Monthly Archives: June 2020

AUGUSTA, Maine (WABI) - The Maine Department of Health and Human Services DHHS has been awarded $989,045 in federal funds from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The funding will allow the state to contract with behavioral health providers and organizations to offer crisis counseling to individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 as well as those who are close contacts of such individuals.

State officials say this work supplements the work that is already being done by the Maine CDC Behavioral Health Response Team.

The money will also allow for the launch of a public awareness campaign regarding mental health to help Mainers find positive ways to cope with the changes to their lives that have been brought on by the pandemic.

Some of the money will support the Maine Frontline Warmline that was created to help first responders and health care workers.

Full statement from Maine DHHS:

"The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will use nearly $1 million in federal funding awarded this week for a program to help Maine people cope with the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, through both direct support for individuals exposed to the virus and proactive outreach aimed at reducing the long-term behavioral health impacts of the pandemic.

Individuals are increasingly reaching out for behavioral health support in the face of the pandemic. Maines Intentional Warm Line, which offers non-crisis peer support to adults, has received more than 6,000 calls since March 30, 2020, an increase of 40 percent. Call duration increased 60 percent over the same period to an average of nearly 22 minutes.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on not only peoples physical health, but also their mental health and emotional wellbeing, said DHHS Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew. This funding will support additional boots on the ground to help those in Maine facing behavioral health challenges now and to prevent post-COVID challenges in the long-term.

There are immediate behavioral health impacts from this pandemic as well as potential long-term effects as people grapple with disruption, isolation, traumatic experiences, grief, and economic instability, said Dr. Jessica Pollard, Director of the DHHS Office of Behavioral Health. These funds will support our work to proactively help Maine people cope with this distress and support their health during the pandemic as well as when it is over.

DHHS will use $989,045 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to:

Contract with behavioral health providers and organizations to offer crisis counseling to individuals diagnosed with COVID-19, close contacts of such individuals, and people living or working in an outbreak setting. Community health workers will be trained to provide psychological and emotional support, assessment and case management, and facilitate connections to Maine CDC contact tracers. Behavioral health providers will stand ready to offer additional support to individuals with more significant psychiatric needs. This work supplements the ongoing work of Maine CDCs Behavioral Health Response Team, whose trained volunteers have been responding to outbreak settings to help minimize the impacts and support those affected.

Launch a public awareness campaign offering information on expected emotional reactions to public health emergencies, building resilience and coping skills, knowing what warning signs to watch for, and when and how to seek help. While the campaign will serve the general public, it will target those with pre-existing behavioral health conditions, first responders and health care workers, and those experiencing significant economic impacts from the pandemic. Support the Maine Frontline Warmline for first responders and health care workers, NAMI Maines Teen Text Support Line, bolster the Intentional Warm Line, and add Psychological First Aid as a service accessible through Maines 211 system.

Maine DHHS also will assess the behavioral health needs of various communities, including people of color such as new Mainers, Tribes, first responders, and health care workers, to determine how best to direct future resources. DHHS plans to apply for a second round of federal funding to extend this project over a longer term, recognizing that public health emergencies have both immediate and long-term psychological impacts.

The Maine Emergency Management Agency is the direct recipient of this award and will transfer the funds to DHHS.

Visit the Maine DHHS Office of Behavioral Health for mental health and substance use disorder information and resources available during the pandemic at: http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/samhs/coronavirus.shtml.

Helplines:24/7 Statewide Crisis Line 888-568-111224/7 Intentional Warm Line 866-771-927624/7 Suicide Hotline 800-273-TALK (800-273-8255)24/7 Disaster Distress Helpline: 1-800-985-5990 or text "TalkWithUs" to 66746 Maine FrontLine WarmLine for health care workers and first responders: 221-8196, free, confidential support 8am-8pm, 7 days a week NAMI Maine Teen Text Support Line 515-8398 (TEXT)211 and 211maine.org"

More here:

Nearly $1 million in federal funds will be used to support pandemic related mental health efforts in Maine - WABI

About a decade ago, an academic cottage industry arose around the concept of the end times of human rights. Some found arguments about the demise of human rights overblown, but certain elements rang true: The movement had come to be seenand not just by dictatorsas elitist, driven by outsiders, or just plain irrelevant to many citizens around the world. Naming and shaming, standard approaches in human rights advocacy, were increasingly having limited effect. The business model of Global North donor supporting Global South activists exacerbated these problems.

Fast forward. In the wake of the myriad abuses occurring in the United States, another debate is emerging: Can the United States support democracy and human rights around the world as we have for four decades, even as racial inequalities, disparities, and inequities at home are more evident than any time in recent history? How do the societal and economic cracks and crevices in our system, laid bare now as canyons, affect our national security policies going forward?

I want to add another dimension to these debates. Despite the cratering of U.S. global leadership and multiple crises, if we embrace a 21st century conception of sustainable development here and abroad, we can recover with a new, better approach to advancing social justice and dignity, one that puts addressing structural racism front and center. Done comprehensively, it would improve communities all over the country but also positively impact American diplomacy and development work overseas.

Racism in the United States has always been an impediment to realizing the promise of democracy, but also to embracing, and being seen to embrace, human rights. It deterred Eleanor Roosevelt and the U.S. delegation to the U.N. in 1948 from turning the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the touchstone of the movement, into a legally binding document. The Truman administration, in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in Brown v. the Board of Education, cited the unequal system of public education defined by race as a national security issue that the Soviets were exploiting.

