Daily Archives: July 21, 2017

SAN JOSE, Calif. It is tempting to link the change in San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Tommy Thompsons productivity to the ascension of new coach Chris Leitch. Since Leitch assumed control last month, Thompson has started all five of the Quakes competitive matches, providing two assists in U.S. Open Cup play and his first MLS goal after starting his career with a 63-game drought.

Yet the 21-year-old Thompson points to a moment during the reign of former coach Dominic Kinnear as the turning point for his fortunes: Late in the second half against Orlando City onMay 17, Thompsons ball to the back post turned into an assist on team captain Chris Wondolowskis game-tying goal.

Thompsons first career point in league play helped secure a critical point for the Quakes in their quest to regain a playoff spot, and gave him a sorely-neededboost in morale.

Its crazy how much one stat can mean, but it inspires confidence," Thompson told MLSsoccer.com last week."Since then, I think its been all downhill. ... I knew once I got the monkey off my back, the rest would come.

Regardless of the genesis of his surge, its undeniable that Thompson has finally begun to unveil in games the kind of tools that have long made him an object of fascination in skills challenges over the years. As the Quakes have become more entertaining and assertive under Leitch even in a situation such as the 5-1 loss San Jose suffered against the New York Red Bullson Wednesday Thompson has perhaps been the fullest representation of that change.

I think we can be the team that puts teams on the back foot and outscores teams, Thompson said. Thats what we did [in a 3-2 win against theLA Galaxyin the US Open Cup quarterfinals].Yeah, they scored two goals on us, but we put three in the back of the net. It feels good.

The biggest observable difference regarding Thompsons game is a level of decisiveness that seemed lacking at times previously, and this is not by accident. As Leitch made it clear in his initial press conference after taking the job, his vision of the Quakes affords them more chances to fail and to learn from that process.

With certain players, especially the attackers, youre going to ask them to take risks to change a game and to beat your opponent, to try the final pass, to attempt a shot, Leitch told reporters after San Joses 4-1 exhibition romp over Eintracht Frankfurt last week. And so if youre going to ask those players to do that, then you have to know within that risk, those things arent always going to come off, and so you have to be OK with that, so that those creative guys can have the space to be creative and to express themselves and try those things.

That theory of allowing young players to make mistakes seems to beworking for the Earthquakes. Rookie Jackson Yueill, who spent much of the year buried on Kinnears depth chart, has been a key cog for Leitch. And Homegrown defender Nick Lima, who moved straight into Kinnears lineup as a rookie this season, has been deployed as a wingback when the Quakes utilize a 3-5-2 formation, giving him license to roam forward even more freely than in Kinnears usual 4-4-2.

Even [Valeri Qazaishvili] is a great example of the Quakes shift to wanting young, talented players before theyre in their prime, Thompson said, citing the recent addition of 24-year-old attacker. Its exciting to be a part of. This locker room has changed drastically since I signed when I was 18. But I think were going in the right direction.

"Young players have the ability to show well on the biggest stages, if theyre given confidence. I think Jacksons shown that. I think Nicks shown that.

That is a sea change for a Quakes team that is still finding its way under Leitch, who previously had front-office experience but no coaching reps at this level.

Winning is always fun, but winning with style is all the better, Thompson said. I would say this is the most fun Ive had as a pro. I think part of that comes from getting assists and getting a goal.

I said at the beginning of this season: this is the most talent weve had in this locker room since Ive been here. And I think were only getting better. Were only getting more and more confident with each other, with the coaching staff. Im really looking forward to whats going to come with the rest of the year.

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San Jose Earthquakes' Tommy Thompson making progress under ... - MLSsoccer.com

A visit to Progress Ranch on Monday evening was like coming full circle for Steffanie Kramer, a former foster child who graduated from Sacramento State University last year.

Its going from being that child, like these boys, to 14 years later being a college graduate, she said. It provides reassurance that I didnt go through what I did for no reason.

What she went through included entering the child welfare system at the age of 9 and bouncing from foster home to foster home before finally being adopted by a loving family years later.

