Category Archives: Intentional Communities

Dispiriting. Disgusting. Disorienting. However one chooses to frame the events sparked by George Floyds killing at the hands of the Minneapolis police on May 25, the underlying cause is clear: Americas racial divide, a ragged, gaping, self-inflicted wound that has been allowed to fester for centuries, has poisoned the country.

At a time when medical professionals the world over are coming together and sharing resources to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, Americans cant even come together to ensure people of color can receive decent schooling or not get murdered by the police. For the supposed leader of the free world, its a failure thats as colossal as it is sad and ironic; a failure that is, by this point, taken for granted by the rest of the planet.

It's clear that Americas racial problems are not going to be solved by its elected leaders. And theyre certainly not going to be solved on Facebook or Twitter, two companies that have made billions by pumping the internet full of racist bile and then licking their chops while the data rolls in. Its going to take a grassroots, ground-up approach that forces people to have tough discussions and constructive interactions with the people closest to them neighbors, friends, their professional colleagues.

Two people using that strategy to bring more diversity to the mortgage space are WFG Lender Servicess vice-president of national business development, Monique Winston, who also heads the Cleveland Realtist Association, and Tony Thompson, founder and CEO of the National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America. MPA spoke to Winston and Thompson on Tuesday about what organizations can do to not only ensure a diverse workforce, but to provide opportunities for young people of color to enter an industry many of them have had little exposure to or positive experience with.

Rather than filter their thoughts through the mind of a white writer, MPAs discussion with Winston and Thompson has been transcribed below, with some editing for length and clarity.

Mortgage Professional America: Monique, Tony, could you first talk a little bit about the organizations you represent?

Monique Winston, WFG Lender Services/Cleveland Realtist Association: Im president of the Cleveland Realtist Association, the local chapter of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. It was started back in 1947. At that time, it was a whole different climate maybe and there was a need to have an organization, not just from a standpoint of making sure minorities were represented in the real estate profession which was critical, because at that time if you were African-American you could not be a part of NAR but also from a homebuying perspective because we were dealing with redlining, overt discrimination, all those kinds of things.

Ive had organizations reach out, very, very recently and these are major financial institutions and they said they need a diverse talent pool within their organization and a list of candidates to build from. Theyll say, Monique, how do we get there? Do we go and do education within the high schools? Do we go to local colleges and community colleges? Do we go into the community centres? So we do all of that advocacy.

Tony Thompson, founder/CEO National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America: NAAMBA as an organization is focused on two things: providing training, education and professional advice for women and minorities who are currently in the industry, and introducing and connecting college students and high school students to careers in the industry and providing them with financial literacy education.

When you look at the current state of the industry, primarily on the loan origination side, the average loan originator is a 53-year old white male. Every CEO in the mortgage industry has stated that we need more younger people, we need more diversity, but there was a lack of a vehicle to connect to the next generation and those who are currently in the industry.

MPA: Why do women and minorities require that dedicated training you mentioned? What does that training consist of?

TT: There has to be a recognition that a young Latino male or female will have different challenges than a white male or female in our industry. A young Indian or ethnic Indonesian person may have greater challenges or unique needs among their community that, from a diversity perspective, is important to recognize and acknowledge. What weve found, overall, is that when you talk about training and education, particularly with women or minorities, there has to be a recognition that they need a different support mechanism in terms of how they connect, the training they are provided as well as how you reach out to them to offer their services to the community in terms of originating mortgages.

MPA: How valuable is diversity to the success of a mortgage business?

TT: Diversity is a great thing for companies that dont have it or want more of it, and if used appropriately, it can be a competitive advantage by allowing you to connect with people in your market place that you currently dont connect with, thus making your business more successful, thus impacting and touching more people from a homeownership perspective as well.

MW: What companies realize is that diversity isnt just the right thing to do. Its the only option in terms of making sure youre able to reach those communities. It makes good, basic business sense. This world is going to look totally different ten years from now, so in order to reach those consumers you have to make sure they see themselves in your organization.

And were not just talking about racial diversity. Theres diversity of age, theres diversity of gender. All of these things bring diversity of thought. And thats what you need. You need diversity of thought to tackle all of the things were seeing in todays society.

And diversitys just having the party. Once you get these people into your organization, how do you make sure theyre included? I think you have a real recognition of that by some of the financial institutions who are saying We need your help.

MPA: A lot of companies are making moves to illustrate their diversity now that the world is watching to see where they stand on race in America. Do you find that the companies reaching out to you are genuine in their desire to diversify their work forces, or is it just PR?

MW: What I articulate very clearly I,s if you are truly desiring a diverse atmosphere, then Im your girl. If youre looking to look like you are, then Im not your person. What Im concerned about is, is that aspect for real? There have been those occasions where its more of a check-the-box mentality than an earnest desire to make a change.

MPA: Can you suss out that insincerity?

MW: The proof is always in the pudding. Initially, it all sounds good, but youll know who the real sincere players are by their actions. If youve set specific goals and youre five years into your plan and youve had no change whatsoever, it wont take long for those things to come to light.

MPA: What are some specific race-related issues affecting your particular spaces in the industry? Are there any potential solutions?

MW: A big one for me is the homeownership rate. If you look at the gap between black homeownership and white homeownership, it is greater today than it was 50 years ago. [The rate of homeownership among African Americans in Q4 of 2019 was 44% compared to more than 70% for whites.] It is greater today than it was before fair housing legislation was enacted. Thats a problem, and a lot of people dont quite understand why thats such a problem.