Cold War dynamics and lingering effects have led to a systematic downplaying of social and economic rights. Instead, a focus on rights of the person (e.g., highlighting torture, indefinite detention) has tended to dominate many U.S. human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The 1975 Helsinki Accords between the United States and the Soviet Union indirectly gave rise to one of the worlds most preeminent NGOs, Human Rights Watch (HRW). However, HRW did not make tackling racial injustice at home the priority. Initially called Helsinki Watch, it signaled its role as a solidarity group monitoring the compliance of the Soviet Union with international human rights obligations.

When the United States visibly departs from the rule of law, dictators are enabled. For many of us who work internationally, the derogation regarding indefinite detention highly motivated us to try to close Guantanamo among other efforts to change deleterious counterterrorism policies. Within the same groupan overwhelmingly white, privileged communityfew of us have to date made reducing inequality at home an equally critical or even existential issue.

This situation is no longer tenable. Advancing rights at home and overseas needs to finally be clearly understood as interconnected and should lead to changes in domestic and foreign policies. Intentional approaches to breaking down silos need to be established. Measurable progress reducing inequality and inequities must feature prominently, but challenges exist requiring paradigm shifts.

How countries reconcile with their violent past and how it influences the present is not a well-understood or consistently recognized factor in either diplomacy or development. This present pastour continued legacy of structural racismhas burst into view on prime-time television and social media. Our deep deviations from the rule of law have, however, freighted our efforts to advance human rights abroad for some time nowso much so they led me to search for approaches that at least acknowledged the tensions. Even minor efforts met with resistance and institutional obstacles.

In 2009, I helped organize a U.S.-Russia civil society summit in Moscow attended by President Obama who joined his former colleagues. This conversation, with Black Americans talking about their work in community organizing in the United States and Russian activists talking about work inside Russia, was a modest attempt to shift traditional approaches for assistance to peer-to-peer engagement. One concrete recommendation from the summit was a series of joint projects, including one on history and memory:

In the United States, these might include the legacies of slavery and the treatment of indigenous peoples, and in Russia, it might include the legacies of terror and the institutionalization of deportations and slave labor in the gulag. It might examine how these issues are presented to the public in each country, for example, through a comparison of text books, tourism, movies, and popular novels.

Some activists on both sides objected, believing it lent credence to the Kremlins what-about-isms (e.g., Dont talk to me about Russian human rights abuses. What about racism in the U.S.?). In any case, after a few years of peer-to-peer meetings, the U.S. walked away. Vladimir Putin had again become president, most international support for Russian human rights evaporated, and the Kremlin launched hybrid warfare to undermine democracies, including specifically target(ing) the Black community to sow division and suppress voter turnout.

Still wanting to address the tensions inherent in our present past while advancing human rights overseas, when I joined the Obama administration in 2010, I proposed an initiative on reconciliation, accountability, and justice. Colleagues at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) were receptive. (Some of these same colleagues have written recently about the need for a U.S. conflict prevention plan.) We immediately encountered impediments; USAIDs mandate is to address internationalnot domesticdevelopment. The problem was, however, not just a bureaucratic one. As I wrote in Foreign Affairs in 2017, the international community is not well organized to manage the problem of historical memory. (T)roubling, since how countries deal with violent episodes in their past shapes how they develop. (C)onsider the United States own lack of reconciliation with its legacy of slavery and how this affects race relations and inequality today. Over and over again, we witnessed the lack of accountability for the past as a driver of contemporary development and, often, of conflict.

Suffice to say, to date, the international democracy and human rights work that the State Department, USAID, NGOs, and private foundations have funded, programmed, and promoted has, like the United States itself, attempted to sidestep this profound wound. While obscuring what is going on inside the country, we have trainedindeed, congressionally mandatedour eyes to gaze only on abuses occurring elsewhere, similar to what one writer has labeled the exotic poverty problem.

The world has turned upside down. Anything that seemed impossible a few weeks ago may now actually be imperative. How extremely foresighted then that a global framework for a 21st century approach to sustainable development already exists and applies to the Global North and the Global South: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This agenda has reducing inequality and leaving no one behind as foundational. Implemented, it could help radically reduce violence and increase access to justice. Expanded definitions of sustainability (beyond climate) and development (happens everywhere) represent paradigm shifts needed to erode the silos of development at home versus overseas. Only, however, if we organize and educate ourselves.

The clock is ticking. With the SDGS adopted in 2015 and running through 2030, time has been wasted. Equally problematic, there is little awareness that this agenda even exists. Yet we still have ten years, the decade of action. Moreover, there are pockets of traction: Some cities, universities, business leaders, and philanthropies have recognized the value-add of the SDGs, including in the United States. At Carnegie Mellon, we are conducting a Voluntary University Review to see how our education, research, and practice align with the SDGs.

Now is the time to make the agenda for peaceful, just, inclusive communities a societaldare I say national project that delivers for all citizens. We need a national conversation about what sustainable developmentincluding tackling structural racismmeans. We need to support a next generation of experts trained for the transnational, distributed world, educated in holistic, human-centered design, listening and responding to needs in whatever locality they work. They must reflect the demography of the United States. We need resourced plans to broaden the pipeline of talent, targeting educational institutions early and often.

The foreign policy community should rethink labels common in international development circles. We should no longer be comfortable talking about the United States as a developed country given disaggregated data at the city level, even before the pandemic, that show life expectancy in communities of color below places the World Bank labels as less developed. The average life expectancy in parts of Ward 5 in the District of Columbia is 67. The average in Botswana is 69.6. We can no longer ignore educational, health, and economic disparities that have defined generations.

