to the university level. Laura Champion, MD, Medical Director of Calvin Universitys Health Services, relies on this real-time information to maintain a high vaccination rate for Calvins Grand Rapids campus. Our relationship is very good with the Michigan Registrar, says Champion. The electronic records system we use is specific to college health.

Utilizing CDC recommendations as campus policy in conjunction with state regulation and The American College Health Association, Registered Nurse Barb Mustert oversees Calvins Travel and Immunization Clinic. Though Calvin does allow non vaccinated students to reside in the dorms, with access to vaccination records, Mustert, Champion, and the health department team have the information at their fingertips to zero in on the source of an outbreak before it becomes a campus epidemic.

Nurse Barbra Mustert helps students understand the vaccinations required before international travel. This occurred a few years ago when a case of Mumps infiltrated the dorms. It was just a big ordeal, says Champion, who worked with campus officials to ultimately determine that students should be sent home, temporarily live in optional housing, and undergo proctored exams. "We did our best to accommodate [the students] and its still quite a disruption.

While ensuring student and campus-wide health is a large priority by keeping track of youth and seasonal vaccinations like the flu, Mustert also oversee all immunizations for Calvin students traveling overseas. To do this, Mustert meets with each student one-on-one to ensure that they understand the risks and undergo the proper immunizations before traveling to any one of the 40 countries in Calvins international programs roster.

The buck stops with parents

While educational institutions can help increase safety through strict protocols and dissemination of information, its the parents, stresses Lyons, whose decisions matter most when it comes to early and ongoing childhood vaccination. Having tools for the providers and information for parents/guardians/patients is an important step towards ensuring people are protected from Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPDs) in the State of Michigan, she says.

One of these tools that Lyons often shares is a clear, parent-focused document developed by the Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) out of St. Paul, MN, called Reliable Sources of Immunization Information: Where Parents Can go to Find Answers. In this legible one-pager, the coalition offers a bevy of science-based sources to aid in their decision-making.

In addition, We have a wonderful, wonderful program in our state called iVaccinate, says Lynn Sutfin, Public Information Officer at MDHHS. Developed by the Franny Strong Foundation, which was founded by a Michigan couple who lost their 12-week-old daughter to pertussis (whooping cough), iVaccinate provides information and tools based on real medical science and research to help Michigan parents protect their kids.

By providing helpful resources, commonly asked questions, and news on studies, research, and local and national outbreak cases, iVaccinate aims to simplify the onslaught of information about vaccines that parents often receive. The information is also tailored specifically toward parents, and vetted through parent work groups to aid in thoughtful and intentional delivery. And this site is a powerful partnership of the states foremost health organizations.

The campaign has the support of many of the major organized medicine and public health groups in Michigan, including the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, Michigan State Medical Society, Michigan Osteopathic Association, Michigan Association of Health Plans, Michigan Council of Nurse Practitioners, Michigan Council of Maternal and Child Health, Michigan Association of Local Public Health, and many more, says Sutfin.

Peer-reviewed and backed by scientific evidence

Though it can be difficult to cut through the noise when it comes to personal, medical decisions for yourself or your family, Loynes and her colleagues stress that the information they disseminate is peer reviewed and backed by scientific evidence.

It is important to ensure that everyone has access to reliable, credible, scientific-based immunization information, says Loynes. We know that finding immunization information on the internet can be easy but this information may not always be from a reliable source. Within the Division of Immunization at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) we strive to ensure that our healthcare providers and general public within the State have access to accurate immunization education.

For more credible information sources on vaccination, visit the following sites:

This article is part of a three-partseries on vaccination and the public health in West Michigan sponsored by the Kent County Health Department. Articles and their content are journalistically independent of and not reviewed by the KCHD. For reliable and evidence-based scientificinformation on communicable diseases and immunization in Michigan, visit theMichigan Department of Health and Human Services.

See original here:

How Michigan health professionals are working to provide the best data on vaccines - Rapid Growth

The Bruderhof is one of the oldest existing intentional communities in the world today. Our hundred-year-old communal movement now has multiple locations on four continents.

According to the Fellowship for Intentional Community, an intentional community is a place where people live together with shared resources on the basis of explicit common values. Some examples include ecovillages, cohousing, land trusts, income-sharing communes, student co-ops, and spiritual communities.

So what form does living in intentional community take at the Bruderhof?