A lot of the things we deal with have an underlying economic factor to them. We know that homeownership is one of the fastest ways to build generational wealth. If I have access to homeownership, I can leverage that. I can leverage that to start a business. I can leverage that to send my kids to college.

On a national level, NAREB has something called 2Mn5, where its our goal to get two million black homeowners within the next five years. Thats something Im particularly passionate about because it changes generations.

TT: Our goal at NAMMBA is to help make sure we can educate mortgage professionals to go out and create great experiences for the consumer so we can also have sustainable homeownership. Because putting people in homes is one thing, but making sure we help people stay in homes is also just as important to building a community.

Our focus is on helping individuals in this industry understand how to be a better practitioner, a better advocate and a better professional, while also realizing that the only way to change the homeownership rate is going to be an intentional focus over a sustained period of time. Just as it took the United States almost a decade to recover from the Great Recession, it is going to take us a decade to begin to change how diversity looks in this industry.

MPA: How would you rate the current level of diversity across the industry?

TT: When you look at the operations or servicing side, historically youve seen more minority and people of color own operations. What most people dont know, is that single, African American females make up a large portion of employees on the operations side. The goal is how do you help those population groups grow and elevate their career?

MW: When we go into high schools, we take an appraiser, we take a title person with us, we take a real estate agent, we take a home inspector all of these different facets of the real estate industry. You would be absolutely amazed at how many have never even heard of these as possible career options. Thats the next generation. If theyre not even exposed to these potential career opportunities, how are they going to take advantage of them?

Were very intentional in going into high schools and saying, Consider this. And when you think about it, how many of the careers that I just named may be careers they dont have to go to a four-year institution for?

You have to be intentional. You have to be. Thats one thing Tony and I dont shy away from, saying Were targeting this particular population, because we know theres a need.

Readers wanting to support NAMMBA in its efforts are encouraged to donate to its #studentchallenge program, which will provide skills, tools and other resources to 50,000 young Americans entering the U.S. workforce.

See original here:

Minorities and mortgages: Black leaders' thoughts on closing the racial divide - Mortgage Professional America

When the video of four Minneapolis police officers on top of the face down, prostrate body of George Floyd, with one officer with his knee on Floyds neck choking him to death in the light of day was made public, thousands of people in dozens of cities revolted for more than seven days.

The expression on the officers face displayed the problem of indifference to black life that dates back to the policies adopted by America as it rose from the ashes of the Civil War.

Between 1865 and the next 45 years, America entered the Second Industrial Revolution which brought the rise of corporate industry and the robber barons that would lead the way to the American Century. But while America built itself economically and internationally, it adopted and entered the golden age of Jim Crow.

One aspect of that golden age was the use of violence to destroy the advances blacks made during the reconstruction era. The paradox of American exceptionalism and greatness is that it melded the idea of individual freedom and government for the people, and not the other way around; with a multi-generational social policy that blacks by law (in the day) and by the Klan (at night) were prevented from growing with America.

Adult thinking acknowledges two things are true at the same time: America is a great nation based on great and noble principles and it became great with the intentional adoption of the structural policy of racism.

This history of Jim Crow enforced by the Klan provides context for a hard truth: in America race riots are used to settle social discontent. The origin of race rioting begins with southern whites, resenting black advancement, attacked them to disenfranchise them of both the vote and economic prosperity.

Race riots were not born in the 1960s, they were born in the 1870s. The Meridian, Miss., race riot of 1871, the Colfax Massacre in Louisiana in April 1873, the New Orleans riot of July 1866, the Memphis, Tenn., riot of May 1866, the Charleston, S.C. riot of September 1876, and the Wilmington, S.C. race riot of 1898 just to name a few, all occurred under the passive and sometimes direct hand of the local police.

The result, the ability of the former slaves to create intergenerational wealth the key to all success in a capitalist nation was systematically destroyed for generations.

From the late 1890s through the 1920s, white race riots continued. In the 1921 Greenwood Riot, the entire black neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, Okla., which was known as the black wall street, was burned to the ground and in the Rosewood massacre of 1923 the entire neighborhood of Rosewood, Levy County, Fla. was similarly destroyed.

These and other white race riots (Red Summer of 1919) not only took black lives and wiped whole black neighborhoods off the face of the earth, they ended black economic wealth that could be passed to subsequent generations. It also caused displacement of black expertise and talent, thus avoiding its concentration and increase.

This economic decimation of black wealth and social stability was made worse by the Great Depression and blacks being denied full access to the various New Deal programs of the 1930s and the benefits of the GI Bill in the 1940s. Thus, during the first four decades of the American Century, blacks were subjected to white race riots and social policies that destroyed their wealth.

The point is that while whites were allowed to create intergenerational wealth and form wealthy communities both before and after the World Wars, blacks were, as a matter of policy, prevented from doing the same. The policy outcome of a century of Jim Crow is systemic racism.

One result of this policy outcome is the design of modern urban America. The modern American urban structure of neighborhoods how they look and how they are designed is the result of racial neighborhood exclusions (early 1900s), legal restrictive covenants (19201948), followed by racially restrictive covenants, in fact (19481968), and the FHA policies of red lining of black neighborhoods through the FHA (19341968), in conjunction with the practices of blockbusting, real estate value manipulation, and racial steering by the insurance and real estate industry.

These Jim Crow policies concentrated blacks into urban neighborhoods during the Second Great Migration.