The era in which the human rights community considers inequities and inequalities as outside their remit must end. Traditional approaches to advancing human rights by monitoring compliance with legal frameworks (or capacity building) are inadequate. Some, namely the Ford Foundation under Darren Walker, have recognized the need for change. Yet behind closed doors, activists complain Ford has walked away from advancing rights.

The foreign policy community must recognize structural racism as a fundamental threat to the well-being of this country, just as we would a foreign one. If we do not have the will to meet this moment, we may well be witnessing the end times of human rights and the ultimate undermining of our democracy. That is what the Putins of the world are betting. We can prove them wrong and establish that the United States, despite history, is a beacon. Reducing inequality and inequities here will do more to help advance human rights than a million reports monitoring abuses overseas.

Link:

Inequality, the SDGs, and the human rights movement in the US and around the world - Brookings Institution

Viewpoint by Linda Eckerbom Cole

The writer is Director/Founder, African Women Rising, shuttles between Santa Barbara, California and Gulu, Uganda.

SANTA BARBARA, California (IDN) African Women Rising (AWR) has created a campaign to build 2,000 new Permagardens, which will help feed 15,000 at-risk people who are experiencing food scarcity due to COVID-19. Permagardens empower communities to meet their own food needs and are a long-term solution to hunger.

Margaret has not been able to sell her fish at the local market for two months now. The restrictions put in place to prevent COVID-19 from spreading in Northern Uganda have had devastating consequences for her and her household. With no other income, the family is struggling.

Margaret is old and doesn't have the strength to work in the field. Her husband is blind and not healthy, leaving Margaret as the primary caretaker and breadwinner for the eight grandchildren in their care. They have reduced food intake to once a day.

This is the situation for many of the women in the communities where African Women Rising works.

The restrictions are also affecting the 1.4 million South Sudanese refugees in the region as they are unable to access markets, agricultural fields or other sources of income. To compound the situation, the World Food Program (WFP) has reduced food distributions due to lack of funding. Refugees receive food once a month, but it only last two weeks.

As a response, African Women Rising is rapidly increasing the scale of our Permagarden program to reach the most vulnerable and food-insecure families both in the refugee camps and in the host communities. A Permagarden is a proven, regenerative approach that can start producing food within two weeks and can support a family for years to come.

More than teaching techniques, African Women Rising's Resilience Design Field Crop and Permagarden programs are about sharing the principles behind water and soil management and developing a contextual understanding to design a system to be as productive and regenerative as possible. AWR's programs have 24 different agroecology-focused indicators they track.

The overall goal of the Permagarden Program is to increase access to diverse and nutritious sources and adequate quantities of vegetables and fruit throughout the year. Farmers do this through the design and establishment of small Permagardens around their home.

The Permagarden method combines components of permaculture an agricultural approach using design principles to utilise natural systems for production and bio-intensive agriculture, a farming approach that maximises crop production through sustainable practices that increase biodiversity, to create a highly productive garden and homestead compound.

It is designed to work in both the rainy and dry seasons and is a whole compound approach that improves soil fertility and water management to produce nutritious crops. The method shows how farmers with only a small amount of land can produce food throughout the year by learning principles behind proper gardening and resource management and matching those principles to fundamental practices.

The approach helps meet the short-term food needs of program farmers even as it builds their long-term resilience. Farmers learn to manage natural resources through the intentional design of their compound, harvesting water and capturing waste streams to enhance the fertility and productivity of their plots.

The management of existing trees and planting of other fruit and multipurpose trees, a living fence and other biomass plantings provide materials for building, pest remedies, dry season nutrition and medicine. This helps reduce pressures on the environment such as the collection of fuelwood, gathering of wild foods, burning of charcoal that will continue to worsen as time goes on.

To reach 2,000 more vulnerable families (impacting upwards of 15,000 individuals), we need to raise $200,000.

The cost of one garden is only $100. This includes:

Mary started her Permagarden in 2014. As a landless widow was taking care of four grandchildren, her life can be a challenge. Her Permagarden is right next to the house and bursts with production throughout the year. She grows papaya, tomatoes, pumpkins, four kinds of leafy greens, onions, yams, peppers, okra, passion fruit and citrus.

On 15x15 she can produce enough always to have something to eat. There is even extra food that she has been selling at the market and to neighbours. With that weekly income, she has been able to buy essential items such as salt, soap and school supplies. She has also invested in chickens and goats.

Mary's success is not an exception. Results like these are standard in our Permagarden program, and we have data to prove it. Families become food secure, have new income, can invest in assets, can send children to school and pay for medical care. The Permagardens can provide relief in time of instability, assistance that is not merely a Band-Aid but offers long-term solutions.

Help us spread Mary's success to those who need it most. Your support can go a long way to ensure that women like Margaret have the tools and skills they need to provide for their families now and well into the future.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Uganda has been effectively shut down. We have temporarily closed our programs, except for an increase in targeted, regenerative agricultural activities to ensure people have access to food.

Our staff have been redeployed into COVID-19 response, especially in the refugee camps. There are 1.4 million refugees in 11 camps in Northern Uganda. An outbreak in the camps would lead to a humanitarian disaster. In addition to the Permagarden programs, African Women Rising is distributing soap, installing hand washing stations and providing information on how to keep the virus from spreading. This is a critical emergency. [IDN-InDepthNews 13 June 2020]

Photo (top): Margaret with one of her granddaughters. Credit: Brian Hodges for African Women Rising.

