Category Archives: Abolition Of Work

There are more 65-year-olds on Jobseeker's Benefit than at any other age, according to a leading charity.

Age Action says many people in forced retirement have no choice but to go on the dole for 12 months while waiting to receive their state pension at 66.

The group which represents older people, is calling on TDs to back a Bill which would abolish mandatory retirement clauses in a debate today.

Justin Moran from Age Action says many older people would rather continue working.

Mr Moran said: "What we have is a system where an employer can choose an age at which an employee can be forced to stop working, that's generally chosen as 65.

"It's a source of real fear to many of them, especially to people in their early 60s who are realising their retirement might not be as financially secure as expected.

"And particularly in the last couple of years with the abolition of the transition pension."

Mandatory retirement is being described as "age discrimination" by Age Action.

Mr Moran said: "This is about giving employees - who want to work, who can work and want to continue contributing, paying taxes and helping to grow the economy - it's about giving them the opportunity to keep working, if that's something that they want to do."

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Age Action calls on TDs to back Bill abolishing mandatory retirement ... - BreakingNews.ie

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It buys our food, it pays for our (parents) Netflix and its often on our minds. And after listening to Gov. Roy Coopers recent press conference in which he announced a compromise to repeal House Bill 2, you would think money is all we care about, too. Cooper repeatedly emphasized the economic costs of HB2 to North Carolinas economy, and barely addressed the laws most troubling effects: its abolition of local nondiscrimination measures and segregation of public bathrooms by birth gender.

This three-step common-sense compromise that we propose today will work. It will bring back the NCAA, it will bring back the ACC, the NBA and it will bring back jobs. It will address the concerns of those who worry about bathroom safety, security, and privacy ... Cooper said. And this proposal will begin to repair the damage to North Carolinas reputation.

The Governor must assess our moral fiber as pretty flimsy, if he believes the most appealing case to repeal HB2 hinges on lost sports tournaments and a damaged state reputation. His rhetoric says more about his opinion of the Republican-controlled state legislatures interests, since they are the ones who will have to approve any repeal plan.

Compromise is a necessary part of politics, and we are glad to see Cooper reaching for common ground with Republicans in order to repeal HB2. Moving forward, though, we would like to see all our state politicians showing at least as much interest in the good treatment of our fellow North Carolinians as they do in our gross state product.

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Opinion: Let's take discourse about HB2 beyond just money - The Daily Tar Heel

I first met Cinderria, an 18-year-old woman of color, in a library in downtown Madison, Wis. She approached the table marked Voter ID Assistance and explained that with the 2016 presidential primary only a few months away, and despite several trips to the DMV, she still didnt have a valid ID as mandated by Wisconsins strict new laws.It turned out she needed a Social Security card but wasnt sure how to obtain one.

Proponents of voter ID laws dont want to acknowledge that Cinderrias case is far from unusual. Experts project that in Wisconsin alone, 300,000 eligible voters lack the ID necessary to cast a ballot. Across the country, 32 states have some form of voter ID law, creating a crisis of disenfranchisement not seen since the civil rights era. These ID laws dont touch all groups equally: Voters of color, like Cinderria, are hit hardest. The elderly, students and low-income votersalso are disproportionately affected. (A new study published in the Journal of Politics, for instance, found that strict ID laws lower African American, Latino, Asian American and multiracial American turnout.)

States that have implemented voter ID laws have shown little to no interest in helping their citizens comply. And the advocacy organizations that oppose these laws have few resources for direct voter assistance. Instead, groups like the American Civil Liberties Unionhave focused on challenging voter ID mandates in court. Thats essential, but its not enough. As court battles proceed, we must acknowledge our collective obligation to voters like Cinderria by investing in on-the-ground, in-person support.

