Monthly Archives: June 2021

The pandemic has altered several aspects of our lifestyle. It has also accelerated many trends that were expected to go mainstream a few years into the future. Multi-generational co-living is one such global trend.

Right from senior citizens and retirees to middle-aged couples and new parents to migrant youth, generations are seeing the benefits of opting for co-living residences catering to a multigenerational community rather than owning or renting houses. Affordability, short-term commitment, thoughtfully-designed spaces, safe environments, and easy access to relevant hyper-local ecosystems are just some factors driving this transformation.

New normal

Unlike co-living 1.0, which was seen as a way of life by digital nomads, single women, entrepreneurs, live-in couples, and students, co-living in the new normal is about multi-generational communities. Think co-living spaces designed for interdependent living arrangements for the young and old.

In India, co-living has seen massive adoption owing to the pandemic. Houses that offer maximum comfort and convenience at minimal cost and commitment are no longer just great alternatives, but necessities as we emerge from uncertain times. This reality is acute when we consider that affordable housing has been a consistent challenge in India, and 65% of its population is under 35 young and always-on-the-move.

Non-resident Indians too, unable to fly down and offer emotional assurance to their parents in times of crisis, have found a safety net for the seniors in multi-generational co-living spaces. All of these have led to the rise of cross-generational residences within the emerging co-living ecosystem.

Sense of community

The pressures of daily work life, social isolation, and financial stress are just some key factors that have given further rise to the trend in the last one year. Working professionals, especially young parents, have been finding it challenging balancing household chores while working from home more so in the absence of familial support systems.

Globally, these new realities are seeing stressed professionals, living away from their extended families, finding a helping hand in co-living community members. Aged individuals and couples have found comfort in home-cooked meals from their co-living companions. Co-living is in its true sense forming an intentional community wherein the purpose is to share resources, create family-oriented neighborhoods, and live an ecologically sustainable lifestyle.

The Covid-19 outbreak has seen the older populations struggling with growing loneliness, anxiety, and elevated health risks, coupled with limited adoption of technology, while younger people have been battling financial stress as well as personal and professional angst. The newfound interdependency offered by multi-generational co-living is a win-win - there is room for choice as well as the excitement of building new bonds. Unlike our ancestors who were mostly duty-bound to spend their lives in multi-generational homes without much say, co-living urban Indians are building communities rooted in flexibility and mutual respect.

Room for growth

Even after the pandemic wanes, work from home and a hyper-local preference are expected to become part of mainstream preferences. This is where co-living spaces will offer significant advantage over other forms of housing.

In the case of white-collar migrants, the appeal of housing that offers multi-generational community living, professional networking opportunities, walk-to-work convenience, and the option of moving and packing overnight to turn up in a new city for the next big career opportunity, will be stronger than ever before. Other generations too, will have their reasons to consider co-living. For example, senior citizens will continue to spend more time indoors and hence seek housing options that are safe, and will allow them to bond with other people.

These benefits become even more obvious when we consider the challenges with traditional rental housing alternatives leased houses and the unorganised PG system. Renting a house translates into high rentals, huge capital investment, and long-term commitment. Additionally, the houses are often in bad shape, unsafe, and unappealing to the upper-middle class Indians sense of aesthetics.

Shaping the future

Countries like the United States and Finland were among the first to see the merit in investing in multi-generational co-living spaces, much before the pandemic kicked-in. The global trend augurs well for a growing preference for multi-generational living.

Indias pre-existing housing challenges, along with the new pandemic realities, are poised to make co-living a smart solution to Indias residential woes. Future growth in this evolving segment will be led by co-living spaces that address social rental housing, need-based rental housing, and market-based rental housing demands to cater to diverse mindsets, multiple generations, and different workforces.

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Multi-generational living: A new wave in the co-living ecosystem - Construction Week Online India

When New Level Sports Ministries and Pastor Chris McCoy first drew up plans for a Youth Village more than a decade ago,the vision for change was ambitious.

The idea was to build generational wealth and support youth development in the Washington Heights neighborhood.

Murals adorn New Level Sports Ministries on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 in Battle Creek, Mich.(Photo: Alyssa Keown )

Now, years later, as the community emerges from the strain of a globalpandemic, the vision for The Village has grown and gainednew momentum.

In partnership with the United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region, McCoy and other community leaders have worked together to develop The Village Reemergence Plan.It's designed as an opportunity for all people of color in Battle Creek to use philanthropy to become agents of change where they live.

Partners include the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Voces, the Burma Center, the Southwest Michigan Urban League, the A. Phillip Randolph Institute,Reintegration to Support and Empower (R.I.S.E), Bronson and New Level Sports Ministries, among others.

The Village is a 10-year initiative that will bringresources to communities of color in Battle Creek, including new meeting spaces, improved food access, additional support for small businesses and education and acommunity-owned credit union.

The plangrew out of grant work being done by theUnited Way, said Nakia Baylis, senior director of data and equitable systems at United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region.

