Daily Archives: March 3, 2021

Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague Wednesday announced a partnership with The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) to advance and expand the use of the collegesReal Money. Real World. financial literacy program statewide.

The announcement coincides with the annualAmerica Saves Week, which aims to raise awareness about financial literacy education while helping individuals to achieve financial stability.

Securing a sound and prosperous financial future for our state starts with our young people, and that means preparing them for the challenges that come later in life, said Treasurer Sprague. Ive seen the benefits of the Real Money. Real World. curriculum firsthand, and the Treasurers office looks forward to working with Ohio State University Extension to reach more students and give them the personal finance skills needed to be successful.

With the new partnership, the Ohio Treasurers office will assist OSU Extension with its outreach efforts to shine a brighter light on Real Money. Real World.s innovative curriculum and reach more students who can benefit from it. OSU Extension is the outreach arm of CFAES and currently offers the financial literacy program in 45 of Ohios 88 counties. The program averages approximately 14,000 students annually.

I am very excited about this partnership and how this collaboration with the Treasurers office will help ensure that financial literacy education is successfully offered to youth throughout the state, said Jackie Kirby Wilkins, associate dean and director of OSU Extension. An early introduction to understanding careers, income, budgeting, credit and financial planning pays off significantly in the long-term financial health and wellbeing of youth and the communities in which they live as they prepare for adulthood and financial independence.

Real Money. Real World. is a financial literacy program developed by OSU Extension designed for youth ages 12-18 that emphasizes experiential learning. The curriculum includes an interactive spending simulation that provides participants the opportunity to make lifestyle and budget choices similar to those they will make as adults.

The program increases participant awareness to real-life scenarios such as what it costs to maintain a household, what it costs to care for a child and the level of education required for the job they desire. Since its inception in 2005, the program has had over 95,000 participants.

More information on the Real Money. Real World. curriculum can be found online atrealmoneyrealworld.osu.edu/virtual-program.

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Treasurer Sprague, The Ohio State University partner to advance 'Real Money. Real World.' curriculum - The Highland County Press

CHICAGO Living alone with her two dogs, working remotely as a high school Spanish teacher and distancing from her parents because ofCOVID-19, Sarah Manos said she felt a little less lonely last April when the man she met on Bumble started buying her flowers.

But two months later, after the man tried to cut Manos off from friends and family and allegedly killedher two dogs, she discreetly packed her bags, fled to her parents' house and called the National Domestic Violence Hotline, according to a civil suit Manos filed last week in Cook County circuit court.

"He wouldnt have gotten his claws into me if I hadnt been isolated," said Manos, 27. County prosecutors did not charge the man, so Manos said she filed the lawsuit because she didn't "want anyone else to suffer through what I went through. No matter how alone they make you feel, you truly are not alone."

Nearly a year since the first coronavirus stay-at-home orders went into effect in the U.S., advocates are warning that survivors continue to be at high risk of domestic violence. With schools closed and many people laid off or working remotely, survivors may be in closer proximity to their abusers with fewer ways to access support services, less financial independence and greater fears about the safety of seeking services amid COVID-19.

"Its been a real challenge for advocates and survivors," saidRuth Glenn, president of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. "Not only have they had barriers theyve had to navigate to seek safety when theyre ready, but they now have an added barrier of a pandemic. It becomes a tool for the person thats causing harm another tool to further control and exert power."

Violence against women surges during COVID-19: Senate Republicans block anti-domestic violence law

Domestic violence incidents in the U.S. have increased by 8.1% since the beginning of the pandemic, according to estimatesreleased Wednesday by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, which drew on data from logs of police calls, crime reports, emergency hotline registries, health records and more.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline said that more than 23,000 people have called since mid-March mentioning COVID-19 as a factor in what they are experiencing. Calls to the hotline have been steadily increasing in recent years, but it's not clear if the pandemic accounts for the continued rise. In fact, many survivors may feel they have less space away from their abuser to safely reach out for help.

"I firmly believe that once weve stepped out of the worst part of this, well see the domestic violencenumbers spike," Glenn said."Youll begin to see more survivors stepping forward and reporting."