Photo (in Text): Mary in her Permagarden. Credit: Brian Hodges for African Women Rising.

VIMEO link: https://vimeo.com/427529848

Donate: https://www.africanwomenrising.org/donate-today/

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African Women Respond to Covid-19 Hunger Emergency - IDN InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters

It was impossible to watch Tuesdays election fiasco in Georgia the equipment failures, the dramatic reduction in the number of polling precincts, the voting centers that failed to open on time, the insufficient number of paper ballots, the nearly seven-hour lines in many minority communities contrasted with the breeze in whiter, wealthier suburbs without thinking, ruefully, of US supreme court chief justice John Roberts 2013 decision in Shelby County v Holder that ripped the heart from the Voting Rights Act.

Those interminable lines wrapped across Atlanta and many other minority counties? The waits almost as long as a workday, making a mockery of any notion of a free and fair election? Well, more than 200 precincts across Georgia, disproportionately in minority counties, have been ordered closed since Roberts and the US supreme court cast aside protections that had prevented states and localities with a history of racial prejudice in voting laws from remaking their electoral rules without federal oversight.

But it wasnt just in-person voting that malfunctioned on Tuesday. It was also impossible to watch Georgias expanded vote-by-mail system meltdown forcing tens of thousands of voters who requested, but never received, absentee ballots to either join these long lines at the remaining, understaffed precincts, during an ongoing pandemic, or forfeit their civic voice entirely without envisioning a train wreck this fall. Not just in Georgia, but in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and many other crucial states where any repeat of the chaos we have already seen this spring could precipitate a constitutional crisis unlike any other in our history.

We are in deep, deep trouble and seemingly completely unprepared for this Novembers elections. The alarm bells keep ringing first in Ohio and Wisconsin, then in Pennsylvania and now Georgia. Yet we hurtle heedlessly toward chaos.

Many of the problems we face involve intentional voter suppression, such as the surgically focused voter ID bills, precinct closures and voter roll purges (all of which disproportionately target minority voters), which Roberts ruling turbocharged across conservative states nationwide. Other issues relate to the coronavirus pandemic, which has slashed the number of willing poll workersand forced even deeper reductions in the number of in-person voting precincts. During Wisconsins April elections, only five of 180 precincts could be opened in Milwaukee. Add to all of this the usual underfunding, poor planning and ineptitude.

All of it points to danger. All of it was on display in Georgia. And all of it was predictable.

Those new voting machines that didnt function? Six rural counties used them in December, found them confusing and experienced widespread delays.

The lack of training, poll workers and sufficient paper ballots to compensate during an emergency? The Republican secretary of state and county election officials refused responsibility and deflected blame on to each other.

While some of these issues are unique to Georgia, this isnt the first time this spring that similar problems with mail-in voting have been on display. In Wisconsin, an unprecedented increase in absentee ballot requests flooded underfunded election boards. Undelivered ballots stacked up in post offices statewide. Voters in Washington DC also complained that they asked for absentee ballots that never arrived, pushing them into long lines during a pandemic and civil unrest. In Pennsylvania, officials are still counting ballots from last weeks primary in which 70% of voters opted to vote by mail, folded ballots snarled some optical scanners, and state law prohibits election officials from tallying results before election day.

In Georgia, while the secretary of state did take the proactive step of sending registered voters a vote-by-mail absentee application, tens of thousands of ballots did not land in mailboxes on time. Just as bad, the former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said she received a return envelope that was already sealed. Situations like these forced voters to don masks, find an open precinct, then brave the long lines.

Thinking about November, its hard to be optimistic. Its easy to see how the system might fall apart. Its not one thing, its many. State laws requiring too many lengthy steps before voters receive an absentee ballot. Underfunded and overwhelmed election boards. A postal service on the brink of bankruptcy. A dire shortage of poll workers due to the pandemic. A shortage of in-person precincts because, due to Covid-19, senior citizen centers and schools are unsafe gathering spots for voting. A crush of absentee ballots arriving after election day, leading to disputed vote counts and lawsuits. Swing states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, where officials cant start counting before election day, delaying results for a week. A mistrustful nation already on edge after a decade of advanced Republican voter-suppression techniques, and a president willing to amplify false claims about voter fraud on Twitter. And a still-raging coronavirus pandemic that could force voters to choose between the health of themselves and loved ones, and their right to vote. A disputed election that lands before a 5-4 US supreme court that looks increasingly political and unfriendly to voting rights.

Whats intentional and whats incompetence? It doesnt matter. It all suppresses the vote, it all makes our elections less fair and less free. None of this is easy. But time is running out. How many alarm bells do we need?

Read more here:

Georgia's voting fiasco is a warning. The November election could be chaos - The Guardian

The word "intentionality" was used a few times during the televised roundtable on race hosted recently by Gov. Kevin Stitt and first lady Sarah Stitt.

It was in the context of deliberately meeting people who don't look like you. But there are other ways to view "intentionality."

State leaders must be more purposeful in their appointments and consideration of bills coming from marginalized communities. Business leaders must be more deliberate in hiring and promotion practices, and the same for nonprofits in board recruitment.

Making sure all people are represented in the rooms where important things happen takes intentionality.

An aspect missing from that roundtable was diversity. I posed the Stitts' questions to some Tulsa-area activists and leaders.