Now she serves as an advocate for foster youths andwas visiting the Progress Ranch group home for boys on Monday along with two UC Davis students who, like her, beat the odds just in making it to college after a childhood in the system.

Statistics show that only 10 percent of former foster youths attend college and just 3 percent will graduate.

They are the rock stars, says Doug Barnett, who along with his wife started a nonprofit aimed at helping foster youths who make it to college not only graduate, but enter the workforce prepared and ready tothrive.

Barnetts foundation, Fostering Success & Significance, provides scholarships, mentoring and advocacy, career planning and more to former foster youths at UC Davis, Sacramento State and the Los Rios community colleges.

In return for that support, participating students commit to giving back, particularly in service to the kids coming up behind them.

This week, that meant a visit to the boys at Progress Ranch from Barnett, Kramer and UC Davis students William and Walter (who asked that their last names not be used).

Progress Ranch is a Davis nonprofit that operates two residential homes for emotionally troubled boys in the child welfare system.

Director Wendi Counta notes that the boys here dont get to see themselves very often in (young adults).

Its really important for them to see how they fit in, she said, and having visitors like Walter and William young men who have been through similar childhoods is inspiring.

Its about planting a seed of hope, Barnett said.

During the visit, William, a clinical nutrition major, and Walter, a mechanical engineering major, talked about their time in foster care and offered advice to the boys about reaching their goals.

Make a lot of connections, Walter said, because you never know who will come along out of the blue and help you.

And focus on school, he said, because the payoff is ridiculous.

William told the boys how he entered foster care at the age of 3 and was adopted eventually. He later went to community college for a few years before being accepted as a transfer student at UCD.

I got an apartment, worked, paid my bills and went to college, he told the boys.

Life has always gotten better, every year, better and better. Take every day one day at a time, William added.

When asked by their visitors what they wanted to do when they grew up, most of the younger boys talked about professional sports careers. But a couple said they wanted to be at Progress Ranch, working with Wendi.

That resonated with Kramer.

Just seeing these boys, seeing that they want to stay with Wendi when they grow up is amazing, she said. These boys are being loved here, and that really hit me.

Barnett agreed.

This just doesnt exist (elsewhere), he said of Progress Ranch, which truly immerses the boys in Davis life, from attending local schools to participating in local sports leagues and camps.

In just the past year, four boys have left the group home or are in the process of leaving becauseDavis families offered to become their foster parents.

Barnett wouldlike the partnership between Progress Ranch and Fostering Success & Significance to continue, including with future visits tothe group homefrom college students, as well as bringing Progress Ranch boys to local college campuses for tours with former foster youths.

Maybe it will resonate with them that college is an option, Barnett said.

Meanwhile, Fostering Success & Significance continues to help college students like William and Walter who may have beaten the odds in getting to college but sometimesstill needwhat their classmates may take for granted: like knowing how to dress for success, business etiquette, networking and more.

Growing up, you only want to go to college, Walter noted. Then when you arrive on campus, you get complacent because youve made it.

In my head, I thought, I just need to graduate, he said.

Fostering Success & Significance showed him differently.

For more information about the foundation, call Barnett at 916-813-1229. To make a donation, visit http://www.eldoradocf.org, click on the donate tab and designate Fostering Success and Significance as the recipient.

Learn more about Progress Ranch at http://progressranch.com.

Read More: New site helps Progress Ranch fulfill its mission: http://wp.me/p3aczg-30lf

Reach Anne Ternus-Bellamy at [emailprotected] or 530-747-8051. Follow her on Twitter at @ATernusBellamy

Originally posted here:

Former foster kids now in college hope to inspire Progress Ranch kids - Davis Enterprise

Dismantling Medicaid is at the heart of President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congressagenda. President Trump proposed cutting Medicaidby halfin his budget, and Congress has proposed taking an ax to the program both through their repeal of the Affordable Care Act as well as through theirbudget blueprints.In all cases, these cuts to health coverage and services for children, people with disabilities, seniors, and low-income adults whom Medicaid serves would be used topay for tax cutsfor millionaires and corporations.