But calls to hotlines have surged in differentparts of the country at different times over the past year.New York sawa surge in reports last spring and launched a task force to identify ways to provide resources to survivors amid COVID-19. In Michigan, calls to the hotline run by the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence reached all-time highs last month.

"We got as many calls in January as we had gotten in the entirety of October through December, and thats when we got almost as many calls as the previous year," said executive directorSarah Prout Rennie. "After a year, people are finding their choice between a rock and a hard place ... completely untenable."

Domestic violence in the age of coronavirus: What happens when you're stuck at home, but home isn't safe?

For Manos, the abuse began quickly. In April, as the U.S. was beginning to learn more about the novel coronavirus and institute stay-at-home orders, Manos wasn't seeingher parents because they didn't want to risk contracting or transmitting COVID-19, she said.

That's when Manos connected with the man on Bumble.According to the lawsuit, he quicklypressured Manos into meeting in personand becoming his girlfriend. Early on, the man allegedly told Manos he had "disappeared" his ex-girlfriend's family and warned Manos not to cross him, according to the lawsuit.

"I knew it wasn't a safe situation, but I knew it was too late to get out then. He was already tracking me," Manos said, referring to digital and in-person tracking. "He said he would never hurt me, but he would always go after the ones that I loved."

Over the course of their relationship, Manos alleges theman repeatedly threatened her life and the lives of her parents. She claims hetortured and killed hertwo dogs, Kirby, a 6-year-old Bichon Mix, and Daisy, a 13-month-old Bichon Mix, according to the lawsuit.

"I started to disassociate a little bit, where you do what you have to to survive," Manos said. "You look at this and youre like, this cannot be happening. This cannot be reality. This isnt real. This isnt me."

Sarah Manos in Chicago in February, 2020.(Photo: Provided by Sarah Manos)

The man denied the allegations to USA TODAY. While police in Midlothian and Arlington Heights, Illinois, investigated Manos' case and concluded animal abuse was the cause of the dogs' deaths, the Cook County States Attorney's Office found the evidence against the man insufficient to meet the burden of proof to file animal cruelty charges. The office told USA TODAY they worked with Manos to secure a conviction against the man after he violated Manos' order of protection.

Manos' civil suit accuses the man of violating the Illinois Humane Care for Animals Act and seeks monetary compensation for "severe emotional distress, among other injuries." Manos said she filed the suit because she wanted the man to be held accountableand to "bring awareness to the situation."

"I knew the system had failed me and that I needed to get justice for myself," Manos said. "Its not about the money. Its the principle. I matter, and my dogs matter."

Gayle King asked FKA Twigs 'Why didn't you leave?': Her question is part of the problem.

Kirby and Daisy sit in a shopping cart during a trip to Petsmart in July, 2019. "We had gone there around the Fourth of July to get fish supplies for a goldfish we had won at the town carnival," Sarah Manos said.(Photo: Provided by Sarah Manos)

Abusers targeting pets is"unfortunately not at all unusual," saidPhil Arkow, coordinator of the National Link Coalition, which works to build greater awareness of how forms of violence are interconnected.

Animal abuse and other forms of family and community violence such as child and elder abuse havelong been tied to domestic violence, he said.

"Domestic violence is about power and control, so animals and things a survivor cares about become a target for the abuse because its a way to hurt the person, and its also a way to control them," said Neha Gill, executive director of Apna Ghar, a Chicago-based human rights organization working to end gender violence.

During times of crisis, such as the coronavirus pandemic, the bond between humans and animals intensifies, and abusers will exploit that bond tocontrol a victim's behavior, to intimidate the victimand to inflict trauma on the victim, Arkow said.

About 71% of pet owners entering women's shelters reported that their batterer had injured or threatened family pets to coerce, control and intimidate them, a 1997 survey found. What's more, about 25% of survivors said they delayed the decision to go to a shelter because of concerns for their pets safety, a2002 survey found.