The online version of this column has their complete answers, and the print version has edited and limited the responses for length. Those providing comments were:

Jose Vega, deputy director at Oklahomans for Equality and chairman of Greater Tulsa Area Hispanic Affairs Commission

Tulsa Police Lt. Marcus Harper, president of the Tulsa Black Officers Coalition

Amanda Clinton, Cherokee Nation citizen and co-organizer of the 2018 Tulsa Women's March

D'Marria Monday, founder of Block Builderz

Tulsa Police Officer Jesse Guardiola, recipient of the U.S. Attorney General's Medal for Distinguished Service in Policing last year for developing an outreach model for police and Hispanic communities

Cammilia Holmes, co-organizer of this year's Tulsa Women's March

Can you share with us your perspective of what you have seen unfold in our state and across the nation for the last week with these demonstrations?

Vega: "I have seen people who are tired of waiting for change that never comes. People want more than just diversity and inclusion. They want to change the systemic racism and oppression that continues to support white privilege and has plagued the black community for hundreds of years. the Latinx community is also tired of police brutality, children in cages, separation of families and violent abuse to immigrants."

Holmes: "There are are number of things I've seen. I've seen extreme hatred and ignorance as well as bullying and harassment from people who don't and are not willing to understand the Black Lives Matter movement.

'I've seen people take advantage of the protests for their own gain by looting and causing property damage. I've seen police officers engage in violent behavior, gassing, pepper balls, brute force, etc. toward people just being peaceful because they don't like the message. I've seen our elected officials make excuses for all of it.

"On a more positive note, I have seen some changes be implemented, such as the officer who killed George Floyd and those who contributed being arrested. I have seen our message get across to the media and the world in a way it hasn't previously. I've seen tons of people come together and unite in hope for change. There is a sense of hope and prosperity that wasn't there before.

"I know there are plans in the works to change some laws so that police are held more accountable for their actions. These are all good things, but until they are implemented, it is all performative so that the protectors 'go away or be silent."

Clinton: "I dont view these protests as a sign of anger as much as I view them as a sign of patience. African Americans have been marginalized through institutional and systematic racism in this country for 400 years, since the first slave ships arrived in the colony of Virginia.

"Im not African American, so I cannot begin to fathom what that feels like. But I imagine its taken an inordinate amount of patience to not protest in the streets every day when you dont have something as simple as equal rights and opportunities."

What do you think has kept us from hearing this message and what can elected officials do to build stronger bridges?

Vega:"The community leaders who represent these communities are not being heard or engaged with by the elected officials with the power to make changes to policies and the system that they represent. Additionally, these marginalized communities are never asked what they need to make their lives better; instead, they are told what they need.

"Experiences people have had with elected officials lead them to think those in power are self-serving. Elected officials are not for the community but for their need to advance and represent their funders."

Clinton: "Nothing is keeping anyone from hearing the message of inequality. People of color have been shouting from the rooftops for hundreds of years. People hear what they want to hear, so for starters, accept personal responsibility for that fact.

"Lets look at this 'bridge' metaphor practically. When Oklahoma consistently had the most structurally deficient bridges in the nation, we didnt say 'Hey, lets make those weak bridges stronger.' No, we knocked them down and built new ones. Stronger bridges will be built by breaking down your current bridges and building new ones.

"Its going to take a complete deconstruction of the current mindset for many people. Just like deficient bridges, systems that reinforce racism may not be fixable. Any good businessperson knows if you have a junk product that has become obsolete, it may be better and more cost efficient to simply toss it out and buy a new one."

Monday: "The refusal to acknowledge racism and white privilege creates a barrier that excludes the voices of those most impacted. It creates a comfort zone that does not include different voices and opinions.

"How can someone who has not lived through the problem truly understand it enough to create a solution? One can have empathy about the situation, however there must be an intentional effort to include diverse voices of those often unheard.

"For example, there was not a black woman on the governors roundtable panel. An intentional effort to create a space that includes the voices of black women can help to build stronger bridges in our community."

How have recent events affected you, your work and our law enforcement community?

Harper:"The murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd has me trying to grasp how these incidents continue to happen over and over again. As I watched the video that captured the death of George Floyd, I kept saying to myself, 'He cant breathe, roll him to his side and put him in the car.' I repeated that phrase over and over again, the entire length of the video just waiting for the officer to do something.

"I watched a senseless act that should not have happened, and three officers that did nothing to stop it. Some in the law enforcement community are just as shocked and angered as I am. Some will remain silent, and some will continue to demonize the victims in these incidents.

"Officers who are vocal on these incidents and dont 'toe the line' face scrutiny from within the law enforcement community. This scrutiny has caused a certain amount of internal division."

Guardioloa: "Now more than ever, I see the value in our focus to hire diverse officers. In fact, it is paramount. We need to continue to strive toward mirroring our citys minority population. It is imperative to see people wearing the uniform that represent the numerous cultures of community.

"As a minority recruiter, I observe regularly the success of this effort; particularly with the Hispanic community. I cant stress it enough how necessary it is to have a responding officer understand personally the impact of race, social economic disparity and nuances of culture and gender. This supports real effective community policing.

"Relationships and trust are built faster. The outcomes are significant crimes are solved quicker, misunderstanding can be navigated and the behaviors (both from the community member and the police) evolve toward positive interactions."

What can we do to support our law enforcement as well as our African American community so what happened in Minnesota never happens in the state of Oklahoma?