"We knew that we want to do good. We know that we want to unite our community, but were our policies and practice aligned with that intent?" Baylissaid. "What we found was we were grant-making equitably.... but not intentionally equitable."

As a result, the organization started working with community leaders to understand how it could better invest money to create opportunity and lasting change.

"We've got to get away from putting a Band-Aid on things with money. We can't keep investing the same way and expecting something different," Baylissaid. "We're trying to show that if you do invest differently, the benefits to the entire community can be profound."

Damon Brown, Kelley Blythe and Kevin Adams from the Battle Creek nonprofit, R.I.S.E., distribute food during economic hardship brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday, April 10, 2020 at Washington Heights Methodist Church.(Photo: Alyssa Keown | The Battle Creek Enquirer)

Funded by a $610,000 Catalysing Community Giving grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Village will provide structure for work thatpromotes improved, sustainable economic outcomes in food and industry, health and wellness, education, and growth and advocacy.

The direction of the initiative will be driven by the needs of Battle Creek's Black, Burmese and Latino communities as defined by community members.

We learned throughthese planningprocessesand by listening to our community, that wemustcontrol our future. We needed to build a Villageone in which we are leading designand implementation, instead ofallowingothers to design it for us,McCoy said. "I didn't expect it to be built out this large, but it's not new. I think if you look at it, the way The Village is designed, it's designed to share."

Pastor Christopher McCoy from New Level Sports Ministries stands for a portrait on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021 in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Battle Creek, Mich. The City Commission planned to sell a plot of land in the neighborhood to a housing development company, but after hearing concerns about the proposed project from McCoy and other community members, the city is putting a pause on the sale.(Photo: Alyssa Keown | The Battle Creek Enquirer)

Through community conversations, infrastructure development and community collaboration, The Village's goal is to chip away at systemic inequities and remove barriers to economic development.

"What we want to do is have collective movement towards a shared vision, and that is a vision of really a revitalized Battle Creek," Baylissaid.

Baylis will provideorganizational support for The Village steering committee, chaired by McCoy. He will also oversee development in the food and industry sectors. Jose Orozco, executive director ofVoces,a nonprofit organization supporting Latinos in the Battle Creek area, will oversee development related to education. Health and wellness development will be overseen by Tha Par, executive director of the Burma Center, and Pastor Richard Baileyof Truth in Action Ministries will oversee personal growth and advocacy.

The Burma Center is photographed on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 in Springfield, Mich.(Photo: Alyssa Keown )

A management team will assist the steering committee, consisting of Damon Brown of R.I.S.E. Corp., Kyra Wallace of the Southwestern Michigan Urban League, Elishae Johnson of Bronson HelpNet and Deboraha Sallee of the A. Philip Randolph Institute.

As the initiative grows, organizers will be incorporating workforce development partners and established programs within the city.

"What we don't want to do is reinvent anything," Baylis said.

The first step is understanding what changes the community wants to see. Steering committee members areorganizing conversations to discuss what a better Battle Creek would look like in the four pillar areas.

Damon Brown holds his daughter Khloe Brown, 5, during the Let's Get Real Series on Aug. 31, 2020 at Friendship Park in Battle Creek, Mich. The Southwestern Michigan Urban League and the African American Collaborative, in partnership with the city of Battle Creek, debuted the Let's Get Real Series Monday, which involved community conversations with the city manager and police chief. (Photo: Alyssa Keown | The Battle Creek Enquirer)

For example, this summer, Battle Creek Public Schools Superintendent Kim Carter will participate in community conversations about education. Baylis said that The Village would like to host similar events with other area superintendents.

The conversations are intended to build accountability.

"The community is holding our leaders and our trusted members of our community accountable for moving the actions that they have articulated forward," Baylis said. "Now, we have a greater system of participation, of engagement and of interest."

The nextmeeting is being hosted by Voces for the Latino community on June 17 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. to discuss education.

Voces Executive Director Jose Luis Orozco Jr. and Fernanda Reyes share a laugh on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at their office in Battle Creek, Mich. Voces is a non-profit that serves the Latino and Hispanic community in Calhoun County.(Photo: Alyssa Keown | The Battle Creek Enquirer)

"Education is the foundation of true systemic change," said Orozco. "Through this effort, we are demonstrating to our young people how shared goals can be reached with and for all communities of color."

Future meeting dates and times will be shared online through social media and The Village's website, changethestory.org/village.

Organizers are going to be tracking several metrics to measure the success of The Village, but how well the initiative builds wealth in the community will be a key indicator.

"We look at all of these things as being intersectional to the ultimate goal of building assets and wealth," Baylis said. "In order to leverage that power, we need to own our future."

Through its multifaceted approach, The Village aims tolift every household of color in Battle Creek above the state's ALICE threshold, which is the minimum income level necessary for survival.

In turn, that economic prosperity will benefit the entire city.

"Every resident, regardless of race, gender or identity," Baylis said. "This project actually allows us to scale effort to support a prosperous, thriving city where everyone is actually participating in our local economy."

By lifting every household in the state above the ALICE threshold, Baylis said that Michigan's GDP would increase by nearly $98 billion.