That's part ofwhy there's a growing movement among shelters to find ways to work with survivors who have pets, Arkow said. More than 250 domestic violence shelters in 46 states accept pets, and hundreds more work with a program in their community to provide foster care for pets, he said.

It's also important to know that animals can be explicitly included in protective orders in 35 states.And in 2018, the U.S. passed the Pet and Women Safety "PAWS" Act, which allows those pet protective orders to be enforced across state lines.

"That may be a reason (survivors) feel like they cant leave because they dont have somewhere to go with their animal," said Gill, whose agency also operates a shelter. "But still make the call. Still ask because there are options."

Manos said it was frighteningbut "empowering" planning out her escape. She said she initially planned to get a letter to her mother by dropping it off on a shelf at the grocery store, but she eventually scrapped that plan and fled to her parents' house at the end ofJune, after the man allegedly killed her second dog.

"I knew I would be escaping when the time was safe to escape, so it gave me the power to fight to survive,"Manos said. "I brought my bags. I said goodbye to my apartment. I sat my parents down in the living room. IFaceTimed my sisters, and I told them everything."

Manos said she also spent two hourson the phone that day with an advocate from the National Domestic Violence Hotline.The following day, she filed for and received an emergency order of protection, and she and her family left town, according to the lawsuit.

"Going through this and recovering from it is a roller coaster," Manos said."Right now Im doing OK, but I do have PTSD from this. This is a lot for any one person to deal with."

Manos said she has moved to a new home, has continued to go to work and has been working with a trauma-specialized therapist.

Whos taking care of them?Mental health professionals are the ones taking care of us

Looking back, her mother, Kate, said she and her husband didn't initiallyrecognize the warning signs of domestic abuse.

"Sarah was a different person during that time. She was very tense, very secretive," Kate Manos said. "Shes been in other relationships, and this one was different. We had not had experience with abusive relationships, so I guess we were not putting two and two together."

There are many signs of domestic abuse, and they look different for each situation, said Glenn, of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Many abusers try to isolate their victim, so family, friends and colleagues may begin to notice the person isnot as accessible as they used to be.Animal abuse is a "true indication" that the violence is beginning to escalate, she said.

"If there is anything unusual about someone'sbehavior and you know there may be something go on, you may want to subtly and carefully say, 'I know that something is going on for you, Im here to talk or if you need help,'" Glenn said. "We should not ask them to talk about it until theyre ready to talk about it, and we should not ask them to leave unless theyre ready."

Manos said people in her neighborhoodhave been "in complete shock" from hearing her story, especially"to hear that this happened in our own backyards." She said many people have reached out to her to thank her for sharing her story.

"The community has been giving me hope, and the drive to share my story with others has been empowering," she said. "Youre not alone.I know it feels like you are. You feel like theres no way out. But there is. You are strong, and you are surviving, and were here to help you."

If you are a victim of domestic violence, The National Domestic Violence Hotline allows you to speak confidentially with trained advocates online or by the phone, which they recommend for those who think their online activity is being monitored by their abuser (800-799-7233). They can help survivors develop a plan to achieve safety.

Safe Horizon's hotline offers crisis counseling, safety planning, and assistance finding shelters 1-800-621-HOPE (4673). It also has a chat feature where you can reach out for help from a computer or phone confidentially.

Survivors can call the New York City Anti-Violence Project's 24/7 English/Spanish hotline at 212-714-1141 and get support. If calling is not safe but email is possible, make a report at avp.org/get-help and leave safe contact information, and someone will reach out.

Find a list of pet-friendly shelters at Sheltering Animals & Families Together,Safe Place For Pets, DomesticShelters.org and the Animal Welfare Institute.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/02/26/pandemic-isolation-domestic-violence-lawsuit-animal-abuse/6790449002/

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Woman says Bumble date killed her dogs and abused her. Now she's speaking out to help others isolated amid COVID-19. - USA TODAY

We consider the witches broom not a plague, but rather a holy broom, says Rubens de Jesus. Thanks to it, we are on the land today.