This concentration and isolation was institutionalized through the policy choices of investment in public highways over public transportation; the isolation of neighborhoods by limiting the public transportation connection between these communities and the suburbs where middle-class jobs were being placed; the use of highways and street design to break connections between communities; and the policy of public education funding being tied to property values.

These policies explain the modern physical design and poverty concentration within various American neighborhoods. The legacy of these policies, along with the crime control policies of the 1980s and 1990s, explain and define the concept of structural systemic racism and the resulting events in Baltimore, Ferguson, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and other metropolitan cities over the past four decades.

Margaret Thatcher said America is exceptional because it is the result of specific decisions made, not by a long march of thousands of years of history. She, of course, is correct.

Arthur Garrison is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Kutztown University and author of the upcoming book, Chained to the System: The History and Politics of Black Incarceration in America.

Link:

From Arthur's Desk column on race and social discontent: The unrest in America has a historical context - Boyertown Berk Montgomery Newspapers

Spokane County Health Officer Dr. Bob Lutz joined thousands of people on Sunday protesting police brutality against Black Americans, marching across the Monroe Street Bridge to the Spokane County Courthouse.

It really showed that people of all colors are not willing and not wanting to allow this issue to rest, Lutz said on Monday. We mustnt allow the ill will of a few, however, to detract and distract from the will of thousands who rallied yesterday in downtown Spokane, who peacefully protested the killing of George Floyd and the many Black lives.

People protested around the U.S. and the world, leading in some cases to more violence, property damage and looting. On Sunday, state Secretary of Health John Wiesman issued a statement in support of the Black community.

While more recently, we have taken intentional action to address the root causes of health inequities, including structural racism and other forms of oppression, there is still a lot of work to do, Wiesman said in a media statement. Public health must continue to respond and lead with racial equity and social justice. Racism is a public health threat that cant be ignored. And leading with racial equity and social justice requires us to prioritize the health and well-being of historically marginalized and oppressed communities including Black, Indigenous and People of Color, individuals with disabilities and the LGBTQ+ community, to name a few.

Nationally, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected racial and ethnic minority groups, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and this reflects what prior research has shown on disparities in health outcomes for nonwhite people in the United States.

A 2015 CDC report on these disparities found that Black Americans have the highest rates of infant and maternal mortality, preterm births and hypertension in the country, compared to all other ethnicities. Black men, specifically, have a lower life expectancy rate at birth than white and Hispanic men and women in the United States.

Lutz pointed to the inequities in not only health care but also society prior to the pandemic.

We have a society that has institutionalized racism and to speak to that is part of what we do in public health, Lutz told reporters Monday.

Lutz said he wanted to show his support and be a part of the demonstration. Despite large gatherings being prohibited due to COVID-19, Lutz estimated that about 80 to 90% of people at the demonstration were wearing masks.

People were out in a congregant setting and we know right now, its not encouraged nor safe, but it happened and it happened for a reason, he said. I am glad it happened for a reason. Its unfortunate how it ended, but again I think people were out there for a reason, and they knew the risk associated with COVID-19.

When asked if he was concerned about the potential for an uptick in cases due to the demonstration, Lutz said we might see a spike.

I might, but again, I think the reason why people were there and putting their lives at risk for COVID-19 sort of outweighed their concern from that standpoint, he said. We will see, but I am very glad it happened.

Last week, Spokane County health officials confirmed more than 100 new cases of COVID-19, due in part, to increased testing and clusters forming in family settings. Over the weekend, 32 more people tested positive in the county. There have now been 602 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Spokane County.

Though the weekend case counts actually marked improvement in the number of cases reported each day, Lutz does not think the county is ready at this point to move to Phase 3 of the governors reopening plan.

The last couple of weeks have not suggested to me that were at the point where we can move to Phase 3, he said Monday. The options do exist to partially move to Phase 3, so that may be a consideration, but our cases have gone up and so has the workload.

Hospitalizations have not gone up too much, he noted. There are eight people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county. Those numbers might increase in the coming days and the next week or so, however, as the county moved into Phase 2 a week ago and any spread may not be evident until this week or next.

Lutz said it can take about a week to 10 days after a person is symptomatic to get sick enough to need hospitalization. He expects to continue to see more cases as a result of people getting out into the community and increased testing with expanded eligibility.

See the rest here:

Spokane County health officer joined in Sundays march - The Spokesman-Review

Robert S. Cox, head of Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) at the UMass Amherst Libraries for the past 16 years, died May 11 after an extended illness. He was 61 years old.

After being hired by UMass in 2004, Cox began strategically building on the universitys archival strengths in the history of social activism and organization, anchored by the papers of W.E.B. Du Bois. He recognized and fostered connections with activist communities, engaging individuals and groups in dialogue about the benefits of archiving their materials, from intentional communities and advocacy organizations, to disability and civil rights campaigns.

Robs tireless dedication to building a vast set of unique, connected and coherent collections, particularly those which add to the historical and present-day conversation about social change, have distinguished the UMass Amherst Libraries, says Dean Simon Neame. The collections here are a magnet for scholars and students, and will be for generations to come.

Cox, who referred to himself as a middling kid from the orchards of central California, said he never lived a logical life. By the age of 25, he observed that he had racked up addresses in at least six states and one territory, and by 45, the numbers had grown to four masters degrees and a Ph.D. An author, archivist and historian, Cox viewed himself as a recovering paleontologist, reluctant molecular biologist, former cowboy and would-be New Englander who finally landed in Amherst. Many others remember him as a leader, teacher, mentor and beloved friend.

