America is never far from the frontier mentality and 2019 is proving no exception, with an African American cultural boom in all things cowboy, known colloquially as the yee-haw agenda. Surprised? You should not be. African American cowboys have largely been erased from the record by Hollywood narratives starring John Wayne and Robert Redford, but were estimated to amount to one in four in the wild west. Now artists and musicians seem determined to put a stop to the exclusion with figures including Beyonc, her sister Solange Knowles and Cardi B adopting western style.

One reason is the increased awareness of the part African Americans played on the western ranges at the end of slavery, when many former slaves headed to Texas looking for work.

That history is now proving as rich for black America as it had been for the film director John Ford and the stories they tell are not very different. In 1907, the African American cowboy Nat Love wrote of his life in Dodge City, Kansas, as a great many saloons, dance halls, and gambling houses, and very little of anything else. Love, who was born into slavery near Nashville, Tennessee, drank with Billy the Kid, participated in shootouts with Native Americans, rounded up cattle and amused himself with activities like dare-devil riding, shooting, roping and such sports.

However, life for freed slaves was hardly an idyll where racism and oppression had suddenly ceased to exist; the word cowboy itself, some say, had roots in a slur on these black labourers.

Along with the rise of racism and xenophobia in Donald Trumps America, there has also been a reassertion of the role of African Americans in places that are not normally acknowledged.

The New York University photography professor Isolde Brielmaier says: This is much less of a trend and much more about representation and visibility and addressing the erasure of that culture in the American imagination. Were seeing a very strong move on the part of marginalised communities to say: We were here and we exist.

From a cultural standpoint, its hard to find a rhythm and blues star who did not at some point don a cowboy hat. Ray Charles recorded country tracks throughout his career, putting out the great Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music album in 1962, and often said he was drawn to the stories in the songs from Nashvilles songwriters.

From Charlie Rich to Otis Redding once filmed on his Big O ranch in denim overalls to Curtis Mayfield and the Gap Band (who put out the single Burn Rubber on Me with a video of the trio in denim and cowboy hats), the western style has always been in the fringes, so to speak.

Lest any of this rich history go to waste, Idris Elba is to star in Concrete Cowboys, a film about Philadelphias black equestrian community, the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club, which has provided safety and security for the neighbourhood for more than a century.

The film was inspired by Greg Neris 2011 novel Ghetto Cowboy about a 15-year-old boy from Detroit who is abandoned by his mother and sent to live in Philadelphia with the father he has never met, who is a black urban cowboy. In an interview last year, the director Ricky Staub said he was surprised to see a cowboy ride past his office. What the heck is going on? he wondered. Why are you riding a horse in the hood?

In the murder capital of Compton in Los Angeles, there is another effort to harness horses and the cowboy ethos as a counter to gangs and violence. The Compton Cowboy posse officially came together as a group in 2017, though the area of Richland Farms has been home to African American equestrians since the mid-20th century.

They dont pull us over or search us when were on the horses, Compton Cowboy Anthony Harris, 30, told the New York Times last year. The horses, Harris explained, protected the 10 members of the posse from police harassment. They would have thought we were gangbangers and had guns or dope on us if we werent riding, but these horses protect us from all of that.

Elba and the Compton Cowboys, it turns out, will be in good company. Nashvilles ability to turn out crossover stars such as Kacey Musgraves has helped re-establish an upbeat version of country in the pop mainstream, but it is the black cowboy who has been turning up all over town, as witnessed by Texas pop-culture commentator Bri Malandro.

Malandros Instagram account @theyeehawagenda serves as a celebration of black cowboy aesthetics in popular culture. Its a treasure trove where youll find anyone and everyone, old and new, offering a nod to the western style, from Beyonc in her Destinys Child days wearing a cowboy hat to her more recent Daddy Lessons, and her sister Solange who put western visuals to her album When I get Home.

Meanwhile, the New York fashion label Telfar put the black cowboy aesthetic on the catwalk in its autumn/winter collection this year.

But it is hats off, as it were, to Lil Nas X, creator of the unclassifiable, record-breaking Old Town Road, now registering on Billboard as the longest-running Hot 100 hit of all time. Earlier this month at the VMA music awards, 20-year-old Nas X walked the red carpet in a silver sequined suit, ruffled shirt and silver cowboy boots a little yee-haw mixed with the rock-star flash of Little Richard and Prince, noted Billboard. Nas X may not be the first R&B star to put out a countrified hip-hop song Nelly, UGK and Outkast have been there but he has single-handedly codified what had been bubbling up as a style trend for a year or two.

Vogue decided that Nas Xs look from designer Christian Cowan may just be the most dazzling interpretation of the boundary-pushing trend.

Now we know even the Lone Ranger is based on an African American cowboy, the black cowboy in pop culture, crossing and recrossing cultural lines, erasing them in the process, is in full swing.

To Brielmaier, the yeehaw agenda is about reasserting visibility.

Its very intentional on the part of Lil Nas X to place a black, gay cowboy in our visual purview. His playfulness is grounded in an important history that has gone underrepresented for a long time. Im here. This is my space. Whats the big deal?

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Black America saddles up to own its cowboy heritage - The Guardian

SPRINGFIELD Gov. JB Pritzkers office announced the appointment of two census co-coordinators Monday, a position created by an executive order he signed in June to maximize participation in the 2020 U.S. Census.

State officials say up to two congressional seats and more than $1 billion in federal funding are at stake in Illinois if the complete population is not counted in 2020. Thats why the General Assembly allocated $29 million in state funding to an outreach effort that will be led by the newly created Census Office within the Illinois Department of Human Services.

Pritzker announced the co-coordinators of that office will be Marishonta Wilkerson, who has been serving in the role since August after more than two years as assistant counsel to Democratic Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, and Oswaldo Alvarez, who has more than 10 years of program implementation experience in the nonprofit sector.

The 2020 census will determine if Illinois gets our fair share of federal resources and representation, and these outstanding leaders will be committed to ensuring a complete and accurate count, Pritzker, a Democrat, said in a news release Monday. With a $29 million investment and a new Census Office, the state of Illinois will fight against the fear tactics coming from the federal government and make known that were proud to be home to vibrant, thriving communities of all backgrounds.

At the June signing of the Executive Order 10, which created the Census Office, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said Illinois could lose $120 million annually for each 1 percent of the population that is undercounted about $1.2 billion over the 10-year period between each census.

Illinois outreach effort will center on partnerships with community groups that are already working to promote census turnout. The deadline for those groups to apply for grants was Friday, Sept. 13.

According to the Census Offices September report, $20 million has been allocated for the initial grants, while $9 million will be reserved for an additional round of grants to address identified needs and communications and marketing efforts.

According to the report, the Census Office anticipates awarding a grant to at least one regional intermediary in each of 12 regions identified by the office. The intermediaries will coordinate outreach efforts and provide subawards to subgrantees that will conduct census outreach efforts in their communities.

The hardest-to-count communities will be prioritized for the grants. The U.S. Census Bureau deems an area hard to count if the self-response rate in the 2010 decennial census was 73 percent or less.

Illinois is using 18 variables associated with low census response, including housing, income, household language and internet access, to determine where the millions in grant funding will be distributed.

The largest grant distributions will go to organizations operating in Chicago, with a minimum allotment of $5 million and a maximum of $8.9 million. The Suburban Cook County region will receive between $2.1 million and $3.5 million, and the collar county region will receive between $1.8 million and $2.2 million.

Other regions include: Central Illinois ($400,000-$600,000), Northeast Central ($500,000-$695,000), North Central ($500,000-$650,000), Northern ($750,000-$920,000) Northwest ($350,000-$475,000), Southeast Central ($290,000-$400,000), Southern ($600,000-$700,000), Southwest Central ($530,000-$660,000), and West Central ($250,000-$300,000).

Anita Banerji, director of the Democracy Initiative of the nonprofit organization Forefront, which participates in census outreach, said the key to ensuring an accurate count is building trust in hard-to-count communities. In a July interview with Capitol News Illinois, she stressed that any information a person puts on census forms is confidential.

There will be a lot of misinformation and disinformation out there in the year ahead, she said. The advocates will have to be working smarter and harder to ensure that all residents across the state have accurate information, they feel safe and protected, and understand why it's necessary to self-report.

One of the reasons self-reporting is necessary, Banerji said, is because census data helps determine a number of demographic figures that could affect business interest on top of federal and state government funding.

You can't be that thoughtful or that intentional about where these new roads or new hospitals or these kinds of (English as a second language) classes need to go if you don't have accurate data, she said. So it behooves all of us to participate in this national civic engagement, civic duty, so that we can be providing a better future.

In Mondays release, IDHS Secretary Grace Hou said Illinois is well on its way to ensuring a complete and accurate count.

Weve never seen such a significant investment in the census until now, and were seeing a lot of excitement from our partners and stakeholders in the community, she said. We look forward to working with our grantees to continue our efforts and reach the communities and demographics that have previously been hard to count.

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Pritzker names 2020 census co-coordinators - Peoria Journal Star

A relief plane departs on September 6, 2019 in Elbow Key Island, Bahamas. (Photo by Jose Jimenez/Getty Images)

Most Bahamians still get their news offline, from local papers and radio rather than international English-language media networks. So, as Hurricane Dorian approached the Abaco Islands earlier this month, Bahamian journalists felt an urgent duty to their readers. In the two weeks since the storm, journalists struggled to report with fewer resources and during phone outages and gas shortages. Nevertheless, they were able to share vital survival information, news of the islands plans to rebuild, and the painful rise of the death toll.

Then the international press arrived, and some local reporters felt their access start to slip. Deandre Williamson, a night editor with The Bahama Journal in Nassau, contacted CJR to discuss the problem. Here, in their own words, Williamson and other Bahamian journalists tell us of the reporting challenges theyve faced in the wake of the storm.

Clint Watson

News Director, Eyewitness News

Weve had no access issues reporting on the storm. Every story weve done is based on how people are impacted and how society has changed. Our duty is to the people of the Bahamas and the families affected. Communities have been changed forever.

