Category Archives: Intentional Communities

That hasnt been for lack of effort. Just lack of political capital. Citizens advocating for a polluter pays model have as their enemy some of the most powerful lobbying groups in the region, including the Ohio Farm Bureau, whose spending reaches into the hundreds of thousands of dollars per election cycle, and multinational oil companies with fracking interests in the state.

Likewise, the slow-moving administrative state has stymied local activists again and again. The Clean Water Act is a clunky instrument for addressing diffuse pollution. It took a federal lawsuit for the EPA to designate Lake Erie as impaired. The resulting assessment, even as it concludes that Lake Erie is over-polluted, will not have teeth to enforce any nutrient reductions until policymakers say so.

So in 2019, the city of Toledo pulled a hail mary: they made Lake Erie into a legal person and proposed to protect her with irrevocable rights to exist, flourish and naturally evolve, reads the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, known among its supporters as LEBOR (LEE-bore).

Markie Miller, the main organizer behind the bill, began the effort after the 2014 water crisis. In the wake of the emergency, citizen panic had turned to anger and urgency.

We thought, Wait a minute, the citys been monitoring the situation? Why are people hearing about it for the first time? Miller said. It felt unlikely that we were going to succeed going though systems that had already been in place. [The crisis] happened on their watch. We needed something different.

LEBOR was always a long shot. On paper, LEBOR was intended to give rights to Lake Erie. But as a legal document, it would have shifted leverage to protect those rights to individual citizens. Ordinarily, individual citizens have no legal standing to sue unless they can causally link a direct injury to a single polluter. LEBOR was engineered as a response to this collective action problem.

While previous efforts to give legal personhood to natural resources have sprung up around the world, from Bangladesh to Bolivia, so-called rights of nature laws are few and far between in the U.S., and they have largely failed outside of tribal courts. Even its community champions knew that.

Nonetheless, when the LEBOR special election was held in February 2019, 60 percent of Toledons voted their approval despite an opposition campaign backed by the Texas-based oil company, BP North America. The victory was short-lived. A farm operation successfully sued to stop LEBORs enforcement the day after the election.

The whole point was to be challenging. It was our way of confronting those laws and those systems. That was very intentional, because we want things done differently, Miller said.

It came as little surprise when, in 2020, the bill was struck down in federal court for being overly vague. The bills standards may trap the innocent by not providing fair warning, the decision read, and invite arbitrary enforcement by prosecutors, judges and juries.

As a material game-changer, LEBOR was a failure. But it represented the hope and frustration of a community for whom all other means of advocacy had failed. For Miller and LEBOR supporters, it was a meaningful, if utterly fleeting, moment of empowerment.

It had major legal issues, but conceptually it was a good idea, said Schroeck, the environmental lawyer. Its the kind of creative thinking needed to solve the problem.

Indeed, with LEBOR long gone, that is the question once again facing the people on the front lines of the algae blooms: how to flip the leverage back to citizens. The question has less to do with the environment, and more to do with political power, and its bearing on the age-old question of who pays the cost of pollution. Having experienced the damages on the front lines, the two Smith women believe that a solution must start with giving frontline communities a seat at the table.

The majority can no longer be the majority of individuals who have a voice. It has to be the majority for what is fair, just, and doable, says Alicia Smith. That is what the Lake Erie Bill of Rights was asking for: a just engagement for all people.

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Lake Erie's Failed Algae Strategy Hurts Poor Communities the Most - Circle of Blue

Growing up, Jesi Gutierrez found refuge in books. Gutierrez would disappear into stories to escape the reality of being homeless, couch surfing and sometimes sleeping in a car with family.

Today, Gutierrez is still surrounded by books, not to get away, but to provide a similar refuge for others. Though modest and indiscreet in appearance, Liblula Books & Co., the bookstore Gutierrez co-owns with their partner, Celi Hernandez, in Barrio Logan, is having a big impact on the community.

The one-year-old bookstore located on South 26th Street inside a century-old building has not only become a hub for literacy and arts education thats diverse and intersectional.

Gutierrez and Hernandez never imagined that their quaint little book shop would rapidly become a popular community hangout, but it has. On any given day of the week, people walk in and out of the shop. Young kids in the LGBTQ community have turned to the bookstore as a safe space, and on some occasions, their parents, too.

Weve had kids come in here and feel comfortable and be themselves, Hernandez said. Weve had kids come out to us here in this space, and weve had parents seeking answers about their children coming out and wanting to know more through books.

I wish I had a space like this growing up, Hernandez added.

Liblula is filled with publications one would be hard pressed to find anywhere else in the city. The maze of shelves that line the shops walls from top to bottom are overflowing with texts that cover an eclectic array of topics such as art, poetry, LGBTQ literature, graphic novels, feminism, grassroots organizing, and social justice-driven nonfiction works. Gutierrez and Hernandez have done their best to curate an inventory within the shop of various publications that feature an emphasis on Indigenous, Black, and Chicano history and narratives.

