Category Archives: Intentional Communities

DetailsBy Monica WhitepigeonJune 22, 2021

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. The confines of the Covid-19 pandemic led to an abundance of closures and cancelations throughout the arts sector, especially in the performance, but some organizations sought to provide creative outlets for youth and professional performing artists. With social distancing restrictions being lifted across the country, theater companies are opening their doors to more hybrid programming and performances.

AlterTheater, a California-based theater ensemble, has expanded its Arts Learning Project for Native youth by adding in-person summer programming this year. The workshops predominantly run during students school breaks with official dates TBA. The project will adhere to the Covid protocols of reservation communities and offer alternative virtual programming for out-of-state students. AlterTheaters program is intentionally designed to build long-term relationships and provide performing arts networks for Native professional artists and youth interested in the industry.

Theres talent all over, and that talent is going undiscovered because they havent been able to partake in opportunities such as these workshops and building relationships with the theater professionals that we have leading these workshops, claimed Tanis Parenteau, the new tribal liaison and outreach coordinator.

Its a big disconnect in the entertainment industry. Geographically, its an uneven playing field if people cant leave the reservation to go to places where these programs are normally offered. And they deserve these opportunities just as much as anyone who has the ability to move to an urban area where there is usually more access.

Parenteau is an enrolled member of the Mtis Nation of Alberta (Cree), a producer/actor and serves on the SAG-AFTRA National Native Americans Committee. She also works with the Red House Project, a Native and Femme-led social storytelling multi-platform endeavor that focuses on MMIWG2ST crisis, and co-hosts the podcast called Not Invisible: Native Womxn on the Frontlines.

We always wanted to be doing more for and with our community. Weve been increasingly doing more and more Native work (like) commissioning Native playwrights. This program has been growing and Im really excited to have Tanis join the team and expand this out even more into the community, said Co-Founder and Artistic Director Jeanette Harrison (Onondaga descent).

Harrison is a writer, actor and director, who initiated the playwright residency program and fostered more than 20 new plays to world premiere productions. For television, she and Sharmila Devar co-wrote Feathers and Dots, Dots and Feathers, a half-hour comedy about cultural identity and family.

AlterLab, its playwright residency program, is a yearlong program that supports and commissions three to five writers to craft a new play. This years fellows include Tara Moses (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma), Dillon Chitto (Mississippi Choctaw, Laguna, and Isleta Pueblo descent), Vickie Ramirez (Tuscarora), Blossom Johnson (Din) and Latinx writer Diana Burbano.

After the cancelation of Ramirezs Pure Native tour last year, Harrison was approached by LucenTrees Brian Melendez of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony (RSIC) and Tall Tree Indigenous Education Consultings Teresa Melendez to see what opportunities were available for youth on reservations. With the Pure Native cast unable to travel to RSIC, AlterTheater created a series of virtual theater workshops, beginning in August 2020.

Each workshop featured a working theater professional instructor, team teaching with an Indigenous education specialist, and other Native artists. Students quickly adapted to the virtual setting by participating in one-on-one interactions, small breakout groups of three to five kids and received real-time feedback through the chat feature. At the end, participants from across Indian Country were see their works performed by Native actors and actresses.

For the monologue workshop, students had the freedom and flexibility to develop their ideas as they saw fit, but many decided to focus on social justice topics, such as MMIWG2S and underfunded schools. The Arts Learning Project format led to unforeseen benefits for those involved including career exploration, finding their voice and even institutional support. For one Fort McDermitt Paiute student, her isolationist work was so moving that she won Yales Indigenous Performing Arts Programs monologue contest.

Im looking forward to a future for our children where their schools and the tribes are looking to broaden the base of opportunities for our kids. We have to have higher expectations for our schools, our students and our parents too, Melendez claimed, who now serves as AlterTheater's education director.

Melendez is an enrolled tribal citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Nation, a descendant of the turtle clan and language speaker. With 20 years of experience in the Indian education and a grass-roots organizer, she actively finds Indigenous solutions in the areas of climate change, academic advocacy and social justice for the next seven generations.

We were intentional about incorporating cultural practices and protocols even in a virtual space. We would start off every gathering and meeting with a prayer, song, or words of encouragement. The students got familiar with that process and would step up to share, Melendez said.

Through outreach with tribal communities, the Arts Learning Project will adapt its workshop structures to fit the needs of various reservations in the hopes of introducing Native youth, particularly in the middle school bracket, to non-labor focused careers and develop new skills in the performing arts.

If you choose a career in arts, it will be really hard. However, your stories matter, and theyre needed. And we, all of us as artists, need the students that are coming up to join us in order to fully tell our stories. If this the career path you want, there is a place for you, and we are here for you to help make it happen, Harrison advised to students looking to participate.

Its the perfect time to start exploring the performing arts. Have fun and express yourself. You get the opportunity to express yourself maybe in ways youve never been able to before and it can be fun and healing, Parenteau said.

Click here to learn more and support AlterTheater.

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About The Author

Author: Monica Whitepigeon

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AlterTheater's Youth Programming Teaches Resiliency and Adaptability in the Performing Arts - nativenewsonline.net

Syracuse Stage has announced plans to resume live and in-person performance in the 2021/2022 season.Starting in October, the theater will present a six-show subscription season and offer a full schedule of educational, family and community-related programming, including the continuation of the Cold Read Festival of New Plays.

Six-play subscriptions will be on sale in July. Single tickets will go on sale closer to the opening of the season.

Artistic director Robert Hupp says, This is more than a return to normal. Over the past year, weve engaged in a field-wide conversation about the work we create and produce. Weve looked at how the work is created, who creates the work and who the work is created for. We emerge from the pandemic with a renewed passion for our craft and a new commitment to making a positive and sustained contribution to the cultural and civic life of Central New York.

In reopening, the theater management pledges strict adherence to the most up-to-date COVID-19 safety protocols in order to protect patrons, artists and staff.

The scheduled season offers a variety of theatrical experiences with a world premiere by Syracuse Stage associate artistic director Kyle Bass, a new musical by Brian Quijada, a celebrated family holiday musical and three contemporary comedies. From backstage hijinks to events unfolding literally down the street from Syracuse Stage to the trials and triumphs of a very remarkable little girl, the season celebrates reuniting to enjoy engaging stories, fascinating characters, exciting performances and great entertainment.

The season includes: Eureka Day (Oct. 13-31, 2021), Roald Dahls Matilda The Musical (Nov. 19, 2021-Jan. 2, 2022), Yoga Play (Jan. 19-Feb. 6, 2022), Somewhere Over the Border (Feb. 23-March 13, 2022), The Play that Goes Wrong (April 13-May 1, 2022) and salt/city/blues (June 8-26, 2022).

Our new season is uplifting. We wanted to craft a season that celebrated our return to live performance, Hupp says. We also wanted to explore the world as it emerges from this unprecedented time. We do so with humor and with music. We also celebrate new voices on our stagevoices that we believe have relevance for right here and right now. Were creating new ways to connect with Syracuse Stage and we invite everyone to share this journey with us.

Hupp is slated to direct two plays in the season including the season opener Eureka Day. A private day school in Berkeley, California, becomes a microcosm of our larger society as Jonathon Spectors comedy plunges headlong into the knotty issues of vaccines and how we measure private preference against public health and how we decide who gets to decide. Though written pre-COVID, Eureka Day could not be more timely or more needed as Spector mines laughter from our foibles while eliciting empathy for our sometimes valiant and sometimes valiantly misguided efforts. Spector clearly has sympathy for our struggles.