"The ALICE data shows us that the statistics per capita in Battle Creek within the county are similar to that of our state per capita," she said. "It doesn't take a statistician to scale that in your mind to what we can achieve here in Battle Creek."

Growing The Village will take intentional collaboration, but organizers believe in the community's ability to create meaningful change together.

"Together, we have and hope to continue to leverage our diversity to create a wide community that view everything through an equitable lens to address systematic barriers so that our communities are healthy and thriving," Par said.

Organizers hope the approach developed in Battle Creek can be expanded to other communities in the state and across the nation.

Tha Par, executive director for the Burma Center in Battle Creek, speaks to hundreds at the Sojourner Truth Monument on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. The demonstration took place in response to the military of Myanmar seizing control of the government after allegations of election fraud during the countrys November election.(Photo: Alyssa Keown | The Battle Creek Enquirer)

"It's time to trust our leaders of color," Baylis said. "We're encouraging our partners, we're leaning in, and we're trying to share what we are learning as an organization."

The progress made in the last year aloneis proof of what can be achieved, Baylis said.

"We don't take for granted that this is indeed an ambitious effort involving multiple organizations and communities," she said. "And yet the way these leaders have been able to respond to our communities of color during a worldwide pandemic, reassures us that what we intend to do can be accomplished. It will take a village."

To learn more about The Village and upcoming community meetings visit changethestory.org/village.

Contact reporter Elena Durnbaugh at (269) 243-5938 or edurnbaugh@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ElenaDurnbaugh.

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The Village: New initiative will take a systemic approach to inequities in Battle Creek - Battle Creek Enquirer

Kaiser Permanente has announced a slew of new COVID-19 vaccine outreach and incentive programs to support the White Houses goal of 70% of adults with at least partial coverage by July 4.

Chief among these initiatives is $10 million in new grants to 100 schools, churches, community centers and other organizations that can promote vaccination to a broad swath of people, which a representative said are being finalized and distributed this week.

Kaiser Permanente kicked off an online influencer and social media campaign aimed at younger adults ages 18 to 30 that will be conducted with existing partners such as Cloud9, a professional esports team.

On the incentive side, Kaiser Permanente has begun enrolling all its vaccinated members and nonmembers who received a vaccine through the nonprofit into the ImmUNITY sweepstakes that will run through July 9. The program will be awarding 1,000 people with prizes like wellness retreats, gym memberships, home meal deliveries and trips to theme and national parks.

RELATED: CMS boosts Medicare payments for providers for administering at-home COVID-19 vaccinations

Each of these new programs will be conducted alongside targeted and population-level outreach the system has been conducting for months, Stephen Parodi, M.D., executive vice president of The Permanente Federation, told Fierce Healthcare.

The unvaccinated individuals the health system is targeting are anything but uniform, he said. Some are opposed to the vaccines on an ideological level, while others havent yet been exposed to reliable information from a source they trust or just dont see the need to carve out time for an appointment.

As an integrated health system, Kaiser has an opportunity to leverage its EHRs and other data to identify those who havent yet been vaccinated, understand their demographics or other contributing characteristics and then craft targeted outreach that has a stronger chance of persuading holdouts, Parodi said.

These data can inform Kaiser clinicians and other partners strategies when encountering unvaccinated individuals as patients or in the community, he said. The information also formed the basis of the programs unveiled this week.

We think you need to have different strategies for all these different groups of people, he said. Thats been our experience with different populations, and thats the advantage to the integrated healthcare system point of view. Were seeing people in our clinics [and] our communities and we get to hear all these different stories.

RELATED: Kaiser Permanente generates $2B profit for Q1, rebounding from 2020 loss

Parodi pointed to Kaiser Permanentes geographic reach across eight states and Washington, D.C., as both an advantage and a hurdle for the organization as it targets the Fourth of July goal line. While its size increases the volume of patient data that can be employed, it also means the system needs to keep track of which outreach strategies will translate across different regions.

Those [areas] all have different population characteristics, and so were really intentional about bringing together people from each of the different areas in our footprint because what may work in California might not work in Georgia, he said. We need to have all those different perspectives.

That collective, collaborative mindset will continue to be key for the organization as it moves forward with its newest initiatives, Parodi stressed.

Kaiser Permanente has already leaned on the multidisciplinary experts employed across its organizations, such as front-line clinicians, communications teams and employer benefits specialists. The system has also coordinated its vaccine efforts with government leaders at the local, state and federal levels, Parodi said, and is now looking to support like-minded healthcare organizations with the recent release of its internal vaccine confidence toolkit (PDF).

However, whats become clear to Parodi and his organization is that mass vaccination and other top-level initiatives wont be enough to hit President Joe Bidens short-term goal or to protect against potential variants of the disease in the coming years.

RELATED: In Missouri and other states, flawed data make it hard to track vaccine equity

He stressed that grassroots-level support and community collaboration will be mandatory as government programs, health systems, payers and other private sector companies design new programs to increase access and incentivize vaccination.