Diez Costa, who runs a book club at Liblula, said the ability for visitors to see themselves reflected in the books on the shelves and the people who run the space is significant. Costa is the co-leader of the San Diego LGBTQ Latine Coalition, a volunteer program of San Diego Pride that organizes events and performs outreach specifically to the Latine LGBTQ community.

When youre going to explore topics of your sexuality I think its very warming and welcoming to have someone of a similar identity greet you at the door, Costa said.

Liblula is intersectional in a variety of other ways, particularly given its location in the historically Mexican-American neighborhood of Barrio Logan. The staff is bilingual and the shop is stocked with both Spanish and English titles for both bilingual and monolingual speakers alike.

A lot of Latino book stores oftentimes only speak Spanish and theyre losing a whole demographic because a lot of people are Latino identifying but may not speak Spanish, Costa said.

Gutierrez said the fact that the bookstore serves more as a community resource is not lost on them. The pair built a little free library at the shop where anyone can grab a free book, use free Wi-Fi and a communal laptop that neighborhood residents can use, and host peer tutoring at the shop.

Im so proud of all the parents, they come in really seeking information to better understand and how to show up for their kiddos that are maybe having questions about themselves, gender expression and about different aspects of their identity, Gutierrez said.

Although owning a bookstore that also doubles as a community space wasnt something that the co-owners set out to do originally, the pair decided to go for it and since then have organically responded to what best serves the needs of the community.

Were very intentional on serving the community, Hernandez said, Were in Barrio Logan right down the street from Chicano Park, and here in the community you see Black and Brown people. We make sure we serve our community with subjects and titles on our shelves that are important and relevant.

Since opening last summer, Liblula Books & Co. has hosted a variety of artist spotlights, author talks, poetry readings, class visits, small music shows, workshops and teach-ins. Its not unusual to see both local and out-of-town authors, poets, and artists make surprise visits to the shop; guests have included authors and poets such as Beatrice Zamora, Bob Dominguez, Polaris Castillo, Matt Sedillo, among others.

Vianney Harelly, an artist and self-published author originally from Tijuana, who now resides in San Francisco, recently showcased her second book, The Plants Are Burning, at Liblula.

Harelly reached out to Liblula in hopes that the shop would carry her book and said she was immediately greeted with kindness and enthusiasm.

It is so important to be able to find safe spaces where one can be vulnerable and creative in a society that encourages the opposite, Harelly said. It is especially important for any members of marginalized communities who are estranged from their families or mainstream society to find groups and places that remind them of how much they are loved, seen and heard. I have always said I write for myself but also for people like me. Bookstores have been my safe space and haven since I was a little girl.

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How a Small Bookstore Created a Big Space for Community, LGBTQ Youth - Voice of San Diego

$65 billion - the biggest federal investment in connectivity since 1956 and the Interstate Highway System - is ready to be spent on broadband. States are gearing up to dole it outand bring high-speed internet access to over 24 millionAmericans without it or unable to afford available services. Broadband access in unserved and underserved communities has the potential to spur innovation, create jobs and develop more equitable and prosperous communities. It may be our only chance to close the digital dividebefore it gets too big to handle. We need to get it right.

Everyone in the business of broadband, from private companies to municipalities and even non-profits, must make sure it can operate, generate revenue and be profitable enough to sustain the industry without another government donation. We have the money to build out broadband, but this is only the first step. Now, we have to make intentional decisions about how we spend it to yield the benefits we want it to bring, not just for us but for generations to come. Then, we implement the best solutions to take us there.

We need to consider more than just the cost behind broadband buildouts and think about what we hope to accomplish with such a historic investment and what comes next. We need skilled peopleto design mechanisms that fix, maintain and innovate broadband networks and ensure they are built to scale as communities grow. Remote work is already drawing businesses and individualsto smaller towns and cities offering incentivesand a more affordable life. Broadband can level the rural/urban playing field of opportunities, but as the industry becomes more competitive, speedwill be what determines long-term success. Population growth and competitive speeds will drive innovation and economic benefitsfor more communities and future-proof their success.

Various grounded and wireless technologies will be critical to supporting future visions of ubiquitous connectivity and the benefits it will bring, including fiber. Business and public leaders are uniting around the supremacy of fiberto future-proof the growth of 5G and successor wireless technologies that will allow AI, automation and robotics to revolutionize industries. For small carriers, bringing mobile and industrial 5G to less populated areas would be financially prohibitive, and larger providers prioritize bringing service into areas that can generate profit. But with an underground fiber infrastructure, smaller companies have more capabilities to tap into it as a backhaulto extend strong wireless signals to more of those places.

