Major emergencies can be a huge catastrophe, not just for individuals' lives, but also for communities and economies. Thriving organizations play a pivotal role in society and are a vital part of the evolving and future equation. It is clear to all that the commercial reality of COVID-19 is and will continue to be significant, with a far-reaching impact that has the potential to be both positive and negative.

While decisions relating to back-of-house cost-savings, business continuity and the like are required to see a business through difficult times, I want to take stock of the horizon-level implications of this pandemic and think about positioning well for whats yet to come.

In my doctoral work, I am exploring the longevity (or lack thereof) of businesses, and if ever there was a time for uncertainty about the future of many organizations, now is surely it. Businesses (and countries, for that matter) are closing or adjusting their operations by necessity, choice or order. Yet some businesses (and not necessarily the most obvious) are, in many ways, growing or even benefiting considerably.

In China, we have seen not only storable consumer goods companies perform well, but also content streaming/gaming and skincare/cosmetics brands. The logic behind some of these is immediately clear, but when it comes to categories such as beauty, what we're likely seeing is the flow-on impact of all that content consumption. In many cases, this is currently just a matter of rapidly shifting market needs. But as the future unfolds and the reality of our post-pandemic world settles around us, success is more likely to be intentional than fortuitous.

Day by day, brands are figuring out how to respond to the current COVID-19 situation, but its clear this is not a one-size-fits-all case. This is a time of real human challenge. Emotions and stakes are high, and there is a great opportunity for many, but also a deep obligation and with that comes the necessity for great care.

Businesses have long been lamenting the demise of brand loyalty. Yet loyalty is a complex beast, and now is not the time for loyalty programs. Thoughtful, appropriate action now will be well rewarded in both loyalty and longevity, yet the inverse is perhaps more than ever true. For example, during the strict isolation period in China, PureGym and Orange Theory Fitness not only paused all membership fees, but they also offered daily streamed classes for free. Shanghai Fashion Week has taken up the challenge and is now live streaming the entire event. Insensitive missteps or inaction will pave the way to downfall, or at the very least, a downturn. A more useful line of thinking is that the seeds sown today will pay dividends in the harvest (that is, the time on the other side).

So, for a moment, lets look beyond the immediate challenges of today the closures, supply chain disruptions, cancellations and the like. If were doing our jobs well, we should also be thinking about what comes next. The future is as ever uncertain. Will we be looking at a major global economic slowdown in which our consumption habits reset to a time gone by? Will the global engine that is China fire back up with renewed fury and spur growth like never before? Time will tell what happens in the weeks and months to come, but one thing is clear: The victorious will not be those who choose inaction in the short term.

Outside of customer communications, social media and immediate tactical response, how might brands equip themselves for the next chapter? Here are some questions to consider in the coming weeks:

1. How do I want my brand to be remembered at this time?

No matter your market, inaction, silence or self-serving solutions are unlikely to bode well. Have a clear view, and act accordingly.

For example, Chinas Hema (Fresh Hippo) supermarket took displaced hospitality workers and retrained them in less than a day to fulfill online orders from a nation of people in self-quarantine. This not only kept an enormous number of people employed, but it also allowed them to continue to deliver an increasingly famous brand experience in a time of great need.

2. In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, what will be the biggest fear of my customer (and the wider market)? Their biggest need? Crucially, how much does it cost them to solve this problem?

Today, employment for many is surely one need. Will financial independence have greater value? Will there be fear of another outbreak of a more serious nature? Will more flexible working methods and tools be required? Considering the answers to these questions now will help you to better assess how the needs of the market will shift, and how you might be best placed to solve them.

3. What demonstrable value can my brand offer in the wake of the outbreak?

For example, video-conferencing software company Zoom is making its product available for free to schools turning to remote teaching options owing to the COVID-19 outbreak. And Geely has announced a compact SUV with a virus filter and has received 30,000 orders.

Ultimately, the challenge of this time is evident. But its also a great leveler. We can take the view that things will be dire (or at the very least uncertain), or we can take steps now to create the future in which we want to be, and build a robust business with a loyal customer base to benefit for years to come.

Originally posted here:

Beyond The Pandemic: Where Do We Go From Here? - Forbes

What is true equity, and why has it been mostly absent in thecannabis space?

Founded in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, Success Centersis onecompany actively finding solutions to this problem. It is a bridge that connectsmarginalized communities of entrepreneurs to the tools and leadership skills they need in order to start their own companies.

At the helm is Liz Jackson-Simpson, Chief Executive Officer. Since beginning her career at Success Centers asExecutive Director in 2010, she has tripled its capacity, transforming it from a $450,000 organization into a $2.1 millionorganization, as well as doubled its staff.

RELATED:How Terpenes Could Revolutionize The Cannabis Industry As We Know It

Founded 35 years ago to provide education and employment opportunities to youth in San Franciscos juvenile detention facilities, Success Centers today helps over 1,300 people frommarginalized communitiesannually. Around95 percent are low-income, and 87 percent are people of color.

The company's reach has grown 600 percent in the last 5 years, in part thanks to Angela White, Equity for Industry Program Manager at Success Centers. Her work at Success Centersexists to offer actionabletoolsto the most vulnerable communities impacted by the War On Drugs. White's team facilitates workshopsthat focus on ways to enter the space, teaching people howto utilize equity programs, where those programsexist, to their fullest extent.

Green Entrepreneur spoke with Jackson-Simpsonand White about the unique challenges people of color face entering the space, how the company's workshops are going virtual, and what the perfect equity law would look like if they could write it from scratch.

Liz Jackson-Simpson, left, and Angela White, right, of Success Centers. Photo by Jennifer Skog.

Green Entrepreneur: I hope you're both well and safe.I have to ask first and foremosthow have operations changed at Success Centers amid the Coronavirus pandemic? How have you shifted for the time being?

Liz Jackson-Simpson: We have been thinking about moving a lot of what we do into a virtual space. Particularly Angela and I, during the rush hour it can take over two hours to commute from home to our office. So weve been struggling for the past year to figure out, how do we operate in a virtual space when our business and the work and the meat of our content, working with our constituents, is so forward-facing?

Its also been very taxing, the amount of time weve been commuting every day. Were seasoned people, our children are grown, and we think about our colleagues who have young children. And how it's important for all of us to maintain a quality of life.So we can be there and present for the folks that we serve.We have been working with our colleagues,members on our team who are experts in technologyand work in a more virtual space, to find a solution.

As a result, weve been thinking about how our workshops or our instructional programs can be put on virtual systems, Learning Management Systems (LMS).Angela's Entrepreneurship In ANutshellwent live ina virtual space the very day that the [San Francisco] mayor ordered the shelter-in-place.They went immediately onto an LMS system, and havent missed a beat.

In addition to that, we have run a live Equity For Industry workshop, with tools on managing a cash-only business. Thats probably the broadest audience we were able to capture, via Facebook Live. That team has not missed a beat. And weve been sheltered in place since the 17th of March. Every Tuesday is their Entrepreneurship In A Nutshell workshop, Wednesday is the Equity for Industry workshop and job shops. On Wednesday is the team-up with the MBA students who are supporting them, again in a virtual space.

RELATED:People Are Spending Their Stimulus Checks On Cannabis

So cute, there was a 76-year-old woman who at first was struggling with the technology, but after the first session, she had it down. So we knew ifshe figured it out, we are good.

It's made me think, now that we are not so sequestered to what we can do in our physical space, how to really take it on the road andreach a broad audience.

Are you seeing an uptick in subscribers to your Hot Jobs alert, or in phone calls, or how has that translated in your point of view to people reaching out for a new career at this time?

Angela White: People are reaching out, Ive experienced having a lot of layoffs. Becauseat first, San Francisco decided to close dispensaries, and then a few days later, they saidto reopen. Ive seen a drop in the positions that are available right now. So I think that the effect of COVID for inhouse work, as far as budtenders, back house people working, working-class, has kind of slowed down as far as hiring. But I feel like the driving positions have picked up, as far as I can see, have been growing.

Now, on the more experienced level, veterans of the industry, I have not seen a lot of upper management positions that are being posted right now. So I think that everyone is trying to restructure and figure out where theyre going to be after all of this is over. Its been a little bit of a downtick as far as hiring numbers.

"If we want to be a better industry, a better country, we need to make some serious changes when it comes to people who have made major sacrifices."

- Angela White, Success Centers

I have faith in this industry that we will recover from this and blossom back into an even stronger one, especially where equity is concerned. In San Francisco, the folks that want to go into the business, one of the main areas where theyve been having struggles is finding a location. I think that once this thing is over, there may be an opportunity for space opening up for equity businesses in some of these green zones and brown zones. Although it's sad people are losing businesses, the opportunities for equity may be better as far as finding locations.

Is Success Centers seeing a larger demand or need for people to fill certain roles in the cannabis space, as far as employment efforts in the last month? Has the demand morphed in the industry due to the crisis and "essential business" designation for your team at this time?

AW: Delivery is something that the equity community has been doing for years. We're veterans at it. We're not exactly new. I don't think that's going to be a problem, I do think it's leading into that.We dont know what's going to happen with the stores closing, or if it will be a new normal with social distancing. The delivery of cannabis is going to probably be one of the stronger businesses in this market.

LJS: I think were all for revising our business model, but I think there is a need for more high-level professionals in the space, thathave particular business acumen.I haventseen it entrusted to equity. Peoplelargely see equity as some of the lower or middle rung positions, and not as top partners, as the thought leaders.

As Angelahas said, equity people have been in the business for decades, forever, since the beginning of time, but their skills and talent on a managerial levelhave not been recognized. These companies would be wise to figure out how to diversify their leadership within their company and bring equity into that space. If they think theyre going to thrive in a real way. Not just as budtenders and delivery people, but as the real infrastructure of the company.

Which states or which markets have done well, given reasonable offerings, for social equity? What would you change in these markets? Are they offering enough incentive, financial aid, entrance for people of color or marginalized groups?

LJS: I am not speaking for Miss Angie, but I dont think theyre doing enough for equity at all. There are so many demands in the industry. As she said, they are speaking about the need for real estate, the criteria for getting the business going, the tax, the expectation. All the expectations, all the way around, do not lend well for equity. People who have been persecuted, marginalized, often do not have the connections or the networks that a legitimate business may, in order to make their enterprise thrive.

RELATED:The Unheard Voices of the Cannabis Social Equity Movement

Although there are criteria, you need to be of color, you need to have arrests on your record,I think they need to come up with someother criteria for identifying equity. I dont think enough is being done, municipalities support cannabis and don't have a problem taking cannabis tax revenue, but the money is not going back to the equity folks. Its an oxymoron. There are time limits on verifying equity, there are time limits onapplying for licenses and all types of stuff.

AW: Theyre starting to push for legislation to even put a moratorium, or to just close off the equity application process for newcomers. For me, for folks tohave been criminalized for this,lets be clear:some of these people who are equity applicants or part of the equity community are still locked up right now. There is an over-incarceration.We need to really demographically rewrite or reestablishsome of that criteria because often, a lot of the folks who are getting into the equity program, you know, theyre not coming mostly from the black and brown community.

Success Centers' Liz Jackson-Simpson, left, and Angela White, right. (Image credit: Jennifer Skog)

AW: Although I think its a great idea, it needs to be revamped and reconsidered as far as some of the writings of it. The people who have been the hardest hit by this are not being brought in or represented in the numbers that I think should be there.

LJS: Nor do they have the network or the resources in order to be able to thrive in this environment. It costs a quarter of a million dollars to just start a storefront or any kind of element of the business. When you've been persecuted, you're living in a poor community, you dont have that kind of money. Nor do you have access to those kinds of relationships with people who haveequity.

If youre bringing in people who are not from the hardest-hit community, of course, the investors will work with those people first because they look more like people they are accustomed to working with. The equity should focus on the ones who have been the hardest hit, who know the business from the illicit side, who are coming into the product side learning the new lingo, and building transferable skills. To me, these investors would be wise to work with equity. True equity.

A lot of that is why we created a model. To provide a platform for disparate groups to come together, to have anequity incubator, theknow-how to connect throughequity. Theres no space for that. They dont get a chance to go through the application process. There is no platform by which they can present or pitch their ideas to cannabis investors, equity, or industry investors. We're trying, through our Entrepreneurship In ANutshell curriculum, we are tryingto help them put together their ideas, and present them to folks who are willing and interested or need to connect through equity.

Everybody has to be be prepared, and then somebody, that middle person, needs to help to form those relationships and identify partners in the whole deal. There is no platform for it. No one is doing it, except through the program that Success Centers offers.

RELATED:A Social Equity Success Story in Oakland

Do you receive feedback from the partners and investors who work with entrepreneurs from your program?

AW: After the program's over, I always get these statements from employers and equity industry presents, 'You have such brilliant people who are coming in, asking me questions.' But theyre not given the opportunity otherwise if we're not in the space that we are, the way that we are providing this opportunity for the leveling of the playing field.

It removes the stigma away from our community:that were not smart enough, that were not good enough. Once they see, they understand that these folks aresmart enough, and probably better at certain leadership roles than them, because theyre not coming from a privileged space.

Angela White leading a past workshop at Success Centers. (Image credit: Success Centers)

If you could design the perfect social equity program for new cannabis-legal markets,what would you include?

LJS: I think Angela speaks to this a lot, this is the most regulated industry ever. We do not have the same types of regulations, laws, ordinances, overseeing, construction, nothingnot even agriculture has the same kind of nuances and expectations and laws and ordinances that govern it like the cannabis industry.

So Im hoping that some of those regulations can be relaxed forequity, that there are more opportunities for startups, loans, for the black and brown community to be able to enter. Im hoping that it becomes a mandate where, no matter how big or small the companies are, that they have to maintain a certain percentage of equity throughout their core. Not just a few tokens. And create a pathway for career development longterm. Those are some of the things that will help people. To build real wealth within the equity community, youve got to open the door and you've got tocreate an opportunity that is intentional.

AW: Staying trueto cannabis culture, because I think we are stepping far away from that.

A hopeful, larger, ideological question for each of you: Where do you see the cannabis industry in a decade?

LJS: I am really hoping thatwe look and really see, who have been the trailblazers here. I was just doing a report on the jobs that are going to be lost, after this next wave of recession, and the industries and where there is significant growth potential. The areas that we are going to lose a lot of folks are in the retail space,food services space, production space. All of those things can be automated. In the cannabis industry, historically, those are the only jobs really offered to folks in the black and brown communities.

I am thinking about field trips, and even looking at the agricultural space. Who is the one putting up the irrigation system? Who understands how to set up these grows, and who is developing allthe land?It's black and brown people. They know this business from seed to sale. Its just the wealthy landowners, going back to historical slave times, that are able to benefit.Not the people who continue to do the work, continue to have the expertise and the know-how. Who gets the credit? The folks who have the monetary means to perpetuate the business, not the folks who are actively doing the work.

These are the people who know every aspect of the business. They understand it and have been persecuted for it. I hope there is a recognition for that skill and that talent and that they will be rewarded for it. We want to be as optimistic as possible, but it's tough. History has shown these things do not necessarily work in our favor. We keep trying to demonstrate and accentuate where the innovation is coming from, where the ingenuity is coming from. We want to continue to herald that cause for the equity population.

AW: I see it thriving. But, if it goes the way it looks like right now, if it keeps on the same path, I think that equity will be excluded. Like we have in many other economies. And I often say that this may be the last frontier for a lot of us to get in on. And we deserve to be there. So, Im hopeful that people will.

RELATED:The Cannabis Industry Mourns Loss Of CBD Advocate Charlotte Figi

One thing that COVID thing is going to bring out, is more of the wealth disparity and how it's affecting the black and brown communities. We're dying at alarming rates. People are saying, they did not know. How could you not know? When folks have been screaming about it, the conditions weve been living under, for years and years. If we want to be a better industry, a better country, we need to make some serious changes when it comes to the people who have made major sacrificesfor this country and left behind and ignored.

At Entrepreneur, we love to ask: if you had one distilled piece of advice for cannabis entrepreneurs in the space, what would be it?

LJS: I would encourage people, entrepreneurs, to follow their dreams. And not to do this for the money. It never works. Your heart has got to be into it. It not about money. If your heart is in it, youre following your dreams, pursuing your dreams, the money will come. I would encourage folks to follow their dreams and continue to innovate.

AW: Where determination is, the way can be found. I dont want people to give up, because we're used to getting no's. No, as Liz always says, means not right now. Not right now. In this space, you dont have to just be a dispensary owner or a grower. There are so many different ancillary businesses. Or even being your own brand, even being an equity brand that gets in store shelves. You may have to sometimes start small, but that doesnt exclude you.

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How To Achieve True Equity In Cannabis - Q&A With Liz Jackson-Simpson and Angela White - Green Entrepreneur

Toddi Steelman, Stanback Dean, Nicholas School of the Environment

On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day celebrations took place at two thousand colleges and universities, roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States. The annual recognition now includes events coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network in more than 193 countries.

While it may seem at times that we are in dire straits with the weather events and predictions of what the state of our natural world will be in the next 50 years, it is important to reflect on the positive aspects of what has changed in the past five decades.

The 50th Anniversary of Earth Day should be a time of reflection and commitment for us all. In recognizing this, I have called upon our faculty and staff to focus on three defining areas as we seek to have intentional impact with our science, our teaching and our outreach.

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2020: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day | Nicholas School of the Environment - Duke Today

A black Oldsmobile rolled up on 70th Street South in a Tacoma neighborhood. A middle-school-aged boy jumped out and approached what looked like an oversized birdhouse with a glass door, painted sky blue and rust.

His mom called out, asking what was inside. There wasnt a whole lot: a can of diced tomatoes, packets of instant oatmeal. She asked for the tomatoes they would be a welcome addition to the burritos she would make that evening.

These are the type of interactions that occur at Kelly and Kurt Nortons Little Free Pantry, a box on the corner where people in need can come and pick up grocery items like beans, oatmeal or fresh eggs from a neighbor with chickens down the street. It was a way for neighbors to help neighbors when things were tough.

The need has only increased as the coronavirus and associated lockdown has deprived people of income and made grocery stores dangerous for older people and those with underlying health conditions.

The Nortons set up the Little Free Pantry and a Little Free Library (where people can freely come to leave a book or take a book) about two years ago. The library came first, but Kelly Norton works in Tacomas Hilltop neighborhood. She kept seeing these little pantries when she went on a walk at lunchtime.

I got on the website and the only one in the area was in a bar, Kelly Norton said. That wasnt accessible enough for her, so she decided to add the pantry on the other end of her house. She and her husband chose the spot carefully it wasnt right in front of the house and there was space to park, so people could use it without feeling like they were being observed.

There has been some backlash from neighbors, recently amplified on various Facebook pages. They refer to the pantry as a bum feeder, among other unsavory things. Homeless people do use the pantry, but its mostly frequented by people like the little boy and his mother in the black Oldsmobile, families who need help to get by.

Theres not a lot we can do. This problem is bigger than us, Kelly Norton said. The pantry is being used to face our current situation.

The library and the pantry are named after the Ventures, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band whose founder, Don Wilson, grew up in the home where the Nortons and their bloodhound-mix Honey now reside.

Initially, the Nelsons were concerned that the decorative guitar picks might get stolen. They had a few extra doors for the pantry and library in their garage, just in case they had to replace it.

But that didnt happen.

The pantry and library arent completely without problems. Kids have come by a few times with acts of mischief, like dumping a jar of tomato sauce in the pantry. When that happened, Kelly Norton went out to talk to them and ask them for help cleaning up, which they did.

The pantry is meant to keep the community together, to support one another in times of need. People who frequent it also donate when their situations are better, stocking it with nonperishable goods, the Nortons said.

That is part of the goal of the project: bringing people together to try to combat larger societal problems, said Jessica McClard, founder of the Little Free Pantry movement.

Its a desire for reconnection to ones neighbors and an intentional creation of space for neighborliness at a time that we are less connected, McClard said.

McClard was inspired by the Little Free Library effort, much like the Nortons. It led her to think what else could happen in those small, wooden boxes.

I took the Little Free Library as a model and read about the experience of those stewards, McClard said. Even at that time, I saw there was some contention around those projects. It didnt really seem like the risk was enough to outweigh what could potentially be the good that could come from doing this.

That was four years ago. Now there are hundreds of little free pantries across the U.S., helping people out and bringing communities together.

Its been a positive experience, Kelly Norton said.

Ashley Archibald is a Staff Reporter covering local government, policy and equity. Have a story idea? She can be can reached at ashleya (at) realchangenews (dot) org. Follow Ashley on Twitter@AshleyA_RC.

Read more in the Apr. 22-28, 2020 issue.

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Little Free Pantries have taken hold, to some neighbors' chagrin - Real Change News

The University of Indianapolis is delighted to recognize Dr. Angelia J. Ridgway as its 2020 Teacher of the Year. Dr. Ridgway is a Professor of Secondary Education and the Coordinator of the MAT program in the School of Education.

At UIndy, I teach with the most dedicated and caring team of teachers I call my colleagues and friends, Ridgway said. To be recognized as the Teacher of the Year from this amazing group of individuals means the world to me. Teaching is my mission. I hope it can be one of the ways I change the world, especially for my students future students.

Excellence in teaching occurs through the intentional weaving together of a number of key elements that include relationship development, content engagement, and authenticity. Each of these elements is crucial in enabling students to succeed in the classroom and beyond. For Dr. Ridgway, relationship development may be the most important of all. It all begins and ends with the human element, she said. The old adage in teaching is that students dont care about learning until they know you care remains as true from my first year of middle and high school teaching until today.

This relationship building plays out in many ways inside the classroom. From knowing students as individuals who have unique cultural and experiential backgrounds, to finding multiple means in which to engage them in learning, Ridgway said. Every learner to your course or clinical field experience with not only their own unique backgrounds but with preferential ways of growing. The best teachers are never finished they are consummate learners themselves who seek new ways to connect with a variety of students.

Dr. Ridgway recognizes the zeal that UIndy students have for becoming great secondary teachers, and it is her mission to provide these students a platform from which to be successful. The strength of the relationships that she develops is evident in the student evaluations of her teaching where she consistently, across multiple courses and multiple years, is recognized as being an outstanding teacher. However, these relationships do not fade once a student graduates from UIndy. Rather, many graduates connect with Dr. Ridgway on a frequent basis as she serves as a mentor to them in the field, answering questions and fostering their continued growth as they now foster the growth of their own students.

This is important to me because they are fulfilling the mission of changing secondary students lives through the innovative practices they learn while at UIndy. They truly do embody the UIndy mission of Education for Service, she said. Their success is my success. I have enjoyed the privilege of being mentored by many inspirational teachers I do hope I can do the same for them. And, I always want them to know once you are my student, you are my student forever!

Dr. Ridgway has had educational role models to look up to in her parents, and even her children, and recognizes how they have helped shape her into a better teacher along the way. My father, a lifelong educator, still has a tremendous curiosity around school practices and policy. My mother is a techie. Shes always trying new technology. They have been great role models for me in terms of the high value of lifelong learning, she said. My own sons continue that legacy of innovation and curiosity one is the co-author of a book we published last year and the other is the most curious person I know, always seeking answers to all things in life, both big and small.

There were many deserving nominees for Teacher of the Year this year, please see those nominees below and help recognize their positive contributions to the University and its students:

Lori Bolyard, PhDAssistant Professor, Department of ChemistryDr. Lori Bolyards passion for teaching is driven by her joy for teaching and the challenge of the job. She makes her chemistry content understandable for all students. As one Teacher of the Year Committee member noted, although the course was about chemistry, it was clear that Dr. Bolyard aimed to teach other skills such as critical thinking through her classroom methods. In this way, her lessons seemed to transcend the specific content and provide background for the students to excel in whatever their major may be.

Leah Courtland, PhDAssistant Professor, Department of Physics & Earth Space ScienceDr. Leah Courtland firmly believes in linking earth science concepts to communities and people in order to make the content relevant. She takes her content beyond the walls of the classroom by providing field experiences for her students so they can see the things they are learning about. Her innovative use of standards-based grading allows encourages students to apply and master the concepts she teaches.

Kevin Gribbins, PhDAssociate Professor, Department of BiologyDr. Kevin Gribbins sees himself as a motivator as much as an educator. An observer to his class noted that it was clear that Dr. Gribbins has a passion for what he is teaching and enthusiastically delivers his lectures where he shares experiences and personal stories which further provided excitement throughout the class.

Katie Polo, DHSAssociate Professor, School of Occupational TherapyDr. Katie Polo exemplifies education for service with the opportunities that she provides to occupational therapy students to provide care for those recovering from cancer. A member of the Teacher of the Year committee who observed class remarked that Dr. Polo interacts with her students as future colleagues and embodies the element of the team of her and the students working together to further students education.

Laura Santurri, PhDAssistant Professor, College of Health SciencesDr. Laura Santurri is extremely knowledgeable about the content she teaches and uses countless real-life examples to show students the application of what they are learning in the classroom to their own careers. Her teaching is aimed not just at meeting requirements but preparing her students for their futures. One observer noted that it was evident that she had personal relationships with the students which went beyond the classroom making her very approachable.

Rachel Smith, PhDAssociate Professor, School of BusinessDr. Rachel Smith is very knowledgeable about her content and uses countless real-life examples to show students how they will be able to apply this knowledge later in their own careers. She exhibits superior verbal, nonverbal and visual communication skills and encourages students to demonstrate their own communication skills as they present about current topics in her class. The questions she asks in class are designed to require students to think deeply about what they are learning.

Jordan Sparks Waldron, PhDAssistant Professor, School of Psychological SciencesDr. Jordan Waldron is very passionate about what students take away from her class, and it is clear that the focus of her teaching is to help students understand the why of what happens in the world. In addition, Dr. Waldron focuses on how what is being taught can be applied to the future careers of her students.

Liz Whiteacre, MFAAssistant Professor, Department of EnglishProfessor Liz Whiteacres classroom is clearly student driven, and she encourages the students to take charge of their learning. A member of the Teacher of the Year Committee noted that Professor Whiteacre has an incredibly positive attitude during the class session and stated It is clear that she loves what she does and is committed not only to teaching the students, but fostering interpersonal relationships with the students.

See more here:

UIndy announces Teacher of the Year nominees and winner - UIndy News

The coronavirus testing that will begin in a section of the Mission District on Saturday will be the most ambitious testing effort attempted in San Francisco since the pandemic arrived in early March. UC San Francisco doctors are, indeed, seeking to test as many as 5,700 residents in the densely populated census tract to learn how the virus spreads.

But with the testing set to begin this weekend, researchers and volunteers are working against the clock, and it remains unclear if a neighborhood heavily populated with undocumented and working residents will show up in the numbers scientists need. Reactions from community members living in the census tract ranged from excitement to reluctance.

What would I do if I tested positive? asked a woman named Kimberly, who lives in a studio apartment with her mother and uncle. My mother is working and my uncle is working two days a week. They would have to stop if I tested positive. Later today, she said that she would take the test, but her uncle said he would only be interested in knowing if he had already had the virus.

Others said they would gladly take the opportunity.

Armando, who is now unemployed, said he had not heard about the tests but he and his wife would take them. I dont think we are sick. We dont go anywhere, we dont see anyone, he said, adding that he plans to show up to the Cesar Chavez testing site on one of the testing days, though he had no Internet connection to register.

Members of the Latino COVID-19 Task Force, a coalition of citywide Latino organizations that partnered with UCSF on the effort, said volunteers have been going door-to-door and educating people of the studys existence and why they should participate.

Jon Jacobo, a member of the task force, said hes heard a range of concerns. Some have worried it may affect their immigration status, hinder their ability to work, or are generally skeptical of the government. But hes emphasizing during his outreach that the initiative will not hurt a persons chances for citizenship and will offer support for people who test positive.

This isnt just a get tested and you figure it out, he said. This is a get tested and well help you out.

Support services for individuals who do test positive are yet to be determined, he said. But he noted it could take the form of groceries, hand sanitizer, face masks, and other resources. And of course, UCSF will monitor people who test positive and provide retesting, he said.

At a press conference on Monday, Dr. Grant Colfax, the director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, also noted general skepticism toward the government in the citys Latinx community. A lot of Latinx patients, he said, are unwilling to participate in contact tracing and contact investigations.

It is possible that they are fearful of local government, concerned about immigration, or simply dont have all the information they need to be comfortable, he said.

The area code 94110 which covers a majority of the Mission District has 166 reported COVID-19 cases, the highest number in any San Francisco area code, according to data released by the Department of Public Health on Monday. The Mission had the 4th highest number of cases per 10,000 residents.

The purpose of the study, said Dr. Gabriel Chamie, a professor of infectious disease at UCSF, is to understand transmission dynamics of COVID within communities and not rely only on clinic-based data.

In particular, scientists want to learn how many people might be spreading the virus with mild symptoms or no symptoms at all in a dense area and Chamie said he and his colleagues would absolutely be breaking down and publicizing data revealing whether test recipients were asymptomatic or not.

The testing will help to identify positive and asymptomatic cases, Chamie continued, and work with those people to take the necessary precautions such as self-isolation, so they do not spread the virus further.

Scientists were intentional in choosing their area of study. Census tract 229.01 an expanse that runs from 23rd to Cesar Chavez streets, and from South Van Ness to Harrison is one of the densest in the city. It is also 58 percent Latino, the Missions highest concentration of Latinos.

Doctors will be conducting tests for the direct presence of COVID-19, as well as PCR tests, which determine whether a person has been infected in the past by detecting the presence of antibodies. The direct test is a swab on the throat and in the nose. And the antibody test will use a small drop of blood from a persons finger. If a person tests positive, he or she will be notified within 72 hours.

For those who are symptomatic, were going to prioritize their tests being run first, Chamie said. But UCSF can readily process the 1,500 anticipated tests a day, with 6,000 over four days being the goal.

Jacobo acknowledged the projects ambition. He understands that an effort like this would ordinarily take six months to carry out. Were doing it in six days.

Roberto Hernandez, another member of the Latino COVID-19 Task Force, said the group had around 16 volunteers as of Monday afternoon. We need more than 16, he said, explaining that the goal was to reach 1,500 households before testing ended next Tuesday.

To those who are skeptical, Hernandez asks: Do you want to be six feet under or six feet above?

They get it right away, he said.

Mayra, a Latina who lives in the study area and has a background in urban planning, said she needs no convincing. Part of the key to managing this is to have a clear sense of how many people are affected, and without us having that information it becomes difficult and dangerous, she said.

Shell be encouraging others to participate, she said. I wish more people had free access to this.

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Coronavirus in the Mission: Testing 5700 people in one week might be harder than it looks - Mission Local

In an interview for a special coronavirus-focused episode of POLITICOs Women Rule podcast, Fidji Simo, Head of the Facebook App, maintained that the companys approach to coronavirus is in accord with its long-lasting policy that we would take down content that can lead to imminent harm, said Simo. And that policy is something we have applied in this situation by working closely with the CDC and the WHO to understand which claims and which types of behaviors they would consider could lead to imminent harm.

Simo said Facebook has worked closely on the topic with the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in order to understand which claims and which types of behaviors they would consider could lead to imminent harm.

The imminent harm is very real and very tangible, Simo said. It remains an extremely difficult space to navigate because we are very committed to freedom of speech. But at the same time, there are some spaces and times where it's also really important to keep people safe and this time, in particular, is a time where we wanted to be incredibly aggressive with this.

On Monday, Simo spoke with POLITICOs Anna Palmer. What follows are excerpts of that interview, edited for length and readability. For more, listen to the interview on the newest episode of Women Rule.

Anna Palmer: As we talk, coronavirus has shut down a lot of the economy. It's forcing us to work from home. Can you give us a sense of how youre personally adjusting to this moment in time?

Fidji Simo: Thanks for having me. I think it's hard for everyone right now. I have a four-year-old, so it's been quite interesting to have a full time job where I am like a lot of other people in video conferences all day while having a child who doesn't understand why she can't have her mom all day long since mom is in the house. I'm pretty lucky that my husband is a stay-at-home dad. But it is certainly an adjustment, trying to balance all of that. A couple days ago, I was doing a video conference while making fairy potions on the side, off-camera. It's multitasking for the win.

Palmer: In terms of your role at Facebook, you're the vice president and in charge of the Facebook app. I imagine the pandemic has really changed your strategy and outlook. Can you talk a bit about how you've had to change things?

Simo: We've adjusted our roadmap incredibly quickly to react to the needs that people have right now. And essentially, we've prioritized three things. One is giving people access to reliable and authoritative information during this time. The second is helping them build community, because physical distancing doesn't necessarily have to mean social distancing, and, in fact, people are craving connection right now. And then the third thing is helping with the economic recovery and the whole reopening of society. These have been the core focus for us, and some were things we had been working on for a while, like building community, but some are very new.

Palmer: [On Monday,] Facebook released a statement that it would be blocking anti-quarantine protesters from organizing on the site. How did you come to that decision? It's kind of a weird space to be in kind of policing who should be able to gather and organize in these times.

Simo: Yes. So we've had a long-lasting policy that we would take down content that can lead to imminent harm. And that policy is something we have applied in this situation by working closely with the CDC and the WHO to understand which claims and which types of behaviors they would consider could lead to imminent harm.

So, for example, claims that a certain thing is going to cure coronavirus could lead to imminent harm if people try it, and so we take that down. Social distancing is part of the same philosophy here, where the CDC and WHO are being very clear that we need to continue social distancing for now. And as a result, we are following their lead, and really making sure that any content that goes against that is taken down.

Palmer: One of the criticisms that Facebook has faced pretty much since the 2016 election has been the use of the platform to spread misinformation or disinformation, particularly on hot-button political issues. And Facebook's approach to that has always been pretty hands-off: that it's free speech; it's political debate. Why did you decide that this time it was different?

Simo: So like I said, we've always had this policy around misinformation that can lead to imminent harm. And every time we saw this type of misinformation, we took it down. In this case, we are having a very unprecedented situation, where we are taking that very seriously, because the imminent harm is very real and very tangible. And so we wanted to take a very aggressive approach to make sure our platform would connect people with authoritative information and would steal them away from anything that could cause harm. But to your point, it remains an extremely difficult space to navigate because we are very committed to freedom of speech. But at the same time, there are some spaces and times where it's also really important to keep people safe and this time, in particular, is a time where we wanted to be incredibly aggressive with this.

Palmer: Facebook recently launched a Coronavirus Information Center. Tell us what that is.

Simo: Yes. So it's a destination on Facebook that combines a lot of authoritative information about what's happening from the WHO, from the CDC, and these global- or nationwide health organizations. But it's also information at the local level, because sometimes that's the thing that's most important to people's lives on a day-to-day basis.

We've also added a lot of modules that are going to really help people. One is a module on mental health with some tips, in partnership with the WHO, on what you need to do to take care of yourself during his time, because we know the situation is triggering a lot of mental-health issues. Another one is Community Help, which allows you to offer help or ask for help. And that's a way to connect communities around their needs. We're seeing nurses ask for masks in that space; we are seeing therapists offer their services for free to people who are struggling; we are seeing people offer to do deliveries; we even saw the New York Blood Center ask for blood donations. This is really a space for communities to come together and exchange their own need for help or their offers for help.

Palmer: Are you thinking through Facebook's role differently than before? We're in a time of social distancing, where people can't be together in large groups. What are you doing to create that online community?

Simo: Absolutely. So we've been thinking about building community for a very long time, as you know. But it does take on a really different meaning during this time because people are craving social connection, and these communities become a lifeline for making sure that people are not isolated; that they feel like they can find support.

We are seeing a lot of local communities come together in Facebook groups to make sure that they check in on the elderly, to make sure that everybody's taken care of. And that has been really inspiring for us. These community leaders whether it's offline in the real world, or online on Facebook these community leaders do the very hard work of making sure that their communities are healthy, that they're vibrant, and we want to give them tools to continue doing that.

We've also seen a massive increase in communication tools like Facebook Live, for example, where that's a really good way for people to communicate to a larger audience. We're seeing teachers give online classes in parenting groups so that parents who have to homeschool their kids can rely on that. We are seeing churches go Live a lot more as a way to make sure that they can give hope to people who are at home. And we've even launched ways to make this much more accessible: One of my favorite features is the ability to create a toll-free number when you go live as a church so that people who don't have Internet access especially the elderly can just dial in and listen to that church service over the phone, which is a way of making sure everyone has access to services that are going to make them feel more connected.

Palmer: I want to shift gears a little bit. I mentioned at the top that we're doing this over a video conference not the typical way that we conduct these podcasts. But we are, as we've said several times, in unprecedented times. You oversee a team of 4,500 people in the Bay Area. What's it like managing a group of that size when almost everyones working from home?

Simo: It's pretty challenging, as you can imagine. But first off, were incredibly lucky that we can still work. I'm always reminding myself to be grateful of that, even when we have the inevitable awkward, 'Can you hear me? Are you still here?' videoconferences that we are all experiencing these days.

The thing that's really difficult is to maintain the social connections with the teams. I'm someone who leads very much by connecting with people, by trying to understand where they're at are they really fulfilled, are they energized? And that is harder to pick up on on a video conference. Same thing for broader team-building: The way teams are built very often relies on mutual trust and really picking up on everyone's vibes. In some ways, this situation is forcing everyone to be a little bit more vulnerable because, you know, when you have your kids running around and asking you for something ridiculous on a videoconference, you kind of have to lift up the veil a little bit. I think that part has actually helped people connect at a deeper level. But we are missing all the signals that make for human connections, [which] usually require physical presence. So I'm trying to recreate that. We have times, for example, where we are on video conference, but just working and hanging out and not actually like having meetings, to recreate being at our desks and having a chat. I'm going to continue that. But that's the thing I'm most worried about: losing track of how my team is feeling.

Palmer: I want to take a step back. You grew up in a coastal town in the south of France. What did your parents do?

Simo: My dad was a fisherman, as were all the other men in my family. And my mom runs a small closing boutique. I wasn't predestined to end up in Silicon Valley; I was the first one in my family to graduate from high school. But one thing that my parents always taught me is that anything's possible, and I'm very grateful to them for instilling this belief in me. That's what led me here.

Palmer: Oftentimes, people need somebody to look up to to think, Oh, I want to go into the world of medicine or into science. How did you get the idea to go into the tech world?

Simo: So I don't think that tech was like, tech wasn't what came up first. What came up first was watching on TV a lot of very independent, accomplished businesswomen. And what I would tell my mom was always like, 'One day I want to be very important and have a suitcase, and like rush through an airport.' [Laughs] And while that did not really constitute a job in itself, I had kind of an image of what I wanted to project, and so I started going into business. I really fell in love with the U.S., honestly, through [the] media. That's why a big part of my career was spent in entertainment, because I think entertainment has the potential of opening people's eyes to worlds that you would not have imagined otherwise. And for me, the United States was this place where anything was possible, where you could realize all your dreams. And then tech came a little bit later.

Palmer: Silicon Valley the tech world in general has a reputation as a place that's not particularly hospitable to women. Why do you think that is? What still needs to change?

Simo: I think it goes back to one very simple thing, which is the numbers are still not there. When you are in a room that's half women, it's very hard to have an environment that's not great for women, because you have half of the room that's going to just make it good. And until we get there, I think that's going to remain a problem.

We have made a lot of progress in the last few years in really being able to put words on the problem and not make it a taboo, which is always the first step towards solving things. But theres still a lot of work to do in terms of onboarding women into the industry and giving them role models so that they believe that tech is a place for them. And then, once they're there, creating opportunities for them so that they stay in the industry.

One thing I always say is that women get a lot of advice, but they don't get a lot of help. I always differentiate between mentorship and sponsorship. And I think what women need right now [are] fewer, like, very nice coffees, where the guys can pat themselves on the back for having spent 20 minutes with a woman, and a little bit more, like, doors opened and, you know, someone in the room pushing for that woman not being overlooked. That's what I'm trying to do. The point of having women in leadership positions is that they can slowly but surely change the discussions that happen in the room, and make sure that they look out for the women, make sure that they put the spotlight on the magic that women can bring to the table.

Palmer: One of the things you've done on this front is you started a group called Women in Product. Give us just kind of a 30-second pitch: What is it, and where did you get the idea from?

Simo: So we started this dinner with my co-founder, Deb Liu, who runs Facebook Marketplace, and we started these dinners with other women in technology years ago. And during these dinners, we realized that there was no other place for women in products women who were building all of the new products that people were using to really connect and feel like they have a community that supports them. So during these dinners, the idea came of doing a conference where we could bring all of these women together. And the first conference was born, of like 400 people. And then, slowly, we started creating a Facebook group so that all of these women in product could exchange ideas, find support. And then the next year, when we decided to do this conference again, we had a waiting list of like 1,000 women. So we realized, 'Wow, there's definitely some demand there.' And the last conference we did was 2,000 women. It has become this global community of women really helping each other out and making sure they create opportunities for themselves and for others.

Palmer: You are in charge of the Facebook app, which has something like 2.2 billion users. You report directly to Mark Zuckerberg. You oversee, as we said, 4,500 employees. How do you deal with the pressure that comes from that?

Simo: That's a great question. And it's funny: you assumed with your question that I dealt with it very well. [Laughs] I think, you know, the most important thing for managing stress is really understanding why you are doing something. What is your mission? And I've seen from the very beginning that a big part of my mission is finding the magic in people and putting a spotlight on that and helping them find a network of people to support them. And I think when you're really anchored in your purpose, a lot of the stress becomes more excitement than stress, and that helps you navigate these tough situations.

But for a long time, I wasnt particularly good about self-care, and I was just rushing and rushing and just so excited, honestly, to be able to do the next thing so grateful that this little girl from the south of France has now this massive opportunity of a lifetime, that I assumed that, you know, I needed to work all the time. And with the birth of my daughter, that has really given me a lot of perspective that I need a lot more balance in my life taking care of myself to be able to take care of her. And so I do. And even taking care of myself so I can take care of my teams. And so I do spend a lot more time being intentional about how we fuel my energy, and you know, what gives me energy outside of work, which, in my case, is a lot of artistic endeavors I paint and I sculpt.

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We wanted to be incredibly aggressive with this - Politico

About a month ago, one of my relatives contracted novel virus and survived. One of my dearest friends also got COVID-19, and they did not. It was devastating.

I wish I could say that I'm surprised to personally know two people who were infected with the virus, but sadly, I'm not. I'm an African American woman, and people of color are disproportionately affected by this pandemic, with both higher contraction rates and higher death rates.

Take Milwaukee, for example, where 73 percent of people who die from the novel coronavirus are African American, yet African American people only make up 26 percent of the population. That isnt just random. Milwaukee is one of the most segregated cities in the United States, and our healthcare system has failed to serve an underserved community that needs more support, not less.

In the United States, we have a healthcare system that has historically failed to adequately serve people of color. The novel coronavirus pandemic is uncovering many of the systemic failures in our healthcare system that have persisted for generations.

Many of his patients were black women on Medicaid and Medicare who suffered from many of the chronic health conditions that are still persistent in our community, like obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. (Of course, these are the very health issues that put people at greater risk of complications from COVID-19, too.)

I remember talking with him at the dinner table about the challenges his patients faced in receiving proper healthcare. When I began helping him in the office, I noticed that the majority of his patients were grappling with stress and anxiety, which is known to contribute to and exacerbate these health conditions. They lived high-stress lives and grappled with issues like job security, personal safety and financial instability.

You can hardly talk to any African American person in this country whose family is not in some way touched by these health challenges. Either we are personally affected by them, or someone close to us is.

Many of us are trying to reverse the disparate outcomes, but its not a problem we alone can solve as individuals. For example, if you live in a food desert with no access to a grocery store, then it becomes challenging for you to access affordable, nutritious food.

From my childhood in Atlanta and throughout the course of my career, I have always strived to find solutions and push forward policies that deal with systemic challenges. Whether thats helping people who live in food deserts or healthcare deserts, I have focused my energies on lifting people up to help them live healthier lives.

One thing is clear: We cant blame people in underserved communities for their circumstances when you consider the history of discriminatory practices and racism, including in healthcare, that have plagued our country. My goal is to shed light on the fact that these health disparities are a result of forces beyond an individuals controland thats not okay.

Similar problems plague maternal health, which is an issue Ive been working to shed light on throughout my career, particularly since I became the president and CEO of March of Dimes, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the health of mothers and babies in the United States.

Courtesy of Stacey D. Stewart

Black, American Indian, and Alaska Native women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes (most of which are preventable) compared to white women. For black women with a college degree, the mortality rate is over five times higher compared to white women with the same education, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

One of the reasons why Im so proud to lead the March of Dimes is that our organization worked to better serve people of color when it was first founded in 1938.

When the polio epidemic struck the United States in the 1920s and '30s, it was somewhat similar to what were experiencing now with COVID-19: No one knew how the virus spread, and it could lead to terrifying complications including paralysis and death. As a result, there were closures of schools, movie theaters, and other public gathering spaces.

Although our country was segregated at the time, President Roosevelt and the March of Dimes organization believed that no one should be left behind in the search for a cure for polio. As such, they ensured that African American children were included in clinical trials for the polio vaccine and provided a rehabilitation clinic for people of color as well.

Now, because communities of color are at an even greater risk of catching and dying from the novel coronavirus, we have to do even more to ensure were included in finding a solution.

For one, we need to be much more intentional in how we attack these racial health disparities. Some states, like Michigan and Louisiana, are collecting data to study the disparate impacts of the novel coronavirus on communities of color. However, this is not yet mandated for all states.

If were going to authentically address this issue, we cant hide from the truth. We have to collect all of this information and publicly release it.

Its our responsibility to make sure that if we do ever go through a pandemic like this again, were be better prepared to address the needs of all of our communities, especially those most in need.

I have two daughters, and as young black women, theyre very aware of the realities of racial health disparities. But with this knowledge, theyre also empowered to create change (lately, one of my daughters has been especially interested in public healthI wonder why!).

Ultimately, they motivate me. Even though our public health system has consistently failed people of color, we do have the ability to effect change. We can advocate for a healthcare system that meets our needs and hold our public officials accountable for creating it.

As difficult and traumatic as an experience this is, I think weve been presented with a powerful opportunity. One day we will emerge from this pandemic, and I hope it will be with a stronger, better healthcare system that truly is the best in the world. I know that our young people will lead us toward the change we need to see in the future, a change that will benefit them and their children.

Stacey D. Stewart is president and CEO of March of Dimes, which promotes the health of mothers and babies through research, education and advocacy. She is the first African-American and second woman to lead the organization in its 82-year history.

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COVID-19 Is Even Deadlier If Youre Black, And I Want To Change That - Women's Health

April 21, 2020 | :

Does the higher education world still need to talk about campus climate with campuses shut down? Student advocates say yes.

On Friday, Diverse hosted an online discussion titled Calling Out Xenophobia, Racism and Intolerance During the COVID-19 Crisis, moderated by editor-at-largeDr. Jamal Watson. As campus resources and classes moved online, so did harmful biases, panelists noted, calling for fresh approaches from colleges and universities.

This is a moment to strengthen our solidarity in and across racial groups, said Dr. Charles H.F. Davis III, assistant professor of clinical education at the University of Southern California. This is an opportunity to forge together even stronger as a community to fight the rising tide of White supremacy on campus.

Dr. Charles H.F. Davis III

Speakers emphasized the need to address Zoombombing, where users bombard remote classes with racist messages. Asian students in particular have been targeted for online harassment, Davis said.

He advised universities to create protocols for faculty to respond to these incidents so theyre not caught off guard, and in turn, encouraged faculty to take all the necessary steps to prevent them from happening password protecting Zoom classes, having a co-host monitor chat discussions and removing the screen sharing feature.

Beyond that, faculty need to establish clear policies about speech in the virtual classroom, outlined in their syllabi, while keeping an eye out for subtler forms of discrimination like cyberbullying and exclusion, said Dr. Leandra Parris, assistant professor of school psychology at the College of William & Mary.

But panelists argued that promoting equity during the coronavirus isnt just about calling out new forms of racism in the classroom but also acknowledging the disparate effects of the pandemic on underprivileged students.

Dr. Leandra Parris

The coronavirus is disproportionately impacting communities of color, Davis noted. Meanwhile, minority students are more likely to live in multi-generational homes where they might have extra household responsibilities like caring for siblings in addition to their school work. So, among other things, he suggested flexibility in grading practices and conscious Zoom etiquette, like letting students avoid using video if they dont want to show their surroundings.

Of course all students have been affected to some extent, he said. We know coronavirus doesnt discriminate, but we do know that policies and practices in higher education do.

In online education, Dr. Vanessa Sansone, assistant professor of higher education at the University of Texas at San Antonio, encouraged university leaders to think about the interplay and the compounded effects of race and class, based on her work on students of color in rural areas.

Theres a lot of putting students in boxes, she said. In reality, were all multiple things.

Ultimately, panelists worries about equity extended beyond the spring semester to what happens when students return to campus.

Dr. Vanessa Sansone

They particularly fear that universities may divert funds from diversity, equity and inclusion resources on campuses in response to the crisis, even though diversity professionals and ethnic studies scholars are uniquely equipped to address the needs of underrepresented students in the aftermath.

Whenever theres anything else to prioritize, diversity and equity get cut, Parris said.

But with enrollment rates threatening to drop, its in colleges interest to prioritize the needs of minority students as the demographics of the country change, explained Sansone.

Students are hurting right now and they want to know theyre going to go to institutions that care about them holistically, Sansone said. If you want to keep your enrollment up and fill seats, these are the populations youre going to have to consider and be creative and intentional and thoughtful about in terms of how you respond.

While the coronavirus poses new threats to diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education, panelists also described this moment as an opportunity to initiate lasting changes, particularly to admissions and financial aid.

For example, Davis pointed out that universities are adopting temporary test optional policies in response to the pandemic.

He hopes this move will prompt consideration of a deeper question about why were so committed and invested in a thing thats actually stratifying us further and introducing greater inequities, he said. We have to have an honest conversation about why we continue to do things as usual when we could actually radically reimagine a different university.

Watch the webinar here.

Sara Weissman can be reached at sweissman@diverseeducation.com.

Editors Note: On April 22 at 1 pm EDT,Diverse Hiringpresents What You Can Do to Recruit and Retain Diverse Faculty and Staff During COVID-19. Clickhere to register for this free webcast. Space is limited.

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Campus Climate Issues Don't Disappear When Campuses Close... - Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

Provided by Dayton Daily News Husband and wife duo Marshall Weil and Gisselle Pereira of Dayton, have launched a grassroots movement called the #StimulusChallenge to encourage those who can to donate all or part of their stimulus checks to nonprofits and small businesses. CONTRIBUTED

A Dayton couple is encouraging people who are not in need to donate all or part of their stimulus checks to nonprofits or small businesses in the region, following the #StimulusChallenge national grassroots effort.

The effort is one of many launched by caring Dayton area people who want to help organizations like the Salvation Army, Hannahs Treasure Chest, House of Bread, St. Vincents, The Foodbank and others during the coronavirus outbreak.

MORE:CORONARIVUS: Complete coverage from the Dayton Daily News

Husband and wife Marshall Weil and Gisselle Pereira and others launched a simple website,www.stimuluschallenge.us/. Anyone can sign up on the site to pledge all or part of their stimulus funds to nonprofits and small businesses.

No money is processed through the site; its an honor-system method designed to help show local commitments for nonprofit and small business support.

Just 48 hours into the campaign, the challenge has passed $100,000. More than 50 pledges have come from Ohio, Washington, New York, South Carolina and Texas.

Weil and Pereira said they plan to use their stimulus checks to give back to struggling organizations.

We know there are a lot of ways we could personally spend the stimulus money, said Weil, director of development at YWCA Dayton. But we also havent personally experienced financial hardship in this time. Making a really intentional effort to invest in nonprofits and small businesses was important to us, and we wanted to make an easy way to encourage others to support them, too.

Pereira said it will take a team effort to battle the pandemic, and she believes the Miami Valley region is up to the task.

The focus of the campaign is US this impacts all of us, and were all in it together, said Pereira. Our communities are largely driven by all of the wonderful small businesses and organizations who are changing lives every day. It is on all of us to make sure they make it through this.

MORE:Ohio wants the newly unemployed to file for benefits alphabetically

One of those organizations is the Washington Twp.-based Society for the Improvement of Conditions for Stray Animals (SICSA). The organization has been tested by the coronavirus.

Weve definitely experienced some changes due to this pandemic. Since we are not doing any adoptions, all of our animals had to move into foster care, spokeswoman, Samantha Hoefler told the Dayton Daily News. We also had to cancel all spay and neuter surgeries, which greatly affects the cat population as we enter kitten season.

Hoefler noted that SICSA also owns pet food franchise, Pet Wants Dayton. The location for Pet Wants is at the Second Street Market which is no longer open due to the pandemic, so it had to move back to SICSA.

We have opened a new online store featuring Pet Wants food, treats, chews and handmade pet accessories and toys and more. These items can be delivered or picked up through a curbside pickup.

The Salvation Army has been busy across the Miami Valley during the pandemic lending a hand.

The Salvation Army provides essential services in every zip code in the U.S. Wherever there is a need, were already there, meeting that need, the non-profit said in a statement.

Deanna Murphy, executive director of Hannahs Treasure Chest, which provides care packages to children through a network of nearly 50 partner agencies in Butler, Greene, Montgomery and Warren counties, said she is happy to see the effort being made by those in the community to help them during the coronavirus.

MORE:Oakwood students, staff use 3D technology to make face shields

We are still up and running to continue providing essential items to local children in need. We are open to partner agencies only two days a week to reduce interaction with the public, Murphy said. Our volunteers are almost exclusively age 60 and above so theyre at highest-risk for being affected by this virus. Many of them have chosen to self-isolate at home and were thankful for their vigilance.

With the closure of Goodwill and other pantries and donation centers, HTC has become one of the only places in the region that is still open and accepting the particular items that families with children need.

This has resulted in an explosion of in-kind donations, as weve seen about a 200% increase while our human capacity to process these donations has dwindled by about 75%, Murphy said. We receive requests for care packages from area agencies and those requests are on the rise as many families are finding themselves in a new position of needing assistance. Just this week, our volunteers are filling requests for 60 childrenand its only Tuesday. These are record levels of requests for our organization.

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Couple's stimulus challenge helps nonprofits in the region - msnNOW

Black voters have driven the trajectory of recent Democratic presidential nominating contests more than any other voting bloc. This was the case in 2008 and 2016 primaries, where they largely united behind a single candidate Barack Obama and then Hillary Clinton. This year is no different. But the question is whether Democrats will earn enough of their support to win the White House.

Though Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton had strong showings among black voters in the primaries, their performances among black voters in the general elections diverged. Those voters are fundamentally different: Black general election voters are generally younger, less likely to attend church services weekly and less likely to identify as Democrats than their friends and family members who vote in every election. They are also more progressive than black primary voters.

To retake the White House, we white Democratic consultants should become intellectually curious about black voters. That starts with understanding the differences between and within these two groups and pinpointing what motivates them and what suppresses infrequent or nonvoters. Stacey Abramss campaign for governor of Georgia, which I led, took such an approach. The lessons we learned reveal insights that Democrats should apply to winning in November.

Something nearly unthinkable happened in Georgia in 2018. More black voters, more Asian-American/Pacific Island voters and more Latino voters turned out than in the 2016 presidential election. Sure, turnout was up everywhere and at presidential levels in many states. But Georgia was the only state where midterm turnout was greater than presidential turnout in each group of voters of color. Any political scientist will tell you this is not something that happens. Ever.

Here is what I suggest campaigns do if they want to scale this up across the country:

Understand the severe limitations of conventional campaigning categories of persuasion targets (white, suburban, female) versus turnout targets (African-American), shorthand that ultimately shortchanges voters. If we had run a typical campaign, a large majority of resources would have been spent on the relatively small number of persuadable white suburbanites, those likely to vote but not clearly affiliated with either party. But actual election results proved them to be largely Republican voters year after year. Instead, our core strategic imperative was persuading and mobilizing an enormous pool of new, infrequent or nonvoters of color and white liberals whom we saw as both turnout and persuasion targets.

Invest in quantitative and qualitative research about what messages and strategies motivate and dissuade unlikely black voters. And Democratic operatives must cease thinking of black voters as a monolithic voting bloc. We need to spend real money exploring the top issues, desires and needs of black voters and dive into all the cross-tabs with the same level of curiosity and focus as campaigns do with white voters rural, suburban, urban; college, noncollege; men, women; young, old, middle-aged; regular voter, nonvoter, etc. We also need to explore whether voting against Donald Trump is enough of a motivation to vote . (Hint: Its not.)

Explore what people know about the different ways to vote (by mail? early in person? on Election Day?) even more important in this pandemic so that we can tailor our voter education campaigns to address voters questions.

Embrace identity politics as an electoral necessity and moral imperative. Identity politics within a campaign means acknowledging that issues and policies affect communities differently, and different communities have different needs. This truth should be reflected in campaign policy plans, but more important, candidates have to talk about these differences directly.

Build diverse teams at every level. This is a core strategic imperative for winning. Any winning coalition across age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic status, region, education level, family status, ability and so on requires a team that can connect with and understand the extraordinary diversity of our electorate. In a state as big and diverse as Georgia, where people of color are on the cusp of making up a majority of the population, there is no single way to be culturally competent. This is true in many battleground states, and especially across the South.

Reject the cynical notion that mobilizing voters of color will lose white voters. This was a big fear we heard all the time with Staceys candidacy. Could a black candidate center a campaign on increasing participation by all voters of color as the main ingredient to victory, and also earn the support of white voters? Or would she scare all the white people away? Ultimately, Stacey won a larger share of the white vote than any Democrat in a generation. So I say yes, you can do all of these things. In fact, we must; its a requirement to building the broad and deep multiracial, multiethnic coalition that Democrats need to win.

Lets take two issues we talked often about in our campaign: criminal justice reform and guns. Throughout the campaign, Stacey discussed both issues with all audiences, very much against convention. On criminal justice, sure, in the cross-tabs of our research, black men had ranked the issue higher than Latinos and women of all races. But white voters would talk to Stacey about criminal justice reform at events, and later it showed up unexpectedly in research about them.

For example, in a focus group late in the campaign, two persuadable white women brought up, in a group of their peers and unprompted by the moderator, the need for criminal justice reform. One woman said she didnt want her son in college getting jailed for minor marijuana possession, adding that there are too many people in jail and it was a waste of resources.

Gun safety is an issue we were cautioned to avoid. Stacey spoke about the issue from the start, both about her personal experiences with guns (her grandmother taught her how to hunt) and her belief that we need policies to reduce gun violence. And she did this everywhere, including in Augusta at a labor unions gun raffle where the audience was mostly white men. (This is true. I was there.) When she talked about these topics, she was authentic and direct, which allowed her to connect with all types of people, even when they didnt agree with everything she said.

A great candidate with an authentic message and a plan isnt enough to move the needle on turnout in communities Democrats have long neglected. Thats why we spent millions of dollars on layered voter education directed at registered voters of color, even if they didnt have a history of voting or were fairly regular voters. We took no one for granted and made few assumptions about the nonvoters. After all, they were there on the voter file and had bothered to register. But no one had ever tried to talk to them. We put millions of dollars toward a volunteer organizing program and a large-scale paid canvass from the big cities to the small African-American-majority towns on the Florida border. To provide information on how to cast a ballot early, by mail or in person, we went big on digital ads, on TV from the popular evening news stations to BET; in small local print outlets; on radio and more.

Despite a scourge of voter suppression, Stacey came within 55,000 votes of victory in 2018, and much has changed in Georgia since. Metro Atlanta continues to grow, and people moving to the state are largely Democratic. More than 600,000 Georgians have registered to vote since 2018; half of them are voters of color, and 40 percent of them are under age 30. Nearly 300,000 new voters of color are projected to register by the general election deadline. With presidential-level investment, Georgia is positioned to be a true battleground state; up for grabs are 16 electoral votes, two Senate seats, two hotly contested congressional races, a state house majority and more.

My case for mobilizing black voters is not limited to Georgia nor to the South. While some pundits have presented the 2020 presidential election as a binary choice between Blue Wall states and more diverse Sun Belt battlegrounds, I reject that choice. The path to victory in both sets of states rests on turning out voters of color and black voters specifically. Black voters will be the margin of victory in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and they are a large reservoir of electoral opportunity in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Latinos and Asian-American voters are driving electoral wins in states like Arizona and Texas.

The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee understand the importance of black voters. Thats why theyre conducting a national voter suppression operation. While we cant stop everything, we have to mitigate harm like we saw in Wisconsin with a mobilization and voter-protection strategy. But we also saw in Wisconsin how horrifying, intentional and gruesomely strategic Republican voter suppression does not always result in Republican wins.

We are facing an extraordinary election. Its going to take more outreach, more voter education and more conversations about tough issues. This is the year to invest in black voters as never before. And if we do so, we will win.

Lauren Groh-Wargo (@gwlauren), the former campaign manager for Stacey Abramss campaign for governor of Georgia, is the senior adviser to Fair Fight.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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Stacey Abrams Knows the Secret to Winning the White House - The New York Times

Everyone Needs Someone Else

WHY Americans OF ALL AGES are coming together in intentional communities

By Jeffrey Kluger

Theres not a lot to do in Syracuse, N.Y. when youre living alone and a winter storm system dumps 3 feet of snow on the city. Theres no going outside, but theres no staying inside at least not for too long if you want to remain sane. A dinner with friends would be nice; so would a yoga class or a shared movie and a good long talk. And when thats all done, it would also be nice to have just a little bit of that wintertime solitude, watching the snow fall, all alone, from the privacy of your own home.

At one place in Syracuse, all of that happens on those long snow-filled nights. That place is Commonspace, a co-housing community on the fourth and fifth floors of a restored 19th-century office building. The community is made up of 25 mini-apartments, fully equipped with their own kitchenettes and baths, with access to a larger, shared chefs kitchen, library nook, game room, coffee lounge and media room. The 27 residents (couples are welcome) live together but only sort of in private apartments that are, once you step outside your door, un-private too. And theyre part of a growing trend in an increasingly lonely country: intentional communities.

In cities and towns across the U.S., individuals and families are coming to the conclusion that while the commune experiment of the 1960s was overwhelmed by problems, the idea of living in close but not too close cooperation with other people has a lot of appeal. An intentional community is a very different beast from the more familiar planned communities, which can be big, unwieldy things hundreds or thousands of families living on small parcels across hundreds of acres of land. While there may be some common facilities a swimming pool or golf course or community lake the communities are really just villages writ large or cities writ small, easy places to be anonymous.

Intentional communities, by contrast, are intimate: a couple dozen apartments or single-family homes, built around central squares or common spaces. And theyre operated in ways intended to keep the community connected with weekly dinners at a community center or other common area, shared babysitting services, shared gardens or games or even vacations. If you dont want to participate, fine; no one will come pester you to play a pick-up game you dont want to play or join a committee you dont want to join. But when you need the community because a spouse is away or a baby is sick or youre just plain lonely and would like some companionship its there for you.

Its that business of relieving loneliness thats key to the popularity of intentional communities. Human beings may not always get along, but the fact is, we cant get enough of one another. There are currently 7.6 billion of us in the world but we inhabit only about 10% of the planets land, and roughly 50% of us live on just 1% of that land.

We evolved to depend on our social connections, says Dr. Vivek Murthy, former U.S. Surgeon General. Over thousands of years, this got baked into our nervous systems so much so that if we are feeling socially disconnected, that places us in a physiologic stress state.

According to a study by AARP, over 40% of American adults suffer from loneliness, a condition that, Murthy warns, is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and more. Worse, loneliness is a condition that makes no demographic distinctions; it affects millennials just starting their careers, widowed boomers just ending theirs, empty-nesters, new divorcees, first year college students a thousand miles away from family and high school friends. Social media, which ostensibly draws people closer, in fact may be atomizing us further, creating virtual connections that have little of the benefits of actual connections.

A gusher of studies since the early 1990s have established the health dividends of social ties. Among people with cardiovascular disease, those with more social connections have a 2.4 times lower risk of mortality within an established period than those with poor social ties. Social connections lower the risk of cancer, speed recovery among people who do contract the disease, and reduce the risk of hypertension and other cardiovascular illnesses. Even wound-healing improves with social connections. Multiple studies suggest that part of this may come from the psychological boostincluding the sense of responsibilitythat meaningful relationships provide. When friends and family members are counting on you to be around, you make better health choices, even if theyre unconscious. Other studies have shown that similar brain structures control both physical pain and social painand that pain relief, through analgesics in the first case and relationships in the second, operate similarly as well. Being socially connected doesnt simply make you healthier, it just plain feels good.

Intentional communities are about creating attachment, the feeling that someone has your back, says Harvard University psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, a decades-old survey of the health of a population of Harvard graduates and their descendants. We often ask people in studies, Who would you call in the middle of the night if you were really sick or scared? Intentional communities can help you have an answer to that question.

Its not easy to come by a firm count of how many intentional communities are out there. Only about 160 of them have been built from the ground up with co-housing in mind, but the regularly updated Fellowship for Intentional Community lists 1,539 communities in all 50 states that have also used existing housing stock to establish co-housing arrangements.

There are urban communities like Commonspace in most major cities. There is Milagro in Tucson, Ariz., 28 single-family homes on 43 desert acres built around a central green space with a shared community center and other facilities. There is Village Hearth Co-Housing, a similar set-up in Durham, N.C., but one intended for singles, couples and families in the LGBTQ community. There are other communities for seniors or artists or veterans; there are even rural communities for people who want the independence of owning their own homes but the collective experience of farming the same land.

For each of the communities, the relative compactness of the population is what creates the feeling of togetherness. You cant possibly know three hundred people, says Troy Evans, real estate developer and the co-founder of Syracuses Commonspace. But you can know fifty. What we try to do in Commonspace is create a neighborhood in a building.

To all appearance, theyve succeeded at that. The communitys 25 apartments rent for an average of $850 per month, which is admittedly pricey for a tiny, 200 sq. ft. space, though services like thrice-weekly cleaning of all of the common spaces and the costs of activities like the weekly farm-to-table dinners are included. And the social benefits which are impossible to measure in dollars and cents are included too.

We set everything up with a town square feel so when you come out of your door theres not a long, dark hallway like in most apartment buildings, says Evans. Town squares, of course, can be noisy not to the liking of even some people who choose to live semi-communally. Thats why one of the floors has fewer apartments built a quiet lounge where locally roasted coffee is always on offer.

The mini-apartments are cleverly laid out, with a platform bed built atop storage cabinets and floor-to-ceiling windows that create an open feel. The bathroom is complete though it has a shower without a tub and the kitchenette is limited only by the fact that is has two electric burners instead of a full stove, because local regulations forbid open flame in such small quarters. The apartments are all equipped with TVs and high-speed Internet, and a Slack channel allows residents to stay in touch without having to remember 26 other email addresses.

Still, its the 6,000 shared square feet, not the 200 private ones that really defines the Commonspace experience, providing what Evans describes as a lot of collision space, which is something people who would otherwise be living alone often crave. What weve found is demand from people who were landing in Syracuse for the first time and not knowing anyone, he says. Weve got people from eight different countries and seven different states. Its a really cool, diverse group.

That diversity is not only cultural but temperamental. Rose Bear Dont Walk, a 23-year old Native American studying environment and forestry at the State University of New York, Syracuse, moved in to Commonspace over the summer and soon grew friendly with another resident who works in computer coding. His mind operates arithmetically, hers works more emotively, and they took to talking about their different ways of approaching the world.

Hes always building something or talking about building something or listening to podcasts, she says. One day, when she was weaving decorative strands out of plant fibers, she decided to make him a bracelet. It was just this way that our worlds connected, she says. He is very logical and mathematical and was very excited about this little tiny rope bracelet that I was bringing home.

Meaningful as those kinds of connections can be, Commonspace residents dont always have a lot of time to make them. Millennials can be transitory characteristic of most people early in their careers and the average length of tenancy is just eight months.

Things are very different at other intentional communities, like Milagro in Tucson. There, the buy-in is typically for life. The 28 homes in the landscaped desert space are sometimes available for rent, but are typically owned by their residents and have sold for anywhere from $175,000 to $430,000, depending on the market. The investment in house and land means an equal investment in the life of the community.

Brian Stark, a married father of two, has lived in Milagro since 2003, two years after the community opened, and considers himself a lifer. For him the appeal is not so much the community-wide dinner in the dining room every Saturday, or the happy hours or the stargazing sessions or the shared holiday parties. Its the easy, collegial pace of the place, unavoidable when neighbors all know one another.

You almost have to assume that someone may stop to chat with you when youre coming or going, he says. It took some getting used to but when were in a hurry for school or a meeting, weve learned to explain our rush and connect another time.

Even more important are the benefits that accrue to any communitys most vulnerable members: babies and seniors. For families with very young children, we do baby care trades, Stark says. And having a supportive community to help as you grow older is also a wonderful alternative to assisted care living.

Intentional communities are not without stressors. Stark recalls the decade of committee meetings that went into the simple business of deciding whether there should be path lights in the community important for safety, but murder on the deserts spectacular nighttime sky. Even when the community agreed that lights were a good idea, there was continued wrangling over cost, wattage and more. A similar struggle ensued when it came time to have all 28 homes painted, as residents debated color schemes for the homes stucco, trim and side boards.

Still, the long meetings and compromises are a small price for those suited to intentional communities. Thats true of diverse, cross-generational communities like Milagro, and it can be even more so when residents come together with a particular shared need for a particular kind of solidarity as in the LGBTQ or aging Boomer communities.

Shortly after the opening of Village Hearth, the North Carolina LGBTQ community, one of the founders explained to a local reporter that she was tired of hearing about this or that intentional community that has a nice lesbian couple or a nice gay couple. She and her wife didnt want to be a curiosity in even the friendliest surroundings, so they founded a community in which nothing would be remarkable about them at all.

There is little science so far that explicitly addresses the medical benefits of co-housing arrangements, but the benefits of the human connections the communities provide are being powerfully established. In one recent meta-analysis of 148 studies gathered from around the world, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University, compared subjects reported state of loneliness with their overall life expectancy. The total sample size was more than 300,000 people and produced sobering results: Adults who are socially isolated, she found, have a 50% greater risk of dying from any cause within a given time frame than people who are more connected.

In a follow-up study in which she used census data to assemble an even larger sample group of 3.4 million, the results were a bit less stark, but no less conclusive, with social isolation and loneliness leading to a 30% increase in risk of mortality on average. Of course, being alone is not the same as being lonely, Holt-Lunstad stresses. Many people enjoy their solitude, and other people can feel lonely even in a group. The key is the subjective experience. If that experience is bad, thats when health can be affected.

More often than not, social media falls into the category of bad rather than good experiences. Even without being trolled or cyberbullied, people can suffer merely as a result of having replaced real relationships with virtual ones. Murthy does not believe social media is all bad, provided its often used as what he calls a way station rather than a destination, helping to establish real-life connections.

Using social media as a way station might mean that if Im traveling to a different city, in advance of the trip I look on Facebook or LinkedIn to see if I have any friends there, he says. Then I reach out to them and we get together.

The exact mechanisms that make loneliness so physically damaging are not easy to tease out, but chemical markers in the bloodstream, like cortisol, a stress hormone, or c-reactive proteins, indicators of inflammation, are considered worrisome signs. They indicate a weakened immune system and metabolic disruption, says Waldinger. This is when you start to see signs of illness like rising lipid levels and blood pressure.

Residents of intentional communities also see another kind of benefit to health and happiness in co-housing: as a way of alleviating transitions that can be both stressful isolating. Stark, the Milagro resident, recalls that when his older daughter, Maia, was born 12 years ago, the Milagro community was still new. Unbidden, the neighbors pitched in to help the family, cleaning their house, making them meals, even doing their laundry so that he and his wife could have the luxury of doing what few parents can do: focus their attention exclusively on their new baby. Since then, the Stark family has returned the favor, making food for people recovering from surgery and offering to make a pickup at an airport.

Everyone at some point needs someone else, Stark says. Intentional communities, in their quiet way, are helping to make sure that powerful human need gets met.

Get the most out of Thanksgiving

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Why Americans of All Ages Are Embracing Communal Living - Time

by Jennifer L. Williams | April 9, 2020

Now that the William & Mary community has seen that COVID-19 will affect many things this spring semester, adapting to living and working in the world it has created is next that was the takeaway from the universitys latest community conversation.

Ive described it as were all learning to ride a bicycle in a hurricane, said Peter Atwater '83, founder of Financial Insyghts and adjunct professor of economics, as he described the multiple roles students, faculty and staff have taken on with their many responsibilities at home.

W&M President Katherine A. Rowe led the virtual talk that was broadcast from the Presidents House on April 8 as part of a weekly series featuring different guests and discussion topics on Wednesdays at noon through May 13. She encouraged community members to continue to send questions to leadership as a way to guide future sessions.

Our focus now is on decisions about how we adapt, Rowe said. In the short term how we adapt, and in the longer term, in a way that sustains what we value most about this institution and about our community. So the big question that all of us are grappling with is how to make decisions about the best ways to adapt when our uncertainty is so high and very little seems to be in our own control.

So thats the question that is our focus for today. What happens to how both individuals and communities think when uncertainty is high and control is low?

Marjorie Thomas, dean of students; Eva Wong, director of international students, scholars & programs and Atwater were guests for the discussion.

Rowe summed up from many of their comments that looking out for each other, and giving ones self and others a break, particularly over the next couple of weeks, will be important.

Thomas said she has found solace in reaching out to others, in being more intentional and intimate in her time with other people.

Remember, we are still very much connected, that we still belong, Wong said. And try to find those connections one way or another.

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W&M community conversation turns to living, working adaptation amidst COVID-19 - William & Mary News

(Illustration by iStock/sv_sunny)

Amid a disaster like COVID-19, the culprits of some of the worst abuses of power are the very systems and structures that we often turn to for leadership. The abuses can be committed with calculated awareness, such as when US Senators privately sold off millions in stocks while publicly downplaying the threat of the virus. Other times, institutional aid efforts unintentionally create ripple effects that disproportionally and severely affect vulnerable communities. In the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, shelter-in-place policies and the curtailment of public services have devastated families with precarious employment and people without homes.

Whether harm differs by being intentional or structural, it is the same in one critical way: Top-down, centrally managed systems of power can end up creating havoc due to the lack of their understanding of local communities.

In my role as research director with Accountability Counsel, a nonprofit organization that protects communities' human and environmental rights around the globe, and in previous positions, I have witnessed numerous failures of top-down responses to crises. While coordinating international assistance into northern Syria at the Syrian-Turkish border for several years, I observed millions of dollars wasted on ineffective programming, and countless millions more spent on projects that led to increased violence, instability, and suffering for thousands of people. Compounding the problem, a lack of local knowledge and context prevented project designers from seeing the effects of their actions, and even the most destabilizing projects were continually renewed and expanded over time.

Our team at Accountability Counsel has seen the same dynamic play out in Myanmar, where top-down conservation efforts in response to a deforestation crisis have instead paved the way for further environmental exploitation, violated human rights, and threatened the fragile peace in a conflict zone. Without appropriate care and due diligenceand without proper consultation with impacted communitiesit is remarkably easy for a project designed to help people or the environment to instead result in untold harm.

That's just a couple of examples among many. Studies of disasters in New York, Argentina, and other locations have identified myriad ways that relief by outsiders canundermine the recovery it is intended to produce.

In the context of our current global crisis, community-led responses to COVID-19 have a clear advantage over those coming from distant centralized bastions of power, which, intentionally or not, often reflect and reinforce existing inequities.

Community organizations here in the San Francisco Bay Area, such as theArab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), have provided invaluable support to vulnerable families who have been overlooked by official state responses, while tying their relief efforts to broader campaigns of mutual aid, collectivity, and solidarity. AROC explicitly uses its community support work to highlight the importance of health care as a right, anti-racism, climate change activism, and mutual solidarity for women, workers, migrants, incarcerated populations, people with disabilities, and the homeless. Accountability CounselsGood Ally policy aims to support civil society initiatives like AROC's. For example, our research team repurposed a community surveying tool to send SMS and voice messages to farmers across Haiti to help AROC identify vulnerable families in San Francisco.

It is important to remember that the vulnerabilities of these communities existed before the crisis cast them in such stark relief. With COVID-19 sharpening our awareness, we have an opportunity and responsibility to improve our social systems to better support society's most vulnerable not just during this crisis, but after it passes.

Many pathways toward a better world are being laid bare by the altruistic mutual aid efforts arising in cities around the globe. These locally designed and collaboratively built acts of solidaritywhich view the vulnerable as participants in their survival rather than passive consumers of assistanceinform a model of community resilience and collective empowerment with implications far beyond their immediate impact. They reject responses to the pandemic that value political hegemony and expediency over the well-being of the homeless, victims of domestic violence, people with disabilities and many other marginalized members of society.

The coronavirus pandemic has shaken the globe, and it is likely that things will never return to the way they once were.While we fight to mitigate the damage the crisis has wrought, we should learn lessons from the mutual solidarity and community resilience that it has unveiled. It will ensure the world that comes after the crisis is a better one for all.

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Lessons From Mutual Aid During the Coronavirus Crisis - Stanford Social Innovation Review

On Sunday Dec. 31, 2017, I stood before the people of the Star Hill Church and delivered my final sermon as their pastor. For 23 years of Sundays and Wednesdays, we had assumed our respective positions in a mutual search for meaning, purpose and wisdom.

A dear friend recently sent a text message asking what I would say to those precious people today. Ive dwelled on her question ever since and many other questions, too.

What do I say in the midst of such disruption and uncertainty? What words can calm hearts, minds and spirits that have been bombarded with alarm after heightened alarm? What would I say to bring some sense of stability to this cauldron of disequilibrium? What are the spiritual truths that can be applied to the COVID-19 world? What can I suggest people do when I dont know what to do?

These thoughts rode a carousel in my mind. Around and around they went until, in a moment similar to moments in the many weeks of my 23 years, my thoughts landed on an ancient episode.

Jehoshaphat was the fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah. He was zealous in his beliefs and has been generally well spoken of in the historical records. But there was an instance when the king found himself facing a challenge beyond any he had faced in his lifetime. He was under attack. Not only under attack, but facing a confederacy of surrounding nations, all aligned and ready to pounce at any moment. What do you do when you dont know what to do?

Yes, it is here in the book of 2 Chronicles that I would invite peoples to join me in mining for nuggets that can not only sustain us but steel our resolve in the face of this great challenge.

I would point out that Jehoshaphat was alarmed. So we begin with a license to acknowledge the sense of dread, fear and concern that seems to come and go within all of us. COVID-19 is a daunting adversary and we should feel alarm. Far from something being wrong with us, or the need to put forth some false bravado, we can name this thing inside of us without shame. And we can see that Jehoshaphats alarm was not paralyzing.

I would call peoples attention to Jehosaphats response to the military conflict. He chose to understand and react based on his spiritual beliefs. I would ask my anxious parishioners if they are informed by the whims of the national and local news, or by orthodoxy? Are they opening themselves to whatever bias or agenda is behind their chosen network? Or are they allowing their belief system to filter what is coming at them? Viewing our circumstances through the perspective of faith doesnt make them magically disappear or instantly get better. What it does is arm us with a framework with which to understand.

And one last thing. I would point out that Jehosaphat invited others in his community to join him in responding to his predicament. Adults, children and the older members of the community all came together in the face of adversity. They were, after all, in it together.

Just as we are all in this together. Now is not the time for heroic individualism. Withdrawal and isolation are actually part of the attack, not part of the answer. Our village, tribe, congregation, parish, neighborhood, family, friends and colleagues are all part of our arsenal in moments like these. We can create new ways of connecting, try video chats in addition to phone calls, and stand across the street as we engage neighbors. But above all else, we can be intentional in sustaining these relationships.

What should we do when we dont know what to do? Embrace these relationships. Make the most of them. Treasure them.

Raymond A. Jetson heads the Baton Rouge nonprofit MetroMorphosis.

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Guest column: In times of certainty, rely on all your communities - The Advocate

In times of turmoil, in which large populations are affected by factors mostly outside of their control, community-wide efforts of keeping the situation in check can take a long-lasting emotional and psychological toll. In this Special Feature, we look at the psychological aspects of disaster management.

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the new coronavirus outbreak had become a pandemic, countries around the globe have been working hard at containing the viruss spread at a local level.

Lockdown measures in various countries have included closing down public buildings and institutions from restaurants to gyms to museums and asking people to remain at home and minimize or even wholly relinquish social contact with people outside their household.

Although such measures have helped slow down the spread of the new coronavirus, an increasing sense of isolation and anxiety stemming from the situation have been taking their toll on the mental health of populations around the world.

Stay informed with live updates on the current COVID-19 outbreak and visit our coronavirus hub for more advice on prevention and treatment.

As the coronavirus pandemic rapidly sweeps across the world, it is inducing a considerable degree of fear, worry, and concern in the population at large, WHO officials have noted.

In this Special Feature, we will be looking at the psychology of disaster management and offering an overview of the impact of disaster management techniques on the mental and emotional health of populations affected by disaster. We also look at strategies that research has suggested could help mitigate this impact.

According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), disaster management can be defined as the organization and management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies, in particular preparedness, response and recovery in order to lessen the impact of disasters.

Preparedness refers to policies and resources that different countries and organizations put in place in case of a disaster.

Response refers to the actions they take to address the impact of a disaster once it does occur.

Finally, recovery refers to the process of healing that takes place after the event. This involves long-term programs, which go beyond the provision of immediate relief, as per the IFRC.

All of these aspects of disaster management should include provisions for safeguarding physical health, access to primary care and resources, and economic support.

But there is one more issue that plans for preparedness, response, and recovery must take into account: the psychological impact of disasters.

It comes as a given that disasters whether of natural origins, such as earthquakes and floods, created by humans, such as wars, or due to a pandemic will have a profound psychological impact on communities globally.

A systematic review published in Psychological Medicine in 2008 looked at different types of disasters that occurred over almost 3 decades from 1980 to 2008. The review suggested that many people experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The evidence suggests that the burden of PTSD among populations exposed to disasters is substantial, the authors of the review conclude.

A study published in 2015 in the Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, indicates that the prevalence of mental health problems among people from communities affected by disasters is two to three times higher than in the general population.

Another systematic review, published in 2017 in Health Psychology Open, may explain why disasters take such a huge emotional and mental health toll on communities, despite the presence of contingency plans in countries around the world.

This review concludes that, based on existing documentation, a significant number of countries lack appropriate preparedness in terms of preventing or responding to the mental health issues that may arise following a disaster.

While most research shows that disaster mental health consequences and disorders have been taken into consideration in many countries, the review warns that the available studies about disaster mental health preparedness are few, and the number of the documents related to mental health preparedness programs, models, or tools has not increased significantly in recent years.

Among the countries most likely to be hit by natural disasters, very few Thailand and Myanmar are examples have developed mental health preparedness programs.

The researchers who conducted the 2017 review also noted a particular lack of informational material aimed at the groups that are most likely to experience mental health issues in the case of a disaster.

[W]e found a lack of information on vulnerable groups, such as children, women, people living with disabilities, and the elderly, the researchers write.

They also note that there is not enough support for the people who would become first-line workers in the case of a disaster, such as healthcare professionals.

The importance of this brief note, in particular, becomes apparent now that current studies are emphasizing the mental and emotional strain under which doctors and nurses find themselves as they frontline the emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The most important factor required to prevent or mitigate the mental health impact of a disaster as it unfolds is access to accurate, helpful information.

As part of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO have repeatedly advised those from affected communities to seek information only from trusted sources [] so that you can take practical steps to prepare your plans and protect yourself and loved ones.

Reducing the amount of stigma around seeking mental health support is also an important step.

Research published in BMC Psychology in 2019 shows that first-line responders in the United Kingdom often avoid seeking mental health support because they fear being ostracized due to the stigma associated with mental health issues.

And stigma can also be relevant in other crucial ways. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO have stressed that people experiencing possible symptoms of the disease may avoid reporting their health status and seeking care because they are apprehensive that their communities may reject them.

Since the emergence of COVID-19, we have seen instances of public stigmatization among specific populations, and the rise of harmful stereotypes, WHO officials have noted.

[Stigmatization] means that people are being labeled, stereotyped, separated, and [may be experiencing] loss of status and discrimination because of a potential negative affiliation with the disease, they warn. They add:

Governments, citizens, media, key influencers, and communities have an important role to play in preventing and stopping stigma. We all need to be intentional and thoughtful when communicating on social media and other communication platforms, showing supportive behaviors around COVID-19.

Finally, in an official briefing, the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) emphasize that individuals must seek mental health support and provide solidarity to their peers. It is also vital for governments and organizations to strengthen mental health supports at every level.

In their briefing, which focusses on the context of the current pandemic, the OCHA note that:

And for the WHO, the management of mental health conditions counts as an essential health service and is included in the operational guidelines recently published by the agency.

For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.

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What is the psycholgy of disaster management? - Medical News Today

Communities of color continue to be disproportionately impacted by gun violence across the United States. Unfortunately, communities that are most impacted by gun violence are often plagued by structural inequities that perpetuate this violence. That is why when we look to address gun violence, we must have a holistic conversation to ensure that those most impacted are being centered in this conversation and moved from the margins.

Lauren Footman

To have a holistic conversation, we must address root causes (such as poverty, income inequality, underperforming schools and under-resourced public services) while also advocating for equitable resources for community-based programs and addressing easy access to firearms. Moreover, once we are clear on the solutions, we have to keep the most impacted communities at the forefront of this conversation. This work heavily relies on data and the data shows us who is most impacted, so we must be intentional to prioritize the most impacted communities in our work when setting policy and programmatic agendas.

When discussing data and trends of gun violence, we cannot help but notice the ages of the victims. Data shows us that black youth both females and males are disproportionately impacted by gun violence. Our analysis of CDC data states Black boys and youths aged 0-19 were over 14 times more likely to be killed by firearm homicide than White (non-Latino) boys and youths, while Black men aged 20-34 were nearly 17 times more likely to be killed by firearm homicide than their White (non-Latino) counterparts. Black girls and youths aged 0-19 and Black women aged 20-34 were each nearly 6 times more likely to be killed by firearm homicide than their White (non-Latino) counterparts (5.92 and 5.63 times, respectively).

This data is sobering, but when you hear these stories firsthand in community meetings you are hit with the harsh reality: There are too many young people who do not get to experience lifes milestones, and there are too many families and communities forever changed due to gun violence.

As we think of the stories of those most impacted by gun violence, we must not forget the humanity of the communities we are looking to amplify and support. A huge part of this space must be ensuring that we are not doing harm in our efforts to support communities.

This means that we are building authentic relationships with the communities, and that they are recognized as the experts of their communities and of this work, as often they have been organizing for years unrecognized and unsupported. Outside of building meaningful relationships, it is imperative that we work to position communities and individuals to get the structural support to do violence prevention work, as so much of this work can be volunteer.

In addition, this work entails facilitating intentional relationships to have their work become sustainable, but also making sure state and national organizations are reflective of those most impacted. The only way we can continue to build a robust holistic movement is ensuring this movement is hiring members of the communities that are most impacted.

Gun violence is a multifaceted challenge that demands a holistic set of solutions to stop the cycles of daily gun violence in the most impacted communities. Those who are closest to the pain need to be closest to the power.

At The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, we recognize that we must engage impacted communities specifically communities of color in our work to reduce gun deaths. We do this by first building genuine relationships with community members. We then use a research-grounded toolkit called Education to Action to turn these relationships into self-sustaining Community Action Networks that advocate for policies to reduce gun violence.

The Community Action Networks are self-sustaining advocacy groups from communities statewide. They advance an evidence-based, holistic approach to tackle gun violence in communities of color by hosting workshops and events that bring together law enforcement, community members, faith leaders and politicians.

They create a space for individuals who were disengaged from the political process to become active leaders within their communities, fighting for policies that will build healthy communities free of violence and inequity. They also act as a forum for skill-building, for instance in public relations and communications, and provide an opportunity for members to collaborate on the development of violence prevention programming.

Lauren Footman is a community engagement coordinator at The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. She has been working in the violence prevention movement for seven years at the intersection of communities and policy.

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Communities of Color Must Be Centered in Gun Violence Prevention Movement - Juvenile Justice Information Exchange

As the coronavirus continues to spread, epidemiologists like me are starting to field a remarkable question: Would people be better off if they just contracted the virus and got it over with? Ive heard rumblings about people avoiding physical distancing or hosting a version of chickenpox parties, where noninfected people mingle with an infected person in an effort to catch the virus.

For some, it is part of a herd immunity strategy to build population immunity by infecting younger people who seem to have mild cases of Covid-19. Others are frustrated with staying home. There are also those who hope they could better protect their loved ones, serve their communities or return to work if they could develop immunity.

While frustration, fear and solution-seeking are normal responses to this new global risk, there are seven clear reasons choosing to get intentionally infected would be a really horrible idea right now.

It is all about how much we just dont know yet.

We have not yet established that those who recover from this infection indeed develop long-term immunity. Herd immunity projections depend completely on such a sustained immune response, and we havent found out whether that even exists. We all sincerely hope it does, but we wont know for certain until we study recovered patients over time.

There are documented cases where people who appear to recover from the virus test positive again, which calls even short-term immunity into question. These apparent cases of reinfection may actually be remission and relapse, or false test results. However, researchers need more time to figure out what is happening with these patients, and the implications.

Whats more, even if it is determined that reinfection cannot occur shortly after recovery, it could still happen later if immunity is only seasonal. If reinfection is indeed possible, we need to know whether it will result in disease that is milder or more severe. While antibodies to a previous infection generally reduce risk the second time around, for some viruses, such as dengue fever, they can lead to severe and even fatal disease.

We dont know that recovered patients actually clear the virus from their bodies. Many viruses can remain in reservoirs, parts of the body where they hang out quietly, and re-emerge to cause disease later in life. For example, chickenpox can come back as shingles, and hepatitis B can lead to liver cancer years later. We now know that in some patients, detectable virus can be found in feces and even blood after apparent recovery. Does the coronavirus remain in the body, or are these just residual bits of virus?

Hospital beds and equipment are urgently needed right now for Covid-19 patients. People shouldnt kid themselves that because they are young they will not be hospitalized if infected. In the United States, the C.D.C. has estimated that about one in every five or six people aged 20 to 44 with confirmed Covid-19 has required hospitalization. Avoidable hospitalizations take valuable resources away from others who were not able to avoid infection.

While early reports focused almost exclusively on the risk of death, we do not yet fully understand the other effects of Covid-19. We do know that previously healthy people are being left with potentially long-term lung and heart damage.

As more patients recount enduring painful coughing, disorientation and difficulties breathing, people are coming to understand that the 80 percent to 85 percent of cases considered mild are not necessarily mild in its usual sense. Researchers and health care professionals use the term mild to describe Covid-19 cases not requiring hospitalization. While mild can be truly mild, it can also include pneumonia, and be brutal and scary.

Herd immunity requires a high proportion of a population to be immune (the actual percentage varies for different infections), but we want to get there slowly or, ideally, through vaccines. Right now, too many people are getting sick through non-intentional spread, burdening hospitals and leading to severe illness and death. It is far too early to think about intentional infection as a strategy.

Slowing down the spread of the coronavirus wont just save lives in the coming few months; it also gives us time to study treatments, and to expand or reconfigure hospital services for Covid-19 patients. This means that those who get sick later may benefit from better care, including effective medications. Of course, it also gives us more time to improve testing accuracy and capacity, and to develop a vaccine.

We need to keep in mind that the science is moving fast right now. It is unprecedented to see such an intensive effort internationally being put into studying one disease.

While it is hard to be patient, the best way out of this will likely be much clearer to us in a month or two than it is now. In the meantime, it is important that we dont take unnecessary risks with unknown consequences. If we can avoid infection, we need to do exactly that.

Greta Bauer is an epidemiologist and a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Western University in London, Ontario.

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Please, Don't Intentionally Infect Yourself With Coronavirus - The New York Times

Hello everybody; I wanted to drop aquick note to you and your family, and be the first to wish you an eventfulHoly Week and Happy Easter. Hopefully everyone is healthy and safe, whilemaking the best of our time together at home. While most of us are shelteringin place, lets remember those that are still working daily and are doing theirbest to help all of us get through this time of uncertainty. I know that I havecome to appreciate my friends in the medical field greatly; their selflessnessduring these days should not go unnoticed.

Individually, we are all going to beaffected by COVID-19 in one way or another. Whether its sickness, loss ofwork, struggling to make ends meet or frustration that your local market hashorrendously long lines and are out of your selective food or personal items weare all in this together. For many the frustration is everywhere and negativitylooms. To get through these times, we need to turn this frustrating mindset ofdifficulty around. There arent problems in this world, only situations. Again,everyone is being affected by this EVERYONE! Individually, we are beingaffected differently, some health, some financial, some family, but everyone isaffected. This hard time is temporary, it will pass; I promise. Again, thereare no problems, only situations. Situations create opportunity. Let me repeatthat: Situations create opportunity. It is how you respond to this opportunitythat needs to draw your focus. If you are chasing and hoping that the normalof last month is right around the corner, or will come back any day now Imsorry that normal is not coming back Ever! And that is just fine. Wheredoes it say a new normal cant be better? Why cant our households be better?Why cant our communities be better? The opportunity you are searching for, isin the ways you are handling your current situations. Are you continuing togrow? Are we being intentional with our activities and interactions? Purposefuldays? Purposeful acts? Are we taking our problems and looking at them assituations and creating opportunities to make your life, household, and world abetter place? Are you taking advantage of this opportunity to make an impact?Creating new habits? Or are you still chasing last months idea of normal?

Personally, for us, it has been quiteinteresting to say the least. Like many, we have had to adjust to distancelearning for school, new routines and the horrible thought of no socialphysical interaction for an extended period of time. Its hard for me not toshake hands, pat someone on the back or give hugs; its something I have had toovercome. But I encourage all to spend this time wisely. Slow down. Appreciatesome of the down time. Restore your principles in the family unit. Play gamestogether. Pray together. Eat together growing up, I learned more with my feetunder the table and breaking bread than I did in any classroom. I feel we needto re-focus and restore our personal principles in our own inner circles. Dontlet this time of uncertainty weigh you down, leverage this time to takeadvantage of your situations and make the most to restore your faith, yourmindset and your love for your family. Mother Teresa once said, If you want tochange the world, go home and love your family.

Create new habits. Habits that promotegrowth, wellness and connection. Meditate on the old daily habits that werenegative or detrimental to you, your family and business. Negative habits thatwere developed way before March of 2020 and that need to stay there, in thepast. Because when this ends and it will end each of us needs to be betterthan the person we were in early March. Cultivate, nurture and grow: we need todo this daily, and this time of uncertainty can be made certain in one aspectof your life, simply by controlling your reactions to your current situation.Have faith, trust the process of new positive habits in your life and moveforward. This too shall pass

I wish you and your family a HappyEaster. Please enter Holy Week with a pure heart, pray with your family, andprepare yourselves for a joyful Easter.

NicholasA. Nick Caton is a longtime local resident and Realtor; this was submitted asa special guest column and the opinions expressed are those of the author.

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Sending Community Wishes For Safe And Joyful Easter - Escalon Times

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. With our nation in crisis, this adage has taken on new meaning for the investors, developers, and small business owners I work with, many of whom are transforming complex operations almost overnight to meet rapidly evolving demands. Fallout from the coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the most vulnerable people and laid bare our economic disparities, but it has also illuminated the power of local businesses to both serve and strengthen communities, if they are willing to be creative and redeploy their valuable assets.

Thousands of low income communities already faced fragile economies, underfunded support systems, and little investment before this current crisis. Indeed, this is the focus of work driving positive social impact in opportunity zones. Millions of families across the country have lived one everyday disaster away from financial catastrophe for years. These same vulnerable communities are poised to be hardest hit as business shutters and unemployment surges at record rates. Without creative solutions, the inequalities between affluent and low income communities will deepen, therefore jeopardizing our shared economic future in this country.

While the relief legislation passed by Congress offers us a vital lifeline, the intentional collective action of local businesses is desperately needed. By redeploying their unique assets, whether capital, manpower, property, or infrastructure, local businesses can meet urgent community needs in the short term and enable an inclusive economic recovery in the long term. If you are rolling your eyes, I understand because local businesses helping their communities seems simple in theory yet complex in practice.

The Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation based at Georgetown University has developed a network of investors and local businesses that prove this thinking can be implemented in the real world. In response to the coronavirus, they are throwing out the existing playbook and being creative with their valuable resources to meet community needs.

Hotel Revival in Baltimore is repurposing nearly every resource it has. It is providing free hotel rooms for health workers. It is offering kitchens and spaces to displaced chefs and entrepreneurs to their operations running. It built up the infrastructure to provide care packages and free lunches to service workers and those in need, already distributing more than 1,000 with Coastal Sunbelt Produce and Hungry Harvest last week alone.

As cities close dine in services at restaurants and bars, Think Food Group has turned the otherwise dormant kitchens of its popular restaurants into community kitchens, serving hundreds of affordable or free to go meals daily for those in need. Local Initiatives Support Corporation, one of the largest social enterprises in the nation, has partnered with Verizon to give grants to small businesses facing immediate financial threat. It is focused on entrepreneurs of color, businesses owned by women, and enterprises in historically underserved areas that do not have access to capital.

This intentional and collective thinking about how to redeploy what local businesses have to help their communities is exactly what is required to meet the urgent need of this moment and place our country on a path to inclusive economic recovery. This will look different across the spectrum. Small businesses are also among the hardest hit and may need to address their own urgent needs before focusing on community impact. Thoughtful collaboration with communities can also take lots of time and effort.

The idea is to be creative and leverage partnerships to maximize what is possible. Local businesses must not be immobilized by uncertainty. They should lean into it and start small, but also think expansively about who else to involve. They might be surprised to discover unexpected partners. They should think about returns with a long term lens, act on immediate needs, and share what is working so everyone can be more effective.

While the crisis our nation confronts is challenging, it is also a powerful opportunity for visionary leadership to prevail and for local businesses to reimagine community impact. They can be creative and think about the unique resources or manpower they can redeploy to meet an immediate need for their fellow neighbors and contribute to an inclusive economic recovery. Our shared economic future in this country depends on it.

Jennifer Collins is a fellow in residence with the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation based at Georgetown University in Washington.

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How local business can drive the coronavirus economic recovery | TheHill - The Hill