Many of the important collections that Cox and his team brought to UMass were generously donated as a result of his personal relationships. His tenure is responsible for 75 percent of the materials currently held by SCUA. Notable examples include:

Regularly recognized for the scope and quality of their work, the SCUA team under Cox won a Verizon Foundation grant in 2009 to digitize the Du Bois Papers, setting the stage to found the Du Bois Center. His vision for building a community of scholars was integral in the winning of an Andrew W. Mellon grant in 2016 to expand the fellowship program through the center and further the impact of Du Boiss legacy; most recently, his team has been digitizing disability rights-related collections under a grant from Council on Library and Information Resources.

Cox began his extraordinary array of studies in higher education when he landed at Haverford College outside of Philadelphia, where his Quaker roots were awakened. There, he earned a B.S. in geology and played rugby. Next was Penn State for a masters in paleontology. He spent 1990 through 2003 in Michigan, earning from Michigan State University a masters in Library Science, a masters and Ph.D. in history, and an MFA in poetry. He felt it had been an amazing privilege to work at places where I felt I was fumbling from geology to paleontology to molecular biology, and ultimately elsewhere, in places where it always seemed that a kind word uttered in passing at just the right time could open a door to a new world.

While at Michigan, he was introduced to archival work through an internship at the William L. Clements Library and moved into professional roles including Curator of Manuscripts and Photographs. Using collections largely at the Clements, he wrote a dissertation on American spiritualism in the 19thcentury. It was published by the University of Virginia Press in 2003 asBody and Soul: A Sympathetic History of American Spiritualism.

In 1998, he took a position at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, eventually becoming Keeper of Manuscripts and Director of Scholarship and Technology.

In addition to archival organization and American Spiritualism, Cox published on the Lewis and Clark expedition; Quaker missions to the Seneca Indians; the history of photography, the history of sleep, and several culinary history books: New England Pie: History Under a Crust; A History of Chowder: Four Centuries of a New England Meal;and Massachusetts Cranberry Culture: A History from Bog to Table.

Throughout his career, Cox worked with hundreds of students on independent study and internship projects in history, digital history and archival studies.At UMass, he taught courseson the history of religion in the History Department and in archival management at both UMass and the Simmons College School of Library and Information Science.

He made good on his word when arriving at UMass to reach out to departments and colleagues across campus to engage with SCUA and partake of its materials. In a 2005 interview, Cox observed, We want to spread the word that we are here for all students and faculty to use. We are, essentially, stock boys in an intellectual Kmart.

Among those he leaves are his wife, Danielle, and their daughter, Phoebe, with whom he lived in Easthampton. Donations in his memory may be made to the Robert S. Cox Special Collections Fund. An on-campus celebration of his life is expected to occur at a later date.

View original post here:

Robert S. Cox, Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Dies at Age 61 - UMass News and Media Relations

MACON, Ga. For decades, Cliffard Whitby ran businesses and helped bring them to Macon and Bibb County as developer and chairman of the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority

In October 2018, Whitby faced 75 years in prison. Instead, he walked out of Macons federal courthouse a free man.

A federal jury acquitted Whitby of federal laundering and bribery charges.

Accompanied by his wife, daughter and several friends, Whitby walked up to a group of reporters.

This community has been split and divided, Whitby said. We want to do everything we can. We love our community. We want to play the part and help the healing process.

RELATED: Cliffard Whitby celebrates after being acquitted on federal bribery charges

Less than a year later, Whitby announced he would be running to be Macon's next mayor.

When 13WMAZ recently asked Whitby about the criminal case and his acquittal, he said the issue has no place in the present-day mayors race.

"We are a system of rules, and the case the U.S. Government presented against me was completely rejected, Whitby said. A jury of my peers, nine whites and three blacks, heard all of the evidence and unanimously rejected what the U.S. Government had brought against me.

RELATED: Less than a year after acquittal, Cliffard Whitby formally announces run for mayor

He added that he doesnt know why this is being brought up now.

If you want to call me, call me about something else, he said.

Whitby is also a longtime civic activist and public official who has been active in community-building and charitable groups.

He was interviewed recently at the WMUB Studio at Mercer University by 13WMAZ and partners the Telegraph, Georgia Public Broadcasting Macon and the Center for Collaborative Journalism.

CRIME: Start by fighting the causes

Some Macon communities, Whitby said, are hit harder by violent crime. He said the communities need to come together to address the causes of crime, which he said is simple. The young people committing the crimes dont have the opportunities they need to further their educations and pursue their dreams.

I think its going to take a significant amount of resources that are devoted to our youth training and retraining and actually being supportive to the families, Whitby said. If we support the families of these young people some of these parents are working two, three jobs, and were dealing with children raising children. This community must get serious about the issues that really impact these young peoples lives and get involved.

RELATED: 'This is a fight for our community': Cliffard Whitby announces six-point plan to reduce crime in Macon

BLIGHT: Its not enough to clean up a lot

Whitby said hed worked with the last five mayors to combat blight while operating a construction company and property management and development business.

Weve made tremendous strides when we were intentional about the work of blight, Whitby said. When I started this work, it was called substandard housing. Substandard housing is just the blight. Its just a new term for substandard housing.

Whitby said he was involved in a first-time home buyer program that built or renovated more than 1,000 homes.