Harper: "We need to acknowledge that what happened in Minnesota has happened in Oklahoma. The law enforcement community needs to understand that the people we are sworn to protect and serve have every right to be critical of the job we do.

"The community will always support good police officers. The African American community is just like any other community in this city. It deserves the same support and respect as any other community in this city.

"There was a time when the African American community in Tulsa was one of the most vibrant communities in the entire country. That community was destroyed, and, nearly 100 years later, we are still trying to rebuild our community."

Guardiola: "Chief Wendell Franklin in his first few weeks of office restructured the department. One focus point was to identify talent within to run the Community Engagement Unit. Community support from both a policy perspective and from a funding perspective will allow the unit to truly engage with the community in a positive and meaningful way.

"One offshoot of this unit is the Tulsa Police Activities League. Its outreach is focused on relationship building with youth and is exactly what the city needs. It partners with programs around the city. One such partnership is with the Skyway Leadership Institute located at the HelmZar Challenge Course. The Police Activities League participates in Skyways trust building program called Community Trust Champions. It is data driven and shows statistically significant increases in hope and social trust from both the youth and the officer. This program has received national recognition for its success.

"To sustain this and many other community partnerships the Engagement Unit needs additional funding. We cant expect change and not support the mechanism that can accomplish it."

Clinton: "This is a disappointing question, because what happened in Minnesota has already happened in Oklahoma. It happened to Terence Crutcher in Tulsa. It happened to Luis Rodriquez in Moore. Its happened to other people. We need to stop acting like the problems of the rest of the country are not the problems of Oklahoma."

Monday: "The question should be how do we support our African American community during this time of crisis? There are numerous deaths of unarmed black men killed by law enforcement right here in the state of Oklahoma.

"Eric Harris and Derrick Scott were heard saying, I can't breathe" before taking their last breaths. Their pleas were disregarded as the life faded and escaped from their bodies. Terence Crutcher, Joshua Barre and Jeremy Lake are a few other names of black men whose blood was spilled on the pavement at the hands of law enforcement.

"White fragility refuses to acknowledge the disease called racism because it is too uncomfortable for white people to speak about it. The horrors that black people experience as a result of racism is reflected in the history of our city.

"The 1921 racial massacre was hidden in history because of the atrocity of what racism can do. Racism is a disease that grows and festers when it is left undiagnosed. How can one expect to heal?"

Is there anything we can do legislatively diversity training, professional development de-escalation anything from elected officials to help promote that culture besides conversations?

Harper: "Every officer in this department has gone through diversity training, de-escalation training, etc. There has been conversation after conversation, but the attitudes remain the same, especially in the law enforcement community. It has taken the death of George Floyd to awaken the moral conscious of this nation.

"When a police union has the political clout to have legislation changed on the national and state levels, elected officials and community leaders are fighting with one hand tied behind their backs.

"We need more elected officials and community leaders who have the courage to address the culture of policing."

Guardiola: "Yes, put into action and policy a pathway for minority groups to apply and enter the police department. I am very proud to call the Tulsa Police Department one of the most educated departments in America. With the unique requirement of a bachelors degree, we certainly have a plethora of critical thinkers.

"However this requirement can be a significant barrier for many from traditionally disenfranchised communities. This is particularly poignant from the perspective of the financial burden it places on the family and navigating a degree as a first-generation college attendee.

"A viable option is currently being developed by our recruitment team. Its called the Oklahoma Guardian Producer program. This program is intended to help low income, minority, high school seniors (considering public service) access higher education, provide a clear pathway and a funded police mentorship program; culminating in hiring diverse highly qualified officers.

"Like all good leaders, our legislators can remove barriers and cut through red tape. This program is so many things. Its workforce development centered, its helping socioeconomically challenged families go from poverty to middle-class, its providing a real pathway to grow a diverse police department and it allows the people of our community to give back as a public servant and make changes from within.

"This works if our legislators, city leaders and higher education regents move to make this a reality."

Clinton: "There has been a lot of talk about 'defunding the police' lately. When I first heard that, I thought 'Thats crazy! Someone still needs to catch murderers and rapists, right?' But as I read more about what this actually means, Im not sure 'defund the police' is as accurate as 'help the police just be police.' Just like teachers were never meant to be social workers, crisis counselors, nutritionists, nurses, janitors, etc., police were never intended to be mental health professionals, DHS workers, etc.

"Lets be honest our legislators have already defunded core services to the point that public servants are asked to wear a dozen different hats for less pay than ever. So maybe some of those things the police are called for now mental health crises in particular shouldnt be police calls. If you or a loved one had a mental health crisis, wouldnt you rather a trained mental health professional like a psychiatrist or a therapist show up, rather than a police officer wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying gun? Im sure both individuals have the same intention of a peaceful resolution, but one of them is more likely to achieve it.

"Let police be police, mental health professionals provide mental health services and so on. If I were a police officer, I would welcome that kind of practical division of resources."

Holmes: "There's no excuse for brutality. We should implement non-violent de-escalation techniques, especially in the case of people who are unarmed. I can understand the frustration felt by officers in situations where tensions are high, and a suspect may not be doing what they think (either running their mouth or being belligerent. But if the first instinct is to grab, choke or physically hurt that person, it's the officer causing the problem.

"Take the time to explain to the suspect why they are being questioned. Listen first. Look first. Observe first. A lot of tragic situations were caused by cops either not listening to what they've been asked by a suspect, such as Please stop that; it hurts or I can't breathe. Police have made assumptions mixing up who is responsible for a crime or whether someone has a weapon. Violence shouldnt be the automatic go-to, especially when the suspect is unarmed.