Before the 2016 election, a group of us in Madison recognized the problem and got to work, partnering with local organizations like the League of Women Voters and NAACP. As one coalition, we collaborated with social service agencies, churches, food pantries, employers, schools and election administrators. Outreach continued through the November electionand is ongoing for spring elections. But theres tons of work left to do in Madison, to say nothing of the state or nation as a whole.

The right to vote is not denied only in large volume. Our democracy deteriorates every single time an older voter cant find transportation to a distant DMV, and every single time a working mother cant afford the fees associated with redundant paperwork to prove her citizenship.

Having worked one-on-one with would-be voters, a nefarious truth about these laws has become clear to me. Not only do the requirements hamper individuals in the short term, they also can send a long-term signal to historically disenfranchised communities that theyre not invited into their countrys democratic process a feeling all too familiar to those who were born before the abolition of Jim Crow.

We cannot return to the era of literacy tests and poll taxes. Its crucial that all voters are offered helpbecause they must not lose the belief that their vote is precious and their participation essential to our democracy. These voters are our neighbors, our co-workers and, at the most basic level, our fellow citizens. Their rights are as valuable as those of any big-spending campaign donor.

Despite repeated assurances from voter ID proponents that these laws arent discriminatory and are easy to comply with, lived experience proves the opposite.

Cinderria was finally able to obtain an ID, but only weeks after we first met; I traveled with her to the DMV to make sure nothing went wrong. Claudelle, a voter in his 60s whose mother mistakenly spelled his name Clardelle on his birth certificate, was refused an ID with his correct name twice.On a trip to the DMV with a 34-year-old named Zack, we were given inaccurate information on how to receive a free ID to vote. A recording of that interactionprompted a federal judge to order retraining of DMV workers across Wisconsin.

The voters affected by these laws who, again, are more likely to be low-income, transient and elderly often are unreachable through social media campaigns or other online communication. That makes in-person outreach indispensable. A young Madison woman named Treasure, for instance, was unable to obtain an ID until neighborhood canvassers knocked on her door and gave her accurate information and assistance.

Such work is not an admission that voter ID laws arent worth fighting; they are. It represents, rather, a commitment to fight suppression at every level. We have no choice but to organize, lace up our shoes and meet would-be voters where they live and work.

Molly J. McGrath is an attorney, voting rights advocate and organizer.She can be found @votermolly or votermolly.com

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Fighting voter ID laws in the courts isn't enough. We need boots on the ground - Los Angeles Times

Scottish ministers are to seek assurances from the UK government that it will not reduce the benefits of claimants in Scotland when the Scottish Government abolishes the bedroom tax.

Communities, social security and equalities secretary, Angela Constance, made the call for clarity ahead of a meeting with the Department of Work and Pensions in London today.

Ms Constance will stress the abolition of the bedroom tax cannot be counted as benefit income when it comes to the UK governments benefit cap as it will penalise people by having other UK benefit payments clawed back.

The principle of no claw back for Scottish Government benefits was agreed in the Smith Commission and the financial agreement covering the Scotland Act 2016, and ministers are concerned that when the bedroom tax is abolished in Scotland, the UK government will treat this as additional income for a household and impose the cap.

The Scottish Government will provide 47 million next year to mitigate the bedroom tax imposed by the UK government, ensuring no one needs to lose out because of it, and will seek to abolish it as soon as practically possible.

Ms Constance said: The bedroom tax is an abhorrent charge which makes the lives of those already struggling to make ends meet even harder theres no place for that in a modern Scotland. I make no secret of the fact we want to abolish it but what we also dont want to see is anyones benefits being reduced again because by abolishing bedroom tax they end up over threshold for the UK benefit cap.

It is not acceptable for the Scottish Government to give with one hand only for the UK Government to take away with the other when these powers were transferred to Scotland there was a commitment there would be no claw back of benefits as a result of payment or eligibility decisions made by the Scottish Government. We need cast iron commitments from the UK Government that they will abide by those principles and that people wont be penalised further.

This issue has been raised with UK ministers on a number of occasions and I look forward to discussing this further at Mondays meeting.

More than 70,000 households in Scotland benefit because the Scottish Government mitigates the bedroom tax. It is estimated that the new lower UK benefit cap affects 5000 households in Scotland, and more are likely to reach the cap when the bedroom tax is abolished.

Social security minister Jeane Freeman and employability minister Jamie Hepburn will also attend the meeting in London.

See more here:

Westminster warned against benefits 'claw back' once 'bedroom tax' abolished in Scotland - Scottish Housing News

BY KIRKPATRICK SALE

It all depends on what you think of the china shop. If you believe it is a neat, ordered operation, providing beautiful and necessary things for discerning and deserving people, then you will like it and be fearful of any bull that might be sniffing at the door.

If on the other hand you regard it as a worn out, dated collection of obsolete knick-knacks that have long since lost their value and are merely gathering dust, then you wont mind what the bull will do or how clumsily he does it.

Washington the political establishment is that china shop. And you know who the bull is. The liberal-global, welfare-warfare arrangement that has been government for the last 70 years, since Americas triumph in World War II, has been based on three unquestioned premises:

1. The right of citizens to welfare entitlements from the federal government, in the form of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and roughly 75 other means-tested welfare programs;

2. The creation and maintenance of a global empire based on military penetration (750 bases worldwide) providing cover and protection for economic (NAFTA, GATT) and political (NATO) penetration as well;

3. The unrestricted operation of the federal bureaucracy allowing the establishment consensus to prevail and run business as usual no matter which political party is in office.

And those premises have been enhanced and buttressed through the decades by the powerful liberal cultural forces of the American academy, which is the indoctrinatory home of the left and Marxist professoriate, the Hollywood film industry and its cavalcade of leftist stars-with-a-cause, and especially the modern media, slap-happy handmaidens of the establishment with no longer a pretense of objectivity in their fawning zeal for the Democratic party. With the Trump election, all that is challenged. Trump himself may not fully understand what he represents, but he is surrounded by people who do. In particular, his right-hand man and perhaps the power behind the throne, Stephen Bannon, who has been quoted as saying, with unusual clarity, I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of todays establishment. An astonishing statement, but it is clear he will do his best to see that Trump carries this out.

It is likely not to be neat and orderly, since thats not the kind of man Trump is, and indeed the first few weeks have seen some scattershot decrees. But when you name a cabinet that is designed to thwart much of what the liberal consensus has been doing for 70 yearsa woman for Education who is against public education, a man for the Environmental Protection Agency who has tried to eviscerate it in the past, a doctor for Housing and Urban Development who has no comprehension of what the department does, a fossil-fuel executive to be the top diplomat, and a labor secretary who pays minimum wage to his restaurant employeesthen it is obvious that there is some design and purpose at work.

I for one welcome this fundamental restraint of the liberal orthodoxy and hope the Trump regime will operate swiftly and intelligently to reorder government as we know it. But I fear that at the moment it is far more reactive that purposeful, Trump operating more by instinct, particularly his instinct to respond to challenge, than by any sense of where exactly he would want to end up in four years. In aid of providing a more methodical approach to taking down the establishment, I propose the following program as the basis for action for the Trump administration for the next four years.

Abolition of the income tax, a foolish tax that punishes people just for making money, which is what the whole society is about anyway, when a proper government would tax behavior that is unwanted. And with it, of course, abolishing the IRS.

Dismantling the empire and withdrawal of troops from all overseas wars and bases, to be redeployed for border protection and the management of the Army Corps of Engineers in the task of infrastructure repair at home.

Sharply cutting welfare, particularly for the able-bodied, and insisting on strictly enforced work requirements (in Maine, this cut welfare caseloads by 80 percent), plus the abolition of all marriage penalties and policies that work against stable families.

Abolishing foreign aid, in entirety, including the Export-Import Bank, programs that chiefly benefit and Wall Street banksters that make the loans and American global corporations that get the contracts, and with it the elimination of payments to foreign treaty organizations.

Elimination of federal interference in private, family and religious affairs, allowing states to decide issues such as abortion, pornography, prostitution, prayer in schools, political speech in churches, religious symbols in public and similar matters.

Elimination or serious reduction of all cabinet departments created since 1947, including Education, Energy, Health, Housing, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs, whose necessary functions, if any, could be decentralized to the states.

There: six simple, straightforward, effectual, and thoroughgoing ways to reform and restrain Washingtonian power and bring a few things crashing down. And easy enough for a bull to follow.

Kirkpatrick Sale, who lives in Mount Pleasant, is the author of 12 books.

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The redeeming chaos of a bull in the government china shop - Charleston Post Courier

State House Spokesman Manoah Esipisu noted that this might be one of the issues contributing to the current lecturers strike/FILE

By SIMON NDONGA, NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 19 The government is mulling the abolition of parallel degree programs in public universities across the country as a result of what it terms as a lack of accountability of the monies generated.

State House Spokesman Manoah Esipisu noted that this might be one of the issues contributing to the current lecturers strike.

Speaking during his weekly briefing on Sunday, Esipisu indicated that such a move would be in line with the exam reform process currently being undertaken by the Education Ministry.

You know with this reform of the exam system, one of the results of that is the potential complete removal of the Parallel structure, he stated. You know very well that there have been issues about accountability in terms of the resources coming out of that parallel structure.

The Spokesman further indicated that funds raised through these programs have not been accounted for.

The absence of funding from that parallel structure obviously is something that needs to be looked at in terms of the underlying reasons for the current problems, he said.

Money that is paid from those programs to lecturers and to universities is not exactly in the public view and has not probably been accounted for in the way you would expect other government resources to be, he stated.

He however expressed confidence that Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi will be able to deal with the situation.

People do feel that all these things need to be put on the table as part of the discussions. What is it that is driving unrest in terms of the lecturers position? But this is a matter that I think the Cabinet Secretary is seized with and he has shown that he does get his work done so we do not think it is out of his hands, he stated.

University lecturers rejected a Sh10 billion pay deal that would see the lowest paid teaching staff earn Sh91,593.

Under the package, professors pay bracket will open up to an upper limit of Sh240,491 per month.

University Academic Staff Union (UASU) last week deal as a drop in the ocean and announced massive nationwide strike starting Monday.

UASU is insisting on a 30 percent pay rise as opposed to the 3 percent they would get under the proposed deal.

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Govt mulls abolition of parallel degree programs in public varsities - Capital FM Kenya (press release) (blog)

This is a post about movement, strategy, lessons and spring.

In particular, for me, lessons from the amazing water protectors movement and resistance to pipelines that coalesced as an indigenous-led movement around Standing Rock, also raising issues of treaty rights, womens rights and leadership, community building, and more. If you have not looked into that movement, please see Stand with Standing Rock, Oceti Sakowin Camp, Sacred Stone Camp, Lakota Peoples Law Project, and Honor the Earth to learn and support. I offer my support to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and to the indigenous leadership before drawing out lessons, in gratitude. Actions still needed are donations for water protectors legal costs, divestment from the banks supporting Dakota Access Pipeline, and joining the march in Washington on March 10. Information can be found on the sites listed; please join in some way to protect the water, the earth and the rights of indigenous peoples who are rising in prayer and nonviolence to turn back 500 years of genocide.

The lessons I want to draw out came for me in thinking aboutthe water protectors, many of whom are dealing with historical trauma as indigenous persons, putting their bodies on the line and facing militarized police. They are caring for each other and not denying the trauma, and yet many have faced it numerous times. It made me wonder if I would be willing to remain in prayer and nonviolence to defend my body against forced psychiatry, to refuse to cooperate with it while remaining nonviolent.

When I was 18 years old and subjected to forced psychiatry, a long time ago, I lost myself; I did not have it in me to resist and thought that their might was unanswerable. Knowing they could physically overpower me and hurt me even more led me to look away from myself and put the pills in my own mouth. Today, I would like to be strong enough to face torture without giving it any of my acquiescence, without giving it energy and remaining calm. I do not know if I can, and I dont judge anybody who breaks under torture. It is possible to heal, and at the same time healing also means restoring the part of oneself that can face violence and disobey to protect what is most sacred.

I am that sacred, and so are you. Our bodies and minds and souls are the same earth and water and sacredness that we need to protect when it is the planet and our communities. Putting our bodies on the line is not the same as cooperating in violence. One kind of suffering and sacrifice is not the same as the other, even though suffering and sacrifice happen in both cases.

If we can contemplate prayerful nonviolence in the face of forced psychiatry, what else must we ask of ourselves and our allies? An ethical commitment to stop forced psychiatry cannot be compromised in ones personal life without calling into question ones actions in relation to the cause. To put it plainly, if any of us profess to support the abolition of forced psychiatry, but in ones work or personal life continue to collude and cooperate with having someone locked up or forcibly treated, the professed support becomes questionable. It is time to walk the talk, for everyone.

Whether you are a peer specialist, a psychiatrist, a social worker, a family member, friend, lawyer, police officer, or any other role, if some situation comes up where you think about handing someone over to psychiatry, just dont. There is always a choice, it is not a question of excuse because there is no alternative. The alternative is always to not do it, to not be used by the system to harm another person.

There are situations where your ownsafety is at risk, i.e. another person threatening your life, and I will not say dont call the police even though the police might have the person locked up in psychiatry. There are situations genuinely beyond your control, though we owe it to our own ethical commitments to consider all the ramifications and make the best choice we know how. But dont call 911 on somebody who is singing, or crying, or tells you they have a plan to take their own life, or all the situations we know about where people are struggling. Be with your own pain and theirs. Have enough humility to know that they know, that you arent special for being worried, that acting on your worry just makes it about you, and (despite what were taught to believe) puts you into a destructive relationship with power rather than making anything better for the other person.

Being real about our ethical commitments as a movement is necessary as an ongoing challenge to rise out of hopelessness and resignation. For too long we have had no support and no prospect of changing anything; resisters just get punished harder, like so many of our warriors continue to be. CRPD, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, has changed the landscape, and a few countries are starting to make significant reforms. Costa Rica recently enacted a reform of legal capacity that is not perfect but explicitly prohibits any substitute decision-makingfor free and informed consent to treatment; it must be consent by the person concerned. We have many allies at the UN and one colleague in a high position has said to me that the changes we have put in motion are unstoppable.

You can read about initiatives Im working on in my last postand join them if they appeal to you. There is also some good news about a report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, on mental health and human rights, that upholds the absolute prohibition of commitment and forced treatment. It is not yet linked on the web, but I will provide as soon as itis available.

Yet all these notifications and arguments mean little if we cannot step up in some small way, whatever is in our power, to make the ethical commitment to abolition of forced psychiatry and follow through on it in every part of our lives. What can we challenge ourselves to do that has loomed as an obstacle, where do we fear to go? What are we willing to risk, and if we are not willing to risk our own bodies, our own jobs, our ownpossibility of being ridiculed and our own failure, can we support others who can?

Originally posted here:

Disobedience: What Can We Risk? - Mad In America

Equalities Secretary Angela Constance is to seek assurances from the UK Government that it will not reduce the benefits of claimants in Scotlandwhen the bedroom tax is abolished.

Ms Constance will meet with the Department of Work and Pensions in London on Monday and stress that the abolition of the bedroom tax cannot be counted as a benefit income when it comes to the UK Government's benefit cap.

Scottish Government ministers are concerned that when the bedroom tax is removed in Scotland, the UK Government will treat this as additional income for a household and impose the cap.

The Scottish Government is to provide 47 million next year in an attempt to mitigate the bedroom tax and will seek to abolish it "as soon as practically possible".

Ms Constance said:"The bedroom tax is an abhorrent charge which makes the lives of those already struggling to make ends meet even harder - there's no place for that in a modern Scotland.

"I make no secret of the fact we want to abolish it but what we also don't want to see is anyone's benefits being reduced again because by abolishing bedroom tax they end up over threshold for the UK benefit cap.

"It is not acceptable for the Scottish Government to give with one hand only for the UK Government to take away with the other.

"When these powers were transferred to Scotland there was a commitment there would be no claw back of benefits as a result of payment or eligibility decisions made by the Scottish Government.

"We need cast iron commitments from the UK Government that they will abide by those principles and that people won't be penalised further.

"This issue has been raised with UK ministers on a number of occasions and I look forward to discussing this further at Monday's meeting."

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Equalities Secretary to seek UK assurances over benefits after ... - AOL Money UK

According to a Fox News article written by Suzanne Venker, womens achievements in the workplace are dooming their marriages. As women are increasingly groomed to be leaders rather than to be wives, [they] become too much like men. Theyre too competitive. Too masculine. Too alpha. The authors premise is that the husband is meant to be the alpha in the household, and cohabiting alphas are like like two bulls hanging out in the same pen together.

I take exception to this article, but not for the obvious reason. The contention that womens success at work leads to marital dissolution is so laughably unsupported by facts that its hardly worth disputing. Divorce rates are strongly negatively correlated with womens educational attainment and income level, as well as the rise of two-income families. While University of Chicago economists made a splash a few years back by reporting that marital satisfaction is diminished when wives earn more than husbands, a more up-to-date study paints a more nuanced picture: Unequal incomes are associated with marriage instability regardless of who earns more, but having a career decreases a womans probability of divorce by a whopping 25%. Equal-earning marriages are even less likely to end in divorce.

What bothered me about the article was not its easily falsifiable premise, but the authors unthinking acceptance of an American trope, the leader as alpha male or female. The metaphor evokes images of chest-thumping silverback gorillas and snarling she-wolves. This symbolism of leader-as-dictator has wormed its way deeply into the American subconsciousand its wrong.

Cultural assumptions have the power to shape society in both positive and negative ways. Countries that expect children (boys and girls) to be good at math produce better mathematicians. Conversely, expectations can backfire: countries that paint youth with the brush of sexual innocence have high rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. And when an entire culture conflates leadership with aggressive domination, it opens the door to bad behavior in both the boardroom and the living room.

As a society, we pay a steep price for maintaining the fiction of silverback gorillas and lone wolves. We reward bad behavior in the workplace like stealing credit from others, self-aggrandizement and entitlement. We discourage smart, talented people from seeking leadership positions because they falsely believe that superhero skills are a prerequisite. (This particularly affects women, who systematically underestimate their abilities relative to men. It is probably no coincidence that America lags behind many nations in women leaders.) And, as evidenced by Suzanne Venker, this stereotype can even infiltrate our romantic lives, setting the expectation that one partnerof any genderneeds to be dominant. This may be a recipe for fun and games in the bedroom, as Venker claims, but over the long term, respect and self-esteem are eroded by a partnership of unequals.

In the American mythos, great men accomplish great deeds with little or no help from others. The truth, of course, is much messier. Nobody lives in a vacuum. Schoolchildren are taught that Thomas Edison single-handedly invented the lightbulb, and that Abraham Lincoln unswervingly shepherded the country toward the abolition of slavery. But in fact, the achievements of Edison and Lincoln would not exist without the cooperation, counsel and labor of many other talented and insightful individuals. Those contributions were not forced by intimidation or displays of dominance. Just as generosity is more effective than bullying or criticism when it comes to eliciting welcome behaviors in a spouse, so do colleagues respond best to leaders with positive motivations.

Great leaders do not succeed mainly through classical alpha behaviors like intimidation, micromanagement, and aggressiveness. Even Steve Jobs, a poster child for the American alpha male, said, It doesnt make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. And for every visionary, controlling executive like Steve Jobs, there are many more people like Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who acknowledge that they succeed by amplifying other people. Yet outside of management classes and business self-help books, not nearly enough Americans have internalized the use of soft power, persuasion, collaboration and mentorship as keys to great leadership.

By blindly accepting the trope of the alpha male or female, we perpetuate it. If we can shift the leadership mythos in America toward more clear-eyed realism, we will ultimately get more leaders whose qualifications go beyond a talent for chest-thumping. It may not feel as satisfying to declare that youre good at nurturing, empowering, and lifting up other people. But thats what great leadersand romantic partnersdo.

Learn how to write for Quartz Ideas. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com.

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The myth of the alpha leader is destroying our relationshipsat work and at home - Quartz

If received, the grant of up to $1.1 million will be used to fund critical renovations of the Isla Vista Community Center

The grant could allow the Isla Vista Community Center to host a variety of private and public events, including quinceaeras, sorority and fraternity events, recreational classes and live music shows. Jose Arturo Ochoa / Daily Nexus

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors passed a motion Tuesday morning authorizing county officials to apply for a grant of up to $1.1 million to renovate the Isla Vista Community Center.

Isla Vistans voiced their support for the action and encouraged the board to apply for the grant at the boards meeting in downtown Santa Barbara Tuesday.

Ethan Bertrand, director-elect for the I.V. Community Services District (CSD), spoke at the meeting, saying the center has great potential to help I.V.

There are so many potential uses for the facility, and it can truly benefit the culture of Isla Vista, providing an outlet and a venue for positive activity, he said.

Matias Eusterbrock, an I.V. resident since 2011 and board director for the I.V. Community Development Corporation (IVCDC), spoke during public comment to thank board members who have previously supported I.V.s attempts to establish the community center.

From the abolition of the development agency to the granting of $485,000 in support of critical renovations to the building, the board has proven a steady ally to the sizable community of Isla Vista, he said. For that you have our appreciation.

Eusterbrock went on to list the possible uses for the building if the grant was acquired and funds were allocated to the center.

I believe all the residents will benefit from the sense of knowledge and community that comes from classes such as dancing or cooking or by sweating out the stresses of work and studying during live music shows, he said.

Eusterbrock also suggested the space could be used to host private events for a variety of members in the community, including quinceaeras and sorority and fraternity events.

Skip Grey, assistant director of the Santa Barbara County General Services Department, is working on the application for the grant. Grey said that the grant will specifically be used for the I.V. Community Center.

Grey said his department began working on this grant in December, and the application has already been completed. The Board of Supervisors motion Tuesday now authorizes Grey to submit the paperwork. He said the application is complete and due to the state on Feb. 23.

According to Grey, the grant is competitive and is not awarded automatically. The winners of the grant are expected to be announced by June 30.

General Services partnered with the County Community Services Department to complete the application because of its authority over affordable housing programs. General Services will perform the renovations on the community center if the funding is approved, though the two departments worked together to complete the request for funding.

I.V. qualified for the grant due the number of affordable housing units built in recent years. Specifically, the grant rewards cities and counties that approve affordable housing programs and the County of Santa Barbara has done a good job of that, Grey said.

Spencer Brandt, IVCDC and CSD board member, was not in attendance at Tuesdays meeting but spoke to the Nexus on Monday to describe possible uses for the grant.

If the grant was used to renovate the community center, Brandt said possible renovations could include replacing the roof of the building, creating a shade structure and possibly installing a garage-door-like opening on the side of the community center so that events could be held outdoors and indoors simultaneously.

A version of this story appeared on p. 4 of the Thursday, February 16, 2017 print edition of the Daily Nexus.

Link:

County To Apply for Grant for I.V. Community Center | The Daily Nexus - Daily Nexus