We won two national awards, Whitby said. I dont think any community in the country had ever won two national awards for the work that was done under those administrations."

Blight is a byproduct of poverty, he said.

So, weve got to get intentional about the issues that cause blight. Its not enough just to clean up a lot, Whitby said. We must address the human component that impacts these neighborhoods and these communities.

The people of Macon must come together to fight blight, he said.

Im excited as I talk to our young people. The talent is here. All we need to do is harness the wheel to get out of the silos, to break down the barriers, Whitby said. We all want the same thing. We all want opportunities.

ROADS: Whitby talks about SPLOST success

When we asked about what he could do to improve Bibb Countys roads, Whitby said hed worked with local officials to get the last two Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) proposals approved. SPLOST means an extra one-cent tax on every dollar spent in Macon-Bibb County.

Its going to take far more than just creative ways to persuade a community to be okay with the millage going up, he said. What its going to take is the commitment to support our young people. No community...no community can maintain the level of services when it's losing our number one asset, and thats its young people.

EDUCATION: This is our system

While Whitby didnt address the question about roads, he did discuss what the county government could do to assist the Bibb County Board of Education. Other mayoral candidates said the school board is a separate government entity, and its members are elected by the people. They said county officials should support the board whenever possible, but have no direct role in the schools.

Whitby would have none of that.

With all due respect, it is not a separate system, Whitley said. This is our system, were citizens of this community. We elect school board members from this community. The mayor of the consolidated government is the top elected official in this community. We have a serious problem with education.

State benchmarks say some Bibb County schools are failing.

Its going to take all hands on deck to get our hands around what really plagues our public education. We must get intentional. We cant survive as a community if we dont commit.

Bibb County has some of the most dedicated educators in the nation, Whitby said. But theyre dealing with a community problem that must be resolved through community efforts.

When asked for specific suggestions for improving schools, Whitby said there are many success stories around the nation.

But what its truly going to take is a commitment to families, a commitment to the grandmother whos raising the school-aged child," he said.

That means, he said, a community goal of helping children succeed in school.

COUNTY STAFFING: Appoint an advisory committee

The Bibb County Sheriffs Office has complained for years about being understaffed, primarily because salaries are lower than other counties.

When asked about over and under staffing in the county departments, Whitby said hed put together an advisory committee that would look at every department to determine staffing needs.

RACE RELATIONS: Its about working together

Whitby said the topic of race relations cant be discussed without mentioning privilege.

There are those in this community that benefit from race division, he said.

But Whitby noted that hes served on various boards and authorities where different races worked together to accomplish things, including his service as chairman of the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority.

I will say to you, Whitby said, what I would do as mayor is commit to bringing everybody to the table and leaving race outside the door and making decisions thats in the best interest of the community.

RELATED: Everything you need to know about Central Georgia's upcoming primary election

See original here:

Cliffard Whitby: Meet the Macon mayoral candidate who wants to fight causes of crime and blight - 13WMAZ.com

By Anna Baker May 13, 2020

The phrase we are all in this together has circled around to promote positivity, and while it is an encouraging message, its important to understand that the coronavirus pandemic is affecting some communities more than others.

Factors such as having lower income, living in food deserts, and having less access to health care are putting minority communities at higher risk of contracting the virus.

We need to be educated on how this pandemic is affecting everyone so that when its over, we can work to make sure inequalities like this dont exist in the future.

There is a higher death rate for black and Latino Americans with COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, than their white counterparts. This is due to many reasons.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that black workers are overrepresented in the essential workforce, putting them at higher risk for the virus. Similarly, Latinos also make up a large proportion of the essential workforce.

A lot of these essential jobs are in the service industry and dont provide health insurance and pay relatively low wages. This means that if someone gets sick, they wont be able to go to the hospital, much less afford the bill.

This goes to show that social distancing is certainly a privilege.

One reason black communities have been hit so hard is housing disparities. Black children are more likely to suffer from asthma because they live older buildings, usually near polluting highways.

People with moderate to severe asthma, according to the CDC, are at greater risk if they contract COVID-19.

Banks tend to discriminate by denying minorities loans and mortgages that could help them fix their homes. This redlining prevents minorities from leaving areas that put them in danger.

Many minority communities also dont have access to hospitals.

A 2013 study shows hospitals in black neighborhoods are more likely to close than hospitals in white communities.

Even if the community had access to hospitals, they may not go in fear of burdening their family with medical bills if they dont have insurance.

Similar issues are happening to indigenous communities, which are seeing high rates of COVID-19 cases.

The Navajo Nation has a lot of households without running water, making it difficult to follow preventative measures against COVID-19. And few health care facilities in their region, the Navajo dont have good access to healthcare to treat and test symptoms.

The U.S. government has been unhelpful and slow in sending supplies to indigenous communities. The Seattle Indian Health Board requested medical supplies from federal agencies.

Instead of testing kits, it was sent body bags.

While the Treasury Department recently announced $4.8 billion will go to tribal governments, many consider it to be too late, as the virus picked up over two months ago.

Despite treaties with tribes that stipulate that the United States has an obligation to care for Native Americans, the U.S. has neglected these communities.

The reason that minorities are suffering much more from COVID-19 is because of systems in the U.S. that oppress them. Many may argue that it isnt intentional, but that doesnt matter.

The U.S. has victimized minority communities by pushing them into unsanitary conditions, making it unaffordable to leave and making it difficult to access healthcare. The U.S. is passive to their struggles and that is not OK.