All of these vaccination efforts need to meet people where they are, Parodi said. We need to remove the barriers we hear from our members and our community, and we need to support the care team on the ground so they can do that groundwork at the individual level, removing those last bits of barrier. I think its so exciting to see this national-level mobilization where you have multiple industries, multiple employers, multiple health systems coming together to make this a reality.

Kaiser Permanentes new initiatives werent the only rallying cry to come out of major healthcare industry names this week.

Centene announced it would be teaming up with its network providers on a new call campaign that will offer assistance to members who have not been vaccinated. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Government-wide Service Benefit Plan will be launching its own incentive program June 11 that will reward members with credit toward payments for certain medical expenses.

Biden himself outlined a number of federal and private sector vaccine incentive programs during a White House press event held last week. These ranged fromfree childcare for parents booking a vaccination appointment or recovering from its aftereffects to free Anheuser-Busch beer for all U.S. adults should the country reach its 70% goal.

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Kaiser Permanente is leveraging its wealth of member and community data to craft new vaccine promotion programs - FierceHealthcare

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A Memphis-based youth development organization has secured a multimillion-dollar investment and is looking to use it to jump-start a new program in Shelby County.

Seeding Success, a 10-year-old nonprofit thatsecured $8.5 million in funding from its partners, is in the midst of an 18-month, virtual planning process. The process, according to Mark Sturgis, the organization's CEO, consists of community members and partners voicing their lived experiences in Memphis.

"We were really intentional about bringing young people, students, formerly incarcerated individuals, people who live in some of our communities that are experiencing poverty, folks from the business community, and CEO levelfolks together.There are also governmental partners. So people from the county, cityand in the school systems all come to the table to talk about these issues," Sturgis said.

Mark Sturgis from Seeding Success talks about the improvement in test numbers for kids attending early childhood programs during a talks at the Shelby County Pre-K Summit Wednesday morning at the Kroc Center.(Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

The issues being discussed revolve around how to make education and economic development, among other things, equitable in Memphis.The group's end goal is to craft a wide-reaching program with strategies that will help to bridge socio-economicgaps throughout Shelby County's numerous neighborhoods.

The program willalso set a foundation for Seeding Success to receive more funding in the future. Sturgis said the organization has an "internal goal of [around] $200 million to be invested in the strategies" that Seeding Success is currently working to establish.

The year and a half-long planning process does not reduce the sense of urgency that Sturgis feels. As important as being certain about the route that the group takes is for him, the racial inequalities that have been pushed to the forefront over the past year have opened up a window that is important for the success of the program.

"There's a real urgency to the now. This is a moment, a unique moment, where we've got a critical focus on racial equity in this country," he said.

That inequity was best emphasized and translated to Memphians, according to Sturgis, by researchfrom Dr.Raj Chetty, an economist who teaches at Harvard University. Chetty's current research focuses on economic mobility among disadvantaged Americans. His organization, Opportunity Insights, provides a localized map of economic mobility and places Memphis as a low mobility area. This means that there is under a 5 percent chance thatthose born into the lowest fifth of the income bracket will ever rise to the upper fifth.

This data is, in part, what led Blue Meridian Partners to joinSeeding Success and be among the many local, statewide and national donors.

"I came to know a long time ago, even from my own experience, thatgeography is destiny," said Tomeka Hart Wigginton, a managing director at Blue Meridian and native Memphian. "If we're really going to have change in this community...it has to be driven by the people who are the voices of the community."

The long-term effects of the program that Seeding Success is working to build may not be felt immediately, but Sturgis believes that the model they use will provide innovative techniques for investing in disenfranchised communities in Shelby County going forward.

"We will be looking to really prioritize those communities that have been traditionally divested in, or faced inequality and poverty because of the history of segregation.

"This feels like a moment to capture andto really look beyond what Memphis can be.This is a powerful and beautiful place if we really invest in the people here. And I think that's where this process really brings a new lens toother planning work that has happened in the community."

MORE: Killed on D-Day, buried in Normandy: How search for family of MS soldier united strangers

Bringing people and organizationstogether, according to Sturgis, is what makes Seeding Success different from a traditional nonprofit. The organization acts as a sort of glue between its partners, working to create intersectionality between nonprofits, the private sector and governmental bodies.

"We are a support organization," he said. "We don't do the work itself, but we bring the partners together andwe use data to help them make informed decisions.We try to work collaboratively around the solutions. And we try to listen to the voices of the community as well, so weactually meet the needs of the community versusjust looking at national data or evidence."

Once Seeding Success found community members and partners for their planning committee, it was time for the individuals to get to work. Over thelast few months the design board beganmeeting virtually to narrow down what aspects of inequality would best be helped with the funding.

During the process, the group honed in on six categories that they call buckets. They are planning to address education and youth development, health and wellbeing, economic development, justice and safety, community development, and culture. These buckets contain several "sub-buckets" and the group has found that previous attempts to invest in underdeveloped communities have hadbuckets that are "too large to attack at one time."