Thats not a sentiment shared by many of de Jesuss fellow small farmers, who in the 1990s saw their valuable cacao trees devastated by an outbreak of the fungal disease in the south of Brazils Bahia state. The outbreak had far-ranging social, environmental and economic repercussions, leaving more than 150,000 farmers unemployed in what had been Brazils main cacao-producing region since the 18th century.

In the first half of the 20th century, Bahias cacao was highly valued on the international market, providing decades of abundance for local landowners known as colonels, who exported the crop by the ton every year. In 1989, Moniliophthora perniciosa, the fungus that causes witches broom disease (WBD) in cacao trees, was first detected here, and it quickly spread, bringing the boom time to an end. The cacao trees shriveled up and sprouted the abnormal stems that give the disease its name. About 30,000 farms went bankrupt.

Yet despite this downturn, there was a bright spot. In the Dois Riaches settlement, home to 150 people in the municipality of Ibirapitanga, the outbreak opened the way for land reform. They mobilized for their land rights and received training and support from institutions, eventually becoming an example of how to overcome adversity. They started selling premium cacao to major brands and achieved freedom, financial independence and food sovereignty.

It wasnt always that way.

Before joining the Dois Riaches land reform settlement, and before the outbreak of WBD, many of the communitys residents worked on cacao farms as temporary employees, paid weekly based on how much work they did. Working conditions were harsh: about 15 years ago, Edivaldo dos Santos, also known as Bisc, used to earn around 12 reais a week, or about $4.60 at the exchange rate at the time. He had no rights, no formal contract, and could not even grow his own food. I thought I was worthless; it was almost like slave labor, he says.

Workers didnt get to participate in all stages of cacao production, such as harvesting, breaking and drying. According to Rubens de Jesus, each family would work only on one stage, and it remained so for several generations. It was a strategy by landowners, so we wouldnt understand the whole cycle of cacao. This was designed to keep them dependent on the landowners.

Ironically, the families of many cacao farmers had never eaten chocolate until they took possession of the land, and many did not even know what chocolate was. I broke a lot of cacao, but I was not allowed to suck on a cacao seed, or it would be deducted from our payment, says Luiza dos Santos, adding that they were monitored up close by shift corporals, as the farm foremen were known.

That was until some farmers started to get involved in social movements fighting for land, like Ceta, the State Movement of Settled, Camped and Quilombola Workers. And they decided to set up camp on an abandoned farm by the BA-652 state road: Dois Riaches. In 2007, after six years of fear and sleepless nights, their persistence paid off and they managed to occupy the property, which was eventually granted to them by INCRA, Brazils national land reform institute.

Without cacao, land reform would have been virtually impossible in the region. But the 40 families who occupied the land already knew that planting cacao would guarantee their livelihoods and their main source of income. Today, the 406-hectare (1,003-acre) settlement has no single owner; it is instead managed collectively by all 150 community members.

When the farmers first took over Dois Riaches, they found poor soil, rendered infertile by years of neglect. There was nothing on the land but livestock and cacao. As is customary in movements fighting for land, they planted food crops such as cassava and beans for their own subsistence as soon as they arrived. Before long, they started selling the surplus in neighboring towns and the reality finally began to change. In the words of de Jesus, from being called troublemakers and thieves, they started to be praised as food producers.

To recover the cacao crops, they reestablished the cabruca, an agroecological system that had been practiced in the area for 170 years. It consists of cultivating without clearing the forest. This is possible because cacao grows well in the shade; here, it has the added benefit of preserving a patch of southern Bahias dwindling Atlantic Forest. For a system to be considered cabruca, at least 50 species of native trees are required. This differs vastly from much of the cultivated land in Bahia, which host treeless expanses of monocrops, encouraged by the state government and major industries, who consider the latter more productive.

Another crucial decision by the community was to center their cacao farming around the local and ancient parazinho variety rather than on hybrid or cloned ones widely used in the area. In addition to providing much tastier chocolate, it contributes to maintaining the age-old farming tradition.

Another trademark of Dois Riaches is collective participation. Each farming stage is carried out as a joint effort. The mood is high, and the farmers sing while breaking the cacao. We cant handle 4 hectares [10 acres] by ourselves, but we can do it by working with the neighbors, says Mara Silva, a community member.