By realizing that this pandemic does not affect everyone equally, we can fight for a system that actually helps minority communities.

When the next crisis comes, they should not be bearing the worst of it.

The U.S. is failing a good portion of its residents. We need to do better.

For more of The Cougars coronavirus coverage, clickhere.

Anna Baker is an English sophomore who can be reached at [emailprotected]

Tags: coronavirus, COVID-19, minorities, minority

View post:

We need to do better to stop COVID-19 from disproportionately affecting minorities - The Daily Cougar

GLOBAL

As a result, community building comes second to transitioning curriculum online or managing the logistics surrounding online class facilitation. But even the most successful distance education programmes have drop-out rates that are 10% to 20% higher than traditional education, which is primarily the result of a lack of student engagement and community building platforms, and overarching feelings of isolation.

Instead of just accepting social distancing and self-isolation as a reality of COVID-19, educators have the opportunity to utilise these as tools for engaging in authentic discussions and promoting a more engaged and inclusive student body. As a result, educators not only build student support and community systems in this new, temporary reality, but also build stronger communities in social distancing that can thrive after students return for their classes in person.

From my experience as both an online doctoral student and an educator amidst the COVID-19 shift to online classes, below are some of the strategies that I have found effective in building stronger university communities.

Humanise the classroom experience

Community and socialisation do not only occur outside the classroom and educators can take intentional steps to model their own vulnerability and humanise the classroom experience in order to promote increased student engagement. In doing so, students also demonstrate greater persistence in their education. A few specific actions educators can take to humanise their online classes include:

Check-in first: Begin class with a check-in, where faculty ask students how they are doing. Faculty can use this as an opportunity to model their own uncertainties and vulnerability during this time as well. For larger lecture-style classes, faculty can rotate through the student roster and have a few students share at the beginning of each class.

Publish your faculty profile: Include a personalised faculty profile with a photo on the course learning platform. The profile can be different from a professional biography and include more personalised information about the faculty member. In doing so, this builds more trust and rapport between faculty and students.

Disclose personal information: Throughout class, faculty should make a more intentional effort to share personal anecdotes and experiences within the academic content. When faculty model this behaviour, students are more likely to reciprocate, request support outside of the classroom and maintain trust with their faculty and peers.

One-on-one student follow-ups: Faculty should make a more intentional effort to follow up with students one-on-one. In online settings, students are less likely to seek help from faculty, which means that faculty need to initiate these follow-ups in order to strengthen community and trust.

Ongoing small group activities

While small group activities may be common practice in traditional classroom settings, they are often forgotten in the transition to online learning. However, during times of isolation, these platforms for student engagement need to be overemphasised rather than reduced or eliminated. When larger communities are broken down into smaller groups, the overall community, as well as student learning outcomes and creativity, are strengthened.

Furthermore, not only do small group activities lead to learning communities and give students a platform to discuss questions about course material, but they also help students strengthen peer relationships and build connections within social distancing in an academically productive way.

To facilitate more impactful small group activities, faculty should explore the features on their learning platforms that allow for smaller group engagement and utilise them on a regular basis. For example, Zoom Breakout Rooms allow faculty to either pre-identify or randomly assign small groups and then monitor the discussions within each group.

Following these small group activities, faculty should solicit feedback from students to identify other ways to use small groups as a platform for building community. By engaging in small group activities and soliciting feedback from students, students and faculty become both leaders and active participants within their online academic communities.

Create online coffee shops

As faculty deliver rigorous curriculum and academic content requirements, there likely isnt enough time during the regular class period to engage in more personal discussions with students. However, faculty can still play a role in building a social community among students outside the classroom as a way to further build trust and engagement with students.

Ultimately, building social community and connection improves overall student engagement and persistence in their education. One way this can be done is by hosting virtual coffee shops for students and faculty to engage with one another, celebrate their accomplishments and support each other in their challenges.

By arranging loosely structured, optional platforms for social networking and connectivity, faculty are ultimately promoting their students overall academic engagement and perseverance in their learning despite isolation. Not only does this build trust and outlets for social connectivity for students while in isolation, but it also builds a strong foundation of community that can be further expanded upon after the COVID-19 pandemic ends.

While many of these ways of building community are common in traditional classroom settings, they are easy to neglect when conducting classes online. This holds particularly true when the universitys focus is primarily on surviving the shift to online education as a temporary solution, rather than strengthening the existing community in a way that aligns with and outlasts the pandemic.

With the abrupt shift from in-person connection to isolation and online learning, students need more community-building and engagement platforms than ever before. Faculty play a key role in providing this. Once we shift our mindset to seeing this as an opportunity to build healthy foundations for community and engagement, COVID-19 becomes an opportunity to improve learning and student engagement long term, rather than simply managing a temporary bump in the road.

Kara Neil is head of academics and lecturer at Vatel Hotel and Tourism Business School Rwanda campus and a Doctor of Education candidate at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom.

Link:

Using social distance to strengthen university communities - University World News

Current studies, according to South Pasadena author Alexandria Levitt, show that isolation and loneliness can lead to adverse health consequences.

So, finding a way to live that promotes happiness, mental health and real autonomy is more important than ever, stressed Levitt, who co-wrote State-Of-The-Art Cohousing: Lessons Learned from Quimper Village with Charles Durrett. Few of todays adults would be satisfied with the limited options that were available for senior living to our parents generation. That is why we must explore better alternatives now, and I think cohousing is one of those alternatives.