This is an issue that the group has also run into and is working to address, according to Teresena Medlock, a member of the design committee for Seeding Success. She is also the director of special education at the Memphis Lift Parent Institute where she helps parents and students navigate the education field. As a member of the Memphis Lift organization, Medlock believes that she brings expertise in community outreach to the Seeding Success committee.

MORE: A spending boom, but for whom?Lower-income Americans feel left behind

Even with her own expertise, she said the conversations that the committee have had were challenging. She describes the experience as "re-molding" for not only the way she views issues like poverty and racism but also for how she views some of her own experiences.

"We were able to voice opinions in a way in which I've never seenopinions be voiced," she said. "It's so empowering to see how we can be so passionate and be so understanding at the same time.It was a respectful challenge. We were able to educate one another about why we felt the way that we felt and then we were able to open the minds of everyone."

Oftentimes overlooked, the younger generation of Memphis hastwo seats at the table during the planning phase. Zahra Chowdhury occupies one of those seats. She has been a member Bridge Builders, a group that empowers youth to be leaders in their communities, for over three years and jumped on the opportunity to have her voice heard.

"A lot of important decisions that are made about our city that directly impact youth neverget the youth's opinion," said the 17-year-old Memphian. "So it means a lot to me that youth are in a place where decisions are being made, and that their opinions are being taken into account.

"I think that we don't give the youth enough credit. We're doing alot of great things in the city.We're the future, butI think we're the present too."

As a change fellow with Bridge Builders, the highest level of engagement the organization offers, she had experienced how impactful voices from her generation can be. Seeding Success offered Chowdhury a new outlook on what a nonprofit can be, calling the group's planning committee "intersectional, but alsointergenerational."

Although still in the planning phase, Seeding Success set aside $1 million of its investments for "immediate pandemic relief." In line with the way the organization works, the CEO saidthat they immediately partnered with the Community Foundation which has an existing pandemic relief fund. The Community Foundation then used that money to fund other organizations that are working to address the critical needs of individuals and small businesses in Memphis communities.

There is, however, some money remaining in that fund. Sturgis said that Seeding Success is researching early investment strategies for that money.

"We want this to feel different. Sowe'll be making investments as we go and identifying resources that can get deployed and leveraged into communities to meet their needs now," Sturgis said."Experience really equals trustand I think if we're going to build a trusted process, then folks need to experience some change at the levels we can accommodate."

Those wanting tolearn more or sign up to receive updates about Seeding Success' initiative, can visit http://www.seeding-success.org.

Lucas Finton is a news intern at the Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at lucas.finton@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @LucasFinton.

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From formerly incarcerated to CEOs, a diverse group is working on a plan to ease inequities in Memphis - Commercial Appeal

To drive diverse participation in precision medicine efforts, providers and patient advocacy groups must identify and break down the barriers that exclude minority communities beginning with the lack of awareness.

Actively encouraging minority patients to sign up for clinical trials and research studies is key, said Dr. Elizabeth Heath, associate center director of translational sciences and chair of the genitourinary oncology multidisciplinary team at Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. She was speaking at the MedCity INVEST Precision Medicine virtual conference on Wednesday. Health participated ina panel on health equity in precision medicine moderated by Dr. Kemi Olugemo, executive medical director of neurology clinical development, Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

We have fliers in our clinic [saying] Ask me about a clinical trial,' Heath said. Its one of those things that is the last to get brought up. Everybody is under a time crunch, or you may or may not have given bad news [to your patient] and its really hard to weave that into the conversation. But if we dont put that as an expectation and be intentional about doing it, it wont ever happen.

Many individuals, especially people of color, navigate an unfamiliar and often hostile healthcare landscape on their own. These patients are not even aware of the full spectrum of treatment options available to them, including ones that can help personalize their care. So, providers must be intentional about making their patients aware of the availability of clinical trials for their conditions, Heath said.

Awareness is not the only issue when it comes to diversifying clinical trial participation and boosting health equity in precision medicine.

Trust is a key factor, especially among Black people who have a longstanding suspicion of the U.S. healthcare system, said Alyshia Merchant, a lupus survivor who after facing several challenges in her care journey established nonprofit Making Lupus Look Good to create a community for people with the condition.

To develop that trust, those conducting research and clinical trials must be transparent about the goals of the trial, the consequences of dropping out and data use and privacy, she said.

But its not just up to the researchers to address patient mistrust. Black people must become advocates themselves to encourage their community to participate in precision medicine-focused studies, Merchant said.

In fact, Merchant is keen on educating and creating awareness of clinical trials and studies, like the National Institutes of Healths All of Us Research Program, through Black voices.

Im just having someone come out and say Hey, Im participating in these trials and Im okay, and if I can do it, you can do it too,' she said.

The final major hurdle to encouraging clinical trial participation is access to care and health insurance coverage.

It is important to note that just because a patient has coverage, it doesnt mean they are very engaged in their care and have knowledge of how the health system works, said Dr. Kate Burke, senior medical advisor of patient advocacy group PatientsLikeMe, during the panel.