These cuts would have devastating consequences for the individuals, families, and communities that Medicaid serves. Nearly 4 in 10 of the nations children receive Medicaid, and the program delivers essential supports to 15 million Americans with disabilities. Medicaid covers nearly half of all births in the United States, 64 percent of people in nursing homes, and 1.8 million veterans.

New analysis from the Center for American Progress shows that the more than 1 in 5 Americans who rely on Medicaid hail from all states, age groups, genders, races, and ethnicities. The tables below break down the number of Americans in each state who received Medicaid in 2015.

The draconian Medicaid cuts proposed in legislation and budgets would result in millions of families being unable to afford lifesaving medical care, access basic preventative services for their children, and prevent disastrous medical debts.

The tables below, which are based on American Community Survey (ACS) 2015 one-year estimates, represent lower-bound estimates of Medicaid enrollees, since surveys such as the ACS tend to undercount program participants. Due to the way the ACS reports enrollment, these estimates also include a small share of individuals who receive health coverage through a different income-based public medical assistance program, such as the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which are also at risk under President Trump and congressional Republicans health care plan. The ACS counted about 66.4 million participants nationally in 2015, about 91.7 percent of the 72.4 million participants reported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in mid-2015. The authors use the ACS because the data produce a conservative estimate of enrollmentand because, unlike administrative data, these data also contain demographic information on enrollees.

Slashing Medicaid is the cornerstone of President Trump and congressional Republicans agenda. These cuts to critical health care services would be used to help pay for tax cuts for the richest Americansand would be devastating for people with disabilities, children, seniors, and veterans in every state in the country.

Rachel West is an associate director for the Poverty to Prosperity Program at the Center for American Progress. Katherine Gallagher Robbins is the director of family policy for the Poverty to Prosperity Program at the Center.

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Who Receives Medicaid? A State-by-State Breakdown - Center For American Progress

Senators should make progress on health-care legislation before leaving Washington for their August recess, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday.

"We have to stay here. We shouldn't leave town, and we should hammer this out and get it done," Trump said.

GOP senators planned to work late into the night to try to find a way to revive the effort to repeal and/or replace Obamacare, according to an Axios report.

The president's comments come after a Republican proposal to simply repeal Obamacare quickly lost support among GOP senators. That proposal came after the most recent draft of a replacement bill collapsed on Monday after four Republicans said they opposed it.

On Tuesday, the president said he was "disappointed" with the failure. At the time, Trump repeated his belief that it would be easier to simply let President Barack Obama's signature health-care law fail on its own.

But the president on Wednesday called for renewed efforts to draft health-care legislation, instead of letting Obamacare implode. While a repeal would be "fine," the president said, Republicans should try to "get more."

"I think the people of this country need more than a repeal. They need a repeal and a replace, and we were very, very close," Trump said.

"We have no choice. We have to repeal and replace Obamacare. We can repeal it, but the best is repeal and replace. And let's get going. I intend to keep my promise, and I know you will, too."

Following the president's comments, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters after the lunch that the Senate would proceed next week with a vote on a motion to move ahead with a repeal bill. The proposal does not include a replacement plan, though it could be amended, he said.

"I think we have two options here. I think we all agree it's better to both repeal and replace, but we could have a vote on either, and if we end up voting on repeal only, it will be fully amendable on the Senate floor," McConnell said. "And if it were to pass without any amendment at all there's a two-year delay before it kicks in ... so the takeaway from what I'm telling you is no harm is done from getting on the bill."

Republicans have campaigned on repealing Obamacare since it was enacted. But the GOP effort to strike down the law has been stymied by divisions within the party. Delays in health-care reform push back the rest of the Republican agenda, which includes tax reform.

The president said that senators who vote against starting debate on a health-care bill would be telling Americans they're fine with Obamacare.

"But being fine with Obamacare isn't an option for another reason because it's gone. It's failed. It's not going to be around," he said.

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Not dead, yet: Trump pushes GOP senators to repeal Obamacare - CNBC