Under this scheme, the communitys income per hectare is four times higher than from a conventional system. Agroecological production is our only option, and the secret is to add value. Today we still have Atlantic Forest in Bahia thanks to cacao, de Jesus says.

Through partnerships with several institutions, the residents of Dois Riaches also learned to master fermentation, the most sensitive and rigorous stage of the cycle, responsible for producing truly high-quality cacao beans. Thanks to this, they have managed to sell to the two main premium chocolate brands in the Brazilian market: first Amma, in 2016, and then Dengo.

Its a beautiful and integrated community with a beautiful organization, Ammas founder, Diego Badar, says of the community. We made a [chocolate] bar and stamped it to inform identity, harvest season, variety, and region.

Dengo has helped raise the quality of the beans even further by requiring that they be analyzed by Brazils Cocoa Innovation Center, which assesses whether they meet the standard for processing. Other smaller but also prestigious brands have followed, such as Minas Gerais-based Kalapa, and Quetzal, from Rio de Janeiro.

Its a fantastic feeling when Amma sends us chocolate with that name written on it: Dois Riaches Association, de Jesus says. Anyone who buys it will be consuming a product that doesnt harm nature, respects social and economic aspects, and will benefit those who are at the end of the chain, that is, us.

Finally, the community is introducing cacao and its derivatives into its own diet. Were starting to use it for ourselves as well. Food production is liberation, Mara Silva says.

The process of struggle in Dois Riaches advances toward quality education and access to all levels of training, says Teresa Santiago, a farmer and member of the communitys education commission.

The commission has built a day care center and is finishing off work on a National School of Agroecology. My mother didnt study, but now Im finishing college, Santiago says. So you can see the change. Thats sovereignty. Sovereignty in food, in production, in organicity, sovereignty in quality of life.

And they have other reasons to celebrate. Farmers average monthly earnings went from 246 reais in 2008 to 2,000 reais today ($144 to $365). In 2020, the community opened a school factory and is about to launch its own chocolate brand. All this in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic a sweet success in such difficult times.

The history of the community is told in the independent documentary short Dois Riaches, Cacau e Liberdade (Dois Riaches, Cacao and Freedom). Directed by filmmaker Fellipe Abreu and journalist Patrcia Moll, it was released in November 2020 at the Terra Madre Brasil event promoted by Slow Food. Watch it here (in Portuguese):

Banner image of the Dois Riaches settlement in Ibirapitanga, southern Bahia state, by Fellipe Abreu.

This story was first reported by Mongabays Brazil team and published here on our Brazil site on Feb. 11, 2021.

The rest is here:

Agroforestry and land reform give Brazil cacao farmers sweet taste of success - Mongabay.com

Declining sales have put an end to the Tupperware party in the Netherlands, the company has said.

Tupperware, designed by American Earl Tupper, became known in the 1950s as a way of marketing the product directly to women. The company launched in the Netherlands in the 1960s.

The decision did not come as a complete surprise to Adrienne Oomen, who hosted Tupperware parties for three years. The coronavirus crisis put the final nail in the coffin of what had become a 55 year-old institution already on the way out, she said. Many people already have Tupperware products and they think Oh no, not another one who wants to sell me things, Oomen told the AD.

The companys promotion of the parties as the suburban womens plastic path to empowerment still resonated with Lenny Kwetters (58). She started as a party host and ended her 11-year career as a distributor.

Kwetters said the Tupperware sales approach offered her and many other women a ticket to financial independence. I had four children and I didnt want to spend all my time at home, she told the paper.

Kwetters said she felt the Tupperware products were relatively expensive. I always told people to think hard: do you really need this product?. I was always selective myself and my kitchen cabinets are not full of Tupperware. I do wonder where I will go if something breaks.

People in the Netherlands who still want to buy Tupperware products can do so in Belgium and Germany, the company said.

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No more 'plastic path to empowerment': Tupperware party in NL is over - DutchNews.nl - DutchNews.nl