For us, it is sharing all our resources in full community of goods. We believe that in order for an intentional community to work, you have to be fully committed to the idea. So we share our lives and finances; none of us owns any property in our name, none of us receives a paycheck, stipend, or allowance, and membership is a lifetime commitment. By doing that, weve built a place where are no rich or poor, where everyone is cared for, everyone belongs, and everyone can contribute. This is the answer to all that is wrong with society today.

Of course, once youve lived in fully intentional community for a while you wonder why people live any other way. When we pool all our income, talents, and energy, we can take care of one another and reach out to others. A lot of the day-to-day problems people deal with paying bills, getting a meal on the table, finding a good school for their children, access to medical care, feeling isolated are answered by living in community.

For us, the impetus to community is our explicit common values the teachings of Jesus and our faith in him. His two great commandments are Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength, and Love your neighbor as yourself. So we live together because we believe that communal living is the best way to follow Jesus.

Not all intentional communities practice sharing resources to the full extent we do, and many are not faith-based, either. And thats OK; we applaud any effort that brings people together in committed relationships and shared resources, properties, and gifts. We welcome visitors, including many who dont share our faith, and are happy to work and learn alongside each other. Get in touch and us know how you are living in or why you are interested in intentional community and lets learn from each other.

For more details about our form of intentional communal living common housing, work, meals, and so forth see our page on community of goods, and these sections of the Bruderhofs rule of life, Foundations of our Faith and Calling.Have questions? Read our Frequently Asked Questions, or contact us!

Go here to see the original:

Intentional Community - Bruderhof

AZ SedonaSt. Kateri Inclusive Catholic CommunityThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.928-203-6474St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 100 Arroyo Pinon Drive, Sedona, AZ 86336AZ TempeGuardian Angels Catholic Communityhttp://guardianangelscatholiccommunity.org This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.480-967-7729 Pstr Sue Ringler1701 College Ave Tempe, AZ 85281AZ TucsonSt Michael the Archangel Ecumenical Catholic Churchhttp://www.stmichaelsecc.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.520-575-8486740 E. Speedway, Tucson, ArizonaCAAmerican Catholic Churchhttp://www.americancatholicchurch.orgDiocese of CaliforniaCAA Critical Mass: Women Celebrating Eucharist/House ChurchThis email address is being protected from spambots. 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Town and Country Rd, Orange CA 92868SAMECA SacramentoGood Shepherd Communityhttp://goodshepherdcommunity.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.(916) 538-4774920 Drever Street, West SacramentoP. O. Box 162991 95816CA San FranciscoHouse Church East BayThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.CA San JoseCommunity of Jesus Our BrotherThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.CA Santa BarbaraSt. Anthony Community Associationhttp://www.st-anthony-community.org2300 Garden St Santa Barbara, CA 93105CA Santa BarbaraThe Catholic Church of the Beatitudeshttp://beatitudes-sb.org805-252-4105First Congregational Church, 2101 State St., Santa Barbara, CA 93015.CA VistaAll Saints American Catholic Churchhttp://www.allsaintsamericancatholicchurch.comThis email address is being protected from spambots. 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You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Georgetown UniversityDC WashingtonSaint Damien of Molokai Parishhttp://www.saintdamiendc.orgThe Phillips Chapel of the National City Christian Church at 5 Thomas CircleFL Center CityMary Mother of Jesus at Sun City Centerhttp://www.marymotherofjesus.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.(813) 938-5750415 Smithfield Lane, City Center FL 33573FL Fort LauderdaleParish of Sts. Francis and Clarehttp://www.stsfrancisandclare.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.954-731-8173101 NE 3rd Street Ft Lauderdale, FL 33301FL NaplesHouse ChurchThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.FL Port St. LucieSacred Heart Ecumenical Catholic Communityhttp://www.sacredheartcecc.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. 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You need JavaScript enabled to view it.(502) 386-3128See WebsiteLA New OrleansCommunity of John the EvangelistThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.MA BelmontPeople of the Promisehttp://www.peopleofthepromise.org781-598-8981Faber Community Chapel at Boston College, 188 Foster St. Brighton MAMA BostonPaulist Center Communityhttp://www.paulistboston.comThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.617-742-44605 Park Street Boston, MA 02108SAMEMA FraminghamSpirit of Life: A Catholic Community of Justice and Joyhttp://www.spiritoflifecommunity.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.(508) 877 6090Congregational Church of Weston/UCC: 130 Newton Street, Weston, MA 02493MA Harwich PortSt. Mary of Magdala Churchhttp://www.stmaryofmagdalachurch.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.508-432-0027326 Lower County Road, Harwich Port, MA 02646P.O. Box 774 Harwich Port, MA 02656MA HinghamGlastonbury Abbey Worship Communityhttp://www.glastonburyabbey.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.781-749-215516 Hull Street Hingham, MA 02043SAMEMA Jamaica PlainAlabaster Jar Liturgical CommunityThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.MA RaynhamCommunity of John XXIIIhttp://www.communityofjohnxxiii.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.114 Sunset Drive Raynham, MA 02767MA WareAgape Communityhttp://www.agapecommunity.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.413-967-93692062 Greenwich Rd. Ware, MA 01082SAMEMA Wesley HillsHoly Spirit Catholic Communityhttp://www.holyspiritboston.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.857-334-7678Unitarian Universalist Society of Wellesley Hills 309 Washington St. Wellesley Hills, MAP.O.Box 600459 Newtonville, MA 02460MD AnnapolisEpiphany Communityhttp://www.epiphanycommunity.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Cape St. Claire Clubhouse 1223 River Bay Road Cape St. Claire Annapolis, MDMD BaltimoreLiving Waterhttp://www.thelivingwatercommunity.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.410-455-0277MD BowieEmmaus Community of BowieThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.MD Glen BurnieSt Michael Old Catholic Missionarieshttp://smocm.oldcatholic.usThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.410-766-7729407 Crain Highway, South Glen Burnie MD 21061MD GreenbeltCatholic Community of GreenbeltThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.MD HyattsvilleQuixote Center Wednesday Night Liturgy GroupThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.MD RelayCatholic Community at Relayhttp://www.cc-relay.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.410-247-40335025 Cedar Ave. Relay, MD 21227MI Auburn HillsNamaste Intentional Eucharistic CommunityThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.MI FerndaleChrist the Good Shepherdhttp://www.ferndalecgs.comThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.248-677-5700Ferndale First United Methodist 22331 Woodward Ave Ferndale, MI 48220MI WyandotteSt. John XXIII House ChurchThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.734-250-0992 Bishop Jerry Brohl3352 19th St, Wyandotte, MI 48192SAMEMichiganFriends in Faithhttp://www.sacredtorch.comThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.231-633-3464MN Eden PrairieFriends in FaithThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.MN MinneapolisCompassion of Christ Catholic Communityhttp://www.compassionofchristcatholics.org/Prospect Park United Methodist Church 22 Orlin Ave Minneapolis, MNMN MinneapolisSpirit of St. Stephen's Catholic Communityhttp://www.spiritofststephens.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.612-767-45302201 First Avenue South, Minneapolis MN55404MN RochesterHoly Ground Communityhttps://sites.google.com/site/holygroundcommunityThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.507-286-9355Assisi Heights 1001 14th St NW Rochester, MN 550901MN Sunfish LakeSpirit of Hope Catholic Communityhttp://www.spiritofhopecatholiccommunity.org/This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.651-328-7723St. Anne's Episcopal Church 2035 Charlton Rd Sunfish Lake, MN 55118SAMEMO Kansas CityHoly Family Faith Communityhttp://www.holyfamilycwhouse.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.816-753-2677912 E. 31st Street Kansas City, MO 64109Catholic Worker HouseMO St. LouisReaching Out CommunityThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.MO St. LouisSt. Catherine of Siena American National Catholic Churchhttp://www.saintcatherinestl.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.314 329-82072613 Potomac Street St. Louis, MO 63118MO St. LouisTherese of Divine Peace Inclusive Communityhttp://www.thereseofdivinepeace.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.314-477-6089First Unitarian Church 5007 Waterman Blvd, St. Louis MO 63108NC AshevilleThe Church of All Saint and SortsThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.NC HertfordInterested in an IEC?This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.NE KearneyHoly Family Ecumenical Catholic CommunityThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.NJ Englewood Cliffs/TenaflyCommunity of Bread and JusticeThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.NJ GlenridgeSt. Francis of Assisihttp://www.stfrancisnj.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.195 Ridgewood Ave. Glen Ridge, NJ22 Mellon Ave West Orange, NJ 07052NJ MorristownVOTF Intentional Communityhttp://www.votfnj.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.St. Mark Lutheran Church, 100 Harter Rd., MorristownFran Malloy 3302 Appleton Way, Whippany, NJ 07981NJ NutleyThe Inclusive Communityhttp://www.christianbridges.comThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Stanley Congressional Church 94 Fairmont Ave Chatham, NJ 07928NJ RochesterMary Magdalene Churchhttp://www.marymagdalenechurch.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.(585) 586-41041008 Main Street East Rochester, NY 14445P.O. Box 67 East Rochester, NY 14445NJ SpartaSophia Inclusive Catholic Communityhttp://sophiainclusivecatholiccommunity.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.973-534-3978Walter C. Lynch Senior Center in Knoll Heights Village, 40 Trapasso Drive, Sparta New Jersey.NJ StirlingChristian Community-Shrine of St. Josephhttp://www.christiancommunitynj.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.223 High St. Stirling, NJ 07980NK Fort LeeSpirit Rising Liturgical CommunityThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.NM Santa FeCasa San Benitohttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Casa-San-Benito-Santa-Fe/107758372637982/This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Home ChurchNM Santa FeChurch of Antioch Santa Fehttp://www.coasf.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.505-983-9003Loretto Chapel located at 207 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NMNY BronxCircle of Christ Communityhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Circle-of-Christ-Church/229011731956This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.347- 945-1992147 Dreiser Loop Bronx, NY 10475OH CentrevilleFaith Community of St. Leonardhttp://www.stleonardfaithcommunity.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.937-435-3626St. Leonard Senior Community 8100 Clyo Road Centreville, OHOH CincinnatiInclusive Catholic Communityhttp://www.inclusivecatholicchurch.comThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.513-735-2876See WebsiteOH CincinnatiNew Jerusalem Catholic CommunityThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.OH ClevelandCommunity of St. Malachihttp://www.stmalachi.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.216-861-53432459 Washington Ave. Cleveland, OH 44113SAMEOH ClevelandThe Community of St. Bridget, an inclusive Catholic communityhttp://www.communityofstbridget.org/This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.216.544.4717Brecksville United Church of Christ, 23 Public Square, Brecksville, OH 44141 OH DaytonLiving Beatitudes Communityhttp://livingbeatitudes.blogspot.com/This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.937-640-2468Christ Episcopal church, 20 W. First Street Dayton, OHP.O. Box 3304 Dayton, OH 45401OH DaytonQueen of Apostles Communityhttp://www.qac-ohio.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.937-429-05104400 Shakertown Rd Dayton, OH 45430SAMEOH ToledoHoly Spirit Catholic Communityhttp://www.holyspirittoledo.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.419-727-17743925 West Central Avenue (Washington Church Chapel) Toledo, OH 436063156 Doyle Street Toledo, OH 43608-2006OK TulsaThe Parish Church of St. Jeromehttp://www.stjerometulsa.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.(918)582-3088205 W. King St., Tulsa, OK 74106 SAMEOR BeavertonMission of the Atonementhttp://www.motaspirit.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.503-646-13447400 SW Scholls Ferry Road Beaverton, OR 97008SAMEOR PortlandJourney Koinonia Catholic Communityhttp://www.allarewelcomepdx.org/This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.St Stephen's Episcopal Church 1432 SW 13th Ave. Portland OR 97201PA Drexel HillSt. Mary Magdalene Communityhttp://www.smmcommunity.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.610-909-8824Drexel Hill United Methodist Church 600 Burmont Rd Drexel Hill, PA 19026PA PhiladelphiaSanctuary of Peace Eucharistic CommunityThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Member's homesPA PhiladelphiaCommunity of the Christian Spirithttp://tuckerstales.dot5hosting.com/CCS/ccsindex.htmThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Elkins Square Shopping Center, Elkins Park, PAPA PhiladelphiaSt. Mary of Grace Independent Catholic Churchhttp://www.inclusivecatholics.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.(610) 876-4067145 W. Rose Tree Road, Media, PA 19063PA ReadingAll Souls Church (ECC)http://www.allsoulsecumenical.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.610-621-1738640 Centre Ave Reading, PAP.O. Box 15020 Reading, PA 19612-5020PA VillanovaVillanova CCD CommunityThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Toronto, Ontario CanadaTaproot Faith Communityhttp://www.taprootfaithcommunity.caThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.348 Danforth Ave Toronto, ON, Canada; Room #212TX DallasThe Open Windowhttps://www.facebook.com/CallToActionDallasTheOpenWindowThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Lisa Coleman, 214-641-6934TX HoustonDignity Houstonhttp://www.dignityhouston.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.832-390-4453Montrose Center401 Branard, 1st Floor,Room114P.O.Box66821 Houston, TX 77266United StatesCatholic Diocese of One Spirithttp://www.onespiritcatholic.orgNational OfficeUnited StatesEcumenical Catholic Communionhttp://www.ecumenical-catholic-communion.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.National OfficeUnited StatesRoman Catholic Women Priests (RCWP)http://www.romancatholicwomenpriests.orgNational OfficeUnited StatesUnited Catholic Churchhttp://www.united-catholic-church.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.203-393-3260P.O. Box 603 Cheshire, Ct 06410National OfficeUnited StatesWhite Robed Monks of St. Benedicthttp://www.whiterobedmonks.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.415-292-3228National OfficeUnited StatesWomen-Church Convergencehttp://www.women-churchconvergence.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.PO Box 806 Mill Valley, CA 94942National OfficeUnited StatesWomen's Ordination Conferencehttp://www.womensordination.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.(202) 675-1006PO Box 15057 Washington, DC 20003National OfficeUnited StatesCorpus USAhttp://www.corpus.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.508 523-4032VA ArlingtonNOVA Catholic Communityhttp://www.novacommunity.info(703) 539-2280VA CentrevilleSaint Anthony of Padua American National Catholic Churchhttp://www.mysaintanthonys.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.703-665-97305649 Mount Gilead Road Centreville, VAP.O. Box 315 Centreville, VA 20122VA Fairfax StationSt. Mary Magdalen Free Catholic CommunityThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.703-250-32886509 Kilkenny LN Fairfax Station, VA 22039VA Falls ChurchMary, Mother of Jesus Catholic Community House ChurchThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.VA LacyHoly Wisdom Inclusive Catholic Communityhttp://www.holywisdomicc.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.St. Benedicts Episcopal Church, 910 Bowker St. SE, Lacey, WA 98503.VA McLeanPAX (Pilgrims After Christ)http://www.paxcommunity.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Barbara Fischi 703-691-7560Saint Luke Orthodox Church 6801 Georgetown Pike McLean, VA 22101VA PortsmouthGathering of Friendshttp://www.gatheringoffriends.usThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.757-484-8297WA OlympiaEmmaus Ecumenical Catholic Communityhttp://www.emmaus-ecc.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.360-432-8241First Christian Church 701 Franklin Street Southeast, Olympia, WA 98501WA SeattleBrigid's TableThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.WA Seattle and EastsideSpiritus Deihttp://www.spiritusdei-ecc.orgWA SpokaneSt. Clare Ecumenical Catholic Communityhttp://www.stclareecc.comThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.509-361-04633102 W. Ft. George Wright Dr., Spokane, WA 99224WI MilwaukeeMary of Magdala, Apostle to the Apostles, Catholic Churchhttp://maryofmagdala-mke.org/This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.(414) 791 9952United Methodist Church, Wesley Hall. 1529 N Wauwatosa Ave. Wauwatosa, WI 532131529 N Wauwatosa Ave. Wauwatosa, WI 53213WI NeenahSS Cyril and Methodius Parish United Independent Catholic Churchhttp://www.sscyrilandmethodiusuicc.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.920-809-3969Congregational United Church of Christ 1511 Nicolet Blvd. Neenah, WI3499 Oakridge Road Neenah, WI 54956WI NennoJesus Our Shepherd at the Gardenshttp://www.jesusourshepherd.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.The Gardens 7003 Highway 175 in Nenno, WI1162 Saint Kilian Parkway, Hartford, WI 53027.WI OshkoshEmmaus Ecumenical Catholic Communityhttp://www.emmausoshkosh.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.920-410-5878137 Algoma Blvd., Oshkosh, WIP.O. Box 422 Oshkosh, WI 54903WV MartinsburgOratory of the TheotokosThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Intentional Eucharistic Communities - IEC Directory