"Setting aside race issues for a moment, there are a lot of problems with how the police function on a day-to-day basis. Often when we call on them for a problem, they either show up hours later, don't show at all or get there and don't resolve the issue.

"I've heard several abuse victims state they were dismissed when they showed up to report their abusers. These are the kinds of things that lead to distrust and a lack of wanting to call on law enforcement. It makes people feel helpless and leads to resentment which can lead to other things. Let's start here. Let's do better in this regard."

(From first lady Stitt) As weve all watched this unfold across our nation over the last several weeks, as a mother, what is relevant in my mind is how can we bring change through the next generation? What conversations should we be having, what should we be teaching them and exposing them to, or not exposing them to?

Monday:"I am a black woman loving and raising young black men. I can teach them how to love and fight for change. The youth are our future! It is my hope that my children grow to reach their full potential.

"It is a gnawing fear that systemic racism will take that opportunity away from them. Love and hate are emotions that we teach our children. I can only ask that white people teach their children to love black children.

"Teach your children that we are equal. Teach your children not to hate. Teach them that it is not OK to disregard black lives. Then, I can truly have hope that your children will not kill my children. A hope that believes that love can win! Love for humanity and dignity for all!

How do we develop these relationships and friendships? Do you have suggestions? How do we keep developing those relationships?

Vega: "Reach out to these communities and listen to what they have to say, and they will tell you. Partner with organizations seeking equality. Being open to uncomfortable conversations and changes that cant wait for the general public to be OK with will help develop these relationships over time."

Holmes: "Friendship is a difficult thing to achieve with tensions so high. There has been years of discrimination, resentment, pain, loss, grief and anger. I would first say we try for civility and then possibly move into friendship later.

"I don't think friendship is a necessity if we can reach civility. The best way again to develop a good civil relationship is to show rather than tell at this point.

"First, outline a plan to bridge the gap. Then stick to that plan. Make the plan accessible for everyone to see it. Let your people know what they are doing so that we can hold you accountable."

Clinton: "This is not rocket science. Robert Fulghum wrote a book called 'All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten' 35 years ago. Ironically, I was barely out of kindergarten at the time.

"Here are some of the things he wrote: Share everything. Play fair. Dont hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Dont take things that arent yours. Say youre sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat.

"Thats pretty much it. The last one seems especially pertinent today."

Is there anything practical that all the Oklahomans watching this can do besides getting out of our own bubbles to have conversations? Or, is that the biggest thing we can do as Oklahomans? What can we do?

Vega:"All Oklahomans need to research the black organizations in Oklahoma, LGBTQ organizations in the state and Latinx coalition in their county. I encourage that everyone support local Black, LGBTQ, Latinx, immigrant businesses in their communities."

Holmes: "There do need to be more conversations. Beyond that, I need to see police accountability. When the police break the law, I need to know they are going to pay for it via arrest, a court date and a proper sentence that fits the crime. Not have it covered up by their fellow cops or superiors.

"We need to know they will be held to the same standards as everyone else. I need to feel justice is served. If the police are breaking a societal contract with us, why are we required to maintain one with them? Elected officials should also stop making excuses for whats happening. They are part of the problem.

"Implement laws. Create change. Meet with groups that specialize in racial justice. Make a unified front. Come up with a plan together. Listen first. I cannot stress that enough."

Clinton:"'Having conversations' about racism is a very 2019 solution to a very 2020 problem. The days of just talking are over. A lot less talking, and a lot more action is needed when it comes to acknowledging the amount of institutionalized racism that exists in our country and actually doing something about it."

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Ginnie Graham: Other answers to the governor's questions about race - Tulsa World

The Massachusetts State Senate will engage in a listening session hosted by Senate President Karen E. Spilka, Senator Eric P. Lesser, Senator Patricia D. Jehlen, and Senator Adam G. Hinds on Massachusetts economic recovery, reinvestment and workforce on Friday, June 12 beginning at 11AM.

As we reopen the states economy, the Senate remains focused on the actions we need to take to support residents, businesses and communities, stated Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland). This listening session, the first in a series, will serve as an important tool to address the many challenges we will face as a result of COVID-19. I want to thank my colleagues Senators Lesser, Jehlen, Hinds, and their committee members for their collaboration in gathering this session. I am equally thankful to those in the Administration, and our businesses and labor sectors for their participation in this important effort.

It is vital that we hear from the people in the community that are experiencing the economic impacts of the Coronavirus outbreak as well as other members of the administration who may provide valuable insight, said Senator Eric P. Lesser (D-Longmeadow). We are facing an unprecedented time with nearly 1 million individuals out of work across the Commonwealth, and these conversations will help inform how we can work together on recovery efforts as a Legislature and as a state.

The listening session will be a chance for the Senate to hear from the administration, labor, the business community, and other important stakeholders as we continue the discussion on the future of the Commonwealth's economy and workforce. This listening session will aim to help inform the Senates work on an economic development and jobs bill and what is needed to put people back to work and stimulate Massachusetts economy.

"As we begin to re-open Massachusetts, my constituents, my colleagues, and I have many questions about what recovery will look like, said Senator Patricia D. Jehlen (D-Somerville). The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 shutdown were felt deeply across many industries from restaurants to healthcare and we need to be very intentional about supporting people more than ever."

