Daily Archives: December 18, 2019

ImpactAlpha, Dec. 16 Bad actors are grabbing headlines. Opportunity Zone catalysts are driving impact.

The release of the Forbes OZ list of 20 investors and civic leaders seizing the Opportunity Zone tax incentive to unlock inclusive economic development in communities across the country provides an opportunity to highlight the undertold story of Opportunity Zones: Impact is happening.

Fund catalysts on the list include Blueprint Local, KNGDM Opportunity Fund, SolaImpact Opportunity Fund and Renaissance HBCU. Community catalysts include the City of Erie, Baltimore Development Corporation and Invest Atlanta.

Sorenson Impact and Forbes, which partnered to create the list, vetted applicants against OZ Impact Reporting Framework, a project to drive acountabilily co-authored by the Beeck Center, the US Impact Investing Alliance and Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

For the Beeck Center, the list is just the latest example of promise and potential in Opportunity Zones.

In October, we asked the members of the Beeck Center Opportunity Zones Investor Council a group of first-mover fund managers, investors and developers who have moved over $200 billion in capital during their careers to share the first words that came to mind when talking about the OZ landscape.

The responses: Undaunted. Optimistic. Courage. Excitement.

Their impressions were illuminating on both the promise and challenges OZs face. We met in late October at the Williamsburg Hotel in Brooklyn, NY to discuss their impactful work, share ideas, and catalyze more action towards delivering positive social outcomes for communities and investors in Opportunity Zones.

Most of the public narrative around OZs has focused on the tax benefits for investors, but the diverse Council (which includes 14 people of color and 7 women) is looking at the much bigger picture and taking into account the 35 million people living in the 8,766 designated zones.

Opportunity Zones have an average poverty rate of nearly 30 percent, and an average median family income that is 37% lower than the American average, according to the Economic Innovation Group, which work behind the scenes to pass the legislation. Black Americans are significantly over-represented in zones, representing twice as large of the zone population as they do the national population.

The work of the Beeck Center is to support the original intention of the legislation, to drive positive social outcomes in these neighborhoods, improving the lives of the people who live and work in those communities today. By bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders, we create a grasstops approach between fast-moving grassroots ideas and slower-changing institutions, increasing the probability of generating impact at scale.

David Gross, business partner of the late Nipsey Hussle, and Derrick Morgan, a former NFL player turned investor, kicked off the Council meeting by sharing how they are driving impact in communities. Both influencers are deepening their efforts in impact investing through OZs. Both have powerful, personal motivation to make a real difference in underserved neighborhoods.

The meeting was grounded in three pillars: inspiration, impact, and influence. The Beeck Center acts as a field builder in driving impact across the country and invited organizations that are developing impact tools to connect projects to investors across the nation. The Center is also informing the creation of a process tool to help operationalize the OZ Impact Reporting Framework.

Given the national narrative and flurry of legislative activity, these points stood out among the many topics of discussion:

1. Some OZs are problematic and need tweaks. The Opportunity Zone designation process was a quick, unfunded mandate to the state governors many who have changed over since zone designation. The Beeck Center was so concerned about the zone designation process, Fair Finance Lead Lisa Hall actually penned guiding principles to aid the governors in thinking through their zone designation strategy.

The Council recognizes that there are outliers and will be supportive of a thoughtful, forward-looking process to sunset high-income OZs. The national narrative is loud about the existence of wrongfully-designated zones, but we should not let that taint the reality that when OZ legislation is operationalized thoughtfully and with impact intentionality, it can lead us towards a more equitable society. This is the work OZIC members do every day, unlocking the promise and potential that lives in these neighborhoods.

2. This is not a gentrification program. Recent news and local narratives especially on the coasts suggest that investment in OZs accelerates gentrification. When people use the word gentrification, they most often mean forced migration and/or displacement. The research shows that less than 4% of OZs are at risk of gentrification. Regardless of the data, council members believe that any behavior that causes displacement is bad and should be avoided at all costs.

OZ legislation is a capital gains tax incentive. Currently there are no impact, data or transparency requirements. This reality has made the work of the Beeck Center in driving positive impact important. Its why we co-authored the OZ Impact Reporting Framework with the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York earlier this year. The Impact Framework calls for five guiding principles: community engagement, transparency, equity, outcomes and measurement.

3. Impact is happening. Patience is needed. Opportunity Zone legislation was designed to spur capital investment and economic development in underinvested neighborhoods. To that end, the legislation requires substantial improvement in order to qualify for the tax benefit. This requirement means that the investor needs to double its basis in the Opportunity Zone, a provision that made real estate development first movers in the market. At this time, we know of more than 400 initiatives committed to the OZ Impact Reporting Framework, and Council members have over 30 OZ projects underway nationwide.

The thing is, development takes time and a lot of it, especially in certain locations. David Bramble, Managing Partner of MCB Real Estate and Beeck Center Investor Council member, said its taken over four years just to get permits for some of his projects. The Washington State Department of Commerce Opportunity Zones Working Group recently observed, Success will require attention, patience, resources and public/private partnerships to support local efforts, sentiments the Council agrees with wholeheartedly.

Nearly two years have passed since the OZ legislation was enacted and the regulations are still not finished. The regulatory clarity needed for real OZ business investment was set only a few months ago. We are seeing inspiring activity in these neighborhoods, but we need time to see new capital flow in meaningful ways.

With new reporting and self-assessment tools in the works, and a host of new ideas in their pockets, the Council wrapped up two days of conversations with a renewed commitment to action.

There is a lot of work going on in the area. The work should have been happening anyway, but OZ legislation was the catalyst toward this.

We will take a more intentional role in gathering the cultural influence, adding the cultural component to the grasstops model.

We are learning how to do deals that bring in as many stakeholders as possible, and collaborative behavior is really important.

The Opportunity Zones legislation is a new tool for investors to spark development and growth in communities across the country. While OZs are new, people have been working and investing in these types of communities for decades. Whats different now is how the discussion of OZs has sparked interest from new players in the space. This group represents institutional powerhouses (Goldman Sachs), non-profits (LISC), established developers (MCB Real Estate), and non-traditional investors like Derrick Morgan, bringing added energy and asking new questions to deliver results.

To the Beeck Center, one of the most valuable things about OZ legislation is the conversation swell around it. It is bringing many new players to the world of impact. The Beeck Center sets tables so that those with deep impact knowledge can teach and collaborate with new players.

OZ legislation is not the answer to every problem that exists within community development, but it provides space for smart people to converse who wouldnt interact otherwise. Innovation comes from conversations like these, and the economic reality in OZs is illustrative of a need for major change. Its going to require collaborative behavior. And time.

Jennifer Collins is a fellow-in-residence at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation focused on Opportunity Zones.

A version of this post was previously posted on the Beeck Centers blog.

Continue reading here:

Opportunity Zone 'catalysts' are driving impact in America's overlooked communities - ImpactAlpha

In 2008, at 33 years old, I became the executive director of the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty. Although it had been nearly a decade after its doors opened for the first time, its future was uncertain.

The beautiful historic venue continued to struggle. I was excited by the opportunity, but in the first few weeks of my tenure as I learned more about the theaters financial realities, I learned that although a handful of funders believed in the vision, there was no clear path forward. I had lots of arts producing experience, but this was going to be a big job and I had no idea how I would make it work.

The good news: Artists and community residents loved the theater and were committed.

The theater, a building that first opened in 1914 as the Regent Theatre, is expensive to operate. Just turning on the lights and heating or cooling the space cost more than artists and community organizations could afford to pay. The theaters business model of renting to artists and community organizations was not sustainable.

I was not sure how we could create something dynamic. I am an arts person. What I love about artists is the ability to find solutions that magical ability to find beauty or make beauty from whatever materials are available and make things happen.

The Kelly Strayhorn Theaters name is a combination of two artists names, Gene Kelly and Billy Strayhorn. It is a fabrication (the two artists never met) and is purely the radical imagination of the theaters founders that these two very different artists (white/Black, straight/queer, dancer/musician, etc.) might share a name and space. Their creativity and resilience is in our DNA.

What I loved most about Kelly Strayhorn Theater [KST] then, as I do now, is the location at the heart of a racially, economically and culturally distinct set of East End neighborhoods.

The Kelly Strayhorn Theater on Penn Avenue in East Liberty. (Photo by Kat Procyk/PublicSource)

I love this area. I found East Liberty as a teenager in the 1990s. As a teenager and a 20-something, I remember the neighborhood of urban hip-hop inspired clothing and shoe stores, nightclubs and African and Caribbean businesses and restaurants. It was the place to be.

Later in the early 2000s, for me as a young teaching artist, places like East Liberty Presbyterian Church and the Kingsley Center were hubs of activity to connect to others doing similar work. Other spaces like Shadow/Ava Lounge, Abay Ethiopian Cuisine and the East Liberty Farmers Market became weekly and sometimes daily staples of life.

Back then, these spaces and the people on and around Penn Avenue reflected a diversity of economic, cultural and spiritual life that gave East Liberty flavor. KST sits at the heart of complex and rich history. And, to be of the neighborhood is to recognize and honor this history messiness and all.

In 2008, KST and East Liberty were kind of synonymous. If you knew the theater, you knew East Liberty. I embraced it. But some well-meaning supporters encouraged me to distance the theater from the neighborhood, suggesting I remove words like community from our tagline fearful perhaps that it may carry a negative connotation (bad neighborhood). Others were more blatant in urging a focus on the Kellys, not the Strayhorns. They felt KST would be more successful by targeting our programming to the wealthy East End. I didnt follow that advice.

Our first two seasons of curating and producing our own shows included Ursula Rucker, Bahamadia, Toshi Reagon, W. Ellington Felton, Rhyme Calisthenics (Mac Miller performed), Kyle Abraham, a contemporary dance festival, a Dan Jemmett Production of Faust and Sean Jones celebration of Billy Strayhorn (the first Suite Life). A whole host of artist-producers worked with us to create excellent theater, dance, music, spoken word and so much more. We made bold choices. And, it made sense to me because this is East Liberty.

We started to see some success: growing audiences, increasing donors and wider exposure. By 2014, as we became a more viable institution, some began measuring my success not only by the quality of programming or my commitment to artists, but also by operational measures of foundation reliance, ticket sales (butts in seats), managing people and expenses. With growth, the stakes changed. Failures had bigger consequences. And, as much as I wanted to deny it, my workday was not only about art and artists. It was slowly becoming more and more about managing stakeholders, all against the backdrop of neighborhood change.

Almost everyone said the changes were good for KST. But I had mixed feelings. There were fewer Black residents and the audience make-up started to change. We had to be much more directed in engaging and keeping the audience mix that reflected the neighborhoods historic past and our namesakes. As East Libertys economy changed, so did its culture and I felt an incredible pressure to change. These were difficult waters to navigate.

East Liberty has a faint resemblance to the one I found a little more than a decade ago. The revitalization narrative will have us believe there was nothing worth keeping from the old East Liberty, that somehow todays occupants are better than their predecessors. I dont want to romanticize the past as though all parts of the old neighborhood were perfect or even preferable. But the creative, inclusive energy of the old neighborhood was too good and too valuable to dismiss. Culture matters.

janera solomon said she believes that community art reminds us of our human potential and challenges us to be our best. She also added that its just fun. (Photo by Kat Procyk/PublicSource)

Against the odds, KST stands today and, undeniably, we are an anchor institution. As a patron said to me recently, we are holding it down for the culture. When we could have raised ticket prices and rental rates, or avoided community controversies, we doubled down on giving voice, access and inclusion. We launched Pay What Makes You Happy and Penn Avenue Creative a neighborhood-centered residency program to respond to Penn Avenues changes. We spread our resources and expanded our mission beyond producing shows in our theaters. All the while, we produced robust seasons of programming, season after season with everything from international touring artists to neighborhood family dance parties.

Eleven years doesnt happen without mistakes or regrets. As I leave my role as executive director, I am tempted to think of all that I failed to accomplish because I know theres always more to do. (Thats the Capricorn, eldest daughter of an immigrant West Indian family in me.) But, when I stop to consider my tenure, I am proud of the work.

We have a unique mission to bridge communities through art. It would have been easy to present simple programming stuff everyone gets. It could have been cute and digestible and perhaps even sold more tickets. The programming reflects the complicated needs of the diverse audiences we serve. You cannot easily put KSTs programming in a box and thats intentional.

I am proud of our community relationships. I dont always agree with our neighbors and vice versa, but among many of us (business owners, developers, elected officials, church leaders, cultural partners), theres mutual respect. Thats a neighborhood.

We built a new model for community arts institution building one that is rooted in the difficult business of equity. We diversified our revenue base, engaged a diverse mix of individual donors and increased support from institutional funders, locally and nationally. And, while we operate two venues without an endowment, we continue to make strides toward financial sustainability. Yes, the work of making the finances work is constant (there is never a time when Im not thinking about cash on hand), but today marks the longest continuously operating period of KSTs history.

And, on a personal note, I am proud of the way I navigated this work as a mother. (I was writing a grant proposal when I went into labor!) Since my daughter was born, she has been a part of this journey, patiently encouraging and supporting her mommy: coming to meetings, listening quietly to phone calls, tolerating my travel and many, many nights out. So often our professional journeys exclude these personal stories, but I am a mother making a life and doing this work. Any assessment of my experience must include my work as a mother.

Art-making, at least to me, is about community-making. I love beautiful music, beautiful dance, theater, all sorts of creative expression. Art-making is always about connecting, always about people connecting to each other and finding a sense of self, purpose, understanding. And, in a theater, we are forced to do it all together.

As I look ahead to KSTs next chapter, I am optimistic. Pittsburghs cultural scene and the ecosystem for support is in so many ways better than it was a decade ago.

Naturally, things will change at KST after I leave. But what I hope never changes is a dual commitment to art and the community. Lets keep giving artists and audiences space for new ideas, for exploration and for taking risks. And lets stay rooted in our neighborhood mission and hold on to art that questions and dares to tell the truth. Ultimately, thats what brings people together in a neighborhood, and that is community.

janera solomon is the executive director of the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty. She will be leaving her position later in December. She can be reached at janera@kelly-strayhorn.org.

Read more here:

When art-making is about community-making. What I learned in my 11 years of leading Kelly Strayhorn Theater. - PublicSource

Metro has announced 14 grant awards for this years Investment and Innovation Grants program. Just over $6 million will go to local businesses and nonprofits looking to expand existing recycling services or create new ways to reduce waste. This includesthree grants awarded this summer,

Grant recipients will match the funds with nearly $7 million in cash and in-kind support.

The three-year pilot program, created by Metro Council, began funding projects in 2018 with the aim of supporting efforts to repair, reuse, recycle, compost, or make energy from the stuff people discard in the greater Portland area.

There are two categories of grant funding.

Metro Councilor Shirley Craddick, who is on this years capital grant review committee, says that changes in global recycling markets over the last few years have had an impact on the local system. The Investment and Innovation grants are a way to help the companies that are needing to modernize their sorting in order to make more materials available to recycle.

Metro received 27 preliminary proposals for capital grant projects this year. The review committee invited 17 to submit a full proposal and ultimately recommended nine awards totaling close to $5.6 million.

The program grant review team recommended awarding eight grants totaling about $520,000.

We tried to nudge every project that didnt have clear equity outcomes to do better.

Metros Chief Operating Officer, Andrew Scott, together with director of Metros Property and Environmental Services departmentRoy Brower, and Metro Council made the final grant determinations.

Recology Oregon Composts proposal ranked highly for its focus on food waste from businesses. Currently, greater Portland sends about 21,000 tons of food scraps and yard debris from homes and businesses to Recologys Aumsville facility annually for composting.

Food is a product that can be used in so many different ways, says Craddick, who wouldlike to see less of it sent to landfill.Being able to separate it out of our waste stream is gold.

Recologys project will replace six small composting beds at its facility with two massive ones. It also will expand an existing curing pad where materials can effectively decompose. The changes are expected to help them compost an additional 44,000 tons of food and yard waste each year.

Several awards went to proposals working to improve recycling infrastructure. Pioneer Recycling Services received one of those grants.

The company will install optical sorters to remove contaminants from mixed paper to makeit more valuable in markets for recycled paper. This follows on the heels of a grant last year to help fund two robots that use artificial intelligence to increase the speed and efficiency of sorting mixed recyclable materials.

In addition to sparking creative solutions for a changing recycling system, the grants seek to advance equity goals in the Regional Waste Plan that include benefiting local communities and companies owned by historically marginalized groups.

We tried to nudge every project that didnt have clear equity outcomes to do better, says Suzanne Piluso, the grant program manager for Metro. We challenge applicants to push a little bit further. Companies can make strides by building equity into their business practices, she adds.

City of Roses Disposal and Recycling, an African-American-owned garbage and recycling hauler and processor in Oregon, was awarded a total of $376,500 in capital and program grants.

The company will use some funds to create an elevated sort line to replace current floor sorting and increase the amount of recyclable or reusable materials by 50 to 60 percent.

They also will expand efforts to collect, process and resell wood. They plan to divert between 170 and 300 tons of wood for reuse each month by creating pallet kits and architectural panels for use in work surfaces, flooring, cabinetry, and custom finishes.

They keep coming up with fresh ideas on how to use the clean wood stream, says Brower.

Brower also believes that the company is moving the equity dial on multiple fronts. Alando Simpson, City of Roses CEO, is trying to be real intentional about getting folks whove had barriers into employment, he says.

The next grant cycle for both program and capital grants will launch next summer.

Read more here:

Metro awards $6 million to reduce waste and build a more resilient recycling system - Metro newsfeed

In the first lawsuit of its kind, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Dell, and Tesla are being sued on behalf of 14 Congolese families whose children were killed or permanently injured while illegally mining cobalt for electronics made by these companies.

Filed in United States District Court for the District of Columbia by human rights group International Rights Advocates, the federal class-action lawsuit alleges the companies "aided and abetted" a system of forced child labor and had "specific knowledge" of the conditions these children were working in but did not act to protect their profit margins.

"Apple, Alphabet, Dell, Microsoft, and Tesla all have specific policies claiming to prohibit child labour in their supply chains," said International Rights Advocates in the complaint. "Their failure to actually implement these policies to stop forced child labour in cobalt mining is an intentional act to avoid ending the windfall of getting cheap cobalt."

Cobalt is an important component of lithium-ion batteries that are used in many modern electronics. In the lawsuit, the families argue that their children were illegally working at cobalt mines owned by Glencore, the world's largest cobalt producer. Glencore then supplied cobalt to Umicore, a Belgian mining company and metals trader. Umicore then provided cobalt for lithium-ion batteries to Apple, Google, Tesla, and Dell. Also implicated is Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, a Chinese cobalt producer, which works with Apple, Dell, and Microsoft.

By now, the relationship between cobalt, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and child labor is well-trodden territory. Last year, the Democratic Republic of Congo produced between 60 and 70 percent of the worlds cobalta third of that was artisanal or subsistence mining, independently done outside formal employment with a mining company.

Cobalt is an essential mineral for advanced electronicsnecessary for the lithium batteries that power smartphones, personal computers, and electric vehicles. While these batteries may power renewable technologies necessary to avoid climate apocalypse, making them is not without its own problems: Cobalt mining is done at great cost to the miners, their communities, and their ecosystems.

In the complaint, the Congolese families go into vivid detail explaining how abject poverty made them desperate enough to work at the mines, paid as little as $2 a day for dangerous and demanding work in conditions.

In one instance, a child went to work in a Glencore-owned mine after his family could no longer afford his school fees. A tunnel collapsed on him and his body was never recovered, according to the lawsuit. Another child, who also worked in a Glencore-owned mine, fell into a mine but after being dragged out by other miners, was left alone until his parents found him. The accident left him paralyzed from the chest down. Others still say tunnel collapses killed their children, broke their spines, or maimed their limbs. None of them were compensated for deaths or injuries, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit is clear in its allegations that these companies knowingly entered into business with the mining firms despite knowledge of their child labor supply chains and is seeking damages for their forced labor, but also for "unjust enrichment, negligent supervision, and intentional infliction of emotional distress."

Apple and other companies have said in recent years that theyve taken steps to not work with mines that use child labor, but time and time again, reporters and international nonprofits have shown that the global supply chain is convoluted to the point that it is difficult to be sure exactly who is doing the mining.

Go here to see the original:

First Lawsuit of Its Kind Accuses Big Tech of Profiting From Child Labor in Cobalt Mines - VICE

Editor's note:Notes from the Field includes reports from young people volunteering in ministries of Catholic sisters. A partnership withCatholic Volunteer Network,the project began in the summer of 2015. This is our 10th round of bloggers: Honorine Uwimana is a St. Joseph Worker in Orange, California, and Samantha Kominiarek is an Assumption Mission Associate in Chaparral, New Mexico.

Orange, California How do young women between the ages of 21 and 35 decide to adjust their sails and change the direction of their lives to serve the most underserved in communities?

How do people at the peak of their careers or the debut of a promising adventure pause their clocks to respond to the needs of the times?

Meet the St. Joseph Workers, five young ladies serving with me in Orange, California, to redefine social justice in their sectors of interest and aptitude.

The St. Joseph Worker Program brought six women from the four corners of the world with different backgrounds under one roof to respond to the needs of the times in the tradition of the Sisters of St. Joseph through a yearlong service opportunity in preparation for a lifelong commitment to social change and personal transformation.

Lutonia Naicker from Durban, South Africa, took a break from her career as a chef in Malaysia and decided to use her culinary skills both at Isaiah House and Mary's Kitchen to raise the banner of being mindful of the dear neighbor.

Among the many career options offered to registered nurse Annie Voegele in Columbus, Ohio, what she chose was to serve alongside the poor and vulnerable at Mission Hospital as a community health nurse.

Ana Maria Feijoo hails from Cali, Colombia, and has devoted her life to service for the last three years. Today, she also serves at Mission Hospital in the family resource center and believes that solidarity is the axis around which all social life revolves.

Mary Furlong found joy in service during her college years, when she was involved in Best Buddies and My Brother's Keeper at Stonehill College. After she graduated, she traded her winters and summers in Maine for service at L'Arche Wavecrest.

Chelsea Yu-Hsein Lin, originally from Taiwan and a recent graduate of Loyola Marymount University, resolved to bring her freshly acquired skills in health and human science to the needs of society by serving at Hurtt Family Health Clinic.

It takes a walk with the Workers to understand how they made such big decisions, the impact they are having, and the transformation the program is bringing in their lives.

Honorine: How did you learn about the St. Joseph Worker Program?

Lutonia: I heard of this program through the Catholic Volunteer Network website. After finishing my volunteer profile, the St. Joseph Worker Program director for Orange, Sr. Joanna Rosciszewska, contacted me to tell me about the mission and values of the program, which I embraced. I completed my application, and in August 2019, I was in Orange, ready to serve.

Why did you choose a year of service among the many other options offered to you?

Annie: Having trained as a nurse, most people thought it was strange to enter into a year of service after so many clinical hours, tests and practicums. However, service had played a large part of my years in nursing school. Whether it was serving at the soup kitchen or planting trees for neighborhood communities, I knew there was something special about giving of my time and talents to reform the world around me. My soul seemed to come alive in these moments, and I could see a transformation within me and others and thought, "Why not give one year of the many years of my life to make a transformation within the vulnerable community of Orange County?"

Through your ministry as a St. Joseph Worker, are there hopes down the road for social justice?

Ana: Through my ministry, I have been filled with hope for the road ahead, from people who motivated me to walk toward social justice and be a light of change.

I have seen marginalized communities empowered and integrated in the mainstream by people who cared, and that was a call for me to dream and believe that small actions can turn into big changes. I don't see the future of social justice in the big systems or models; I see it in the common hardworking people and in all those who have the courage to go against the tide.

How is the year of service bridging the gap between the person you are and the person you want to be?

Mary: Before taking off to California for my year of service, I did not have clear prospects for what the year would look like. I was simply craving a change of pace in my life, and I wanted more clarification about who I am as a person and what I want to do with my life. Over the past four months, the people I have found around me have helped me to open my heart and be present and loving. I can say that I am already becoming someone I did not even know I had the potential to be.

How is the year of service changing your perspective of the world?

Chelsea: This year allowed me to interact with many cultures and learn how people's customs and upbringings influence their way of life. This year is teaching me to be humble as I learn everyone's story and borrow from them lessons I can adapt in my own life.

How is your experience of working with the sisters?

Lutonia: My experience thus far has been uplifting. I enjoy listening to the sisters in Regina Residence at our monthly dinners: their stories, background and wisdom.

Annie: The values and mission of the hospital and sisters have shaped my work as a nurse. The core values of compassion, dignity, justice, excellence and integrity help me to serve as an expression of God's healing love. The fact that the sisters I serve with are concerned beyond physical health and nurture mental, emotional and spiritual health has been transformational witness for me.

Ana: Learning how faith has taken the sisters on various missions has been enriching and surprising for me. I have been able to share their call to holiness and how through people, they have met Jesus as a human. I am fortunate to work with Sr. Martha Ann Fitzpatrick, a sister dedicated to the health care system for over 25 years. She is a version of Micah who has taught me to act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly.

Mary: "Intentional living" is my word for the lessons I learn from the sisters. I am amazed by their friendship, hospitality and their availability for one another. They display a positive attitude toward life that I am always ready to absorb.

Chelsea: I love interacting with sisters around our dinners. They are always open to share the lessons they have learned through life, and that always leaves me with an optimistic outlook.

Being able to go to Mass with them, play violin during service and see the joy and appreciation on their faces always warm up my heart.

______

St. Joseph Workers serve to improve the well-being of the local community in Orange. Each in their ministry strives to remind the people they serve that they fit in the salvation picture and that demographics do not determine the dignity and love they deserve.

[Honorine Uwimana is a St. Joseph Worker from Rwanda serving at Regina Residence with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, California.]

Here is the original post:

This is what you can learn through service to others - Global Sisters Report

Emily Boerger | Dec 16, 2019

Kellie Todd Griffin is the Director of Community Engagement at Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan. She joins us in this edition of What Theyre Watching to discuss community trauma and how it impacts youth.

Get the latest state-specific policy intelligence for the health care sector delivered to your inbox.

Health care continues to evolve. But in our space of community engagement, we really are trying to be more impactful and intentional with our members and trying to help them in ways that we havent traditionally done in the past. For instance, we really are working with a lot of youth around childhood resiliency because theyre experiencing some community trauma and adverse childhood experiences that we know will have a greater impact on their health when they become adults. And so, we want to be on the front end of it to really, kind of, intervene and create partnerships with organizations that provide those services to them.

So, we have some really wonderful partners. One of our main partners is the Boys and Girls Club. They are the program that normally are in our communities where we have our largest membership population. And what I really love about Boys and Girls Club is theyre so localized they actually focus in the community, their people that they hire are from the community. And a lot of times many of them have experienced some of the challenges that a lot of the youth experience every single day. So they can identify with them and really help them address some of their kind of particular emotional and social needs in a more impactful way.

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What They're Watching: Kellie Todd Griffin - State of Reform - State of Reform

Microinfluencers are a great way to connect with a highly niche audience. These social media leaders have smaller, but very highly-engaged followings. When you identify the right ones, you can hire them to promote your business or product -- often for much less than it could cost to hire a celebrity or macroinfluencer.

Not sure where to begin with your microinfluencer campaign? Below, the experts ofForbes Communications Councilexplain how microinfluencers can have a positive impact on your company and the best way to engage them.

Members explain why working with microinfluencers is a beneficial marketing strategy.

1. High ROI

Microinfluencers offer marketing solutions at a low-cost with a high return on investment. They also increase the reach of a business exponentially and are highly trusted by their followers. Engaging with several microinfluencers increases the width of the reach but also its depth. -Molly Biwer,Hallmark Cards

2. Genuine Content

In 2020, I will roll out two major microinfluencer programs that will not only offer the influencer commission benefits but will also allow them to earn products to gift their friends, families or followers. I prefer to partner with current fans of the brands (instead of people I have to search for) because then the posts will be more genuine, which almost always results in better sales. -Blish Connor,Blishful Thinking

3. Cult-Like Loyalty

Micro-influencers have built-in followers already interested in businesses, products, and/or services like yours. Their followers also hang on every word and recommendation made with cult-like loyalty. This makes micro-influencers in your industry or niche ROI positive. To get them onboard, spark up a bit of conversation via social media and let them know how much you enjoy their content. -Stephen Seifert,Seifert Media

4. Authentic Audience Connection

Partnering with microinfluencers often yields more impactful results than macroinfluencers or celebrities because of their smaller, more engaged audiences. Nowadays, people are looking for personal one-to-one recommendations, and microinfluencers help establish that authentic connection with their audience. -G'Nai Blakemore,Mattress Firm

5. Deep Audience Insights

Do your best to align goals with the microinfluencers. Ask what gets the best response from their audience and work with them to make the posts authentic. Aligning incentives with an affiliate program can help, on top of paid placement and promo codes. While you need to stay brand-consistent, allow the influencer a seat at the strategic table to maximize results. -Ellen Sluder,RingBoost

6. Improved Trustworthiness

Microinfluencers can improve your brands trustworthiness and can help you reach your desired target audience. In terms of mircoinfluencer engagement, encourage your microinfluencers to become the fresh faces of your brand. Ask them to share their honest thoughts on your products/business and constructively use that feedback, or ask them to create product tutorials and relevant live-stream videos. -Jeff Grover,Best Company

7. Increased Top-Of-Funnel Traffic And Sales

While celebrity influencers with vanity metrics have fallen from grace in recent months, microinfluencers have been proven effective partners for businesses of all sizes. Their value is through authentic and original content, driving primarily top-of-funnel traffic and sales, which can be measured through performance-based models like CPA. Treat them like true partners and watch your revenue grow. -Cristina Garcia,impact.com

8. Sharing Of In-Depth Content And ABM Materials

Microinfluencers have highly-targeted audiences and are a great fit for sharing in-depth content, ABM campaign material or material aimed at a specific vertical. Begin developing relationships with microinfluencers early on in the process, but don't expect them to share your content "just because." Like broader influencers, microinfluencers look something in return for helping your business. -Holly Chessman,GlowTouch Technologies

9. Participation In More Intimate Social Conversations

Working with microinfluencers allows brands to participate in a social conversation at a much more intimate level with communities that typically demonstrate higher levels of trust and engagement. Sponsorships for microinfluencers are inherently a more personal experience, so it's even more important that brands find influencers and audiences who personally align with their brand values. -Chris Gonzalez,NeoReach

10. Product Reviews

Microinfluencers are a great marketing asset when leveraged for reviews of your product, both on their social media and on retailers. They should disclose that they were part of a seeding campaign but the opinions provided are truthful and their own. As a brand, you should also re-gram their content or have them take over your Instagram Stories for a day to get your audience engaged and excited. -Sherry Jhawar,Blended Strategy Group

11. Connection With Passionate Niche Markets

Microinfluencers have the ability to reach smaller, more passionate audiences that broader campaigns may miss. Think about messaging and offers that can be tailored for the microinfluencers audience. Your offer should feel organic for their brand in order for them to fully embrace. -Jessica Terashima,EZ Texting

12. Collaborative And Creative Partnerships

What microinfluencers may lack in scale, they make up for in impact! Theyre cost-effective and more often than not, a collaborative and creative partner. Ensure that theyre an organic fit and your brand voices compliment each other, then invite them into your extended family and approach the relationship less as a promotional transaction and more as a long-term, advocate-building opportunity. -Wayne Leeloy,G7 Marketing

13. New Ideas From The Comments

Often we consider social media comments to be "noise." Unless the noise is coming from a major influencer, we tune it out. However, our greatest ideas and innovation can be found in "the noise!"Listen to what is being said to you and about you. Review the hashtags for your business and the misspelled usage for comments and ideas. -MaryPat Kavanagh,Terahertz Device Corporation

14. Intentional Demographic And Geolocation Targeting

Microinfluencer marketing can be a solid bridge between traditional paid media and social media. Using an agency with a network of influencers makes it efficient for you to manage influencer marketing and will generally offer more choice in audience and geolocation you can target. Sharing your brand's story will help microinfluencers carry your message as they share with their audience. -Sarah Little,StorageMart

15. Brand Advocacy

Today, online influencers and reviews generate as much trust as a review from a friend. Studies show microinfluencers generate the highest engagement rates. Save money by using their niche market to hit your target audience, and testing what works or doesn't without spending more. Product/service reviews and social media sharing are a great start and then move to personal content promotion ideas. -Rachel Verslues,IGT Global Solutions Corporation

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15 Big Benefits Of Working With Microinfluencers (And How To Engage Them) - Forbes

The northern snakehead, the invasive fish species that some refer to as the frankenfish, may be more damaging to native fish populations than previously thought.

A recent study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Maryland Department of Natural Resources for the first time found major shifts in a fish community following establishment of northern snakehead.

The study of Marylands Blackwater River and Little Blackwater River, where the snakehead showed up in 2012, determined that of 21 fish species captured both before and after the arrival of the snakehead 17 declined with the invader in their river.

The decline varied species to species and ranged from 30 percent to 97 percent.

The main difference in fish communities was a reduction in overall biomass of most fish.

Species dominance during the post-snakehead period was significantly higher for both Blackwater River and Little Blackwater River. Pre-snakehead surveys were more evenly distributed and dominated by white perch, black crappie and brown bullhead, while post-snakehead surveys were less even and dominated by common carp and gizzard shad.

The researchers had an existing pre-snakehead dataset from 2006 and 2007 surveys of fish populations. They replicated those surveys in 2018-19 to come up with the post-snakehead data.

While the trends shown in the study are troublesome, the researchers say further investigation into ongoing fish community changes, and continued vigilance in minimizing spread and population growth of the northern snakehead is needed.

Snakeheads were first documented in the U.S. in 1977, in California, and subsequently in southeastern states. They were found in Maryland in 2002, and shortly after its discovery in Potomac River in 2004, the species gained a foothold in tidal waters. Since then it has spread to every major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay.

They were first confirmed in Pennsylvania in July 2004, when 2 were caught in Meadow Lake in Philadelphia. The lake, part of a maze of interconnected bays and tidal slough, led the commission to believe the fish were likely present in the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers.

A snakehead was caught in May 2017 in Bernhardt's Dam in Berks County and 2 were caught in Octoraro Creek in Lancaster County in July 2018.

In spring of this year, 81 snakeheads were caught in the fish lifts at Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River, about 5 miles downriver of the Pennsylvania state line, according to MDNR.

Only one snakehead a predatory species that can grow to nearly 5 feet in length was found in the lifts in 2017, and none were found in the lifts last year.

The Conowingo Pond, the reservoir upriver of the dam, extends upriver 8 miles into Pennsylvania.

All the snakeheads were destroyed before moving upriver of the dam, but the MDNR described the spike in numbers seen in the lifts as dramatic and expressed concern over a possible northern expansion by the aggressively invasive species.

The 2 fish lifts were installed on the east and west sides of the Conowingo Dam decades ago to allow passage of migratory fish such as American shad and river herring. They operate during the spring migration as part of restoration efforts for those migratory fish species. Spring is also when snakeheads are known to travel longer distances in the watershed.

After the snakehead was observed in the east fish life in 2017, an agreement was established between the Conowingo Dams owner, Exelon, and the Susquehanna River Anadromous Fish Restoration Cooperative to implement voluntary, adaptive best management practices that reduce the spread of northern snakeheads while still allowing migratory fish passage, according to the DNR.

Smaller dams upriver of Conowingo Pond, which include Holtwood, Safe Harbor and York Haven, in Pennsylvania, may help to slow the northward spread of snakeheads.

However, snakeheads can breathe air from the atmosphere using an air bladder that works like a lung and are known to travel short distances on land.

The Northern Snakehead Working Group of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service notes, Although the northern snakehead can survive up to four days out of the water, overland migration is only possible for juveniles. The rounded body of the adult northern snakehead is not as conducive to overland migration as observed in more horizontally flattened snakehead species.

In late September an angler caught a 28-inch snakehead in the Monongahela River at Pittsburgh, killed the fish and notified the commission.

Its the first sighting of the species in western Pennsylvania.

After examining the snakehead from the Monongahela, Kris Kuhn, chief of the fisheries management division for the commission, told TribLive.com that the fish was likely released illegally into the river. She noted that there are no connecting populations of snakeheads.

In Pennsylvania its unlawful for anyone to possess, sell, buy or trade live specimens; to introduce or import them into Pennsylvania waters; or to transport them in or through the state.

Kuhn and Gary Smith, area fisheries manager for the commissions southwest region, said the fish is being treated as a single fish find because there is no evidence of an established group of fish.

Its not total panic mode, Smith said. Were not too alarmed at this point, as we dont know if they are established.

According to the working group, northern snakehead likely arrived in U.S. waters by importation for the live food fish market. Unauthorized intentional release from this trade, as was the case in the founding individuals of the Crofton pond population in Maryland, continues to be the major mechanism for introduction. The northern snakehead has become widely popular in ethnic markets and restaurants over the last two decades.

Recognized as a highly injurious species, importation and cross-border transport of northern snakehead was prohibited in the U.S. by a 2002 listing under the Lacey Act. Nevertheless, cases of northern snakehead for sale in areas where possession is illegal are not uncommon.

These predatory fishes may compete with native species for food and habitat. Juveniles eat zooplankton, insect larvae, small crustaceans and the fry of other fish. Adult snakeheads feed almost exclusively on other fishes, with the remainder of their diet composed of crustaceans, frogs, small reptiles and sometimes small birds and mammals. Adult snakeheads show significant diet overlap with largemouth bass.

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Frankenfish may be having a big impact on other fish, says new study - PennLive

Eagle County announced on Tuesday its joining a federal lawsuit against JUUL Labs and other makers of e-cigarettes. Heres the press release from the county:

Eagle County is joining a lawsuit in federal district court aimed at combating the marketing and sale of e-cigarettes to youth, as well as the public health issue of youth addiction to nicotine.

The multi-district litigation is against manufacturers of e-cigarettes and related items, including JUUL Labs, for developing products that specifically appeal to children.

We intend to hold e-cigarette manufacturers responsible for the harm they have inflicted on our communities, our schools and our children. Too many kids believe that vaping is safe and cool due to the intentional and frankly, despicable youth-centered marketing tactics used by JUUL and others, said Jeanne McQueeney, chair of the Eagle County Board of Commissioners.

This is one more way to call attention to the vaping epidemic. We will continue to educate our residents, young and old, about the real risks and harms of vaping; and help facilitate treatment for those who have become addicted to nicotine, McQueeney said.

Currently, there are over 200 lawsuits filed against JUUL Labs and related entities, many of which have been aggregated into a single proceeding in San Francisco. Eagle County will work with the law firm of Keller Rohrback LLP, which is representing multiple government entities in the JUUL Labs multi-district litigation, including Boulder County.

Continued here:

Eagle County joining federal lawsuit against JUUL, other makers of e-cigarettes - RealVail

ALEXANDRIA BAY River Hospital has announced that it is currently pursuing a clinical affiliation with Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.

Basically, a clinical affiliation is an agreement between institutions to further service delivery in their region through their partnership. While Upstate and River have partnered in the past to enhance the delivery of services, this affiliation will be a more formal agreement.

Our relationship with Upstate has been long-standing, so moving into a relationship is a good next step for us, said Emily Mastaler, CEO of River Hospital.

For the past several years, Rivers relationship with Upstate has proven essential to the hospitals expansion of critical services such as telehealth and onsite specialty resources.

This new affiliation would include both institutions working together on efforts aimed at developing programs to promote prevention, wellness and continuity of care throughout the St. Lawrence River communities.

Moving towards a more formal partnership makes natural sense, Ms. Mastaler said. Theyve been integral in bringing a variety of service types, like helping advance our telehealth services.

Though the length of the affiliation is yet to be decided, according to Ms. Mastaler, it will be a multi-year agreement.

River Hospitals affiliation agreement with Crouse Health expired as of Dec. 12, but River will continue its strong affiliation with Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center under the North Star Health Alliance, which was formed in 2015.

According to Ms. Mastaler, the move away from an affiliation with Crouse was intentional, due to the changing needs of Rivers patients.

Were excited to move forward with Upstate, but we absolutely remain open to any and all partnerships that advance healthcare services in our region, Ms. Mastaler said.

Licensed for 15 acute care and nine Swing beds, River Hospital operates an active emergency room and was designated as a Critical Access Hospital in 2003. The only academic medical center in Central New York, Upstate Medical is the regions largest employer with more than 10,000 employees.

Im so excited to build partnerships in the north country that advance healthcare delivery in rural settings and truly meet the needs of the people, Ms. Mastaler said.

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River Hospital pursuing clinical affiliation with Upstate Medical - NNY360