I went to Marsh Harbour just after the storm with the Progressive Liberal Party, the opposition. We spoke to people about why they chose to remain. Some wanted to help with the clean up, and for some it was just their home and they werent leaving. The stories that are hardest are stories of loss, loss of loved ones. Im still getting over it, its very difficult to talk about. Its an atomic bomb.

The main challenge is staying on it. It takes a lot out of you. Its a continuing and evolving story, seven days a week. We pray a lot. I get five hours of sleep a night.

I feel every day I can make a difference. Somebodys depending on me to be able to make informed decisions: how to move forward, where to get food, how to find loved ones that are missing, whos passing out relief and assistance, how to ensure you treat your water. We cover it all.

The international coverage is not as accurate. Every station has an agenda, so they cover it from that angle. Even if theyre on the ground, they dont have the connections or resources we have. Our message is: were still open for business. The Bahamas is an archipelago of islands. Two were devastated. The rest are open for business.

Jared Higgs

Broadcast Reporter, Our News and the Nassau Guardian

I went to Marsh Harbour four or five days after the storm moved past. I was able to fly in to Sandy Point, a 60-mile drive to Marsh Harbour, and then I caught a ride with a couple of customs officers. I was lucky to get that ride. They told me at the time, youre not going to be able to get a ride back. Everybody is looking out for themselves over there. In Marsh Harbour, somebody charged us $50 for a five-minute ride.

The most shocking thing was that there were so many dead bodies that had not been collected yet. People were putting up rest in peace Facebook posts for the deceased, but as a journalist Im not going to report on deaths until I know for certain. I needed more proof. Some people told me that they could show me where the bodies were. We walked 10 minutes from the government clinic in Marsh Harbor to the Pigeon Peas migrant village, and I was shown the bodies of three men. One was pinned under a home. The others were just lying among the rubble.

I was told I could be taken to where one mans mother was as well. She was also dead. I did not accept that offer. Im a news reporter and I cover a lot of crime, especially gun homicides, in Nassau. Id never seen a body that had just been left though. The smell was like a sign that says, City limits, Marsh Harbour. That was when I knew we were close.

Hurricane Dorian is probably the biggest story that Bahamian journalists will ever cover. And we are outnumbered by the international press. Were a small country with limited resources, whereas the BBC or ABC can send a team of five: two cameramen, two producers. Im going on assignment with my cameraman, and he was very anxious about being able to leave Marsh Harbour. Youre responsible for yourself, theres not some big company behind you. Therefore I think that we as journalists take a lot more risk.

We probably do feel that government officials are providing information to the international press more readily. Last Friday night, I was waiting to go on a live phone interview with Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, and she says, Just in: the office of the prime minister has confirmed that the death toll is now 43. She had updated information that I didnt haveI got a statement about an hour later.

Before the storm even arrived, I was at a NEMA press briefing. The whole local press corps was waiting to get interviews with the ministers, and they let the NBC people take our minister of tourism outside for an exclusive. The Bahamas needs all the help with its economy it can get right now, including letting the local media break Bahamian news.

Reporter Berthony McDermott interviews Dionisio DAguilar, the Bahamian Minister of Tourism and Aviation. (Photo courtesy of Berthony McDermott)

Berthony McDermott

Reporter, Jones Communication Network

The official death toll now is 51. But people on the ground say that hundreds died. One of the former prime ministers said that after he went through. Its not 50 peoplehundreds or thousands have died. But I dont know what the process is for making the count.

Officials gave the international press a little more access. I dont know if it was intentional. But at one NEMA briefing, I told the Minister of Tourism that I wanted to do an interview with him afterwards. Another reporter said that she had told him the same. When the press conference ended, we were waiting for him to come out, and the communications director of the Office of the Prime Minister walked out with him and took him straight outside to MSNBC. We followed, and they said, No local media, please wait. MSNBC wants to do an exclusive interview with the minister.

I felt very much insulted. I felt like I was being pushed to the side, when we are the ones reporting the stories for our people. Local media has the upper hand in getting announcements, and knowing people on the ground. This is our environment. I felt like we were disregarded and taken for granted.

I have seen the international media report a few inaccurate things. They said that NEMA requested that people on the islands who were affected by the storm go online and fill out a form. Thats not what NEMA saidthey know that if youre on the island you dont have access. It was for people who are missing relatives. If you have loved ones that are missing, fill in the form with their name so they can look for them.

Deandre Williamson

Print Journalist, The Bahama Journal

Local reporters will say exactly where a storm hits. We say it happened in Abaco, in Marsh Harbour and the settlement, and which parts of Grand Bahama were affected. In the international press, though, they just say The Bahamas. The Bahamas is made up of so many islands, and only two islands were affected.

Locally, weve been reporting where to get shelter, medical care, food, where to get relief, how relief is coming into the islands. We let readers know how they can help from Nassau. Also the death toll. We sent a team to Abaco and a team of Grand Bahama. We were invited to go back, but the news director said the scent of bodies was so strong that she does not want to send the team back again.

The US media now is focusing on immigration. I noticed stories about Bahamians going over there and how the US government is not going to allow them temporary status. So the US news is localizing the story for themselves. Today at a press conference in Nassau a Washington Post reporter asked about the relationship between Haitians and Bahamians. This is because Trump said he doesnt want more Haitians in the United States, and accused Haitians in the Bahamas of trying to illegally come to the US as hurricane victims.

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'There's nothing there:' Bahamian reporters weather Dorian, and the international press - Columbia Journalism Review

The kids are back in school and old routines are re-emerging busier roads, packing lunches, rushing for school buses, team tryouts, and bullying.

Thats right bullying.

Its a pressing reality for families, teachers, administrators and the broader community.

There are some harsh realities we have to deal with. Its troubling to learn that Canada peaceful Canada has the ninth highest bullying rate among 13 year olds out of 35 countries. Forty-seven per cent of Canadian parents report their children being victims of bullying practices. One in three students report being bullied recently.

Some of the harsh treatment is reserved for targeted groups. For example, the rate of discrimination experienced among students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-identified, queer, questioning or two-spirited, (LGBTQ2) is three times higher than among heterosexual youth.

The practice of bullying involves physical and emotional oppression that is controlling, damaging and intentional. For boys it most often comes in the form of physical force; for girls, its often verbal abuse. It can take place in person or on the internet, where girls are often the victims. Its a blight on any community, turning a school, home, community organization or city into a place of intimidation, fear and isolation.

The harassment is serious enough that it leads to higher risks of suicidal death in youth. So the arrival of the school season brings with it increased levels of danger.

Our education systems are situated at the forefront of this trend and they have taken steps to deal with the problem and educate the broader community about its responsibilities.

One of the most powerful resources in the anti-bullying campaign is Saidat Vandenberg, a London talent whose influence has reached impressive levels.

Her powerful skill is more than matched by the kind of enthusiasm that mobilizes youth. Her live production, The Saidat Show, has made its way through a long string of communities, especially schools. Performing in front of 600,000 kids in recent years has helped Saidat who performs under her first name shape a message for those experiencing bullying.

Being recognized by the likes of Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Sony Music Canada and tens of thousands of fans has assisted this Londoner in spreading her captivating voice even further.

What makes The Saidat Show unique is its positive and affirming tone the opposite of the negative communications often delivered about bullying. Yes, people need to stand up to the practice of oppressing others, especially kids, but Saidat feels one of the best defences against bullies is to build up the confidence and self-respect of those frequently targeted.

She does this through arts. Her powerful singing voice and magnetic on-stage presence confirm for kids that standing up for oneself is good not only for those targeted but also for their families and communities.

If bullying is to be defeated, it will take a co-ordinated community response to assist the school system and parents in providing safer settings.

Similar to Saidat, American young adult author Megan Kelley Hall (Dear Bully) feels its time to stop the blame game and get on with the task of building more secure communities.

School administrators cant say its up to the parents. Parents cant say its up to the teachers. Teachers cant say its not their job. And kids cant say, I was too afraid to tell, she says. Every single one of us has to play our role if were serious about putting an end to the madness. We are all responsible. We must be.

If were looking for an example of someone who has learned to take a hurtful practice and turn it into a community message designed to strengthen the bullied and not just curtail the bully, Saidat Vandenberg is a great example.

Soon she will embark on a tour that will take her success in London farther afield. A message, honed in London, that maintains that one can be attacked but that their self-respect cant be destroyed unless it is surrendered, might help us turn the corner on developing a full community response toward this growing problem.

Glen Pearson is co-director of the London Food Bank and a former Liberal MP for the riding of London North Centre. glen@glenpearson.ca

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Pearson: London performer in forefront of fight against bullying - The London Free Press

Ahold Delhaize USA has adopted a new sustainable chemistry policy for its products and packaging.

Under the initiative, the companys Food Lion, Giant Food, Giant/Martins, Hannaford and Stop & Shop supermarket chains; Peapod online grocery arm; and Retail Business Services (RBS) support unit will restrict certain chemicals from products and packaging as well as work with suppliers to ensure products meet standards for ingredients beyond whats required by law.

Related: Ahold Delhaize USA builds fresh kitchen in Rhode Island

The five grocery retailers, Peapod and RBS also will collaborate with suppliers to address the causes of any contaminants, Ahold Delhaize USA said yesterday in announcing the effort.

The great local brands of Ahold Delhaize USA are known for their close local and personal connections with customers and communities, Brittni Furrow, vice president of sustainable retailing and healthy living at Ahold Delhaize USA, said in a statement. Consumers indicate they want more transparent products for their families, made with ingredients they can feel good about. Were pleased to launch this new commitment, which will bring more sustainable options, free from unwanted ingredients, to neighborhood grocery stores.

Related: Ahold Delhaize USAs RBS arm opens new tech office

Under the new practices, Ahold Delhaize USA and its subsidiaries will restrict the intentional use of chemicals of concern including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), bisphenol A (BPAs) and phthalates, among others and put them on a restricted substance list for the companys private-brand products and food packaging. The list also will help ensure that more sustainable alternatives for these chemicals are used, the company added.