COVID has created incredible challenges for the Commonwealth, but it has also revealed many shortcomings in our society, said Senator Adam G. Hinds (D-Pittsfield). We must prepare for the new normal and these sessions are central to that process.

Below is the full agenda:11AM-12PM Retail and restaurantsJon Hurst, Massachusetts Retailers AssociationBob Luz, Massachusetts Restaurants Association

12PM-1PM Administration and Reopening Advisory BoardSecretary Kennealy, Executive Office of Housing and Economic DevelopmentSecretary Acosta, Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development

1-2PM LaborTim Foley, SEIU 1199Carlos Aramayo, Unite HereYamila Ruiz, One Fair Wage

2PM-3PM BusinessJohn Regan, Associated Industries of MassachusettsSegun Idowu, Black Economic Council of MassachusettsJim Rooney, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce

3-4PM Unemployment InsuranceMonica Halas, Greater Boston Legal Services

Fridays listening session will be broadcast on the malegislature.gov website.

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Senate to Host Listening Session on Economic Recovery, Reinvestment, and Workforce - hcam.tv

Uncertainty, complexity and precipitous disruptions are defining features of our reality. The Covid-19 global health disaster magnifies this, and highlights challenges of decision-making and action, in rapidly changing, dynamic circumstances and contexts of crises.

There are valuable lessons and insights that may be gained alongside the grief and difficulties from the coronavirus pandemic. The crisis presents opportunities to reorder decision, policy and action priorities, and to re-imagine better futures in the recovery of affected systems.

For these opportunities to positively yield, however, intentional and purposeful alignment by governments, business and society, at community and individual levels, is required.

As a region, Africa is particularly vulnerable to disasters and situated in a precarious position when faced with crises. African countries generally have poor performance on human development index rankings, with high poverty rates, the lowest per capita incomes in the world, ravaging disease burdens, as well as multiple governance tribulations.

On the one hand, despite these hardships, the African region has demonstrated capacity to endure. On the other hand, it is vital that African countries improve their preparedness and resilience to withstand disaster shocks.

Strategic foresight

The value of strategic foresight to inform forward planning, relevant decision-making, and actions to circumvent as well as manage disasters, is a key learning point emerging from Covid19, with particular relevance for the African region. Strategic foresight applies various methods, tools and techniques to:

The purpose of strategic foresight is to offer a sense-making lens in complex, volatile and ambiguous contexts to assist in:

As a cross-cutting, high impact and rapidly shifting crisis, Covid-19 is underscoring the importance of understanding systemic complexities, navigating uncertainties and swiftly adapting to change. Further, as characteristic to disasters, fallout from the corona virus pandemic has devastating systemic and severe impacts for the short to long term. The crisis is therefore also underscoring the importance of mapping multiple possible eventualities to anticipate a range of outcomes in present to future timeframes.

Long-term investment

Although during disasters critical issues demand committed attention immediately, attention to and investment for the long term is required to sustainably address and alleviate causal issues and trigger points of crises. As such, there is critical need to address the immediate risks presented by Covid-19 to mitigate against loss of life and destruction of livelihoods. Yet, it is also imperative to address the endemic issues that heighten risks and compound vulnerabilities, particularly within Africa.

Intentionally combining and complementing the urgency of emergency responses required for the pandemic, with a long term strategic focus, can add sustainable value to the efforts demanded. Strategic foresight can facilitate necessary tactical responses in the short term, underpinned by visionary intentions for the long-term.

A strategic foresight viewpoint offers on the one hand, insights to guide decisions and actions to prepare for, and respond to events, disruptions and disasters in the short to long term. On the other hand, beyond exigencies of current risks and crises, a futures orientation promotes implementation of sustainable solutions, and enables innovative and creative thinking that can broaden mindsets, motivate shifts in behaviour, and facilitate reconfiguration of outmoded and defective approaches and models.

Covid-19 is here to stay

In addressing the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa, an immediate disaster response is required that protects against infections and mortality, as well as sustains livelihoods. Simultaneously, long term responses are needed that translates the continents capacity to endure, to a capacity to excel.

Covid-19 infections will continue until a vaccine is found and sufficiently distributed globally. Post-Covid-19 global recovery is projected to require a minimum of two years; predictably longer, compounded by other crisis issues, particularly a sharp global recession. The situation remains volatile with a lack of accurate data on infection spread combined with a lack of information on regional and contextual variations of how the virus will impact different geographical zones.

Uncertainty persists and may heighten as decision and policy makers, diverse actors and multiple interest groups consider the devastation of the global pandemic. The African continent remains extremely vulnerable. To respond effectively in the short term, and to build preparedness and resilience to disasters for the long term, addressing the miasma of multiple challenges facing Africa is critical.

As governments, businesses, communities, individuals mobilise to respond, recover and rebuild in a Covid-19 world, how can concerted efforts critically engage with long-term possibilities?

From a strategic foresight lens, building more disaster-proof futures requires navigating current uncertainties and complexities by applying long-term thinking, agile and forward planning, and functionally and strategically adapting. This may require re-evaluating and redirecting priorities, investments and value allocation, to cope and respond to disasters immediately, while simultaneously building better futures.

Carefully considering available options, implications and trade-offs for the short to long term is key and must underpin necessary decisions and actions to safeguard against exposure to critical vulnerabilities, while protecting, securing and building better futures for the continent and globally.

Dr is the senior futurist: Africa at the Institute for Futures Research (IFR) at the University of Stellenbosch Business School

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OPINION | Africa has a track record of endurance - it should not be beaten by Covid-19 - News24