Later in the season, Hupp takes on a comic cautionary tale of what can happen to a theatre companys best laid plans with The Play That Goes Wrong. In this award-winning comedy, the Cornley Drama Society attempts to mount a 1920s murder mystery and falls prey to a variation of the old adage: everything that can go wrong will go wrong and in the most humorous way. Laughter for the sake of laughter and theater just for the fun of it.

Personally, I cant wait to get back in the rehearsal room, Hupp says. Ive enjoyed directing online, and Ive learned a lot in this process. But nothing can replace the joy of making a production with actors and a creative team that will be experienced by a live audience in a shared space. This shared experience is something we all needits something we crave. I dont think well realize how much weve missed it until were back together again in the Archbold Theatre.

The return to live and in-person performance also signals the return of a holiday tradition at Syracuse Stage: the big family musical coproduced with the Syracuse University Department of Drama. For 2021/2022 Hupp has selected Roald Dahls Matilda The Musical, and entrusted it to the same director, Donna Drake, and musical director, Brian Cimmet, as previous holiday shows The Wizard of Oz, Elf The Musical and Disneys Beauty and the Beast. This season Drake and Cimmet will be joined by choreographer Andrea Leigh-Smith.

Two premieres and the continuation of the Cold Read Festival of New Plays keep vibrant new work at the forefront of Syracuse Stages artistic programming. In 2018, Bass scored a hit with his mainstage debut production Possessing Harriet, a play rooted in a chapter of local history. With salt/city/blues, he turns his gaze just down the block to consider how the construction of an elevated highway adversely impacted a once vibrant neighborhood while specifically focusing on the strains experienced by one family closely connected to the project. Resemblances to Syracuses 15th ward and I-81 are intentional, if not literal. Gilbert McCauley, who directed the 2020/2021 closer Master Haroldand the Boys, returns for the world premiere of salt/city/blues.

The heart ofsalt/city/blues beats with the character, spirit, challenges, history and hopes of the city which has inspired me in its writing, says Bass. Im thrilled that its world premiere at my artistic home is part of Syracuse Stages season of enriched focus on our communities and the meanings of home.

In the new musical Somewhere Over the Border, drawing creative inspiration from a beloved Central New York story, Brian Quijada recounts the journey his mother made from El Salvador to the United States in the 1970s. With fantastical elements suggested by L. Frank Baums The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Quijada transforms his mothers 2,700 mile journey into a musical adventure using songs in a range of musical styles including American rock, hip-hop and Mariachi. Part fable and part family history, Somewhere Over the Border is a testament to a mothers determination and love.

Rounding out the season is the wry comedy Yoga Play by Dipika Guha, a piece that ponders such questions as: is there room for authenticity in a $10 billion industry, or can lavender scented yoga pants enhance spiritual well-being? Melissa Crespo who directed this past seasons I and You and the 2019 hit Native Gardens will be back at Syracuse Stage for this comedic gem.

Ongoing through the season there will be many opportunities to engage in conversations important to the community and to enjoy family oriented programming.

Los Angeles based artists and activists Mark-n-Sparks (Mark Valdez and ashley sparks) bring their innovative devised performance piece The Most Beautiful HomeMaybe to Syracuse Stage as part of their four-city initiative to examine housing insecurity across the country. Free performances of The Faith of Our Fathers, adapted by Bass from the 1965 televised debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, will be offered when the theater reopens in the fall. These special presentations augment the regularly scheduled talkbacks, prologues and lectures that accompany each mainstage production.

In addition, writer, interdisciplinary artist and Grammy Award-winner Ty Defoe joins the Cold Read Festival of New Plays in March 2022. Defoe is from the Oneida and Ojibwe nations and has written plays, poetry and lyrics. A full schedule of Cold Read events will be announced at a later date.

The season promises an array of theater experiences for families and students. In the fall the Bank of America Childrens tour production of The Girl Who Swallowed a Cactus will perform outdoors at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. Two Backstory productions, Commanding Space and Citizen James, resume live performances after the new year, and in the spring the sensational Doodle Pop from South Korea arrives for four performances in the Archbold Theatre. Continuing in 2021/2022 are theatre for the very young and the ever popular Young Playwrights Festival.

After more than a year of creating innovative online work, we are thrilled to return to producing live theatre this fall, Hupp says. While many theaters across our country were forced to shut down during the pandemic, Syracuse Stage was fortunate to stay artistically active. The knowledge and experience we gained puts us in a strong position to hit the ground running with a season of dynamic and meaningful theatrical experiences.

SHOW DETAILS

Eureka DayBy Jonathan SpectorDirected by Robert HuppOct. 13-31, 2021

With a mumps outbreak, a private school in Berkeley, California, called Eureka Day, becomes a microcosm of our larger society as Jonathan Spectors comedy plunges headlong into the knotty issues of vaccines and how we measure private preference against public health and how we decide who gets to decide. Though written pre-COVID, Eureka Day could hardly be more timely or more needed as Spector mines laughter from our foibles while eliciting empathy for our sometimes valiant and sometimes valiantly misguided efforts.

Roald Dahls Matilda The MusicalBook by Dennis KellyMusic and Lyrics by Tim MinchinBased on the book Matilda by Roald DahlDirected by Donna DrakeMusical Direction by Brian CimmetChoreography by Andrea Leigh-SmithNov. 19, 2021-Jan. 2, 2022

Children (and grown-ups) of the world rejoice. Matilda is here at last. Inspired by the twisted genius of Roald Dahl, this Tony Award-winning musical is a captivating treat that revels in the anarchy of childhood, the power of imagination and the inspiring story of a girl who dreams of a better life. (Theres also a gloriously vile villain, Miss Trunchbull.) Packed with high-energy dance numbers, catchy songs and featuring an unforgettable little girl with astonishing wit, intelligence and psychokinetic power, Matilda is a joyous girl power romp.

Yoga Play (East coast premiere)By Dipika GuhaDirected by Melissa CrespoJan. 19-Feb. 6, 2022

Joan has a big problem. Recently named CEO of athletic-wear giant Jojomonthink high-end brand thats part 60s one-hit wonder and part citrus fruitshe even more recently learned that a BBC investigative team is about to expose her Bangladeshi manufacturer of lavender-scented yoga pants as an exploiter of child labor. Suddenly, Jojomons family of customers is all atwitter with accusations of inauthenticity. Only one solution will dofind a reclusive and revered yogi to serve as a spokesman and restore the companys all-important claim to authenticity. They find him all right. The rest is 90 minutes of side-splitting laughter. A fun-filled new comedy by Dipika Guha, a talent to watch and recipient of a Venturous Playwright Fellowship by The Lark.

Somewhere Over the Border (new musical)By Brian QuijadaFeb. 23-March 13, 2022

Inspired by the real life journey of the authors mother (Reina Quijada) from El Salvador to the U.S. and by L. Frank Baums The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Somewhere Over the Border embraces the factual and the fantastical in its depiction of one young girls pursuit of the American dream. As Reina travels north to the Mexican border, she gathers friends, faces down dangers and holds tight to the memory of the little boy she left behind. Set in the 1970s and propelled by cumbia, Mexican mariachi boleros, American rock and hip-hop, this new musical is both fable and family historyand a testament to the determination born of love.

The Play That Goes WrongBy Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry ShieldsDirected by Robert HuppApril 13-May 1, 2022

Winner of Londons Olivier Award for Best Comedy and a New York Times best pick for comedies, The Play That Goes Wrong follows in the grand tradition of plays that go farcically awry. As the Cornley Drama Society attempts to perform a 1920s murder mystery, sets malfunction, lines are dropped and corpses wont stay still. Such fun. Laughter for the sheer joy of laughter.

salt/city/blues (world premiere)By Kyle BassDirected by Gilbert McCauleyJune 8-26, 2022

How does a fractured family heal when unresolved emotions of the past color the present? Can a city reshape itself if it means tearing open old, still-tender wounds? And where in a diverse but segregated can communities find common ground, mutual dignity and a true sense of home? These questions collide into Yolonda Mourning, an independent consultant on a vast project to take down a span of highway that has long divided Salt City. When she leaves her husband and teenage son and moves to the heart of trendy downtown, a diverse cast of characters forces Yolonda to confront the Salt Citys complicated history around race, class and urban renewal, and to reckon with her role as architect of the broken bridges in her own family. Moving, funny, poignant and current, salt/city/blues is a fresh, contemporary new play set in a fictionalized Syracuse and to the music of the blues. A Cold Read world premiere production.

Cold Read Festival of New PlaysMarch 14 20Events to be announced

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Syracuse Stage Resumes Live Performance This Fall for 2021/2022 Season - Syracuse University News

After a challenging year, a group of high-ranking stakeholders say it takes a coordinated, multidisciplinary effort to envision and build a more equitable future for all Philadelphians.

For the last year, a City of Philadelphia-formed committee of government employees, community stakeholders and business leaders have been meeting regularly to address the racial and economic inequities that were brought into the international spotlight last summer, following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

After weeks of protests and unrest across the city,City officials formed a steering committee to enact meaningful police reforms, reimagine public safety and advance racial justice. The committee, called Pathways to Reform, Transformation and Reconciliation, has met virtually every two weeks for the last year.

Among the partners of the committee, notable names from the tech and innovation community include Independence Blue Cross FoundationPresidentLorina Marshall Blake,Philadelphia WorksPresident and CEOPatrick Clancy,Coded by Kidsfounder and CEOSylvester Mobley, Urban Affairs CoalitionPresident and CEOSharmain Matlock Turner and the Department of Commerces deputy director of entrepreneurship and economic opportunity, Iola Harper.

On Tuesday, the City released its one-year progress report, an update on the work being done on inclusive economic recovery, health equity and police reform. Mayor Jim Kenney said that the work of the committee will continue.

It is with this hope for a better future that I pledge to hold our government accountable to its word, Kenney wrote in a letter at the start of the report. May this effort not just be reactive, but proactive in advancing reforms, protecting lives, and cultivating change for generations to come.

Along with changes to the Philadelphia Police Departments use of force policies, the department has amended its arrest and search warrant policies, and is reviewing its technological tools for instances of bias, like facial recognition technology and license plate readers. The City also created the civilian Police Oversight Commission and admitted fault in the use of tear gas, white smoke, beanbag rounds and plastic pellets on protesters and reporters on Interstate 676 on June 1, 2020, among other changes and initiatives.

The report also addresses equitable economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting unemployment jumps and the hit to small business, especially those owned by people of color, women and owners with disabilities. In March, shortly after a citywide lockdown of non essential businesses, the City formed the COVID-19 Small Business Relief Fund, which dolled out more than $13.3 million in grants to more than 2,000 business owners in a few weeks. Over the last year, the City offered other, specialized relief programs along with business operation assistance, workforce development programs and assistance in navigating national relief programs.

The report also addresses community reform, such as the removal of the Frank Rizzo statue in Center City and an order that all City departments will conduct racial equity assessments and create racial equity action plans by the end of 2023. It also added Juneteenth as a City holiday, as well as changed the second Monday of October to Indigenous Peoples Day from Columbus Day. The health and wellness portion of the report addresses the inequities found in the spread, treatment and vaccination rates throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The committees full name Pathways to Reform, Transformation, and Reconciliation was an internal and intentional choice, two members told Technical.ly. Its mission and goals were also formed by the group, said Harper as one of the members representing the Department of Commerce.

We knew the city was in such a tumultuous place, and we got together, came up with a name, and everything you read in the report was created by the group itself, she said. It was really interesting and challenging processes.

Iola Harper. (Photo via phila.gov)

As one of the city leaders in charge of small businesses and entrepreneurship, Harper watched owners struggle throughout the last year. Though the pandemic is easing and the Citys limits on capacity for stores and restaurants have lifted, as many as 40% of Black-owned businesses shut down in the pandemic, and folks are still licking their wounds.

Harper said, though, she and her colleagues were surprised how how quickly they were able to mobilize funds in the first weeks of the pandemic, and how quickly other orgs did so as well. It was ultimately the ability to collaborate with other partners and organizations focused on economic mobility and equity that became the most productive part of the committee, she said.

Everybody is changed because of this, Harper said. We cant help but move forward with our current mindset and model.

This was also true of Philadelphia Works Clancy, who, like Harper, said the committee brought together stakeholders in a way he hadnt ever experienced before. Among the first few meetings last summer, Clancy said his orgs position within the committee was to acknowledge the unrest and economic distress throughout the city and find ways to bring access to workforce services and employment opportunities to folks who needed them.

Clancy said he saw incredible value in the connection the committee has created, including faith-based organizations in neighborhoods, reentry programs and connections to more schools for teen and young adult work ready programs.

Patrick Clancy. (Courtesy photo)

An outcome of this last year is a new ad hoc committee of workforce stakeholders, called the Workforce Recovery Strategies Committee, which is in its beginning stages and made up of 13 partners mapping out a larger comprehensive workforce plan, Clancy said. The effort will look at funding opportunities, training initiatives and the scope of need within the city.

We realized that we should not be duplicating effort, but maximizing it, Clancy said. The outcomes will be better if we work together on these initiatives.

Without the committee, Clancy said he wouldnt be looking at these workforce challenges in the same way.

I did a lot of listening this year and from that, it lead me to think through how to take advantage of these resources, he said. We all want the same thing, for individuals to go to work in good communities and help their families. If we can start some place and scale it, we can attract more investments and people from different areas in this work.

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Philadelphia's equitable recovery stakeholders on a challenging year: 'Everybody is changed because of this' - Technical.ly

By Rae Ellen Bichell andCara Anthony

Part II of II

Many patients dont know about this equation and how their race has factored into their care.

I really wish someone would have mentioned it, Harried said.

He said it burned him up knowing that this one little test that I didnt know anything about could keep me from or prolong me getting a kidney.

GlendaV.Robertscurbed her kidney disease with a vegan diet and by conducting meetings as an IT executive while walking.

But after more than 40 years of slow decline, her kidney function finally reached the cutoff required to get on the transplant waitlist.

When it did, the decline was swift a patternresearchers have noted in Black patients. It really makes you wonder what the benefit is of having an equation that will cause people who look like me Black people to get referrals later, to have to wait longer before you can get on the transplant list, but then have your disease progress more rapidly, she said.

Roberts, who is now the director of external relations at the University of Washingtons Kidney Research Institute in Seattle and on the national task force, said a genetic test added to her feeling that a Black/non-Black option in an equation was a charade.

In fact, I am not predominantly of African ancestry. Im 25% Native American. Im Swedish and English and French, said Roberts. But I am also 48% from countries that are on the continent of Africa.

The Black/non-Black question also doesnt make sense to Delgado, the University of California nephrologist. I would probably for some people qualify as being non-Black, said Delgado, who is Puerto Rican. But for others, I would qualify as Black.

So, theoretically, if Delgado were to visit two doctors on the same day, and they guessed her race instead of asking, she could come away with two different readings of how well her kidneys are working.

Researchers found that the race factor doesnt work for Black Europeans or patients inWest Africa. Australian researchersfound usingthe race coefficient led them to overestimate the kidney function of Indigenous Australians.

But in the U.S., Levey and other researchersseeking to replacethe race option with physical measurements, such as height and weight, hit a dead end.

To Crews, the Johns Hopkins nephrologist who is also on the national taskforce, the focus on one equation is myopic.

The algorithm suggests that something about Black peoples bodies affects their kidneys.

Crews thinks thats the wrong approach to addressing disparities: The issue is not whats unique about the inner workings of Black bodies, but instead whats going on around them.

I really wish we could measure that instead of using race as a variable in the estimating equations, shesaidon the Freely Filtered podcast. I dont think its ancestry. I dont think its muscle mass.

It might not be that Black bodies are more likely to have more creatinine in the blood, but that Americans who experiencehousing insecurityand barriersto healthy food, quality medical care and timely referrals are more likely to have creatinine in their blood and that many of themhappen to be Black.

Systemic health disparities help explain why Black patients have unusually high rates of kidney failure, since communities of color have less access to regular primary care.

One of the most serious consequences of poorly controlled diabetes and hypertension is failure of the organ.

Direct discrimination intentional or not from providers may also affect outcomes, said Roberts. She recalled a social worker categorizing her as unable to afford the post-transplant drugs required to keep a transplanted organ healthy, which could have delayed her getting a new organ. Roberts has held executive roles at several multimillion-dollar companies.

Delgado and Levey agree that removing race from the formula might feel better on the surface, but it isnt clear the move would actually help people.

Studies recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and theJournal of the American Society of Nephrology noted that removing the race factor could lead to some Black patients being disqualified from using beneficial medications because their kidneys might appear unable to handle them. It could also disqualify some Black people from donating a kidney.

Fiddling with the algorithms is an imperfect way to achieve equity, Levey said.

As researchers debate the math problem and broader societal ones, patients such as Harried, the St. Louis minister and security guard, are still stuck navigating dialysis.

One of things that keeps me going is knowing that soon they may call me for a kidney, Harried said.

He doesnt know how long his name will be on the transplant waitlist or whether the race coefficient has prolonged the wait but he keeps a hospital bag under his bed to be ready.

Rae Ellen Bichell and Cara Anthony are both correspondents for Kaiser Health News. This story was produced byKaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of theKaiser Family Foundation.

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Kidney Experts Say It's Time to Remove Race From Medical AlgorithmsDoing So Is Complicated | The Crusader Newspaper Group - The Chicago Cusader

Seeking your input on the PEACE Park: Heights Libraries is taking steps to ensure that its PEACE Park remains an accessible public resource for the community, and is asking you, the users of the park, what youd like to see there.

The Library has contracted with landscape architects Andrew Sargeant and Jim McKnight, at a cost of $9,000 each, to prepare sketches and develop an overall plan for the property, including cost estimates. The architects will also coordinate and gather public input about the park, located across from the Coventry Library branch, 1925 Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights, via three separate public events.

The first event will be held from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, June 27 at the PEACE Park. The Coventry PEACE Park Design Jam encourages community members to visit five stations and engage in activities that will help Sargeant and McKnight determine what the community wants from the popular public space. Refreshments will be served. Those five stations will include: Predict Your Park: Take an interactive survey; Share a Story: Share your park memories; Mark the Map: Show us your favorite places; Find Your Favorites: Rate our ideas; Picture a Park: Kids can create their dream park.

The second event, from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, July 24, will be an open house at the Coventry Village branch, where Sargeant and McKnight will display preliminary design proposals and answer questions from the community about the potential designs.

The third event, at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 20 will have Sargeant and McKnight presenting final plans for the park, including costs.The plans could include an accessible playground, a walking storybook loop, an amphitheater, and outdoor seating areas.

Fundraising for the project will be needed before any construction can begin. Fundraising will be handled by the nonprofit Fund for the Future of Heights Libraries.

Our PEACE Park is popular, and well loved, so were hoping we get plenty of input from our community so we can improve it and make it an even better public asset for all, said Heights Libraries Director Nancy Levin, in a release.

Since 2018, when Heights Libraries obtained the park from the CHUH School District, the Library has made small improvements, such as new trash cans, regular trash pick-up, repair of the existing playground, new concrete walkways and pads for benches, a bicycle repair station, and parking lot upgrades, including improved lighting.

College news: Being June, theres lots to report from our nations college campuses that pertains to our Sun Press coverage area students. So, here we go.

-- Among the graduates from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa., are Cleveland Heights residents Charlie Espy, who earned a bachelors degree in chemical engineering, and Molly Paine, whose business administration degree is in accounting and financial management. Also graduating from Bucknell, with a bachelors degree in international relations, was Shaker Heights Elizabeth Stack.

-- Beachwoods Natali Polonsky graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in interdepartmental studies.

-- Down at Ohio University, in Athens, those achieving deans list status for the spring semester included Ann Baldwin and Paige Campbell, of Cleveland Heights; from Beachwood, Lyric Albert, Tanner Mayfield, Jocelyn Trostler, Jesse Wu and Zoe Zilbert; from University Heights, Lula Everett and Avery Pope; and from Shaker Heights, Demetrius Gest, Jr., Olivia Graham, Maddie Henning, Aliyah Houston, Amira Hunter, Karyn Price and Paris Trowsdell.

-- Local Ohio University spring graduates are Ann Baldwin, Nicholas Borkey Hayley Eichenlaub and Lee Price, III, of Cleveland Heights; Evan Cherchiglia, Jaime Freiburger, Aliyah Houston, MacKenzie Reece, Kristen Ruckstuhl and Abby Samuel, of Shaker Heights; Sam Connor and Shawntina Lewis, of Beachwood; and, from University Heights, Lula Everett, Londo Farmer, Wesley Hofstetter, Avery Pope and Briana Story.

-- Local graduates from Baldwin Wallace University include Beachwoods Darjon Bentley and Karen Doran; Shaker Heights Kayla Blake and Keith Slater; and Cleveland Heights Brandon Taylor.

-- Named to the presidents list at Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pa., was Shaker Heights resident Adam Slovikoski.

-- Mary Sikorovsky, of Shaker Heights was named to the presidents list at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va.

-- Achieving the deans list at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. were Sara Weisman and Darien Hersh, of Beachwood, and Noah Jalango, of Shaker Heights. Also, Lehigh graduates during May 24 ceremonies included Cleveland Heights Lilly Herschman, who earned a bachelor of science degree in psychology, with high honors, and Noah Jalango of Shaker Heights, who earned a bachelor of arts degree with a major in journalism, also with high honors.

-- Making the spring semester deans list at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, was Caroline Kiker, of Shaker Heights.

-- Added to the spring semester deans list at Lock Haven University in Lock Haven, Pa. was Beachwoods Gabrielle Ciulla.

-- At the College of Charleston in South Carolina, Cleveland Heights residents Madeline Ashby and Kerrigan-Tierney von Carlowitz earned spots on the presidents list.

-- Making the deans list for the spring semester at Georgia Tech was Cleveland Heights Gerard Daher.

National Council of Jewish Women of Cleveland honors three: The NCJW/CLE has honored three women, Niki Resnick, of Moreland Hills; Rita Rome, of Pepper Pike; and Barbara Yaksic, of Concord.

Resnick took home the Arline B. Pritcher Award, which is given for outstanding direct community service. Pritcher was a dedicated volunteer in Cleveland in the 1960s and left a legacy of devotion and enthusiasm to NCJW/CLE. In 1976, her husband, Nathan, and their children established the Arline B. Pritcher award as a tribute in her memory, and her father, Irwin Bellin, perpetuated the award.

Resnick is currently co-chair of NCJW/CLEs Share What You Wear program, a project creating personally-shopped, gender- and size-specific clothing and toiletry bags for distribution to children in need or in crisis locally through school and agency social workers. She is a Beachwood High School graduate.

Rome and Yaksic received the Alice and Eugene Weiss Esteemed Service Award, given for outstanding, non-direct service for advocacy, fundraising, or education. Rome currently takes a leadership role in many NCJW/CLE advocacy-related committees, including Promote the Vote, Protect the Vote; Understanding the Issues; Reproductive Rights and Health Committee; Reduction of Gun Violence, and the Lois Zaas Advocacy Lecture. A native of Washington, D.C. and former art teacher, Romes husband brought them to Cleveland when he accepted job at Case Western Reserve University at the Medical School in 2004.

Yaksic is co-chair of NCJW/CLEs Promote the Vote, Protect the Vote Committee, a board member, and a member of the Stop Human Trafficking, the Family and Sexual Violence, and the Understanding the Issues committees. The retired lawyer is a Beachwood High grad.

More Jewish Federation Microgrants announced: The Jewish Federation of Cleveland has announced its next cohort of Young Leadership Division (YLD) Microgrant Program recipients. Through its Microgrant Program, YLD looks empower Jewish young adults to build community and have an impact by hosting innovative experiences for Jewish Clevelanders, ages 22-45.

YLD Microgrant Program recipients will receive up to $1,000 per calendar year to support their projects. Projects connect young adults to Jewish Cleveland through one of the Federations four priorities: care for one another, prepare for the future, share our perspectives, and repair our world.

This years YLD Microgrant program recipients showcase the creativity of Jewish Clevelands young adult community, said Abbie Pappas, YLD board chair, in a release. The YLD Board and I are honored to be able to select programs that are engaging, diverse, and will reach a significant number of Jewish Clevelanders.

Recipients include: American Jewish Committee (AJC) Cleveland ACCESS, which will host Conversations with Clevelands Leaders, an opportunity for Jewish young professionals to connect with Cleveland leaders from the civic, diplomatic, interfaith, and intergroup communities; and Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temples Fairmount Young Professionals, who will host Jew Years Eve, a meaningful event for young professionals to celebrate the high holidays.

Also, Bnai Jeshurun Congregation ATID, which will host Kick off the New Year with a Hole in One, a program to welcome new Clevelanders in their 20s and 30s to the community; Henry Samuels of Cleveland, who will host An Interactive Look at Jewish Music: From Beta Israel to India, a workshop to introduce young adults to different Jewish music from around the world; Moishe House and Partners in Torah, which will host Torah on Tap, a program for young professionals to participate in Jewish learning and dissecting Torah text; and Samia Mansour, of Richmond Heights, and Ngozi Williams, of Medina, will host Jews of Color: Cleveland, an intentional community for Jews of Color in Cleveland to partake in Jewish rituals together.

Lifelong Learning programs scheduled: Case Western Reserve Universitys Siegal Lifelong Learning has announced a series of remote classes for July and August.

Upcoming are Modern Storytellers: The Short Stories of Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Others, from 1-2:30 p.m. Thursdays from June 24 to July 29; Salt, A World History, from 1:30-3 p.m. Thursdays from July 1 to Aug. 5; a Virtual Interfaith Tour of Israel, from 1:30-3 p.m. Tuesdays from July 6 to Aug. 24; and Sail the Seas with Queen Elizabeth I, Her Spies and Privateers, from 1:30-3 p.m. July 6-27.

For details and prices, visit case.edu/lifelonglearning.

Get your Dippy Whip at Legacy Village: Dippy Whip has opened for business at Legacy Village, at the corner of Richmond and Cedar roads. Dippy Whip features famed frozen custard once served at now long-gone Cleveland area amusement parks, as well as a mix of 20th and 21st century treats and fun.

Dippy Whip is pure joy, and the perfect addition to the Legacy Village community as we get out and celebrate warmer weather with family and friends, said Legacy Village General Manager Susan Windle, in a release. Were excited about sharing this beloved northeast Ohio legacy with new generations of fans.

The new addition to Legacy Villages Restaurant District is located adjacent to the Legacy Village lawn, next to Wild Mango, and is open from noon to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; noon to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and noon to 7 p.m. Sundays.

We were fortunate to have obtained the original recipe from one of Clevelands beloved parks, said Joe Tomaro, known as one of The Euclid Beach Boys, and owner, along with his wife, Kathy, of the Dippy Whip Custard shop. This one-of-a-kind custard, hands down, the absolute best vanilla custard in the Cleveland area for generations until the park closed. There is no better time than the present to immerse ourselves in the timeless memories of childhood, and share them with the next generation.

Check out Parks virtual Mandela exhibit: Park Synagogue invites the community to virtually tour Mandela: Struggle for Freedom at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 11, via Zoom.

The new exhibit is being featured at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie, and traces the history of apartheid in South Africa, with Nelson Mandela as the central character. With immersive environments, such as a recreation of Mandelas cell on Robben Island, Mandela promotes human rights with a central message: All people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

The event is free and open to the community. Pre-registration is required to receive a Zoom link by July 7. Register at parksynagogue.org, or by contacting Ellen Petler at epetler@parksyn.org or 216-371-2244, ext. 122.

At the Heights Libraries: Coming online via the Heights Libraries are these three events: Word Part 5 -- Tables, from 7-8:30 p.m. July 1 (register here); Zoom Meditation Tuesdays, with Christine Valadon, from 6-7 p.m. July 6 (register here); and, for children and families, ABCs of Kindergarten, from 6-7:30 p.m. July 6 (register here).

Also, the University Heights branch will host, from 1:30-2:30 p.m. July 7 at Walter Stinson Park, Arts & Crafts in the Park for school-age children (register here).

Have you thought about a career in plumbing?: Neptune Plumbing of Bedford Heights is growing their business while also giving back to its community by holding a community-wide open house for prospective hires and community members. The event is an opportunity for the business to give neighbors a steady career opportunity while donating to local charities who have done so much for those across the region.

Neptune Plumbing will give back to the community by making sizeable donations to the local Salvation Army and Ronald McDonald House for applications received and prospects hired. In addition, new hires will receive a $1,000 hiring bonus, matched by a $1,000 donation to charity.

Free coffee and donuts will be served for breakfast, and barbecue is on the menu for lunch.

The event takes place from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 24, at 25440 Miles Road in Bedford Heights.

If you would like to see an item appear in Press Run, send me an email, at least 12 days prior to an event, at jeff.piorkowski@att.net.

See more Sun Press news here.

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MIDDLETOWN The Middlesex United Way has invested over $1.2 million in supporting local nonprofits that help people find both temporary and permanent housing.

We believe that all individuals and families should have access to safe and affordable housing in Middlesex County, and are proud to share that, throughout the past 10 years, significant strides have been made. Just recently, our partners, HOPE Partnership, created affordable housing units in Essex, building 17 residential units in a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

Living and working in Middlesex County, we have so many choices choices of grocery stores, choices for recreation and cultural activities. And yet, when it comes to housing, there is little choice in most of our towns.

Local zoning regulations have encouraged the creation of detached single-family homes on large lots, and discouraged less expensive multifamily housing. Not everyone wants this type of housing, or can afford it.

These antiquated zoning practices have led to segregated towns and segregated schools. They created missed opportunities for our towns to attract young people, empty nesters and people from diverse backgrounds. The economic case for increasing housing options is easy to make, and so is the moral case.

The Middlesex United Way is committed to ensuring individuals and families live in an anti-racist, equitable and inclusive community. This cant happen without meaningful change to local zoning practices.

Our countrys history of redlining, building affordable housing only in urban areas, and exclusive zoning has led to a concentration of poverty, and racial, economic and ethnic segregation.

I am hopeful that the time for change is here. There are signs all around us, as more and more people in our region recognize the need for more housing choices, and have come to see the negative impact of overly restrictive zoning regulations. More communities are waking up to the benefits of rental housing towns such as Haddam, Essex, Old Saybrook and Portland.

Connecticut just passed the most sweeping zoning reform bill in decades. It makes it easier to create an in-law apartment in your home, requires planning and zoning commission members to participate in housing training, and clarifies the Zoning Enabling Act, among other worthwhile changes.

If we are to realize our vision for equitable and inclusive communities, we cannot ignore the long history of housing segregation. We must be intentional in dismantling this system that created it.

I ask you to get involved locally. Let your local planning and zoning commission members know that you support affordable housing in your community. If a project comes to your town for approval, testify in favor of it. The time for change is now.

To learn more about housing assistance right here in Middlesex County, contact 2-1-1 or our Community Impact Director Christina Heckart atchristina.heckart@middlesexunitedway.org.

Kevin Wilhelm is president and CEO of the Middletown-based Middlesex United Way.

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Middlesex United Way: We cannot ignore history of housing segregation - Middletown Press

The Rankin government announced today, June 19, a $3 million investment in revitalizing Sydneys downtown core. The project will help support local businesses and attract new investment in the heart of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM).

The province is partnering with the municipality, which is also contributing $3 million, in the redesign and upgrade of Charlotte Street to create a welcoming, accessible and green destination.

There has never been more optimism for the downtown core, said Premier Iain Rankin. The area is being reenergized with a new NSCC Marconi Campus and a second cruise ship berth at the Port of Sydney, and this project will help enhance its marketing position to draw in more residents and visitors and stimulate growth in the local economy.

Preliminary design details that will be shared with community include:

Develop Nova Scotia will work in collaboration with CBRM and the local community on the project. The process of building will be participatory and intentional to build local placemaking capacity and encourage inclusive economic participation.

Construction is expected to begin in April 2022.

There has never been a more exciting time for growth in the Sydney area with the anticipated increase in student population, new immigration, new investments and unlimited tourism potential. This project has been on CBRMs radar for some time, and I am proud that our government is helping to make this a reality.Derek Mombourquette, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development and MLA for Sydney-Whitney Pier, on behalf of Labi Kousoulis, Minister of Inclusive Economic Growth

Downtown Sydney is a gem. With this significant investment from the provincial government, this historic commercial district will be ready to welcome the world back again. Rebuilding better and redesigning with accessibility at the forefront will benefit all who visit downtown.Amanda McDougall, mayor, Cape Breton Regional Municipality

Investment in places for people, like waterfronts and main streets, which are so often the heart of urban and rural communities, helps grow an inclusive economy and contributes to well-being for residents. For us, developing projects is a means to an end: by building these projects with community, the place we build is better - inclusive, sustainable and reflective of local culture which attracts people, but it also builds community participation, pride and resilience. We cant wait to get to work.Jennifer Angel, president and CEO, Develop Nova Scotia

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Province Invests in Revitalizing Sydney's Downtown Core - Government of Nova Scotia

Authors: Catherine Kyobutungi and Madhukar Pai, Editors-in-Chief, PLOS Global Public Health; and Julia Robinson, Executive Editor, PLOS Global Public Health

As researchers, teachers, practitioners, health care workers, activists, and humans in this world, we are at a pivotal moment in the history of global public health. Over the past few decades, the field of global health one which, in the wake of the Declaration of Alma Ata, held such promise to overturn systems of colonization, exploitation, discrimination and inequitable access to healthcare has sadly replicated some of the same systems that have perpetuated the worst inequities. Power continues to be concentrated in the hands of a few elites in a few high-income countries, while low and middle-income countries are left facing the hardest health challenges with the fewest resources [1]. The ongoing struggle for vaccine equity during the Covid-19 pandemic in which rich countries have the luxury of imagining a post-pandemic life while poor countries grapple with newer, more dangerous variants and a lack of available vaccines is the best illustration of the power asymmetry inherent in global public health [2].

The Covid-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter and Women in Global Health movements, as well as ongoing calls to decolonize global health have all created space for uncomfortable but important conversations that reveal serious asymmetries of power and privilege that permeate all aspects of the field [2], including funding [3] and authorship of research and scientific publications [4-6]. In particular, lack of diversity at all levels in global health journals [7, 8], and lack of affordability for authors from low and middle-income countries [9, 10] are key concerns that journal publishers must address.

Just as power asymmetries between high-income and low-income countries have existed and been brought to the fore in recent times, power asymmetries also exist within regions in the global South and even within countries. Some countries are systematically excluded from the global knowledge system either because of language or capacity barriers [11, 12], while important voices in global public health are excluded because of power asymmetries between scientists, communities and public health practitioners.

A new journal in global public health, therefore, must welcome and hold these uncomfortable conversations, using research, academic discourse, and advocacy to deliberately tip the balance of power in the direction of social justice, equity and diversity. With the launch of PLOS Global Public Health, a global Open Access forum for public health research, we aim to reach across disciplines and regional boundaries to address the biggest health challenges and inequities facing our society today.

The mission of PLOS Global Public Health is to address deeply entrenched inequities in global health and make impactful research visible and accessible to health professionals, policy-makers, and local communities. We are committed to amplifying the voices of underrepresented and historically excluded communities and aredeliberate about equity, diversity, and inclusion at all levels editors, editorial boards, peer reviewers and authors to broaden the range and diversity of perspectives we learn from and advance the health of all humankind.

Equity, diversity and inclusion are core to the journals mission this will be deliberate at every level of the journal, from its leadership (i.e. Editors-in-Chief), to Section Editors and the Editorial Board, to the authors and communities to which it serves. We will deliberately and actively recruit a diverse pool of experts from all geographies and identities and make an intentional effort to ensure representation from historically underrepresented and excluded groups. We will amplify the work of Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) experts, especially people from the Global South, Indigenous scholars, and individuals working and living within their impacted communities.

We will avoid elitism: In the spirit of PLOS ONE, we will not focus on novelty or impact factors, but rather on the rigor of the research and its contribution to the base of academic knowledge.

We will be accessible: PLOS Global Public Health will ensure immediate, gold open access to all content, including manuscripts and data. Article processing charges and fees will not be a barrier to publication (for details, please see https://plos.org/publish/fees/). We are aware of the limitations of publishing only English language articles and plan to work towards language accessibility and global communication of research.

We will strive towards being more feminist, anti-racist, anti-patriarchal, anti-ableist, anti-elitist, and anti-classist in our work. We will explicitly address and combat parachute or helicopter research. Lastly, we will publish research that address health inequities wherever they occur, not just in low-income countries.

With regards to scope, we will publish ethically and methodologically rigorous research that impacts public health, and particularly encourage submissions reporting research into health inequities and efforts to increase diversity and inclusion in public health. We consider submissions in areas including but not limited to global health delivery; infectious diseases; non-communicable diseases; race and health; mental health, laboratory medicine; maternal, newborn, and child health; nutrition; sexual and reproductive health and rights; Indigenous health; environmental and planetary health; evidence use and policy; global health governance; social and behavioral health; humanitarian aid and conflict/displacement; injuries, trauma and global surgery; global health financing and trade; and global health security.

PLOS Global Public Health welcomes quantitative and qualitative primary research that contributes to the base of academic knowledge, including interdisciplinary research articles, clinical trials, replication studies, and negative or null results; systematic reviews whose methods ensure the comprehensive and unbiased sampling of existing literature; submissions describing methods, software, databases, or other tools that meet the journals criteria for utility, validation and availability that adheres to appropriate study design and reporting guidelines.

With this new journal, we are setting ambitious goals, and we expect to be held accountable. We acknowledge that we need to go beyond pledges [13]. We will make mistakes as we go along, but we will learn from them and do better. We look forward to building and engaging with the global public health community around the world, in charting a new path towards equity, diversity and inclusion in global health.

References:

1. Abimbola S, Pai M. Will global health survive its decolonisation? Lancet. 2020;396(10263):1627-8. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32417-X. PubMed PMID: 33220735.

2. Abimbola S, Asthana S, Montenegro C, Guinto RR, Jumbam DT, Louskieter L, et al. Addressing power asymmetries in global health: Imperatives in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS Med. 2021;18(4):e1003604. Epub 2021/04/23. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003604. PubMed PMID: 33886540.

3. Erondu NA, Aniebo I, Kyobutungi C, Midega J, Okiro E, Okumu F. Open letter to international funders of science and development in Africa. Nat Med. 2021;27(5):742-4. Epub 2021/04/17. doi: 10.1038/s41591-021-01307-8. PubMed PMID: 33859410.

4. Hedt-Gauthier BL, Jeufack HM, Neufeld NH, Alem A, Sauer S, Odhiambo J, et al. Stuck in the middle: a systematic review of authorship in collaborative health research in Africa, 2014-2016. BMJ Glob Health. 2019;4(5):e001853. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001853. PubMed PMID: 31750000; PubMed Central PMCID: PMCPMC6830050.

5. Mbaye R, Gebeyehu R, Hossmann S, Mbarga N, Bih-Neh E, Eteki L, et al. Who is telling the story? A systematic review of authorship for infectious disease research conducted in Africa, 1980-2016. BMJ Glob Health. 2019;4(5):e001855. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001855. PubMed PMID: 31750001; PubMed Central PMCID: PMCPMC6830283.

6. Abimbola S. The foreign gaze: authorship in academic global health. BMJ Glob Health. 2019;4(5):e002068. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2019-002068. PubMed PMID: 31750005; PubMed Central PMCID: PMCPMC6830280.

7. Nafade V, Sen P, Pai M. Global health journals need to address equity, diversity and inclusion. BMJ Glob Health. 2019;4(5):e002018. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2019-002018. PubMed PMID: 31750004; PubMed Central PMCID: PMCPMC6830051.

8. Bhaumik S, Jagnoor J. Diversity in the editorial boards of global health journals. BMJ Glob Health. 2019;4(5):e001909. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001909. PubMed PMID: 31749449; PubMed Central PMCID: PMCPMC6830044.

9. Pai M. How Prestige Journals Remain Elite, Exclusive And Exclusionary. URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/madhukarpai/2020/11/30/how-prestige-journals-remain-elite-exclusive-and-exclusionary/?sh=615d4e3e4d48 [date accessed 13 March 2021]: Forbes; 2020.

10. Jain VK, Iyengar KP, Vaishya R. Article processing charge may be a barrier to publishing. J Clin Orthop Trauma. 2021;14:14-6. Epub 2021/03/09. doi: 10.1016/j.jcot.2020.10.039. PubMed PMID: 33680812; PubMed Central PMCID: PMCPMC7919939.

11. Sooryamoorthy, R. The production of science in Africa: an analysis of publications in the science disciplines, 20002015. Scientometrics 115, 317349 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2675-0

12. Kana MA, LaPorte R, Jaye A. Africas contribution to the science of the COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e004059

13. OlusanyaBO, MallewaM, OgboFA. Beyond pledges: academic journals in high-income countries can do more to decolonise global health. BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e006200.

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PLOS Global Public Health, charting a new path towards equity, diversity and inclusion in global health - Speaking of Medicine and Health - PLoS Blogs

Harold Love Jr. and Faye DiMassimo, Guest Columnists Published 11:23 a.m. CT June 14, 2021 | Updated 11:24 a.m. CT June 14, 2021

North Nashville resident Keisha Gardner Beard is excited for the proposed Interstate 40 Cap in North Nashville. Nashville Tennessean

We have a plan to come back stronger, right here in Nashville. Lets use the transportation dollars President Biden is putting on the table to pay for it.

America is talking a lot about how to come back, stronger than before.

After a grueling year, were asking ourselves: how do we create communities that are more resilient and work for everyone?

A major part of that answer is found in our transportation strategy.

Transportation is a powerful influencer in peoples lives.

Our roads and bridges take us to work and family.

Bike lanes and buses prevent further pollution of our communities and offer more options to connect to the places we want and need to go.

And construction projects put our contractors and tradesfolk to work.

In other words, what we build, where we build, and how intentional we are about building it can lift communities up or let them down.

A car travels across the D.B. Todd Jr. Boulevard bridge over Interstate 40 Friday, June 11, 2021 in Nashville, Tenn. Metro Nashville wants to build a cap above the interstate to "stitch together"communities north and south of I-40. When the interstate was constructed in the late 1960s many North Nashville residents were upset how the highway split the neighborhood in two.(Photo: George Walker IV / The Tennessean)

With the INVEST in America Act as a core piece of President Bidens American Jobs Plan, the House has called for a $547 billion investment in our nations infrastructure. The INVEST Act pours resources into the nations surface transportation assets to also create jobs and tackle the climate crisis.

Earlier this month, we traveled with Mayor John Cooper to Washington to advocate for bringing those federal dollars home.

Nashville has a plan to build more resilient, better connected infrastructure.

And we would begin in North Nashville.

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In 1967, the U.S. Department of Transportation built the I-40 Freeway through this area. This concrete python created a heat island in a beautiful community, suffocated a thriving business and music district, and forced nearly 1,400 people out of their homes.

Using INVEST dollars, we would reconnect the community by expanding Dr. D.B. Todd, Jr., Boulevard over I-40 into a 3.4-acre, publicly owned cap and connector.

Just fewer than 2,300 residents would be within a ten-minute walk of this pedestrian platform, which would feed into Nashvilles greenway system and connect to the incredible Historic Black Colleges and Universities in the area.

Residents and business owners of North Nashville would design what the top of the connector looks like. It could house public amenities, such as a park or community center, pedestrian connections, and celebrations of the areas history.

This project would help reduce air and noise pollution in the area. It would also bring additional safety improvements to a nearby interchange known as Truckers Curve, where 24 truck-related crashes occurred in 2019.

The star marks the location of a proposed cap over Interstate 40 that would reconnect two neighborhoods separated by the highway.(Photo: 2021 INFRA Application, City of Nashville)

We have a powerful, overdue opportunity on I-40.

Harold Love Jr.(Photo: Dawn Majors)

We also have a Metro Transportation Plan to make 1,961 other traffic and multimodal improvements in 300 neighborhoods across Davidson County.

That plan includes a traffic management center, where well use smart-city technology to better sync traffic signals and address congestion on our busiest corridors.

It calls for a local department of transportation, to consolidate everything Nashville does in transportation for quicker, accountable, more cost-effective delivery including more sidewalks.

Faye DiMassimo(Photo: Submitted)

We have a plan to come back stronger, right here in Nashville. Lets use the transportation dollars President Biden is putting on the table to pay for it.

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State Rep.Harold Moses Love, Jr., P.h.D., is the pastor of Lee Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, State Representative for the TN House District 58 and vice president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.

Faye DiMassimo is the senior advisor for transportation and infrastructure to Nashville Mayor John Cooper. She has 40years of multimodal planning, development, and delivery experience in the public and private sectors.

Read or Share this story: https://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/2021/06/14/nashville-ready-build-back-its-roads-and-infrastructure-stronger/7686698002/

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Nashville is ready to build back its roads and infrastructure stronger | Opinion - Tennessean

Woodlands along streams and rivers are an important part of Californias diverse ecology. They are biodiversity hotspots, providing various ecosystem services including carbon sequestration and critical habitat for threatened and endangered species. But our land and water use have significantly impacted these ecosystems, sometimes in unexpected ways.

A team of researchers, including two at UC Santa Barbara, discovered that some riparian woodlands are benefitting from water that humans divert for our own needs. Although it seems like a boon to these ecosystems, the artificial supply of water begets an unintended dependence on this bounty, threatening the long-term survival of natural forest communities. The paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, spotlights the need for changes in the way water is managed across the state.

We need to be more intentional in incorporating ecosystem water needs when we manage waterboth for aquatic organisms and species on land, said lead author Melissa Rohde, a groundwater scientist at The Nature Conservancy who led the research as a doctoral student at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF). These forest ecosystems are in a precarious state because we have disrupted the natural hydrologic processes that these plant species rely upon to support and sustain key life processes.

In Californias Mediterranean climate, plants and animals have adapted to rely on precipitation and soil moisture recharge during the rainy winter and spring seasons for reproduction and growth during the typically dry summers. Once soil moisture is exhausted, tree species often found in stream corridors, such as willows, cottonwoods and oaks, typically use deeper groundwater. However, the researchers discovered the story was more complicated.

By analyzing five years of vegetation greenness data from satellite imagery, the authors found that in some cases, these ecosystems were affected by subsidies of water delivered via human regulation of rivers, agricultural canals and discharges from wastewater treatment plants. Altered streamside woodlands in the most arid regions of the state stayed greener longer into the dry season and were less responsive to changes in groundwater levels than natural ecosystems.

Although this seems like a good news story trees benefit from anthropogenic water management there is an important caveat, said co-author Michael Singer, a researcher at UC Santa Barbaras Earth Research Institute and a professor at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom. In channels and canals with severely altered flow regimes, there are few if any opportunities for these trees to spawn new offspring. This means that once these riparian woodlands die off, they will not be replaced through forest succession.

Many of the most-altered stream ecosystems are in Californias Central Valley, the states agricultural hub, which produces a third of the produce for the United States. Following the Gold Rush in the 1850s, massive human settlement led to clearing of 95% of the natural floodplain woodlands across the region. These isolated and restricted riparian, or streamside, forests now provide important habitat for threatened and endangered species like the California red-legged frog, Chinook salmon and Swainsons hawk.

As water is rerouted from rivers into canals to accommodate urbanization and the multibillion-dollar agricultural industry, it creates an artificially stable environment for riparian woodland ecosystems. This encourages a live fast, die young community that favors trees that peak and then decline within a few decades. Key ecosystem functions such as the regeneration of new forest stands and their development over time are being compromised by the extensive alterations to streamflow and to river channels, which are fixed in place and no longer create new floodplain areas where young trees can establish.

We call these forests the living dead because the forest floor is devoid of saplings and younger trees that can replace the mature trees when they die, Rohde said. This has repercussions related to habitat for endangered species, biodiversity, carbon sequestration and climate change.

California is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, containing more species than the rest of the United States and Canada combined, said Rohde. In the midst of the sixth mass extinction, the long-term sustainability of Californias river ecosystems and the preservation of the rare and endemic species that live within them now rely on the deliberate, coordinated management of resource and government agencies.

This study is part of a $2.5 million suite of projects that the collaborators at SUNY-ESF, UC Santa Barbara and Cardiff University have funded throughout the U.S. Southwest and France. The investigators also include UCSB geography professor Dar Roberts, one of the studys co-authors. The goal is to develop water stress indicators for dryland riparian forest ecosystems threatened by climate change and increasing human water demand.

Rhode and The Nature Conservancy will use the insights from the study to provide scientific guidance to California natural resource agencies for sustainably managing groundwater-dependent ecosystems throughout the state. As Singer pointed out, the findings pertain to the recent sustainable groundwater legislation passed in California. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires all groundwater stakeholders to agree on sustainability targets for groundwater usage to support urban areas, agriculture, industry and ecology.

The research team used publicly available online data and Google Earth Engine, an open-source tool for analyzing data from satellites and other global spatial datasets. Our methods and findings open up a whole new world of interdisciplinary research possibilities and ways that water practitioners can consider ecosystem water needs to achieve sustainable water management, Rohde said.

John Stella, a SUNY-ESF professor and principal investigator on the National Science Foundation grant that funded the study, characterized the work as groundbreaking for the way it combined several big datasets in an innovative way to understand how climate and water management interact to put these sensitive ecosystems at risk.

[The] findings are important for sustainably managing groundwater, not only throughout California, but in water-limited regions worldwide, Stella said. By creatively harnessing and integrating these large environmental datasets, we can now answer resource management questions at a scale that was previously impossible.

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Biodiversity Imperiled | The UCSB Current - The UCSB Current