Starting in 2020, Ahold Delhaize USAs business units will expand supplier testing requirements to confirm that priority products meet standards above whats required by U.S. law for potential chemicals of concern. The company said its local brands are committed to using credible certification programs that further address priority materials for coffee, tea and cocoa products with Rainforest Alliance, Fair Trade or organic programs.

Ahold Delhaize USA and its brands, too, will partner with suppliers, agricultural producers and external organizations to research and minimize potential contaminants of concern in finished products, as well as to advance greener chemistry options. The company said it also aims to provide more product ingredient information to consumers, beyond whats required by law, to support the selection of trusted brands and products.

In addition, beginning next year, Ahold Delhaize USA and its companies will participate in The Chemical Footprint Project and report annually on the companys progress toward its sustainable chemistry commitment.

Each of the Ahold Delhaize USA companies is committed to sustainable chemistry from farms and fields to production and packaging to store shelves, Furrow explained. Sustainable chemistry is a complex and evolving topic, but one that Ahold Delhaize USA and its companies are committed to addressing in collaboration with others in the best interest of consumers.

According to Food Lion, Ahold Delhaize USAs largest chain by stores, with more than 1,000 locations in the Southeast, the company will also monitor emerging information and reports to ensure that their restricted substance lists are updated regularly.

The Salisbury, N.C.-based grocery chain noted that the work builds on an effort begun last year by RBS to remove synthetic colors, artificial flavors and preservatives, sweeteners, MSG and high-fructose corn syrup from all private-label products by 2025. RBS, also based in Salisbury, develops private-brand products for each of the Ahold Delhaize USA supermarket brands.

Food Lion is committed to caring for our customers and our communities. This sustainable chemistry commitment is just one more way we are demonstrating that care through our sustainability initiatives, stated Meg Ham, president of Food Lion. Food Lion has always been committed to making available the best products for our customers to nourish their families and today we are taking that commitment one step further.

Overall, Ahold Delhaize USA operates nearly 2,000 supermarkets on the East Coast and generates more than 6 billion annualized online grocery orders.

Parent company Ahold Delhaize, based in Zaadam, the Netherlands, said at the end of 2018 that its delivering on its 2020 sustainability targets, including 50% of own-brand food sales recognized for good nutritional value, a 20% reduction in food waste since 2016 and a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions since 2008. By 2025, the company aims to make 100% of its own-brand plastic packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable.

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Ahold Delhaize USA raises sustainability standards - Supermarket News

by Novi Zhukovsky | 9/18/19 2:25am

Theres a saying at the College that its easy to get caught up in the Dartmouth bubble. Since Hanover, NH pop. 11,485 provides limited forms of entertainment for college students, the attention of the school community turns inward. Not much can lever our attention away from the center. This summer, however, the sacred Dartmouth bubble was popped.

Between July 29 and Aug. 1, 18 people were arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents in Hartford, VT. These raids were part of a nationwide federal crackdown on immigrants without documentation. But some observers thought they came at a suspicious moment, just when the Hartford Selectboard was set to discuss passing a local ordinance that addresses how much information local police are required to share with federal immigration officers regarding the documentation status of local citizens. English and women, gender and sexuality studies professor Alexis Jetter, a veteran activist who has been involved in protesting ICE activity near campus, said she believes that authorities used these raids to discourage protest.

This is exactly what ICE loves to do. Come into communities where there is resistance to ICE and show us that we are helpless in the face of their power, might and cruelty. They are showing that no one can escape, she said.

Many activist groups were quick to respond. Rise! Upper Valley, a grassroots organization focused on immigration policy, staged a rally in Hartford on Aug. 14 to protest the ICE arrests, according to Valley News. The protest kicked off in Lyman Point Park with speeches, and eventually evolved into a march along Route 14, with the group coming to a stop at the Route 5 intersection. The rally spread across the road and blocked traffic for several hours. The protest eventually ended with a total of 26 arrests including those of several Dartmouth faculty and students. History professor Pamela Voekel was among those arrested. While she had not attended the rally with the intention of being arrested, in the moment, she decided that it was the right thing to do. Voekel explained that many of the other protestors who were arrested shared a similar view.

There was a real feeling that with the privilege we have, either as professors or older, wealthier people, it made sense for us to put ourselves in the fight, Voekel said.

As a professor who teaches Mexican history, many of Voekels students are part of the affected communities or are undocumented themselves. Moreover, her knowledge of Mexican history gives her a deeper empathy for the challenges Mexican migrants experience.

History professor Annelise Orleck, another participant in the Rise! Upper Valley protest, believes that professors can play key roles in guiding political activism. Orleck said she thinks that professors can help advise and inform students who may have less experience with political activism. She also said that professors especially history professors are well-positioned to help their students understand the wider background of the movements so that their activism is more intentional and knowledge-based.

Knowing history is really important. And I think that faculty can help place their students activism in a larger historical context, she said.

Both Voekel and Orleck believe that regardless of their own personal political views, they have a responsibility to create a classroom environment in which their students feel open to express their own opinions. They say that they welcome respectful discourse and dissent and encourage their students to base their beliefs whatever they may be in knowledge and understanding.

My sense of responsibility as a teacher is to create a thoughtful, respectful, open environment for discussion in my classroom and to encourage students to ground their arguments in evidence and speak to each other respectfully, Orleck said. I know that I have to make sure that students of all kinds, and holding of all views, feel safe to express themselves in my classroom.

Voekel said her own political views are not the focus. While she makes no attempt to hide them, she argues that students learn more when their assumptions and biases are challenged rather than when being lectured or told what to think.

But the real world continues to intrude. Following the August raids and the RISE! Upper Valley protest, ICE set up a checkpoint along I-89, just outside of Lebanon, the day before Pre-Orientation for Dartmouths international students. Dartmouth was quick to produce a statement criticizing ICEs actions and emphasizing the schools mission to maintain a school environment that is open and welcoming.

Some, however, believe that the Colleges comments did not go far enough. Jetter said that the statement was weak, and that Dartmouth needs to take a stronger public stance to protect its undocumented students. However, she acknowledged that behind closed doors, Dartmouth has taken measures to protect its at-risk students. She said that the contrast between the Colleges public and private actions reflects a clear strategy to support its students without calling the ire of its conservative alumi and donors.

Remember, when the president of Dartmouth speaks, the alums are the audience. And many of them are conservative. In fact, lets be specific here, many of the people who have historically given the most money have been conservative. Republican hedge fund managers are the ones who have the most money to give, and they have historically been overrepresented in the Board of Trustees, Jetter said.

Voekel also said that Dartmouth does not consistently support students with immigration issues. Students frequently complain to her about how difficult it is for them to speak with a faculty member who has the resources and knowledge to help them. And as immigration-related issues are frequently time-sensitive, maintaining an efficient and intuitive system is especially important.

Voekel said that she believes that Dartmouths organizational issues in the immigration office are due to a combination of factors. Similarly to Jetter, she said that systemic issues within the College can hinder its motivation and ability to streamline access to resources and aid.

Dartmouth doesnt have a practice of listening closely enough and privileging the voices of people from the affected communities, she said. And thats in part because we are also the whitest faculty in the Ivy League. And that matters. Not because there arent plenty of liberals, or that any given faculty member is a racist, but overall, it creates a kind of blind spot. We tend not to respond with the same kind of alacrity we should be responding with And so its a two-pronged problem. We have many conservative alums and an overwhelmingly white faculty.

There has been a mixed response to the recent events by students across campus. Riley Gordon 22, president of the Dartmouth Democrats, wrote in an email that he condemned recent federal actions and believes that members of the Dartmouth community need to support each other during this time.

The scare tactics of ICE and CBP are not welcome here. Its important not only for local leaders to take steps to welcome and protect immigrants but for students, regardless of immigration or citizenship status, to know their rights and to stick up for one another, he wrote.

Conversely, the Dartmouth Republicans pledged their support for the efforts of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and disagreed with the way in which the College approached their response to the checkpoint. In an official post on its Facebook page, the organization stated that while it agrees with Dartmouths stance that issues regarding immigration and security are important, they strongly criticized the Colleges declaration of open and welcoming values. The club said that Dartmouths statement disregarded the rule of law and irresponsibly and shamelessly denounced the morality of the federal law enforcement.

Regardless of which side of the political spectrum on which one falls, immigration is an issue that will continue to create friction within the nation until Congress is able to craft a coherent immigration policy. Judging by the recent activity on campus and in the larger Upper Valley, many are unhappy with the direction that the current American administration is taking. Headlines about detention camps, arrest raids and family separation have been prominent in the news and on social media, dividing the populace. Immigration issues have also taken a front row seat in the recent Democratic presidential debates, with each candidate offering his or her opinion on how to solve the crisis.

However, there is some hope. This issue has brought together students, faculty and lifetime activists who are passionate about finding a solution.

I am excited by the political and moral mobilization of the youngest activists, Orleck said. And I do think that your generation will lead the way because you have to. And because I am a historian and an activist, I believe that you always need to know whose shoulders you stand on and learn from the experiences of those who came before. I am very heartened by this growing cooperation across the generations of activists.

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Turning Up the Heat: Immigration Activism in the Summer - The Dartmouth

A new program through the University of Nebraska-Lincolns residence halls looks to help students plan for their future.

To Tony Rathgeber, the interim director of residence life and associate director of housing, student life in the residence halls is an important aspect to their time at the university. Thats why he and a team of campus staff worked to create the Nebraska Residential Experience.

The Nebraska Residential Experience works to take traditional practices used in a classroom and utilize those in residence halls, according to Jordan Black, the associate director for Learning Experiences in Residence Life.

In other words, its an intentional, cohesive approach to creating meaningful learning experiences for students based on the Husker Student POWER framework, Rathgeber said in an email.

POWER, which stands for Purpose, Ownership, Well-being, Engagement and Relationships, focuses on students being able to refine what their idea is for their future, discover what resources they can use to help them and realize they have members of their residence hall there to guide them, according to the Nebraska Residential Experience website.

Its a matter of how we are leveraging the expertise of all of our staff, Black said.

Development of the curriculum began during spring break earlier this year with the help of an expert consultant and workshop activities for the Residence Life staff. Twenty members of the Academic Affairs and Student Affairs departments participated, Rathgeber said.

As the interim director of residence life and associate director of housing, Rathgeber leads Residence Life and aids the leadership of University Housing, he said.

Black said he played a role in the creation of the curriculum by overseeing changes in the learning program communities, hall government and evaluation of the apartments.

One obstacle the team faced was working against time, Rathgeber said.

Most campuses spend 12-18 months developing what weve created in five months, he said. And the recommendation from our consultant was to launch at the start of this semester close to 40% completed, which weve done.

The team couldnt be prouder of the curriculum, Black said.

I think the people that contributed to it have made a phenomenal product for our first iteration, he said. I think one of the things that it really shows is the dedication people within the department have.

The team will make continual changes and improvements to the program over the next three years, Rathgeber said.

Its important to note that a project like this is never truly done and lives in a state of continuous assessment, refinement and improvement, he said.

Black said its important to know that students needs are constantly changing.

We want to make sure the curriculum is responsive to that and not that wed develop something and let it sit on a shelf, he said.

Transparency, positive experiences and relationships are all things that the team wants students to see in the residential halls, according to Black.

The curriculum is allowing us to create an intentional, holistic experience within the residence halls that we know is consistent across every one of our halls and that all of our students are benefitting from, Black said.

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Student resident life improved through Nebraska Resident Experience - Daily Nebraskan

USC sports psychologist Lani Lawrence spoke to students at a Residential Education event on Sept. 10. Residential Education took over planning programming this year to lessen the work load for resident assistants. (Ally Wei | Daily Trojan)

Residential Education has implemented extensive changes to this Falls residential curriculum. It will now create the programs hosted by resident assistants to offload the RAs stress of creating their own weekly events.

Some of the [resident assistants] would be over-programming and running the risk of not taking time for themselves to slow down and to focus on their academics, just to breathe and be a student, said Emily Sandoval, the senior director for Residential Education.

According to Natalia Wurst, a second-year RA at Trojan Hall, the majority of her free time during her first year as a resident assistant was used for extensive planning, coordinating and hosting events. Now, Wurst, a junior majoring in public policy and psychology, says she has a much smaller input on the programs.

You get to pick the theme of your event I could have done pizza instead of an ice cream social [for my event], but for the most part, the core components of the program are the same for all the RAs, Wurst said. I think thats just so [Residential Education] can standardize what is being presented to residents.

Bulletin boards are another large responsibility that was offloaded from the residential advisors. In the previous curriculum, advisors were expected to decorate bulletin boards in their residential college under certain guidelines.

I know [the bulletin boards] were something that took a lot of time and I dont really think [they were] that important, said Maya Hildebrand, a past residential advisor at Cowlings and Ilium and a senior majoring in mechanical engineering. I know, for example, RAs would put up bulletin boards and then they would get torn down by the end of the day.

A primary goal of offloading programming and activities like bulletin boards was to encourage the resident assistants to have genuine and intentional interactions with their residents.

RAs wanted to be involved with our program because they wanted to help their fellow Trojans, one of the number one priorities for RAs becoming RAs, said Erin Hunter, the Residential Education Associate Director for the University Park Campus. We were hoping that reducing the programmatic effort would allow them to have Trojan Talks with intentional interactions, relationship-building opportunities and tough conversations more frequently.

Hunter created a committee of staff to pilot the new residential curriculum model in March 2019. Dr. Keith Edwards, a national keynote speaker on topics like sexual violence prevention, student affairs leadership and the residential experience, attended a two-day intensive training with Hunters staff, allowing the committee to organize its pivot to the new curriculum.

Dr. Keith Edwards worked really closely with us He said to launch the curriculum at 40%, Sandoval said. Were not 100 percent% done planning it out Part of the beauty of this is that we adjust and evolve to what the residents need.

The curriculum focuses on four goals: equity and inclusion, self-awareness, well-being and community engagement. Each goal has intended outcomes that Residential Education hopes will meaningfully contribute to global communities as a result of their residence on campus at USC, the educational priority of the new programming.

Hildebrand said she hopes Residential Education continues making changes based on the well-being of the resident assistants, citing that tough conversations often magnified their levels of stress.

The biggest stress doesnt come from the programming itself, but it comes from feeling like you are this resource for your floor, youre this therapist for your floor, youre also a police for your floor and all of the above, Hildebrand said. Another good step would be having more resources for an RA, such as a counselor at Engemann specifically for RAs to go see.

As for Residential Education, they will continue altering the new curriculum as they receive feedback from resident assistants, residents and residential college coordinators.

I think that no matter what a first-year student chooses to do what academic college they are in, what student organizations they decide to join, if theyre a student-athlete or a part of student government where their head hits the pillow has to be home, Sandoval said.

Residential Education encourages residents and resident assistants to submit their feedback on the residential experience in a survey that will be sent to students in October.

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Residential Education centralizes program curriculums - Daily Trojan Online

The 1971 Synod of Bishops made it clear that the work of justice is essential to our Catholic Christian identity. The bishops said that action on behalf of justice is a "constitutive dimension" of Christian living.

I serve on the adult faith formation committees at St. Nicholas Parish in O'Fallon, Illinois. Over the past several months, we have been discussing how we as a parish can normalize the work of justice, make justice part of "the way we do things."

The people of St. Nicholas have an excellent track record when it comes to doing the work of charity. Whether it be the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Soup Bus that feeds people in East St. Louis, Illinois, the ministry to sick and homebound persons, or many others the willingness of the St. Nicholas faith community to share time, talent and treasure with persons in need is impressive.

But we have also come to realize that we are not good at doing the work of justice. We've uncovered several reasons why social justice isn't on our radar screen:

It's big. The social justice teaching touches every aspect of our personal and communal lives family, parish, diocese, workplace, local community, nation, world.

It's complicated. The social teaching is based on a web of interactive moral values and principles the dignity of the human person, human rights and responsibilities, stewardship of the Earth, the common good, the preferential option for the poor, peacemaking. The interplay among these various values and principles makes the social teaching difficult to understand and apply to specific issues.

It's "idealistic." The social teaching presents a hope-filled vision of the world as God intends it to be. That leaves it open to the criticism that "it's pie in the sky that's not how the real world works."

It's "political." Issues like the death penalty, care of the environment, and immigration are often considered taboo. So they're rarely addressed from the pulpit and quickly shushed when they come up in everyday conversation.

It's threatening. Who among us wants to admit our own prejudices? Who is willing to challenge the views of family and friends who believe the government is "giving away everything for free" to poor people? Who would dare challenge the profit motive, free enterprise or any of the other principles upon which our economy is built?

It's countercultural. It challenges some of the bedrock assumptions and values of our economy, our culture and our politics. Most of us assume that the cultural status quo is acceptable, or even the way things ought to be.

It's hard work. The principles of social justice demand that we make changes in the way we think and act. Who likes to call out sexism and race prejudice? How many of us want to live more simply? Who is willing to change the way they think about whom to vote for and against?

The members of the adult faith formation committee know that action on behalf of justice is something we need to do as a parish. So far, we've reached consensus on three elements of a strategy to normalize the work of justice.

First, we need to become more aware of the social teaching. The principles of the social teaching should become part of our standard operating procedure.

Msgr. Bill Hitpas, pastor of St. Nicholas, has begun to make social justice a more intentional focus of his homilies. He knows that his homilies reach more parishioners than any other form of parish communication and that his words carry much weight.

We need to read about it and talk about it in discussion groups, study groups, and small Christian communities. We've concluded that it's not enough to have a group of 15 parishioners participate in JustFaith or some similar program.

Throughout the fall, St. Nicholas is hosting a series of Scripture studies on the prophets, and on the prophetic role of the laity in the church. The prophets were heralds of God's justice, and the Second Vatican Council clearly articulated our baptismal calling to exercise our prophetic role in the world.

We have scheduled an evening meal through an organization known as Welcome Neighbor STL. We will be served a meal prepared by a family of refugees from Afghanistan. We will then hear their story, and engage in dialogue with them about the challenges they have faced as they start a new life in this country.

Second, we need to internalize the social teaching. We need to reflect on it and pray about it regularly and repeatedly. It should shape our worldview, become a primary lens through which we interpret our personal and social experience.

We need to challenge ourselves and our lifestyle. Do I own more possessions than I truly need? Do I choose to live in my neighborhood because it's not integrated? Do I send my kids to Catholic schools so they won't be a minority at their public school? Does the company I work for treat its employees justly, pay its fair share of taxes, help to protect the environment?

Third, we need to act on the social teaching. There are many things we can do organize a meeting, join a march, seek signatures on a petition, call or write our legislators. This will be an ongoing topic of conversation.

Jesus came to establish the reign of God on earth to transform the political, social and religious status quo in such a way that God's loving justice is visible and available to all. It is a necessary part of our Christian vocation to help make the reign of God on earth a reality. We are called to shake up the system, to turn the world's unjust normalcy on its head. This is not an option for us.

The reign of God will not come about in its fullness, and the peace that is the result of social justice will not happen, unless we make it happen.

[Mark Etling is coordinator of adult faith formation at St. Nicholas Parish in O'Fallon, Illinois. He is an adjunct assistant professor of theology at St. Louis University.]

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At an Illinois parish, we set about normalizing the work of justice - National Catholic Reporter

CHARLOTTE PRIDE, INC.

September 18, 2019 | Views:

Overview:Charlotte Pride is the leader in LGBTQ visibility in Charlotte and the Carolinas. Charlotte Pride is seeking an intersectional, experienced part-time Programs Associate to be an essential part of the successful implementation of Charlotte Pride programming.Our Programs Associate will act as a member of Charlotte Prides staff and planning teams, working to ensure the development of thoughtful, intentional programming to uplift the LGBTQ community of Charlotte and the surrounding regions. Our Programs Associate will directly report to the Programs Director and will work closely with Board of Directors, all staff, volunteers and partners.

