Category Archives: Intentional Communities

Chick-fil-As annual $5 million grant program, the True Inspiration Award, has new criteria for 2022: All nominees must either be majority Black-led or serve communities of color. The decision to focus the awards for this year is part of the quick-service chains pledge to take action against racial justice, according to the company.

Developed in 2015, this annual award distribution is meant to honor the chains founder, S. Truett Cathy, and finance organizations that help local communities and serve others.

Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A defines a Black-ked organization as an organization with majority Black board of directors, executive leadership and staff.

By refocusing our annual awards, we are taking an intentional step to support leaders and organizations that are finding solutions to address key systemic issues experienced by many Black children and families, the company website states.

The eligibility requirements include:

Applications are open from March 1 through May 31.

There will be 34 winners announced in January 2022. Grants will range from $50,000 to $350,000. It is not required that a Chick-fil-A operator submit an organization, but some awards are only available for those submitted by operators.

More information on the awards can be found here.

The 2021 top category winners include DuBois Integrity Academy, Homeboy Industries, Yonge Street Mission, St. Paul CDC, C5 Youth Foundation Inc., Wheeler Mission, HOPE Multiplied, City Kids Wilderness Project, Lifestyles of Maryland Foundation and Good News Community Kitchen.

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Chick-fil-A's annual $5 million True Inspiration Award is now exclusively for Black-led organizations or those that serve communities of color -...

There is no doubt that the COVID19 pandemic has radically revolutionized teaching methods and student interactions in the classroom. Like millions of teachers around the world not formally prepared for this global pandemic, it was quite challenging as an early-career second language writing instructor to meet and interact with my students who were often multilingual writers stuck in small chat windows. InMarch 2020, I wrote an article on how instructors can be mindful of online classroom management while also keeping in mind the redesign of their syllabi for online instruction. However, I believe we now need to think beyond classroom management and reflect on our own teaching methods, focusing on online strategies to better establish learning communities.

Building a community often establishes more interactive classrooms. However, building a sense of community among learners via computer-aided resources for seamless learning can be challenging in the remote world. Many instructors who already incorporate technology in their teaching pedagogies have recognized the ability of online tools to help support learning community development.To encourage my students to become supportive of one another despite facing a pandemic, I use five online tools that support community building, both in-person and online. These resources include:

I often use the Argis Story Maps application for my students to submit their essay outlines in an interactive and engaging format. This resource helps my students show their understanding of specific concepts and how they would structure their essay by using multimodal features such as YouTube links, maps, songs, pictures, and other resources. It also provides my students with the opportunity to explain their ideas and critical arguments through an alternative platform while making the language acquisition process relatively more comfortable.

With many classes being offered asynchronously, Padlet is a useful platform for keeping your students engaged in conversations related to your course topics. Additionally, this resource also facilitates an informal dedicated space for our learners to express their interests, passions, habits, opinions, and hobbies on the topics that matter most to them. The application can also foster organic communication points in class and could be one way of helping students connect with peers with similar interests while also encouraging different brainstorming ideas as a class.

Socractive is a formative assessment tool and serves almost any grade level. Instructors can create quizzes and track their students progress in either asynchronous or synchronous class formats via autogenerated and live performance reports. Students can also receive instant feedback based on their performance, and instructors can customize their comments to help keep personal touch points with their students. The summary provided of overall student performance can also help instructors distinguish what topics need more instructional support and provide teachers sufficient time to prepare their lectures in advance.

TED Ed videos can be great conversation starters for any class when introducing a new topic. TED Talks can help teachers create intentional opportunities for students to be part of a cultivating learning community with the help of more in-depth discussions. I usually include these videos in my lessons and provide a few response questions, where students first watch the TED Talk video together and then discuss the focus questions after. During discussion, I find that my students find community with one another and expand on ideas they may have never considered.

Grammarly is great for online writing assistance and can be used as a plagiarism checker tool. It provides an opportunity for early writers to self-reflect on their writings, especially when they might feel reluctant to ask for support during the initial learning phase. Instructors can introduce this tool as a language scaffold to teach the importance of content and style while writing in a specific genre. Tools such as Grammarlys plagiarism checker can be used to help students be more conscious of plagiarism. Overall, this tool can help struggling writers take small steps towards developing more confidence and self-sufficiency in their writing.

I thoroughly enjoyed using these online tools for different purposes, such as brainstorming activities or assessing my students understanding of concepts at different learning stages. These tools were useful in establishing meaningful communication both with my students and among my students to minimize online learning stress, foster a learning community, and retain their interest in the course.

Saurabh Anand is a TESOL educator, PhD student of language and literacy education at the University of Georgia, and in 2021, the International Literacy Association awarded him the30 Under 30honor.

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Five Online Tools to Help Support a Learning Community in Your Course - Faculty Focus

February 27, 2021 | :

by David Fuentes, Francisco Daz, Maribel Rodriguez, Elena Sabogal, Daisy Rodriguez and Johanna Torres,

Francisco Daz

Recent changes and disruptions to teaching and learning at our university related to the pandemic were preceded by a demographic shift in our student body resulting in our University becoming both a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and Minority Serving Institution (MSI) in 2015. Servicing approximately 10,000 students in Northern New Jersey, William Paterson University has a student population comprised of 60% Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), a composition which consists of students who self-identify as 35% Latinx, 19% Black, and 6% Asian.

The shift in our student population revealed structural and pedagogical concerns that led to the development of several task forces aimed at addressing and understanding how to better serve our increasingly diverse student population. Among them was the HSI task force, who among others, received charges by our University President, Richard Helldobler, asking us to recommend ways and strategies that our higher education institution could move beyond being a Hispanic enrolling institution towards becoming a Hispanic Serving one.

Forming an intentional group to address equity

Our HSI task force, which consisted of three faculty, and four staff, one who is an A.V.P., and two student representatives, all who identify as Latinx and bilingual, represented a variety of lived experiences, from a variety of countries including: Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Peru and the United States. Together, we took up the charge of understanding the Latinx student experience and making recommendations for institutional change. Our shared Latinx backgrounds as a task force placed us in a unique position to take up our charge and marked a shift in our universitys structural approach towards institutional improvementthe intentional grouping of Latinx faculty and staff to address issues of equity for Latinx students.

The need for our task force was significant as we understood that Latinx students had been historically underserved on our campus, and nationwide, and as a result were underperforming as evidenced by key university indicators such as 4- and 6-year graduation rates and retention rates year to year. We had recently become aware that Latinx and Black students on our campus experienced disparate outcomes, as institutional data analysis highlighted these demographic disparities. The combined trajectory of increased diverse enrollment coupled with the understanding that BIPOC students experienced unequal outcomes compared to white peers, painted a bleak picture for our future enrollments unless we were able to effectively change course.

Dr. David Fuentes

Working as an intentional group to better understand the Latinx student experience

The HSI task force worked to understand the Latinx student experience by hosting focus groups. Open calls were made to the Latinx student community with just over 3,000 invitations sent. We hosted several focus groups ranging in size from 8-12 and repeated across forums in each of our five colleges, in the residence halls, and with several Greek life student groups. We also surveyed the entire Latinx student population with questions aimed at eliciting how and why they persisted at WP. Through our focus group interactions with the students a few central themes arose: the importance of representation, what it meant for students to see faculty and staff that looked like them, how it increased their self-efficacy and sense of belonging to meet as a group, and how for many, they never knew so many Latinx faculty worked at their university [as an aside, our Latinx students referred to all university employees as faculty]. This sentiment was true for us, the Latinx faculty, as well, as few of us had previously been asked to work across units and university silos, certainly not as a group of Latinx faculty and staff. The intentional selection of Latinx faculty and staff to form a task force to understand how to better support Latinx students, marked an important shift from institutional prior practice and represents an important structural consideration to better serve Latinx communities.

The dialogic impact of working as an intentional groupCaf Con Leche

Just as our Latinx students expressed high levels of affect and engagement as reported by their increased sense of belonging when interacting with Latinx faculty, so too did we as faculty experience mutual benefits and gains from working as a Latinx community. We quickly realized that one of the most important structural changes needed for our Latinx community, and by default our university, was to support increased opportunities for affinity groups and intentional group gatherings encouraging students, and faculty to create communitiescommunities that we believed could lead to increased student outcomes. One such community that the HSI task force imagined could help build the kind of dialogic, mutually beneficial community for students, staff and faculty to grow, was called Caf Con Leche, a university wide support network of Latinx faculty, staff, and students who host weekly gatherings.

Programmatic touching and creating support before its neededCaf Con Leche

Caf con Leche, virtual and physical meetings hosted by Latinx staff and faculty, are weekly themed gatherings that are often responsive to students needs. The entire campus community is invited to celebrate Latinx culture and heritage. The atmosphere is vibrant, conversation is lively, hands are moving, smiles abound, the room is filled with positive affect and Latinx flare. It is a safe space for many, particularly those in our community who have ties and experiences within Latinx communities and those who like good coffee. Students come and go at their own pace, many of the same faces arrive week after week, some new faces come each week; sometimes students have specific inquiries, trials and tribulations to share, and other times they are just looking for a break and smiling face. For many Latinx students, Caf Con Leche reminds them of home!

Caf con Leche serves as a key university touch point for many of our Latinx students. It has been designed as one-stop-shop for students where we developed a network of Latinx faculty known as Madrinas y Padrinos (godmother and godfather) who are able to either answer student inquiries directly or facilitate a connection with someone else who can, generally providing the kind of university navigation strategies that many Latinx, first-generation college students may benefit from having in a structured way. The design of the program has sought to invite directors, associate directors or members of the offices where student services reside. The goal was to close the gap between the services the university offers and with the real-time needs of students. By bringing the offices to the students, we realized that we could avail our services to students in ways that resonated better with them culturally, and affectively. This need and desire to match students needs with university support services was never more evident than during the beginning of the pandemic as many of our students experienced hardships consistent with living and learning at Covid Ground Zero. During the height of the pandemic in our region, we realized that Caf Con Leche served a very important role, a role that our traditional student services were less capable of meeting as our remote learning transition thrust many of our services into a spiral and left some students in need. Caf Con Leche, created prior to the pandemic, maintained its ties with students and became even more central in supporting students during this time of crisis.

Campus-wide Transformation

Since our University President charged the HSI task force with its work, several changes have contributed to our overall transformation. The hiring of our first Chief Diversity officer and the establishment of the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, the Black Cultural Center, and the soon to be center currently referred to as the Center for Latinidad, each marked important steps in establishing the kind of structural and institutional support needed to continue improving ourselves. These steps along with the recommendations of our task forces marked the beginning of our ongoing transformationone that is defined by our desire to move beyond simply enrolling Hispanic students and becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution.

David Fuentes is an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education: Prek-12 at William Paterson University.

Francisco Daz is associate vice president of Campus Life and Co-Coordinator of Caf con Leche at William Paterson University.

Maribel Rodriguez is associate director of Campus Activities and Co-Coordinator of Caf con Leche at William Paterson University.

Elena Sabogal is an associate professor in the Department of Community & Social Justice Studies at William Paterson University.

Daisy Rodriguez is associate director of the Counseling Health & Wellness Center at William Paterson University

Johanna Torres is the director of Enrollment Services at William Paterson University.

Originally posted here:

Moving Beyond Hispanic Enrolling While Becoming Hispanic Serving at William Paterson University - Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

As an art history major, Im often asked why I chose a field with few lucrative job opportunities, but the IDEAS Week 2021 Keynote Lecture with Fahamu Pecou (17G, 18G) and Doug Shipman (95C) provided a reason. Shipman, former CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center, noted the power of understanding history has never been higher. When facing political and social turmoil, we need only turn to history to figure out what to do, or what not to do. This is why I study art history. The past is not meant to be copied, but to learn from and to allow us to create a different future.

The Feb. 22 keynote discussion between Pecou and Shipman focused on social action, art and museums as they explored the impact of history and its use in artistic institutions. Pecou and Shipman, both Emory alumni, tied their discussion to the greater Atlanta area and Emorys art community.

Pecou, an interdisciplinary artist and scholar, spoke first about his work as the founder of the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA), which he described as both a social justice and arts initiative. ADAMA was developed three and a half years ago in response to a conversation Pecou had with a friend concerning the issues facing Black artists in Atlanta. He wanted to address the lack of diversity within cultural and institutional offerings in Atlanta, concerns of erasure due to gentrification in the inner city and lack of accessibility to art. Despite being an avid museumgoer, similar issues of accessibility and diversity persist in these institutions, making me value the way Pecou responded to the gaps in arts and culture.

ADAMA not only responds to general institutional demands for museums, but also the needs of the Black community in Atlanta and beyond. Pecou emphasized how ADAMA thinks about the contributions of the broader African diaspora and the diverse communities of Black people that reside all across Atlanta by recognizing that Blackness and Black identity are not monolithic or homogenous.

The recent calls for social justice in 2020 pushed museums to recognize their inhospitality toward Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), which Pecou understood way before last year. In the founding of ADAMA, Pecou was intentional about reorienting the experience of Black people in artistic institutions by creating a space that reflects the multidimensional, lived experiences of BIPOC and not those of their white oppressors. Shipman equated this to the creation of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. When rethinking the museum, designer Moshe Safdie wanted to focus on Jewish stories of remembrance, survival and resilience, not on the German story of the Nazi partys rise to power. By situating the narrative to center around Jewish strength and experiences, the museum is capable of projecting a brighter future, not just simply retelling the past. Both the ADAMA and Yad Vashem fulfill the truest purpose of museums: using the past as a building block for a diverse and representative future.

This people-focused mentality is also what enlivens the art objects in the ADAMA, and it breaks the traditional, static mold of Eurocentric museums. This is a new wave of museum conception that I believe other global museums should follow, as the current generation of social activists and art consumers have demanded these spaces break institutional norms to meet the needs of the art and the viewers.

Pecou references one of Cesar A. Cruzs quotes to highlight this new role of museums: Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comforted.

Conventionally, museums have done the opposite appease the comforted and ensure nobody is offended or made to check their complicity in social ills. This is no longer what the goal of museums should be or what the future of museums will be. Pecou explains that uncomfortable material is what pushes and challenges us to learn as visitors in a museum, and both educational and artistic institutions should create space for productive growth.

When asked to leave the audience with one last thing, a seed to plant, Pecou concluded with what appears to be his favorite mode of important messaging: a quote.

As Frederick Douglass would often charge his followers to do, Agitate, agitate, agitate. Despite being 8 p.m. on a Monday, the lecture left me ready to agitate and transform the oppressive systems of artistic institutions to form a brighter and more diverse future in which all arts, identities, histories and perspectives can be displayed.

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IDEAS Week Keynote Rethinks the Interplay of History, Art, Museums - The Emory Wheel

Why Global Citizens Should Care

As Global Citizens, we should all seek to be more thoughtful and intentional about the content we choose to consume and share with our friends and family.

After last years worldwide reckoning with racial injustice further exposed the ways that racism is embedded in US society from brands depicting harmful stereotypes on their products to the US prison system disproportionately targeting people of color it is up to us to choose equality over tradition and recognize how products we love are actually contributing to an unjust society.

Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which preserves and protects the legacy of Dr. Seuss after his death in 1991, will stop publishing six of the authors books because of racist and insensitive imagery, according to the AP.

These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong, the company said. Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises catalog represents and supports all communities and families.

Related Stories Feb. 19, 2021 10 of the Best Books for All Global Citizens, According to Instagrams Biggest Readers

While Dr. Seuss books are celebrated for their thoughtful lessons and ability to incorporate themes like environmentalism into their storylines, they have also contributed to racist stereotypes by showcasing orientalism and anti-Black imagery.

One of the books that Dr. Seuss Enterprises will no longer publish, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, includes a drawing of an Asian person wearing a conical hat, holding chopsticks, and eating from a bowl. Another titled If I Ran the Zoo depicts two African men who are barefoot and wearing grass skirts.

Related Stories June 17, 2020 How Racism and Discrimination Prevent Access to Good Health and Well-Being for All

Whether you love Dr. Seuss books because of the colorful illustrations, rhyming narratives, or nostalgia they bring you, there are many other childrens books that feature diverse characters and lessons.

In an effort to be more intentional about the books we read our children, weve curated a list of 10 childrens books that promote anti-racism and celebrate historically-marginalized communities.

Meena Harris picture book was written for every girl who has ever been told she is "too ambitious," much like the authors aunt, Vice President Kamala Harris.

When a young girl notices that women on TV are consistently derided for their assertiveness and ambition, she journeys through the past, present, and future to learn about the challenges women face every day and how being described as "too this" or "too that" cannot stop them from being proud of themselves.

This board book takes children through their ABCs while teaching them about social justice ideals and activists, highlighting the working class, immigrants, and civil rights. The colorful illustrations and vibrant rhymes will also engage children to understand the values of community and equality.

The Day You Begin uses stunning lyricism and mixed media illustrations to teach your children that every person has a beautiful and unique story that connects them to the world. It is honest about the loneliness children may feel to encourage them to open up and celebrate diversity as a strength.

If you love bold art and playful text in Dr. Seuss books, then youll love them paired with the antiracist themes in Ibram X. Kendis board book. The bestselling author introduces young readers to the concept of antiracism to teach them early on to fight for equality.

For fans of Oh, The Places Youll Go to teach kids about what they can accomplish, The Wonderful Things You Will Be highlights the beauty that is found in everyone. It combines diverse illustrations and a loving message to inspire children from all backgrounds.

To teach children numbers, Counting Ovejas is the perfect book to help children say goodnight at the end of a long day. Written in English and Spanish, the book engages children in two languages to learn colors and numbers, and the beautiful artistry keeps them focused on the books dreamy illustrations.

Stevensons board book uses the colors of the LGBTQ+ Pride flag to teach children about love and acceptance. Full-page color photographs provide a sensory experience while rhyming verses hone in on the books central message: I love you just the way you are.

If youre searching for a picture book that utilizes stunning illustrations to feature Black history and culture, look no further. Black Is a Rainbow Color teaches children about the beauty of being Black and celebrates Black activists.

Inuit throat singer Celina Kalluk describes the gifts given to a child by the animals of the Arctic in this beautiful poem meant for bedtime. It depicts a variety of animals to teach children about traditional Inuit values, such as love and respect for the land and animals.

Scanlons board book highlights the wonders of a childs world through poetic text and lovely illustrations depicting the beauty of the earth. It teaches children to be curious and excited about all there is to discover in the world around them.

Instead of holding onto books that perpetuate harmful practices in the name of tradition, engage your children in stories rooted in diversity and equality for all people. As you read, you may find yourself learning something new, too.

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10 Book Alternatives to Dr. Seuss You Should Read to Your Kids - Global Citizen

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 9, 2021 (PRNewswire) National Day of Unplugging, Unplug Collaboratives call-to-action and awareness campaign, today announced its slate of brand partners poised to expand the impact of this years event which will take place from sundown Friday, March 5 to sundown Saturday, March 6 and inspire communities across the globe.

National Day of Unplugging 2021 brand partners include:

For the last decade, National Day of Unplugging has activated thousands of in-person, unplugged events; in 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic necessitated a new approach. Unplug Collaboratives mission is to elevate human connection over digital engagement, said executive director Kim Cavallo. As we are all restricted from larger-scale IRL experiences, the conversation about limiting screen time has to be more nuanced. We dont want to add guilt or shame on top of the anxiety people are already feeling after a year of unprecedented chaos.

As a result, this years National Day of Unplugging efforts will focus on safe, in-home, and outdoor small group activities, along with contests and charitable partnerships aimed at amplifying social impact. With more than 50 unplugged ideas and activities featured on the National Day of Unplugging website ranging from the simple to the adventurous there is an access point for any person looking to answer the collective call to unplug, and help people make intentional choices about how they spend their unplugged time.

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'National Day Of Unplugging Announces New Brand Partners And Global Expansion For 2021 Event - WTHITV.com

Southeast Saskatchewan is growing, according to Sask Health numbers, particularly Moosomin and its surrounding areas. Over the last 10 years Moosomin has grown by 14.6 per cent and by 32 per cent over the last 15 yearssurrounding municipalities have also either stayed about the same or grown.

This isnt the case outside the region, with other rural communities seeing a decrease in size in the last decade. Moosomin and its surrounding area have the benefit of the mining industry playing an important role in growth, but Sask Chamber of Commerce CEO Steve McLellan says theres more to it than that.

There are some certain natural assets that have been capitalized onlike the oil sector, like the potash sectorbut even within Moosomins geographic area, not every community has grown, he said. My assessment would be quite simple, Moosomin looks like a great place to live, and it is a great place to live, and thats drawn people who will drive outside of the community to work elsewhere. Its got those basic amenities, its got a hospital, its got a nice downtown, its got restaurants, its got hotels out on the highway, and its got a positive attitude. It looks like a winner and thats what people want, so if it looks like a community thats going backwards with how it looks and how it feels, then people wont want to live there and they wont stay there.

Moosomin has got those amenities that will keep people in the neighbourhood, rather than driving all the way to Yorkton and commuting to the mines, or driving from Carlyle to the oil sector. Moosomin has people who say, I want to live in this town, its got everything I need and looks like a winner, Id be wise to live here. All of amenities make a difference. There are different things to look for in a townyounger people want to make sure theres things to do, places for their kids to skate, good schools that arent falling apart and at risk of closing, and as they get older they want to make sure theres a healthcare facility that will look after them. Everybody wants to know that theres decent retail that will give me all the products that I need and at easy access.

I think were going to see places like Moosomin become even bigger and grow even faster as smaller towns who cant fit that bill start to decrease in population, he said. The only exception will be smaller communities that are near a lake or something that has a draw like that, but I think Moosomin will always be a very popular and lively growing community.

McLellan also thinks publicizing the assets a town has plays a key role in attracting people from surrounding areas and building buzz about the community.

The reality of it is, not only do you have to have those things, but you have to tell people that you have them, he said. For example, the skate way that Moosomin has in town, I saw in an issue of the paper. Those things make a difference, thats good exposure. Everyone that is relatively new to town and even those who have been around a while, when theyre on the phone or on a Zoom with someone living elsewhere and they say, what did you do this week? and one person from another community says, Im bored as can be, and the Moosomin person says, we went skate, or even if they didnt go on it, they know about it because its been covered so well and theyve got plans to use it.

Not every town has someone out there to let everybody know that they have these things. Thats a part of the responsibility, but also the opportunity of a community newspaper to make sure people know all these assets and keep remind them because you might not be a skater today, but in two weeks when youre as bored as can be and want to get outside youll go downtown buy a pair of skates and figure out you love skating because you havent done it in thirty years. All those things are part of what keeps communities vibrant and keeps people in those communities.

Continuity in the community between the town council, economic development officer, rec department, business leaders, and everybody in-between is paramount for promoting growth and ensuring strong involvement says McLellan.

They need to get active, he said. Growth is not accidental and very seldom is it totally organic. Its intentional, Moosomins economic development folks have been active to invite companies like Canalta to come to town. The town has worked very closely with the mines and the oil company to make sure what they need is available and that they feel welcome in the community. Its absolutely an intentional outcome and if youre not intentional, strategic, and co-ordinated in how you do that.

Whether its the rec board working with the economic development board or local chamber helping to identify new opportunities and celebrate new businesses, but it has to be a co-ordinated effort without it being overly organized. Its got to be intentional and communities that are sitting on their heels saying, jeez, poor us, theyll continue to go down because nobody wants to be part of that attitude and its a long way often from a negative attitude to a positive growth ratetheres a direct link between the two.

If a rural area is to thrive, McLellan believes it has everything to do with the collective positivity of the townspeople and he says that starts at the top with community leaders and it trickles down.

Even to the young person that works at the gas station, when someone drives through and they say, welcome to Moosomin! or something that just shows the positive attitude, that matters, he said. If theyre driving across the country and they stop at 20 gas stations, which is the one they remember? Those sorts of goodwill assets are certainly useful and again, when you drive through it, it looks like a town you want to live in and thats the attitude Moosomin projects.

It has potential with surrounding industriestheres a lot of work that has made it so successfulbut I think it will continue because of the collective will. Moosomins local chamber is very active, the economic development folks work well, and theres good leadership at the municipal level and certainly the MLA, Steven Bonk, is a champion for the Moosomin area and the province. All of those things combined, like I say, theres a direct line between a negative attitude and negative growth.

Something McLellan sees as a quick fix is help from the provincial and federal government. He believes if the change doesnt start from within the community then assistance from outside of it wont have a lasting impact.

It has to start with the communities, he said. The worst thing and the shortest term success would be a government grant that helped the community do something. It has to start internally and the only way for it to be sustainable is for it to be done that way. If the municipality puts money into it, then thats great because its your own community. The province cant give you a grant that creates a positive environment, they can give you a grant to help strategy, but its much better done if its done at the municipal level.

They can assist things, like making sure theres a program to have a senior centre built where theres community shared ownership or fundraising, they can make sure theyre very careful on determination of healthcare services and how those facilities are funded, and they can certainly have a bigger stakeas can the private sectorin things like infrastructure for internet. Those types of things make life in a smaller community different, not more challenging, but different if indeed things like access to internet or business or kids learning are harder to access in rural Saskatchewanthe province has a role in helping there, but I dont think they have a direct role in making people more positive.

You need to want to come together as a community and when you do that, you dont need a grant, you just need a group of committed individuals and great things will happen. All the provincial or federal government can give you is a temporary high, he said. It needs to be sustainable because otherwise you become a one hit wonder and people may say, oh my gosh this is good, Im going to move there, and then they get there and theres no positivity. Even elected leadership can be ambassadors for it, but you need people who arent on council to help produce events and celebrate great things that are happening in the community.

Delegates can do that, they should recognize the good things Moosomin is doing and congratulate the town and expansion, and they do that through people like Steven Bonk. But other than that, Id argue, it has got to be at the grassroots level for it to be sustainable because its not a short-term high youre looking for.

Read more from the original source:

Sask Chamber CEO says positivity the key to growth - Yorkton This Week

March 2, 2021

This is a blog post highlighting some things we've learned through an evaluation of the Boston Artists-in-Residence (AIR) program, and some changes we're making to the residency going forward.

We are currently in the second half of the fourth year of the Boston Artists-in-Residence program, Boston AIR. At the start of 2020, we were proud to say that the structure of the fourth year more closely resembled our vision for the program than any other year. And in March, we felt grateful to even be able to move forward with the program, in any modified form. We understood and continue to acknowledge that it is a privilege to be able to do this work, especially now.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and in the spirit of serving our community and listening to artists, Boston AIR will be extending the residencies of the current artists to the end of May 2021, providing the artists and our community members with three additional months to continue their residency work. This extension allows the artists more time to create deep and impactful work, and aligns with overall plans from the leadership team to adjust the residency moving forward. Moving forward, Boston AIR will be a 15 month program, and is adapting to be responsive in other ways.

We wouldn't have been able to make the necessary changes this year without the years of dynamic, continuously reflexive, and sometimes messy work and learning that came before it. This work has been supported and carried out by 20 artists, over a dozen city colleagues, hundreds of engaged residents, and a dedicated department of friends and allies.

Photo of "How Artists Change the City" evaluation.

Evaluation

In October of 2018, we sent out a call for evaluators for the third year of the Boston Artists-in-Residence program. This third cohort included seven artists and cultural workers from across the city, who met together over the course of the year to discuss art, policy, and social change using a lens of resilience and racial equity. The artists examined City of Boston policies and attended workshops. Some artists collaborated with City officials and community members at various Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF) sites and other community centers and nonprofits to develop projects. Other artists investigated City processes and advocated for pathways where systems fell short.

Sherman Cultural Strategies, composed of Danya Sherman, Deidra Montgomery, and later, Chelsea Bruck, were chosen through a competitive process to carry out the evaluation and provide potential lessons for future iterations.

Through a multi-year process, which included a series of interviews, surveys, and document reviews, Sherman Cultural Strategies authored the written text for the evaluation. That text has been bolstered here through visual design by our Communications Fellow, Veronica Wells, to create a more accessible, reader-friendly version. We invite community members to read the following evaluation in hopes that it both provides a greater understanding of this type of civic work and adds to our collective learning around partnerships between artists and municipalities.

The evaluation report is one tier of a multi-layered, in-depth reflection and evaluation process that occurred from 2018 to 2019.

Read the Evaluation

Reflection and active listening

The formal evaluation was helpful and validating; however, reflection and conversations with trusted colleagues and artists supported the iterative, demanding, and loving process that guided us. We'd like to thank former AIRs Rashin Fahandej, Karen Young, and Shaw Pong Liu, who generously gave their time and shared their expertise during honest conversations. Many of the learnings from those discussions and others with current and former artists have informed the fourth year of the program and continue informing planning for the fifth year, in conjunction with the evaluation report.

Photo of participants from Karen Young's Boston AIR project, Older and Bolder, at the Boston AIR celebration in 2018, courtesy of Ryan McMahon.

In addition to these meaningful exchanges with former artists, we took into consideration suggestions from our colleagues. We received valuable feedback from team members, including Chief of Arts and Culture, Kara Elliott-Ortega. Chief Elliott-Ortega pushed our thinking during planning conversations and interacted with the cohort during internal meetings reflection sessions. Understanding that partnership was a core element of this work, we also engaged in active listening with City officials who worked directly with an artist through the program, along with non-City arts administrators leading and organizing arts-based cohorts operating under a lens of social justice.

This process also involved assessing prior years in practical ways, asking ourselves what things worked, and what things didn't. How many people make a cohort feel connected and intimate? How many monthly meetings let partners feel heard without feeling micromanaged? What does it look like to have a physical space? What does it mean to be "in-residence" with the City? How much time is enough time for this work?

This type of reflection was done by the leadership team each year, resulting in the first three cohorts and structures looking notably different. We now view this process as unintentional piloting, a byproduct of a responsive approach.

During the first year, three artists worked closely with specific City departments, developing residencies that brought constituents into City systems. During Boston AIR's second year, a cohort of ten artists worked within BCYF centers, often addressing the immediate needs of those distinct neighborhoods and communities, and seeing how policy impacts the lived experiences of Bostonians. During the third year, seven artists were given the opportunity to connect to a BCYF center, in order to be in direct conversation with residents impacted by City policy, but were also asked to incorporate resilience and racial equity into their work.

Each year provided invaluable knowledge, which was reinforced by the research done by Sherman Cultural Strategies during the third year. This allowed us to build a program structure for the fourth year that was backed by outside research, learned experiences, sincere feedback, and a responsive approach.

Lastly, in this evaluation process, we acknowledged our capacity as the leadership team. This meant being intentional about building a structure that allowed room for breath, and one that felt sustainable to us as stewards of the program. We were deliberate in our planning. We aimed to create a program structure that, if replicated by other municipalities, wouldn't leave administrators feeling overtaxed and cohort members feeling underserved.

This fourth year was upheld by the clarity developed through the process, and integrates what we've learned from previous years as core themes: supporting collaborative and democratic creation of City policy, process, and practice (Year 1), understanding how local government policy impacts Bostonians (Year 2), and examining City policies with a lens of resilience and racial equity (Year 3).

Photo of former Boston AIR Nakia Hill at Boston AIR celebration in 2018, courtesy of Ryan McMahon.

Looking Ahead

We want to thank community members for standing by us throughout this process, throughout years of experimentation, piloting, growing and evolving and supporting residency projects that reimagined a more creative and equitable Boston. We are grateful to our artists from the first three years of the program.

And of course, we thank this current cohort, Victor Yang, Golden, Erin Genia, Pat Falco, Anthony Romero, and their City partners Tania Mireles, Kyron Owens, Wandy Pascoal, and Carol Leon, everyone at the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture who continue to build community and do this important work.

This press release was produced by the City of Boston. The views expressed here are the author's own.

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Boston Air: Learning From The Past And Moving Forward - Patch.com

Author Talitha Vickers wrote the children's book on the struggles her nephew faced while his father was deployed.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. Theyre some of our favorite videos in the Bay area military members reuniting with their families. Author Talitha Vickers says its one of her favorite things to see on the news.

You see the happy reunions. You start crying and saying Oh my goodness, the dad showed up at the baseball game! Vickers said.

But what about the moments when a child's classmates ask hard questions?

People would say Well, wheres your dad? Hes not showing up at school. I dont see him at the football games,' Vickers explained.

Her childrens book, Why My Hero Had To Go, offers some answers.

This book allows children of all backgrounds to understand, you know, why one of their friends may not have a mom or a dad with them all the time," she said. "It also gives other children an opportunity to see a dynamic different than their own.

Vickers family in Port St. Lucie, Florida, is the story behind the story.

My brother served in the Army, Vickers said. It was so difficult, really, for my nephew to wrap his head around this big word deployment at 1 year old and, you know, 2 years old.

And since she couldnt find a book that showed the parallels of life at home and while serving, she decided to write her own.

Inside the book, youll find things like how they can stay connected through things like their daily environment and their daily routines: going out to school, even the way they wake up -- Attention!' is what I hear. While a soft whisper says wake up, dear in your ear, Vickers said.

Of course, military families arent the only ones dealing with being separated from their loved ones at the moment.

Were in the middle of a pandemic right now so were not able to see a lot of our loved ones so the book really resonates two-fold with military families and non-military families, as well, Vickers said.

When it came time to publish her story, Vickers hit some roadblocks.

Some publishing houses and even agents were asking me to tweak and change things I wasnt comfortable with and that was primarily my nephews skin, the color of his skin, Vickers said. The feedback that I got was how about we lighten his skin. That will have bigger mass appeal. We dont have a big, broad appeal or a big market for minority books. I was like what?! I mean, I was just astounded by that. It really stung.

So she took matters into her own hands, saving up for eight years and working with illustrator Keith Hobgood to self-publish Why My Hero Had To Go.

I wanted to be intentional about the people who were inside of this book, to be reflective of our community, Vickers said. I wanted the book to really resonate with people of all backgrounds. Not just say theres a Black child on the book, so its a Black story.

"No, its not, its story that resonates, a universal story with a child who just so happens to have my complexion.

Vickers says more versions of the book are in the works, including one from a mother-daughter perspective, a version for each branch of the military and a Spanish translation. You can read more about the story behind Why My Hero Had To Go on her website talithavickers.com.

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'Why My Hero Had To Go': A conversation about representing our diverse military communities - WTSP.com

President Donald Trumps second impeachment trial symbolized the illusion of change. His acquittal, however, simply represents yet another example of superficial progress. Thinking about trivial advancement in a smaller administration, we see these same themes arising in Dukes new housing policies for the upcoming school year. Although it may seem a bit bold to compare Dukes Next Gen 2.0 Housing Committee to the inner workings of the United States government, the two are similar in that Dukes new housing policy is riddled with conflicting interests, vague policies, and an unclear motive to explain why these specific changes are being implemented.

In November 2020, the Duke administration released a new residential structure aimed at deepen[ing] connections across class year, with faculty, and with alumni and fostering dynamic opportunities for faculty engagement and co-curricular learning. Two essential points of this new plan include organizing houses on West Campus into diverse residential communities that link to East Campus residence halls and postponing rush processes until students sophomore year. The Next Gen 2.0 website claims that the goal of these housing changes is to build a joyful and intentional 4-year residential experience that promotes growth, meaningful inclusion, and health that is distinctly Duke. However, the major flaw in this new structure is one many of us have called out for too long: Dukes administration lacking transparency in their purpose for these changes.

Perhaps selective living is the system that these new changes aim to dismantle. Discussing selective living systems is inevitable in the conversation about housing at Duke. Although the Next Gen 2.0 statement does not explicitly reference Greek life and Selective Living Groups (SLGs) on Dukes campus, it does emphasize the concept of inclusion. Historically, Dukes residential system has consisted of Greek organizations, SLGs, Living Learning communities (LLCs), and independent housing. Fraternities and sororities have existed on campus since the time of Trinity College, founded in 1859, which was the precursor to the modern Duke University.

Despite their historical legacies, these systems might be outdatedthe Abolish Greek Life movement has gained traction at universities across the country, including on Dukes campus. Some of the most pressing complaints related to Greek Life include its role in creating a toxic social hierarchy among student bodies, perpetuating cycles of wealth and class, and discriminating against students of color. In response, Duke has taken certain measures that resultantly have weakened the presence of these organizations such as its abolishment of Central Campus, where the majority of sororities and fraternities had housing. More recently, on October 8, 2020, Duke asked fraternities, sororities, and non-Greek selective living groups to indefinitely postpone their recruitment processes. Perhaps, then, these new housing measures are simply an extension of a long-term attempt to weaken the dominance of Greek life in campus culture.

That being said, it is worth examining the extent to which, if at all, the power dynamic of these selective organizations have evolved on campus. While Central campus no longer exists, even now, Greek letters printed on the neo-gothic architecture just outside of Abele Quad emphasize the bold presence of these organizations in student life. Furthermore, the recent decision to delay selective housing rush processes has backfired: numerous Greek organizations have decided that they would rather disassociate from Duke and recruit first-years on their own than delay rush. Now, at least eight fraternities are headquartered off-campus, meaning that these fraternities will no longer be held accountable to Dukes standards and regulations. As such, they now have the ability to hold rush at their own discretion despite the change in Dukes policies and ignore the changes that Duke students have demanded amidst the Black Lives Matter Protests. As for these new housing changes, the policy specifies that it will not undermine the existence of selective housing; instead, all such sections will be housed in Edens, a dorm on the outskirts of West Campus.

The Duke administration seems to be taking the same exact approach as it did in abolishing Central Campus. Instead of taking a hard stance that could give rise to tangible, more inclusive change, Duke is simply relocating these selective organizations. Each group will still recruit an incoming class, albeit a few months later, and the organizations will continue to perpetuate social and class divisions between students. In essence, Duke is changing nothing; under this leadership, Greek life and SLGs will continue to dominate Dukes social culture for decades to come. In this way, Dukes superficial housing policy modifications constitute yet another example of the universitys complicit stance in fostering an exclusive environment for its student body.

Finally, we must consider what it really means to have an environment that is distinctly Duke. For many of us, the ideal Duke residential system should not isolate selective housing organizations by pushing them to the edge of campus and prompting them to disaffiliate from the university. Rather, the university should work to better integrate these organizations into Dukes social culture by creating a residential system that builds more inclusive, sustainable communities. If the Next Gen 2.0 task force is any indication, though, it seems that the term distinctly Duke simply conveys that Duke will find a way to preserve its historically exclusive housing policies under the guise of an inclusive and communal residential experience. Superficial change strikes again.

The Community Editorial Board is independent from the editorial staff of the Chronicle. Their column runs on alternate Mondays.

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Next gen or more of the same? - Duke Chronicle