Category Archives: Intentional Communities

On Wednesday, the Atlantic published an article by Professor Emily Oster, an economist at Brown University, titled, Universities Need to Catch Up to the Post-vaccine Reality. Oster argues that the recent decision by a number of colleges and universities to temporarily return to virtual learning in the face of skyrocketing COVID-19 cases is a mistake.

Oster makes three deceitful arguments: 1) Students are not themselves at risk of illness; 2) Campuses will not lead to community spread of the virus; and 3) campuses must be opened to protect students mental health.

Osters arguments are not based on science or experience. They are made on behalf of the political establishment and with no regard for the lives and livelihoods of the students she claims to care for.

The reality must be stated clearly: No, colleges and universities are not safe from COVID-19, especially as the vaccine resistant Omicron variant has taken its place as the dominant strain throughout the country.

Young people are in no way immune from infection and death, and, if infected with the virus, will spread it to all those with whom they come into contact. While mental health issues are an important concern, Oster, following the lead of the entire political establishment, has weaponized the severe mental health crisis among young people to justify the intentional infection of the population with the virus.

The arguments made in Osters article are reflective of the entire strategy of the Biden administration and worth answering in some detail. But let us first address the question: Who is Emily Oster?

Ivy League Democratic Party operatives fight for a policy of mass death

Oster is a well-seasoned official Democratic Party academic operative who has been tapped throughout the pandemic to advocate for the unsafe reopening of schools. In 2020, she authored a number of articles where she argued that schools were not significant spreaders of Covid-19.

Among these articles are two for the Atlantic titled Schools Arent Super-Spreaders and Go Ahead, Plan a Family Vacation with Your Unvaccinated Kids. Another notable piece by Oster was published in the Clinical Infectious Diseases Journal titled Effectiveness of three versus six feet of physical distancing for controlling the spread of COVID-19 among primary and secondary students and staff. This latter study published March 10, 2021 was picked up by the CDC and used as its primary evidence for changing social distancing guidelines.

Remarkably, Oster has no background in public health, biology, or any other field related to the science of the pandemic. She holds a PhD from Harvard in economics, is currently a professor at Brown University and has authored books on pregnancy and parenting. She has no expertise or authority in the field in which she is meddling.

The data she uses to back her arguments for keeping schools open are riddled with errors at best, and are purposefully skewed and distorted at worst.

In August of 2020, for example, Oster claimed she had created a database of COVID-19 infections in schools that showed that just 0.23 percent of students and 0.49 percent of teachers had become infected, making her case that schools are not super spreader events.

However, this information was derived from just 550 public and private schools, and over 200 of them were fully remote during the time the data was collected! Additionally, the most populated schools from urban areas where there have been the largest outbreaks were excluded.

In the three versus six feet article, similar erroneous errors were made to claim that a three or six-foot social distancing guideline made little difference in transmission and could be abandoned. Most notable was that the study only compared schools that had differing official guidelines without actually investigating if they followed those guidelines.

In other words, the study contains no actual science or experiments to test the different social distancing methods. The actual science of COVID-19 has shown that the virus is airborne, meaning that even six feet of social distancing is not sufficient to stop its spread.

In short, Emily Oster is not an expert on the pandemic or school safety in any sense. She is a mouthpiece for the ruling class in its aggressive drive to reopen schools to keep parents at work and the economy afloat. Her concerns are not the health and wellbeing of students and families but the profit demands of Wall Street.

There is no way to evaluate the current pandemic conditions and conclude that schools, including colleges and universities, are safe to reopen without engaging in an immense level of self-deception or false arguments. For Oster, it appears to be the latter.

Oster writes in her article that the world has changed since the pandemic began, and yet, the rise of the Omicron variant and the ensuing spike in COVID cases have led many university administrators to articulate the same old concerns: Students could possibly spread the virus to community members, who could in turn end up in hospitals, which could be overwhelmed.

She continues: Such a chain reaction is of course possible, but the probabilities are not what they used to be, because the great majority of students are now vaccinated and the percentage of people in the surrounding communities who are at risk of landing in the hospital is much, much smaller than it used to be. [emphasis added]

Students could infect others, and the hospitals could become overwhelmed, Oster skeptically suggests. Is this not the very situation taking place in towns and cities across the country right now?

It is false to suggest that the percentage of people who are at risk of landing in the hospital is smaller than it used to be. In fact, hospitalizations among 1829 year olds is at a record high since the start of the pandemic, standing at a seven-day average of 1,433 new patients per day. For those aged 3039, the average is 1,532 hospital admissions per day, also a record high.

Child hospitalizations are also at their highest point ever, at 766 per day. Lurie Childrens hospital in Chicago reported Thursday that child hospitalizations have increased ten times compared to the number of admissions at the end of November.

Across the country, one in five hospitals reporting to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) noted that their ICUs were above 95 percent capacity. Don Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association, told CBS 42, Im worried now! Thats right now where my main concern lies. You know, we may have beds, but we dont have anybody to staff the beds.

Hospitalizations have increased 161 percent in the last ten days across the state.

Patricia Maysent, chief executive officer of University of California San Diego Health, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the university system had more than 500 health care workers test positive over the last week, forcing some of their departments to operate at half capacity. This is the first time, she said, from the very beginning of the COVID pandemic, that Im actually worried that we dont have enough staff to take care of the patients.

On Thursday, Beaumont Health, one of the largest hospital systems in Michigan, with nine hospitals in the Detroit area, reported that 430 employees had COVID-19 symptoms in a notice sent to the public headlined, Were at a breaking point. The notice said that hospitalizations have increased 40 percent in the last week.

