Better health needs a diverse workforce – Greenville Daily Reflector

To correct health disparities in eastern North Carolina, providers must take on the difficult task of correcting similar disparities in the makeup of the health care workforce, according to a panel of experts speaking Friday at East Carolina University.

The 13th annualJean Elaine Mills Health Symposium, named for the late ECU alumna and community health administrator who died of breast cancer in 2000, focuses on building partnerships between residents, organizations and ECU faculty and students with the aim of reducing health disparities higher incidences of illness and death in one population group than another.

Where such disparities exist, similar disparities will be found in the workforce population, the educators said. The participants addressed the need for health care workforce equity, which allows care providers to better reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.

This symposium is all about student success, community outreach and the transformation of Eastern North Carolina, event moderator Dean Robert Orlikoff of the ECUCollege of Allied Health Sciences, which hosted the daylong symposium, said.Frankly, we have a long way to go. We have to not only serve that community, but be a part of it. Our health care workers must be representative of the communities that they work in and serve.

Beth Velde,assistant dean for special projects at the college and Mills Symposium director, said the symposium is a community/university partnership that does things with, rather than for or to, the communities it serves.

The symposium featured a panel discussion and keynote presentations by Dr. Kendall Campbell, associate dean for diversity and inclusion and director of the Research Group for Underrepresented Minorities in Academic Medicine at East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine, and Dr. Brenda E. Armstrong, associate dean for admissions at the Duke University School of Medicine.

Amos Mills, who founded the symposium in his late sisters memory, said most people do not understand that health care disparities affect all people across racial, cultural and political lines.

North Carolina should not rank 43rd in the U.S. for health care disparities while it ranks 10th in manufacturing, Mills said.I hope we will bring what we learn to the greater community so we can break down some of the barriers that exist in this state. I fear for the future if we dont address this problem now.

Campbell described equality as giving everybody the same things.

I decided that Im going to buy everybody here a new pair of shoes... and theyre all going to be Size 6, he said.

Equity, on the other hand, provides what someone needs based on an assessment of that persons specific needs, Campbell said.

Campbell quoted Dr. Camara Jones, president of the American Public Health Association,whose work focuses on the impacts of racism on the health and well-being of the nation.

Achieving health equity requires valuing all individuals and populations equally, recognizing and rectifying historical injustices, and providing resources according to need, Jones said. Based on that, healthcare workforce equity assures conditions that allow for the best possible health for all people.

Campbell said action must be intentional to correct the current system that structures health care workforce opportunity based on social interpretation of how a person looks. Such systems including sexism, classism and racism are institutionally designed to separate and unfairly disadvantage some people while giving an unfair advantage to others.

The solution to institutional inequity is diversity, Campbell said.

Student and faculty diversity is indispensable for quality medical education, he said.Diversity of the physician workforce improves access to care for underserved populations; diversity of the research workforce can accelerate advances in medical and public health research; and diversity among managers of health care is good business sense.

Contact Michael Abramowitz at mabramowitz@reflector.comor 252-329-9507.

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Better health needs a diverse workforce - Greenville Daily Reflector

New senior living community eyeing Waxahachie – Waxahachie Daily Light

Andrew Brancaabranca@waxahachietx.com

WAXAHACHIE Work is moving forward to bring the city a new senior living community. During its Monday meeting, the Waxahachie City Council approved a resolution of support for the Mariposa Apartment Homes.

We are a Texas-based company, and we are very intentional in our design and our ascetics. We have our own development team. We have our own construction team. Starting in 2006 we started Bonner Carrington Construction, said Emily Protine, Bonner Carrington Community Outreach Liaison. In 2015 we started own management team. So we have Bonner Carrington property management that is the leasing arm we maintain, and we own our communities forever.

This resolution will allow Mariposa to apply for federal tax credits through the state, which, if approved, enables them to better finance the apartment complex. The city has shown its support of similar projects like the Country Lane Seniors located on Park Hill Drive. The resolution does not commit the city financially and only shows support of the project.

The Mariposa development contains around 250 units and features several amenities for residents. Some of these include a pool, movie theater, hair salon and barber shop, and library. The development is age-restricted for seniors that are 55 years and older.

Protine said Bonner Carrington could commit $1 million toward the infrastructure for the development.

According to the Mariposa Apartment Homes website, the company has similar types of properties across the state in such cities as Georgetown, La Porte, Houston, Saginaw, Burleson, and Amarillo. The proposed development in Waxahachie is looking to be located near U.S. Highway 287 Bypass east of ShowBiz Cinemas located on Broadhead Road.

We have two of those developments out by the senior center right now, and if that is any indication, those are great projects. They have been very well received, Waxahachie City Manager Paul Stevens said. There is generally a waiting list. Look at what Marposia has done in other parts of the state. They do a great job. I think that they would be a great fit for Waxahachie.

----

Follow Andrew on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AndrewBrancaWDL or on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AndrewBrancaWNI. Contact him at andrew.branca@waxahachietx.com or 469-517-1451.

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New senior living community eyeing Waxahachie - Waxahachie Daily Light

The Christian Retreat From Public Life – The Atlantic

Donald Trump was elected president with the help of 81 percent of white evangelical voters. Mike Pence, the champion of Indianas controversial 2015 religious-freedom law, is his deputy. Neil Gorsuch, a judge deeply sympathetic to religious litigants, will likely be appointed to the Supreme Court. And Republicans hold both chambers of Congress and statehouses across the country. Right now, conservative Christians enjoy more influence on American politics than they have in decades.

And yet, Rod Dreher is terrified.

Dont be fooled, he tells fellow Christians in his new book, The Benedict Option. The upset presidential victory of Donald Trump has at best given us a bit more time to prepare for the inevitable.

Seeking an Escape From Trumps America

The last few years have confirmed an extraordinary cultural shift against conservative Christian beliefs, he argues, particularly with the rise of gay rights and legalization of same-sex marriage. Christians who hold to the biblical teaching about sex and marriage have the same status in culture, and increasingly in law, as racists, he writes. Their future will become increasingly grim, he predicts, with lost jobs, bullying at school, and name-calling in the streets.

This, Dreher says, is the inevitable fate for which Christians must prepare.

There was a time when Christian thinkers like Dreher, who writes for The American Conservative, might have prepared to fight for cultural and political control. Dreher, however, sees this as futile. Could it be that the best way to fight the flood is to stop fighting the flood? he asks. Rather than wasting energy and resources fighting unwinnable political battles, we should instead work on building communities, institutions, and networks of resistance that can outwit, outlast, and eventually overcome the occupation. This strategic withdrawal from public life is what he calls the Benedict option.

Drehers proposal is as remarkable as his fear. It is a radical rejection of the ties between Christianity and typical forms of power, from Republican politics to market-driven wealth. Instead, Dreher says, Christians should embrace pluralism, choosing to fortify their own communities and faith as one sub-culture among many in the United States.

But it is a vision that will not be easily achieved. Conservative Christianity no longer sets the norms in American culture, and transitioning away from a position of dominance to a position of co-existence will require significant adjustment, especially for a people who believe so strongly in evangelism. Even if that happens, there are always challenges at the boundaries of sub-cultures. Its not clear that Dreher has a clear vision of how Christians should engage with those they disagree withespecially the LGBT Americans they blame for pushing them out of mainstream culture.

The Benedict option is not a new proposal. Dreher has been tossing around this idea for roughly a decade, drawing from Alasdair McIntyres argument that continued full participation in mainstream society [is] not possible for those who [want] to live a life of traditional virtue. It takes its name from St. Benedict of Nursia, the sixth-century priest who created a network of contemplative monasteries in the Italian mountains and inspired generations of monks to seek lives of quiet reflection and prayer.

Americans have come to rely on middle-class comfort That is the way of spiritual death.

Dreher is not suggesting everyday Christians live in poverty and seclusion. Were not called to be monks. Monks are called to be monks, he told me in an interview. What we have to do is have a limited retreat from the world into our own institutions and communities. While some might see this as a means of running away from culture, Dreher argued that the Benedict option is not about bunkering down and waiting for the end times. Its about building ourselves up spiritually, he said, so we can go out in the world and be who Christ asked us to be.

The first step, he says, is to recognize that politics will not save us. While many Christians have sought defenders and champions in the Republican Party, including Trump, Dreher is skeptical of this model. Neither partys program is fully consistent with Christian truth, he argues.

Instead of looking to elected officials to create their communities, he says, Christians should do it themselves. This means getting involved: Feast with your neighbors, he writes, or join the volunteer fire department. It requires [seceding] culturally from the mainstream, including turning off smartphones and watching only movies and television that are consonant with Christian values. It even means deprioritizing work in favor of richer communal life. Given how much Americans have come to rely on middle-class comfort, freedom, and stability, Christians will be sorely tempted to say or do anything asked of us to hold onto what we have, he writes. That is the way of spiritual death.

This emphasis on localism extends to worship life. Prayer should guide the rhythms of the day and week, he says. Christians should view church as an opportunity to build communities and find fellowship, not just pray on their own. Even living in close proximity to church can help, he says. When the Orthodox Christian parish in Drehers small Louisiana town closed, his family moved to Baton Rouge. We knew that there would be no way to practice our faith properly in community while living so far from the church, he writes.

Above all, Dreher advocates institution building. He encourages his readers to pull their children out of public school and enroll them in classical Christian schools, praising a model developed in part by the North Carolina-based CiRCE Institute. Such curricula, which can be used by teachers or homeschooling parents, covers the canonical Western texts alongside the Bible, sometimes in direct cooperation with churches. Dreher envisions a more robust and sustainable Christian system of higher education, but for now, many students have created intentional communities on their campuses where they can live according to their shared interpretation of the Bible.

The Sexual Revolution has [deposed] an enfeebled Christianity.

As Dreher notes, a number of these practices are already embraced by other religious communities. We Christians have a lot to learn from Modern Orthodox Jews, he told me in an interview. Many of Drehers suggestions appear to echo Orthodox Jewish life, including daily prayers, restrictions on diet and work, and extensive educational networks. They have had to live in a way thats powerfully counter-cultural in American life and rooted in thick community and ancient traditions, he said. And yet, they manage to do it.

This comparison is telling about how Dreher perceives the status of Christians in American society. Jews make up less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, and Modern Orthodox Jews are a tiny minority within that groupPew estimates that they account for 3 percent of all American Jews, or roughly .06 percent of Americans. While its impossible to estimate the exact number of Americans who would identify with the ecumenical, theologically conservative Christianity Dreher describes, it is far bigger than the number of Modern Orthodox Jews.

It seems as though Dreher is saying that Christians need to be ready to live as religious minorities. But he fails to acknowledge an important distinction between the two groups, beyond mere size. Jews act like a counter-cultural, marginalized group because theyve been that way for two millenniapowerless, small in number, at odds with the broader cultures of the places where theyve lived. The American conservatives Dreher is addressing, on the other hand, are coming from a place of power. For many years, they dictated the legal and cultural terms of non-Christians lives. The Benedict option is relevant precisely because America is becoming more religiously fractured, and Christianity is no longer the cultural default.

Dreher is not embracing this fact, or even accepting it peaceably. His work is largely a project of lament. He speaks about Christianity in apocalyptic terms: the Sexual Revolution has [deposed] an enfeebled Christianity as the Ostrogoths deposed the hapless last emperor of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century, and the greatest danger to Christians in the West comes from the liberal secular order itself. He prophesies dire scenarios for Christians in America: We are on the brink of entire areas of commercial and professional life being off-limits to believers whose consciences will not allow them to burn incense to the gods of our age, he says, warning that young Christians who dream of becoming doctors or lawyers may have to abandon that hope.

As a Christian, I dont see my sexuality as constitutive of who I am.

Most importantly, he writes with resentment, largely directed at those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and their supportersthe people, he believes, who have pushed Christians out of the public sphere.

We are on the far side of a Sexual Revolution that has been nothing short of catastrophic for Christianity, he writes:

This has had far-reaching consequences in all spheres of life. In the professional world, sexual diversity dogma is pervasive, he writesan attempt by companies to demonstrate progress to gay-rights campaigners. In the future, everyone working for a major corporation will be frog-marched through diversity and inclusion training, he says, and will face pressure not simply to tolerate LGBT co-workers but to affirm their sexuality and gender identity.

In politics and culture, we in the modern West are living under barbarism, though we do not recognize it, he writes. Our scientists, our judges, our princes, our scholars, and our scribesthey are at work demolishing the faith, the family, gender, even what it means to be human.

And in the education world, public schools by nature are on the front lines of the latest and worst trends in popular culture, he writes. Under pressure from the federal government and LGBT activists, many school systems are now welcoming and normalizing transgenderism. He cites scores of parents whose children come home professing bisexuality and offering a lot of babble about gender being fluid and nonbinary, as one of his readers put it. Few parents have the presence of mind and strength of character to do whats necessary to protect their children from the forms of disordered sexuality accepted by mainstream American youth culture, he writes.

Nothing in this language suggests that Dreher is ready to live tolerantly alongside people with different views. If progressives wrote about the Bible as a lot of babble about Jesus and God, using language similar to that of the parent Dreher cites, he would be quick to cry foul against the ignorance and intolerance of the left; his language is dismissive and mocking, and he peppers in conspiratorial terms like the LGBT agenda. At times, it seems like the goal of the Benedict option is just as much about getting away from gay people as it is affirming the tenets of Christianity. The book seems to suggest that mere proximity to people with alternative beliefs about sexuality, and specifically LGBT people, is a threat to Christian children and families.

These lives pose the question Dreher has not engaged: How should Christians be in fellowship with people unlike them?

Of course, it will be impossible for conservative Christians to fully escape any aspect of mainstream culture, including people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans. In fact, many of those people grew up in Christian households much like Drehers, or may identify with the feelings of cultural homelessness he describes. Their lives implicitly pose the hard question Dreher has failed to engage: How should Christians be in fellowship with people unlike themincluding those who feel aggrieved by the church and its teachings?

To his credit, Dreher nods to this, ever so briefly. The angry vehemence with which many gay activists condemn Christianity is rooted in part in the cultural memory of rejection and hatred by the church, he writes. Christians need to own up to our past in this regard and to repent of it. He does little to specify these past errors, though, and he never tries to answer the broader question: how Christians can live as one people among many in America without learning how to respect and relate to those who challenge their beliefs.

Its not hard to understand Drehers frustration and disorientation about Americas tectonic cultural shift. For many in the United States, sexuality has become so entwined with identity, he observed to me in conversation. This is what yields the comparisons to race: People who view sexuality as a fact of their identity may see Drehers beliefs as analogous to racism. But as a Christian, Dreher told me, I dont see my sexuality as constitutive of who I am. He is working from a different frame of reference, one that is increasingly out of step with Americans ways of thinking about culture. The fear winding through his narrative is anxious anticipation of a future when fewer and fewer public spaces will be open to people like him.

And yet, Dreher begrudges a similar fear in people unlike him, including LGBT people who have long wanted to live freely in publicsomething that was largely impossible when conservative Christians dominated mainstream American life. From this vantage, his Benedict option seems less a proposal for pluralism than the angry backwards fire of a culture in retreat.

Dreher wrote The Benedict Option for people like himthose who share his faith, convictions, and feelings of cultural alienation. But even those who might wish to join Drehers radical critique of American culture, people who also feel pushed out and marginalized by shallowness of modern life, may feel unable to do so. Many people, including some Christians, feel that knowing, befriending, playing with, and learning alongside people who are different from them adds to their faith, not that it threatens it. For all their power and appeal, Drehers monastery walls may be too high, and his mountain pass too narrow.

Link:

The Christian Retreat From Public Life - The Atlantic

Cohousing communities gain popularity, including here in Nashville – WKRN.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) Cohousing communities are gaining popularity across the country, including right here in Music City.

Diana Sullivan gave News 2 a tour of her cohousing development located in Germantown.

She has lived in the community for about a year-and-a-half.

Sullivan said she first learned about the concept of cohousing while attending a conference in Boulder, Colorado, in 2010.

It is an intentional community. We decided we wanted to have a community that was structured in a very high functioning way because research shows that these communities are very healthy and very thriving, Sullivan explained.

In Germantowns cohousing community, everyone buys their own home, but they share common spaces.

There is a playroom for children, a kitchen to enjoy meals together and extra rooms that the homeowners in the community can reserve for visiting family and friends.

We have community dinners a couple of times a week. A couple of households will become a cook team, will set our menu, buy our food and then host the dinner, said Sullivan.

By sharing meals the group is able to cut costs.

They are $5 or $6 a meal, and it is incredible food, said Sullivan.

Dot Dobbins also lives in the community. She said after her husband passed away in 2008 she began researching different living arrangements because she did not want to be alone.

Dobbins met Sullivan and decided she wanted to be part of the community. Dobbins told News 2 her grandchildren love where she lives and that they enjoy visiting her and playing in the courtyard.

Last spring and summer we had butterflies all over. It was great, it was lovely, Dobbins recalled.

When this community started there were 15 families interested in living in there. Now, there are 25 families in the cohousing development.

When you have housing that is constructed in a way that is supportive of people to reduce poverty, homelessness, reduce alcoholism and drug addiction and its just the housing structure and you can implement that its huge, said Sullivan.

In the United States, there are about 160 cohousing developments. The one in Germantown is the first of its kind in Tennessee.

Currently, there is a lot of momentum to build more of these types of developments in Nashville.

Sullivan told News 2 there is a waiting list of about 650 people who would like to move into the Germantown community.

She said an additional list of 350 people is interested in developing these types of communities in other parts of Middle Tennessee.

The national conference on cohousing will be held in Nashville this May.

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Cohousing communities gain popularity, including here in Nashville - WKRN.com

Mark Sundeen looks for a better way to live – Missoula Independent

Mark Sundeen, as his books attest, is a seeker. His novel Car Camping chased enlightenment through travel and came up with comedy. The Making of Toro was a meta (and also pretty comic) quest, identified right there in the subtitle, for the authorial "acclaim he deserves." The Man Who Quit Money projected his seeking onto another seeker, Daniel Suelo, a man refusing the shackles of currency in an attempt to create a better way to live in the world.

With The Unsettlers, he's zoomed out from the micro of Suelo's search and into the encompassing big-picture: What might it mean, and how might it work, to live well?

It's a timeless question, and it's also a zeitgeisty one. Why do Trump supporters want to make America great again? Because they don't think America is very great right now. Why are progressives always complaining about everything? Because progressivism is built on the belief that the-way-things-are can always be improved on. Either way, whichever ideology gives the search shape, it's self-improvement that we're ultimately after, and America, from Gatsby to Oprah, has never been short of self-improvement strategies.

And maybe that's because Americans are so often disappointed. Baked into the idea that the good life requires a search is the premise that the life we're already livingright here and right nowisn't it. (Also baked into any quest to "live well" is the privilege implied by the phrase's second worda privilege Sundeen does well to acknowledge and navigate).

Sundeen blessedly skips the rhetorical bother of building a case or even identifying a cause for the nagging imperfectness of the world, but he convincingly sketches the shadows thrown on human satisfaction by the numbing bombardments of what we're probably safe in oversimplifying as late-stage capitalism: disconnection from community, dependence on institutional injustice and the commodification of fulfillment.

Ostensibly incited by the compromises and opportunities of a new marriage, and armed with a skeptic's suspicion that he might harbor room for some self-improvement of his own, Sundeen hits the road in search of anyone who looks like they might have figured it all out.

His thematic roadmap, as his title suggests, is Wendell Berry's 1978 classic The Unsettling of America. That book made Berry's agriculture-centric case that the growing cultural distance in America between livelihood and land accompanies and probably causes a whole host of ills (like disconnection from community, dependence on institutional injustice and the commodification of fulfillment). Racism, sexism, addiction, appetite for destructionall, in Berry's scheme, are part and parcel of the country's tilt away from Jeffersonian farmdom and toward rootless cosmopolitanism.

That map steers Sundeen toward the landed. First in Missouri, where an idealistic young car-foregoing couple scrapes together enough cash to start the latest in a long American line of intentional communities in flyover country, where water is plentiful, land is cheap, and building codes are lax. Then in Detroit, where an urban farming movement has established itself in the ruins of a gutted industrial powerhouse. And finally in Montana, where Sundeen, a former Missoula resident, turns away from such upstarts to see if anyone has managed to make a good lifewith all its deprivations and difficult choiceslast. He finds that sustained integrity inspoiler alertVictor, where Steve Elliot and Luci Brieger have spent the last 30-plus years building their good life at Lifeline Farm.

If Sundeen's subjects' attempts to live in harmony with land connects them, so does the fact that they are, or become, couples. The good life in Sundeen's sights is clearly built for, if not by, two. This choice of paired characters has the happy effect of making each of Sundeen's vignettes also a love story of sorts, which provides him a nice prism through which to view his own coming to terms with marriage, after what he presents as a thoroughly bachelorized life beforehand.

It's probably not giving too much away to note that Sundeen eventually decides that the life of ethical denial and honest toil that drives his characters isn't really for him, as much as he's intellectually attracted to the idea. Sundeen's searching ultimately leads him not back to the land, but to a reaffirmation of his own "practice," which is research and writingthe acts of creation that brought us this book. There's even a nice little love story of his own tucked away in the realization. And good thing he recognizes it, too. This fallen world has quite enough wannabe farmers, and long may they thrive. But it's frankly hard to imagine the bunch of carrots, however lovingly husbanded, that would be more nourishing than the body of work Sundeen is building.

Mark Sundeen reads from The Unsettlers at Shakespeare & Co. Mon., Feb. 27, at 7 PM.

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Mark Sundeen looks for a better way to live - Missoula Independent

The Benedict Option and Rod Dreher’s LGBT Challenge – The Atlantic – The Atlantic

Donald Trump was elected president with the help of 81 percent of white evangelical voters. Mike Pence, the champion of Indianas controversial 2015 religious-freedom law, is his deputy. Neil Gorsuch, a judge deeply sympathetic to religious litigants, will likely be appointed to the Supreme Court. And Republicans hold both chambers of Congress and statehouses across the country. Right now, conservative Christians enjoy more influence on American politics than they have in decades.

And yet, Rod Dreher is terrified.

Dont be fooled, he tells fellow Christians in his new book, The Benedict Option. The upset presidential victory of Donald Trump has at best given us a bit more time to prepare for the inevitable.

Seeking an Escape From Trumps America

The last few years have confirmed an extraordinary cultural shift against conservative Christian beliefs, he argues, particularly with the rise of gay rights and legalization of same-sex marriage. Christians who hold to the biblical teaching about sex and marriage have the same status in culture, and increasingly in law, as racists, he writes. Their future will become increasingly grim, he predicts, with lost jobs, bullying at school, and name-calling in the streets.

This, Dreher says, is the inevitable fate for which Christians must prepare.

There was a time when Christian thinkers like Dreher, who writes for The American Conservative, might have prepared to fight for cultural and political control. Dreher, however, sees this as futile. Could it be that the best way to fight the flood is to stop fighting the flood? he asks. Rather than wasting energy and resources fighting unwinnable political battles, we should instead work on building communities, institutions, and networks of resistance that can outwit, outlast, and eventually overcome the occupation. This strategic withdrawal from public life is what he calls the Benedict option.

Drehers proposal is as remarkable as his fear. It is a radical rejection of the ties between Christianity and typical forms of power, from Republican politics to market-driven wealth. Instead, Dreher says, Christians should embrace pluralism, choosing to fortify their own communities and faith as one sub-culture among many in the United States.

But it is a vision that will not be easily achieved. Conservative Christianity no longer sets the norms in American culture, and transitioning away from a position of dominance to a position of co-existence will require significant adjustment, especially for a people who believe so strongly in evangelism. Even if that happens, there are always challenges at the boundaries of sub-cultures. Its not clear that Dreher has a clear vision of how Christians should engage with those they disagree withespecially the LGBT Americans they blame for pushing them out of mainstream culture.

The Benedict option is not a new proposal. Dreher has been tossing around this idea for roughly a decade, drawing from Alasdair McIntyres argument that continued full participation in mainstream society [is] not possible for those who [want] to live a life of traditional virtue. It takes its name from St. Benedict of Nursia, the sixth-century priest who created a network of contemplative monasteries in the Italian mountains and inspired generations of monks to seek lives of quiet reflection and prayer.

Americans have come to rely on middle-class comfort That is the way of spiritual death.

Dreher is not suggesting everyday Christians live in poverty and seclusion. Were not called to be monks. Monks are called to be monks, he told me in an interview. What we have to do is have a limited retreat from the world into our own institutions and communities. While some might see this as a means of running away from culture, Dreher argued that the Benedict option is not about bunkering down and waiting for the end times. Its about building ourselves up spiritually, he said, so we can go out in the world and be who Christ asked us to be.

The first step, he says, is to recognize that politics will not save us. While many Christians have sought defenders and champions in the Republican Party, including Trump, Dreher is skeptical of this model. Neither partys program is fully consistent with Christian truth, he argues.

Instead of looking to elected officials to create their communities, he says, Christians should do it themselves. This means getting involved: Feast with your neighbors, he writes, or join the volunteer fire department. It requires [seceding] culturally from the mainstream, including turning off smartphones and watching only movies and television that are consonant with Christian values. It even means deprioritizing work in favor of richer communal life. Given how much Americans have come to rely on middle-class comfort, freedom, and stability, Christians will be sorely tempted to say or do anything asked of us to hold onto what we have, he writes. That is the way of spiritual death.

This emphasis on localism extends to worship life. Prayer should guide the rhythms of the day and week, he says. Christians should view church as an opportunity to build communities and find fellowship, not just pray on their own. Even living in close proximity to church can help, he says. When the Orthodox Christian parish in Drehers small Louisiana town closed, his family moved to Baton Rouge. We knew that there would be no way to practice our faith properly in community while living so far from the church, he writes.

Above all, Dreher advocates institution building. He encourages his readers to pull their children out of public school and enroll them in classical Christian schools, praising a model developed in part by the North Carolina-based CiRCE Institute. Such curricula, which can be used by teachers or homeschooling parents, covers the canonical Western texts alongside the Bible, sometimes in direct cooperation with churches. Dreher envisions a more robust and sustainable Christian system of higher education, but for now, many students have created intentional communities on their campuses where they can live according to their shared interpretation of the Bible.

The Sexual Revolution has [deposed] an enfeebled Christianity.

As Dreher notes, a number of these practices are already embraced by other religious communities. We Christians have a lot to learn from Modern Orthodox Jews, he told me in an interview. Many of Drehers suggestions appear to echo Orthodox Jewish life, including daily prayers, restrictions on diet and work, and extensive educational networks. They have had to live in a way thats powerfully counter-cultural in American life and rooted in thick community and ancient traditions, he said. And yet, they manage to do it.

This comparison is telling about how Dreher perceives the status of Christians in American society. Jews make up less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, and Modern Orthodox Jews are a tiny minority within that groupPew estimates that they account for 3 percent of all American Jews, or roughly .06 percent of Americans. While its impossible to estimate the exact number of Americans who would identify with the ecumenical, theologically conservative Christianity Dreher describes, it is far bigger than the number of Modern Orthodox Jews.

It seems as though Dreher is saying that Christians need to be ready to live as religious minorities. But he fails to acknowledge an important distinction between the two groups, beyond mere size. Jews act like a counter-cultural, marginalized group because theyve been that way for two millenniapowerless, small in number, at odds with the broader cultures of the places where theyve lived. The American conservatives Dreher is addressing, on the other hand, are coming from a place of power. For many years, they dictated the legal and cultural terms of non-Christians lives. The Benedict option is relevant precisely because America is becoming more religiously fractured, and Christianity is no longer the cultural default.

Dreher is not embracing this fact, or even accepting it peaceably. His work is largely a project of lament. He speaks about Christianity in apocalyptic terms: the Sexual Revolution has [deposed] an enfeebled Christianity as the Ostrogoths deposed the hapless last emperor of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century, and the greatest danger to Christians in the West comes from the liberal secular order itself. He prophesies dire scenarios for Christians in America: We are on the brink of entire areas of commercial and professional life being off-limits to believers whose consciences will not allow them to burn incense to the gods of our age, he says, warning that young Christians who dream of becoming doctors or lawyers may have to abandon that hope.

As a Christian, I dont see my sexuality as constitutive of who I am.

Most importantly, he writes with resentment, largely directed at those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and their supportersthe people, he believes, who have pushed Christians out of the public sphere.

We are on the far side of a Sexual Revolution that has been nothing short of catastrophic for Christianity, he writes:

This has had far-reaching consequences in all spheres of life. In the professional world, sexual diversity dogma is pervasive, he writesan attempt by companies to demonstrate progress to gay-rights campaigners. In the future, everyone working for a major corporation will be frog-marched through diversity and inclusion training, he says, and will face pressure not simply to tolerate LGBT co-workers but to affirm their sexuality and gender identity.

In politics and culture, we in the modern West are living under barbarism, though we do not recognize it, he writes. Our scientists, our judges, our princes, our scholars, and our scribesthey are at work demolishing the faith, the family, gender, even what it means to be human.

And in the education world, public schools by nature are on the front lines of the latest and worst trends in popular culture, he writes. Under pressure from the federal government and LGBT activists, many school systems are now welcoming and normalizing transgenderism. He cites scores of parents whose children come home professing bisexuality and offering a lot of babble about gender being fluid and nonbinary, as one of his readers put it. Few parents have the presence of mind and strength of character to do whats necessary to protect their children from the forms of disordered sexuality accepted by mainstream American youth culture, he writes.

Nothing in this language suggests that Dreher is ready to live tolerantly alongside people with different views. If progressives wrote about the Bible as a lot of babble about Jesus and God, using language similar to that of the parent Dreher cites, he would be quick to cry foul against the ignorance and intolerance of the left; his language is dismissive and mocking, and he peppers in conspiratorial terms like the LGBT agenda. At times, it seems like the goal of the Benedict option is just as much about getting away from gay people as it is affirming the tenets of Christianity. The book seems to suggest that mere proximity to people with alternative beliefs about sexuality, and specifically LGBT people, is a threat to Christian children and families.

These lives pose the question Dreher has not engaged: How should Christians be in fellowship with people unlike them?

Of course, it will be impossible for conservative Christians to fully escape any aspect of mainstream culture, including people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans. In fact, many of those people grew up in Christian households much like Drehers, or may identify with the feelings of cultural homelessness he describes. Their lives implicitly pose the hard question Dreher has failed to engage: How should Christians be in fellowship with people unlike themincluding those who feel aggrieved by the church and its teachings?

To his credit, Dreher nods to this, ever so briefly. The angry vehemence with which many gay activists condemn Christianity is rooted in part in the cultural memory of rejection and hatred by the church, he writes. Christians need to own up to our past in this regard and to repent of it. He does little to specify these past errors, though, and he never tries to answer the broader question: how Christians can live as one people among many in America without learning how to respect and relate to those who challenge their beliefs.

Its not hard to understand Drehers frustration and disorientation about Americas tectonic cultural shift. For many in the United States, sexuality has become so entwined with identity, he observed to me in conversation. This is what yields the comparisons to race: People who view sexuality as a fact of their identity may see Drehers beliefs as analogous to racism. But as a Christian, Dreher told me, I dont see my sexuality as constitutive of who I am. He is working from a different frame of reference, one that is increasingly out of step with Americans ways of thinking about culture. The fear winding through his narrative is anxious anticipation of a future when fewer and fewer public spaces will be open to people like him.

And yet, Dreher begrudges a similar fear in people unlike him, including LGBT people who have long wanted to live freely in publicsomething that was largely impossible when conservative Christians dominated mainstream American life. From this vantage, his Benedict option seems less a proposal for pluralism than the angry backwards fire of a culture in retreat.

Dreher wrote The Benedict Option for people like himthose who share his faith, convictions, and feelings of cultural alienation. But even those who might wish to join Drehers radical critique of American culture, people who also feel pushed out and marginalized by shallowness of modern life, may feel unable to do so. Many people, including some Christians, feel that knowing, befriending, playing with, and learning alongside people who are different from them adds to their faith, not that it threatens it. For all their power and appeal, Drehers monastery walls may be too high, and his mountain pass too narrow.

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The Benedict Option and Rod Dreher's LGBT Challenge - The Atlantic - The Atlantic

St. Louis Park cohousing community welcomes home all ages – Minneapolis Star Tribune

The scene might resemble an extended familys Thanksgiving dinner roaring fire in the hearth, soft music, delicious food smells, people of several generations eating and talking except that the main dishes on the buffet table are baked salmon and a colorful salad, and most of the people are not related to one another.

Its an ordinary Thursday at the Monterey Cohousing Community in St. Louis Park, one of two nights a week that the communitys residents gather for dinner.

Cohousing communities such as Monterey, sometimes called intentional communities, are groups of people who occupy a single housing development. Residents typically have their own fully equipped apartments or condominiums but gather in common indoor and outdoor areas for meals, meetings, shared projects or ordinary conversation.

People who want time alone can find privacy in their own units. Those who want company can usually find it often spontaneously. Residents work together to maintain the building and grounds, take turns cooking meals and perform other needed tasks.

The everyday functioning of this place brings people together, said Monika Stumpf.

At 76, Stumpf is Montereys oldest resident. She became involved in its founding in 1991 for very simple reasons, she said. Having grown up in a multigenerational household, she missed casual interaction with others.

I didnt like living in apartments, or even when I lived in a house where I didnt know the neighbors and the neighbors didnt necessarily want to be involved or even say hello, she said. That drove me crazy.

Joelyn Malone, 66, a Monterey resident for 21 years, had a similar experience, having grown up on a Nebraska farm among aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. When I moved to the city, I was so lonely, she said.

Minnesotans notorious social reserve made things worse. Everybody was still best friends with the people they went to first grade with.

There are hundreds of cohousing communities around the country (and many more around the world). A few, like Monterey, date back to the 1980s and 90s, but most have popped up since 2000. Minnesota has only two so far (the other a small community in Rushford). At least a couple of others are in the works, with groups formed to make plans and search for sites.

Monterey is relatively small as cohousing communities go, with 29 people in 15 households, including younger and older adults and a handful of children. The development includes a brick mansion built in 1924 that houses common areas and some individual homes, and a cluster of newer condominiums next door.

Joey Baity and Heather Garrett-Baity are among several residents in their mid-30s. They moved in about a year ago with their now-6-year-old daughter, Keightyn. They didnt set out to find cohousing they needed a place to live, and came across Monterey but they felt at home right away. On the day they moved in, residents rushed to welcome them, help carry boxes or offer gifts of food.

We love it; its great, Garrett-Baity said. We want to stay and die here.

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St. Louis Park cohousing community welcomes home all ages - Minneapolis Star Tribune

South Side getting trauma center, but it’ll be far more than just an emergency room – Fox 32 Chicago

FOX 32 NEWS - For years, residents of Chicagos South Side have clamored for a Level One Trauma Center to treat the victims of violence that has plagued so many of their neighborhoods.

Now, they're getting one at the University of Chicago in Hyde Park. But it'll be far more than just an emergency room.

From the outside it doesn't look like much, yet. Two floors of a campus parking garage are being converted into a Level One Trauma Center at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

But in a community of big thinkers, the man in charge of this new emergency room is thinking big.

"I think we have an excellent opportunity to do two things. To start up a level one trauma center to provide care for the communities of the South Side, but also to actively partner with the community to address this seeming epidemic of intentional violence, said Rauma Center Director Dr. Selwyn Rogers.

Dr. Selwyn Rogers is a medical superstar. Born poor in the Virgin Islands, educated at Harvard Medical School and now a nationally-recognized trauma surgeon, Rogers was handpicked by the university not just to patch up victims of violence but to try to prevent that violence from happening in the first place.

"If you think of violence as a disease, it's not a disease of people in that traditional flu-like disease. It's a disease of communities, Dr. Rogers said.

Many of those communities are on Chicagos South Side where for years, residents and activists had been demanding a trauma center where so much of the trauma is occurring.

When it opens next year, the new University of Chicago emergency room will be able to handle an additional 25-thousand patient visits a year.

"We want to create a model for what a 21st Century trauma center can be, said Derek Douglas of University of Chicago.

Douglas is the university's vice president for civic engagement. He admits for many years the U of C was regarded at as an ivory-tower island on the South Side. But he says the new trauma center offers an opportunity to tap the brilliant minds of all the university's disciplines such as law, economics and sociology in coming up with strategies to combat the violence plaguing neighborhoods next door.

The university has not looked at this issue as something that there's one department now that's gonna be there solving it on its own. Theyve looked at this as something that could bring the whole university together to try to contribute to this pressing problem, Douglas said.

Since arriving on campus last month, Dr. Rogers has been on a listening tour of the South Side, meeting with community groups and churches, even in barber shops.

"We have an opportunity to listen actively to the community, and partnering with them to try to better understand how we as a health system or as a doctor can make a difference, Rogers said.

Rogers says to understand what's going wrong, you have to study what goes right. Why do so many kids growing up in violent neighborhoods make it out alive and thrive?

"For me personally growing up relatively poor in the Virgin Islands, that's a source of my strength. That informs some of my drive. That informs some of my social justice. That informs some of my desire to make a difference. Without it, I'm not sure I'd be here, Rogers said.

The University of Chicagos trauma center is scheduled to be ready to open in the spring of 2018.

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South Side getting trauma center, but it'll be far more than just an emergency room - Fox 32 Chicago

J Mase III of #BlackTransMagick seeks to redistribute resources – Daily Illini

J Mase III and Vita E partnered up to create #BlackTransMagick in 2015, and have traveled around the country performing on college campuses and for community organizations since then.

The duo is scheduled to perform at 12 p.m. on Monday at the Womens Resources Center as part of the Office of Inclusion & Intercultural Relations Lunch on Us weekly discussion series.

The Daily Illini talked to J Mase III over the weekend about the importance of inclusionary spaces on college campuses.

J Mase III: #BlackTransMagick originated through myself and Vita, we are part of the administrative team for an organization called awQward. awQward is a trans and queer people of color specific talent agency we use the acronym TQPOC. Were both performers and we had an opportunity that kind of showed up through us doing some outreach and talking about the organization in probably June of 2015, so about two years ago. I was scheduled to perform with another awQward artist who fell sick. Vita was still new to the (organization) and we had never performed together. We put it together fairly quickly and had only about one hour to rehearse. We just started creating material from that.

JM: Primarily we perform at colleges and universities. We also do some community organizations and things like that. I think for us, what our major goal is with #BlackTransMagick, as well as with awQward, is really about the redistribution of resources from larger institutions to black and brown trans, queer folks. We use art as a way to create space for cooperative economics, so thats part of it. We also try to provide our work free to smaller black and brown organizations and institutions, or at a low cost, so that we can still be in the communities that know us and help to facilitate our work.

JM: I think whats important for most people, especially on college campuses to recognize, is that the resources in colleges and universities are very much stolen from communities of color. Even in spaces doing LGBTQ work and/or other social justice-centered practices. The institution as a whole when we talk about the land that institutions take up, when we talk about the money that institutions have theres no such thing as creating wealth in the United States of America without taking that from black and brown people through our bodies and labor. And so its important because its a redistribution of those resources back to the spaces from which they were stolen. Its also when we talk about being inclusive of LGBTQ folks, the people in the LGBTQ community most likely to be impacted by violence, lack of access to education, lack of access to jobs, are trans and queer people of color. So its being more honest about who is impacted by these situations. So it behooves people to be honest when they say theyre trying to create intersectional spaces that are rooted in social justice.

JM: I dont know that its something that cant be accomplished through (either) platform, I think that we tend to take different routes of understanding based on the medium. So theres something that I can explain to you intellectually, so you know it. But, through art we actually feel something and were compelled to do something about it. Intellectually, I know that my life as a black person and a trans person is important, but its through art that I actually felt that it mattered.

JM: Everyone is welcome, but what we do specifically is center the experiences of black and brown trans, queer folks of color. I think for me, and I cant speak for Vita, I know for myself a lot of times, people try to tell me Oh, your work is to help people who are not like you learn how to accept you. Thats not what my work is about. My work is Im a black, trans, Muslim person on this planet, and for a long time, I didnt know I had a right to space. So my commitment is to create space for myself and for people in my community, to take up intentional space and take back resources from institutions that seek to erase us. So I encourage TQPOC folks to come, I encourage folks who want to be in solidarity with TQPOC folks to come.

mhwagnr2@dailyillini.com

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J Mase III of #BlackTransMagick seeks to redistribute resources - Daily Illini

Pace: What Should I Give Up This Year? – Covington News

Valentines Day has come and gone, and the stores have already put out their Peeps and Cadbury Eggs in anticipation of Easter. Before we get to Easter, though, I invite you to join me in a tradition of the Christian community that asks us to be intentional with our lives in a way that we often arent the rest of the year.

The holy time of Lent is a 40-day season of reflection, repentance (turning around) and re-creation as the Christian community prepares for the death (Good Friday) and resurrection (Easter) of Jesus. The season has often been observed by more than just people who identify as Christian, however. Many of us give up something such as soft drinks, cigarettes, desserts, social media, etc. The tradition of fasting is meant to be a sacrifice for Christians during these 40 days to help us focus on what really matters in life, especially on God and Gods call in our life.

Lent begins this year on Wednesday, March 1, Ash Wednesday. Some Christian communities will mark the day with fasting and most will hold an Ash Wednesday worship gathering where the imposition of ashes will take place. The day before is Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. Many churches and other communities will serve pancakes or other foods full of ingredients high in fat and sugar. This practice harkens back to the original traditions of this season when folks would clean out the items left in the house in an effort to get ready for fasting.

At Oxford College well hold two Ash Wednesday services, at noon and again at 5:30 p.m. in the chapel on the Quadrangle. Well have readings, music and a time to reflect on our lives. During the imposition of ashes, which are made from the palm branches used during the previous years Palm Sunday worship gathering, I will place ashes on each persons forehead along with the words, Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. The ashes are meant to remind us of our mortality, repentance and the call on our life to live in good relationships with God, ourselves, and each other. At this gathering Ill talk about the ways in which I plan to live with more intention during this season of Lent and will ask others to do the same.

Im writing about this for a variety of reasons. First, its on my mind, because Im spending a lot of time preparing for the gathering at the college. Second, I want you to know that youre invited to an Ash Wednesday gathering near you, especially one of the services at Oxford College. You dont have to subscribe to the Christian faith to be welcome here. Visiting different faith communities is an important step in beginning to know our neighbor and reaching across difference. Lastly, I believe these 40 days of Lent are a call to all of us to live with deeper intention. This is a season that asks us to examine our life, our relationship with that which we name as God or holy, and with each other.

As you pass the Easter goodies in the store, I hope youll be reminded about this holy season of reflection, repentance, and re-creation. What will you give up? What will you take on and integrate into your daily living that moves you to a place of greater intention? What will you do to be in stronger relationships with your neighbor? This is a good time to find out.

Rev. Lyn Pace is the college chaplain at Oxford College of Emory University. You can find him running in the city of Oxford about three times a week.

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Pace: What Should I Give Up This Year? - Covington News

Immigrant Round-ups Stir Fears – Consortium News

During last falls campaign, Donald Trump vowed to get rid of the bad hombres among the 11 million undocumented people in the U.S., but recent raids appear far less targeted, reports Dennis J Bernstein.

By Dennis J Bernstein

President Donald Trump is keeping his promise to go after undocumented people in the United States, with recent reports of sweeps by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or ICE) sending waves of fear through the Latino and other immigrant communities in California, Texas and Arizona.

Trump had justified the need for such round-ups as necessary to get rid of bad hombres but immigrant advocates say the raids are indiscriminate, rounding up as many undocumented people as possible.

It is now clear the Trump Administration is not concerned with public safety, said California State Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin De Leon. They are only focused on ripping hard-working men, women, and children from their families and communities. Mass deportations will not make us safer, instead they will simply undermine our states economy.

De Leon issued a statementcritical of ICE actions on Feb. 10, saying he had been misled by ICE assurances that refugee advocates had exaggerated when they claimed that more than 100 people had been arrested in raids across Southern California a day earlier.

I appreciate that ICE finally disclosed details about their recent raids, but stunned to learn that ICEs public comments made [on Feb. 9] were blatantly false, said De Leon, noting that ICE later confirmed that it had arrested 160 people.

De Leon, perhaps the most influential elected Latino official in the state of California, called on ICE to work more effectively with the communities of California that De Leon represents. If you want to ensure ongoing safety of the public and law enforcement personnel, my recommendation is to drop the mass deportation threats roiling our communities and instead focus strictly on dangerous felons, he said.

Among the groups most targeted for mass deportation are the undocumented day laborers and domestic workers who work the fields and clean the major hotels and the houses of the rich and famous.

Chris Newman is Legal Director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network or NDLON, which represents tens of thousands of day laborers from coast to coast. I spoke with him earlier this month.

Dennis Bernstein: Could you talk about the concerns that NDLON now has, in terms of the unfolding, what weve seen already with these anti-immigrant directives, coming from the President of the United States and the mass sweeps that have followed?

Chris Newman: Well, its certainly far worse than we would have imagined, even days before the president was inaugurated. And I think that theres no question that the Trump administration is trying to terrorize people, trying to terrorize immigrants, trying to terrorize the country, in an effort to try to assert legitimacy for the administration and to try to exercise executive authority.

I do think, again, they are going out of their way to conflate anxieties that people have about the economy, about terrorism, about globalization. Theyre doing their best to sort of bundle them all up. And the reality is that the real world implications for immigrants are quite dire. And, so, you are quite right. We are left in a position of reacting as the president appears to be making good on many of his campaign promises.

DB: Now, weve seen a couple of high profile cases of them demonstrating their resolve to intimidate and deport. Of course, here in the San Francisco Bay Area, where there was a case where ICE showed up at a daycare center, a medical center, and said they had the wrong address. They were looking for a rapist. But all the kids in the daycare center were terrorized.

We now have seen the arrest of a woman who was in the country 21 years, taken out, essentially, out of the arms of her family. Are you hearing more and more about intimidation, about things happening? Could you give us a sense of how that might be reverberating in the community that you represent?

CN: I think that youve put your finger right on it. These actions are a deliberate effort to intimidate and terrorize the community. One of the things I think is commonly misunderstood about the organized xenophobes, the people who are really the propelling force of the Trump campaign: their goal is to limit the foreign born, non-white population of the United States. And deportation is only a piece of how they hope to bring about that agenda. In fact, they want to bring about a far more sophisticated and nefarious plan to effectuate a reduction of the foreign-born, non-white population through attrition.

And so, the idea is to make life sufficiently miserable for immigrants, such that they voluntarily go home. The tipping line that people know about is the South deportation. And, also, such that people are deterred from coming to the United States. And within that context, and within that broader agenda that they have, deportation/criminal enforcement is just one tool. Their goal is to cut access to education, to jobs, to the means of survival, and also to instill fear. And within that context the act of showing courage and resistance contravenes the strategy.

You can look to the deportation of Guadalupe in Phoenix as an example of the brutality of the Trump policy. But you can also look to the way in which the community responded in Phoenix, and the courageous protests as a sign of resistance. And it will also be the new normal.

CN: I think that ICE should be called to task for their lack of transparency in all of these enforcement operations. ICE public information officers or spokespeople have been intentionally obfuscating, precisely to try to create, I think, a sense of chaos, confusion, and unrest. And, to me, it seems totally unacceptable that, number one, ICE refuses to provide details of enforcement operations. And, number two, that that seems to be an acceptable answer from the mainstream press.

I think ICE must be compelled to answer how many people were detained, and why and where. And, I think, reporters should not accept No for an answer. It cannot be the new normal that the largest federal interior law enforcement agency does not provide basic information about raids. Particularly when we have a president who has intentionally engaged in a strategy of well call it the disruption, or the intentional, sort of, sowing of chaos, that theyve been involved in. Yes, so I dont have details, but ICE should be providing them, forthwith.

DB: Now, let me ask you, on that policy: is this now a pattern in practice, of not saying whos being arrested, why theyre being arrested, or where theyre taken? Is this a new intensification? How would you describe that?

CN: I would describe it as sort of an unrestrained tendency thats been with the agency since its inception. As you know, weve discussed on your program before, ICE was involved in intentional dishonesty in the rolling out of the so-called Secure Communities Program, which coerced local police to become front line law enforcement agencies.

And this is just not my view, as an attorney with a point of view as an advocate. I mean, this was the view of members of Congress and federal judges starting with a freedom of information request. ICE was intentionally involved in a deliberate strategy of disinformation about that program. And for many years, organizations like mine and others have raised questions about whether ICE is, in fact, a rogue law enforcement agency.

But, now, you have a rogue law enforcement agency essentially presided over by a rogue president. And so, I think that the types of tactics of propaganda and, again, misinformation that ICE has been involved in, are now currently, unrestrained.

And so, I do think it is incumbent upon the concerned community members to do, and to look at what Phoenix did, and look at what Puente, in Arizona, did in response to Guadalupes raid. And we need to model and replicate that type of courage and response.

But, I also think that members of the press are going to have to be more vigilant at holding ICE accountable for the dissembling way in which theyre sowing confusion about these enforcement operations.

DB: And, just finally, are you all taking precautions? Are there more meetings? Are there more informational gatherings? Are people being presented with more ways of protecting themselves? How do, you know, to be alert, what to do when they arrive. Is that part of whats going on now in terms of the defense against this?

CN: Without a doubt. I mean, we have one of the most, or the most, xenophobic senator is now the top cop in the United States, in Jeff Sessions, as the new Attorney General. And [it] is now, I think, imperative that people when you have somebody who has sort of forecasted his intent to roll back civil rights protections that have been won over the last several decades, its imperative that people take it upon themselves, not just to prepare to defend themselves, but also to defend constitutional values that have been fought for and won over generations.

And so, yes, indeed, across the country there are high-level know your rights informational seminars, such that immigrants are being prepared to defend themselves and to defend the constitution.

Dennis J Bernstein is a host of Flashpoints on the Pacifica radio network and the author of Special Ed: Voices from a Hidden Classroom. You can access the audio archives at http://www.flashpoints.net.

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Immigrant Round-ups Stir Fears - Consortium News

If It Walks Like a Duck – ChicagoNow (blog)

If It Walks Like a Duck

In the Donalds words, there is no one less Anti-Semitic youve ever seen. There is no one less racist, so sayeth our tiny handed, orange tinged, and unhinged leader. Trump, it has been noted, has Jewish grandchildren, a Jewish daughter and son-in-law. And according to Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu has been a friend for decades and never once called him an Anti-Semite. His defense is the equivalent of Im not racist because I have black friends / family! His daughter may have taken on the faith, but Trump seems willfully ignorant on any subject that doesnt concern his favorite subject, himself.

Im really starting to wonder: at what point does his silence, outright deflection, and actions outweigh any pronouncement to the contrary? Trump took his sweet time in denouncing David Duke. His right-hand, Steve Bannon, is a man with very troubling thoughts on Jews and Judaism. Trump readily parrots stereotypes of Jews, sayingyoure not going to support me because I dont want your money, and in the process bombing in a room of conservative, Jewish donors. Retweets of white nationalism with anti-Semitic and racist overtones featured prominently in his campaign.

Jews were conspicuously left off the Holocaust Remembrance Day proclamation. There was no mention of the 6 million plus murdered, or how centuries of vibrant European Jewish life was snuffed out. True, Jews were not the only victims - Roma and Slavs were also targeted because of their ethnicity. Yet, Nazism hand-picked the Jews from the outset, a convenient minority that had sheltered blame since their European arrival. Discussing the Holocaust and leaving out the Jews is a lot like saying All Lives Matter when discussing a singular issues like police treatment of African American communities. There was speculation that its was either ignorance or oversight, but evidence shows the contrary. This was intentional.

The Jewish community represents perhaps 2% of our national population, yet we Jews represent 53.3% of religiously motivated hate crimes. Crimes went up 9% in 2015 alone, to say nothing of the rash of attacks and threats since election day. In January 2017, 57 bomb threats were made to 48 Jewish centers throughout the United States, prompting evacuations, police sweeps, and closures. While nothing was found, it has rattled the Jewish community. White supremacists have been emboldened to spray-paint swastikas, or vandalize synagogues (including here in Chicago). According to watchdog groups, the amount and tenor of Anti-Semitic language has skyrocketed. We cant afford to view these developments as idle threats. Even in a country where Jews have flourished, we remain targets of hate.

Against that backdrop, Jake Turx, an Orthodox Jewish reporter from Ami Magazine asked a softball of a question. While taking great pains to comment that Trump wasnt seen as Anti-Semitic, how was the government going to deal with the rise of Anti-Semitism? An easy answer would have been to say, The United States does not tolerate, nor condone Anti-Semitism. We will do everything we can to prevent its spread and prosecute those who perpetuate it. Easy. 15 seconds at most. Our fears are somewhat placated, and he can move on to whatever insanity he chooses.

Instead, Turx was cut off mid-question. Trump gave a customary non-answer while self-aggrandizing (surprise!). Turx persisted and was cut off yet again (quiet, quiet, quiet and sit down). There was nothing offensive about the question, but ever thin-skinned, Trump took it as a personal affront despite the lengthy preface. From CNN, later on in the news conference, Sirius XM's Jared Rizzi said, I'll follow up on my colleague's question about anti-Semitism. It's not about your personality or your beliefs. We're talking about a rise in anti-Semitism around the country. Some of it by supporters in your name. What can you do to deter that?

In response, Trump said, Some of it is written by our opponents. You do know that? Do you understand that? You don't think anybody would do a thing like that? He went on to insist anti-Semitism was coming from his political opponents, who were doing it to generate anger: Some of the signs you'll see are not put up by the people that love or live Donald Trump.

What?!?! I cannot wrap my head around a man who somehow believes that being labeled an Anti-Semite (even though he wasnt!) is somehow worse than actual Anti-Semitism. And its not as if we dont know who is saying what or what groups are most committed to anti-Jewish ideology and action. We know there is a subset of the Right who do this. Richard Spencer, for one with his intimidation campaign in Whitefish, Mont. Trump is on the warpath against any group he believe to be opposed to him, whether its the entire mainstream press corps or anyone from the Democratic Party. Its true that Anti-Semitism is not unique to the Right, but in addition to deflecting the original question, hes perfectly fine spreading any lies that suit his agenda.

If walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and acts like a duck - it is a duck. I hope the pressure increases for Trump to formally denounce Anti-Semitism. I hope it leads him to actually address this rising tide. I hope he goes deeper than tired stereotypes. I hope, maybe, he listens to his daughter and son-in-law and acts, if for no other reason than deference to them. I hope he actually listens to real fears and concerns from the Jewish community. But, Im not holding my breath.

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If It Walks Like a Duck - ChicagoNow (blog)

Spreading the Faith: Moving Coins and Moving Communities – Patheos (blog)


Patheos (blog)
Spreading the Faith: Moving Coins and Moving Communities
Patheos (blog)
Often, we exaggerate deliberate missionary activity while underplaying the role of other forms of population movement that might be non-intentional, casual, even accidental, and definitely not directed toward religious goals. To illustrate this, let me ...

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Spreading the Faith: Moving Coins and Moving Communities - Patheos (blog)

Nash says ‘there’s more to do’ on diversity at State of the County address – Gwinnettdailypost.com

Gwinnett County Chairwoman Charlotte Nash said all residents of Gwinnett County should be respected during her State of the County Address on Thursday, directly referring to the ongoing controversy surrounding Commissioner Tommy Hunter even if she didnt mention him by name.

The commission has been bombarded with calls for Hunters resignation, or for his colleagues to remove him from office, since he called U.S. Rep. John Lewis a racist pig and referred to Democrats as Demonrats and Libtards on Facebook a month ago.

Nash previously sent a letter of apology to Lewis, but she took a firmer stance with Gwinnettians on the issue in her address during a luncheon at the Infinite Energy Center in Duluth.

Inclusion does not just happen, she said. It takes intentional effort. Let me be perfectly clear failure to respect all Gwinnettians and welcome their participation in our community is neither acceptable nor smart. Gwinnetts future success depends on all of us, working together to build the community.

We must engage and empower leaders from our diverse population who love Gwinnett to champion this important work.

Hunter has been under fire since his remarks surfaced in the media, and it has since grown to engulf his colleagues on the commission and others. On Tuesday night, a Gwinnett NAACP meeting where Hunter was the guest speaker erupted into turmoil as members expressed displeasure at his being invited to the meeting and called for the chapters president to resign.

County leaders have made efforts to learn more about minority issues recently, including visiting the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta on Tuesday.

During Nashs speech, which highlighted Gwinnett as a remarkable place, Nash addressed the countys efforts on community outreach and bringing leaders from diverse population groups together to address community issues.

Her remarks on the need to show respect toward all people in Gwinnett drew applause from the hundreds of people who attended the luncheon.

Efforts outlined by Nash to increase that include improving outreach efforts related to small business and minority applicants, making sure the history of Gwinnetts African-American community is featured in next years bicentennial celebrations, establishing a TV Gwinnett program aimed at highlighting diverse cultural communities in the county, getting more young people into the Gwinnett 101 government education program, getting county leaders to make site visits to cultural groups around the county, raising the among diverse community interaction taking place by opening up county facilities more.

Theres more to do, as recent events have shown, Nash said. I have made a personal commitment to seek ways to increase my own understanding of varied racial and cultural backgrounds. I hope that my fellow commissioners will do the same.

To symbolize our deepened commitment to engage with our diverse community, we are adopting the tagline Many Voice, One Gwinnett.

She even took a page from the younger social media savvy generation and encouraged Gwinnettians to use #ManyVoicesOneGwinnett on places such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to promote unity among the countys diverse populations.

Forthcoming projects also teased

While Nashs comments on diversity and inclusion was the most timely part of her speech, she also gave attendees a hint at what can be expected.

She said work is progressing on the countys partnerships with Norcross and Duluth leaders to build new downtown libraries in both cities for example. More than that, however, she said there have been talks between the county and officials in Lawrenceville and Snellville to build new library branches in those cities as well.

Work to develop an extensive trail system around the county was also highlighted.

The county, cities, and CIDs are developing a countywide plan to guide the creation of a remarkable trail network, Nash said. Not only will a robust network of pathways give folks another choice for travel, the connections and activity add to the feeling of community that so many are seeking and thats good for development, too.

She also said demolition work is expected to begin in the near future on the former Olympic tennis center near Stone Mountain and Snellville.

Well be seeking a private sector partner through a competitive process, so start thinking about what makes sense for the site, Nash said. The Evermore CID is anxiously awaiting the venues transformation.

Also on the topic of CIDs, Nash said the county will be working with two of its districts, the Gwinnett Place CID and the Gwinnett Village CID, on projects this year.

Gwinnett Place is looking to improve connectivity around its namesake mall, Pleasant Hill Road and McDaniel Farm Park as part of its ACTivate Gwinnett Place master plan. Meanwhile, Gwinnett Village is working on an update to its Livable Centers Initiative plan and will work with the county on traffic flow and pedestrian access improvements.

All in all, there is a lot to celebrate when we look at our remarkable community and its prospects for the future, Nash said.

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Nash says 'there's more to do' on diversity at State of the County address - Gwinnettdailypost.com

Anson County community meeting to fight poverty planned for Feb. 18 – Ansonrecord

Anson NETworX for Hope invites the community to participate in an informative meeting Saturday, Feb. 18, at First United Methodist Church.

NETworX, formerly Circles, is a program designed to build relationships across lines of socio-economic class, culture and race with the goal of helping organize people for a better life. NETworXs strategy is not to end poverty though the well-doing for others but through the well-being together. It is individuals and communities seeking together to build intentional relationships through education and love of neighbor as well as love of self.

Under the leadership of the Rev. Norma Villagrana, the new ministry will work to help people move from poverty to self-sufficiency. Villagrana believes that NETworX will bring a new and fresh start to the community.

Anson County was one of the 64 Circles sites across America that made a positive impact in this community, Villagrana said. Circles empowered families with the knowledge and social capital they need to overcome the barriers of life in poverty and become self-sustaining. NETworX is a faith-based program committed to the core values of love for the neighbor and transforming lives.

Villagrana said that NETworX brings together members of the community who are middle class (called Allies) and members of the community (called Champions of Change). An Ally is an individual working with Champions to overcome obstacles and reach their goals, and a Champion of Change is an individual who wants to improve his/her life and to make changes to move toward greater well-being.

This is what NETworX does, she said.

Villagrana was born and raised in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico. She graduated from the school of law in Mexico. For several years she worked in a law firm and later became the director of technical school in her native town.

She and her family moved to the United States in 2002, and along with her husband, Hector, they become missionaries for the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church. They started a new Hispanic Ministry in the Springfield, Missouri area, and since then she has been involved with initiatives that help people to end poverty and assisting families that have domestic conflicts, sometimes involving neglected/abused children and substance abuse.

Last June, she and her family moved to North Carolina where her in-laws reside. She strongly believes that families need to be together. She is serving as pastor at the Polkton Charge in the Uwharrie District of the United Methodist Church. Her call to ministry and her passion has moved her to serve also as the director of NETworX for Hope in Anson County.

First United Methodist Church is located at 118 East Morgan Street, Wadesboro. The meeting is from 9 to 11:45 a.m. on Feb. 18. Refreshments will be provided.

NETworX will meet every Thursday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Wadesboro. A meal, childcare and transportation will be provided by NETworX at no cost to the participants.

To find out more information about participating in this program, email Norma Villagrana at [emailprotected] or call or text 816-351-4232.

Villagrana

http://ansonrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_Norma-Villegrana-fz.jpgVillagrana

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Anson County community meeting to fight poverty planned for Feb. 18 - Ansonrecord

Ithaca organization encourages people to participate in National Random Acts of Kindness Week – The Ithaca Voice

YOUR LOCAL NEWS IS MADE POSSIBLE BY SUPPORT FROM

The following is a republished press release from the Child Development Council and NOT written by The Ithaca Voice. To submit community announcements directly to The Voice, email [emailprotected]

ITHACA, N.Y. -- In honor of its 50th Year Anniversary, the Child Development Council (1967-2017), which serves Cortland and Tompkins Counties, will unveil a series of celebratory programs and events designed to entertain, engage, educate, and appreciate the children, families, and communities it serves. One such program launches next week and will run throughout 2017. That program is Random (and International) Acts of Kindness Year, which piggybacks on the theme of National Random Acts of Kindness Week, that occurs annually in February.

The Councils new campaign will be an ongoing collaboration with Mamas Comfort Camp and its Founder Yael Saar.

Child Development Council CEO, Sue Dale-Hall, states, Our children have no political parties, no ability to vote, and yet they are often in the middle of political rancor and unease. Now, more than ever, its important that we support children by promoting and demonstrating kindness at every level in our lives (at work, at home, in childcare and in the communities we all live in and serve.

Thats why the Child Development Council Board of Directors and staff, along with Mamas Comfort Camp, encourages friends, neighbors, providers, and caregivers to support both random and intentional acts of kindness throughout their workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities throughout the year, particularly how we treat one another and of course, children.

What YOU Can Do: Promote Kindness & Interview Children

The Council encourages workplaces, child care providers, caregivers, neighbors and community members to promote and support random (and intentional) acts of kindness this month and throughout the year. This would involve kindness to one another as adults and to, of course, the children we may interact with each day.

The Council also asks that you capture the VOICES of children. Please record children responding (with permission from caregivers and families naturally!) to the following questions:

1. What does kindness mean to you?

2. How can adults make the world a kinder place?

Videos from smartphones or other devices can be uploaded to the Facebook Random and Intentional Acts of Kindness Page: located here: fb.me/kindnessforkids

The Council has a Pinterest Page with resources on kindness and early childhood education here: https://www.pinterest.com/childdev2017/

The National Random Acts of Kindness Foundation website is located here: https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/

RAK Week, which will be observed Feb. 12-18, 2017, is an annual opportunity to unite through kindness. Formally recognized in 1995, this seven-day celebration demonstrates that kindness is contagious. It all starts with one act one smile, one coffee for a stranger, one favor for a friend. Its an opportunity for participants to leave the world better than they found it and inspire others to do the same. Since inception, RAK estimates that millions of celebrities, businesses, schools, and partners have participated in these weeklong celebrations.

Demonstrating kindness is linked to decreasing stress, improving mood, health, and over wellbeing in children and adults.

About the Child Development Council

The mission of the Child Development Council is to promote the healthy development of children and families at home, in child care, and in the community, by:

In promoting the healthy development of children and families, the various program activities of the agency are aimed at enhancing the quality of care that children receive and the environments in which they grow up, whether in home, child care, school, or neighborhood settings.

The Child Development Council is a proud member of both the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce and the Cortland County Chamber of Commerce.

About Mamas Comfort Camp

Mamas Comfort camp is an online peer support network using social media to strengthen mothers in the real world. We believe that Mamas don't need more advice, we need more support!

We are thousands of mothers, (almost 2000 are from the Ithaca area) connecting via a free private Facebook group, where support is available 24/7/365. Together we normalize the challenges and celebrate the joys of the roller-coaster ride called motherhood, all in a safe space free from judgment, protected from unsolicited advice, and steeped with respect and kindness. In Ithaca we enjoy a vibrant and responsive network of local moms helping each other out. We hold free support meetings, fun gatherings, and classes.

Free and open to moms of kids of ANY age: from moms of newborns to grandmothers and every stage in between. You can ask to join the group at: https://www.facebook.com/mamas.comfort.camp/

Featured image courtesy of Flickr.

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Ithaca organization encourages people to participate in National Random Acts of Kindness Week - The Ithaca Voice

Portland groups form coalition to eradicate hate – KOIN.com

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) A local campaign aimed at tackling hate head-on launched Tuesday night during a collaborative community event and vigil.

A variety of community groups are part ofthePortland United Against Hate campaign, which involvesbuilding a rapid response system, reporting and tracking hateful acts and providing support and protection to members of the community.

Dozens of people attended Tuesdays event at Da Vinci Middle School to learn about the campaign and the new website The No Hate Zone.

The goal is to lessen hate and racism by bringing people together to understand each other, to embrace each other, website creator Sam Sachs said. We can set a different precedence and we can set a standard for change.

Last month, a swastika was painted on a familys driveway in Northeast Portland. In early February, 2 Eugene businesses were tagged with the same sign.

Those involved in the campaign hope to make hatecrimes a thing of the past.

Our bold and intentional collaborative efforts are designed to protect communities from hate and proactively, create a strong base of support, provide the tools and resources to combat oppression, prosper economically and thrive collectively. Portland United Against Hate

The partnership includes participation from the following groups:

For more information on Portland United Against Hate, click here.

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Portland groups form coalition to eradicate hate - KOIN.com

David Littlewood, guest columnist: Time to repeal Dodd-Frank Act and free up our community banks – Waco Tribune-Herald

Should Dodd-Frank be repealed and replaced? Debate rages in Washington and beyond regarding the need to repeal or significantly amend the DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, implemented in 2010 as a result of the 2008 financial meltdown. The intent was to address a lack of oversight and control of financial markets.

The market collapse was due primarily to mega banks and mortgage companies that made bad, even fraudulent loans, to individuals and businesses that didnt qualify, then sold these questionable loans to unsuspecting investors: a perfect storm for economic disaster! Yet this well-intentioned act has had dire consequences reaching far beyond the culprits of the financial disaster.

Our nations financial system is complex. You have Wall Street, investment banks, mortgage banks, the housing institutes of Fannie and Freddie, mega-banks (i.e., too big to fail) and then there are community banks.

Community banks are the backbone of small to mid-range businesses in our country. Did you know that the same sweeping regulations of the Dodd-Frank Act extend from Wall Street to the too-big-to-fail monster banks all the way down to small banks in rural communities across our land? Theres virtually no distinction in size, complexity, risk, etc. And, intentional or not, these regulations have created a chokehold and burden for neighborhood community banks, one greatly impeding their ability to do what theyve done well for decades: serve the financial needs of their communities. The overhead and expenses associated with meeting these federal requirements are more than many small banks can bear.

An American Action Forum study pegged costs of the act since inception at $36 billion. This has forced many community banks to re-evaluate their ability to remain a going community concern. Some smaller banks are forced to close while others choose to merge to achieve economies of scale to address federal compliance costs. This is specifically because the fixed costs of hiring yet another employee to address compliance issues impose a larger burden on small banks. Larger banks dont suffer from this issue as they have a much larger asset base across which to spread the cost of each incremental compliance-related hire.

The community banking group of financial institutions were not a part of the financial meltdown. In fact, they have stepped up and assisted families and businesses more than ever since many of the big banks have all but exited smaller markets since implementation of Dodd-Frank. The big banks today refuse to consider or even hear the varied stories of individual circumstances, choosing instead to follow algorithms and inflexible formulas for underwriting. This trend has caused many small- to mid-sized businesses to go longer before receiving much-needed financing due to having to cast a wider and wider net to find a bank amenable to provide financing. Couple this with many banks reluctance to lend to small businesses with short histories or weak collateral and you have a recipe for an unhealthy small-business environment.

Yes, there is a need for regulatory reform. The extreme overreach of the Dodd-Frank Act has penalized and punished hundreds of quality financial institutions across the country and in turn has negatively impacted millions of consumers and small businesses.

Small business and the folks they employ are the engine that powers this countrys economic success. Community banks are the reservoir of resources those small businesses need to grow and hire. When it works well, bank regulation helps ensure the safety and soundness of the overall banking system. When it does not work well, it constricts the natural cycle of lending, job growth and economic expansion.

When considering regulation for the financial industry, Congress should not lump community banks in with their larger, publicly held, bottom-line counterparts. The time has long passed for the Dodd-Frank Act to be repealed or replaced.

David Littlewood is president of First National Bank of McGregor. It is the oldest bank in McLennan County and seventh-oldest national bank in Texas still operating under its original charter.

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David Littlewood, guest columnist: Time to repeal Dodd-Frank Act and free up our community banks - Waco Tribune-Herald

Marnita’s Table set for Wednesday – Daily Globe

Marnitas Table (MT) is an organization founded in 2005 by Marnita Schroedl and her husband, Carl Goldstein. They wanted to provide a space where people from different communities could find ways to break down barriers of race, class and culture through their model, Intentional Social Interaction.

We invite people of color, youths, people with disabilities and GLBTQ and those traditionally left out of decision-making conversations into the room so that each person can directly practice by engaging with someone new across difference, said Lauren Williams, MT communication manager.

Williams said the organization has been working along with the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) and the Regional Workforce Alliance to provide tools to different regions in Minnesota. The goal is to help them engage equitable ways in the workplace and community.

We have been in communication with community members who have wanted us to come to Worthington for a couple of years, so we are very excited to finally have the opportunity, Williams said.

She explained that guests will share a meal, which will satisfy vegetarian and others dietary restrictions, while also building interpersonal relationships and finding ways to work together as a community. She added that attendees will be introduced to exercises that will help them combat implicit bias and increasing inequality in the workplace, as well as encouraged to build new relationships and collaborate with people of different backgrounds.

We build tribal alliances in the room where people across difference can see themselves as allies in community, Williams said.

Williams noted that its in the hands of each person to carry those relationships and connections beyond the event, with the goal of impacting the whole community and not just people who attend.

The next step is for each person to stay in connection with one person they have met across difference, Williams said. Not only do guests now have the ability to practice inclusion, but they have the ability to teach others how to do so by example.

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Marnita's Table set for Wednesday - Daily Globe

Microsoft Executives to Keynote Summit EMEA 2017 Conference – Yahoo Finance

TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Dynamic Communities, the supporting organization behind the official user groups for Microsoft Dynamics AX (AXUG), Dynamics CRM (CRMUG), Dynamics NAV (NAVUG), and Microsoft Power BI (PBIUG) products, announces Microsoft executives to keynote Summit EMEA, held 4-6 April 2017 at the RAI in Amsterdam. Microsoft, the charter sponsor for Summit EMEA 2017, is a key proponent of this event and heavily integrated in the programming being offered to attendees.

The Summit EMEA 2017 Microsoft executive keynote and general session presenters include:

In addition to the Microsoft keynote and general session involvement, Microsoft personnel will be leading 25+ sessions dedicated to recently unveiled Microsoft Dynamics 365. Dynamics 365 will empower business users with built-in insights and intelligence within the business applications they're working in. Attendees will have direct access to Microsoft personnel, product insights, practical answers to Dynamics questions, and peer to peer expertise that will provide gains in product knowledge and streamline business operations.

"We are excited to be part of Summit EMEA 2017, the premier conference for European-based Microsoft Dynamics users," said Chris Rothwell, Microsoft UK Dynamics Business Lead. "The knowledge sharing opportunity at the event is phenomenal, with access to other users, product experts as well as Microsoft engineering and product managers."

Click here to learn more about Summit EMEA keynote speakers and join us at the largest gathering of Dynamics users in Europe, 4-6 April in Amsterdam by registering today: http://www.summitemea.com/pricing.

Dynamic Communities is the business management organization that supports technology-centric user groups and associations providing necessary resources and business operations such as staff, systems and event production. Dynamic Communities is independent from Microsoft; however, the two organizations maintain an intentional close working relationship so that our members can provide a collective voice to Microsoft on user concerns, needs, and requests.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/microsoft-executives-to-keynote-summit-emea-2017-conference-300406583.html

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Microsoft Executives to Keynote Summit EMEA 2017 Conference - Yahoo Finance