If you are someone who doesnt even go to a primary care physician to help with your diabetes or your hypertension, its highly unlikely youre someone who will be signing up for a clinical trial, she said.

This, once again, is where patient groups can step in and help connect people to the resources they need.

PatientsLikeMe provides a digital home for patients, bringing them together to share advice and support, and enabling them to make informed care choices. The platform also allows patients to sign up for research projects.

By working together, providers, researchers and patient advocates can make a dent in the longstanding issue of diversifying clinical trials. And this could ultimately help unlock the promise of precision medicine for all.

Photo: Warchi, Getty Images

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Cancer doc: To boost minority participation, we have fliers in our clinic saying Ask me about a clinical trial - MedCity News

HARRISBURGAttorney General Josh Shapiro today announced that the Office of Attorney General (OAG) has shut down another large drug trafficking operation in Kensington, the OAGs sixth since launching the Kensington Initiative. The months-long investigation, conducted by the Kensington Initiative, resulted in the arrests of eight individuals, including the organizations ringleader and two high-level dealers. Agents also seized seven firearms, including a ghost gun and a semi-automatic shotgun, more than 8,000 doses of heroin/fentanyl, and $30,000 in cash.

Launched in 2018, the Kensington Initiative is a unique partnership between local, state, and federal law enforcement to target major criminal drug organizations in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia.

As part of our ongoing Kensington Initiative, we are committed to doing our part to protect communities and families that call Philadelphia home. That means holding accountable the individuals directly responsible for pumping poison and committing violence in our neighborhoods, said Attorney General Shapiro. My office is committed to this goal, and we are not leaving any block behind. Were also grateful to our partners in law enforcement for their support in this difficult and often dangerous work, and to the citys managing directors office for beginning to restore and recover these communities that have been ravaged by violence. This work is important it saves lives, it saves families and it protects neighborhoods.

On Thursday, June 3, 2021, agents from the Office of Attorney Generals Bureau of Narcotics Investigations, Gun Violence Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, officers from the Philadelphia Police Department, FBI, Warrington Police Department, Hatboro Borough Police Department and the Philadelphia Sheriffs Department executed 8 search warrants in Kensington. During the execution of the search warrants, agents seized 259 grams, or 8,633 doses, of heroin/fentanyl, 560 grams of crack cocaine, 1,533 grams of cocaine, seven guns, and $30,139 in cash.

The City of Philadelphias Opioid Response Unit initiated its immediate community response, which involves targeted community engagement and survey of the enforcement area, in order to determine the urgent needs of the residents in this area and offer connection to immediate city services such as housing assistance, employment, food access and treatment and vacant lot remediation.

Eight individuals were arrested on June 3, including the operations ringleader Chris Beauford, along with Joseph Stanton Sr., Joseph Stanton Jr., Rasun Owens, Christina Calhoun, Erik Severino, Coraliz Bizaldi, and Kareem Briggs. They have each received charges, including: Corrupt Organizations, Dealing in Illegal Proceeds, Possession with Intent to Deliver, Conspiracy, Knowing and Intentional Possession of Narcotics, Criminal Use of a Communications Facility, and Possessing Instruments of Crime.

Beauford and Stanton Sr. have been charged with Felon Not To Possess A Firearm and Possessing A Gun With An Obliterated Serial Number. Stanton Jr., Severino, and Bizaldi have each been charged with Possessing A Gun With An Obliterated Serial Number. Briggs was also charged with Felon Not To Possess A Firearm. 14 individuals are still at large and warrants have been issued for their arrest.

In March, the Office of Attorney General increased their partnership with the Philadelphia Police Department to address the growing violence and drug trafficking. Since the increased efforts began, 29 firearms have been seized, including four ghost guns, 2,525 grams of cocaine, 417.4 grams of crack cocaine, 22 grams of methamphetamine, 1,030 grams of heroin/fentanyl, 600 fentanyl pills, and more than $16,500 in cash.

These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General Melissa Francis. All charges are accusations. The defendants are innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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AG Shapiro: Kensington Initiative Arrests Eight, Seizes Ghost Guns, Heroin, and $30k In Latest Operation - Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General

When the coronavirus pandemic shut down the nation last spring, millions of children across the country were forced to leave their classrooms and turn to remote learning. However, the shift resulted in the "disappearance" of thousands of students, who never logged on or re-appeared when classrooms reopened in the fall.

In March, ABC News reported on the troubling number of students "missing" from public school systems around the country, leaving educational experts and school officials deeply concerned about the trend and its potential long-term ramifications.

According to recent data from the Department of Health and Human Services, 51% of U.S. school districts are back to offering full-time in-person instruction, while 42% are offering hybrid in-person learning. Only 7% of districts are still operating fully remotely, a notable shift from January when over 30% of districts were still fully remote.

In the final weeks of the academic year, ABC News reached out a second time to education departments in all 50 states, to get an update on the status of student attendance.

Many state officials said they still do not have updated data on chronic absenteeism, while others said they will not know fall enrollment numbers until they are reported by the districts later in the year.