It is in this context, in which nurses and doctors around the country are at a breaking point, that Ms. Oster insists that closing the schools reflects an outmoded level of caution.

She goes on to claim that, in fact, closing colleges expresses a failure of universities to protect their students interests. The natural question to ask from such a statement is what are students interests and how are they best protected?

Osters only answer to this question is to point to the youth mental health crisis. Her claim is that the closing of schools and a temporary shift to online learning has too great an impact on students mental health, and schools therefore must remain open at all costs.

Oster writes, Moving to remote schooling when the conditions on the ground have changed so dramatically is an abdication of universities responsibility to educate students and protect all aspects of their health. College students are in the midst of a mental-health crisis.

There is no question that mental health issues affect an alarming number of young people. But the arguments made by Oster do not in fact have students interests in mind to the slightest degree.

While it is true that mental health issues have been accelerated by that pandemic, alongside all other social crises, it is not their root cause. Oster and those she speaks for never made the slightest noise about mental health issues until it became a convenient cover to justify the unsafe reopening of schools.

Students do indeed need immediate access to mental health treatment and services. But deteriorating mental health is only the symptom of a much deeper problem.

The situation facing the average American student even before the pandemic is a distressing one. Many young people find themselves stressed to the point of exhaustion balancing studies while also working to make ends meet. Those who live on their campuses and in the university dorm rooms must deal with poverty-like conditions with crumbling facilities and unhealthy food.

Most students will come out of school saddled with thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt and few quality jobs to repay their loans. For many young people, a trip to the emergency room or even an unexpected car repair is enough to entirely cripple them financially.

The pandemic has undoubtedly added significantly to these issues with an abrupt shift to online learning certainly being a challenge. But how are these issues to be resolved? Are we to be expected to believe that, by keeping campuses open, students will have forgotten all these other inescapable problems?

Oster has nothing to say about the real difficulties and challenges students and youth face living under capitalism. For Oster and people in her privileged middle-class layer, the pandemic has been merely an inconvenience where their routines have been disrupted by lockdowns or mitigation efforts. Their solution: pretend like nothing is happening, return to classes, and resume business as usual.

Students need relief from their crushing debt and access to healthcare and resources, so that they no longer need to rely on food pantries and other charities to survive. Students need the ability to study and learn without the concern that they might become infected or infect their parents and loved ones with COVID-19.

If mental health is the concern, the situation currently underway in high schools and colleges that have opened can only deepen them. In recent days, students have flooded social media with reports of schools practically devoid of teachers who are all sick. Students are testing themselves for COVID-19 in bathrooms followed by a panic as they are left to figure out how to appropriately respond. How is forcing students into this kind of environment supposed to relieve their anxiety?

There will be no resolution to the mental health crisis as long as the pandemic rages on. And to defeat the pandemic requires the intervention of the working class, which is already under way.

Thousands of teachers and students are in the midst of a struggle against reopening, fearing for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Teachers in Chicago have bravely voted not to return to in-person learning amid record-breaking case numbers, with graduate students at the University of Michigan, teachers in San Francisco, and other major cities following closely behind them. There is growing anger and outrage among broader layers of the working class over being forced to continue to work in factories and workplaces that are centers of COVID transmission.

The working class is the social force that must be mobilized. To defend students is to protect them from infection from COVID-19 and fight for an international program to eliminate the virus once and for all.

See the rest here:

No, colleges and universities are not safe to reopen for in-person learning - WSWS

Hello, 2022.

Its Q1. Time to start anew.

With the fresh start comes a chance to put forward your hopes and goals for the year ahead. Its a chance to reframe what didnt get done in 2021, or get going on a project youve always wanted to tackle.

With that in mind, we asked Baltimore tech and innovation leaders to share their resolutions. Responses ranged from the personal to the professional. Others are setting out to give back.

Take a look:

Keep practicing authenticity. Being authentic unlocks so much richness in conversation, connections, even in strategic discussions why waste time not being real? Not everyone is ready to hear real talk, however, so I want to continue to practice to communicate well and bring self-awareness to every interaction.

Our goal at JHTV is to use every presentation as an opportunity to compel people to care about and support the high-impact work we do. We want our team members to leverage storytelling and other best practices in presentation-making to captivate our audiences and stand out amid information overload (and Zoom fatigue).

At a personal level, my resolution is to prioritize my mental health and wellness. I will continue to prioritize my time for meditation, yoga, journaling and self-reflection, as we continue to go through stressful and anxiety-filled times with the pandemic into 2022. One of our 1501 Health startups, WellSet, a marketplace for holistic wellness providers like acupuncture, yoga and nutrition coaching, offers classes for breath work and meditation that can provide much needed balance during the holidays and the start of the new year.

At a system level, my resolution is to prioritize addressing the mental health crisis faced by healthcare providers two years into the pandemic. Burnout is a major concern for healthcare providers, with nearly 50% reporting burnout, according to AMA in 2020. Stress scores were highest among nursing assistants, medical assistants, social workers and inpatient workers such as nurses and respiratory therapists as well as among women, Black and Latinx health care workers. Even Health, one of our 1501 Health startups based in Maryland, offers mental health support for healthcare employees, through their flagship product, Cabana. My resolution is to launch our Cabana pilot at LifeBridge Health for our healthcare providers and help champion the growth of Even Health with health systems in our region and scale across the nation.

Our hope for 2022 is to be able to expand Hutch to include programs and opportunities that more entrepreneurs can leverage outside of our existing two-year digital services incubator.

Get hip to all the great talent that came out of Odells in the 70s and 80s.

My 2022 resolutions include looking for inspiration in unexpected places and challenging myself to find the fun in being wrong.

If you cant fly, then run. If you cant run, then walk. If you cant walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward Martin Luther King Jr.

I just finished Amanda Ripleys High Conflict, and so Im trying to find more opportunities to be curious, especially during disagreements.

In 2022, I resolve to prioritize work-life balance, invest in the leadership of our amazing team, and find joy and possibility in speaking truth to power.

My New Years resolution is to have a great day on purpose. I want to be intentional with the understanding that every day I wake up is a blessing. Its a new day to grow, positively impact anyone I come into contact with (even if that is putting a smile on their face or just acknowledging them with a hello), and continue going after my dreams without fear because if I fail, it will be fast and forward.

My New Years resolution professionally is to fully embrace my new team and keep establishing our culture. Listen more, talk less, and allow my teams talents to shine through. Personally, my resolution is to continue to over indulge in self care, embracing a life of ease and wellness. Hustle culture is canceled.

My New Years resolution is to continue to invest just as much time in my family that I do in my business!

I want to help make life fair for everyone. I am creating new community software codenamed the GRID, for Graphical Resources Investment Directive. It will allow communities to use data to visualize their broad needs and includes tools for them to organize as a community to set the direction for future investments.

To help at least 50 underrepresented entrepreneurs and social enterprises in Baltimore to raise funding.

To bring back the GBTC. It will be through a sub-chapter of the Maryland Tech Council called the BRTC. Just wait and see. Its gonna be awesome.

My New Years resolution is to gain a greater understanding of what problems the businesses in Maryland are solving. In the past, I focused on Baltimore. Next year, Im going to make an effort to learn more about businesses across Maryland.

Lean more into trusting myself, the process, the journey, and the results.

Eat more protein shakes, consistently. Finish reading the Dune series.

Invest more in both PDs: professional development and personal development.

In March 2020, I was boarding one of the last flights out of Lisbon, Portugal, homeward-bound to an uncertain America on the brink of a global pandemic. Portugal is one of my favorite remote work destinations, and my trip was ending abruptly. As we approach the two-year anniversary of that event, Im starting to see some patterns in this pandemic world. Specifically, when cases are likely to spike, and the burnout feeling that comes from the blurred lines of work and home life. My New Years resolution is to re-establish healthy boundaries with work and to see if I can safely work remotely abroad again. My best life has always included Baltimore and a blend of several cultures and countries.

Read more:

20 Baltimore tech and entrepreneurship leaders offer New Year's resolutions for 2022 - Technical.ly

Joan Kabugu at the Standard group's offices along Mombasa road, Nairobi on December 30, 2021. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Having recently had her short film,Throttle Queensair onAl Jazeera,Joan Kabugu is counting her wins. Her journey has been one marked by highs and lows, but she has stuck to her passion. She is the founder of Ecila Films, which focuses on women, teens, and indigenous communities.Joan has many hours of TV content under her belt and has directed several environmental documentaries under the series,Giving Nature a Voice,and short films touching on heartfelt themes such as fatherhood and mental health. The creative is currently completing a multi-media documentary about a deaf dancer called. Sounds of Silence. She shares her journey.

Your short filmThrottle Queenjust aired onAl Jazeera. How does that feel?

Exhilarating, exciting and rewarding! I have come a long way from where it all began. The journey started 10 years ago when I stumbled onto a TV and radio training programme (in Medeva Media for Development in Africa). With no background in media, I had to work extra hard when I landed an opportunity on the job, training for a political talk show production. To get toMedeva TVfor the month-long training right after graduating from university, I had to walk from Nairobi CBD area to South B a distance of four kilometres - and back daily for almost a month because I had no source of income and the bus fare I had was not sufficient. I started from the bottom, labelling camera tapes, training on camera operations and assigned a camera for cutaway shots. Maisha Film Labs was another platform that helped me grow in my early years; I submitted two of my short films and got invited to compete for a production grant two years in a row. In second year, I won and went ahead to work on my first short film -Madam Chief- a mustard seed that allowed me to not only carry the writer credit, but also director and producer for the first time. My friends at Medeva came together to make the short film a success, I am forever grateful.

As a producer how have you managed to continually bag opportunities?

The biggest opportunities have come from learning. I have done this through attending workshops on writing, content creation fellowships and taking part in business and leadership training. These have made me understand the business side of things and how I can leverage my craft to make a living. When I attended the Obama Leaders Forum in 2018, Ecila Films was given a major spotlight for the work we have been doing; telling stories about women, teens, and the indigenous community. That has been our niche.

What have been some of the challenges this far?

I was recently having a discussion with fellow African creatives, trying to understand two phrases; love what you do and do what you love. This was against the backdrop that it takes a lot to make a living out of the creative industry and stick it out for the long haul. My toughest issue has been financing projects I care about, and convincing investors to come into the film space - it is hard to get a solid return on investment, unlike other industries. It has also been hard to gain traction and visibility, making it hard to reach my audiences both with my company Ecila Films and my personal profile.

How have you handled the challenge of having a steady stream of income?

Overtime, I have developed different skills and used them to multiply my revenue streams. The top three are; writing, directing, producing, and working as a production manager. I balance between doing independent content for my company, writing, and taking on production assignments. This ensures that as a creative I am not frustrated when it comes to finding jobs and paying bills.

Which have been your greatest highs as a producer?

Being part ofGiving Nature a Voice, which was an award-winning environmental documentary series. We won the bBest TV Series in ZIFF Awards. This series helped me improve my storytelling ability and took me to far corners of Kenya to find stories; from Cherengani to Bogoria to Rimoi. My first two short films were sponsored by grants and investors respectively. Working on three consecutive independent films after that, has been a proud moment; I have invested in myself. These projects have not yet offered a return on investment, they have, however, served as a portfolio for me and my team and opened doors for new projects, which have been sponsored.Winning an award for a Chevrolet project by Mofilm in 2015 was another proud moment, I did Richard Tureres Story;Lion Lights. In 2021, I won an award in New Yorks Oniros Film Award for the short film Its All A Game. I know the future holds even greater wins for me.

What have been some of your lowest moments?

I missed out on a few great opportunities earlier in my career because I felt inadequate. I have learned to be a loud introvert and get heard while communicating confidently and politely. Being able to work with people across the world from New York, Spain, Ethiopia and Liberia have expanded my worldview and by default made me more boisterous.

What have you discovered about yourself?

I am aggressive, which means that when I put my mind to something, I place all my cards on the table and go all in. I can take criticism; this makes it easy for me to put my work out there without fear of judgement. I am not a perfectionist, but I value exceptional excellence. That means I do not procrastinate in publishing what I want, I just ensure that I am growing in the process. I know how to plan and this has helped in saving money when it comes to film production. I rarely lose my cool, I keep the production team calm. While filming on location, ones patience is tested and I feel like I have passed that patience test every time. When it comes to working with a team, I believe in the leadership of self. If we all bring our A-game, it is a win-win situation.

What would you count as the rewards of pursuing your dreams despite the challenges?

The reward comes in getting the chance to create more content each year, working with a diverse cast and crew from Kenya and beyond and of course being paid to do so. Being nominated for awards has increased our visibility and assured us that we are being seen and appreciated. Something as simple as getting direct feedback for stories from our viewers whether in person, over the phone, or on social media is a big deal for me.

What next for Joan?

(2021 was) a defining year for me as a film-preneur. I have won a grant as an innovator from Stanchat Women in Tech, I also started my one film per month project beginning with a Lake Baringo Story Saving Pink Beauty,a coming of age story about a father and daughter. We recently had our first project featured onAljazeera-Throttle Queens- for their one of a kind series Africa Direct featuring exclusively African Stories by African Filmmakers. You can check it out on YouTube. These three highlights all point to one direction; creating more stories, consistently, and for an even wider audience.

The goal of Ecila Films is to create more authentic African stories with multiple teams, stories that transform communities and create discourse and dialogue. Making our content easily available on YouTube via our channel, Ecila Films and affiliate channels such asAljazeera, means we can have more people watch engage and dialogue. The plan is to also use our platform to launch new and upcoming storytellers and filmmakers, I know how hard it can be to break through in this industry. This is one way I can pay forward what I have benefited from other platforms.

What would you say is the importance of working towards consistent growth?

Continuous learning has made me understand different aspects of creativity, business, and leadership. I have been part of numerous fellowships, training, and workshops throughout my career: Amplify Content Creation Fellowship, Obama Leaders Fellowship, Maisha Film Labs Writers Workshop, Docubox Screenwriting Workshop, Young Africa Leaders Initiative, Women in Tech Business Incubator, Generation Africa Workshop, ZIFF Writing Workshop, Talent Campus Durban and One Fine Day Production Training, to name but a few.

I have found that consistency is the oldest formula in the book; keep at it, improve your craft, improve yourself. Improve and people will notice you before you know it, more people will be willing to pay for what you have to offer.

The other thing that has worked is becoming my own investor. I have save and foot the bill for some of my productions. Invest in the stories you love and share them with the world. Sometimes, the world needs to see you believe in yourself first before they believe in you.

In the last five years, I have worked a lot with mentors and this has allowed me to see my blind spots, personally and in the business of storytelling. I have also done a small portion of mentorship and it is something I hope I can do more of in the days to come.

Finally, there is no growth that comes from magic or presumption. All growth is intentional, and even if some opportunities find us as we work, such opportunities come because we are putting in the work to be bigger and better.

Plan out your 2022, even if you achieve only 50 per cent of what you set out to do. It is better than the five per cent you will achieve if you are not intentional about your growth.

Have an intentional New Year.

View post:

I learnt to come out of my shell and be heard - The Standard

As reports of COVID-19 morbidities and mortalities rose in the United States (U.S.), inequities in the healthcare landscape quickly became apparent, with cases, hospitalizations, and deaths due to the virus disproportionately affecting Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino communities. With these disparities in mind, Janssen, the Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, knew it was critical to enroll a diverse population of participants in ENSEMBLE, the clinical trial for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, to ensure that all people who would eventually receive the vaccine were represented.

To ensure diversity and inclusion in the ENSEMBLE trial and based on years of clinical trial experience, Janssen rapidly implemented a multifaceted plan for recruitment and enrollment of participants from underrepresented communities. The approach included intentional site selection, community engagement and awareness building, and educational and training support for investigators. Janssen also took steps to remove barriers clinical trial participants often face, including the use of demographic data to identify and utilize clinical trial sites located in underrepresented communities.

We are committed to developing medicines and therapies that meet the needs of all people, and we know that diseases and drugs may impact people differently based on their race and ethnicity, so the alignment of clinical trial enrollment with patient population demographics is key, said Staci Hargraves, Vice President of Patient and Portfolio Solutions, Janssen Research & Development, LLC, and Executive Sponsor of Janssens Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Clinical Trials program. Simple yet impactful decisions, such as making sure trial sites were located in accessible places within historically underserved communities, made a big difference in our ability to reach more participants.

Once Janssen selected the ENSEMBLE sites and began recruitment efforts, Janssens employees built relationships with trial site investigators and staff to provide cultural competency training to help stimulate dialogue about diversity and maintain focus on enrolling and supporting underrepresented groups. These close collaborations with site leaders allowed Janssen to identify any roadblocks in real time and make changes to the recruitment efforts as needed.

Identifying clinical trial sites in diverse communities was only the first step, because other barriers to recruitment and enrollment also exist. Clinical research in the U.S. has a complicated history when it comes to marginalized populations. Past events such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, combined with ongoing systemic disparities in the healthcare system, have contributed to distrust in clinical research among many people. Building trust is critical, particularly given the urgency the pandemic presented.

We felt it was our role to help people understand how clinical trials work and how trials have evolved to ensure that participant safety and human rights are protected today, said Hargraves.

To build trust with communities of color, Janssen worked with both local and national organizations, including prominent community advocacy groups and leaders, along with healthcare professional organizations. These groups helped Janssen identify trusted voices within communities who could disseminate information about ENSEMBLE and clinical research in general. Janssen also used its Research Includes Me patient education program to conduct local outreach, including the consumer-facing website ResearchIncludesMe.com, and the dispatch of mobile units of bilingual educators to large community events. These tools helped to dispel misinformation about present-day medical research by providing accessible and empowering education about the clinical trial process and the protections given to participants rights and privacy.

Setting the Bar for Diversity in Clinical Trial Enrollment

Collectively, Janssens efforts successfully promoted diverse enrollment in ENSEMBLE. There were 43,783 participants from eight countries across North America (44%), Central and South America (41%), and Africa (15%). More than one-third (34%) of participants were over the age of 60, and 45% were female. In the United States, 74% of participants were White/Caucasian, 15% were Hispanic/Latino, and 13% were Black/African American. Participants with comorbidities were also well-represented in ENSEMBLE, with 41% of participants having obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, or HIV-positive status or other immune system disorders.

The Future of Diversity and Inclusion in Clinical Trials

The pharmaceutical industry must continue to confront underrepresentation in clinical trials and devote time and resources to inclusion, however, it is an evolving process. Using lessons learned from ENSEMBLE and experiences with previous clinical research in other disease areas, Janssen will continue to shape the future of clinical trial recruitment by applying strategic operational practices, making thoughtful investments of time and resources, and facilitating collaborations that build trust in clinical research and reduce barriers to diverse enrollment.

We are working together with leaders across the pharmaceutical industry to make diversity, equity and inclusion in clinical trials a reality, Hargraves said. ENSEMBLE is just one example of how collective efforts can result in success.

Further Reading

1. Loree JM, Anand S, Dasari A, et al. Disparity of Race Reporting and Representation in Clinical Trials Leading to Cancer Drug Approvals From 2008 to 2018. JAMA Oncol. 2019;5(10):e191870. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.1870

2. Diverse Trials Act. 117th Congress (2021-2022). S.2706.

3. The Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard. Achieving Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in Clinical Research, Version 1.1. August 2020. https://mrctcenter.org/diversity-in-clinical-research/guidance/guidance-document/. Accessed September 2, 2021.

Go here to see the original:

Janssen Takes Multifaceted Approach to Ensuring Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in its COVID-19 Vaccine Trial - FiercePharma

Like a toddler on a sweetie binge, 2021 served up an unending frenzy of opportunity and devastation. Sometimes the only thing separating these have been a few blissful hours of ignorance, particularly if you work in the travel, tourism and hospitality sector.

Natalia Rosa

When times are bad, and boy have they been bad, were fighting to get off red lists and dealing with the long-term reputational damage of having a bunch of switched-on scientists who keep finding variants and saving the world. Its enough to make you hide under your bed and binge eat Kit-Kats.

Admittedly, tourism has always been one of the only industries in the world that almost every country can lay a claim to in terms of having some sort of differentiated edge; a value proposition that appeals to someone. Its also one of the industries that experiences disruption, quite often through no fault of its own. Hence the noise.

And its getting harder and harder to break through that noise, particularly as were continuously told that 'content is king' despite 4.4 million new blog posts, 350 million new photos uploaded to Facebook and one billion hours of YouTube watched every day.

But the tourism PR, comms and marketing world has changed in times of Covid. Dark social platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram groups have taken over as small online communities are formed around every conceivable niche interest hiking in Stellenbosch, flower lovers of the Namaqualand, best routes to 4x4 with your bestie in Limpopo, etc.

We may be a global village but living la vida lockdown seems to have messed with our brains. Were actively choosing to shrink our communities to smaller, more personalised, more thoughtful online spaces. And were certainly not brimming with trust for brands that sit outside that space.

Content may be king, but if it isnt niched down enough to fit the needs of these micro-communities that are growing at the speed of Japanese bullet train and delivered at the right time, a lot of it just adds to the noise. People arent paying attention. They dont care that you want to tell the world you just launched a new spa range to die for.

According to Manifest, 5% of content generated 90% of engagement, which means 95% of our content is a random act of content. Thats right, folks. Weve been running rings around ourselves like those sugar-high toddlers to push content out that nobody is reading.

Calling all content writers, PR professionals and marketers in the travel, tourism and hospitality sector as the new year arrives: Let 2022 be the year we get more intentional about the content we create. Lets focus on the targeted content that shows those niched audiences we know them; we care about what they care about, and we value their precious time.

Let 2022 be the year of less is more, of emotionally driven content that really connects with the heart of our travellers; that enables and inspires the right customer at the right time to act on behalf of all those travel brands that have borne the brunt of Covid as weve lurched from wave to wave, crisis to crisis. Lurched past tense because heres hoping 2022 will be different.

Not only do they need the best version of us now, more than ever. But also, because everybody deserves to travel, to become a better version of themselves when they do, and because we need to have a reason to get out from under that bed in the morning.

Read this article:

#BizTrends2022: Tourism tribe, let's be more intentional in 2022 - Bizcommunity.com

This is part of a series of profiles about new faculty who have joined the College of Education in the 2021-22 academic year.

Name: Terri Tilford

Title: Assistant Teaching Professor of Counseling and Counselor Education

Education: Ed.D. in Counselor Education from Western Michigan University, M.A. in Counselor Education from Central Michigan University, B.A. in Communication from Saginaw Valley State University

Experience: Associate Professor of Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Montreat College; Adjunct Counseling Professor, Northwestern University; Adjunct Counseling Professor, Central Michigan University and Western Michigan University; Director of Counseling Services, Winston-Salem University

Why did you choose a career in education?

I am passionate about helping others, and teaching was the most enjoyable way for me to accomplish this goal! Overall, I believe this is part of my purpose in lifeguiding people into a direction for personal life success. Also, I am a third-generation education professional that includes teachers, educational consultants and principals. Several individuals, on both sides of my family, have won awards as outstanding educators in their community and for their state. Thus, in part, education was a part of my upbringing in my home.

Why did you decide to pursue a doctoral degree?

I decided to pursue a doctorate degree because I enjoy learning, and I wanted to be intentional about being at my best in my field of study.

What are your research interests?

My research interests include ways to empower people to reach their potential, positive thinking/negative thought stopping to achieve wellness and community awareness, programming and evidenced-based strategies to support personal life success and mental wellbeing.

What sparked your interest in those topics?

My interest was sparked in these topics because I learned the impact of helping people by watching others and by being intentional about caring for others and helping them to identify their strengths to help them overcome pain, failure and deficits.

What is one research project or moment in your academic career that you are particularly proud of?

I was very excited about being awarded a sabbatical to conduct a national study focusing on successful approaches that help individuals persist and overcome barriers.

What is your teaching philosophy?

My professional philosophy for teaching includes creating a learning environment that helps all students believe they belong in the classroom, including all learning styles with instruction and including evidenced-based theory and practice in the classroom. Also, my teaching philosophy includes creating a learning environment in which students will desire to be lifelong learners and continue to grow to become leaders in counseling as they advocate for equity, inclusion and social justice in their respective communities.

What do you hope your students learn from you?

I hope students learn from me the joy of learning, how to effectively help others and how to identify and develop their niche in counseling.

What makes someone an extraordinary educator?

An extraordinary educator has the ability to be intentional about creating a learning environment in which everyone believes they have a place in the classroom, they are engaged in the classroom and each student is able to integrate what they have learned in the classroom to empower and help others.

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Meet Assistant Teaching Professor Terri Tilford: 'I Hope Students Learn From Me the Joy of Learning, How to Effectively Help Others and How to...

The Department of Health (DOH) is reaching out to individuals and communities who have experienced health inequities or racism in the health care system.

Advocacy groups and health care professional associations are also invited to comment.

This is an effort to learn how people are harmed due to inequities in the health care system.

DOH says they want to create positive change in the system.

Information gathered from listening sessions will be used in future rule workshops. Individuals, communities, and health care workers will work together to create rules for health equity continuing education. Health care professionals must complete training in health equity as required by Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5229.

DOH recognizes that sharing experiences about this subject may be difficult. We recognize and appreciate the emotional labor that will take place. We will make an intentional effort to create a safe space for participants and staff during this process. Sharing your experience is voluntary and it is up to you how you would like to share. If speaking in a group setting does not work for you, there is an option for written comments. No matter how you choose to take part, please know your willingness to engage in this process is greatly appreciated.

During these sessions, DOH will ask the following questions:

DOH will be holding listening sessions: Each session has the capacity for 250 attendees. If a session fills up please consider attending another one. We want to hear from you.

Microsoft Teams meetingJoin on your computer or mobile appClick here to join the meetingOr call in (audio only)+1 564-999-2000,,114577531# United States, OlympiaPhone Conference ID: 114 577 531#

Written comments about past and current experiences with health inequities can be submitted via email to [emailprotected].

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Listening sessions scheduled to hear about health equity within Washington - KXRO Newsradio

BALTIMORE,January 5, 2022Kennedy Krieger Institutes Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress (CCFTS) and the University of Maryland School of Social Work received a $2.9 million grant to create the Collective for Antiracist Child and Family Systems (CACFS), a program that will provide support and training in antiracist, anti-oppressive practices to more than 2,000 Maryland service providers working to repair the impacts of trauma among Black and Latinx children, youth, and families.

This grant provides an opportunity to help organizations adopt intentional antiracist practices, policies and procedures that will help traumatized children and families recover and thriverather than just recover and survive, said Elizabeth Thompson, PhD, CCFTS director and vice president of Kennedy Kriegers Department of Family and Community Interventions. Dr. Thompson is the principal investigator and director of the project.

The money, provided through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations (SAMHSA) National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative, will be awarded over five years time. SAMHSA is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

CACFS staff plan to train, educate and provide technical assistance to social workers and mental health clinicians, supervisors, and administrators from at least 40 child- and family-serving organizations and systems, including child welfare agencies. In addition, staff will implement an awareness campaign using social media, video messages, and a website that promote culturally responsive and racially conscious approaches to healing trauma.

Staff also will create a 16-member CACFS Advisory Board to engage parents, family members, and youth to develop and oversee CACFS plans. This includes helping organizations increase their readiness for adopting practices, policies, and strategic plans that centralize racial equity and healing.

This project will incorporate three race-conscious trauma interventions and work with psychology professors at the Immigration, Critical Race and Cultural Equity (IC-RACE) Lab in Chicago, IL, whose leaders developed two of these interventions.

The program has the potential to make both immediate and long-term progress in communities that have faced health disparities, Dr. Thompson said.

This tremendous partnership brings together three organizations with the expertise and training to assist providers in the field who are working with families impacted significantly by racism, trauma, and inequities, said Brad Schlaggar, MD, PhD, president and CEO of Kennedy Krieger Institute. We are eager to begin work with our partners on this critically important initiative, to provide this much-needed training to mental health clinicians across the state of Maryland, and to be a model for programs throughout the country.

About Kennedy Krieger Institute:

Kennedy Krieger Institute, an internationally known nonprofit organization located in the greater Baltimore-Washington, D.C., region, transforms the lives of more than 25,000 individuals a year through inpatient and outpatient medical, behavioral health and wellness therapies; home and community services; school-based programs; training and education for professionals; and advocacy. Kennedy Krieger provides a wide range of services for children, adolescents and adults with diseases, disorders and injuries that impact the nervous system, ranging from mild to severe. The Institute is home to a team of investigators who contribute to the understanding of how disorders develop, while at the same time pioneering new interventions and methods of early diagnosis, prevention and treatment. VisitKennedyKrieger.orgfor more information about Kennedy Krieger.

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Kennedy Krieger Institute and University Of Maryland receive $2.9 million grant to implement antiracist, trauma-informed training - EurekAlert

Water is an important issue to Joe Wertz. As climate and environment editor at Colorado Public Radio, hes overseen a lot of reporting on water in the state and its scientific and political aspects.

Theres this complicated dance of factors that end up with water in the river, Wertz said. And it seems sort of simple, but its not.

CPR will be able to dive deeper into that complexity thanks to a new collaboration with the Institute for Nonprofit News. INN announced in November that it will launch a Rural News Network this year focusing on issues of concern to rural Americans, particularly communities of color.

With 60 INN member news organizations participating, the network will release two pilot projects to test how the collaboration will work for the foreseeable future. The first series will cover water issues; the second will focus on the economics of tribal communities.

Its also important to recognize that these stories really center the impacts and stories of diverse communities, said Jonathan Kealing, chief network officer for INN. It allows us to really put the equity lens on this storytelling thread throughout the project.

INN began planning the project in 2020 in response to interest from its members, Kealing said. The institute had previously convened rural news collaborations, and Kealing wanted to expand on that work.

The success we had in previous coverage of rural issues, rural education, rural health care, and those stories really had an impact in their communities and really helped the newsrooms meet their mission of serving and informing their communities, he said.

INN reached out to its 350 member organizations, and two Daily Yonder in Whitesburg, Ky., and Investigative Midwest in Champaign, Ill. expressed interest in leading and shaping the new project. The outlets, which specialize in rural and agricultural coverage, will provide RNN organizations with deep source networks and access to local community data, said Daily Yonder Editor Tim Marema.

Stories from the first pilot series, Tapped Out: Power and water justice in the rural West, began coming out in November, funded by a $30,000 grant from the Water Foundation that will be divided among participating organizations. RNN members have published the articles on their own platforms, and INN published the entire series on its website. The project extends a previous INN initiative also titled Tapped Out.

The goal for the collaboration is to reach a bigger audience, said INN Member Collaborations Editor Bridget Thoreson. Local and national publications have republished coverage from previous INN collaborations, reaching millions of readers. INN is in early talks with several national news outlets to redistribute RNN articles, Thoreson said.

Were taking work thats already being done and connecting it to get this force multiplier effect, where its really able to reach and represent more people, Thoreson said.

More than 20 public radio stations have expressed interest in joining the RNN. Public radio has a large role to play in spreading the reporting, Kealing said.

I think public media and nonprofit news broadly share values, share a sense of mission and share a commitment to journalism with nonpartisanship and independence, Kealing said. The real strength of radio is just its incredible reach across broad geographic areas. So I think as we move forward, Im really interested and excited about the ways that this project can work with public media organizations across the country.

In December, CPR published an article about how water shortages and policies governing the Colorado River affect tribal communities, who were excluded from negotiations over the river in 1922. The piece aired on CPR, Science Friday republished the article, and host Ira Flatow interviewed CPR climate/environment reporter Michael Elizabeth Sakas Dec. 10.

Another public radio station, KOSU in Stillwater, Okla., is participating in the second pilot program, which will cover economic issues within tribal communities. The pilot will feature 10 news organizations, including three tribal publications, publishing articles that will be released in March. Each organization will cover stories in its region. Indian Country Today, leader of the series and an INN member, will publish a story about tribal economics across rural America.

News organizations that are part of the pilot had to apply to participate. INN received a $114,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation to fund the collaboration.

KOSU, which will receive $8,500 from the grant, had collaborated with INN on prior projects and was part of the Institutes NewsMatch fundraising campaign, said KOSU Executive Director Rachel Hubbard. A 2020 INN survey asked the station whether it was interested in a rural news partnership. KOSU already had an agriculture and rural affairs reporter, and given that Oklahoma has the second-largest Native American population in the country, the station wanted to participate.

This kind of collaboration allows us to stop and be really intentional about how can we work together, Hubbard said. It allows us to stitch together a nationwide story, rather than it being that sort of micro-story that we would just tell in Oklahoma, and help broaden peoples understanding of whats happening nationwide.

KOSU is in the early stages of reporting. The station is collaborating with tribal publications Mvskoke Media and Osage News on a story about Native-owned businesses, and KOSU created a survey asking Oklahomans which tribal businesses it should cover. Hubbard said the pilot wont be able to cover all 39 federally recognized tribes in the state but will be a learning opportunity for future coverage.

Community-driven reporting is an integral part of the tribal economics project, said Dianna Hunt, a senior editor at Indian Country Today who will lead the tribal economics project with Thoreson. Hunt, who is of Cherokee Nation descent, helped select the news organizations that will participate in the pilot series.

The first phase of the project is listening, Hunt said. That part will kick off the project, and then the reporting will follow from the information that they get from their individual communities.

Hunt said that engagement with rural Americans is crucial because local communities will pick the stories that make up the pilot. Building trust is key, she added, because residents in rural and tribal communities lack trust in journalists due to negative stereotyping and parachute reporting by the national media.

RNN will undergo changes after both pilot programs are finished, as the objective is to learn for future collaborations. Kealing said RNNs next collaboration could focus on rural health care and that an announcement could be made this month. Wertz and Hubbard both said they want to continue working with INN, but no future projects are in the works yet.

RNNs format might also change. Kealing said INN might create a desk that compiles data for network members to use in reporting. INN is also prototyping packaging RNN content in a short video format or newsletter.

The biggest appeal we see of the newsletter is that it allows us to push the content out to potentially interested parties, but theres also a direct correlation between newsletter lists and donors, Kealing said. We think we can help newsrooms develop their individual donor strategies and become more sustainable by creating a newsletter where they have the subscriber list and then can hopefully cultivate supporters or recurring donors members out of that program.

However, the Network will need more funding for collaborations to continue. The two grants INN received fund only the pilot programs, and Kealing said INN is raising funds to bring the broader network to fruition.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that Dianna Hunt is a member of the Cherokee Nation. Hunt is of Cherokee Nation descent but is not a member.

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Stations contribute reporting, expand reach of new rural news network - Current

I grew up in what would be considered a rough part of Philadelphia in a neighborhood filled with challenges. There, I found street culture and used drugs as an escape. I was handcuffed for the first time at age 13.

I cycled through several youth detention centers. Those places often made kids more bitter and hardened at heart, including me. Looking back, I cant recall many opportunities for redemption only punishment. I never heard anyone talk about my potential to change.

The Pennsylvania Juvenile Justice Task Force recently issued several recommendations to lawmakers. The goal: better ensure that youth who break the law are held accountable in ways that are meaningful but dont cut them off from community support. This means limiting out-of-home placements like group homes or residential facilities and expanding access to diversion opportunities. As someone who was on the street at a young age and later convicted of a grave violent crime, I cant overstate how families and communities can influence, and even reroute, someones life for the better.

As a teenager I never had positive role models, a safe living environment, or anyone available to walk with me through all of the emotions and challenges that I was processing. I turned to the streets looking for the love and community that I wasnt experiencing. I looked to drugs to numb the anger and pain that I felt, and I committed crimes seeking to fit in and be accepted. I was a teen searching for ways to fill voids in my life. When families, community organizations, schools, social services, and local leaders collaborate for the good of our youth, they help to fill the internal and external voids with the health and support that many of our youth are seeking to find.

READ MORE: Five days without a shower, not enough toilet paper, medical emergencies: What I experienced in a Philly jail | Opinion

Sometimes, placing youth in group homes is necessary to keep communities safe and provide intensive services. But the further along you go, outcomes for young people tend to stay the same or worsen. Pennsylvanias rate of juvenile justice residential placement is higher than the national average with many residents having limited criminal histories and cycling through too many facilities. In Pennsylvania, most people in youth residential facilities are identified as being at moderate or low risk for reoffending, with no felony or personal offense on their records. Our young people should be held accountable in settings that are aligned to their behavior and risk of future misconduct places that offer opportunities to safely grow and change.

In Pennsylvania, 64% of young people with a low risk of reoffending do not receive diversion opportunities like apprenticeships, mentoring, and community service. At least two-thirds of youth are referred to the juvenile justice system for misdemeanors or failure to pay court fines and fees. Often, probation or a group home can be ineffective and counterproductive.

As a teen, I cared little about my future and had no concept of my ability to change until years later when I was an adult returning home from prison and someone else believed in me. Years later, it was the employers who saw past my record and provided me job opportunities based upon my character and qualifications. It was my local church that embraced me, saw my humanity, and welcomed me into their community. It was the countless men and women whom I met along the way that provided wisdom, encouragement, and cheered me on as they regularly welcomed me to their dinner tables.

As helpful as these experiences were, I didnt have them until I had gotten too far down the road as a formerly incarcerated adult. What if these were my experiences as a teen? Expanded use of diversion, mentorship, and community service can help young people experience active accountability and start a new life by drawing on the assets of their communities.

That includes communities of faith. As a teen with limited resources and no positive role models, I gravitated toward a life of crime, without hope. Now, as a pastor, I see the impact of the love and support of the family of God. Churches have unmatched capacity to provide intentional guidance for youth who are on the wrong path. Church members provide safe spaces in homes around their families; positive, consistent role models; healthy routines like after-school activities; and affirming relationships with mentors. Churches can also be a wealth of resources for jobs, housing, and life skills. Our physical presence in the lives of our youth brings far more long-term impact to a teen than governmental programs alone.

Our young people must be held accountable for the harms they cause in ways that recognize their great capacity to grow and change. Diversion opportunities like those recommended by the task force, supported by community members and churches, are a strong step forward. Our young people are more than their choices. With guidance and support, we can help them reach their God-given potential.

Jon Kelly is the lead pastor of Chicago West Bible Church.

Read more here:

I was a troubled teen in Pennsylvania whose future was redeemed. More youth need that chance. | Opinion - The Philadelphia Inquirer