The principle behind cohousing, explained Levitt, is the recognition that most people would prefer and are happier to stay in their own homes as long as possible. At the same time, she added, most feel better when they are connected to others. Levitt says cohousing, which may include a common dining area, kitchen laundry, and recreational areas, is the best of both worlds.

Originally created in Denmark, cohousing is an intentional community of private homes whose owners cooperatively own and use outdoor spaces around the homes, and commonly owned indoor spaces, explained Levitt. Cohousing members manage their communities together and actively come together to learn, support each other, and enjoy life, but its important to stress that everyone has their own apartment or cottage. Privacy matters. Groups decide to have dinner together several times a week and take turns cooking for each other and in many other ways collaborate and contribute. It isnt a commune. There is no joint economy. Its really a great independent and active way for people to get older and to not just live in community but engage in it.

Though cohousing, households maintain private lives and independent incomes but take part in community activities, meetings, gather for shared meals, parties, movies and other neighborly events. Forming clubs, organizing child and elder care or carpooling are all made easier.

Cohousing for adults 55-plus has proven to be an innovative and cost-effective model that illustrates how living in a highly functional neighborhood improves health, reduces the need for senior services, enhances individual contributions on a larger scale, and makes life more affordable and fun, said Levitt.

Several years ago, she met the residents of Quimper Village during a weekend conference, in what Levitt described as a remarkable cohousing project in Port Townsend, Washington.

Resident shared the story of their journey and the positives of a cohousing lifestyle.

After it was over, Levitt told Durrett, the architect of Quimper Village, what she heard would make an excellent book. We used their initial narrative, conducted interviews with many residents and used our experience as well to paint a portrait of this project, said the local writer. My favorite part, of course, was interviewing them and visiting Quimper Village, eating meals together and seeing their neighborhood thrive. Id love to live in such a place. It really radiates warmth and a sense of purpose and real caring for each other.

Along with being an architect and author, Durrett is an advocate of affordable and socially responsible design as a major force behind more than 50 cohousing communities in North America. He is also the author of The Senior Cohousing Handbook: A Community Approach to Independent Living, and the co-author of Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities.

Levitt has an accomplished background herself, as a gerontologist the study of aging. I am most interested in progressive models of housing for older adults, she said. Ultimately, I want to develop housing for people that does not just show off a lifestyle imagined by corporate developers but one that reinforces the qualities that help us most as we get older friendship, community and purpose, as initially created in cohousing in Denmark. Cohousing is an intentionally designed community with tremendous benefits for those who live there.

A South Pasadena resident since 1996, she and her husband moved to the city for its highly regarded schools after they had their first child. She was a Girl Scout leader for 13 years, a PTA president at Marengo Elementary School for two years and for the past six years has been a member of the citys Senior Citizen Commission while serving as both chair and vice-chair in the past.

She hopes the book, available on Amazon, will act as a tool to move others in taking a hard look at cohousing. I am very familiar with the many challenges facing us as we get older and the remarkable connection between health (both mental and physical) and social engagement, Levitt said. I lead workshops on Aging and Thriving with Cohousing and informational presentations on cohousing for adults 55-plus.

This book, added Levitt, is really about the strength we have when we work together, pointing the old saying: If you want togo fast,go alone. If you want togo far,gotogether.

She says State-Of-the-Art Cohousing is a wonderful illustration of that philosophy, insisting, by coming together, pooling their skills, listening and building on strengths, the members of Quimper Village created something amazing. Certainly, in a time of crisis such as we are in now, working with, and helping others is key to not only our survival but to our ability to thrive and flourish.

In a way, noted Levitt, the story of how Quimper Village, the state-of-the-art senior cohousing community in Port Townsend, Washington, was created, designed, and built, isnt much different than college life, for those wanting to make a comparison. You made decisions together, you ate together, you always had someone to do things with, she said. Cohousing isnt so different. This book shows how one group of inspired and determined folks made it happen for them.

Now that State-Of-The-Art Cohousing has been published, Levitts goal is to move the needle in the creation of cost effective, appealing, environmentally friendly housing that can be home for active, engaged older adults. Currently in Southern California, we have no cohousing of any kind, not intergenerational or older adult, she said. Id really like to see that change, and I hope some of you do too.

To learn more about cohousing, go to Cohousing.org or Levittcoho.com

Read more:

The Benefits of Cohousing | Local Author Advocates for Innovative Senior Living - The South Pasadenan

Business News Live Business Top Stories By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 14 May 2020

Music consultancy Sound Diplomacy has launched a new globally-focused campaign called #BetterMusicCities which it describes as a call to action to ensure music is at the heart of [post-COVID-19] recovery in cities around the world.

A report published by the company begins with a foreword from the CEO of the UKs Association Of Independent Music Paul Pacifico, who explains: The opportunity to listen to music, practice an instrument, take a dance class or participate in Zoom choirs has been an anchor to many of us in this time of crisis. Music, like almost nothing else, has fostered and perpetuated a sense of community and connection in moments of our most profound isolation.

He goes on: For decades, sport has successfully made the case that it delivers unarguable returns on investment in terms of public health and wellbeing. But music has never quite managed to make its case in that arena. Now, in the most bleak moments of this current crisis, we see clearly the need, the impact and the results of music and culture in delivering positive outcomes in both physical and mental health. Music has demonstrated the power and benefits of social prescribing like never before.