Role responsibilities: Programs Associate will work to take ownership of a portion of the programs of Charlotte Pride including, but not limited to; 2020 NERP/POSE InterPride Conference. Latinx Pride. Reel Out Charlotte. Scholarship Program. Trans Pride. Womens Pride. Recruit, organize and coordinate volunteers to effectively manage program tasks and goals. Host info sessions and team meetings for organizational programs, leading conversation and taking community input on event and program outcomes. Manage individual event planning from inception to execution. A particular focus of this role will include event management, including development of workshops/schedule, management of registrations and reservations and more.What the first 30 days looks like Work directly with staff to gain understanding of organization and Associate role goals. Begin meeting with all organizational key volunteers and partners. Begin planning for new, inventive ideas for organizational programs.What the first 60 days looks like Display a near-complete understanding of organizational structure, goals and programs. With Programs Director supervision, begin executing events and programs to help uplift intentional outreach communities.

Who we are looking for: Charlotte Pride welcomes all applicants and is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage women, transgender and Latinx identified individuals to apply. Be a passionate, motivated person who wants to uplift and make the LGBTQ community. Someone working with an intersectional, intentional lens. Someone who enjoys collaboration with community partners and other organizations. A person with a demonstrated history of working with diverse, multicultural organizations. A person experienced with working with volunteers and handling delicate situations with care. Someone willing to work beyond standard work hours for major programs and events. A self-starter with flexible scheduling, able to coordinate in-person with staff and also work remotely when necessary. Of 20 hours per week, Associate will work approximately 10 hours in office. An experienced programming coordinator, dedicated to detail-oriented and thoughtful work, able to balance a variety of focuses and produce high-quality work. Preference may be given to individuals who are multilingual, particularly those who speak and write Spanish fluently.

Compensation: Compensation for this role will be between $16,000-$20,000/salaried annually dependent on experience.

To apply:Email resume, a brief statement of interest and compensation requirements to Jerry Yelton at jerry@charlottepride.org. Subject line should read Programs Associate Candidate Your Name. Applications will be considered as they are received.

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Part-Time Programs Associate - Charlotte Agenda

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Beneficial microbes pursue certain types of dietary fiber, findings that could aid design of foods

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that beneficial gut microbes thrive when fed specific fiber types. The researchers developed artificial food particles that allow them to measure how different fiber types are processed by human gut bacteria as the fibers transit through the mouse intestine. The artificial food particles consist of magnetic beads with fiber molecules coating the surface. Different colored fluorescent labels allow the researchers to track which fiber type is attached to which bead.

Certain human gut microbes with links to health thrive when fed specific types of ingredients in dietary fibers, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The work conducted in mice colonized with human gut bacteria and using new technologies for measuring nutrient processing is a step toward developing more nutritious foods based on a strategy of targeted enrichment of key members of gut microbial communities. The researchers identified fibers that selectively increase the abundance of beneficial microbes and tracked down the bioactive components of fibers responsible for their effects. To decipher how members of gut communities compete or cooperate with each other for these fiber ingredients, they also invented a type of artificial food particle that acts as a biosensor for monitoring nutrient processing within the intestine.

The study appears Sept. 19 in the journal Cell.

We are in the midst of a revolution in food science where the naturally occurring molecules present in various food staples are being identified using advanced analytic tools, said senior author Jeffrey I. Gordon, MD, the Dr. Robert J. Glaser Distinguished University Professor, director of the Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences & Systems Biology and leader of the current study. The resulting encyclopedias of food ingredients are providing an opportunity to understand how gut microbes are able to detect and transform these ingredients to products they use to satisfy their own needs, as well as share with us. Cracking the code of what dietary ingredients beneficial microbes covet is a key to designing foods that enhance health.

Dietary fiber is known to promote health, but typical Western diets are lacking in high-fiber fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. Fibers contain very diverse and complex collections of molecules. The specific components of various fibers that are used by gut bacteria and confer health benefits are generally not known. Since the human genome possesses a very limited arsenal of genes that break down dietary fiber, and many gut bacterial species are chock full of these genes, people depend on gut microbes to digest fiber.

In an effort to understand which types of fiber promote the representation of different types of beneficial microbes in the human gut, and the nature of their active ingredients, the researchers screened 34 types of fiber provided by the food company Mondelez International. Their list included fibers often discarded during food manufacturing, such as fruit and vegetable peels and grain husks.

The researchers began by colonizing mice raised under sterile conditions with a collection of gut bacteria species they had cultured from a healthy human. The genomes of these organisms were sequenced to inventory their genes. Groups of mice containing this model human gut community initially were fed a base human diet high in saturated fats and low in fiber. Next, the researchers screened 144 derivative diets containing different types and amounts of fiber supplements. The investigators monitored the effects of the added fibers on levels of members of the model gut community, as well as expression of the proteins encoded by their genomes.

Microbes are master teachers, Gordon said. The microbial genes that respond to the different fibers provided an important clue as to what kinds of molecules in a given type of fiber a given community member preferred to consume.

Said first author Michael L. Patnode, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in Gordons lab: Our screen identified food-grade fibers that selectively affected different species belonging to a group of bacteria known as Bacteroides. Our experiments showed that in pea fiber, the active molecular constituents included a type of polysaccharide called arabinan, whereas in citrus pectin recovered from orange peels, another type of polysaccharide called homogalacturonan was responsible for expansion of the bacteria.

The researchers uncovered interactions between gut bacterial species that help explain the selective effects of fibers on Bacteroides species. It turns out that some of the Bacteroides in their community directly compete with each other to consume components of dietary fibers, while others defer to their neighbors. Understanding these relationships is important for developing foods that are optimally processed by different microbial populations that live together in the gut, according to the researchers.

To dissect these relationships, Patnode created artificial food particles consisting of different types of magnetic, microscopic glass beads. Each type contained a given fiber-derived polysaccharide bound to the beads surface together with a given type of bound fluorescent label. The collection of different bead types was introduced simultaneously into the intestines of different groups of mice colonized with the human gut microbial community with or without intentional omission of one or more of its Bacteroides members. Food particles then were recovered after passage through the intestines of these animals, and the amount of polysaccharide remaining on the particles surfaces was measured.

These artificial food particles acted as biosensors, allowing us to decipher how inclusion or omission of Bacteroides influenced the communitys ability to process the different polysaccharides present on the different beads, Patnode said. Moreover, we were able to monitor fiber degradation in different diet contexts.

Gordon noted that nutrient-containing artificial food particles could not only be used as biosensors to define the functional capabilities of a persons microbial community, but also could help food scientists develop methods for producing more nutritious foods containing different combinations of health-promoting bioactive fiber components.

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant numbers DK070977, DK078669 and F32DK107158; Mondelez International; and the Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences Division of the Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), grant number DE-SC0015662.

Gordon is a co-founder of Matatu Inc., a company characterizing the role of diet-by-microbiota interactions in animal health.

Patnode ML, Beller ZW, Han ND, Cheng J, Peters SL, Terrapon N, Henrissat B, Le Gall S, Saulnier L, Hayashi DK, Meynier A, Vinoy S, Giannone RJ, Hettich RL, Gordon JI. Interspecies competition impacts targeted manipulation of human gut bacteria by fiber-derived glycans. Cell. Sept. 19, 2019.

Washington University School of Medicines 1,500 faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals. The School of Medicine is a leader in medical research, teaching and patient care, ranking among the top 10 medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

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For gut microbes, not all types of fiber are created equal - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

The University hired Dara Kwayera Imani Bayer 08 this summer to serve as its inaugural Transformative Justice Program Coordinator, where she will oversee projects that aim to address violence and instances of harm through accountability and healing rather than punitive or legal measures.

Camila Pelsinger 20, who is a transformative justice student coordinator, spearheaded a year of advocacy that culminated in Bayers hiring. Bayer will serve in a two-year pilot position funded by the Office of the Provost.

The foundational principles of the transformative justice model come from indigenous teachings, which say that we are interconnected, that everyone has a space and that when harm happens its because there is something that needs to be repaired as opposed to something that needs to be extracted from the community, Bayer said.

Bayer will work closely with Marc Peters, assistant director for community dialogue and campus engagement, on the Community Dialogue Project, which aims to help students foster intentional community and navigate conflict in their everyday lives, and cultivate student capacity to heal, process and learn through storytelling, dialogue and transformative processes, according to its mission statement.

This semester, Bayer plans to roll out a yearlong Transformative Justice Practitioner program for a cohort of around 10 students. The cohort will work to better understand the nature of harm within their communities and relationship networks. They will also explore how their communities envision justice and accountability, Bayer said. In the spring, the students will begin an apprenticeship program guided by what they learned in the fall.

Training students to work within their communities is key because for real transformation to happen, we have to work not just to change things outside of ourselves, but within ourselves, she said.

While transformative justice is already used in some contexts on campus, particularly in response to gender-based violence, Peters said students have noted a gap in University resources to address conflict and harm through a non-punitive and more holistic approach.

Bayer was hired after a search process that followed a set of focus groups and informal conversations Pelsinger organized in fall 2018, when she was serving as vice president for the Undergraduate Council of Students. Those focus groups and conversations explored existing resources on campus and their capacity to introduce more community-based mechanisms of addressing instances of harm and violence, Pelsinger said.

Pelsinger ran for UCS vice president in spring 2018 with the distinct goal of wanting to create alternative systems of healing and accountability for those in our community who have experienced harm, she wrote in a Feb. 5 op-ed upon her resignation.

Pelsinger said she hopes that Bayers position will protect people from re-experiencing harm and from needing to live with the guilt that because they didnt report something someone else is being harmed, Pelsinger said. I really see this new position as a way of opening up dialogue about the harm that is happening in our communities and how we can hold each other accountable and how we can prevent harm from happening in the future.

After exploring positions that exist at other universities and deal with issues of violence and harm, Pelsinger found that those frameworks did not entirely fit what the focus groups envisioned would thrive at the University. Pelsinger then worked with Peters and former UCS President Shanz Tahir 19 to draft a proposal for a new type of position, which she presented to Provost Richard Locke P18 at the end of the fall semester.

UCS was the organization that gave us the platform to have these conversations and also to meet with administrators, Pelsinger said.