Depending on the community, broadband spending solutions will be different. For some regions, it will make sense to disable the legacy infrastructure (and in a way that avoids harming the environment), like cities where raceways of old cable, telephone and electrical wiresclutter up the underground. Smaller towns and unconnected regions that have no need to consider this expense can spend those funds in other ways that better suit their community.

We need to leverage existing coverage mapsfrom public and private sources to know which communities need what to identify where we can connect to nearby networks and where we need to build something new. Smaller areas with less population density can work together to bring broadband to their communities through creative partnershipswith neighboring providers, local leaders and experts in the industry, even without having to build out networks themselves. Working with local businesses, co-ops and other group initiatives can result in innovative solutions from the ground upthat best serve their communitys needs.

As universal broadband closes the digital divide and revitalizes rural communities, we need to take steps to sustain those benefits for the next 50 years with the healthy evolution of broadband industries - this implies fierce competition. Competitionkeeps prices affordable for consumers, expands product ranges and innovation, increases wages and improves working conditions for employees, resulting in a snowball effect on the greater economy. Competition drives investments and improvements so that broadband continues to be what we want long into the future.

The broadband industry needs competition to sustain itself into a future that no longer needs federal financial injections. Without the threat of losing customers, companies can stagnate, no longer improve in what they deliver, and the subscriber experience will suffer. Without competition driving the industry, broadband opportunities in underserved areas will decline, compounding existing problems instead of solving them. For communities with less-dense populations that are most dependent on government funds to get off the ground and running, competition will be key.

This investment is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and our first chance will likely be our only one. Even though weve made mistakes in the past, now is the chance to learn from them. Just like the initiative to bring electricityto all American homes, this historic investment can transform our society into what we want broadband to be. To do this, we need to carefully consider not only capital expenditures but operational expenditures required to sustain that transformation long into the future.

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How to Future-Proof a $65 Billion Broadband Investment Featured - The Fast Mode

Representation matters, which is why the Hispanic Alliance of Southeastern Connecticut staff reflects the community.

NEW LONDON, Conn. FOX61 sat down with one organization in New London, Hispanic Alliance of Southeastern Connecticut, to learn how it's made significant waves in the Hispanic community for over two decades. in the Hispanic community for over two decades.

It's a vision that came to fruition to advance Hispanic contributions in the nutmeg state by bringing communities together through various initiatives, events, and more.

"We aim for a thriving community where the well-being and their voice and representation are heard, validated, and implemented at all levels," explained Maria Amparo Cruz-Saco, secretary of the Hispanic Alliance of Southeastern Connecticut.

Cruz-Saco's late husband, Alejandro Melendez-Cooper, had the vision to create a support network for immigrants in the greater New London area and address the needs of the Hispanic community head-on. It was then that the Hispanic Alliance of Southeastern Connecticut was created.

"We have very structured and very specific clearly identified well, designed intentional programs with certain goals," said Cruz-Saco.

Cruz-Saco said the organization is also meant for people to feel like they belong.

"It's something that fills us with a lot of pride because that's what we like to transmit," said Cruz-Saco. "You do belong. There's no membership fee to be paid. This is an open space."

Cruz-Saco stressed that representation matters, which is why the Hispanic Alliance of Southeastern Connecticut staff reflects the community.

On top of having bilingual staff, she said the space also provides access and opportunity for those in the Hispanic community. From initiatives and scholarships to networking, economic support, and health advocacy, Cruz-Saco said there's so much the organization does for the community.

"The community here has grown in an unbelievable way," explained Lina Agudelo, Executive Director.

Agudelo said as the Hispanic population grows in the New London area, so does the organization's reach and mission.

"There are many different groups from many different countries that we would love to welcome to our organization, and we also want to continue developing our current projects, which will empower every single part of our generations," said Agudelo.

Raquel Harrington is the race and culture reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached atrharrington@fox61.com. Follow her onFacebook,TwitterandInstagram.

Have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us atnewstips@fox61.com

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Hispanic Alliance of Southeastern Connecticut provides an open space for community members - FOX61 Hartford

(PHOTO PROVIDED BY ALEXANDER CARTWRIGHT)

As president of the University of Central Florida, Alexander Cartwright is a living example of the role education can play in a persons success. He came to UCF in April 2020 from his chancellor position at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Even more significant was that Cartwright was the first in his family to receive a college education. He has a passion for opening pathways to success for anybody willing to put in the work. Universities continue to find new ways to broaden our ability to serve our communities, expanding beyond education to fuel economic prosperity through innovations, partnerships, and discoveries that impact society, he explains. As an educator, Cartwright finds no more significant cause to fight than education for all. It can have a generational impact. By providing the opportunity for every student to learn and growwith a focus on removing barriers and boosting achievementwe can help more individuals reach their full potential, he says. Downtime is a rare commodity for an educator in his position. But when he finds himself with the odd free moment, Cartwright prefers to spend it with his family, including his wife, Melinda, and dog Artemis.

