Category Archives: Intentional Communities

Before he began the Mass, the priest said something about fellowship I didnt catch. He had white-hair, and told us he was 75 and retired and just filling in for the pastor. We were away last weekend and visiting a church not our own. He told us to welcome the people around us and (Im quoting from memory) Ask them to tell you something about themselves!

What followed, of course, was simply a bad imitation of the Peace. No one started a conversation, because youre not at Mass to talk and you know you dont have time, whatever the priest said. Everyone around me smiled, but some looked sheepish and some made the exchange as perfunctory as possible. No one asked me to tell them something about myself.

The whole thing was pointless. No one feels welcomed or included because people had to shake his hand. No one is going to introduce himself to someone after Mass because he had to be nice to him at the beginning of Mass.

Awkward, contrived displays

I bring this up not to rant about it, but because it illustrates something about the way church communities really work. And to be fair to the visiting priest, he celebrated the rest of the Mass reverently. He gave us a very good homily that looked into the readings more deeply than Ive heard a priest do in a long time. After that burst of forced extroversion at the beginning, the Mass went on in a way that would satisfy almost everyone.

I told the story on Facebook. One friend complained about these awkward, contrived displays of public sentiment in church. It felt like that to me too. Its not real. It feels fake. The priest meant well, but you cant force fellowship. You cant invent a committed community by contriving chances for people to act all warm and friendly. You can only create the conditions under which it develops.

Many priests dont seem to understand that. They try to force people to be friendly at Mass. They try to make Mass more like a rally. They try to whip up enthusiasm for community and push special events to bring people together.

Real fellowship begins in a communal action. Friendship and care grow naturally as you do something together. You learn to look at each other after you join together to look at something else and because you joined together to look at something else. Friendship and care grow naturally, especially if you work at the Christian virtues like turning the other cheek and going the second mile, because people are people. (See Matthew 5:39-42, part of Jesuss follow-up instructions to the Beatitudes.)

You cant aim at fellowship. You have to aim at something else and get fellowship in the bargain. The people who had to be all friendly at the beginning of Mass? They leave the church strangers. The guys who joined the Knights of Columbus and raised money for the crisis pregnancy center after Mass one Sunday? They became friends. Maybe not close friends (yet), but friends.

If a priest wants to encourage his people to form a more intentional community in his parish, he ought to tell the men to join the Knights, push the different ministries in the parish, get more people to come to midweek Mass. He also ought to urge them into the confessional, because people who have to face their sins can learn to love other sinners they wouldnt speak to without it.

The shared actions

Real fellowship starts at Mass. It shouldnt end there, but it must start there. The Mass creates any other fellowship we have in the Church. Thats true theologically, but here I mean practically.

At Mass, you set yourself off from the world and throw in your lot with people you wouldnt know otherwise. You throw in your lot with people you wouldnt want to know if you had a choice. There you all are, week after week, or even day after day, doing something odd yet miraculous. Youve all oriented your life to this act.

Its not magic. Youre all still sinners. You may not like each other, you may actively dislike each other and, lets be honest, sometimes for good reasons. But you know youre tied together in a way youre not tied to those outside the Church. Going to Mass makes you part of a club.

Because youre doing something the world thinks very odd. You and the people with you Mass believe that wafer the priests holding created the universe and saves you from Hell. You all believe one transformative truth, and that radical belief distinguishes you all from everyone else. When you all come to meet Jesus himself, you begin to see each other as brothers and sisters, as part of a family separate, though with a mission to, the family of the world.

One implication

This idea of the source of real fellowship has one implication for many of us. We need to throw ourselves into the lives of our parishes in a way we dont, or havent. I plead guilty to this. I tell myself I have a work of my own, writing, editing, and speaking. Thats what I do for the Church. Thats true.

Sort of. Id be a better Catholic and a better man if I did more for the local church to which I belong. At St. Josephs are people I need to meet, and friends I should make.

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How Christ makes us friends (and it's not by being all friendly at Mass) - Aleteia EN

When people talk about the qualities of a healthy community, one of them is that it be safe. But what safe means depends in part on who you are, as well as where you are from and what threat or harm we are considering.

Indeed, safety isnt just about physical harm, but perceptions of fear and insecurity as anyone who has ever walked down a dark, lonely road at night knows only too well. And war, of course, is an intensely dangerous situation for any community, but not one Iam considering here.

Some groups in society feel less safe and are less safe than others. Women, Indigenous people, people of colour, youth, seniors, people who are LGBTQ and others experience different sorts of risk, and thus creating a safe community is a complicated task.

In the late 1980s, when I was helping the European Region of the World Health Organization develop the Healthy Cities program, they were also developing a Safe Cities program. While it never made sense to me that they would develop these as two separate programs, what I found interesting, coming from North America, was that Safe Cities in Europe was focused mainly on injury prevention, not safety in the sense of protection from crime and violence.

This points to one of the challenges in creating a safe community initiative: What threat are we discussing and seeking to prevent? In public health, we tend to think of safety in terms of its opposite harm and the physical consequences of harm, namely injuries. Normally, we classify injuries as either intentional or unintentional.

Intentional injuries include both violence (the infliction of fatal or non-fatal injuries by another person, by any means, with intent to kill or injure) and self-harm, which includes both attempted and completed suicide. Unintentional injuries, not surprisingly, are defined as not purposely inflicted, either by the person or anyone else, according to the B.C. Injury Research and Prevention Unit. These are what we usually call accidents, although that term is often avoided these days, since many accidents are due to human error of some form and thus not truly accidental.

When we think about a safe community, too often our thoughts turn to keeping us safe from crime and violence. But we would be mistaken to put most of our efforts there, because most of the injuries we experience are not due to violence but come from unintentional and self-inflicted injury.

The prevention unit reports that in the five-year period 2010 to 2014, the four leading causes of death due to injury in B.C. were, in order, falls, suicide, unintentional poisoning and transport-related deaths. Between them, they accounted for almost nine in 10 deaths due to injury. Of these, three are considered unintentional and accounted for more than six in 10 deaths, while suicide accounted for almost one-quarter of all injury deaths; homicide was a distant fifth, with two per cent of all injury deaths.

Injuries dont only kill, of course, they result in disability ranging from minor and brief to severe and lifelong, and often result in hospitalization. Falls are by far the most common cause of hospitalization for injury, accounting for 46 per cent in 2013-14, with transport-related injuries a distant second (11 per cent) and attempted suicide third (5.5 per cent); assault, which is intentional, comes in seventh at just 2.7 per cent.

Injuries are not only very expensive in human terms, they also exact a high economic cost. A 2015 prevention unit report found that in 2010, injuries cost B.C. $3.7 billion, or more than $800 per person, of which health-care costs were $2.2 billion more than $500 per person or $2,000 for a family of four. Again, unintentional injuries account for most of the costs 84 per cent in 2010.

So from the perspective of safe communities in B.C., as in Europe, theprimary focus should be on the prevention of unintentional injuries, particularly falls, transport-related crashes and accidental poisoning. Ofthese, injuries due to falls are the No.1 priority.

So in my next three columns, I will look at three different aspects of a safe community: preventing unintentional injury, violence and self-harm.

Dr. Trevor Hancock is a professor and senior scholar at the University of Victorias school of public health and social policy.

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Trevor Hancock: What does it mean to be a safe community? - Times Colonist

Oak Park, a village that prides itself on its diversity, has found itself in unfamiliar territory in the months following the April 4 election.

Former Oak Park village board members, African-American incumbents Peter Barber and Glenn Brewer, lost their bids for re-election. Former trustee Colette Lueck, an openly gay board member, chose not to run for another term.

The results left the Oak Park board with no African-American or lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender representation.

Some in Oak Park, a village with a diversity statement posted on its website, say current board members will have to make a significant effort to be sure local voices from those communities are heard. Lueck said it's likely been at least 20 years since the board has had no such representation.

Reesheda Washington, owner of the L!VE Cafe at 163 Oak Park Ave., said having a village board without members of color "is a collective loss" for the entire community.

"I think, oftentimes, we perceive that it is the black community who is missing something or lacking something if we don't have a black voice at the table," Washington said. "The reality is, we all suffer and miss nuancing that we all need, and that our lives would collectively be enriched by if we have more diversity present in conversations and decision making."

"It's not just the black community that suffers when black voices are not present, but that all of us really miss out on the beauty that happens when there is diversity available in the strategic planning and implementation in the village," she added.

Barber said it will be up to those now on the board to reach out to all of the village's 50,000-plus residents. Brewer noted that a "significant" portion of Oak Park's population now will no longer directly be represented on the village board. According to the village's website, Oak Park's population is made up of 67.7 percent white residents, 21.7 percent black residents, 5.8 percent Hispanic and about 5 percent Asian and American and Alaskan Indian.

"That includes getting out more into the community and talking with folks who probably aren't their close friends and neighbors," Barber said. "One of the things I was always sensitive [about] is we have a very large population of lower-income folks in Oak Park. They're influenced by the policies the board would put forth. A good example of this would be the parking sticker fees. Not everyone in Oak Park can afford to shrug off a $5 increase here or a $10 increase there."

Barber said a goal of his, and one he hopes the new trustees share, is to keep the village not only diverse, but accessible to everyone.

"It's something that's easily forgotten if you're not careful," Barber said.

Former trustee Brewer echoed those sentiments.

"As much as people would like to think they, and believe they can, represent everyone, I think they're going to have to be purposeful and intentional to make sure that all voices are heard and included," Brewer said. "They have to go above and beyond to be inclusive."

Brewer cited Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb's monthly forums at the Oak Park Public Library as one way village officials can stay connected to their constituents, but said such events are not the only way to reach out community members.

"All of the board members seem relatively adept at using social media," Brewer said. "I would advise them not to rely strictly on social media. There's a whole web of people young and old who do not use social media for expounding on their views. I think they have to be intentional in trying to have public forums or learn where there may be groups of people that meet and how you can become part of that group."

In her final board meeting in May, Lueck urged new board members to keep all of Oak Park in mind when making decisions at the board table.

"This is the first time in probably 20 years that I can remember there are no African-American or LGBT representation on this board," Lueck said. "I think the board has to create some ways of making sure they engage those voices in a very formal way. To say you're keeping them in your head is not good enough for me. You can say you're going to do it, but the reality is you cannot talk for them. If they don't have a way of expressing what they want here, it won't be heard."

Lueck, who had served two full terms as a trustee, said she believed it was time for someone new to sit on the village board, which was why she chose not to seek re-election.

Activist Anthony Clark, founder of the Suburban Unity Alliance who is running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, said while having minority representation is important, he felt the election results were more about the village board's "perceived inability to listen to and speak for the public, and not because of their race."

"I believe that, moving forward, Oak Park will definitely see more minorities of all backgrounds stepping up and vying for leadership roles, which is important to me," Clark said. "But, in the meantime, current leadership should learn from the past election and recognize that simply being a minority isn't enough. You have to truly listen to and speak for your constituents, minorities and all."

Deno Andrews, who was one of the three new board members, along with Dan Moroney and Simone Boutet, voted in during the April election, said he has made time to speak with residents since his election, and encouraged interested residents to continue to reach out to him at his Felony Franks restaurant or through Facebook.

"I am confident I will be an effective leader in advancing equitable legislation and initiatives for all groups," Andrews said. "While Oak Park is certainly ahead of the curve in terms of diversity, we still have progress to make. I am motivated to work with every group that seeks equitable representation in our community."

Andrews pointed out the village recently flying the Pride Flag at Village Hall in honor of Pride Month as a way of showing how that population is valued in the village.

"While there is nobody from the LGBTQ community serving on the board at this time, the LGBTQ community is still valued, celebrated and served by this entire board," Andrews said.

Trustee Bob Tucker spoke on the matter in May, and pledged to keep the views and perspectives of his former colleagues in the council chambers while making future decisions.

"Those experiences and perspectives continue to be crucially important to our community," Tucker said. "That means in the months and years ahead, we at the table and you in the community need to be diligent that those perspectives and insights find their way to this table. Oak Park has always prided itself on diversity, and it's our responsibility to think about diverse options and perspectives as we conduct the village's business."

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Oak Park leaders urged to reach out to black, LGBT communities - Chicago Tribune

Providence St. Joseph Health today announced the selection of Venkat Bhamidipati as executive vice president and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective July 31. Reporting to CEO Rod Hochman, MD, Bhamidipati will oversee finance, revenue diversification, accounting, tax and reimbursement, as well as real estate, supply chain, growth and revenue cycle. Bhamidipati previously served as managing director for business development and growth strategy at Microsoft.

Bhamidipati joins Providence St. Joseph Health at a time when technology and innovation are fundamentally changing how health care is delivered and the way patients interact with their caregivers. Providence St. Joseph Health has emerged as a leader in pioneering new technologies, fostering startups through investments and incubators, and integrating care in ways that address the underlying health needs of its communities to improve health outcomes. Bhamidipatis focus will be to maintain the highest level of financial and compliance integrity for the AA-rated $21 billion health system, as well as to assist PSJH in making solid investments to ensure it continues as an outstanding and innovative health care provider.

By selecting Venkat, we are making an intentional pivot for our organization that will support the intersection between technology and health care, ultimately leading to better patient care, says Hochman. With his depth of experience, Venkat will help guide us as we pursue innovative new offerings that will make our services more convenient and affordable while also generating new revenue streams to support our mission.

Bhamidipati has spent the last 13 years at Microsoft, where he has held executive positions including CFO of operations and technology and CFO of the organizations Worldwide Enterprise Group. Throughout his career, he has garnered a reputation for customer-centric decision-making and growth. For example, he was instrumental in strategically investing in cloud transformation that helped Microsoft accelerate growth while at the same time helping its customers become more productive. He also established a proven track record for balancing todays needs while planning for and investing in the future.

No sector of the American economy is more dynamic or integral to peoples lives as health care. And no single health care organization is more embracing of the role of technology in health than Providence St. Joseph Health, says Bhamidipati. I was attracted to Providence St. Joseph Health because of its mission and dedication to the physical, spiritual and social needs of its communities. I am also excited to use my experience at one of the worlds leading technology companies to help Providence accelerate health care innovation.

Jo Ann Escasa-Haigh, who has served as interim CFO since last year, will transition to a new role as chief financial officer of operations, reporting to Mike Butler, president of operations. Jo Ann will have direct oversight for the health systems team of regional, medical group and home health chief financial officers.

About Providence St. Joseph HealthProvidence St. Joseph Health is committed to improving the health of the communities it serves, especially those who are poor and vulnerable. With 50 hospitals, 829 physician clinics, senior services, supportive housing and many other health and educational services, the health system and its partners employ more than 111,000 caregivers (employees) serving communities across seven states Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Washington. Formed in 2016, the Providence St. Joseph Health family includes the founding organizations, and in: Texas, Covenant Health and Covenant Medical Group; California, Facey Medical Group, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian and St. Joseph Heritage Healthcare; Washington, Kadlec Regional Medical Center, Pacific Medical Centers and Swedish Health Services.

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Providence St. Joseph Health selects Venkat Bhamidipati as Chief Financial Officer - State of Reform

New London At the Tiny Town interactive street festival this weekend, visitors can look around tiny houses and a yurt, participate in startup workshops, vote in a mock mayoral election and more.

Tiny Town is a two-day event produced by Spark Makerspace, and to Spark founder Hannah Gant, all the events are about two words: igniting potential.

"We've got all the ingredients to success but we haven't figured out the recipe," Gant said of New London, which she views as a city on the verge. She explained the concept of Tiny Town: "It's a street festival event trying to help provide support for people to learn the recipe."

Tiny Town will be held on Friday and Saturday, with events happening on Golden Street between Green and Bank streets. Gant's vision is an event that is interactive rather than just consumptive, on the belief that "people are tired of being entertained."

The "tiny" element of Tiny Town will be manifested in two tiny houses, a yurt, and a tiny fairy house contest for kids.

One tiny house sits in the Spark courtyard and is still under construction. Building began as part of a two-week course the Vermont-based Yestermorrow Design/Build School brought to New London.

The other tiny house, at 200 square feet, was built by a couple in Woodbury.

The Mongolian-style yurt comes from Peter van Geldern, a communications professor at the University of Bridgeport and a sustainability architect. Van Geldern gave the yurt to Jon Day, a Ledyard-based restoration and preservation specialist who served as the liaison between Spark and Yestermorrow for the design/build course.

For the tiny fairy house contest, kids should bring their creation to Tiny Town by 11 a.m. on Saturday. Awards, which include Children's Museum and movie theater passes, will be given out at 5 p.m.

Tiny Town will kick off on Friday with an hour-long historic walking tour, hosted by New London Landmarks, that costs $15 and leaves from 86 Golden St. at 4 p.m. There will also be a walking tour on Saturday at 11 a.m.

From 4 to 6 p.m. on Friday is the "I'm a Good Listener" station at 38 Green St. for visitors to talk about "ideas in life." Gant explained that the volunteers are self-identified good listeners like counselors, life coaches and clergy members.

At 6:30 p.m., candidates for the mayor of Tiny Town will converge at Golden and Green streets, known as Tiny Town Center, to give their stump speeches. The mayor will be elected in a system where one dollar equals one vote, with the money raised going to an organization of the candidate's choosing.

Tiny Town mayor is an honorary title that does not hold any responsibilities.

The candidates are Gant, van Geldern, former state Rep. Aundre Bumgardner, Yestermorrow president Mike Crowley and "economic performance artist" Kyra Kristof.

"I'm committed to building communities that work and building a world that works for everybody," van Geldern said in a campaign video he posted on Vimeo.

He offered three takeaways for building intentional communities: great leadership, dynamic governance and authentic communication.

While van Geldern is running for a symbolic role, real-life elected officials will be giving speeches starting at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Gant said this will include Rep. Chris Soto, Rep. Christine Conley, Sen. Paul Formica and potentially others.

Saturday events starting at 10 a.m. include business coaching from SCORE mentors, another listening station, and a swap meet, a chance for people to bring items they no longer want and to take those that others are giving away.

The Connecticut Small Business Development Center is hosting two Lean Startup workshops on Saturday, one from 10 a.m. to noon and the other from 1 to 3 p.m. The first is to help budding entrepreneurs from concept to launch, while the second is for managing growth in existing startups.

Each workshop costs $20 and takes place at 13 Golden St.

Throughout Tiny Town, there will be cuisine from local food entrepreneurs Jacquie Riddle and Lacy Donovan.

"My hope is to gain a lot of new clients, or at least get my name out there, my brand out there," Donovan said. "But it's also great to be representing Spark, because they've done so much for me."

Donovan will be serving salmon cakes with a slaw, lemon aioli and potato salad. For her business Guiltless Eating to Go, she creates ready-to-eat, low-calorie packaged meals that people can order online for around $10.

A full schedule for Tiny Town can be found at tinytownevents.com/event-schedule.

e.moser@theday.com

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Spark Makerspace brings interactive street festival to New London - theday.com (subscription)

Mark Enchin, left, and his step-daughter Carly Hatton, hang out in the courtyard of the Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph on Friday, July21, 2017. Enchin want to use the space to build a sustainable and affordable community hub for various groups of people to live and work together. ( Hannah Yoon / SPECIAL TO THE STAR )

By Alex McKeenStaff Reporter

Mon., July 24, 2017

A proposal by a not-for-profit organization to turn an old Jesuit college into a residence and community centre aimed at people with disabilities has drawn the ire of some advocates who fear the plan will marginalize the buildings future residents.

Angel Oak Communities submitted a proposal to Ignatius Jesuit Centre in March for a self-sufficient community with about 70 residential units, the majority of which would be occupied by adults with disabilities, and the rest rented out as affordable housing units.

The Orchard Park building at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre, outside Guelph, would also house day programming for disabled adults, a bakery and a greenhouse (where the population could gain skills and earn an income), and its own renewable energy system.

Mark Enchin, real estate sales and marketing director of Angel Oak Communities, said that concerns about the project evoking institutionalization are unfounded, and that interest has been widespread in the Guelph community.

Were building a community centre that focuses on helping people with disabilities, he said in an interview this week.

Enchin plans to sell about 50 lifetime leases on units for about $250,000 to $300,000 each to pay for the initial building costs. The preliminary budget for the building renovations totals roughly $15 million, he said in an interview. Money from the remaining rental units will pay for the ongoing operational costs in the building.

Community Living Ontario, a 70-year-old organization that oversees 100 local offices aimed at supporting people with disabilities within their communities and homes, is denouncing the proposal.

The organization cites concerns that it will segregate people with disabilities from the community and leave residents vulnerable to the kind of mistreatment and neglect that was common in historical institutions.

Yvonne Spicer, a Milton resident who is the past-chair of Community Living Ontarios council of individuals with intellectual disabilities, said she is outraged by the plan.

Institutions are not safe places for us, Spicer said. Im for inclusion. Im for people with disabilities being included in the community.

Enchin, whose 24-year-old daughter is autistic, said he is trying to build a living situation for people with disabilities that can give aging family members peace of mind about how their loved ones will get by after they pass away.

The brief describes a vision for an integrated, diverse community to enrich and support the core resident population.

Enchin said that some of the plans described in the design brief may change based on consultations the not-for-profit has done in the community, including the proportion of residential occupants with disabilities.

The Jesuit Province of Canada has agreed in a letter of intent to enter into a rental agreement with Angel Oak Communities.

Lisa Calzonetti, operations director for the Ignatius Jesuit Centre, said her organization would not be entering into the agreement if we thought it was anything even remotely akin to any form of institutionalization.

Chris Beesley, CEO of Community Living Ontario, said that despite Enchins intention to oversee a project that is different from historical institutions, his organization is certain that the proposed model wont have the positive effect Enchin is hoping for.

Its not because theyre trying to say, Lets denigrate and lets try and do them harm. But they dont know of the 150-year history that were aware of, he said, referring to Ontarios long history of institutionalization and the many stories of abuse that followed from it.

Enchin said that his project differs fundamentally from institutions because of its focus on community building.

Im not just putting this out for sale and taking the first 70 buyers, he said.

Proposed building plans show dedicated spaces for Staff/Guest/Short term occupant in addition to residential suites at the site. Seven of the proposed units are set to be barrier-free.

Beesley said that he would feel differently about the project if Enchin succeeds in creating an intentional community, meaning one that demographically mirrors that of Guelph. He says he does not see that aim in Enchins talk about the projects business model.

The proposal comes amid a housing crisis for people with disabilities in Ontario. A 2014 Ontario auditor generals report says that the provinces waiting list for people with developmental disabilities would take 22 years to clear.

If the choice isnt between a rock and a hard place and parents right now, thats what they feel this is the only option they see that might be feasible, Beesley said.

The Ontario government closed its last government-run residential institution for people with disabilities in 2009, marking the end of a decades-long transition to a community-based support model. Enchin said that, if all proceeds as planned, renovations on the building should begin later this year.

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Disabilities advocates split over Guelph housing proposal | Toronto ... - Toronto Star

Grace H. Kim is an internationally well-known expert in cohousing, which is the art and craft of creating communities. She gives a fascinating talk on TED on how to rethink your way of living in your home. Kim shares an age-old antidote to isolation, cohousing, which is the kind of living where people choose to share space with their neighbors, getting time to know them, and looking after them.

Everyone experiences loneliness at one point in their lives. For an architect Kim, loneliness is not about being alone, its a function of how socially connected people feel to those close to them especially people living with them. One could be surrounded by people yet they experience loneliness. She tells how loneliness can be as a result of the set up of our home environments.

There are people living in the neighborhoods where there is a false sense of connection and an increase in social isolation. Most of the people living in enclosed single-family homes dont know anything about their neighbors. Social media also contributes to the false sense of connection. Many people are spending most of their time on their phones either texting or checking their Facebook or Twitter accounts and in the process isolating others.

Isolation is not a new concept, its an age-old way of living and it still exists in many non-European cultures across the world. Cohousing community is an intentional neighborhood where people know each other and looks after one another. In this setup, you have your own home, but you share essential spaces, both indoors and outside. Grace Kim lives in a cohousing neighborhood where there are more social interactions among the people that she herself designed using her own architecture.

Cohousing starts with a shared intention to live collaboratively. Cohousing is achieved by supporting activities that bring togetherness such as eating together, kids playing in the neighborhood, being responsible for other peoples concerns and much more. Having common spaces also elevate the sense of community life in the neighborhood. Cohousing is an antidote to isolation and could save lives.

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TED Talk: How Cohousing Can Make Us Happier (And Live Longer) - CCT News

JEFFERSONVILLE For hundreds of Southern Indiana families, the Community Health Fair at Parkview Middle School couldnt have come at a better time.

As school season fast approaches, parents have to load shopping carts with school supplies while making room for everyday groceries. Throw health care on top of that, and some families have to make tough choices.

Chelsea and Victor Nichols, Clarksville, have three kids to shop for ahead of school. Even with two incomes, meeting the requirements can be tough.

And a lot of the stuff they require, they end up sharing with the classroom, so its like youre having to buy triple what you would normally have to buy for one kid, Chelsea said Saturday. And when you have a five-person family, its unfeasible no matter whether you work or not.

Thats why, luckily, a girlfriend of mine told me about this.

This was the sixth annual health fair organized by Eastside Christian Church and Community Action of Southern Indiana. More than an informational event, the fair and its hundreds of volunteers transformed Parkview into a temporary health clinic.

Families on lower incomes went through an intake process before being guided through the school by volunteer hosts. Each room was something different a pop-up eye doctors office, a library-turned-dentist office or even a spa.

The Nichols family mostly came for the free backpacks. Chelsea and Victors 10-year-old daughter, Nevaeh, picked out a backpack decorated with leopard spots.

Because I love big cats, she said with her cheeks perched on a smile.

Inside her new backpack, Nevaeh found glue sticks, notebooks, pencils and more. Chelsea said that alone could make all the difference.

It means everything, because I dont want my kids going to school feeling like, Oh I'm a poor kid because I couldn't afford everything we needed, she said. I don't want my kids to feel bad because we couldn't afford to buy three kids' worth of school supplies.

Health care is always on her mind, but Chelsea said she feels lucky to have her kids on Medicaid. She opted not to visit any of the makeshift clinics, wanting to leave more for the families who have less.

David Parkerson, an event coordinator and Eastside Christian Church pastor, said the timing of the fair is intentional. He knows families preparing to send their kids back to school have an even greater need. Last year, he said, about 250 families or approximately 755 people took advantage of the fair.

kids need glasses, kids need backpacks, kids may just need their teeth checked before going back to school, Parkerson said.

All of which could be taken care of Saturday thanks to the two organizations and around 360 volunteers. In addition to the volunteers from the church and surrounding communities, the fair also relies on medical professionals to donate their time and work.

Dan Brinegar, a local dentist, said about 30 people from the dental community volunteered their time to help adults and children with general checkups or longtime aches. Beyond the day of the fair, 20 area dentists donated a total of 90 free procedures for follow up appointments.

I think dental professionals enjoy coming to this because its a pretty rewarding day of dentistry. You really feel like youre able to help people, he said. So I dont have to beg people to come. A lot of times they seek me out to participate in this.

Brinegar said the clinic just wouldnt be possible without that kind of generosity.

Its the same kind of spirit that Parkerson said makes the event so special. Organizers will get to rest for about three months, but then it'll be back to getting ready for next year.

I just think its valuable when a government organization like Community Action and a faith organization like Eastside can come together and find common ground in a community, because were both after the same thing, he said. We both want to provide help and rest, and help peoples wellbeing in their everyday life.

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Southern Indiana families find much-needed support at Community Health Fair - Evening News and Tribune

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Facing Trumps proposals for cutting programs that help minorities and the poor, Democrats scramble to make up for missed opportunities to protect them.

Facing Trumps proposals for cutting programs that help minorities and the poor, Democrats scramble to make up for missed opportunities to protect them.

by Talia Buford ProPublica, July 24, 2017, 8 a.m.

Given how President Donald Trump has taken aim at the Environmental Protection Agency with regulatory rollbacks and deep proposed budget cuts, it may come as no surprise that the Office of Environmental Justice is on the chopping block.

This tiny corner of the EPA was established 24 years ago to advocate for minorities and the poor, populations most likely to face the consequences of pollution and least able to advocate for themselves.

It does so by acting as a middleman, connecting vulnerable communities with those who can help them. It heads a group that advises EPA officials about injustices and another that brings together representatives from other federal agencies and the White House to swap proposals.

When it works, all the talk leads to grants, policies and programs that change lives.

In the Arkwright and Forest Park communities in Spartanburg, South Carolina, residents were living near contaminated industrial sites and a landfill and dying of respiratory illnesses and cancer at extraordinary rates. They used a $20,000 environmental justice grant from the EPA as seed money to form partnerships with local businesses and government agencies. Those alliances, in turn, helped bring more than $250 million in infrastructure, community health centers, affordable housing, environmental cleanups and job training to the area.

Trumps budget proposal would effectively eliminate the office and the $2 million it takes to operate it. An EPA spokesperson suggested in a statement that the agency doesnt need a special arm devoted to environmental justice to continue this work.

Environmental justice is an important role for all our program offices, in addition to being a requirement in all rules EPA issues, the statement said. We will work with Congress to help develop and implement programs and continue to work within the Agency to evaluate new ideas to properly address environmental justice issues on an agency-wide basis.

In theory, this is right. Federal agencies are required to consider the impacts of environmental and health-related decisions on the poor and minorities anyway President Bill Clinton mandated they do so in an executive order. But, in practice, that order was vague and didnt carry the force of law, leaving each president to decide how little, or how much, to do.

Now, with the Office of Environmental Justices fate in doubt, its become achingly apparent that well before Trump, those who purported to champion environmental justice primarily Democratic legislators and presidents did little to codify the progress and programs related to it, even when they were best positioned politically to do so.

We havent done enough, acknowledged Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.

Booker and other Democrats are racing to file bills that save the Office of Environmental Justice and similar initiatives on an emergency basis, though they know they have little chance of success.

Theres no time like the present for doing what is right, Booker said. We cant wait.

The concept of environmental justice began bubbling up toward the end of the civil rights movement. But it wasnt until 1982 that it began to really take hold.

Thats when residents in the town of Afton in Warren County, North Carolina, mounted mass demonstrations against a landfill where the state planned to dump contaminated soil. The dirt was laced with toxins called polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, a now-banned substance that even then, the EPA knew to cause birth defects and potentially cancer.

We know why they picked us, the Rev. Luther G. Brown, pastor of Coley Springs Baptist Church, said at the time. Its because its a poor county poor politically, poor in health, poor in education and because its mostly black. Nobody thought people like us would make a fuss.

The protests and subsequent lawsuits didnt stop the landfill; in the years since, the site has actually expanded. But the uproar was enough to spark Congress attention.

In 1983, a government report found that three of the four landfills it examined were located in some of the regions poorest or predominantly black communities. In 1987, a more expansive survey by the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice found that nationally, hazardous waste facilities were more likely to be located in predominantly minority communities.

These were invisible problems in invisible communities until they organized themselves and started to have their own dialogue with EPA, said Vernice Miller-Travis, a former member of the advisory council convened by the Office of Environmental Justice.

Pressure was mounting for the government to act.

In 1990, the EPA took a look at its policies, for the first time examining environmental risks through the lens of race and class. It issued a report in 1992 that found that EPA should give more explicit attention to environmental equity issues, collect better data, revise its enforcement and permitting programs, and communicate more with communities of color.

Its worth noting, this was a hot moment in American politics. President George H.W. Bush, a Republican, was defending his place in the White House against a young Democratic governor named Bill Clinton. The tenor of the debate was radically different from the most recent election; these candidates argued over who was a better environmentalist.

Bush announced the creation of the Office of Environmental Equity, which would evolve into todays Office of Environmental Justice. Its purpose in the 1990s was the same as it is today: Listen to communities, get their concerns in front of policymakers, funnel grant money into local projects. We have been negligent, Clarice Gaylord, the offices first director told the St. Petersburg Times. Now we will have to focus more on how we affect people.

Bush lost the election, but his replacement pushed forward on environmental justice, moving the mission beyond that one EPA office.

Clinton signed an executive order in 1994 requiring federal agencies to consider environmental justice in all of their policies. He established policies that would allow people the right to participate in decisions that impacted them and ordered an analysis of health and environmental impacts for projects seeking federal permits. He also declared environmental injustice a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act the same law that sought to end segregation in schools. Now, communities could ask the EPA to investigate environmental discrimination. EPA could strip violators of funding until they got in line.

I think its important for people to understand that this is a first step, EPA Administrator Carol Browner said at the time. There are many, many more steps to come if we are really going to address the problems that these communities are raising.

In hindsight, this might have been the time to take additional steps.

For the first six years, lawyers were unclear on exactly how much power the executive order gave the EPA to enforce environmental justice via existing laws, like the Clean Air Act. A legal opinion eventually resolved that issue, but a broader problem remained: The executive order was more of a philosophical guide than a rigid list of requirements. Some have wondered, looking back, whether the language directing administrations to enforce environmental justice to the greatest extent practicable could have been stronger or more specific.

Those invested in environmental justice would soon learn just how much rode on the sitting president.

George W. Bush didnt approach environmental issues like his father.

In addition to walking back arsenic standards for drinking water and refusing to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the younger Bushs administration began to erode environmental justice programs.

Clintons executive order required every federal agency to consider the health and environmental impacts policies had on minority and low-income communities. Under Bush, the focus shifted to ensuring protections for all people. The EPA inspector general rebuked that position in a 2004 report, saying that reversing the emphasis on vulnerable communities had led to confusion, a lack of consistency and return[ed] the Agency to pre-Executive Order status.

In 2006, the inspector general found that the EPA wasnt conducting environmental justice reviews of its policies and programs, nor had it developed a framework to do so. The EPA office charged with policing environmental discrimination ground to a halt, amassing a backlog that stretched for a decade.

The weakness of the executive order prompted Democratic legislators to sponsor bills almost every year to legally establish the advisory groups created under the executive order, force the EPA to abide by the IG report recommendations, and give citizens the right to sue under Title VI for environmental discrimination. The bills were often championed by Democratic heavyweights Sens. John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, and Reps. Hilda Solis and Mark Udall but even when Democrats held the most power in Congress, they never came close to passing.

Theres not been an environmental justice bill thats ever been put to a floor vote, said Albert Huang, director of environmental justice at the National Resources Defense Council.

Politically, its a very attractive issue to introduce legislation around because it threads so many needles: civil rights, environment, social justice, low-income so many issues, said Huang. But for those same reasons, its a lightning rod for moderates and conservatives because those issues are viewed as the most progressive and liberal of each of those topics.

By 2007, it was becoming clear that the promise of environmental justice was stalled. The United Church of Christ updated its toxic waste report and found that 20 years later, little had changed.

Then, Barack Obama was elected. Hed promised in his campaign to resurrect civic environmental responsibility and to prioritize remediation efforts in neglected communities so that living daily with extreme environmental pollution and health risks will be a condition of the past.

His administration raised the profile of the Office of Environmental Justice, audited the Office of Civil Rights and eliminated a backlog of cases against polluters (though it drew criticism from those who said it hadnt done enough).

It also took a laundry list of other incremental steps: developed strategic plans for environmental justice and enforcing civil rights, issued a case-resolution manual to guide investigations, and created a compliance toolkit to help state agencies stay within the bounds of the law. The administration added a senior adviser for environmental justice, who participated in high-level meetings at the EPA and advocated for vulnerable communities in major budget and policy decisions.

But the Obama years also featured plenty of missed opportunities.

Obama could have created an Office of Environmental Justice at the White House or installed senior advisers focused on the issue at every agency not just the EPA to help guide policy. He didnt.

And during the two years Democrats controlled the House, the Senate and the White House, they didnt file a single bill focused on strengthening environmental justice protections like the ones filed during the Bush administration.

The one big swing on the environment front came in 2009, with the American Clean Energy and Security Act, commonly known as the Waxman-Markey bill or cap-and-trade. It was the first major legislative effort to address climate change by placing limits on the amount of greenhouse gases facilities could emit, and allowing them to buy credits to offset overruns. It passed the House narrowly, but died in the Senate, as legislators focused their political capital on health care reform. When Democrats lost seats in 2010, the prospect for passing major environmental legislation faded.

There were other ways lawmakers could have pushed to protect or even expand environmental justice initiatives. They could have offered up amendments on federal spending bills that required withholding of funds from any jurisdiction that didnt prioritize environmental justice, similar to riders Rep. Adam C. Powell Jr. proposed for school districts that refused to desegregate.

But when it comes to environmental justice, legislative efforts have tended to be reactive, not proactive.

The one environmental justice law proposed during the Obama administration came with the end of his presidency in sight.

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., introduced the Environmental Justice Act in February 2016, with the presidential campaign in full swing and Donald Trump thanks to a spree of primary wins emerging as the GOP frontrunner. Even then, the EPA was emerging as a potential target for cuts and regulatory changes.

Mr. Speaker, Lewis said on the House floor, introducing the measure, there is still much work to be done.

But that bill, like the others that came before it, went nowhere.

Six months into the Trump administration, environmental regulation and enforcement is in broad retreat.

Changes at the EPA have made it easier to dump coal-mining waste in waterways, spew greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere and spray a pesticide that has been found to damage the developing brains of children.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has banned settlements in cases that allowed companies to fund community projects not directly related to their violations. For example, when Harley Davidson was cited for selling equipment that polluted the air, it agreed to give $3 million to an American Lung Association program to help people replace wood stoves with cleaner appliances a move toward clean air that was unrelated to motorcycles, but wouldve helped low-income homeowners. Last week, the Department of Justice said it didnt have to pay.

Any settlement funds should go first to the victims and then to the American people not to bankroll third-party special interest groups or the political friends of whoever is in power, Sessions said when he announced the policy last month.

Key members of the administration have sharply different views on environmental justice than their Obama administration predecessors. Trumps nominated top environmental prosecutor Jeffrey Bossert Clark who defended BP against state claims arising from that same oil spill once called environmental justice an overstepping crusade.

In addition to shutting down the Office of Environmental Justice, the proposed budget reduces funding for civil and criminal enforcement of environmental laws, and directs the agency to curtail enforcement inspections as much as possible.

The proposal prompted the head of the environmental justice office, Mustafa Santiago Ali, to resign in March. The cuts send a message that the opinions and lives of those who live in vulnerable communities arent valued a message thats clearly intentional, Ali said.

These are not dumb people leading the agency, Ali said of the Trump administrations choices at the EPA. You may not agree with how they do business, but they have a strategy. You weaken policy development when you dont have an Office of Environmental Justice to play a role in that space.

Youre placing communities health at risk, and most people dont get that, he continued. When youre building a house, if you start pulling bricks out of the foundation, it will weaken and eventually, a collapse will happen.

The White House did not respond to questions from ProPublica about the proposal to cut the office or the presidents position on the federal governments role in issues of environmental justice. A House Appropriations bill currently awaiting a floor vote proposes a less drastic cut for the EPA.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who was a longtime opponent of the agency, hasnt explicitly articulated an approach to environmental justice, but his public statements prior to taking the agencys reins echo those of the Bush administration.

I agree that it is important that all Americans be treated equally under the law, he said in written responses to questions raised during his confirmation hearing, including the environmental laws.

The language sounds fair on its face, said Huang, of NRDC, but ignores that environmental harm is not experienced equally by all communities.

Theyre saying environmental justice is for everybody, regardless of your race, he said. Its like saying All Lives Matter but for environmental justice.

Communities have already done the work of proving that minorities and the poor bear more environmental costs than others, Miller-Travis said. Do we have to do that again? Will they accept that data or will we have to go back to everybody is in harms way which is where they started?

Early statistics suggest that Trumps administration may be less stringent on environmental enforcement than his most recent predecessors.

The EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance investigates cases of potential environmental crimes cases, then turns them over to the Department of Justice for prosecution.

Its unclear how many cases the EPAs enforcement arm referred to the Justice Department, but in the first four months of the Trump administration, 133 environmental cases have been prosecuted. By comparison, 315 cases were prosecuted in the first four months under George W. Bush and 171 in the first four months under Obama.

Trumps nominee for head of EPA enforcement, Susan Parker Bodine, a former lobbyist and head of the Office of Solid Waste under Bush, offered her support of environmental justice initiatives during her confirmation hearing.

Yes, I will be a champion for communities of color and communities of poverty, she said.

But Clark, whod decide whether to prosecute the cases Bodine investigated, has been less sympathetic. Clark served as Mitt Romneys energy policy advisor in the 2012 campaign and is a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group.

During a 2010 Federalist Society panel, Clark said the EPAs environmental justice focus overstepped its boundaries and that locating a facility in a low-income neighborhood isnt the same as racial or gender discrimination. That is just not an equation that works, Clark said. And I think actually most of the people who live in those areas now would say if theres a new plant opportunity, bring it on.

Former DOJ officials and colleagues spoke positively of Clarks legal abilities and dismissed concerns that his personal beliefs would filter to his work. At his confirmation hearing, Clark wasnt asked explicitly about environmental justice, but generally defended his ability to be impartial. When in private practice, if you have a client, your job is to defend them, Clark said. I dont think [my past work will] affect my general ability to enforce federal law.

Clark declined an interview request from ProPublica, as did Pruitt. Bodine did not respond to an e-mail requesting an interview.

Just as they did under Bush, Democrats under Trump are once again filing bills to try to preserve environmental justice initiatives.

In the House, two bills proposed in May by three freshmen representatives would create an environmental justice czar in the presidents office and establish by law the Office of Environmental Justice at the EPA. The legislation, and a resolution on the importance of environmental justice, is an extension of the work Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, California Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragan and Virginia Rep. A. Donald McEachin did before coming to Congress.

Were still trying on numerous levels ... to bring forward the disproportionate burden communities of color face and the institutionalized racism that exists within our systems of government, Jayapal said. Its not easy to talk about, but its true. If we want to address environmental justice, we have to recognize that not all people are suffering equally.

The U.S. military burns millions of pounds of munitions in a tiny, African-American corner of Louisiana. The towns residents say theyre forgotten in the plume. Read the story.

A photographer who covered the war in Iraq appreciates how threats can come to seem routine. Read the story.

Twenty-two Democratic senators signed a letter in May asking for the Appropriations Committee to override Trumps budget and fund EPAs civil rights and environmental justice offices, saying the cuts are putting all Americans at risk, and especially those Americans who bear a disproportionate burden of exposures to pollution.

These communities have long been suffering under unconscionable conditions, said Booker, one of the signatories. Were not doing enough to stop this evil.

Booker expects to introduce an environmental justice bill after Labor Day, and while the contours are still murky, the legislation is being guided by conversations with advocates and people dealing with environmental hazards, and by his own visits to hog farms in North Carolina and landfills in Alabama.

Public support for environmental justice efforts has gotten a boost from the Flint water crisis and the Standing Rock protests, which raised awareness. This could encourage more legislators to push back against proposed cuts to the EPA, advocates said.

But depending on how the bill is structured, it could open up settled law and make a target of some existing protections, said environmental justice consultant Miller-Travis.

I wouldnt want to give them a chance to look at amending the Clean Air Act, Miller-Travis said. I dont trust these people. Were in a defensive posture. Were trying to defend that which we have. I would be elated to be proven wrong at the end of the day, but its going to take every ounce of integrity, resources, muscle to defend and hold onto the rights we have so painstakingly worked to achieve.

Republicans have sought to add language or otherwise prohibit funding for environmental justice initiatives in at least 13 bills since 2006. In February, Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, re-introduced his Wasteful EPA Programs Elimination Act, which would cut 13 programs including the environmental justice office and close EPA field offices. The goal, Johnson told ProPublica, is to save taxpayers money and reduce the size of a government agency that has grown too big for its britches. Much of the work of the EPA, including environmental justice, Johnson said, would be better handled by states.

The political climate makes it difficult for proponents of environmental justice to be optimistic.

Unfortunately, for the last 20 years, weve been in a period of trying to find the right political moment when the stars align so that you might be able to get a bill through Congress, said Miller-Travis. Is this a moment when I think we can get something passed that expands civil rights and equal protection? I dont think this is that moment. That doesnt mean we wont try.

Talia Buford covers disparities in environmental impacts for ProPublica.

Read the rest here:

Has the Moment for Environmental Justice Been Lost? - ProPublica

Microsoft has organized a five-year plan to bring the Internet to rural America. The corporate giant has pledged to grant Internet access for 2 million Americans. Additionally, Microsoft is aiming to encourage additional phone companies to spread broadband accessibility to the whole 23.4 million Americans living in rural areas without Internet connection.

As of 2016, the Internet is used on a daily basis by 70% of Americans. Easily accessible by many and a source of information on-the-go, the modern use of the Internet could very well be compared to the pre-modern use of the public library system.

Because its used by so many as a way of communicating information and knowledge to one another, the intentional obstruction of Internet access to civilians has been dubbed a violation of human rights according to the United Nations.

However, many Americans are not barred from Internet access intentionally. Many Americans living in poverty are unable to access the Internet because they cannot afford it. And for those in rural areas of the United States, it just simply isnt available.

NPR reports, In some rural areas, parents have to drive their kids to the parking lot of the local library so their kids can file homework. In 2017, not being online hurts your education, your job prospects, your civic engagement. It also increases your chances of identity theft. In 2016, one in 16 Americans were victims of identity theft, a crime which benefits more from the theft of physical documents than the theft of personal information stored online.

NPR reports that Microsoft previously opted out of transmitting broadband data in rural American areas because of the lack of profit that would result from such a business venture. However, it seems Microsoft has had a change of heart.

We perhaps looked less than we should have at what was happening in rural America, says Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, to NPR. We went overseas, and thats a good thing. We should be around the world. But we also should be focused on our own backyards.

The corporation is planning to utilize technology called TV white spaces, which is a more affordable technology that runs on a wireless spectrum as a means of transmitting broadband data. Closing the Internet gap between rural and urban areas, according to Microsoft, would cost up to $10 billion. However, this is 80% less expensive than if the company chose to use a more expensive infrastructure.

Microsoft has begun speaking with the Federal Communications Commission, headed by chairman Ajit Pai, and has asked them to not only guide politicians in the right direction regarding the rural initiative, but also to collect the necessary data on the broadband coverage of rural American areas. While one should always hesitate to be optimistic about anything in our nations capital these days, says Smith, I do think there is a cause for optimism around this.

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Microsoft To Bring Internet Access To Rural American Communities - The Lafayette Sun