But still other officials say there are still hundreds, and in some districts, thousands, of students unaccounted for.

We still have a sizable group of students that we just haven't been able to make contact with, said Corey Harris, chief of schools at Boston Public Schools, who estimates the number to be in the range of 1,200-1,300, out of approximately 51,000 students. Most challenging, he said, is when the district is forced to dis-enroll students -- those who have not logged on for a certain number of days and for whom all means of contacting the family have been exhausted.

School districts are now doubling down on their efforts to track down students, many of whom come from disadvantaged populations, including going door-to-door to knock and providing incentives such as food pantries to try to entice them. They are also investing in services and programs to meet their needs as they attempt to make up for lost time.

Impacting those most vulnerable

The pandemic has laid bare the many inadequacies and challenges, inherent in the public education system, that are heightened for students of color, English language learners, children with disabilities and students from low-income communities, according to Denise Forte, Interim CEO of the Education Trust, a national nonprofit that works to address the inequities in education.

It's those same communities who have been under-resourced, and felt the brunt of history. Those who suffered more during the pandemic, were also those who had been impacted by all the systemic barriers that have prevented them from succeeding in the past, Forte told ABC News. Some young people who had to leave school because their parents were out of work, and they had to go find some part time work to support them, or they weren't able to fully participate in their own studies because they're supporting their younger siblings.

Ella Palmer laughed while raising her hand in Deb Coy's government class for seniors at Carlton High School, Sept. 8, 2020, in Carlton, Minn.

According to Sara Sneed, President and CEO of the NEA Foundation, prior to the pandemic, chronic absence, defined as 10 or more days absent from school, particularly affected children from these vulnerable populations, and it only worsened during the pandemic.

Working to re-engage

Many states reported to ABC News that their school districts have been working hard to engage with students, and track down any that may not be engaging with school.

In California, the state superintendent has created a family engagement unit in its education department, to create strategies to reconnect with students. Although the total number of unaccounted students in California is unknown, statewide enrollment numbers dropped more than 160,000 students, this year, a 2.6% decline.

With a chronic absence rate of 20% this year, compared to approximately 10%-12% in years prior, Connecticut has launched an engagement and attendance program to reach K-12 students struggling with absenteeism. One initiative seeks to have personnel touching base with families and students through home visits, in the hope of encouraging them to return to school, and to help them with placements in summer camps and learning programs.

Similarly, in Mississippi, school attendance officers have worked with districts throughout the school year to ensure that all school-age children, who were not re-enrolled in local public schools, were registered in a learning environment, such as charter or private schools. By February, officers had track down all but 1,156 students, a number similar to previous years.

Children wait to enter classrooms, Oct. 5, 2020, at the Carrie P. Meek/Westview K-8 Center in Miami.

In Boston, teams have been knocking on doors to try to track down students, and through various engagement strategies include food pantry pop-ups, and resource initiatives, some students have begun to return to classroom.

And in Arizona, about 38,500 fewer students are enrolled in public schools this year, with about 40% of that decline among preschool and kindergarten students, opting to postpone enrollment. Others may have become disengaged with their public schools.

We were really brought to our knees by this pandemic in the first 90 days, and that translated into some really hard hits. The first 40 days of school, we took a gut wrenching 2,800 in student loss. That was about 6% of our student body... that's a lot, Tucson Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Gabriel Trujillo told ABC News.

While some Tucson district families opted for other learning options such as charter and private schools, and others left the state altogether because of economic migration, the whereabouts of a "most troubling" third group of several hundred students -- who were not logging on or enrolled in any other school -- is still unknown by school officials.

The academic losses are starting to mount every day that goes by where kids are not in school or getting any kind of instruction, Trujillo added.

Since the district returned to school buildings in March, 800 missing students have returned, mainly families that were waiting for in-person learning, but several hundred students remain unaccounted, said Trujillo.

Fourth grade teacher Kelly Brant stands in her classroom as she talks to her students who were learning remotely, Jan. 19, 2021, at Park Brook Elementary School in Brooklyn Park, Minn.

We haven't given up on them that's going to be a major initiative of our team this summer and early fall, to track them down. Each case is individual, each case requires a little bit of investigative work. That's going to be very arduous and tedious work, but we don't want to lose any kid. We want to know that they're okay.

These students will be tracked down with the help of 15 to 20 newly hired dropout prevention specialists, who will try to contact them all.

Our goal is to make contact with every single young person, make sure they're safe, and offer them an opportunity to come home. Or, if Tucson Unified is no longer an option for them, help them continue their education and an option that works for them, Trujillo said.

Addressing the gap

School districts are now working to readjust their curriculums in an order to address learning loss experienced during the pandemic.

Classrooms, in 2021-2022, are going to look tremendously different, says Forte, with some kids not at grade level, others with months' worth of unfinished learning, while a few may have actually thrived, and are above grade level.

Hence the need for intentional and evidence-based strategies, she said, such as intensive tutoring, with students working in small groups with one teacher, offering them instruction that's aligned with their curriculum, as well as the social/emotional support they may also need.