(ROBERTO GONZALEZ)

Teresa Jacobs began serving her community long before she ran for public office. She was a member of transportation boards such as the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority and MetroPlan Orlando, to name two. With active involvement in her four childrens PTAs and school advisory boards came a focus on the importance of education. And so Jacobs, who had served two terms as Orange County mayor, was named chair of the Orange County School Board in 2018.

She believes that the most important thing children need to succeed today is to become adaptive, critical thinkers. Our world is changing so rapidlyfrom technology to the economythat our students will need these skills to remain relevant in the workforce and to find opportunities in every change, Jacobs says.

Essential to that, she says, is proper funding for public schools. Public schools need enough funding to guarantee wages that motivate people to continue to enter and stay in the teaching profession. Public schools need sufficient funding to hire bus drivers to transport our children safely to and from school every day and to pay our food-service providers to prepare healthy meals for the thousands of children whose only healthy meals are the ones they receive at school. I continue to advocate for additional funding from the state.

(ROBERTO GONZALEZ)

Dr. Kathleen Plinske took the phrase never stop learning and made an entire career out of just that. After attending the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy and receiving a full-ride scholarship to attend Indiana University, Dr. Plinske realized what a gift she had been given and wanted to advocate that others receive the same opportunities by utilizing her talents. Starting her career at her hometown community college, McHenry County College in Illinois, she worked to advocate that education is for everyone. Named president of Valencia College in July 2021, Dr. Plinske is surrounded by brilliant minds learning to shape the future. Her career advice is to be intentional about maintaining your humilityno one has a monopoly on wisdom. Practice being a good listener. And never stop learning. These are some wise words to follow.

(PHOTO PROVIDED BY DR. GEORGIA LORENZ)

The third president to lead Seminole State College in its 50-plus years, Georgia Lorenz firmly believes that academics and workforce training pair well in higher education.Lorenz is working on expanding programs needed for students to gain employment in high-demand fields such as cybersecurity. Working closely with Seminole County Public Schools has been a priority for Lorenz, because together we can ensure that every student finds a pathway to success. In 2021, Lorenz earned an Aspen New Presidents Fellowship, created to support presidents early in their tenure. The college has been named one of 25 semifinalists for the $1 million 2023 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Lorenz says the school has a mission to work with underserved communities and students with jobs. If most students have to work at least part-time while attending college, then Seminole State will engage in organizational change to create the best conditions for success for those students.

(PHOTO PROVIDED BY GARRY JONES)

In 1978, Garry Jones packed all his stuff into his 74 Pinto wagon and drove 330 miles from Virginia to Ohio. Jones had signed up for a studios monthlong workshop on recording engineering and halfway through accepted an offer from the owner, Jon Phelps, to become an assistant sound engineer. The gig paid $9,000 a year.

It was a brilliant move, literally.

Phelps, who became one of Jones closest friends, would eventually launch Full Sail Productions in Orlando in 1979 and bring his buddy along for the ride. Renamed Full Sail University, the private, for-profit school moved to its current campus in Winter Park in 1989. Full Sail offers one-stop shopping for students looking to fuel their artistic muse through graduate and undergraduate degrees in entertainment, media, arts, and emerging technology.

Jones, 69, has been president of Full Sail since 1999. If I were to speak of what legacy I would like to leave behind, it would reflect the schools mission statement, which is to support the students dream, he says. From the beginning, we told our students, if you are serious about your dreams, we will take your dreams seriously. I like to keep that at the forefront of all our decisions.

(ROBERTO GONZALEZ)

Dr. Deborah German is a physician, an educator, and an administrator. She works with students, faculty, staff, and the community to build the medical school and advance UCFs mission in Lake Nona. Dr. German reached back to the very beginning of her career to present a remarkable gift to the 41 students of UCF Medical Schools inaugural class: Full scholarships for each. Since I had been given such a scholarship, it was a way to give our students what had been given to me, she says. Dr. German says its impossible for her to name a single mentor. I consider everyone I meet to be my teacher, she says, noting: As I face lifes challenges, I am inspired by If by Rudyard Kipling and Do It Anyway by Mother Teresa.

(PHOTO PROVIDED BY WENDY BRANDON)

When HCA Florida Healthcare broke ground on UCF Lake Nona Medical Center in 2018, company officials couldnt have guessed their new teaching hospital would open amid a pandemic. But in March 2021, it did, with Wendy Brandon at the helm. The executive would bring over two decades of practical experience, including ten years as CEO of the 221-bed HCA Florida Lake Monroe Hospital, and a vision for innovative healthcare. We were extremely fortunate that even after experiencing a year of challenges brought on by the global pandemic, weve inspired over 300 professionals to join our team, she says. Our hospital has been selected to be HCA Healthcares first Innovation Hub, where the future of healthcare is being built through clinically led integration of technology into careproducing better outcomes, efficiently delivered and digitally enabled. When asked who inspires her: I can never adequately express my gratitude to my parents, Ann and Jerry. They shared their faith, sacrificed for my education, and gave me the confidence to go out into the world to pursue my dreams.

(PHOTO PROVIDED BY DR. CORNWELL)

Gorgeous architecture, home to a world-class orchestral and choral society, and the areas only museum with Old Master paintings; we are talking about Rollins College in Winter Park, of course, presided over by Dr. Grant Cornwell. Inside Rollins Spanish-Mediterranean Revival walls, one will find an interdisciplinary approach to education with an emphasis on the experiential. Rollins 15th president oversees a faculty that prioritizes critical thought. Our nations knowledge economy is vitally in need of a sophisticated, well-educated workforce, notes Cornwell, who earned a doctorate in philosophy. But the role of higher education is deeper still: Since the Founding Fathers, we have built the nation on the insight that democracy works only with an informed, educated citizenry, he says. Cornwell, who has led Rollins since 2015, is an avid sailor, having learned the art while a dual-major undergrad at St. Lawrence University in New York. It would seem he was a natural fit for Rollins, whose mascot is the Tar, a sailor. (Yes, we Googled it.)

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50 Most Powerful in Orlando 2022: Education - Orlando Magazine

Nebraska Senator Justin Wayne along with a special committee dedicated to distributing a large portion of $355 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding wants residents in North and South Omaha to be part of the process when it comes to ARPA funds distribution.

"Were hopefully providing guideposts for the future," Wayne said. "Whats different about anything else is were asking the community to solve its own problems."

The first of four public hearings on the matter was held Monday at the Metropolitan Community College South Omaha campus. Some residents came in with plans on how theyd best like to use a portion of the money to benefit their respective communities.

Itzel Lopez, a South Omaha resident and board president of the Latino Economic Development Council, said she presented a plan to improve the Plaza De La Raza area near South 24th and N Streets as well as adding a community center and mixed-use facility in the area.

North Omaha resident and young business owner A'Ron Burns said he hopes to use a portion of the funds to acquire land to use toward business development.

Others said they hoping the funding will go towards addressing social issues.

"We need affordable housing," Donna Vaughn, North Omaha resident said. "I would like to also see some of that money go to transcendental meditation and community gardens so we can feed each other."

All are deeply engaged in the process and understand that an opportunity like this doesnt come every day.

Residents said they want to be intentional about where the funding goes, to provide the best benefit.

"People are understanding that we have to solve the economic problems before we can solve the social problems," Wayne said.

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Public hearings on ARPA distribution in Omaha: 'Were asking the community to solve its own problems' - KMTV 3 News Now Omaha

Power can be intoxicating.

In a nation of indigenous and immigrant people, both voluntary and involuntary, we must recognize how our different lived experiences shape views of our nation. But when one group is willing to forgo fellow citizens freedoms in order to maintain its own power, we must call that group out and hold accountable those who behave nefariously.

Although some would rather not discuss the topic because it makes them uncomfortable, our nation has always had violent, racist tendencies. From the Trail of Tears and a Civil War to maintain states rights to own or displace humans through reconstruction, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, there has always been a force pushing for the marginalization of indigenous and other people ofcolor.

However, to the chagrin of some, there have been enough brave people in the majority to push down those dark tendencies in order to keep Americas promise to all its citizens.

No longer called the Ku Klux Klan or White Citizens Council, this latest iteration of that darkness is now called MAGA Republicans and is formed in groups called the Proud Boys, Exodus/Americanus and the Oath Keepers. Terrorizing fellow Americans with night rides and cross-burning to prevent voting has been replaced with cyber-bullying and election-integrity legislationfrom gerrymandered elected officialsdesigned to limit who has access tovoting.

While some would like to pretend these are individuals on the political fringes, we know following the release of the Anti-Defamation Leagues report on leaked Oath Keepers data that they are police officers, military personnel, first responders and, yes, elected officials.

With the ADLs report, you dont have to wonder why some law enforcement personnel were taking selfies with the insurrectionists on Jan. 6. But more important, elected officials who are charged with being caretakers for their communities are in positions of power to do the opposite. Being an American patriot is more than just loving those who look like you or have a similar ancestry. It is having love for those who are nothing like you, because we all contribute to our society. It also means recognizing every eligible voters right to cast a ballot.

Furthermore, you dont have to like how someone lives their life. As long as they are not harming anyone, we all should be working to help protect one anothers personal liberties. But as of late, we are seeing the opposite at all levels and branches of our government. The level of duplicity achieved by those who wish to limit the rights of fellow Americans is astonishing. Its evident that, if theres a perceptionor a lie cultivating a perceptionthat their rights are being infringed upon, some are willing to commit violence to protect what they believe.

President Biden was bold and unwavering in calling out what threatens our democracy, and this November, we need to be intentional about whom we elect to public office. These folks will write and execute policiespolicies that will have a direct impact on everyday lives.

We should desire elected officials nuanced enough to understand diversity and display integrity. Those seeking office should want to be public servants, not simply self-serving. To protect our democracy, its time to push down the darkness again.

__________

Black is former deputy chairwoman for engagement for the Indiana Democratic Party and a former candidate for the Indiana House. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.

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Dana Black: We must be intentional about whom we elect Indianapolis Business Journal - Indianapolis Business Journal

The year 2040 might seem a long way off, but for decision-makers in Greenville, nows the time to make the GVL2040 plan a reality.

GVL2040 is the citys comprehensive plan to shape its growth and evolution over the coming years. After years of stagnation, the citys population has grown by nearly 14,000 people over the past decade (from 58,409 in 2010 to 72,095 estimated July 2021), according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The population of Greenville could reach more than 110,000 by 2040, according to the citys estimates.

Central to this forward thinking plan is the concept of nodes.

A node is a compact, walkable and mixed-use activity center or hub where an increased concentration of residential, employment, retail, transit and other uses are located.

Nodes, according to Mayor Knox White, may have different rules that may cap the height of buildings to different sizes in different nodes to match the surrounding neighborhoods. White said while a neighborhood like the area around Pendleton Street can develop into a node, it will have much different character from what he calls the ultimate center downtown Greenville.

The 2040 plan its an attempt to be intentional about how we grow, White said, noting that the existing GVL2040 plan is merely a guide as leaders look to rewrite the zoning codes for the coming years.

The city council has yet to finish rewriting the citys land management ordinance. The city is still working with neighborhood stakeholders to finalize the zoning code that comes from the GVL2040 plan and hasnt yet taken any votes on the GVL2040 plan.

I think theyll benefit every district, said Councilwoman Lillian Brock-Flemming.

In an effort to combat sprawl and unplanned development across the city, leaders have reexamined how to make the community more livable and more functional through nodes and corridors. Corridors connect the nodes through a multi-modal transportation route through the city that provides a range of convenient connections between nodes and link existing neighborhoods to opportunities in nodes.

Greenville City Councilman Russell Stall said the node/corridor model is a very new concept in thinking about development. Stall, whos also studying for his doctorate in planning, design, and built environment at Clemson University, said the node concept is a way of dealing with rapid growth that concentrates it in smaller areas while preserving the nature of existing communities.

Other cities and other communities are going to use this, Stall said, adding that he believesthis type of development will guide other cities in writing zoning guidelines.

As nodes develop, they will move toward form-based code, meaning retail, homes and more could be grouped into the same node, making for a more walkable environment that will reduce dependence on vehicular traffic and foster better neighbor interactions.

Greenville is always a place thats willing to be innovative and creative, Stall said.

*Note: Downtown Greenville is considered an existing node per the GVL2040 plan.

Source: City of Greenville

Originally posted here:

GVL2040: Nodes and corridors pave the way for future growth - Greenville Journal

Wilson, senior vice president of human resources at dormakaba Americas, discusses hiring trends and best practices for diversity, and more in this months SECURE Perspectives.

SECURE Perspectives is a monthly column by theSecurity Industry Association(SIA) profiling women in the security industry. This column is part of SIAsWomen in Security Forum(WISF), an initiative to support the participation of women in the security field through programs, networking and professional growth events and thought leadership opportunities.

For this edition ofSECURE Perspectives, SIA spoke with Sabrina Wilson, senior vice president of human resources at dormakaba Americas. Earlier this year, Wilson was named to the inaugural SIA WISF Power 100, recognizing 100 women in the security industry who are role models for actively advancing diversity, inclusion, innovation and leadership in the community, and she also spoke earlier this month at SIAs 2022AcceleRISE conferencefor young security industry professionals.

Sabrina Wilson: Being part of the security industry wasnt intentional for me. I was looking for the next opportunity after a sabbatical and trying to be strategic about what to do next. My criteria included: getting back into a manufacturing environment, returning to the Midwest to be closer to family, being part of a global organization and serving as an HR leader to continue my career path. With experience in a variety of industries, I did not target a specific industry.

A recruiter brought the dormakaba opportunity to me. Prior to that, this company and this industry were not on my radar. Two things attracted me to dormakaba. First, I saw new opportunities for me, as well as a role for HR to support overall business growth both of which excited me. What sold me on dormakaba, however, was its strong purpose in making the world safe and secure so people can move about seamlessly. The companys commitment to its purpose was clearly evident. I wanted to help advance that.

dormakaba services the security industry by remaining laser-focused on our commitment to make access in life smart, safe and secure for every place that matters. We are a trusted partner for access products, solutions and services. In addition, we are active participants in industry events and trade associations and frequent contributors to media and educational programs. On the human side, we integrate and innovate best practices to attract, develop and retain top talent across the organization.

Youll find women in all roles within dormakaba. We have women in nontraditional roles such as engineering, technology, manufacturing and supply chain. We also have women in functions they have gravitated to historically such as finance, HR, marketing and customer service. We need to attract more diversity and acknowledge that diversity can mean many different things. This isnt limited to gender, ethnic or cultural diversity it must include diverse thinking and recruiting from different industries to attract and retain top talent.

There are many new opportunities if we choose to think differently about our approach. Our industry has a strong sense of purpose making the world more secure. While the gender lines are blurring a bit here and men are more vocal about this perspective, women are attracted to companies with a strong purpose.

Heres one example. When we look at security products used in schools and hospitals two large, purpose-driven market segments for our industry we see that many of the gatekeepers to sales are women. Having women who are selling, training and working with these decisionmakers adds to dormakabas ability to relate to its customers.

The security industry in general is not well-known as a career path. At dormakaba, our products are not household names. People drive by our factories and offices and dont know who we are or what we do through name recognition alone. We need to be active in communities like universities and high schools to let people know about internships, apprenticeships and career options.

For midlevel professionals looking to change jobs, we need to brand and market our industry overall and engage with associations and chambers where candidates may be looking for career information. We typically dont use words like branding and marketing in HR, but its our job to sell this industry to prospects.

The biggest industry trend I see is a hunger for data. Security is becoming less about having a key and more about the data available with electronic access-driven security devices. Products still allow or deny entry, but they also track time, location, biometrics and other data that provides information and solves problems.

The impact on HR of this industry trend toward technology is compelling, and were seeing a generational change in work styles. Baby boomers are retiring. Newer workers are more tech-savvy (which aligns with the security marketplace shifts) and are used to having research and feedback intelligence at their fingertips (again, similar to the data drive in our industry).

In HR, this means that these newer employees want information about their performance and career opportunities more frequently. If an organization cant provide this, then the worker is likely to leave. If we are going to attract and retain top talent, we must change our processes for career development and performance feedback using automation and technology. Id like to say this is an evolution of our best HR practices, rather than a revolution, but with the volume of boomers exiting and new workers coming in, we have to move quickly.

If we define HR leadership in terms of years of service, were losing an experienced workforce more quickly than we can replace them. COVID accelerated this even more people are deciding to get out of the workforce completely, pursue gig economy roles and generally reevaluate whether they need to go to work. We must act now.

First, like everyone else, weve seen the convergence of social and world of work issues from the global pandemic, employee turnover and inflation. The human element of the workplace has never been more important. In fact, Ive been in HR for 30 years, and I havent heard the word care as much as I have in recent years. In the past few years, weve brought life to work, so to speak.

Weve had to navigate the very real issues of absence due to illness, quarantine and even death as well as significant employee turnover. This affects all levels of any organization not just dormakaba. The workload redistribution that results adds stress. Higher costs due to inflation add wage pressures to the organization in order to attract and retain top talent.

Second, we must address the knowledge gap resulting from experienced employees leaving the workforce. Its a fine line. The knowledge of these workers cant be replaced item for item, and the knowledge base of new employees represents a complete paradigm shift in terms of how experience is defined due to the fact that they are digital natives. Theyre bringing in new knowledge and skills that werent present before and will have a positive impact on our business.

How do we navigate these issues? dormakaba has adopted a continuous improvement mindset. Were doing a better job of knowledge transfer from exiting workers to both remaining staff and new hires. Were also trying to take an active approach to retention and engagement by identifying pain points and concerns and figuring out how to address them.

Finally, were not just making transactional replacements of one new person for one who departs. Were reevaluating each role. What did it look like? What does it need to look like? Does each role need to be replaced with the exact same skills? Replacement roles may look different.

Externally, the No. 1 opportunity is to attract people to the security industry as a career path. Were not well known. At dormakaba, were using career development to help address this. We started our Rising Talent program in 2021 with 27 interns working on meaningful projects. In 2022, that number grew to 40.

Internally, were working to improve internal programs for people development across our employee experience spectrum from early talent to existing talent to experienced talent. Some HR statistics show that younger generations want to take on new jobs or roles every 2.3 years. We need to show that this type of career progression can occur within dormakaba.

Ultimately, I hope there isnt a need for the Women in Security Forum because our industry is reflective of a 50/50 balance ratio of women to men workers. To do this, we need to make our industry attractive to women in all functions and disciplines and at all levels of the organizational chart.

Get engaged with different trade organizations, like SIA, that align with your career path. For me, this step has allowed me to get to know others in industry and connect on challenges, network and receive and provide mentorship. That engagement creates community, and a sense of community makes you feel like you belong.

There have been so many! Ive had mentors in different stages who have said the thing I needed to hear the most. For example, I was with an organization that challenged me to make a complete mind shift in how to deliver HR. Im passionate about the role of HR as a business partner to the organization. I was asked to take on an internal HR role where I would oversee and develop 35 HR business partners across the Americas, which I interpreted as a functional HR role. I didnt want to be internally focused.

The chief HR officer, who is still a mentor today, told me to go do this for 18-24 months, after which I would be put back into a more traditional HR business partner role. It ended up being one highlight of my career. By changing my mindset, I had chance to shape the future of so many HR business partners. We morphed from a company of HR generalists to one of true business partners with the ability to lead.

Sometimes you have to do something you dont think you want to do. My mentor saw something in me that I couldnt see in myself at that time. I wouldnt have discovered it if he hadnt pushed me.

This is a hard question for me as an overachiever! Being functionally focused, I define success as improving the employee experience from candidate to retiree. Its an incredible opportunity to touch people with a positive experience and good benefits, help with a personal situation and create a work environment they want to be part of.

As a business partner, Im successful when HR can influence a business decision that meets the needs of employees and the business at the same time. Balance is not always easy, and how we deliver tough messages is very important. Not every experience will be positive, but we have a huge opportunity to demonstrate respect for humanity.

I still consider myself new to this industry since Ive been here less than two years. My advice? Embrace the challenges. This is a great industry with a strong purpose. There are so many ways we can make a difference in the lives of others through new product development, exploring new markets and solving problems.

One of things I truly believe is that we must be our authentic selves. Dont try to be what you think others and your employers or the industry want you to be. Be your authentic self. When I first entered the workforce at a manufacturing company, I was the only woman in the room and I tried to be one of the guys by wearing dark pants, a white shirt and a scarf (my version of a tie). When I broke that mold and added color and jewelry, I started being who I am. Its exhausting to be anything other than yourself.

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dormakaba's Sabrina Wilson Shares an HR Perspective of the Security Industry - Security Sales & Integration

In a new article (posted before peer review on preprint website PsyArXiv), psychologist Mvikeli Ncube of the University of Arden in the United Kingdom calls for the decolonization of psychological knowledge to address the epistemic violence done unto indigenous and local communities in the Global South. Ncube writes that the field of psychology must be decolonized and resituated in local contexts to ensure that meaning-making occurs within ones own lived experience rather than that of the situatedness and power of the Global North, suggesting that indigenous researchers and ways of knowing offer an important alternative to the colonizing status quo.

The Global North has exported its concept of psychology and psychiatry across the world, under the assumption that findings of how people behave in WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic) samples, such as US college students, are universally true. This includes specific psychiatric disorders, medication, language, and ways of knowing. Ncube, in his essay, encourages indigenous and local researchers, academics, and thinkers in the Global South to recognize the epistemic violence innate to Western ways of knowing and conduct their own research to counteract its many harms.

Ncube articulates this argument via a brief philosophical and historical analysis of psychology. He premises his paper on the social constructionist epistemological position (meaning that his underlying assumption is that knowledge is created, rather than inherent and objective). Through this premise Ncube argues that the decolonization of psychology is best done through Fanonian epistemic decolonization.

He understands that the knowledge that is created in psychology is a kind of knowledge created and propagated by white researchers in the Global North. And this specific way of knowing and meaning-making will never be able to fully encapsulate or understand the true experience of indigenous people and locals in the Global South because it is designed to doubt and question other ways of knowing not founded in the scientific method. Ncube puts it simply: the Global Norths current psychology was created, not only without the appreciation for texts and methodologies grounded in the Global South, but with the specific intention to undermine them.

However, the psychology of the Global North can be challenged by the academics the Global South, advancing the cause of liberation. Ncube asks that academics embrace their situated ways of knowing and conduct research that exposes and counteracts what much of the world considers to be both natural and neutral concepts to highlight the failures of a discipline created with intentional neglect for other ways of knowing and meaning-making.

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Ncube, M. (2022). Epistemic violence in psychological science. Issues of knowledge, meaning making and power: A critical historical and philosophical perspective. Accessed September 21, 2022. https://psyarxiv.com/a5nxs/

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Academics in the Global South, This Is Your Sign to Decolonize Psychology - Mad In America - Mad in America