Cities, governments and music communities around the world should embrace this, Sound Diplomacys report argues. The consultancys founder Shain Shapiro says: There are few music offices in cities around the world. Music education is in decline. Many relief programmes to support creatives are challenging for musicians to access. In some countries, there are little intellectual property protections for musicians.

Yet, we all need music, he adds. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates music as a global unifier from balconies in Europe to bedrooms live streaming raves around the world. But music as an ecosystem lacks investment. We can change this and together, build #BetterMusicCities.

The report provides a nine-point plan for cities to embrace, enhance and support music and the music community. It suggests cities:

1. Put artists to work: Incentivise creation from crisis.2. Convert creativity into community investment vehicles.3. Create a city music registry.4. Start a cultural infrastructure plan.5. Create emergency preparedness plans (venue, event, city-wide).6. Ensure music, arts and culture language is included in policy frameworks.7. Commit to genre agnosticism.8. Plan and develop a night time economy policy.9. Set-up city-wide artist compensation policies, music liaison services and fair play schemes.

The company says these things will support cities to better leverage their music economies from artists to education, venues to local scenes to create more inclusive, prosperous music communities as we move towards recovery. To do so, we require intentional policy that includes musicians and music representatives in discussions around recovery and resilience.

You can download the full report at bettermusiccities.com

Excerpt from:

Sound Diplomacy says cities should put music at the heart of the post-COVID-19 recovery - Complete Music Update

The Cavalier Dailys Facebook comment section can be an infuriating hotbed of activity. Many commenters are older alumni or some not even alumni voicing their opinions about events and decisions made at the University, and frequently, these commenters attack The Cavalier Daily and sometimes single out the writers themselves. While media outlets should be critiqued and publicly in some instances (thats why The Cavalier Daily employs a public editor) in order to do their job better, some commenters seem to have never heard the advice against shooting the messenger.

The comments are brutal. For example, in a comment posted under one of the most recent articles, Richard said, Please go to class. Perhaps you will learn why what you said is absurd. When Virginia Athletics adopted its new logos, Allen said, This is probably the most ridiculous thing ever published. On another, Conan said, For a news outlet at an educational institution, it is shocking how uneducated you are in how a business and this economy works. And a particularly sexist comment, Donald said, At least half of the female students are deranged and need immediate help. I didnt even have to go back a month to grab most of these comments from the Facebook page. They are so frequent and aggressive, the opinion section made a video of columnists reading mean comments on their own articles.

When I first started reading these comments at the beginning of my tenure as Editor-in-Chief, I took the comments personally. Then, I found comments such as Johns, which said Get over it. If you dont like UVA, transfer.You have a chip on your shoulder about something. Dont blame the University. Ali agreed with his comment, saying, Oh wow, another Cav Daily article sh*tting on UVA.

I love the University, and in my role as editor, I spent a significant amount of time writing, editing and publishing stories about the University some negative, some positive, some that were just news. I worked some 50 hours a week at The Cavalier Daily because I love the University and along with many students, faculty, staff and administration, I want the University to improve. I want to try to do my part in working to make Grounds a better place more welcoming, inclusive, supportive, informed, intellectual, happy and so on.

Journalists love their communities. Thats why they do their jobs. They actively work to hear and tell peoples stories from the position of genuine truth whatever that may be. And frequently, journalists uncover injustice or pain and suffering because of a flaw in the system, or heartbreak because of something simply unavoidable. These stories may not be what people want to hear. No one finds joy in reading or writing a story about COVID-19, for instance. When the world is overwhelmed in death, unspeakable grief and struggle, someone has to do the job of getting the information out, looking back to see what could have been avoided or how people can protect themselves and move forward.

Journalists do their jobs out of a love for their communities because one of the strongest loves is being able to see the flaws in the community that they love. And then they take the active, intentional step of working to correct that flaw by conveying the news the truth.

Much like the frequent verbal attacks on journalists from political figures, and particularly President Donald Trump, student journalists face these Internet trolls on social media, and I think its important to remember the job student journalists are doing and why they do it.

I love U.Va., and I see its problems but I also see the University working every day to improve. I think we can all agree nothing can be perfect, but I believe it can be better. So John from the comments, this is why I am passionate about The Cavalier Daily and about journalism. This is why I published critical stories about the University and its administration and frequently from the perspective of students to make Grounds better.

Im sad Im not writing my parting shot at a picnic table outside Newcomb, that I wont be wearing my cap and gown to walk the Lawn May 16, 2020, that I never got to say goodbye to the people I love my friends, professors, coworkers, the University goodbye to my community I called home for 3.75 years, and most importantly, goodbye to the wonderful office and staff of The Cavalier Daily in the basement of Newcomb Hall.

I miss my final few weeks at a place that has made me so happy. Charlottesville in the springtime is enchanting, filled with all of my favorite things perfect weather, live music in the outdoors, the Downtown Mall, vineyards, Final Fridays at the Fralin and on and on. Even the grass on the Lawn seems to be extra plush in April as the Rotunda glows pink at sunset.

I loved my experience at the University, and because I loved it, I was a journalist who wrote about its achievements and its failures. Through The Cavalier Daily, I tried to do my part in making the University a better place for everyone.

Gracie Kreth was the Editor-in-Chief for the 130th term of The Cavalier Daily. Prior to this, she served as Assistant Managing Editor for the 129th term and Life Editor for the 128th term.

Here is the original post:

PARTING SHOT: Criticism means we care - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily