Supporters and opponents of SpaceX launch site air their concerns – Ars Technica

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Enlarge / Rendering of SpaceX's Boca Chica launch site with FAA annotations.

FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration convened the first of two virtual public hearings on Monday evening to solicit public comments on SpaceX's plan to launch its Starship rocket from South Texas.

The hearing, which lasted nearly four hours, drew passionate support for SpaceX's plans to expand its Starbase facility as well as heated opposition. Limited to comments of threeminutes or less, nearly five dozen people spoke during the hearing over Zoom.

By my informal counting, the comments tallied 39 in favor of the project and 18 against. The comments in favor of SpaceX were more likely to come from out of state, from people generally appreciative of the company's efforts to make humanity a "multiplanetary species." However, there were plenty of local supporters as well.

Most of those who spoke against the project said they lived near Brownsville, or in the state of Texas. They cited a mix of environmental concerns, including wildlife habitat destruction, and impacts on the South Texas community, such as gentrification.

Several proponents of SpaceX said they had grown up near Cape Canaveral, in Florida, or other launch sites around the planet and had not seen environmental degradation in the vicinity. Rohan Joseph, who identified himself as an aerospace engineer, "lifelong environmentalist," and birder, cited the protection of sea turtles at launch sites in India as an example of the positive effects of a launch site on an area.

He also wondered why SpaceX appeared to be receiving so much scrutiny for its launch site when there was a former oil drilling site in the vicinity, or, if the environment was so pristine, why nearby South Padre Island had been allowed to be built up. "If SpaceX were an oil exploration company, there would be no questions asked," Joseph said.

A number of supporters also cited the project's ability to inspire a new generation of Texans. Gail Afar, a registered nurse in Texas, works with children in schools, and she said their eyes light up when the topic of SpaceX is raised.

Austin Barnard, who said he has lived in Brownsville his entire life, recalled growing up in South Texas without any sense of hope for the future. "The community is now embracing the idea that there is a new dawn for humanity," Barnard said. "I find it awe-inspiring and beautiful."

A city commissioner from Brownsville, Jessica Tetreau-Kalifa, noted that before SpaceX's decision to move to South Texas in 2013, the area was "the poorest community in the United States." By coming to the region, she said, SpaceX has changed everything, from the perception of the region to its economic outlook. The company now employs more than 2,000 people locally, she said.

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Supporters and opponents of SpaceX launch site air their concerns - Ars Technica

Ex-SpaceX engineers are working on portable nuclear reactors that can power over 1,000 homes – Business Insider India

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The startup Radiant was founded by ex-SpaceX engineers who recently secured funding of $1.2 million to develop these portable nuclear reactors. Radiants nuclear reactors can deliver over 1 MegaWatt of electricity and they can operate for up to eight years. This makes it possible for one reactor to power over 1,000 homes.

Whats different with these nuclear reactorsThe nuclear reactors developed by Radiant use helium instead of water for cooling. This method, according to the company greatly reduces corrosion, boiling and contamination risks. The particle fuel used in these reactors does not melt according to Radiant and is also said to be capable of handling higher temperatures than traditional nuclear fuels. The company is also working around ways to refuel the reactors and also efficiently transport heat out of the reactor core.

Small nuclear reactorsSmall nuclear reactors are being developed by several countries including NASA who is making one the size of a garbage can. According to the World Nuclear Association, small nuclear reactors are convenient as they can be efficiently built in a controlled factory. Their small size and safety features also make it possible for them to be lent to countries with smaller grids. It can also help with easier financing as compared to larger nuclear plants.

SEE ALSO:

Apple MacBook Pro and AirPods 3 launched Indian pricing, features and everything you need to know

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Ex-SpaceX engineers are working on portable nuclear reactors that can power over 1,000 homes - Business Insider India

What is the dark web? – fox4kc.com

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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. Its sometimes called the underbelly of the internet. The dark web.It is made up of a series of websites hidden from the general public, yet accessible to anyone across the world.

For those whove studied its secrets, the dark web can be a place where criminal activity can go on without the eyes of the law watching.

Dr. Shannon McMurtrey, a professor of cyber security at Drury University, says the dark web serves different purposes depending on where you live.

In a lot of countries where free speech is limited and the censorship is heavy, the dark web is a way for people to get access to information without the worry of censorship, says McMurtrey. However, If you live in a country that has an open, free internet and you can just get online and search for whatever you want, there tends to be more criminal activity that takes place on the dark web.

The dark web was originally created by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to ensure operatives could communicate with each other without being tracked.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory open-sourced the software for whats now the dark web in 2004. Its been managed by a non-profit called the Tor Project in Massachusetts. McMurtrey says it gained popularity in the U.S. due to the dark web allowing criminals to buy, sell and trade without law enforcement watching.

Passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, its all available online. Certainly, the drug trade is what made it famous, when the Silk Road was taken down that was probably when it came on the radar for most people.

The dark web can be accessed through a specific browser called Onion browser or Tor Browser. McMurtrey says its similar to the Google Chrome and Firefox browsers we use every day, only this one is able to access sites you wouldnt find on the surface of the internet.

McMurtrey says a majority of the dark web is innocent citizens from other countries looking for ways to access an everyday website that are blocked by their governments firewall.

However, he says the minority of the dark webs content can be traumatizing for some people.

Theres no end to human depravity, thats one thing that history has taught us and unfortunately the dark web is a magnet for human depravity. Certainly, there are marketplaces on the web for things that are stomach-turning and theres a lot of things that are sold on the dark web online that shouldnt be.

When using the dark web, your computers location cannot be tracked, but McMurtrey says there may be some government agencies sophisticated enough to be capable of tracking your entry and exit points from the Tor browser.

Someone with sufficient resources might be able to time and track traffic that goes into the dark web and comes out of the dark web and draw some conclusions about where that person might be. So, I wouldnt say conclusively that you can be tracked, but I certainly would encourage people to have good intentions when they use the technology.

While McMurtrey says the dark web can be a useful tool to access information or discuss topics with privacy, he says theres little reason a typical U.S. citizen would need to use it.

There are things that you just dont want to see, you dont want to be a part of and you can stumble across it without necessarily trying so when you start digging into those websites that you cant get to with a normal web browser, you dont know whats going to be there until the page loads, and theres no reason to do that.

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Use of VPNs in India spiking because of blocked websites, experts say ban proposal will not help users – India Today

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Indians are familiar with sharing Netflix accounts. One account, four users. Now, the same Indians are looking to share the cost of virtual private networks (VPNs) as increasingly they pay for VPN accounts. The reasons are several. There are thousands of websites that are now banned in India, using opaque and official or unofficial means. To access many of these websites, Indian users are now turning to VPNs. Then, there is the safety and surveillance aspect. As cybercrimes, identity thefts and the risks of surveillance grow in India, users are turning to VPNs.

Here is a number: According to data extracted from Google Play Store and Apple App Store using Sensor Tower service, India ranked fourth among 85 countries in the VPN penetration rate for the first half of 2021. India's VPN installation penetration went up from only 3.28 per cent population in 2020 to 25.27 per cent in the first six months of 2021.

But beyond the numbers, there are stories. A group of friends was looking for a fourth member to share their Virtual Private Network (VPN) account with. Even before I could say yes to my part of the contribution, they had found someone else.

Though soon, another friend approached with a similar proposal, asking me if I wanted to share an account with her. That is just how popular and useful VPNs are now deemed in India. While a lot of VPN use is to access streaming content that is geographically locked out of India, that's not the only reason why Indians are now using VPNs.

A tech enthusiast, on the condition of anonymity, says that user information can be stolen even from poorly configured private WiFi, let alone public WiFi, which is next level insecure. Because the data travelling through VPN is encrypted, it helps during banking transactions as it cannot be snooped from unsecured websites from internet connections. Now that there is talk of banning VPNs in India, there is a fear among users that it would lead to inconvenience. At the same time, experts say that banning VPNs is no solution because there are many more different methods that cybercriminals for their activities. Last month, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs noted that the use of VPNs should be banned in India. Here is how a VPN works.

A VPN user says that the ban proposal is ridiculous. "Today they want to block VPNs citing crime, next they would want to disable password protection on phones as criminals use passwords on their phones to hide evidence," says the person.

Experts say that there is a legitimate use of VPNs. "I use VPN for privacy reasons. A friend told me that out of many other issues, using the public internet is dangerous without VPNs. So when I go to an airport or a cafe and use the net, I like to feel secure. And again, privacy is very important to me. The service providers and these corporate conglomerates already know too much about me than I am comfortable with," says Mritunjay Rathore, who started using VPNs a while ago.

Karan Saini, an ethical hacker, notes that VPNs allow people to access the uncensored internet. He says that a sizeable number of websites are blocked in India -- over 4000 -- without regard to their content, whether pornographic, scientific, cultural, or anything else. He says that the ability of Indian internet users to browse the web freely is decisively fettered and will continue to be in the foreseeable future.

"Considering that, banning one of the ways in which users circumvent censorship should be considered extremely harmful for the ecosystem of the internet in India and quality of life in the country in general," says Saini.

Saini is a big believer in VPNs and their ability to protect user information. He says users should use VPN services (they don't necessarily have to be commercial VPN services), even if they have nothing to hide. "A ban on VPN services will hamper democratic freedoms enjoyed by Indians, and which are furthered by the internet," says Saini.

Who is likely to get affected the most by the VPN ban, and will it help stop cybercrime? Experts say that a ban will create hassles for users, without impacting cybercriminals.

"If there is a ban on VPN, the biggest challenge will be faced by internet companies or big corporations as they use it the most to tackle various attacks," says cyber security researcher Rajashekhar Rajaharia. "Most ethical hackers and cyber security researchers also use VPN because they do not want their IPs to be tracked."

But how bad can banning VPNs get? Rajaharia says it will not make much of a difference to cybercriminals as they will continue to use the TOR browser which is near impossible to ban or block. "VPN can be tracked but TOR cannot be tracked, which makes TOR a bigger challenge. While VPN or proxies are used by big companies, TOR is used by hackers, so the authorities cannot entirely stop hackers or spammers from carrying out their activity," he says.

Akshay Pednekar, a Mumbai-based cyber security analyst, says that if the government is thinking of banning something, it should aim at TOR and not VPNs. "TOR was built to access the internet," he says, adding that this feature of TOR has resulted in an ecosystem of the deep web where a lot of illegal activities going on. Banning VPNs is unlikely to offer any solution, he suggests.

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Use of VPNs in India spiking because of blocked websites, experts say ban proposal will not help users - India Today

When it comes to financial independence, be a hawk – Morningstar India

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Everyone wants to be financially independent, but few are acutely aware of what it means to them, and the principles that need to be followed to achieve it. InvestorIan Casselhas some amazing insights that can lay the foundation for a roadmap.

Dont be afraid to say no to 99.9% of investment opportunities. You only need to find one great company, before others, to change your life. Extraordinary returns follow extraordinary discipline. An investors goal should always be to make as few investment decisions as possible. Keep your hurdle rate high and embrace inaction.

Chickens will eat anything you put in front of them. They will eat insects, bugs, meat, fruit, vegetables, fish, and, yes, even chicken. They have no self-control and will even eat their own eggs and faeces.

A hawk can see up to 8x more clearly than the sharpest human eye. To put in comparison, if you had a hawks vision you could see an ant on the ground from on top a 10-storey building. A hawks eye is so large that it occupies a big portion of its skull. The hawk knows what its looking for.

The visual capabilities let the hawk distinguish the size, shape, and speed of the potential prey so it can recognize, target, and capture it quickly. As you fly above the investment landscape looking for opportunities, develop tools, strategies, even statements, that you can apply quickly to evaluate opportunities. Know what you are looking for so you can develop the vision to recognize an opportunity quicker.

8 insights on getting wealthy

No one gets rich keeping their money in a savings bank account. For me, the advantage was microcap stocks, the smallest public companies in the world. For you, it might be another area of the public markets or maybe even real estate, or some other area of expertise. Through skill and prudence, you get to a point where you finally have a choice.

There is a reason why I exclusively invest in the microcap arena. Its one of the only places in the public markets where a small, astute investor has a clear structural advantage. It is impossible for larger institutions to invest in these small companies until these stocks rise and become more liquid. Great investors dont follow the institutions; they invest where they are going to go. (Did you know that Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, and many other great investors started in micro and small cap stocks as well?)

Individual investors have an edge over investment managers, advisers, analysts, or anyone forced to prove how smart they are to others. You dont need to have an opinion on everything. You dont have distractions. All you have to do is focus on making a few good investment decisions per year.

3 investment hacks for young people

On my 16th birthday, my parents presented me with $20,000. It could be for my college education. They had also co-signed paperwork so that I could open an account with their financial adviser. The choice was mine.

I had always been interested in money and the stock market. Technology stocks were starting to make daily headlines in the business section of newspapers. I called the financial adviser and he sent me a few analyst reports to review. I bought $5,000 worth of one technology stock. It doubled in two months.

I filled out applications to a few private and public colleges. I realised I could spend all my money on one semester at a private college or attend a less expensive public university, live at home and commute, work part time, and continue to invest. I chose the latter path.

I worked part time for a financial adviser with over 1,000 clients. The money I earned was sufficient to pay for my college tuition. The $20,000 from my parents turned into $120,000 by riding the technology bubble. When the bubble burst, so did my portfolio.By 2001, my portfolio of mid and small cap technology companies fell so much they turned into microcaps. The $120,000 was now $8,000. I was financially and emotionally bruised.

It dawned on me that I was not skilled, just plain lucky.

When you are holding onto a position ask yourself Is this business growing and making more money per share than it did a year ago, two years ago? Successful investors can differentiate business performance from stock performance and can take advantage of those investors who cant. Even great businesses get overvalued. Its important to make investing decisions based on business performance, not stock performance. Its also important to know the distinction between external stock market forces driving a stock price versus business reasons.

Learning and evolving is a big driver of long-term success as a full-time private investor.

How to combat these 6 investing demons

A lot of people incorrectly assume that they need enough money to do nothing. You just need enough to do whatever you want. The power is having a choice. The choice might be to work less to spend more time with family, to go back to university, to start your own business, to travel, or perhaps even take a job that pays you less but gives you purpose when you wake up in the morning.

One of my mentors is a successful private investor. He works his day job not because he has to, but because he likes it. His non-financial job offers him lots of autonomy, so he can focus on his investing when he needs to. His job also shields him from questions from family and friends if he were to quit his job and retire. What most dont know about him is he has grown his portfolio from $100,000 to over $50 million over 20 years. You would never know it. He still lives in the same house, still has the same friends, still has the same life. One of his biggest worries is people finding out what hes done and looking at him differently.

As you grow your capital you will reach a pivot point when you feel you finally have a choice to do what you want in life. Some of you will choose to keep your day jobs because you love them. But some of you will choose to finally break free from a job and routine that have been holding you back.

6 questions that will get you excited about saving

Larissa Fernand is Senior Editor at Morningstar India. You can follow her onTwitter.

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When it comes to financial independence, be a hawk - Morningstar India

Bangor Savings Bank partners with Maine on novel benefits program – WMTW Portland

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MORE AFFORDABLE- -BY MAKING THEM AVAILABLE AT MORE RETAILERS AND ONLIN E. A NEW LEVEL OF INDEPENDENCE FOR PEOPLE LINGVI WITH DISABILITES IN MAINE- THANKS TO A NEW TYPE OF BANKING SERVICE FROM BANGOR SAVINGS BANK. IT WORKS LIKE A CHECKING ACCOUNT, WITH ACCESSO T CHECKS AND A DEBIT CARD -- THE FEDERAL PROGRAM IS DESIGNED FOR SAVING AND LONGER TERM INVESTMENTS. BUT NOW, MAINERS WITH DISABILITIES HAVE MORE FREEDOM AND ACCESS TO MAKE DAY ILFINANCIAL DECISIONS. THIS GIVES FOLKS RECEIVING DISABILITY BENEFITS ALL OF THE ABILITY TO BOTH SAVE F OR THEIR FUTURE AND ALSO TO SPEND SOME OF THE MONEY THAT THEY'RE SAVING ON QUALIFIED BENEFITS. IN PARTNERSHIP WITH E TH STATE, OFFICIALS S

Bangor Savings Bank partners with Maine on novel benefits program

Updated: 4:15 PM EDT Oct 19, 2021

Bangor Savings Bank is launching a first-of-its-kind product in partnership with Maine State Treasurer, Maine ABLE Benefit CheckingSM, created for people with disabilities. The account allows greater accessibility for financial products and services, while also protecting eligibility for federal and state of Maine means-tested benefits, announced Bangor Savings Bank. A $2,000 limit in resources for individuals receiving benefits like Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance has been the norm until now. The account, available to all qualifying Maine residents, can be opened at any Bangor Savings Bank branch.Being the first such program in the country, ABLE Accounts offer a unique public-private collaboration, Bob Montgomery-Rice, president and CEO of Bangor Savings Bank, said. "Creating and offering this program supports the financial independence and well-being of Maine's residents with disabilities and reflects our ongoing commitment to provide better banking experiences for all community members," Montgomery-Rice said. ABLE Accounts will give opportunities for "financial health, planning and empowerment" to individuals with disabilities and their families.Originating from the Federal ABLE Act, created in 2014, ABLE accounts are established and managed at the state level, overseen by the Office of the Maine State Treasurer.

Bangor Savings Bank is launching a first-of-its-kind product in partnership with Maine State Treasurer, Maine ABLE Benefit CheckingSM, created for people with disabilities.

The account allows greater accessibility for financial products and services, while also protecting eligibility for federal and state of Maine means-tested benefits, announced Bangor Savings Bank.

A $2,000 limit in resources for individuals receiving benefits like Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance has been the norm until now.

The account, available to all qualifying Maine residents, can be opened at any Bangor Savings Bank branch.

Being the first such program in the country, ABLE Accounts offer a unique public-private collaboration, Bob Montgomery-Rice, president and CEO of Bangor Savings Bank, said.

"Creating and offering this program supports the financial independence and well-being of Maine's residents with disabilities and reflects our ongoing commitment to provide better banking experiences for all community members," Montgomery-Rice said.

ABLE Accounts will give opportunities for "financial health, planning and empowerment" to individuals with disabilities and their families.

Originating from the Federal ABLE Act, created in 2014, ABLE accounts are established and managed at the state level, overseen by the Office of the Maine State Treasurer.

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Bangor Savings Bank partners with Maine on novel benefits program - WMTW Portland

1-In-3 Canadian Parents Surveyed Aren’t Confident They’re Setting a Healthy Financial Example for Their Kids – Yahoo Finance

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The 2021 TD Financial Literacy Month Survey Reveals:

33% of Canadian parents surveyed aren't confident they're setting a healthy financial example for their children.

10% of Canadian parents surveyed consider their household to be in "excellent financial health."

45% of Canadian parents surveyed don't have a household budget.

TORONTO, Oct. 19, 2021 /CNW/ - A recent September 2021 Ipsos survey conducted on behalf of The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) ahead of Financial Literacy Month in Canada, reveals that one-third (33%) of Canadian parents surveyed aren't confident they're setting a healthy financial example for their children. The survey also reveals that only 29 per cent of Canadian parents surveyed consider their household to be in "excellent" or "good" financial health" which includes the ability to pay bills on time, carry manageable debt, have short and long-term savings, and a financial plan.

TD Bank Group Logo (CNW Group/TD Bank Group)

"Parents can be the biggest influence on their child's financial know-how, yet our survey shows many aren't sure about the kind of example they set for their kids when it comes to money management," says Jennifer Bishop, Head of Financial Health & Education at TD. "Asking for help when it comes to managing and talking about money can be an important step towards improving financial health. Speaking to a financial advisor can help a parent be better prepared to have the "money talk" with their children and support the development of healthy financial habits."

Bad Budgeting HabitsHaving and maintaining a budget is a fundamental behavior to achieving good financial health, yet the TD survey reveals that nearly half (45%) of Canadian parents surveyed say they do not set a household budget. Setting a budget now can help set the stage for responsible financial behaviours in the future, especially for older teenagers who are looking to leave the nest and are taking on their own financial obligations like saving for post-secondary education or making their monthly cell phone or car payments. That way, before this age group flies the coop, they will understand the benefits of putting in the effort to create a detailed budget.

Story continues

According to the TD study, of the parents surveyed that do have a household budget, only one-in-four parents (25%) believe they take a thorough approach to their financial planning - indicating most households aren't planning for the unexpected.

"If the pandemic has taught us anything, it's how important it is to have a household budget that includes setting aside funds for emergencies," says Bishop. "The unpredictability of the pandemic has shown us that it's important to plan for the unexpected. It is also a good opportunity to start the money conversation with our children, as it can foster healthy approaches to budgeting for parents and financial independence for children."

Wants vs NeedsAn allowance is a great tool to help younger children for example those under 13 - understand the concept of money and budgeting. According to the TD survey, nearly a quarter of parents surveyed give their children an allowance for completing household chores (21%) or as a reward for good behaviour (5%).

When it comes to parents with kids aged five and up, 28 per cent of survey respondents say their child does not know the difference between a want and need. "Kids will often see something, like candy at a check-out, and want it immediately," says Bishop. "These are good moments to teach kids the concept of needs versus wants, and that money is finite. If we buy the chocolate bar now, we won't have enough money to buy that toy you really want."

When to have the "money talk" When it comes to having the money talk, the TD survey reveals a lack of consensus on timing. One quarter (25%) of Canadian parents surveyed don't regularly talk to their children about money, with the primary reason being that they feel their child is too young. Other reasons for not talking about how to manage money include not believing it's an important topic for kids or not something they need to worry about (12%), because they'll learn about finances in school (11%), or because it's a taboo topic that shouldn't be discussed with anyone (4%).

The survey also reveals that conversations about finances between parents and kids are often reactive. Among surveyed Canadian parents, the most common catalyst for these conversations is their child receiving money as a gift (27%), when the child shows interest or asks questions (20%) and when they start getting an allowance (19%).

"It's never too early to have fun, creative and open conversations about money with your kids. From counting coins in a piggy bank to opening-up a first bank account and looking at the account activity together, there are many ways to involve kids in managing their finances," says Bishop. "Financial education is critical, and when children learn to manage money at a young age, they are more likely to have a long-lasting responsible and healthy relationship with money as adults."

Building Financial ConfidenceAs a long-time advocate and supporter of financial education, TD has several sources of information available as follows:

TD Ready Advice provides information and articles on a variety of financial topics, from how to keep track of day-to-day expenses to how to navigate the first-time homebuying process.

TD advisors are available at our TD branches across the country to help provide personalized advice and help customers with their financial goals.

Learn more about how we are supporting Financial Education in communities across Canada and the United States by visiting The TD Ready Commitment Financial Literacy page.

TD recently announced a CDN $10 million commitment to the Black Opportunity Fund, where part of the funds will go to Black-serving community and non-profit organizations focused on areas of financial security.

About the StudyTD Bank Group commissioned Ipsos to conduct a national online survey of 1,000 Canadian parents aged 18+ with kids under 18 in the house. This poll was conducted between September 17 and 22, 2021.

About TD Bank Group The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries are collectively known as TD Bank Group ("TD" or the "Bank"). TD is the fifth largest bank in North America by assets and serves more than 26 million customers in three key businesses operating in a number of locations in financial centres around the globe: Canadian Retail, including TD Canada Trust, TD Auto Finance Canada, TD Wealth (Canada), TD Direct Investing, and TD Insurance; U.S. Retail, including TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, TD Auto Finance U.S., TD Wealth (U.S.), and an investment in The Charles Schwab Corporation; and Wholesale Banking, including TD Securities. TD also ranks among the world's leading online financial services firms, with more than 15 million active online and mobile customers. TD had CDN$1.7 trillion in assets on July 31, 2021. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD" on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges.

SOURCE TD Bank Group

Cision

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Asante closes first tranche of $7.5m Series A funding to bridge the gap in MSME lending in Africa – Finextra

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Asante Financial Services Group (Asante) announces $7.5 million Series A investment anchored by Goodwell Investments with participation by other investors including Sorenson Impact Foundation and Forsage Holdings.

We are delighted to welcomeour new investors including Goodwell, Sorenson andForsagein our inaugural institutional fundraise. Together, we will advance access to finance, and financial independence and wellbeing for the millions of small businesses on the continent, said Chidi Okpala, Founding CEO of Asante.

MSMEs have a significant impact on the economies of most countries, especially emerging markets, representing 90% of all businesses, 66% of all jobs created and 50% of the worlds GDP. Yet according to the World Bank, the annual SME credit gap in Sub Saharan Africa is about US$330 million. MSMEs are often neglected by lenders due to a combination of factors. These include the high cost of customer acquisition and due diligence, insufficient data availability for accurate credit assessments, lack of collaterals, uncertain customer lifetime values, and the high costs of distribution and servicing.There is a large opportunity for lenders who are able to overcome these challenges.

Asante differentiates itself with its ecosystem-based digital lending platform that uses alternative data and a proprietary AI loan decisioning management system to approve loans to MSMEs. The company works directly with ecosystem channel partners to collectconventional and non-conventionalMSME data, with the prior consent of the clients. Its channel partners include Africas largest telcos, mobile-based marketplaces, airlines, retailers, payment processors, insurance companies, smartphone phone OEMs and large FMCGs. This significantly reduces the cost of customer acquisition and due diligence, while providing sufficient alternative data for credit underwriting.

As a result, Asante is in a strong position to address the credit gap and accelerate its rollout. Asante has executed over 16 strategic corporate channel partnerships, giving Asante direct access to 2m MSMEs with a monthly lending opportunity in excess of US$200 million.

With over650% growth in lendingactivitiessince Q1 2021 and a sustained average all-in default rate of 2.5%, Asante is well-positioned to fast track scaleand deepen our impact in our operating markets. Our bold post-COVID response is helping small businesses recover, reconstruct and reposition for growth while ensuring that thousands of jobs are safeguarded. We look forward to a round extension very early in the new year to support the solid growth momentum, notes Okpala.

MSMEsparticularly those in the informal sectorare being held back by a lack of responsible lending from traditional financial services providers who are unable to run accurate credit checks and offer profitable loans to this segment of the market. Asante has solved these problems through its innovative digital platform and ecosystem approach. The companys success to date is proof that the model works, and we are very confident that the business will scale quickly and successfully with this round of funding, explains Bitta Wycliffe, Senior Investment Associate atGoodwellInvestments.

This is the 20th investment byGoodwellInvestmentsuMunthufund, of which 50% is invested in financial inclusion. Asante is a perfect fit and a great addition to our portfolio of other socially responsible financial services providers.

Asante is a strategic partner of Mastercard for digital lending in Africa and the only African fintech in a class of 6 scaling start-ups selected in May 2021 to join the award-winning Mastercard Start Path program. Asante is currently piloting its Business Lending Platform, to further extenditslending and other services to small business clients with essential tools like Business Financial Manager, Management Toolkit and Tax Advisoryto assist them to operate more efficientlywhile infusing resilience into their operations. Via the platform, Asante will also be able to offer insurance, payments, and other products to its clients.

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Asante closes first tranche of $7.5m Series A funding to bridge the gap in MSME lending in Africa - Finextra

HCL Technologies to onboard 2,600 students in Vietnam in five years – Mint

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BENGALURU: HCL Technologies Ltd has launched its TechBee early career programme in Vietnam with plans to onboard 2,600 candidates in the next five years, starting in 2021.

Designed exclusively for high-school graduates, the TechBee programme prepares students technically and professionally for global IT careers in HCL, where candidates undergo an extensive 12-month training to become successful IT professionals and work for global companies.

HCL Vietnam strives to foster growth and train the nations talent pool in collaboration with high schools and local ICT (information and communications technology) and engineering institutions. Any local student who has successfully completed high school and holds a high school graduation certificate or its equivalent, can apply for the TechBee programme. Enrolment in the programme will take place through an entrance test," the company said in a statement.

After the successful completion of the 12-month training programme, the candidates will join HCL Vietnam and will be paid salary equivalent to the job roles.

Vietnam has great market potential and talent pool for global technology companies to harness," said Sanjay Gupta, corporate vice president, HCL Technologies. The programme will give students an early start in high-tech career roles. With this program, HCL aims to hire the best talent from the country and give them financial independence early in their lives."

HCL started this programme in India in 2017 with an aim to hire the best talent and enable them to achieve financial independence. Running successfully in India, Australia and Sri Lanka, HCLs TechBee programme involves training selected candidates on high-tech niche technologies to make them job-ready early in their lives.

Till date, more than 3,000 students have completed the TechBee programme and now work with HCL. The Noida-based IT major began its business operations in Vietnam in July 2020. According to HCL, a key part of its business and development strategy in Vietnam is to provide the right skilling and platforms to train the local talent in high-tech domains and provide them with the requisite exposure of working on global assignments.

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Astra Protocol to Ensure Regulation For Blockchain, Crypto, and DeFi By CoinQuora – Investing.com

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The world has seen the rise of blockchain-based platforms and virtual currencies. Astra Protocol says this teaches one valuable lesson that humans love to maintain control over their assets and everything else; that it is engraved in human nature. The COVID-19 outbreak also caused a shift to consumer behavior, which brought forth setbacks in global capital markets. If one can recall, the financial markets crashed drastically since the pandemic started. As a result, investors and average people looked for reliable ways to save their assets from crippling inflation.

This is how other cryptocurrencies aside from (BTC) rose take (ETH) and (SOL) for example. The astronomical increase of the prices of digital assets, as well as NFTs (non-fungible tokens), is evident today. However, important regulatory challenges are yet to be addressed.

Furthermore, decentralized projects (DeFi) have also emerged as a high-potential financial services sector. In detail, it aims to fully decentralize how people transact and carry out business activities. DeFi Prime data states that there are around 243 DeFi-related initiatives currently listed. Here, Ethereum takes up most of the market shares with 220 projects developed on top of the Ethereum platform.

The steady rise of crypto projects, moreover, has one key drawback according to Astra Protocol the lack of legal certainty and adequate measures to ensure consumer protection. Sure, crypto-asset ownership offers financial independence and well-being but it also comes with serious potential risks.

Crypto Regulations, Sanctions, and Other Compliance Measures

Today, legacy systems have maintained a firm grip on how consumers and businesses perform monetary transactions. Along with regulatory frameworks, the two oversee global currency exchange, loans for business, insurance services, and other business activities. These laws are supported by jurisdictional requirements, which makes them confined and limited to a single physical territory.

Because cryptocurrencies are permissionless and borderless, consumers are allowed to engage in cross-border transactions sometimes without relying on intermediaries to finalize transactions. The entire ecosystem of cryptocurrencies does not have strict regulations, sanctions, and other measures; which could somehow result in losing access to funds.

The rising popularity of DeFi adoption entails an increase in malicious hackers consequently along with damaging exploits and other types of illicit activities. This is one of the reasons why regulatory authorities are keen on regulating the nascent sector. Regulatory authorities have been working on taking disciplinary measures against projects that engage with financial crimes.

Providing a Robust Peace of Mind Assurance Layer

DeFi is considered a very high-risk industry for big companies. There are inadequate measures in place to ensure that consumers are protected from abusive activities. Hence, what the nascent sector needs is a high level of trust and robust peace of mind assurance layer this can bridge the gap between the crypto industry to the broader financial sector.

This is where Astra Protocol comes in.

According to Astra Protocol, the team aims to add an on-chain layer of assurance and safety. They explained, smart contracts which automate business logic in a decentralized manner, are now the key aspect of almost all decentralized blockchain platforms.

To clarify, smart contracts are key components in any decentralized system like DeFi. It helps in establishing trust in a safe investment. However, it is yet to have a regulator or an oversight function for monitoring decentralized protocols that effectively eliminate doubt, potential fraud, and a proper dispute resolution system. All these features, moreover, would make a way to have public, permissionless, blockchains for everyone this is exactly what Astra Protocol wants to give.

The Astra Protocol team further stated that they,

Here, the team also noted that the funds will arrive safely at their promised destination because of ASTRA. To add on, the protocol can also quickly address problems and return the money with minimal friction if and only if there is a mishap.

Astra Protocol offers an innovative, on-chain dispute resolution system by adding a legal assurance layer to blockchain-based smart contracts. The explained that before a transfer is finalized, the parties have to agree to work with Astra protocol hence, making it a default mechanism in handling any conflict. This protocol indeed leverages human expertise and the latest tech to secure all transfers.

Moreover, by integrating a dispute resolution clause on a platform, along with smart contracts, often dubbed as Proof of Trust, projects will be able to manage disagreements amicably.

The emergence of new forms of money is expected to create challenges. In fact, this is a natural part of the adoption and transition phase. With Astra Protocol, decentralized companies will be able to adhere to regulations that are outlined by the U.S. SEC and other regulatory authorities worldwide.

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Joe Manchin’s ‘blind trust’ is an utter farce | Will Bunch Newsletter – The Philadelphia Inquirer

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A popular leader whose words are followed closely by millions of American voters just unveiled a political platform out there in left field with Bernie and AOC: Universal basic income, a shorter work day, a Big Tech crackdown on hate speech, curbs on the global arms trade and deep cuts in pollution. Unfortunately for Democrats, Pope Francis is constitutionally barred from seeking the White House.

Did someone forward you this email? Sign up to receive this newsletter weekly at inquirer.com/bunch, and youll get politics without the infallibility.

America has learned a lot in 2021 about West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and the things he doesnt like, as he positions himself as the decider on what legislation can or cant through the Congress. Hes not a big fan of what he calls the entitlement society apparently any government action that benefits working folks instead of those who float on or near the senators luxury houseboat or anyone bad-mouthing fossil fuels. But what the most conservative Democrat on Capitol Hill really hates is people asking him about his money.

In late September, Manchin snapped at a Bloomberg reporter, Ari Natter, who asked about the annual dividend checks the lawmaker still collects from a coal company now run by his son. Ive been in a blind trust for 20 years, Manchin insisted. I have no idea what theyre doing. When Natter continued to press about the millions Manchin has received from Enersystems, Manchin angrily asked, You got a problem? and when Natter asked another question, Youd do best to change the subject.

Lets not, shall we? In fact, lets make Manchin and the conflict of interest that now threatens Planet Earth the main subject of todays newsletter.

After all, it was less than three weeks later that word leaked on Capitol Hill that Manchin knowing that President Bidens ambitious climate agenda cant pass the 50-50 Senate without his support is successfully blocking the critical $150 billion component to help utilities replace dirty fossil fuels, including coal, with clean energy. Experts say that without the program, the lynchpin of the White House climate strategy, the United States wont meet scientists timeline for reversing global warming.

So, yeah, we do have a problem, Senator Manchin. And part of the problem is this: When the senator says that his not-insignificant fortune is in a blind trust his robotic response, for more than a decade hes technically not lying. But Manchins wealth isnt in a blind trust in the sense that most people would understand that term. The senator knows that coal dollars are floating his boat. Like much of what passes for ethics in Congress, the whole thing is a farce. As any hardened investigative reporter would tell you, the corruption of Joe Manchin is the worst kind the legal kind.

Its a misnomer these are not blind trusts whatsoever, Craig Holman, the Capitol Hill lobbyist on ethics and related matters for the good-government group Public Citizen, told me on Monday. He added that Manchin is one walking conflict of interest.

There are several loopholes that a senator could steer a houseboat through. For one thing, despite Manchins sanctimonious answer, his money is not in a traditional blind trust in which all assets are liquidated and a manager invests the proceeds without the beneficiary knowing what stocks or funds that theyre buying. As Holman explained, members of Congress hold qualified blind trusts in order to comply with other financial disclosure rules so while an outside manager might be making investment decisions, a lawmaker often knows where his money sits.

READ MORE: Joe Manchin beats his chest for D.C. elites while struggling W. Va. waits for help | Will Bunch

It seems an assault on the English language to call Manchins coal stake a blind trust especially when the nations most prominent newspaper, the New York Times, reported in 2011 Sen. Manchin Maintains Lucrative Ties to Family-Owned Coal Company. Presumably Manchin noticed the name Enersystems or a second coal company, Farmington Resources, as he cashed their checks for $4.5 million since getting elected to the Senate.

And yet Senate rules have held over the years that lawmakers can not only retain their investments but dont have to recuse themselves from votes broadly affecting that industry only from very narrow legislation that would only affect their specific company (such as a federal contract specifically for Enersystems). The rationale is that a senator like Manchin should be able to vote on coal legislation since he represents mine owners and their employees back in West Virginia, but the sizable amount of Manchins income raises questions.

Virginia Canter, who was White House ethics counsel for presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton before becoming chief ethics counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, repeatedly used the word stunning when describing Manchins conflict of interest, noting that his coal income a reported $491,949 in 2020 is nearly triple his Senate salary of $174,000.

Canter said she fears that because of his blatant conflict, Manchin may not be able to see the forest for the trees and see whats in the best interest of his constituents, because the dollar signs have blinded him.

It doesnt have to be this way, of course. But currently Congress is such an ethical quagmire that the legislation seen as having the best chance of passing like the Ban Conflicted Trading Act, to prevent members and their staff from selling individual stocks while in office is the lower hanging fruit. A bill backed by the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO, that would address the Manchin problem head on by requiring elected representatives to liquidate their holdings into actual blind trusts or index funds is seen as having little support.

Its something of a clich to say that the Founders who drafted the Constitution here in Philadelphia didnt anticipate this or that, but, seriously, could James Madison or Alexander Hamilton ever have dreamed that humankinds industrial pollution would cause droughts, wildfires, or floods, or that one U.S. senator with a stunning conflict of interest could block any legislation to save civilization from that problem? Serving as a U.S. senator is a privilege, not a right. Anyone seeking the job must be required to sacrifice a bit of their (financial) independence to guarantee that their greed wont threaten your independence, or mine.

Brian Eno said, most famously, that only about 5,000 people bought the first LP from The Velvet Underground the avant-garde 1960s Manhattan rock band godfathered by Andy Warhol and fronted by Lou Reed but that every one of them went out and started a band. Which makes it weird that the band never got a documentary worthy of their legend ... until now, streaming on Apple TV+. Acclaimed filmmaker Todd Haynes shuns the predictable MTV Behind the Music framing to instead tell The Velvet Underground story in the trippy, Warhol-like pop art style from which these rock and roll icons were spawned.

As anyone whos followed the last few years of climate protests particularly the 2016 fight against the Dakota Access pipeline at the Standing Rock Reservation knows, the moral power of Indigenous culture and politics is thriving in modern America. Which makes it hard to explain why the publics fascination with the Native American story tends to fall off after the Wounded Knee massacre in 1890, and the end of Americas frontier days. In The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, writer David Treuer fills in the gaps in the saga so deeply threaded through our national narrative, such as the American Indian Movement of the 1970s.

Question: Why does Pennsylvania stagger its elections for AG and governor? Via Ira Goldman (@KDbyProxy) on Twitter

Answer: I cant tell you exactly what Pennsylvanias Founders (and the subsequent tinkerers, such as those who, in 1968, began to allow two terms for governor instead of one) were thinking. But staggered elections are one of the best features in the Keystone States mixed bag of modern democracy. The ballot mix including state Supreme Court justices and big-city mayors in so-called off-year elections, and statewide row offices separated from the gubernatorial race has the laudable goal of encouraging citizens to stay engaged with annual voting. As for governor and attorney general, staggered races has meant the two officials are often (although not currently) from separate parties, or at least not ticket-mates. This promotes independence, which is always a good thing.

In a week where most of the American political chatter centered on the fate of President Bidens economic agenda or the extreme radicalization of the Republican Party, the biggest story of the 21st Century may have flown under the radar. I mean, literally. Im talking about the Financial Times report that China caught U.S. intelligence and the rest of the world off-guard by testing a hypersonic missile that is capable of carrying nuclear weapons and would be more difficult for Beijings would-be adversaries to intercept. (China denied the test, as one does.) Its no secret that China has ratcheted up its worst evil-world-domination tendencies, from Uighur concentration camps to crushing democracy in Hong Kong. But the scariest part is the Xi regimes aggressive posture toward Taiwan, the densely populated island survivor of Chinas 1949 political partition that the United States has, to quote Bruce Springsteen, a vow to defend.

READ MORE: Does Never Again! mean anything if we do nothing about Chinas concentration camps? | Will Bunch

As a child of the baby boom born in 1959, I arrived just 41 years after the end of World War I and 14 years after World War II. I grew up assuming there was a darn good chance Id see World War III in my lifetime. Instead, the accumulated decades of avoided global conflict have brought complacency ... perhaps too much? The rising authoritarianism and middle-class angst of the 1930s flowed into World War II, so how should we reconcile the similar developments of the 2010s and 20s? History isnt always fated to repeat, though. Global trade, for all its flaws, provides the Biden administration and our allies with ways to pressure Beijing economically before the first bomb, hypersonic or otherwise, drops. Similar to Europe in 1939, Chinas bad behavior cant be ignored. But at the end of the day, avoiding World War III at any cost needs to trump the foolishness of macho superpower posturing.

The protests after the May 2020 police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis were nothing like the world has seen before, with estimates that as many as 17 million to 26 million people joined marches. And yet 17 months later, the changes wrought by those rallies havent measured up. There have been scattered local reforms, but the federal bill collapsed and were seeing a trend toward spending more on traditional policing, not less. In my Sunday column, I asked if the marches were too white, too educated, and too transient to bring real change.

The growing vibe surrounding 2021 is that the sense of hope that launched with President Bidens inauguration is dissipating. Thats in part because of the growing extremism of a Donald Trump cult on the right, and in part because the corruption of key Democrats is thwarting Washington from changing those bad dynamics. Over the weekend, I urged those who were energized during Trumps presidency to get back at it, in the off-year voting booth and in the streets, if need be.

The Inquirers tireless Samantha Melamed, who covers criminal injustice in a city overflowing with it, is one of the best beat reporters in America. Last week, she paid homage either to Donald Trumps ice cream addiction or those old Raisin Bran commercials with two scoops. Her shocking expose of the violence, uprisings, and dangerous conditions in the Philadelphia jails dropped at roughly the same time as a longer investigative report on the citys wrongful-murder-conviction racket of the 1990s, and the new allegations of perjury against the detectives who perpetrated it. In the 21st Century, this old-fashioned kind of accountability journalism can only survive if readers like you will support it. Please consider subscribing to The Inquirer today.

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Exploring age-diverse retirement community options and their added benefits – Press-Enterprise

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Last week, we addressed part of A.B.s question about downsizing and whether to relocate to a 55-plus retirement community or one that has no age restrictions. Several age-restricted communities were described. This week well highlight ones that are age-diverse.

The LGBTQ community is a trendsetter in this regard. SAGE, an organization that supports the LGBTQ community, partnered with two affordable apartment buildings in New York City to build Stonewall House. Its a 17-story building with 54 studio and 91 one-bedroom apartments with a roof deck, landscaped terrace, communal lounge and laundry room. It is considered an LGBTQ + Age-Friendly Elder Housing residence.

Co-housing is another example. Some are multigenerational although there are co-housing models for those age 55 and older. Originating in Denmark, they were designed to create what is considered an old-fashioned community with semi-communal living. It typically consists of a cluster of private homes and shared community spaces. Designed by future residents, the community is self-governed. In this model, communities often share activities such as dining and childcare, carpooling and exercise and often gather during the week to prepare and share meals with one another. An economic benefit is the sharing of resources. California has at least three: Mountain View, Pleasant Hill and Southside Park.

University-based retirement communities also are designed for multigenerational opportunities. They typically consist of upscale apartments that are on or adjacent to a college campus. Some have requirements as well as many opportunities. Lasell Village at Lasell University in Massachusetts is the first senior living community that requires residents to commit to the educational goals of 450 hours of learning annually, believing that learning is a way of being. Residents of Mirabella at Arizona State University receive student ID cards that allows them to audit classes and use the university library.

A unique example of an intentional multigenerational community is Bridge Meadows in Oregon. Founded in 2005, it combines former foster-care youth, adoptive families and older adults into an intergenerational community that creates a place of permanence and shared social purpose. Located in several Oregon cities, it is designed to encourage connection between the generations and consists of family townhomes that accommodate three to four children and elder apartments. It has received many awards and has been featured in PBS NewsHour and the Wall Street Journal acknowledging its economic model and its social benefits.

More of these communities are to be developed. In Santa Clara, civic leaders and developers are planning a place that combines contemporary urban living with Santa Claras agricultural past. It is called Agrihood. According to a July 22 story in the San Jose Spotlight, it will consist of 160 mixed-income apartments, 165 homes for low-income seniors and veterans and 36 townhomes with a 1.5-acre farm where residents can grow produce. Retail space is included.

Chip Conley, author of Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder (Currency, 2018) and founder of the Modern Elder Academy is planning to replace the traditional retirement community with what he calls regenerative intergenerational communities. The first one will be located in Santa Fe with the intention of shifting the aspiration of leisure in retirement to one that cultivates purpose and connection. Conley intends to build a vibrant community that centers around a campus for midlife retreats and sabbaticals as well as housing opportunities.

Other considerations include climate and access to healthcare, family, friends, airports, religious institutions, cultural activities and more. Of course, affordability is key. Before making a decision, ask if you can spend a week or two at some of thecommunities to experience what life might be like for you.

So, what are the benefits? According to Paul Irving, Chairman of the Center for the Future of Aging, studies indicate such communities enhance a sense of purpose, health, positive attitudes and well-being as well as opportunities for continued learning.

An added note: one way to fight ageism is to create environments for older and younger generations to have shared positive experiences. If that were widespread, age discrimination might just disappear.

A.B., Thank you for your important question and enjoy that next chapter. In the meantime, stay well and be kind to yourself and others.

Helen Dennis is a nationally recognized leader on issues of aging, employment and the new retirement with academic, corporate and nonprofit experience. Contact Helen with your questions and comments at Helendenn@gmail.com. Visit Helen at HelenMdennis.com and follow her on facebook.com/SuccessfulagingCommunity

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Exploring age-diverse retirement community options and their added benefits - Press-Enterprise

Pleasant Hill Cohousing founder sees communal living as sustainable way of the future – – Concord Clayton Pioneer

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Cohousing residents use color coded cards to raise issues affecting the community where matters are settled by consent. (Pamela Michael photo)

PLEASANT HILL, CA (Oct. 14, 2021) The scale is human and the vibe bucolic at the tiny village with mango-colored townhouses that make up the hidden oasis called Pleasant Hill Cohousing (PHCH).

With cars banished to the periphery, the homes sit on welcoming, winding paths lined with lush greenery that manages to be orderly and wild at the same time.

PHCH is home to 32 households and 60+ people who have made a commitment to live in a community that fosters harmony with each other, the larger community and nature.

Tucked away on a 2.2-acre triangle of land just off Monument Boulevard, wedged between the Contra Costa Canal and the Iron Horse Trail, PHCH is part of a growing movement of intentional communities. The neighborhoods combine the privacy of individual homes generally townhouses or condominiums with shared amenities like laundry facilities, gardens, craft rooms, exercise equipment, workshops, libraries, gathering spaces and sometimes even cars.

Cohousing groups are small, participatory democracies based on shared ideals of communication and cooperation. Governance is by consensus, not an easy process in any size group, no matter how committed.

Our self-governance has evolved and improved over time, observed PHCH resident Kenji Yamada, who noted that cohousing is not for everyone, perhaps not even for most people.

To reach consensus on issues during monthly meetings, the group adopted an innovative system that utilizes a series of colored cards that signal their positions. Various colors indicate More Info Needed, Point of Order, Not Decided Yet, etc. Green=Agree, Red=Block. The goal is to see a sea of green, of course.

Yamada, a former Peace Corps volunteer, now a software tester and community activist, is typical of PHCH residents, if not most communitarians, as they are sometimes called, in his motivation for choosing cohousing. He and his wife sought to live in a place that offered more real connections to neighbors than typical suburban living.

They were seeking an old-fashioned sense of neighborhood that affords opportunities to connect with each other and interact in meaningful ways, an antidote to the isolation of much modern life.

New resident Timothy Silk, a tech consultant, echoes Yamadas desire for closer contact with his neighbors. When he and his wife, empty nesters, were exploring local cohousing options, he was impressed by how much the PHCH residents seemed to care for each other. New members, for example, are treated to a welcoming ceremony.

Pre-COVID, there were many celebrations and gatherings in addition to the twice-a-week communal meals in the Common House, which contains, in addition to a kitchen, a dining room (Great Room), sitting room, laundry, kids room, teen room, crafts room and two guest bedrooms with bath a welcome feature.

The same desire for more real connections to her neighbors prompted PHCH co-founder (and project guiding force) Barbara Lynch and her late husband to gather like-minded folks in 1995 to seek a parcel of land suitable for building what would become the first cohousing development in Contra Costa County.

We were living the dream, a big house with a pool in Walnut Creek, says the former Los Medanos College computer sciences teacher. But when I read an article about a cohousing project on Bainbridge Island in Washington, I knew immediately that I wanted to live in a more conscious, cooperative way I wanted to live in cohousing.

In 2001, she got her wish, moving into the newly completed PHCH complex.

By happy coincidence, the Bay Area was home to architects Charles Durrett and his then-wife Kathryn McCamant, who introduced the idea of cohousing (and coined the term) to the United States in the late 80s.

They had previously lived in Denmark, where the concept was pioneered in the 1970s before spreading throughout Europe and, thanks to Charles and Kathryn, to this country.

The architects and their Cohousing Company, based in Berkeley for many years and now in Nevada City, remain devoted to the cohousing concept. They wrote books and articles, held introductory meetings and helped many groups navigate the often-difficult process of creating their own communities.

Working closely with Lynch and the Pleasant Hill group, they designed a community that is multigenerational, diverse, non-hierarchical and environmentally conscious with passive heating and cooling features, efficient water use, natural, non-toxic materials and many more amenities.

Cohousing helps stem the tide of consumerism, Durrett told the Pioneer. Instead of 32 lawnmowers, you only need one, for example.

Durrett sees his job as helping to create a viable society and sees the biggest obstacle to cohousing development as a culture stuck in outdated ideas about living arrangements.

After designing the first newly constructed cohousing community in the country, Muir Commons in Davis, in 1991, and PHCH in 2001, Durrett remains undeterred. He has completed more than 50 of the more than 150 cohousing communities in the country.

Cooperation is the key to human survival. It is the basis of how we live together in families, in communities, of how we govern ourselves and of the global economy.

Cohousing offers a compelling model for getting along and in these difficult times for addressing our increasing isolation.

Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, The most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.

The Pleasant Hill Cohousing folks have taken the dare.

Pamela Michael

Pamela Michael is a writer and communications specialist who has lived in Curry Canyon for twenty years.

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Pleasant Hill Cohousing founder sees communal living as sustainable way of the future - - Concord Clayton Pioneer

Old National Bank redlining: discrimination may not be intentional – IndyStar

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Redlining of neighborhoods explained

Redlining is the process of denying mortgage loans based on the racial makeup of a neighborhood.

Michael Nyerges, Cincinnati Enquirer

A recent legal complaint against Old National Bank that alleges the company discriminated against Black borrowers in mortgage lending has raised questions among redlining experts about whether there is a lack of access to financial services in red-lined neighborhoods and majority-Black neighborhoods in Indianapolis.

The complaint filed by the Fair Housing Center of Central Indianaalleges that just 3.86% of the bank's mortgage loans in Marion County went to Black borrowers in 2019 and 2020,even though Black residents comprise nearly 28% of the county'spopulation,according to census data.

Old National Bank is one of the largest mortgage lenders statewide and the largest bank headquartered in Indiana.Legal scholars saythat if the bank'spolicies disproportionately harmed Black residents,the bankcould be liable for illegal discrimination under the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

By the numbers: The most important findings revealed by IndyStar jail deaths investigation

Amy Nelson, the executive director of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, said the Old National Bank case may just be the tip of the iceberg.

In addition to this bank, she said her organization's investigations have found there are about a dozenlenders or mortgage brokers who originate a significant amount of loans in the Indianapolis metropolitan area and offer fewer mortgage loansto Black borrowers compared to others.

Old National Bank officials deny the company engaged in redlining.

"Old National strongly and categorically denies the claims made in this lawsuit. As a community bank, we are committed to fair, responsible and equitable lending practices," saidOld National Bank spokesperson Kathy Schoettlin in an email to IndyStar."That is simply who we are, and its one of the reasons we have been recognized for the past decade as one of the worlds most ethical companies."

The legal complaint accusesthe bank of deliberately closing bank branches in majority-Black neighborhoods, making it more difficult forBlackhome buyers to access mortgage loans.

The legal complaint alleges the bank is guilty of 'redlining,' a term which refers to mortgage loan discrimination perpetuated by the government-sponsored Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s.The corporation created mapsthat purported to show the level of risk for mortgage lending inneighborhoods all over the country.

Majority-Black or majority-non-whiteneighborhoods were labelledred.The Federal Housing Authoritywould not insure home mortgage loans in the red neighborhoods, effectively denying loan access to prospectiveBlack homeowners.

The term now more generally refers towhen "lenders intentionally avoid providing services to individuals living in predominantly minority neighborhoods because of the race of the residents in those neighborhoods," according to a definition offered by the Department of Justice in a 2019 press release on redlining.

"Over the last decade, Old National has disproportionately closed branches located in Black neighborhoods, while maintaining its presence in neighborhoods serving white residents," the legal complaint states.

More: Our city, 317 words at a time: Introducing The 317 Project

All of the closed branches were located either in or immediately adjacent to a census tract with a 25% or higher proportion of Black residents,according to the complaint.

Unai Miguel Andres, adata analyst at the The Polis Center at IUPUI who researches the effects of redlining, said the lack of financial services in some majority-Black neighborhoods, along with the general lack of services such as grocery stores and shopping malls, is a legacy of the 1930sredlining and the subsequent underinvestment in these communities.

Miguel Andresand two other colleagues found in a June 2021 paper that individuals living in redlined neighborhoods in Indianapolis continue to have worse health incomes, lower incomes and higher violent crime rates than non-redlined neighborhoods.

"Redlining and discriminatory lending practices led to segregation being perpetuated," said Miguel Andres."(Residents in redlined neighborhoods)were denied loans and that affected their capacity to accumulate equity."

Florence Roisman, a legal expert in housing segregation and discrimination at the Indiana University McKinney School of Law, said housing discrimination does not have to be intentional for it to be illegal, citing a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case.

As long as a practice has a discriminatory effect, which may include perpetuating segregation, and cannot be justified by a legitimate non-discriminatory purpose that could not be satisfied in another way, it is illegal under the Fair Housing Act, Roisman said.

This means the relevant legal question in a lawsuit against Old National Bank is not whether the company intended to discriminate against Black borrowers but whether its actions caused harms that disproportionately affected Black borrowers, Roisman said.

"Their intention isirrelevant," Roisman said.

Subscriber exclusive:Indiana jailers knew she might hurt herself, but she died hours later. She's not alone.

Incourt, it may be easier to prove that a company's policies had a disproportionate effect on Black borrowers than that that company intentionally discriminatedagainst Black borrowers.

"Its hard enough to prove what is the intent of a single human being, and when youre talking about multi-member entities, its even harder to prove intent," Roisman said."Courts dont like to say that a person or an entity committed an act of intentional discrimination; its like the reluctance to say somebody is a racist. Courts, like lots of people, are very reluctant to put that label on someone."

In the past five years, there have been two other major casesalleging banks were guilty of redlining inIndianapolis.

A 2017 case againstUnion Savings Bank and Guardian Savings Bankalleged the banksengaged in redlining majority-Black neighborhoods in Ohioas well as the Indianapolis metropolitan statistical area. Similar to the Old National Bank case, this bank was accused oflocatingbranches to avoid serving majority-Black neighborhoods.The case ended in a settlement when the court ordered the banks to invest at least $7 million in a loan subsidy fund and open two full-service branches and a loan production office in majority-Black census tracts.

Two years later,the Justice Department settled a suit against the Muncie-based First Merchant bank, which it and the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana accused ofredlining in Indianapolis by intentionally avoiding predominantly Black neighborhoods.

Contact IndyStar reporterKo Lyn Cheang atkcheang@indystar.com or 317-903-7071. Follow her on Twitter: @kolyn_cheang.

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A Tribute to Sojourners Magazine on Its Fiftieth Birthday – Patheos

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The first issue of Sojourners (originally called The Post-American) was published in the fall of 1971, which means that this progressive evangelical standard turns fifty this year. Happy birthday!

Though located in Washington, D.C., for the majority of its life, the magazine was actually launched in the Chicago suburbs by a group of Trinity Evangelical Divinity students, including provocateur Jim Wallis. A Michigan State University graduate with connections to Students for a Democratic Society, Wallis had started seminary the year before. He motored around the southern tip of Lake Michigan in his Ford Falcon, ready to combine his revived faith with a radical critique of American politics and international policy. Wallis intended to take on the evangelical world with Jesus and the Bible.

The young seminarian quickly incited the conservative campus into heated debate about the war in Vietnam. Every Wednesday at noon, students and faculty met for lunch and debate at The Pits, a small caf in the basement of the administration building where polite discussion often spiraled into heated arguments between just war advocates and pacifists. A noisy student with red hair and a bushy red beard, Wallis was the archetype of a prophet, a classmate remembered, who often served as the lightning rod in these debates. [Be sure to click here from some priceless photos of a young Jim Wallis and his longhaired seminary friends.] His fellow students would sit there with mouths agape getting really mad at him as he charged Trinity with having departed from biblical ideals.

With unrelenting appeals to Scripture, the young firebrand worked hard on his classmates. Wallis ripped out all the pages in the Bible that dealt with money and poverty, leaving only a tattered shell remaining, to make his point that social justice mattered. While others in the New Left made their case using sociological arguments, Wallis made it theological and insisted on scriptural justification for arguments. This was a tactic that convinced disenchanted divinity students to rally around his leadership.

The Bannockburn Seven, named for the wealthy section of Deerfield where Trinity was located, rallied first against stringent campus standards. When the faculty rejected a 93 percent student vote urging the loosening of parietals, Wallis and his friends released a manifesto charging that the school will become either a center of progressive evangelical thought, or a fundamentalist enclave of legalism, sell-out religion, and reactionary thought. The choice is yours. They invited the Chicago Tribune to observe a mock funeral held in front of the administration building, where they played Taps, built a makeshift graveyard, and buried student opinion. They particularly targeted eminent evangelical theologian and dean of the seminary Kenneth Kantzer, who told protesting students seeking reform outside the framework of legitimately elected student government to consider themselves not welcome. Faculty, he reasoned, had come from the greatest universities on earth, prepared to write volumes on the decisive theological issues of the day; instead, they were getting tied up for significant amounts of time debating whether visiting hours for girls should be from 3-12 or 4-11 on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Bannockburn Seven, however, quickly broadened their agenda beyond campus rules to critique the evangelical non-engagement with broader social issues. Bob Sabath felt deep alienation from the church, telling a Milwaukee newspaper reporter that I felt the evangelical church had betrayed me, betrayed itself. It was not dealing with those questions of racism, war, hunger. In a Deerfield Manifesto, written in late 1970, the seminarians stated that the Christian response to our revolutionary age must be to stand and identify with the exploited and oppressed, rather than with the oppressor.

By the summer of 1971, Wallis and his compatriots had formed the Peoples Christian Coalition (though they more often called themselves the Post-Americans, which was the name of the magazine they would soon edit) to address violence, race, poverty, pollution, and other macro-ethical subjects. They met regularly for prayer, Bible study, sociological study, celebrations called God parties (which always opened with a rendition of Three Dog Nights Joy to the World), and demonstrations against the war. Under threat of expulsion and as the Coalition rapidly grew and took up more of their time, they finally stopped taking classes at Trinity. But their common alienating seminary experience, as Sabath put it, continued to bind them together. In early 1972, twenty-five of their Trinity classmates joined their intentional community, located initially in an apartment building in Rogers Park on Chicagos north side and then in the impoverished Uptown area.

The seminarians most enduring legacy came from their tabloid, which featured a signature blend of evangelical piety and leftist politics. The first issue of The Post-American featured a cover of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns and cuffed with an American flag that covered his bruised body. America, the depiction implied, had re-crucified Christ. Inside, A Joint Treaty of Peace between the People of the United States, South Vietnam and North Vietnam declared that the American and Vietnamese people were not enemies and called for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops. The American captivity of the church, Wallis continued, has resulted in the disastrous equation of the American way of life with the Christian way of life.

For Wallis the publication of the Post-Americans first issue was a deeply spiritual moment. Having stayed up all night editing, returning proofs to the printer, and hauling stacks of freshly printed issues back to his small apartment, he paused in the early morning hours. He placed a copy on his bed, dropped to his knees, and began to pray. Strong feelings of gratitude, expectation, and bold, confident faith rushed over him as he reflected over the long journey that had led him to this point. The gospel message that had nurtured us as children was now turning us against the injustice and violence of our nations leading institutions and were causing us to repudiate the churchs conformity to a system that we believed to be biblically wrong.

It was an audacious declaration. And the Post-Americans proclaimed it widely. They distributed 30,000 copies of the first edition, printed with $700 in pooled money. They blanketed fifteen colleges and seminaries in the Chicago area and sold copies for 25 cents throughout Chicago. Within several months, they had sold 225 full subscriptions. The real growth potential, however, lay in the thousands of other disillusioned evangelical students across the country. They borrowed mailing lists and took their searing critique on the road in an attempt to awaken sleepy evangelical campuses and to startle big state universities. Wallis and Clark Pinnock, his mentor and a professor at Trinity, traveled to the University of Texas at Austin under the auspices of InterVarsity to preach and condemn the war on the streets. Another sixteen-day trip in spring 1972 took the Post-Americans to evangelical campuses, major universities, intentional communities, and churches in northern Indiana, lower Michigan, northern Ohio, central and eastern Pennsylvania, and up the east coast from Washington, D.C. to Boston. They brought copies of their magazine, distributed reading lists full of New Left writers, and offered free university courses in Christian radicalism, the New Left, womens liberation, and racism.

They gained even more publicity when Mark Hatfield, a U.S. Senator from Oregon, and John Stott, Britains leading evangelical figure, endorsed them. Within two years, 1,200 people had subscribed to the Post-American; within five years, nearly 20,000. The Post-Americans had clearly tapped into a substantial market of angst-ridden evangelicals searching for authentic faith.

Through the 1970s, the magazine offered a steady diet of radical critiques of the American liberal establishment. Citing New Left voices Herbert Marcuse and Charles Reich, it offered economic critiques of unlimited growth. Keynesian economics, writers charged, merely justified corporate greed. The Post-Americans denounced Proctor and Gamble, Ford, AT&T, and Westinghouse for perpetuating the liberal-industrial scheme of unlimited economic growth. We protest, Jim Wallis declared in an exemplary critique of liberalism, the materialistic profit culture and technocratic society which threaten basic human values. Over one hundred articles on the poor and disenfranchised appeared in the Post-American from 1973 to 1978, many of them explicitly blaming consumer culture, big business, and the liberal scheme of consumption to stimulate the economy for creating economic stratification.

The magazine also objected to faith in science and to the spirit-deadening assembly-line routine of technology. Technology gave the powers and principalities, as Wallis called governments, corporations, and other brokers of power, an even more insidious means of wielding control over the people than traditional uses of power. One of their most compelling examples was infant formula. From all appearances it seemed like a technology that could help orphaned babies and mothers who didnt have a milk supply. Instead, it led to costly dependence on American companies, intent only on increasing their consumer base and the reach of their economic empires. Given the need for clean water, sterilization, and the formula itself, contended the Post-Americans, offering classes on techniques of breastfeeding would be simpler and less disruptive to cultural norms. The ties between technology and big business led many New Leftists to despair about the technocracy, a term used with regularity among radical evangelicals. The technocracy perpetuated a bureaucratic maze that threatened to extinguish human autonomy and creativity.

The rhetoric of the Post-American pointed not only to evangelical appropriation of New Left social critiques, but also to a radical political styleone that sharply contrasted with the mid-century neo-evangelical inclination to court establishment structures. The church forsakes the spirit of Christ, an editor of Christianity Today had argued in 1967, when it uses picketing, demonstration, and boycott. Evangelical radicals countered that dissent was necessary to correct the status quo. Spiritual resources should be used to judge, not merely legitimate current conditions. The Post-Americans dismissed decorous evangelicalism as pass, even immoral, in the face of social injustice. Their protests, reflecting the demonstrative methods of the Left, such as guerrilla theater, picketing, leafleting, and direct confrontation, marked a profound departure from evangelical quietism.

Renaming the magazine Sojournersa biblical allusion that more clearly transcended the American context of the groups founding name and captured a sense of communityand moving in 1975 into a dilapidated neighborhood in the northern section of the District of Columbia, the group and magazine continued their program of contentious dissent. They pledged to move more intentionally toward nonviolent direct action. Our resistance to evil, one statement read, must never be passive but active, even to the point of sacrifice and suffering. We therefore refuse military service, military-related jobs, war taxes, and will engage in nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience for the sake of peace and justice as conscience dictates and the Spirit leads us.

Despite these sensibilities, which contrasted sharply with the religious right emerging in the 1970s and 1980s, the magazines subscription base grew. By 1983, it reached 55,000 subscribers. But it paid its employees only subsistence level salaries, and its reach couldnt match the religious right, which was successfully attaching itself to the Republican Party. By 1990 the evangelical left as a coherent organizational movement had been left behind, exiled from American political structures and power, it had indeed been left behind.

Perhaps in response to its political homelessness, Sojourners evolved over the next decades. In the 1990s and 2000s, it became more centrist and establishment in ways that would have nauseated the twenty-somethings that launched it. Jim Wallis, softening from his fiery New Left suspicion of traditional political structures, began working comfortably with political moderates and the Democratic Party. A virulent critic of the technocratic Jimmy Carter in the 1970s, Wallis began to appear on event stages with the former president. By all accounts, the two had become good friends and found common political ground.

He worked with contemporary leaders too, some of the most powerful in the nation and world. On a single day, Wallis testified at a Senate hearing on the Employee Free Choice Act, participated in a conference call with President Obamas Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and then enjoyed dinner with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Catapulted to prominence by his relationship with Obamaand by his 2005 bestselling book Gods Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesnt Get ItWallis in the 2000s regularly appeared as a guest on CNN and on comic Jon Stewarts The Daily Show. He attended World Economic Forum meetings in Davos, Switzerland, each year, and sales from Gods Politics, which spent fifteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, infused Sojourners with cash. In 2007 Sojourners sponsored a CNN forum on faith and religious values in which three of the top Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama, participated. According to Time editor Amy Sullivan, several years earlier the same forum had attracted only a single congressperson.

This new centrist trajectory offered progressive evangelicalism more political space and more potential to build an organized movement. For a time, it seemed to be working. Ive been 40 years in the wilderness, and now its time to come out, he told a reporter as the magazine and a partner organization Call to Renewal surged. In 2006, longtime staffers, along with a new team of political organizers, fundraisers, and communications specialists, moved into gleaming new headquarters in Washington, D.C. Thirty-five years after the Post-American was founded, the magazine had arrived at the center of American politics.

Whatever one thinks about the political and ecclesiastical evolution of Sojourners, it has produced thousands of compelling articles. Some have been outrageous and provocative, others nurturing and deeply spiritual, still others smart and wise. The magazine has consistently encouraged its readers to think better, pray harder, and in the words of its mission statement, to live out a gospel life that integrates spiritual renewal and social justice. Sojourners has been a gift to American evangelicalism.

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A Tribute to Sojourners Magazine on Its Fiftieth Birthday - Patheos

Mayor Brandon Scott Announces Plans To Reauthorize Three Tax Credits – CBS Baltimore

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BALTIMORE (WJZ) Mayor Brandon Scott along with the City Council announced Tuesday plans to reauthorize three tax credits set to expire.

The tax credits include the CHAP Tax Credit, the Newly Constructed Dwelling Tax Credit and the High-Performance Market Rate Tax Credit.

Officials said the reauthorization bills associated with the credits were introduced by the City Council Monday evening. They will now begin to move through the councils process for approval.

Mayor Scott is also set to establish a Tax Credit Review Committee that will evaluate the citys existing tax credits and ensure the incentive program sustainably and equitably grows the tax base.

I look forward to working closely with Council President Mosby, Councilman Costello, Shelonda Stokes, and the Tax Credit Review Committee to ensure our incentive structure is fit for todays Baltimore, while simultaneously benefiting our residents, homeowners, local business community, and overall strategy for growth, said Scott.

Growing Baltimore in a responsible and equitable way is paramount, and getting our tax code right plays an important role in achieving that goal and ultimately transforming our city, said City Council President Nick J. Mosby. As Baltimores leaders, we must always be intentional about developing sustainable solutions that bolster smart and equitable development. I am excited to help establish this review committee and will do all I can to support and extend tax credits that deliver results.

The reauthorization of these three tax credits would build predictability into the process and aid projects in moving forward.

The reauthorization of these credits is critically important to growing our City, creating new jobs, and ensuring opportunity across all neighborhoods, said Councilman Eric T. Costello, chairman of the Councils Ways and Means Committee. By establishing the Tax Credit Review Committee, the Mayors deliberate approach will make sure that we continue to offer credits that have demonstrated results in growing our city and that we act in a fiscally prudent manner to drive economic development in all communities.

These tax credits have fueled development across the city so its important to keep them going while we perform a comprehensive review of whats working, whats not, and where we have unmet needs, said Downtown Partnership President, Shelonda Stokes. The process matters moving forward, as we create new tools to stimulate investment, equity, and economic opportunity.

Officials said more information will be announced in the coming weeks.

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Mayor Brandon Scott Announces Plans To Reauthorize Three Tax Credits - CBS Baltimore

Publisher’s Letter: Our Newspaper and Reader Response – North Forty News

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By Blaine Howerton, PublisherNorth Forty News

We often receive reader feedback, both positive and negative. I am grateful for that as it means that folks in communities throughout Northern Colorado are reading our newspaper!

With our focus on solution-driven journalism sometimes our content may seem mild by that I mean that some of our articles could have more personality, even written in the first person. You may have noticed a shift in a few of our recent articles and its intentional. But when it comes to politics, complex community issues, or anything where our readers need to make an informed decision, based on facts, we make every effort to center our reporting, providing both sides of the issue. And if one side of the issue isnt available, we publish only the facts.

This leads me to thePublishersLetters.

As with so many people, the pandemic led to a major change in my life circumstances where I needed to make some significant decisions going forward. My two young sons, (whom I have custody of every other week) and I talked about the fun times we spent up on our mountain sanctuary and whether we could make that arrangement a more permanent lifestyle. Living off-grid is challenging and always seems to be a work in progress there is so much to learn. But we agreed to take it on.

My sons and I couldnt be happier about the decision we made that made one of the most challenging times in our lives more bearable so many new adventures to focus on! And as we met each new challenge of living off-grid, I decided to share my journey with our readers and the feedback we have received is that many readers look forward each week to reading the next installment perhaps because it may encourage them that they too can face change and uncertainty and master it, no matter how challenging it may seem at first.

As the season transitions into winter, life at 6,300 feet always presents new challenges but living off-grid has reduced my living costs.

And like so many people in these times of Covid and uncertainty, I am struggling. This newspaper takes everything I have to keep it going. Well before the pandemic, 4 years ago before I took it on, the newspaper was about to close and that would have left many towns and rural areas throughout Northern Colorado news deserts.

I am grateful for the people in our community who have supported us with their readership, their subscriptions, and their advertising. They are THE reason that North Forty News still exists today. And that includes people who write to us your feedback helps shape this newspaper.

LOCAL NEWS IS A NECESSITY CRITICAL AT A TIME LIKE THIS!

Help us report on the new local reality!

Support our work on your behalf:

Support us with a contribution for coverage in our communities at:

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For our current subscribers, driveway delivery ofNorth Forty Newsis now available within a reasonable distance to state highways and urban areas.

Current subscribersregister at:

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Or contact usatads@northfortynews.comto learn more about advertising with us including how your ad in our print edition will also show up in the online digital replica of our current edition along with on our website.

Show your support for Local Journalism by helping us do more of it. It's a kind and simple gesture that will help us continue to bring stories like this to you.

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Publisher's Letter: Our Newspaper and Reader Response - North Forty News

Hiding homelessness through hostile architecture only hurts the community – The Diamondback

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Views expressed in opinion columns are the authors own.

When I think of cities, I imagine a densely-packed, interconnected community full of public places that invite you to interact with new people and enjoy the hustle and bustle of city life. However, while visiting Washington, D.C., certain areas of the city dont fulfill this vision of a community-oriented space. As I walked the streets, benches and places to sit were few and far between and were often tilted or curved in an unwelcoming way. I quickly realized that this design wasnt a coincidence, but instead an intentional decision meant to discourage homeless people from using them.

What I encountered in Washington, D.C., is known as hostile architecture city amenities designed to limit the way the space can be used. This punitive approach doesnt solve homelessness, but instead deters homeless populations from occupying public spaces.

Hostile architecture weaponizes the built environment against certain users of public spaces deemed undesirable by businesses and governments. Hostile architecture can include sloped or curved benches, armrests in the middle of benches, and spikes covering areas protected from weather. It can also include ghost amenities, or a lack of amenities such as benches, fountains or buildings with protective overhangs.

Hostile architecture not only punishes the homeless, but other city residents as well, creating city spaces that are uncomfortable, unwelcoming and inconvenient for everyone. Instead of relying on reactive strategies that negatively affect everyone, cities should instead solve the problem at the source by housing the homeless and making cities more accessible and community-oriented.

While hostile architecture pushes away the homeless from wealthier and tourism-driven areas, governments and planners euphemistically justify the acts as protecting public safety and increasing tourism and consumerism. Those designated as non-consumers are alienated from free public spaces through an uncomfortable and hostile environment.

Put simply, these practices have no place in modern city planning. Hostile architecture is not only irrational, but also morally repugnant and detrimental to all of society.

Hostile architecture doesnt solve homelessness far from it. Instead of solving the socio-economic roots of the problem, it just moves homeless people out of sight. And, from a moral standpoint, it seems wrong that governments are more focused on harassing and punishing those who need help, rather than establishing the supportive programs needed to solve the problem. Through this mindset, homeless people are not treated as humans, but as public nuisances that must be removed from public spaces.

In addition to the ineffectiveness and moral repugnance of hostile architecture, it is also a net-negative policy for everyone who uses public spaces. It fundamentally transforms public spaces from places of community, where people can chat with neighbors and enjoy the scenery, to unwelcome environments intended to prevent people from using it for too long. This approach creates discomfort and inconvenience for everyone, but especially neglects the accessibility needs of many. Why do we as a society tolerate harming everyone for an immoral policy that doesnt solve the homelessness problem?

The ideology of punishing vulnerable populations for issues often out of their control shouldnt be the status quo.

Governments can and should invest in housing the homeless and providing the support they need to get on their feet. Studies have shown savings for local governments when the homeless receive housing instead of spending the money on the punitive approaches currently used across the country. In addition to solving homelessness at the source, cities should remove uncomfortable hostile architecture that divides us. They should instead focus on creating functional public spaces that connect people together and create a sense of community.

Hostile architecture does not make sense and has never made sense for solving societal problems. Its primary goal is not to solve the problem of homelessness, but to exclude and isolate people from public spaces. It is unethical, ineffective and has the simultaneous effect of ruining the community aspect of shared spaces. Public space is meant for everyone, and designating it for only socially desirable people who can spend money reflects poorly on our supposed morals. Our country must move past apocryphal anti-homeless policies and instead create thriving, sustainable and supportive communities that work for everyone.

Zach Wandalowski is a sophomore government and politics and economics major. He can be reached at zachwand@gmail.com.

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Hiding homelessness through hostile architecture only hurts the community - The Diamondback

Tennessee Educators Lead the Nation in Literacy Focus – tn.gov

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Reflections from the Reading 360 Summit

By: Dr. Lisa Coons, Chief Academic Officer

The inaugural Reading 360 Summit resonates in my mind as one of the most powerful learning opportunities of my career. Listening to several Tennessee leaders in the sessions over the three day summit highlighted and reinforced the incredible literacy work that is occurring in across the state. I am incredibly humbled that almost 2,000 educators attended and shared the literacy focus on Tennessee that is occurring in schools and districts over the past 18 months. Social media has been filled with quotes, comments of appreciation, and the recognition that the Reading 360 work outlines the literacy accomplishments in Tennessee.

Launched in January 2020, the Reading 360 Initiative provides a comprehensive focus on literacy improvements for educators, universities, families, and communities. District-facing strategies include early reading trainings for Pre-K to grade 5 educators and focused implementation networks to support district literacy improvements. Supports to districts also include Communities of Practice, implementation grants, and video models. Families have had the opportunities to order decodables and receive weekly text messages supporting literacy. Community partnerships for literacy tutoring will occur in Tennessees urban settings as well. Finally, a Tennessee Reading Research Center is launching this fall to analyze the focused work of Tennessee and study each of these initiatives and their impact on student achievement. The Reading 360 Summit was designed to highlight these efforts and celebrate the work of districts within Reading 360.

The Reading 360 Summit was designed intentionally. The conference began by reflecting on the success of the summer early reading training and the commitment of 11,000 educators; the presenters focused on how to support educators to implement the practices, protocols, and research learned. The panel focused on the neuroscience of the training and the importance of intentional foundational skills instruction. The conference sessions then moved to set Tennessees focus on literacy opportunities for every child and discussed the importance of access points that high-quality instruction materials provide that allow all children to have grade-level literacy opportunities every day.

On the second day, the conference focused on district and school leaders. District leaders spoke to their own vision-setting, building a theory of action, and equipping leaders and teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary to execute the plan of action. The district leaders described the importance of working shoulder-to-shoulder with school leaders to ensure a collaborative culture where leaders are chief learners to support growth in classrooms.

The final day defined the vital roles families and communities play in ensuring all children have strong daily literacy experiences. Community partners across Tennessee shared their focus on grassroots collaboration to connect with families and elevate the focus on literacy. The conference closed with discussions with education preparation leaders and their focus on growing our newest educators to use cognitive reading science when teaching children to read along with the importance of using high-quality materials as the foundation for instruction.

I am so thankful for the conversations, the chats, and the connections that were sparked in the Reading 360 community that were made over the three-day summit.

Our schools and our children are so lucky to have the educational leaders who have spoken, engaged, and shared their practice during the summit. It is clear that our district leaders are creating a vision for success, ensuring the why is clear in the work, and that they are working shoulder-to-shoulder with their school leaders and teachers.

Sumner Countys Chief Academic Officer, Scott Langford, explained principals need feedback just like teachers do to Norma Gerrell, Director of Schools from Paris Special Schools, who reminded us that you have to put faces with data and be transparent. Our leaders truly shared how important honest and focused leadership is to improving literacy experiences for children. Clint Satterfield from Trousdale County encouraged school leaders to own their instructional changes, not just create buy-in. Hamilton Countys Yvette Stewart noted that school principals are the drivers of the bus. These leaders also discussed the use of Tennessees Instructional Practice Guide to dive deeply into the content, student learning, and actionable feedback that fosters growth in practice.

Haywood Countys Director of Schools, Joey Hassell, discussed the focus on all learners and reminded us that just because a student is struggling to read doesnt mean that they are struggling to think and Rachael Cornett from Rutherford County asserted that high-quality instructional materials level the playing field because all students are given access to rich instruction. Jeta Donovan, the principle Early Reading Training course designer, explained to teach our youngest readers to how to read, we have to understand more than just what reading is. We have to understand the processes behind it. Instructional leaders, Carissa Comer from Putnam County and Shannon Tufts from Lenoir City Schools, shared the importance of key tools to support educators in implementing foundational skills including collaborative lesson preparation and focused clear walk through feedback and Penny Thompson from Lebanon Special Schools showed us that early literacy starts in Pre-K.

One of our community leaders, DeMarrus Miller from the Salvation Army advocated, If a parent cannot read well, it is likely that their child will struggle as well and StandardsWork CEO, Barbara Davidson, explained we have a great opportunity here in Tennessee; there is nowhere else in the country with such a comprehensive and coherent approach to literacy instruction. In the discussion around preparing tomorrows teachers to teach reading, Dr. Carolyn Strom from New York University explained everything we do should be aligned to science and what we know about teaching reading. Our teachers need knowledge, skills, and mindsets to be successful. And University of Tennessee Knoxvilles Dr. Zoi Philippakos stated if we teach students to break the code and understand the system of reading, we give them the opportunity to access a world full of knowledge.

Recordings from all sessions will soon be available on Best for All Central. You will be able find these discussions and many other experts with empowering quotes, discussion points and strategies. As a next step, I encourage you to watch these recordings again and share these with your colleagues and extend this weeks learning into your own districts journey. Download the reflection guide and start a discussion and think about what is next for your school or district.

My dear friend, Millicent Smith from Lenior City, reminded us that we have to get uncomfortable to change and improve our practice. So, I hope you get uncomfortable, see students in the data, own your change, and use neuroscience to ensure every child in Tennessee has high quality learning experiences every day, every week, every month, year over year!

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Tennessee Educators Lead the Nation in Literacy Focus - tn.gov

ISU community celebrates the opening of the Multicultural Center – Illinois State University News

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In a moving ceremony, the Illinois State campus community celebrated on October 15 the new Multicultural Center, a recently renovated space dedicated to providing support for students and strengthening the Universitys commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Center Director Dr. Christa Platt, M.S. 09, Ph.D. 17, began the event with an acknowledgment of the Indigenous Peoples whose homelands Illinois State now occupies, closed the ceremony with a ribbon cutting, and in between reflected on what the new center means to the campus.

Its a special day, and honestly, its an emotional day, Platt said. Its a special day for us, the collective, the campus community, not just for me and my colleague Kwame (Patterson), who worked for the last year and a half together to make this venture be what it is, but its for the campus community, a moment in history that is special for us.

About 100 students, faculty, staff, donors, and university and community leaders gathered at the Multicultural Center for the celebration, which was held during Homecoming Week. The event was moved inside due to the weather forecast and was livestreamed on the centers Facebook page and on a big screen in the Bone Student Center, where about another dozen people watched the hourlong event.

Watch the celebration and ribbon cutting for the new Multicultural Center on Facebook.

Students Caleb Mangruem and Daisy Rodriguez welcomed attendees with a statement read in English and Spanish: Welcome to the sacred moment for our community, a moment to reflect, a moment to remember, and a moment to honor, Mangruem said in part. Welcome to an opportunity to share in gratitude with our communities who have asked, advocated, protested, demanded, and planned for this center. We welcome you to honor the mission and the vision to the center that seeks to equip all Illinois State University students to be change agents and enact a culture of anti-racism, equity, and justice.

After the event, center staff offered attendees tours of the facility, which opened in August in the former Instructional Technology and Development Center at 301 South Main Street. The 16,200-square-foot building underwent a $4.4 million renovation and now includes spaces for events and culturally- and community-based student organizations, conference rooms, a social justice library, a media room, staff offices, a kitchen, all-gender restrooms, and a reflection room.

Illinois State administrators spoke about the crucial role students served in pushing for and developing the concept of the center.

While were excited to complete this construction project and the opening of the center, were even more proud of the commitment to the student experience throughout the entire planning process, said Dr. Levester Johnson, vice president for Student Affairs. Our students asked for the Multicultural Center, and we listened. We were intentional about listening to their feedback and making decisions that will ultimately make their experience at Illinois State even better.

Illinois State President Dr. Terri Goss Kinzy called the centers opening a momentous occasion.

For some, this center is a symbol of our dedication to equity, Kinzy said. For some, this center will be a refuge, a place to recharge, to have the energy to continue important work. But for me, the center is a promise to forge ahead for infusing equity into the infrastructure of the Universitys practices, policies, and initiatives. It is also a place where we must have constructive dialogue, including on difficult topics and between different views.

The event also featured an Interfaith Blessing, a thank-you to the alumni who have financially supported the center, a rendition of the song The Blessing by the Interdenominational Youth Choir, and readings by the student leaders of the Black Student Union, Asian Pacific American Coalition, Pride, and the Association of Latinx American Students.

As current student leaders on this campus, we commit to serving our student body by recognizing the humanity of the most marginalized students, we affirm their Blackness; their Asian identity, their Latin histories; and their gender, sexual, and romantic identities, said Ximena Sanchez-Ramirez, president of the Association of Latinx American Students. We welcome each intersecting identity of our peers and invite them into the Multicultural Center. We center the experiences of minoritized students. We envision the possibilities for them, and the possibilities of what this space can and will offer students. We envision what the center would have been for a Black man graduate student, like Jelani Day. We will continue to foster community that Jelani would have wanted to belong to.

Dr. Khalilah Shabazz (assistant vice chancellor for student diversity, equity, and inclusion at IUPUI) has served as a consultant to the Multicultural Center. During her keynote speech, she said cultural centers provide a safe haven for students who often find themselves existing along the margins on college campuses.

Look at these amazing students. These are your why. These are the faces of our future. These are your why. And for you all students, this is your place, this is your space, Shabazz said.

Learn more about the Multicultural Center.

Julie Mana-ay Perez contributed to this story.

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ISU community celebrates the opening of the Multicultural Center - Illinois State University News