A search committee was created after the Provosts Office approved the pilot position. The committee included Peters, Pelsinger, UCS Chief of Staff Melissa Lee 20, Assistant Director for the Brown Center for Students of Color Olivia McNeill and Student Success Program Coordinator for the Undocumented, First-Generation College and Low-Income Student Center Renata Mauriz 17.

The search committee was struck by Bayers way of embodying the values of the work in every aspect of her work and life, Peters said.

Pelsinger also noted Bayers magical way of communicating transformative justice in a way that was accessible to people who were not even aware of transformative justice beforehand, she said. Thats such a wonderful skill to have and I think we really valued that.

In addition, we really liked that (Bayer is) a Brown alum, so she has experience being a part of the Brown community, Lee said.

Previously, Bayer worked as a humanities teacher and in a restorative justice role in Boston Public Schools. As an undergraduate, Bayer remembers coming into my consciousness, in part by participating in activism on campus that urged police accountability and University transparency.

Bayer acknowledged that while transformative justice is a community-based practice, educational institutions are here to support the development of young people.

The kinds of changes we will want arent going to be given to us by institutions necessarily, theyre going to be created through the self-activity of people coming together and organizing themselves and being in a relationship with each other.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that focus groups and conversations explored the capacity of on-campus resources to introduce more community-based mechanisms of conflict-mediation. In fact, they explored the capacity to introduce community-based mechanisms of addressing instances of harm and violence. In addition, the article previously stated that the focus groups explored similar positions at other universities. In fact, Camila Pelsinger 20 explored those positions. The Herald regrets the errors.

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University hires transformative justice program coordinator - The Brown Daily Herald

There is a lot of talk among policymakers and advocates about how to help economically distressed communities and how a tax incentive such as opportunity zones will improve these areas. Supporters of the opportunity zone incentive argue that an infusion of private capital is all that is needed to put distressed communities on an upward economic trajectory. What proponents of the incentive miss is what created these distressed communities in the first place. Certain communities did not become distressed by some invisible hand but as the result of intentional policies including, for example, forced displacement under urban renewal and institutional structures such as redlining. These policies and structuresdefined as structural racismhelped to form these distressed communities, which tend to be overwhelmingly communities of color. Therefore, any solution that does not account for structural racism will produce ineffective outcomes because it will leave the underlying issue unaddressed. This is exactly the problem with opportunity zones.

The opportunity zone incentive was established as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to spur economic development in low-income neighborhoods through the use of favorable tax treatment of realized capital gains. Framers of the bill argued that the incentive would encourage private capital to flow to those areas, claiming that these communities only need an infusion of funds to improve economic outcomes. However, the policys design centers on the investment communitynot on the residents in the designated census tracts. There are many additional problems with the programs design that also stem from the bills framers ignoring the very people they are supposed to help. If the framers had actually targeted the existing opportunity zone residents, they would have put into place guardrails to ensure equitable economic development. Unfortunately, that wasnt the case.

Moreover, the opportunity zone incentive is not the only program that relies on markets to solve systemic poverty. Other examples include empowerment zones, promise zones, and other so-called place-based policies that look to private sector investment to uplift distressed communities yet fail to address the underlying issue of structural racism. Any solution to the problems in these communities must target the groups that have been systemically excluded from accessing resources.

The opportunity zone incentive seeks to revitalize communities by guiding realized capital gains from markets and directing them to investment projects in specifically designated U.S. census tracts. This approach falls within the concept of place-based policies, where government policy targets specific areas for development. Research on place-based policies is extensive and covers a variety of policies both in the United States and abroad.Economists David Neumarkand Helen Simpson provide a review of the literature, and the authors cover both the theoretical arguments and empirical evidence on place-based policies.

The theoretical justification for place-based policies hinges on the notion that externalities occur from the spatial location of individuals, firms, or industries within aregion. That is to say, the clustering of individuals, firms, or industries provides an added value to a regions level of productivity that would not have occurred without this critical mass. These externalities provide spillover benefits toward neighboring communities. For example, innovations will occur faster in a region with a cluster of firms producing related products than in a region with just one firm.

In practice, however, these programs are not effective for employment growth or poverty reduction. For example, empowerment zones offered business tax credits for hiring and block grants for infrastructure investment or training. However, research by economists C. Lockwood Reynolds and Shawn M. Rohlin found that the zones had no effect on local hiring, and any benefits realized went to landowners. The results are not surprising given that in developing these sorts of policy approaches, policymakers remain in denial of the structural barriers that have and continue to impede economic growth in certain communities. Hiring discrimination is still evident in the job market, and demographic disparities exist in training programs. The following section provides a brief description of the barriers that have limited these communities.

While the history that created distressed communities in the United States can be traced back to the Reconstruction period, a more contemporary reason can be found in the later civil rights era. In response to civil unrest that erupted during the summer of 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson convened a commission to study what had happened; why it happened; and what could be done to fix the problems. On February 29, 1968, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission, issued a scathing report that called into question the efficacy of existing American structures and institutions. The report argued that African Americans have been excluded from economic progress due to pervasive segregation and discrimination. It placed the blame squarely on white racism for the conditions that led to the riots. While not stated explicitly in the report, the Kerner Commission defined what has come to be known as structural racismspecifically, the systemic disenfranchisement of African Americans. The issues that African Americans faced and which led to the myriad riots of the mid- to late-1960s were not problems on an individual level; rather, they were the fault of a society and system that put a structure in place that limited economic opportunities for African Americans. Unfortunately, President Johnson rejected the reports conclusions and did not implement any of its recommendations.

More than a half-century later, the problems identified by the Kerner Commission remain the same. In fact, it could be argued that the problems outlined in the report have been exacerbated due to the consequences of race-neutral policies or the lack of adequate policy. The work of economist Darrick Hamilton has shown, for example, that there are penalties at the intersection of race and gender in the labor market. Therefore, remedies such as job training or education subsidies that dont account for these penalties will not close wage gaps. Many grievances that the commission found are still true today. These grievances include unfair targeting by law enforcement; separate and unequal education; diminished support from federal programs; and continuing discrimination in the housing market. Structural racism can be seen manifest in specific instances such as thewater crisis in Flint, Michigan,or thelack of heat in Baltimore schools.

Ignoring structural racism will limit the effectiveness of any capital investment in disadvantaged communities. First, capital may not come into these areas: Due to redlining and segregation, these communities do not provide the profit opportunities that will attract investors, and no tax incentive will change that. Second, capital investment likely will not fund the projects needed to combat the continuing problems plaguing these communities. Instead, capital investment will go to projects that will yield the largest return such as luxury condominiumsnot community centers. Third, capital investment will fund projects that will not only fail to help existing residents but will actually price them out and lead to displacement.

The opportunity zone incentive attempts to solve the first issue but does not engage the second or third. Capital cannot be the sole solution for distressed communities; the only goal of private capital is to maximize profitnot to uplift struggling communities or improve the economic outcomes of their residents. The celebrated growth of the middle class during the 20th century was not the result of private capital investment but specifically of federal policy through government-sponsored programs such as Federal Housing Administration loans and the GI Bill. However, these programs mostly excluded everyone other than white men from the benefits.

There have been many articles written that delve into the reasons why certain communities are distressed. These articles, in seeking to understand the problem, too often miss or ignore the fact that structural racism is at the heart of why distressed communities are distresseda reality that has been true throughout Americas history.

Just as in the past, barriers prevent resources from flowing into disadvantaged neighborhoods. No market mechanism nor any amount of private capital will break down those barriers. Only intentional and deliberate government policies to remove those barriers and support existing residents will work. This can be achieved in a number of ways, including by enforcing the Fair Housing Act and reinstating the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing tool, which would reduce racial segregation; strengthening the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which would lower barriers to gaining wealth; or through direct capital infusion by the federal government to build wealth in distressed communities. But more importantly, there needs to be a radical rethink of what economic development means, which in turn would inform the development of a new framework for creating policies that ensures equitable economic development.

Olugbenga Ajilore is a senior economist at the Center for American Progress.

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The Harvest of American Racism - Center For American Progress

Thousands of Liberty University students showed up to a spontaneous worship service held at sunset in what one official called "the essence of Liberty U."

David Nasser, the senior vice president of theOffice of Spiritual Development, told Fox News that his wife, Jennifer, was having her quiet time one morning when she felt like students needed an impromptu opportunity to come together for worship and prayer. So he put out an invite on Twitter the night before.

WATCH: KANYE WEST PREACHES RADICAL OBEDIENCE TO JESUS DURING SUNDAY SERVICE IN ATLANTA

"It's going to be an amazing time...with a stunning sunset as our backdrop," Nasser wrote, expectingjust a few hundred students to show.

The team was shockedwhen word spread and a large portion of the campus showed up.

"It was humbling to see over 4,000students gather to make much of God," Nasser said."This is the essence of Liberty U. Godly students dedicated to living their lives as worship."

Hours before the service, Nasser had to break the newsthat the service would not be streamed but, after a parent asked how they could intercede for the service, he posted the setlist and an explanation on Instagram:

"For several years now, we have been asking the Lord for an awakening on our campus," Nasser said."We have seen the Lord do amazing things, so many salvations, intentional disciple-making through our community groups, a culture of honor being cultivated, less religion, more spirituality, record-breaking attendance in campus communities, generational curses being broken, missional travel to every corner of the world, more service hours given than ever, the launch of our new 24/7 prayer network and so much more...."

But added: "YET! Although we are grateful to the Lord for what He is doing in & through us, we are hungry for more of Him and recognize these are just the murmurs....That we could be on the verge of REVIVAL!"

At the conclusion of the sunset worship service, students walked"like a mountain stream flowing down...meditating, praying, and singing...back to campus,"as Nasser later stated.

Senior studentIan Parishposted several videos on Twitter, telling Fox News it was awesome to see "the student body is still unified under Christ," especially after the campus has been in the headlines in recent days.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Parishco-organizeda protest aimed at investigating claims of misconduct from LU President Jerry Falwell, Jr., something the university says the media, including Politico, Reutersand The Washington Post all refused to print, showing an "unbalanced public narrative in place."

Read the rest here:

Sunset worship at Liberty University attracts more than 4,000 students: What a beautiful thing - Fox News

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GOSHEN, Ind. -- Third grade teacher Ellen Longcer wastes no time as the school day starts at Model Elementary.

You need to think of one positive message you want to write, said Longcer.

Chalk bucket in hand, Longcer and her students walk to the black top ready to scribble messages of encouragement to their classmates.

Ok go ahead and line up, said Longcer.

Theyre kicking off another day of the schools 21 Days to Be Kind campaign.

Its just about being very intentional about teaching kindness, said Longcer. It doesnt necessarily have to be a big gesture. It can just be please and thank you.

It started September 1.

Singer Lady Gagas Born This Way foundation started the challenge in 2018.

The challenge encourages communities across the country to practice random acts of kindness for 21 days in a row.

The idea is that it takes 21 days to build a habit and so, 21 days of kindness in hopes that it continues on, said Model Elementary Principal Tami Hicks.

Students at Model learn a different way to be kind each day before the morning announcements then work on it the rest of the day.

For example, students have practiced saying their please and thank yous, picking up their toys without being asked, and telling people theyre loved and appreciated.

One of Lady Gagas quotes is, In a world where you can do anything, choose kindness it doesnt cost a thing. said Hicks Sometimes just doing one extra little thing thats kind can promote that person to go and do something kind for someone else.

Hicks says its the schools second year participating in the initiative.

Its really neat to watch kids intentionally think, Ok, Im going to do something kind and Im going to hold the door open for people, said Hicks.

A study from the foundation says acts of kindness boosts a persons levels of happiness, self-worth, and calmness.

Include someone, said third grader Isabela Barahona. Kindness is really important and it can make someones day.

Barahona calls the challenge empowering.

When I feel like someone is not feeling I ask, Hey whats up you ok? said Barahona.

Logan Yoder Rupe thinks its changing students.

Ive seen a real difference in the whole school, said Yoder Rupe. Ive been seeing tons more kindness than before.

Both agree it creates an impression that lasts longer than a chalk session or three week challenge.

I would encourage them to do kindness because then, well they would have more friends, said Yoder Rupe.

It makes me feel like I want to go to school, I want to go to different places, I want to meet new people, said Barahona. It just I feel like then it could make a really big impact in this world.

As part of the campaign, Model is sharing their acts of kindness on social media.

People can follow the hashtags #BeKind21, #ModelIsKind, and #ModelTheWay on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Principal Hicks says even if you dont belong to the Model community, they would love for you to share your kindness stories with them.

Read this article:

Cool Schools: Kindness campaign underway at Model Elementary - ABC 57 News

Vincent Van Gogh, The Church in Auvers-sur-Oise, view from the Chevet, 1890;{{PD-US-expired-abroad}}

Dr. Dave Kresta is a Christian, an engineer, and an urbanologist. You will see in this latest post dedicated to cultivating vibrant neighborhoods and communities for human flourishing how Dave weaves together his areas of passion and expertise to address the subject of gentrification and how churches often play a part.

Paul Louis Metzger (PLM): Dave, please define for us urbanology and gentrification.

Dave Kresta (DK): Urban Studies applies a variety of social science disciplines to understand and analyze neighborhoods, cities, and regions. My focus is community development and economic development, but my fellow urbanologists also specialize in areas such as planning, transportation, and sustainability. Gentrification is a term used to describe a particular type of neighborhood change in which low-income neighborhoods become attractive to highly educated, higher-income people. In the process, low-income residents are displaced, racial demographics transition from non-white to white, home prices and rents increase dramatically, and existing businesses are replaced by new businesses that cater to new residents. Street crime may drop and amenities such as bike lanes and improved parks suddenly appear in these traditionally under-resourced communities, with long-time residents left to wonder why these improvements didnt occur 20 or 30 years ago. Sadly, even existing residents who have the economic means to stay in their homes report that they no longer feel at home in their gentrified neighborhoods.

PLM: You recently received your PhD in Urban Studies at Portland State University. It was my privilege to serve on your doctoral committee as a theologian of culture concerned for how faith communities often play a key role in the evolution and devolution of neighborhoods. Please set forth the thesis of your stellar dissertation in succinct terms for our readership.

DK: My studys title was Can Churches Change a Neighborhood? I found that churches do, in fact, impact their neighborhoods socioeconomic trajectories, sometimes positively, and at other times negatively. Using a nationally representative sample of over 2000 churches, key church characteristics such as social service involvement, social capital generation, residential patterns of attendees, and demographic composition were analyzed to determine if there was a statistical link between churches and how neighborhoods change. My study also examined changing patterns of church location and trends in church and neighborhood segregation. Some of the research findings include:

PLM: What led you to write on this subject, and why do you think other Christians should share this passion?

DK: I believe that the gospel is holistic, offering healing for every aspect of a persons life, including the communities and institutions around them. In various leadership positions in churches and non-profits, Ive seen the tremendous energy and potential of the faith community, but Ive also seen much of this energy squandered, leaving the work of neighborhood restoration and healing to others. Fortunately, Jesus followers in cities and suburbs are experiencing a reawakening to our holistic mission. Early in my studies, I identified a need for more research that looks critically at the actual impact of churches on communities. Im inviting church leaders to consider how churches relate to individuals as well as how they interact with social processes in their communities. My hope is that this research will help connect local faith communities with the worlds of community and economic development, leading church leaders and participants to ask hard questions about the role of churches in their communities, realizing that the impact goes far beyond the spiritual and the intentional.

DK: First, a church must understand how its neighborhood (or the neighborhood the church desires to serve in) got to where it is today, how the surrounding city has changed over time, and how its particular neighborhood has adapted. This story can explain not only current hopes and concerns of existing residents, but it can also point to where things may be going. Fortunately, there is a lot of freely available data that can help piece this story together. See my article here for more on this. Second, those starting new churches or programs must realize that their choices can either resist or reinforce general trends such as gentrification. For example, my studys finding that white churches in predominantly non-white neighborhoods can contribute to gentrification by acting as a beacon or an amenity for incoming gentrifiers is troubling news, but it shines a necessary light on an understudied and little-understood phenomenon. Similarly, the choice to commute or relocate into a neighborhood to attend church needs careful deliberation given my finding that white churches with more geographically dispersed attendees can lessen white influx, especially in low-income neighborhoods. Given these varied impacts, church leaders should consider doing a community impact study prior to making major decisions on church location or church program offerings. Such a study could result in a decision to change planting locations or pursue partnering with existing churches and institutions in a given community rather than starting a new church or a new program there. Periodic community impact studies can help existing churches track neighborhood changes and risk factors, informing needed course corrections as the church seeks to contribute to the welfare of the neighborhood and city. Finally, on a very practical level, although my study found that church social service offerings dont necessarily lift people (and therefore the neighborhood) out of poverty, there is evidence for a stabilizing, anti-displacement effect of these services. In other words, church social services appear to be enabling low-income residents to stay in their neighborhoods, thereby slowing gentrification-induced displacement. These services could be tailored to focus more directly on helping low-income residents stay in their homes and benefit from some of the improvements in their changing neighborhoods.

PLM: What are a few key things churches can do to help foster greater resilience and growth of vulnerable communities?

DK: First, church leaders must seek out and partner with others who care about the neighborhood. Here, Im speaking primarily of developing relationships outside of the church, with existing residents, business associations, local government, community development groups, and activists. Its important to enter these relationships with the posture of a learner and a servant. These forms of interaction will likely lead churches into exciting, unforeseen partnerships. One example is to connect church members with specific business skills with a business incubator to provide mentoring to local entrepreneurs. Second, church leaders must seek to understand the processes governing neighborhood change if they hope to have a positive impact on those processes. For example, they must seek to engage and address these questions: what are the primary drivers of poverty and inequality, how is neighborhood change related to community development and economic development processes, what is driving the affordable housing crisis? While not everyone needs to go out and get another graduate degree, partnering with organizations that have this expertise, and seeking out some education and training for themselves in these areas, will help church leaders discern the right direction for their church to contribute to the welfare of their community. Third, churches generate a lot of what social scientists call social capital. This refers to relational connections, information flow, and trust-building that occurs both within the church and with those outside the church. My study found that bridging activities that link congregations to the larger political and economic systems in and around their communities have a beneficial impact on their neighborhoods. The challenge is to leverage the strong connections within a church to drive more civic engagement and ultimately greater community resilience and growth.

PLM: What are the next steps for your research? Also, how can people interested in your work connect with you to address these themes further and affect constructive social change together with faith communities pertaining to healthy neighborhood transformation?

DK: I hope to update my study with new data from the soon-to-be-released 2018 National Congregation Study to see how church/neighborhood impacts may have changed since the 1990-2010 study period. I am also actively working on adapting my research into more accessible forms such as webinars and seminars where churches and students can learn more about these topics. I can be contacted at davekresta@gmail.com. I would be happy to share an executive summary of my research, as well as the full study manuscript, for those who are interested in digging into the details.

Read more here:

Can Churches Change Neighborhoods? An Interview with Urbanologist Dave Kresta - Patheos

Insight Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education, has again recognized the College for its commitment to diversity and inclusion.

The College is among 93schools chosen as winners of the magazines HEED (Higher Education Excellence in Diversity) Award. This marks the sixth straight year Union has been honored. The winners will be featured in the magazines November issue.

The HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questions relating to the recruitment and retention of students and employees - and best practices for both; continued leadership support for diversity; and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion, said Lenore Pearlstein, the magazines co-publisher.

We look for institutions where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being done every day across campus.

Among the innovative and impactful diversity- and inclusion-related programs, initiatives, policies or practices at Union:

Social Justice Retreat, an annual event, gives students a forum in which to further develop knowledge and skills to support them in becoming better change agents around areas of racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, ageism, religious oppression, classism, global citizenship and many identities and power differences.

Diversity and Inclusion Certification Course is offered to all employees and is designed to expand employees knowledge of issues related to diversity, and broaden the campus learning environment beyond the classroom.

Diversity remains central to Unions institutional identity and mission and remains a key priority of the Colleges strategic plan. A draft of a new plan that will guide the Colleges decision-making over the next five years includes a key objective to cultivate respect and understanding for all members of the Union College and broader communities, and welcome, include and support a measurably more diverse college community.

We are grateful to again be recognized with a HEED award for our collective efforts toward diversity and inclusion, said Gretchel Hathaway, the dean of Diversity and Inclusion and chief diversity officer. It has taken intentional work, exceptional leadership and strategic vision to make Union a welcoming community for all.

See the rest here:

Union recognized for its commitment to diversity and inclusion - Union College

Godley High School has only been open for one year and is already bringing home awards for its design and architecture.

The campus is one of six Texas schools to be named a finalist in the 2019-20 Exhibit of School Architecture competition with the Texas Association of School Administrators and the Texas Association of School Boards.

The competition showcases new and renovated Texas schools and celebrates excellence in the planning and design of the learning environment.

GISD opened the school last year after voters approved a $50 million bond package in May 2016. The schools design centers around the Center for Learning & Innovation Center, a large core space that features a caf, library, collaboration rooms with moveable walls, a film room, learning staircase and access to outside.

The school won the 2018 American Institute of Architecture Fort Worth Honor Design Award in November, which recognizes excellence in contemporary architecture and seeks to highlight how buildings and spaces improve lives.

GISD Superintendent Rich Dear said while designing the school with Huckabee Architecture, their team had an intentional focus on flexibility and empowerment.

We wanted a facility that created an environment that would empower and inspire teachers and learners, while at the same time have the ability to adapt and evolve with the changing face of education, Dear said. We made sure to include many great ideas brought to us by our learners and were able to bring them to life.

Great communities build great schools, he said, and great schools build great communities.

Thanks to our amazing community, our expectations were exceeded, which is illustrated by the incredibly positive climate and culture at our new high school, he said. The new high school is filled with flexible spaces, some with movable walls that afford multiple uses for teachers and learners. We understood and embraced the fact that learning can occur anywhere, which is why our flex spaces are both inside and outside the building.

That being said, our biggest feedback from students and teachers is the ease and ability to learn outside of the traditional classroom.

The winners of the competition will be announced in January. For information, visit tasa.tasb.org/exhibit-hall/exhibit-of-school-architecture.aspx.

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Godley High School named finalist for architecture award - Cleburne Times-Review

Over the past two years, 80 educators from various regions in the Middle East have had the unique opportunity to partner with the Harvard Graduate School of Education to reflect on their practice and strengthen the teaching force in their countries. Through the Middle East Professional Learning Initiative (MEPLI) based in HGSEs Professional Education teacher educators and system-level leaders from the Middle East are gaining support in developing practices, programs, and structures to improve student opportunities and learning.

The Middle East is blessed with a very high percentage of young people, which means that in the educational opportunities of their students lies the future of the region. Its imperative that children and youth in the Middle East gain the skills to be empowered as architects of their own lives, who can collaborate with others in improving the communities of which they are a part, says Professor Fernando Reimers, a faculty adviser along with Associate Professor Sarah Dryden-Peterson and Senior Lecturer Katherine Merseth. Our hope is that MEPLI can develop a cadre of education leaders for the region who can collectively develop ambitious and effective programs of teacher professional development that can help the education systems in the region leapfrog toward much greater levels of relevance and effectiveness.

In 2016, an alumnus of Harvard College and Harvard Business School recognized that Professional Education was serving education leaders from more than 120 countries with transformative learning experiences, and made a gift to expand access to those programs for educators from the Middle East. That gift enabled the creation of MEPLI, which since 2018 has provided educators from the region MEPLI Fellows with scholarships for residential and online programs at HGSE. Fellows also gain a network of colleagues to connect and collaborate with, attend convenings in countries throughout the Middle East, and receive education courses and materials in Arabic. (Convenings have occurred in Jordan, Lebanon, and just this month in the Palestinian territories.) MEPLI works with collaborating organizations in the region, including Queen Rania Teacher Academy in Jordan, American University of Beirut, Sonbola in Lebanon, UNRWA, and AMIDEAST.

Mitalene Fletcher, director of PreK12 and International Programs for Professional Education, cited MEPLIs flexible model as a unique way to customize professional development for global contexts and settings. HGSE is fortunate to engage with really ambitious educators from more than 120 countries, she says. This kind of initiative enables us to be more informed and intentional in the ways we serve these educators.

MEPLIs intent isnt to simply transfer an Americanized ideology to its fellows, Reimers says, but to encourage them to think critically about what they are learning, think about the context in which these ideas have been developed, and then ask, How could I translate these ideas so they make sense in my context.

MEPLI Fellows are carefully selected through an application process that requires not only the ability to commit to the yearlong program (after which they receive a certificate of completion), but also the discernment to identify problems of practice that theyll use to direct their learning. They must also create a plan for sharing their learning within their networks.

Many fellows efforts focus on revamping the teaching culture in their countries.

Lara El Khatib a MEPLI fellow from Lebanon who was part of the first cohort struggled with training student teachers to think more critically and independently. Part of the challenge, she says, was working within a teaching model long structured around lecturing rather than actively engaging young people in deeper thinking and discussion. Through MEPLI, and especially through her courses with Lecturer Rhonda Bondie, El Khatib discovered different methods for training teachers that she could apply to workshops back home. I learned so much that I decided to invest and come back, she says taking part in additional HGSE Professional Education programs this summer, despite the fellowship having ended.

When Amer Dababneh began teaching in Jordan, he didnt foresee how it would change his future. But he fell in love with the work and really wanted to make a difference. Now, entering his first year as a principal (he will also continue teaching middle school), Dababneh is focusing his MEPLI experience on how to establish teaching requirements in the region. Many teachers end up in the classroom with no proper training, having to figure it out on their own, he says.

As a MEPLI Fellow, hes relishing the chance to build relationships with other educators, learn from best practices, and gain some credibility for the workshops and social media channels where he donates information for other teachers in Jordan. Were in the business of changing lives, he says. I see hope in education and how it can make a difference.

Since its inception, MEPLI has benefitted from the involvement of HGSE students from the Middle East working as staff and interns. Amin Marei, Ed.M.17, is the former associate director of MEPLI and led the development of the MEPLI Fellowship. I came to HGSE trying to learn more about building these communities of educators, he says, noting that his classwork helped further his understanding of regional contexts, as well as the complexities of creating programming in challenging environments with scarce resources. Educators in the Middle East are committed to their work and want to grow their practice, Marei says, and MEPLI has helped create a space where they can determine how to do so sustainably and successfully.

Beyond addressing their professional challenges, the Fellows see MEPLI as an opportunity to change the narrative about parts of the world that havent always seen eye-to-eye.

We have to work together side-by-side, Dababneh says. To collaborate and share is how you grow. Im passionate about education and I can see the future hopefully the future of not just my country but all of the Middle East. We have one civilization and we need to equip children to be self-learners, risk takers, and critical thinkers.

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A Thriving Partnership with Middle Eastern Educators - Harvard Graduate School of Education

Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF professors disagree on the environmental impact of the community grid, a proposed replacement option for Syracuses failing Interstate 81 viaduct.

In April, the New York State Department of Transportation released a report endorsing the community grid. Under the proposed grid plan, the existing viaduct would be torn down and traffic would be redirected through city streets.

As part of its report, NYSDOT analyzed how the grid and its construction would affect the environment in Syracuse. The report concluded that the grid was the most environmentally-sound option for the I-81 replacement.

Lemir Teron, a SUNY-ESF assistant professor of environmental studies, said NYSDOTs report failed to address environmental justice enough in its analysis of the grids environmental impact.

The report has a section on environmental justice, which concludes that adverse effects to environmental justice communities could occur related to construction and traffic noise levels. While the report highlights topics like noise impact and air quality, the review does not consider the livelihoods of people living near the construction project, he said.

We need to be very intentional on the front end about how these impacts will be mitigated, Teron said.

The report doesnt explicitly talk about construction hazards in public areas, Teron said. He listed Wilson Park on South McBride Street as an example. The park is located adjacent to the viaduct and will be closed during construction. Many parents will not want their children to play next to a giant construction project, he said.

NYSDOT also examined multiple factors of pollution in its report, including air quality. Emanuel Carter, a SUNY-ESF associate professor of landscape architecture, said the community grid will improve air pollution by dispersing traffic from the highly populated areas in the center of the city.

Diesel trucks and cars that currently travel on the viaduct would drive through less densely populated areas with the grid, leading to less concentrated pollution, he said. Carter said he supports the community grid because the viaduct created a divide in Syracuse.

Syracuse isone of the most racially and financially segregatedcities in the United States, something that many experts see as directly linked to I-81.

People see the viaduct as this side and that side and creates a sense of separation forpermanent residents, Carter said. Youd think the streets under it would not make it anissue, but mentally it does.

Community grid streets lined with trees could also help to prevent much carbon dioxide pollution in neighborhoods, Carter said. Many American cities are adapting urban forestry programs to decrease pollution. In such programs, trees are grown and maintained in urban settings to promote increased water quality, energy savings, environmental life and life quality,according tothe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Minchin Lewis, a Syracuse University adjunct professor of public administration and international affairs, said the community grid plan would increase air pollution because there would be more stop-and-go traffic, which requires more fuel. Lewis is a supporter of an iconic bridge replacement option.

The community grid will not lower pollution but instead affect more neighborhoods, he said.

A grid would also encourage urban sprawl, or the uncontrolled sprawl of urban areas, Lewis said. Increased traffic along I-481 proposed under the community grid plan would increase development in the vacant spaces along the highway. Urban sprawl is banned under New York state law.

Right now, those spaces are environmental drainage areas, he said. If they are developed with parking lots, gas stations, restaurants and other services, it would have a tremendous negative effect on the environment.

NYSDOT is expected to make a final decision on the future of the I-81 viaduct by April 2020. The community grid is slated to take five years to complete.

Published on September 17, 2019 at 11:14 pm

Contact Abby: akweiss@syr.edu

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SU, SUNY-ESF professors disagree on environmental impact of community grid - The Daily Orange