In Tucson, in addition to the regular curriculum, students entering first grade, for instance, will revisit key concepts and skills that may have been lost in kindergarten. And rigorous, five days a week, summer school will be critical to give students a head start for fall. Some 10,000 students have already enrolled.

Finding these students will be critical, officials agreed.

School is the great equalizer in American society. Bad things happen when you don't graduate from high school, worse things happen when you don't even start high school, Trujillo said. These young lives matter, and we want them back in the only place that they need to be right now, and thats school.

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With return to in-person learning, thousands of students still 'missing' from schools - ABC News

As Virginia lawmakers consider how to spend more than $4.3 billion in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan, two former state leaders are calling for more investment in the states historically Black colleges and universities.

Former Gov. Doug Wilder and Jim Dyke, who served as Virginias first Black secretary of education in Wilders administration, called for the infusion of money this week in a letter to Gov. Ralph Northam and a bipartisan group of legislative leaders.

The governor and General Assembly have the responsibility to immediately provide Virginias four HBCUs with significant and ongoing funding, they wrote. This commitment should include initial grants of $50 million to each HBCU for scholarships, recruitment, retention, academic programs and capital projects as provided to non-HBCUs.

Its not the first time there have been calls to provide more funding to the schools, which include Norfolk State University, Virginia State University, Hampton University and Virginia Union University. In 2019, Northam proposed an additional $293 million investment in Norfolk and Virginia State two public HBCUs to level the playing field with other universities.

As the Mercury reported, the schools had some of the lowest four- and five-year graduation rates in the state, coupled in many cases with declining enrollment.

Many of those challenges date back to the creation of HBCUs. Most emerged from modest beginnings due to the states refusal to integrate education or fund schools for Black students. Wilder said Norfolk State, now Virginias largest HBCU, originally started in a YMCA as a branch of Virginia Union University. VUU also weathered intentional segregation efforts, including the construction of Richmonds Interstate 95 and Interstate 64 corridor. The construction deliberately separated the university from the citys historically Black Jackson Ward neighborhood, researchers found.

So the question is, when are we going to acknowledge that not only was it wrong, but it was never improved upon to the extent that it should have been? Wilder said.

He met with the states four HBCUs ahead of a planned special session this summer to allocate Virginias ARP funding one of the largest economic recovery efforts ever, according to a joint statement from Northam and General Assembly leaders.

Higher education lost billions during the COVID-19 pandemic, but HBCUs were already more financially vulnerable. The schools have smaller endowments and a much greater percentage of low-income students than other universities, the Mercury has reported. And while many state colleges saw negligible drops in enrollment or even increases both Norfolk and Virginia State lost students during the pandemic, according to data from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

Dyke, though, said the request for funding was equally important as an economic opportunity. A recent report from the national think tank Education Reform Now found that Virginia accounts for a third of the 15 worst-ranked public colleges and universities in Pell Grant enrollment. The grants are given to students with exceptional financial need and unlike other federal aid dont have to be repaid.

The same report found that only three of Virginias public universities enroll a proportion of Black and Hispanic students thats equal to their total makeup of the college-aged population. Two of those schools are HBCUs. That makes direct aid especially important, Dyke said, given the disproportionate role they play in educating underserved communities.

Theres so much more than needs to be done, especially when you factor in that were trying to create a stronger, better-prepared workforce, he said. Other institutions have been woefully lacking in enrolling minority and low-income students.

Over the last few years, there has been increased investment in the states public HBCUs. The most recent budget includes more than $20 million for Norfolk State and Virginia State, according to SCHEV including roughly $10 million for affordability pilot programs aimed specifically at Pell Grant-eligible students living within 25 miles of the universities.

But both Wilder and Dyke said it doesnt make up for decades of underfunding and fewer resources that have left HBCUs at a disadvantage. Theyre also calling for the state to boost its overall investment in underserved students. In addition to $50 million grants for each of the states four HBCUs, theyre asking legislators to commit at least $1,500 to $2,000 per student in financial aid and tuition assistance grants. Those dollars would go to all of Virginias colleges and universities for each Pell Grant student they enrolled.

Lets provide some financial incentives for them to go out and do a better job, Dyke said. And underneath all of this is accountability. We need to hold these institutions accountable for educating all students.

Other states have set a precedent for investing substantially both in HBCUs and underserved students. Last month, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper asked the state to spend $350 million of its ARP dollars on scholarships for students whose families make $60,000 or less a year. Maryland just recently announced a $577 million settlement with its four HBCUs after a group of alumni sued over inequality in the states higher education system.

Were saying that Virginia can act now, Dyke said. Higher education isnt mentioned in a list of priorities outlined in the joint statement from Northam and Democratic leaders in the General Assembly. But one senior budget chair has already expressed support for funding HBCUs.

Virginia has underfunded them for too long, said Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax, chair of the chambers Finance Committee. The additional federal funding we are receiving will make righting this historic wrong not only possible but essential.

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Former governor, education secretary call for more investment in Virginia's historically Black colleges - Virginia Mercury