Category Archives: Intentional Communities

Animation TV is the only streaming platform that brings all facets of animation culture together and gives back to its community as well.

SAVANNAH, Ga., April 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Animation has not been traditionally a representation for people of color. Coupled with this is the reality that animation distribution for creators is limited. The time has come for animation enthusiasts to rejoice; it's time to delve into a world never experienced before. Husband and wife duo Jermaine and Whaketa Hargrove plan to launch the first-ever Black-owned streaming animation network, Animation TV, in Summer 2022. Animation TV is the first and only animation streaming platform that streams all aspects of animation culture.

Animation TV will become the sole medium that can introduce viewers to the versatility of animation and all it has to offer. This platform will allow viewers of all ages and nationalities to experience the beauty of animation culture.

Animation TV will offer its content with a subscription and linear channel model for ease of access to viewers. Animation TV will work in collaboration with Small Town Animation Studios to deliver original, exclusive animation content such as the highly anticipated diabetic superhero movie Gumshe: The Type 1 Protector, or faith-based series The Sunday Schoolers, and other originals like Animate My Life, Welcome to Gamerville, Princess Tatenda and the award-winning series Shelly: The Dancing Spider.

Animation TV is intentional about giving back and makes it a part of its business model. Animation TV is the only animation streaming platform that creates opportunities for future animation industry professionals by using a portion of its revenue to provide animation scholarships for students from under-served communities.

In line with this initiative, Animation TV has partnered with some of the biggest names in animation, including Kit Bash 3D and The Animation School in South Africa. The Director and Co-founder of The Animation School, Nuno Martins, has this to say about the initiative, "The Animation School continues to drive diversity through partnerships such as Animation TV. These [partnerships] highlight the importance of building a diverse community within the international animation industry."

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CEO and Founder of Animation TV, Jermaine, also commented on his impending launch, stating, "We are using Animation TV and exclusive content to bring awareness to the lack of diversity and inclusion in the animation industry. By offering distribution to global animation creators, we will amplify the voices that sometimes go unheard. Structuring a theatrical partnership with a major film Studio for some of our stronger animation IP's is also a goal of Animation TV. We are currently looking to finance, develop and distribute all forms of animation content(2D/3D) from creators all over the world." Please send all submissions here.

Animation TV is poised to be a platform that translates animation culture into real-world value by tapping into the Metaverse and NFTs as features of the platform. Animation TV will also be distributed globally for users of all operating system interfaces, including iOS, tvOS, Android, Android TV, and the worldwide web.

For more information, please visit Animation TV.

About Animation TVAnimation TV is a Black-owned, streaming, Animation Network located in South-East Georgia. The Animation TV network is owned by husband and wife Jermaine & Whaketa Hargrove and is the first and only streaming platform in the world that distributes all aspects of animation culture.

Media Contact:Destiny HargroveAnimation TV912-417-9658335035@email4pr.com

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View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/first-ever-black-owned-animation-network-set-to-launch-in-summer-2022-301533792.html

SOURCE The Animation TV Network

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First-Ever Black-Owned Animation Network Set to Launch in Summer 2022 - Yahoo Finance

"Combining vibrant communities with a member media model is the best path forward for digital media business, for journalism, and for the broader polity as a whole," said Nicholas White, CEO and Founder of Fragment.

AUSTIN, Texas (PRWEB) April 28, 2022

Clarion Media Group, which includes The Daily Dot and Nautilus, today announced a rebrand, and is now named Fragment Media Group. The rebrand reflects the companys growth and continued focus on underserved audiences. The growth of Fragments brands has been driven aggressively in recent years by an unmatched focus on membership experiences defined by intentional content that engages the passions and curiosity of niche audiences.

Fragment achieved 50% year-over-year revenue growth in 2020, and over 100% revenue growth in 2021. Each month Fragment brands reach over 25 million readers. The Daily Dot, known for years as the hometown newspaper of the world wide web continues with its founding mission to cover internet culture, while Nautilus seeks to connect readers with the wonder, romance and humanity of science. Combined, these brands have built a community of nearly 30 million people on social media channels alone.

Were thrilled to roll out the new brand today. We believe in the member media model because weve proven that it can be a growth engine when you relentlessly focus on the member experience, said Nicholas White, CEO and Founder of Fragment. The Fragment brand speaks directly to the underserved audiences and passionate niches that are often overlooked, despite their abundance of passion and world-changing potential. Combining vibrant communities with a member media model is the best path forward for digital media business, for journalism, and for the broader polity as a whole. Thats the key to our growth, our reason for being, and its what motivates our team every day.

Fragment continues to accelerate growth in 2022, with multiple significant developments and announcements expected from each of its brands in the coming months. Upon the acquisition of Nautilus in 2019, the company announced a significant investment in technology to enhance the experience across all of its publications and sites. That led to a seven-fold increase in membership, the launch of the all-new Nautilus site, and the launch of multiple dedicated Channels on Nautilus, including a formal partnership with UNESCO to support the Ocean Decade, with much more to come. The Daily Dot has continued to break new ground reporting on internet culture, including a recent partnership with ESPN to highlight the way people of color are using the internet to change the broader culture. It will soon launch a member model of its own.

To learn more about Fragment brands, and to experience member media at its finest, subscribe to the free Daily Dot newsletter here: https://www.dailydot.com/newsletter/ and subscribe to Nautilus award-winning print or digital editions here: https://join.nautil.us/

For more information about Fragment, please visit: fragmnt.com

About Fragment Media Group

Fragment Media Group is a pioneer of the member media model. Our brands, including the Daily Dot and Nautilus, identify underserved audiences and provide them with the intentional content that readers seek outto read, watch, listen to, and experience live. Intentional content leads our readers to intentional action in their personal, cultural, and political lives, and also with the brands they embrace and support.

Founded in 2020, Fragment Media Group is led by CEO, Nicholas White, and based in Austin, Texas.

For more information, visit: fragmnt.com

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Clarion Media Announces Rebrand To Fragment Media Group - PR Web

Courtesy of Stephen Zacks. ImageHovagimyan collaborated with Gordon Matta-Clark on Days End, in which Matta-Clark illegally cut a half-moon through the Navy Pier at the end of Gansevoort Street in 1975 Share Share

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This article was originally published on Common Edge.

While Stephen Zacks new book, G.H. Hovagimyan: Situationist Funhouse, is ostensibly about the life and work of the artist, theres an intriguing and seemingly topical subtext looming in the background: the role of art and culture on the development and redevelopment of cities. Its a complicated and sometimes fraught issue, prone sometimes to simplistic, even binary thinking. Zacks, a friend and former colleague at Metropolis, has always had a more nuanced view of the issue. Last week I reached out to him to talk about the work of Hovagimyan, the historic lessons of 1970s New York, and why gentrification needs a new name.

MCP: Martin C. PedersenSZ: Stephen Zacks

MCP: I know that this book had a long gestation period, since I remember you starting to work on this during our shared time atMetropolis. Talk about the background of the book. Why is G.H. Hovagimyan such a seminal figure?

SZ: You have a great memory. The ur-history dates back to that 2006 interview with Kyong Park for Metropolis, The Dark Side of Architecture. Kyong was remembering the New York of the early 80s as an idyllic time. I wanted to reexamine why official accounts all record high crime, homelessness, failing infrastructure, and urban abandonment as dominant themes, yet the stories of artists tended to emphasize how it was inexpensive to live and gave them an extraordinary freedom to use and reimagine the city.

G.H. is a notable example whose story tracks alongside the cultural history of the period. He moves through all of these neighborhoods redeveloping in tandem with the formation of artists communities from the 1970s through the 1990sSoHo, TriBeCa, Lower East Side, East Villageand now you can see it happening in the Catskills and Hudson Valley, where he bought a house in the 1980s and moved full-time a few years ago.

Part of whats going on is that the artist constitutes a socioeconomic class whose college-and-graduate education, middle-class upbringing, and, most frequently, European descent, offered a relative advantage compared to other groups who at the time were minimized as minorities and discriminated against in terms of housing policy, access to banking, and allocation of public resources. As a result, the disinvestment presented itself as a particularly fun opportunity for artistsand investorsif you could position yourself to take advantage of devalued spaces. That said, you had to be adventurous. As a woman or an artist, you had to be willing to endure a certain amount of hardship and precarity to make good on the opportunity.Situationist Funhousetraces G.H.s adventures not just through the lens of the city and the formation of artists communities, but also through the changing media of his time, which hes constantly observing and hacking as a way of critiquing media and society.

MCP: Sadly, Im old enough to remember New York in the 1970s. What drew you, someone younger, from Michigan, to that era? Conventional wisdom and orthodox planning says thats New York at its nadir.

SZ: Its always incredibly ambivalent for me when I think about the traditional leftist position against development. When you come from places like Flint and Detroit and Lansing, you saw decades of public and private disinvestment lead to all kinds of disheartening, depressing conditions. First of all, everyone is always leaving to find better places. The kids who go to college never come back. The downtown businesses were always mostly boarded up, and historic neighborhoods were distinguished by their large numbers of collapsing buildings. Its an incredible cultural loss and a fairly sad condition to live in when nothing changes decade after decade.

Yet the people who stayed still orchestrated an incredibly lively and inventive cultural life. For my generation, for instance, many of us were inspired by the hardcore punk scene using old buildings and odd spaces to throw hall parties in downtown Flint, or artist friends in Old Town Lansing organizing loft parties. You could always find the best cafes, boutiques, music venues, and open-air art installations in downtown Detroit: Zoots, the Heidelberg Project, St. Andrews, to name a few. Techno and rave parties were born in vacant industrial buildings. But it was never enough to sustain daily cultural life for someone as restless and unsettled as I was.

The question becomes, what does development really mean? For one thing, the word somewhat neutralizes the fact that in a society gradually withdrawing from any form of state planning in favor of policies allowing private capital to be the agent of changeunder the assumption that the public as consumer can then make their choices and let the market settle the rest; the agents of development are those with access to banking. That ends up reifying patterns of disinvestment and leaving historically discriminated groups, the poor and unbankablenot to mention places already suffering from commercial and industrial abandonmentsomewhat in the lurch.

All of this is a lot to unpack, and I still do not feel like Im anywhere close to succeeding in telling this story, but I have a ton of research and a partially revised draft of a manuscript called A Beautiful Ruin to show for it. In the meantime, everyone has always recommended concentrating on one figure to make it easier to tell the story. Id like to think G.H. Hovagimyan: Situationist Funhouse is the first of several volumes that follow the lives of exemplary artists that would offer a more nuanced view than the pat gentrification story, which seems to condemn artists and their (unintended) role in development or to glorify famous artists as heroic figures emerging from New Yorks abyss.

The word gentrification represents an internalization of the idea that supposedly free consumer markets will be the agents of change in society, not the governments policy regulating how those markets work, how they allocate resources, who has access to banking, and what industries receive tax breaks, direct investment, trade support, etc. Most of the memoirs, economic critiques, and fiction rely on these clichs. The truth is more in between.

MCP: What is the relevance of Hovagimyans work and life for present-day artists, designers, and even policy makers?

SZ: For one thing, G.H. belonged to an incredibly well-supported cultural scene. In 1960, Nelson Rockefeller started the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), modeled after the British Arts Councils, which offered young artists and arts organizations a source of funding for projects providing opportunity for those who did not have a gallery. And galleries were relatively few and far between.

Gordon Matta-Clarks famous Days End, in which he illegally cut a half-moon through the Navy Pier at the end of Gansevoort Street in 1975, was actually funded by a New York State Creative Artists Public Service Program grant he used to pay G.H. and others to assist him. Thats kind of extraordinary when you think about such an iconic work of ad hoc urban reuse being funded by the state. NYSCA is still going strong and even funded the start of my research on this period.

There had been a scene of artist-run cooperative galleries in the 1950s and 60s; artists donated work to be bought by collectors to keep the doors open. By the 1970s, that model had collapsed. People got tired of giving their work away. 112 Greene Street, where G.H. began sitting the gallery in 1973 and had his first solo exhibition, started out essentially as an artists cooperative, except that Jeff Lew, an artist who owned the building, donated the ground floor to his friends and colleagues to play around and present their work, with some help from a patron.

The National Endowment for the Arts also formed during this time and its budget increased substantially in the 1970s. Brian ODohertyan art critic whose alter ego was performance artist Patrick Irelandinitiated an NEA workshop program to give money directly to artist-run spaces. All of these non-profit institutions known as alternative spaces formed during this period, places like the Kitchen, PS1, Artists Space, Printed Matter, ABC No Rio. 112 Greene Street eventually became a non-profit called White Columns. In these venues, several generations have had an opportunity to present their ideas, play with friends and colleagues, and share them with the public.

Later, when the fast money on Wall Street got interested in art as an investment tool, the East Village scene thrived in retail storefronts let out inexpensively to commercial artist-run galleries. G.H. also participated in this scene, co-founding Virtual Garrison gallery at 2nd Avenue and 1st Street, which is also documented in the book through the archives of theEast Village Eye, the alternative tabloid of the moment.

And let us not discount the fact that the budget of the citys Department of Cultural Affairs in 2022 is $144.2 million; the proposed budget of the National Endowment for the Artsfor the entire countryis $201 million. Thats not counting capital projects. Its an incredibly well-supported cultural scene. That said, G.H., like most of his peers, had to hustle in various trades for his daily bread, and the fact that New York had a lively scene converting old buildings into residential lofts and venues helped. Lots of people, then and now, got by in this way, taking side jobs. Phillip Glass is often celebrated for having been a taxi driver and a plumber while writing his most famous early compositions. That was only possible, on the other hand, because rent was incredibly cheap compared to today.

If theres one thing I would do to recreate the context in which G.H. and his peers were able to thrive, it would be to expand and make permanent rent stabilization and to institute good cause eviction laws that would limit the many fraudulent ways landlords flip rent-stabilized apartments into more expensive and market rate leases. That, along with G.H.s intellectual curiosity and ongoing process of research and hacking of technology, is how you get an artist able to sustain a 50-year-long career rarely supported by any kind of commercial art market, continually exploring and giving meaning to the technological and social changes of our time.

MCP: Hovagimyan collaborated with Gordon Matta-Clark in the 70s. His range of collaborations and his work in general is sort of astounding. Hes still very much active. What is he working on these days?

SZ: I gave this book the title Situationist Funhouse because you can see in his work from the 1970s to now this incredible spirit of fun and exploration. The title is a bit of a misnomer in that its only alluding in a general way to the Situationism of Guy Debordnot claiming an integral connection between G.H. and the movement. Much of G.H.s work involves media critique, hacking or reappropriating media in a playful way, freeing it from its normally corporate, profit-making purpose.

Having collaborated with G.H. on projects in Flint, New York City, and Callicoon, in the Catskills, hes just an incredible good-natured spirit to have around, so thats undoubtedly one of the reasons he was such a well-appreciated assistant to Matta-Clark. If youre spending a month together cutting apart a gigantic pier on the Hudson River or a 16th century building in Paris, you want to have a tall Armenian with a great sense of humor traveling with you.

Thats a continuous characteristic of his work from the beginning: this fun-loving look at a critical situation, flipping it into something entertaining and provocative. In Flint, when we were trying to persuade mistrustful local audiences that bringing outsiders from New York City and other places would be a good idea to stimulate another level of cultural activity, which they could use for the intentional development of disinvested communities, G.H. brought his 3D Karaoke project to the monthly Flint Art Walk. He hacked Kinect camerasoriginally designed for video gamingto produce live 3D images of performers, and programmed a software platform with popular songs and lyrics. When people came into the temporary gallery, they could choose a song and see themselves performing in 3D projected onto the walls. It was incredibly festive and fun.

Most of the time, hes dealing with emerging technologies before anyone knows what they will be used for. Currently, hes working with augmented reality (AR), making interactive sculptures that trigger smartphones to augment them with 3D animations. As youre walking through galleries and outdoor installations, sounds and animations pop out of these sculptural objects, visualizing space junksatellites floating in space, remnants of previous eras of space explorationaccompanied by sounds of the different objects.

Whats particularly exciting about AR is the potential to imagine another world within the existing world. In the future, we will have even more sophisticated screens in our glasses and be even more disconnected from the everyday reality that surrounds uslike those real-life zombies who walk around staring at their cellphones. Well have contact lenses showing whats thereand something elsemost likely selling you products leading to your own destruction and the destruction of the planet. This is more or less what hes playing with now.

MCP: As someone who lives in present-day New York and is a keen observer of cities, Id love to get your take on things as they are, as the city, staggered by the pandemic, begins to crawl out from under the weight of that. It feels a bit like the 70s. What do you think?

SZ: I somewhat hope its more like the 70s, without ignoring the real struggles that come with economic perturbations. Rent had been declining or at least not increasing for a while, which I was happy about. But the death of cultural life during the pandemic was really hard to bearnot to speak of the death of so many tens of thousands in the city. Countless local businesses, essential institutions in their own ways, also disappeared. Cultural life seems to be coming back now, and Im just overjoyed to be socializing with friends and colleagues again at public events. Thats the whole reason to be in a city!

A buddy of mine recently opened an antique shop in a former dry cleaners in my neighborhood, which is reminiscent of the kinds of curious, genuinely joyous places that sprout up when rent pressures decrease and people are more free to follow their own paths. Some of the other revivals feel played out, like the interim-use art projects in vacant storefronts, where you just know the landlord is biding their time to crank up the rent to some grotesque amount. There should be laws against that, too.

Read more:

Situationist Funhouse: Art's Complicated Role in Redeveloping Cities - ArchDaily

Congressman Donald McEachin (D - 4th Congressional District) presented the money on a large check to university leaders on April 14. Photo courtesy of Thomas Kojcsich

Katrina Lee,News Editor

VCU received nearly $1 million in federal grant money to kickstart gun violence prevention efforts, following a two-year increase of gun-related homicides in Richmond.

Congressman Donald McEachin (D 4th Congressional District) presented the money on a large check to university leaders on April 14. The funding will be allocated to VCUs new program titled RVA Gun Violence Prevention Framework.

McEachin was motivated to provide this funding to the university because of the uniqueness of the frameworks approach to address gun violence, which will look at the increase in gun violence as a public health problem, he said.

Theres no question that this situation is a crisis here, as it is in many cities across the nation. And its incumbent upon us as lawmakers, those of us who are concerned with the issue of gun violence, to try to come up with approaches, McEachin said.

McEachin said he will be checking in with the organization as it begins to implement its prevention efforts. The program is still in development, according to McEachin.

Hopefully, it will be successful, but at least its an attempt to do something new and different to attack this age-old problem, McEachin said. The other thing to realize is that this has the potential to be a national approach to curb gun violence.

The frameworks goal is to utilize different evidence-based programs to curb gun violence, according to VCUHealth program manager Rachelle Hunley.

Hunley was one of the individuals who started the framework and said she and her colleagues, the mayors office and the Richmond Police Department all played integral roles in the development of the framework.

Being able to provide these vital resources, providing emotional support, addressing mental health concerns, and by being a positive person and resource, it is a matter of life and death, Hunley said.

Hunley said she has personally been able to see the uptake in gun-related violence due to her position in the hospital, including an increase in youth involvement in violence and the implications of gun violence disparities that affect minority communities.

Homicides involving firearms in Richmond increased from 61 in 2020 to 76 in 2021, according to the Richmond Police Department website.

The framework will use multiple different prevention efforts including implementing hospital-based prevention, creating a shooting and homicide review commission, employing the trauma response in the health department building and working with Cure Violence, according to Hunley.

Cure Violence is a network aimed to stop the spread of violence by using the methods and strategies associated with disease control, including detecting and interrupting conflicts, identifying and treating the highest risk individuals, and changing social norms, according to the Cure Violence website.

It was really well thought out, and we tailored it to fit the city of Richmond. So taking all of that into consideration when putting this together, there are a bunch of different frameworks and evidence-based practices that we did include, Hunley said.

The funding the university received will go towards part of the framework, which involves evaluating and strengthening their hospital-based prevention to gun violence, according to Hunley.

Its a hospital-based violence intervention program, which has been a proven strategy at reducing violence. We work directly with survivors of gunshot wounds, stabs, and assaults, Hunley said. We provide intensive case management starting at the bedside, an intervention to look at risky behaviors, and how a communitys involved in the situation.

Hunley said VCUs Bridging the Gap will also play a part in this framework, which is a program that provides services to Richmond area youth who are admitted to VCU Medical Center for intentional injuries such as gunshot wounds, stab wounds and assaults, according to its website.

Im grateful for the opportunity to shed light on this issue. I do want to put across a message of hope because a lot of the time around this issue, its very negative, Hunley said. But because of the funding and because of the collaboration, theres hope and theres light at the end of the tunnel.

Pastor Ralph Hodge is the co-president of a community advocacy group titled Richmonders Involved to Strengthen our Communities, an organization dedicated to holding public officials accountable for solving Richmonds critical problems, according to the organizations website. The organization has focused on the issue of gun violence because of the communitys concern over the issue.

Hodge said he has read everything about the framework and said it isnt clear what approaches the university will be implementing.

What is the plan? Has Richmond City decided that VCU is going to end gun violence? Is VCU now responsible for public health? Hodge said.

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VCU receives grant to curb gun violence in Richmond - The Commonwealth Times

The newspapers submitted five questions to the candidates; here are their responses.

What more can the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office do to reduce gun violence?

Nicholas Alberts Reducing violence in our community starts well before these heinous acts take place. I will lift the booking restrictions that our County has in place that prohibit many arrestable offenses from coming into our facilities. There is no reason that our law enforcement officers should have to second guess whether a crimes "worthy" of arrest and start remembering to put our crime victims first. Since the pandemic, our jail capacity has sat between 60 and 70 percent, while we are seeing record breaking years of homicides. This is not a coincidence; this is a direct correlation. As we allow brazen individuals to prey on our citizens seemingly without consequence, these individuals become more and more emboldened and continue to elevate their level of criminal behavior. When looking at many of the murders and violent crimes that come into our county jails, these are repeat offenders, and many are preventable. Allowing habitual offenders to be released right back onto the streets, or not booked at all for their crimes, is an absolute failure to protect those we swore to serve. We will constantly keep our public aware of the types of crimes coming into our facility and being released, to paint the true picture for our citizens of the dire situation we are in. We must hold those who commit all types of crime accountable.

Nicole Morrisey O'Donnell At an early age, my family was impacted by gun violence and it showed me how quickly our sense of safety can be ripped away in a matter of seconds. Reducing gun violence in our communities is a top priority and requires multiple approaches that I am committed to, have invested in, and will build upon as Sheriff. My plan to reduce gun violence includes the following:

Seize illegal guns. Removing guns from dangerous hands is critical, and under my leadership MCSO had the largest seizure of illegal firearms in the history of the organization.

Enforce court ordered dispossession. In my current role as Undersheriff and previous role as the Law Enforcement Chief Deputy, I have increased investigative resources and have advocated for an additional investigator in the upcoming budget to swiftly hold accountable those who are engaged in violence in our communities. I have also recently added additional deputies to remove firearms from people who are prohibited from possessing them per a court order, such as in domestic violence situations.

Invest in and collaborate with community-driven intervention and prevention. This includes proactive prevention strategies, robust investigative response, and collaboration with public safety partners, community based programs, and community leaders. Partnering with community based violence intervention services, such as the Office of Violence Prevention and Healing Hurt People is important in providing street outreach services to prevent further violence and uplift and heal our communities that have been impacted by gun violence. Investing in community listening and engagement sessions to build community trust and understand the impacts to each neighborhood is also critical inbuilding community based solutions to a very complex problem.

Data collection and information sharing. As Sheriff, I will ensure data collection and information sharing as gun violence has no borders, collaborate more closely with our public safety partners and community based resources, including violence prevention programs, and ensure resources are deployed to the most need. I have earned the support of all of the current Sheriffs in the Tri-County area and beyond, as well as community leaders and members, which shows that I work collaboratively across all partners and communities and am a bridge builder between community and law enforcement.

Derrick Peterson I would partner with Portland Police Focused Intervention Team (FIT) in re-establishing relationships and resources in the community through the Sheriff's Office Special Investigations Unit (SIU) and Homeless Outreach and Program Engagement Team (HOPE). Seek funding to expand the capacity of these units. Establish stronger community relationships with individuals and organizations performing effective work around these issues. Identify gaps in services. Advocate for streamlining resources and redirecting redundancy in an effort to forge alliances to increase the effectiveness of organizations and individuals doing good work. I would advocate to identify ineffective programs and reallocate funding accordingly. One of the main alliances I would like to explore is to connect former gang members with professional organizations with a proven record of providing services to communities of color. I believe former gang members can provide a perspective to enhance community outreach programs that would be far more impactful rather than working separately.

Community groups play a critical role in reducing gun violence. They have a true pulse of citizen's wants and needs in the communities they serve. It is vitally important to establish clear lines of communication supported by relationships fostered through trust. It is through these cultivated relationships; individuals are compelled to report issues, provide vital information and potentially prevent future crimes or violence. Community groups can act as a buffer or conduit between citizens and police to encourage healthy relationships that can help lead to positive change in the county.

Nicholas Alberts Working with our frontline staff daily, I have gotten to see the challenges that our staff face, and I think that failing to retain staff has a lot to do with staff feeling helpless, and that they are not supported by management. This is a community being ravaged by crime with little consequences, citizens are frequently becoming victims and staff has their hands tied from our leadership. This has created a bad culture within the ranks and has staff looking for a way out. This also affects our potential new recruits who are looking into a public safety career field. These recruits have many agencies across Oregon to choose from, and once they hear about our staff's experience within this office, they do not give our agency another look. This issue even goes as far as staff explaining to those they know who are looking into law enforcement work, to apply elsewhere for their well-being. If we wanton improve our hiring and retention of our staff, we must change the culture within our department. Our leadership must protect and defend our staff who are risking their lives for this community, and our staff must be able to do their jobs and hold those who commit crime accountable.

Nicole Morrisey O'Donnell Recruiting, hiring, and retention is one of my top priorities to ensure the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office is well staffed, well trained, and has a workforce that is reflective of our community. Investing in recruiting strategies including robust media campaigns, connections to colleges and universities, providing college to county internships, and working with groups, such as Word Is Bond to build relationships and trust with our next generation of leaders are all strategies that I will employ to increase a diverse pool of applicants into the hiring process. Community engagement and recruiting events local and beyond are also key to educating potential candidates about the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, highlighting who we are, what we do, and focusing on our innovative programs and alternative service models.

With respect to retention efforts, career development opportunities, alternative work schedules where possible, and adequately compensating our workforce based on the work they are doing each and every day, and ensuring MCSO is in alignment with the pay and benefits of comparative agencies is important in incentivizing members to remain with our organization. I also believe that support systems that are available to all members of the organization are critically important in creating a more positive work environment. I am currently leading an initiative to invest resources in wellness, including peer support services, a mentorship program, and more streamlined access to counseling and employee assistance programs. These improved services are available to all members of the MCSO and provide much needed support for our members and their families throughout a long and healthy career.

Derrick Peterson My plan to bring more applicants and higher quality candidates to the Sheriff's Office would include the following:

Hire a professional recruiter

Branding:

Hire a branding specialist to help promote the agency nationally and its recruiting efforts

I would meet with National Policing agencies/organizations, as well as Sheriff and Police Leadership across the county in an effort to do national branding in order to bring a favorable light to all LE agencies in the country, plus help bring more candidates interested in the field of Law Enforcement

There will be a focus on meeting with local Affinity groups starting with Multnomah County, then branching out to local and national affinity groups. This would include, but not be limited to formulating and disseminating a pro Law Enforcement message that would appeal to the communities they represent. This would hopefully bring more applicants to MCSO

For diversity purposes, I would regularly recruit from Black Colleges as well as colleges with a high percentage of minorities, especially those who have criminal justice programs

I will look at recruiting opportunities from police cadet schools from around the country

We need to be mentored by the front office of successful college sports teams who understand how to recruit.

I will look for opportunities to recruit from colleges in Oregon with criminal justice programs

I will look to meet with college coaches from all sports in an effort to recruit athletes

I will make a hard push to recruit from the military, which means establishing deep relationships with each military organization, so we are on a first name basis

I will have discussions with the Deputy Sheriff's Association regarding the 4-year degree requirement for LE to potentially find compromises in and an effort to bring more personnel to apply

Shortening & streamlining the hiring process

Calling applicants and following up with them

Doing some "hand holding" and encouragement

Work to create a reasonable Facility Security Officer/Corrections/LE pipeline that would be specific to those who are looking to work in Corrections of Law Enforcement, but need experience and to further develop their skill sets

Develop relationship with high schools in an effort to increase law enforcement viability to encourage future, potential employment

Re-evaluate hiring processes with HR and possibly streamline the process

Reviewing staffing levels of HR, specifically for additional staff involved in the hiring process

Hiring bonuses and other perks to attract candidates/applicants

Potentially offer college/higher education incentives as part of a benefit package for new hires

Possibly pay for moving expenses for non-local applicants joining MCSO

Look to subsidize a portion of employee's daycare expenses as an added benefit

Work with the academy to allow recruits to attend class room/academic course work on-line or at local community colleges through a cooperative. This would meet the need of recruits that would have difficulty attending the academy for 16 weeks due to family or other personal issues

Find better way to engage our youth for they are our future leaders and possible Law Enforcement Officers, which includes Corrections and non-sworn jobs in the Sheriff's Office.

There needs to be a solid plan on show casing what corrections is and does because it is over shadowed by police.

Posting adds on social media, websites, and bill boards

Reach out to churches

Join and participate in job fairs

Put on job fairs at high schools, colleges, and churches

Develop a police program similar to trades programs

As Sheriff, I would get personally involved by calling and visiting "A" list recruits and their families.

To incentivize deputies to stay, I would reestablish an initiative I created called "Walk Arounds" that involved chaplains and peer support members checking-in with staff and providing a listening ear, encouraging counseling when needed, and connecting them to services when needed. I would look to also implement some of these ideas:

Form support groups/Infinity groups, provide incentives to include, money for years of service

Provide bonuses to new recruits

Extend extra paid days off

Increase the percentage of OT pay by the hour

Hire life and health coaches to formulate individual health plans/programs with at least bi-weekly check-in's

Encourage intramural sports teams

Encourage on duty on-site exercise opportunities including meditation

Create more Sheriff's Office community engagement opportunities for staff to participate in.

I am committed to better messaging and doing more than meeting with staff in an office. I would implement "Coffee with the Sheriff" where I would randomly choose a staff member to meet with over coffee on a weekly basis.

I would set an expectation for management to be intentional and consistent when visiting staff; not just when there is a project to check on. I would lead by example in this practice.

Nicholas Alberts I will ensure safety and protections of all individuals in my County regardless of race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. I believe the best thing that our sheriff's office can do, is less words, and more proving in our actions that there will be no favoritism or discrimination against any citizens of our community.

Nicole Morrisey O'Donnell Building community trust and reimagining public safety require more than just listening to our community. We need to understand how law enforcement is impacting our community and acknowledge the very real fear that too many of our BIPOC and LGBTQ community members have around law enforcement. Feeling safe in our community is one of our most basic needs as people, and we need to validate experiences, acknowledge where we have gone wrong, and work with our community to initiate change.

Community engagement and partnership goes to the heart of how I, as Sheriff, would lead the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. Throughout my law enforcement career, the time I have spent attending community events both in and out of uniform, participating in town halls and community listening sessions, and reengaging our agency with organizations, such as Basic Rights Oregon or Word Is Bond will be critical for growing my understanding and building relationships with the community I serve. I have included some of the areas internally and externally that support this effort.

At the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, we fully investigate and report data on bias crimes. A critical part of that process is building trust in our community to ensure community members feel safe reporting crimes to law enforcement and that we, law enforcement/public safety professionals, respond in a trauma informed way and connect victims to advocacy services to best meet their needs.

While developing new policies or reviewing current policies, it is important to engage stakeholders to assist in informing policies that will direct the work we do each and everyday. MCSO has developed a public facing policy review process to promote transparency and encourage input from individual community members and multiple stakeholder groups to inform policies and/or policy updates.

Providing a safe environment for all adults in custody is paramount. Ensuring that justice involved individuals are provided safe housing and equitable access to medical care and programs and services that best meet each individual's unique needs to assist in a successful transition into the community is a high priority for me as Sheriff.

Enhanced diversity, equity, and inclusion training is also a priority. I support learning opportunities that involve community members and leaders sharing experiences with law enforcement, so we can better understand situations and respond in a more trauma informed way.

Derrick Peterson As a person of color who has experienced many of the issues around equity and inclusion the BIPOC and LGBTQ community experiences, especially given my parents were born and raised in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1918. Although many issues the black community has endured parallels with the LGBTQ community, it's separate and distinct from the issues the LGBTQ community face and must be recognized as such. While I can empathize and sympathize with the issues around LGBTQ, the fact is that even members of the black community are guilty of discrimination and marginalization of people of color and others that identify as LGBTQ. Disparities must be a continued focal point in an effort to root out prejudice and inequity in all minority communities to include, but not limited to social, economic, racial groups, and the LGBTQ community.

Over 30 years ago, I was compelled to address diversity issues by becoming a DEI instructor at the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training. In fact, I had the opportunity to be a part of the committee that developed the curriculum for the class. While the class naturally covers BIPOC issues, I am intentional to include a portion of the class focuses on LGBTQ issues as I have sought to impact and challenge new recruits around equity and inclusion. I was also honored to have a unique opportunity to be a part of managing/helping my Administrative Sergeant at the time, transition from female to male. This gave me the opportunity to help develop transgender policy for the agency and allowed me to develop an insightful perspective around LGBTQ issues.

It is this experience along with many others I will bring with me to ensure improved community relations and equal justice for the BIPOC and LGBTQ members of the public. It will be important to be proactive in engaging these communities and including them in conversations about policing and how it applies to them. I will conduct listening sessions and invite these communities to weigh in on the services provided by the Sheriff's Office and voice where and how we can improve. In an effort to diversify the agency, I will develop relationships in these particular communities to encourage people to apply to positions in the Sheriff's Office.

Nicholas Alberts I would say it is a culture of low morale. This is a staff who puts their own well-being aside for protection of the County and its citizens and seems to be portrayed in an unflattering light. The disconnect between management and frontline staff has never been bigger, with staff feeling unsupported and that their hands are tied. It is very disheartening and a burden on staff's shoulders to see our county fall into a state of chaos and feeling as though there is nothing they can do. We can improve our culture within this office once we begin to feel pride of the work and safety we are providing for our beautiful County, and our leadership takes the welfare of its staff seriously.

Nicole Morrisey O'Donnell The culture of the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office can be characterized as in transition. There is a great deal of work to do to build community trust, reinvest in all members of our organization, recruit a workforce that is reflective of our community, and embed principles of equity and inclusion throughout all of the work of the Sheriff's Office.

Being the first female Sheriff of Multnomah County will be one step toward a culture shift. Less than 3% of Sheriff's nationwide are women, and having worked in law enforcement for over 25years, I am dedicated to being a role model for others who do not see themselves reflected in-law enforcement, both in our organization and in our community.

As Sheriff, I will invest in professional growth opportunities that meet the unique needs of each of our members, build upon my current investments in employee supports and mentorship programs, and provide enhanced training including community groups and focusing on areas, such as effective communication, trauma informed response, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. These competencies are valuable when engaging with our community, but also equally important within the organization. When members are feeling more positive about the work they do each and every day, this inevitably will reflect positively with the work we do in our community. As Sheriff, I will also encourage our members to embrace change and encourage and empower them to be a part of positive change within our organization. I will ensure members have avenues to voice their input and provide opportunities to engage in conversations about creating a more positive work environment and developing innovative solutions to address today's public safety challenges.

Derrick Peterson Currently, the Sheriff's Office has a trust issue between staff and management. One of the results of the lack of trust is an overall sense of apathy. For the first time since I have worked with the Sheriff's Office, Law Enforcement could not get any Sergeants to apply for promotion to Lieutenant. This indicates fundamental and structural problems exist within the agency, which need to be addressed.

It will be important to usher in a culture of trust by giving clear expectations as well as leading by example. I will be actively seeking ways to interact and engage with staff on a regular basis and this will be expected of the command staff as well. Relationship building must be a priority, not only in the community and with justice partners, but with employees as well.

In addition, there is an issue with equity, not just from a stand point of hiring a diverse work force, but also with inviting a diverse group to the decision and policy making table. All too often, decisions are made without bringing equity and various perspectives into the room in order to make well-informed decisions, policies and procedures. My plan is to be more inclusive rather than exclusive on all levels. It is important to bring as diverse a group as possible together for the decision-making process, including unsworn staff, not just sworn staff. This would include staff from different ranks and job classifications, which is reminiscent of what the community is asking for.

During this administration, morale is arguably the lowest it has been in my 35-year career at the Sheriff's Office. While we have some of the best staff in the profession that work hard for the community; they still feel overworked, underappreciated, and unheard. As Sheriff, I would re-establish an initiative I created called "Walk Arounds" that involved chaplains and peer support checking-in with staff. I would also begin to implement the incentives mentioned in the answer for question 2 above in order to address the morale issue and increase the outlook of staff where they feel validated, supported, listened to and an important part of the Sheriff's Office team.

Nicholas Alberts There is a common misconception that current law enforcement officers are not trained in identifying individuals in mental health crisis and de-escalation. Law enforcement does get training in this field, however what we will do is offer more to leave them better equipped for when these types of situations inevitably arise. I think that the idea of pulling resources from an already short staffed number of armed deputies is a dangerous one. If the idea was to partner those trained in areas of de-escalation and mental health, that could be a different discussion. As we see crime rising across our county, and a sense of anarchy looming on our streets, it is not the time to pull from the number of public safety officers who are ready to protect our citizens from potential violence. It is true that more training in de-escalation for our staff could be valuable and decrease the need for specialized mental health workers. Training a full sheriff's office staff can be costly and time consuming, so I will fight to maintain adequate funding for our office to provide these trainings and still have a staff available and ready on the street to keep their citizens safe.

Nicole Morrisey O'Donnell In my most recent two roles at the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office (MCSO), Law Enforcement Chief Deputy and Undersheriff, I have worked collaboratively with TriMet to develop alternative safety presence models. These include an unarmed response team made-up of people with lived experience who are trained in de-escalation and trauma informed response, and we are in the early stages of partnering with public health and TriMet to develop crisis response model to address behavioral health concerns on the public transportation system with a more holistic approach.

I support programs like Portland Street Response, and I am interested in learning more about the recent expansion. I will continue to evaluate these types of models to determine where there are opportunities to bring them to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office.

Recently, MCSO received grant funding to begin building an initiative to add a clinician to our Homeless Outreach and Programs Engagement (HOPE) Team. Our HOPE Team provides regular outreach and connection to housing, mental health, and addiction services, and I am interested in increasing the footprint of this program with the necessary community based services moving forward.

With respect to training, I have advocated for enhanced crisis intervention, trauma informed response, de-escalation, and diversity, equity and inclusion training in the upcoming budget because I believe it is critical that we are providing our members the tools and training required to respond in a trauma informed way and in alignment with community expectations.

Derrick Peterson I believe the expectations placed on police officers has changed drastically over the years and is unsustainable. The Law Enforcement profession, in many ways, is called to be everything to everybody to include, not only being experts in law enforcement, which is complex itself, but to be experts in mental health, houselessness and many times family counselors when responding to domestic violence calls. I am in favor of dispatching unarmed responders who are thoroughly trained in de-escalation and mental health evaluation to respond to calls that have a higher propensity to escalate when an officer with a gun responds.

The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office will need to challenge itself on delivering and training its staff in the best de-escalation techniques from the very beginning of the interaction all the way to the end. We will need to constantly look for ways to improve, while delivering a consistent product year after year. The de-escalation training must be effective, universal, proven, and be approved by the community. I am advocating for a uniformed training approach that is implemented across the United States. This will eliminate confusion of what is expected from one agency to another and is designed to let all communities understand and feel comfortable with the training. Out of the organizations providing this type of training, I am a proponent of Con10gency Consulting LLC who provides a comprehensive de-escalation training program titled the "CALM approach".

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Q&A: Multnomah County Sheriff candidates on the issues - Portland Tribune

BUFFALO, N.Y. A new book by a University at Buffalo historian examines the largely unexplored ways in which utopian thinking became a model for civil rights activists and provided the foundation for a worldview that informed the work of people who would later emerge as key figures in the long movement, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Pauli Murray, Father Divine, and Howard Thurman.

Living in the Future: Utopianism and the Long Civil Rights Movement, (University of Chicago Press) by Victoria W. Wolcott, PhD, professor of history in the UB College of Arts and Sciences, frames what is an otherwise incomplete picture of civil rights by investigating how the utopian activists, groups and institutions of the 1930s and 1940s created change in the social, economic and political fortunes of African Americans.

There is a refreshing optimism to the American utopian tradition, which is particularly appealing in our current historical moment of pessimism, saysWolcott, an expert in 20th century and African American history. The groups I studied for this book envisioned a future different from their present in ways that helped shape society for the better.

That kind of thinking can be generative.

Sir Thomas More introduced the term utopia in his early 16th century book of the same name. Utopia translates from Greek into English as no place. Utopia manifests itself through the practice of social dreaming. Utopianism is a constructive, progressive mindset that encourages a social imagination committed to seeing and creating a more perfect society.

The groups in Wolcotts book each had a nuanced view and their own history of utopianism, yet they all shared three central tenets in their united call for immediate social change: building cooperatives, interracialism, and radical nonviolence.

This book is the result of questions raised while researching my previous book onrecreation and segregation. I kept encountering these radical pacifists living in ashrams and other types of intentional communities. I wanted to learn more, says Wolcott. These cooperatives challenged competitive capitalism and were as equally focused on the means as the ends. They demanded revolutionary change in society and they lived in ways that reflected their goals.

These groups also practiced a form of Gandhian nonviolent direct action that was much different from the passive resistance promoted by traditional peace churches like the Quakers and Mennonites, according to Wolcott.

They are developing the kinds of tactics that will be central to the long civil rights movement, she says. These are radical pacifists involved in direct action, but just as importantly, they trained others in radical nonviolence.

And thirdly, Wolcott says, there was a sweeping interracialism to their activism.

They worked to desegregate American society, which is the process of challenging and dismantling Jim Crow, but by interracialism were talking about an established policy of equality that includes interracialism in organized labor through the Congress of Industrial Organizations; liberal interracialism, like the YMCA movement; and utopian interracialism, or the belief of race as a social construct.

Its these utopian ideas and practices, which are central to understanding the civil rights movements, that shouldnt be overlooked.

Utopian ideas fell out of fashion after World War II because they were associated with totalitarianism, the Cold War, and enforcing the will of the state, says Wolcott. The American utopian tradition is a way of thinking about community, cooperation and equality and there is a lot of attention today being given to utopian ideas.

Im glad this book arrives at a moment when theres interest in a broader discussion on the role of utopian societies.

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Book looks at the unexplored impact of utopian ideas on the civil rights movement - University at Buffalo

Not all senior living communities are designed equally. While some focus on getting the maximum number of units possible in their design, Melody Livings Lake in the Hills focuses on creating a Life in Harmony through thoughtful design. When creating the community, the focus was on intentional design elements that encourage the Eight Dimensions of Wellness (emotional, physical, environmental, social, occupational, intellectual, spiritual, and financial).

The benefit of having a community that was built with this philosophy, is that the design is forward-thinking and not an after-thought. The flow of intentional design ensures that residents have easy access to comfortable living spaces, luxurious amenities, and a relaxing atmosphere that was created just for them.

Mobility can be a concern for loved ones; therefore, our hallways are short but wide for accessible-use and elevators and stairs are all located a few seconds away from key community life rooms where activities occur. Outdoor spaces also are an important element. One thing to think about is the flow of the outdoor space. Consider whether the sidewalks are smooth and paved in a way that is safe for residents using a wheelchair, walker, or who may have limited mobility. Look for ample seating and environmental features like landscaping and dcor such as trees, patio umbrellas, and flowers that create a sense of peace and comfort.

Internally, the layout of community features also is important. For example, be on the lookout where places like the main dining room are located. Is this space positioned in an area thats comfortable and away from the front entrance in a more exclusive restaurant style dining space, or are residents dining near the constantly opening and closing lobby doors?

Its important for seniors to continue to thrive in their living environment, whether they age in place or enjoy living in an assisted living and memory care community. Melody Living offers residents a safe and welcoming atmosphere to call home. For more information, contact 847-957-7070.

Melody Living

525 Harvest Gate Road

Lake in the Hills, IL 60156 847-957-7070

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Senior Living - the importance of intentional design - Shaw Local

Juan Calderon has been involved with the Puerto Rican Cultural Center for most of his life.

He was a graduate of the centers child care program and involved in its public health program. And he has become part of the Building Infrastructure for Human Services team just as the center looks to create Puerto Rico Town.

Our framework is visualized on self-determination, self-actualization and self-reliance, said Calderon, 35. Part of our 10-year vision is to repopulate Puerto Ricans and Latinos that have left the area, be that because of gentrification and displacement or high cost.

Puerto Rico Town would have four pillars: affordable housing, education resources, health care and a commercial corridor.

Now, through a new $2.7 million initiative, the affordable housing pillar is one step closer to coming together.

The Puerto Rican Cultural Center was one of three organizations selected to split funding from the Neighborhood Developers Initiative, a new program run by Community Desk Chicago with funding from the McCormick Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, Polk Bros. Foundation and JPMorgan Chase.

The Desk was created by The Chicago Community Trust in 2019, in partnership with Boston Consulting Groups Center for Illinois Future and JPMorgan Chase.

It was really looking at what are some of the systemic issues that are impacting the ability for communities to move forward with projects and build robust project pipelines to bring the necessary infrastructure to these communities, explained JaNet Defell, director of The Desk.

In addition to the center, Teamwork Englewood and the South Shore Chamber Community Development Corp. were selected for the program, which will provide each group with resources for development.

We spent a good chunk of time advocating for community projects that we believe are wealth building for communities and also improve the quality of life, Defell said. We were very intentional about targeting those types of projects, because generally those projects are riskier projects that often have very difficult times accessing the capital to move those projects forward.

The Desk was also intentional about supporting communities of color, neighborhoods where there was potential concern around gentrification, said Defell. She added these communities were also ripe with opportunities to transform neighborhoods because of a big event.

In South Shore, that big event is the Obama Presidential Center.

The South Shore community is rich in assets, said Tonya Trice, the Chambers executive director. With the announcement of the Obama Presidential Center coming less than a mile away, there are investors that are interested in the South Shore community, and we want to make sure that we have a voice and a seat at the table, so that what happens in the South Shore community is reflective of the residents and the stakeholders in the community.

The two-year program will culminate in the creation of a community development project by each organization. Financial assistance will be doled out in phases; so far, a planning grant has been disbursed.

Next steps include a financial assessment of the groups current abilities to achieve their goals, which leads to an action plan for their community development projects and customized learning programs around real estate.

Each group is also provided a consultant. Trips around the country will also be covered by The Desk so the groups can learn from other community organizations.

The funds will allow Teamwork Englewood to build upon their Englewood Quality of Life Initiative, a community-driven plan organizing and supporting economic development efforts in the neighborhood.

We want to support that momentum and add to the growth that can happen in Greater Englewood, said Cecile DeMello, executive director for Teamwork Englewood. We are eager to learn, bring those leanings to the community and build in a community that desperately needs sustainable economic development.

Sustainable development is one key factor for the program, Defell said.

So often in neighborhoods, people think the solution is a big catalytic project, she said. We have to move beyond the catalytic project because in most cases, especially when you talk about Black and Latinx communities, you assume that the market will take over, and it doesnt always happen that way.

For Calderon, The Desk is providing the center a chance to serve their community.

This is our culture, he said. Oftentimes, weve had to patch resources together. This is a one-time, capacity-building program [that] continues to build on what we as an organization have been moving for over the last 50 years.

Cheyanne M. Daniels is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times viaReport for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the papers coverage of communities on the South and West sides.

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$2.7 million initiative to spur real estate development on South and West sides - Chicago Sun-Times

The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set newsroom policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or onbangordailynews.com.

Alvaro Sanchez is vice president of policy at the Greenlining Institute. This column was produced for Progressive Perspectives, which is run by The Progressive magazine and distributed by Tribune News Service.

Every April, right around Earth Day, we see stories of multinational corporations pouring millions of dollars into new technology to fix climate change.

While the climate crisis is certainly an all-hands-on-deck emergency, we should not be narrowly focused on technology as our sole path out of this mess.

I understand the fear that only a miracle can save us. There are terrifying reports about the existential threat of climate change coming out all the time. But it was rampant capitalism that created the conditions that led to the climate crisis that we are now trying to fix. To fight climate change, we need to use technology as a tool, not a solution.

Climate change hits communities of color and low-income communities first and worst due to systemic racism and intentional disinvestment. The machines of industrialization were deliberately placed in these communities, locking in pollution and harming residents health for generations. Technology cant solve that, but community-led policymaking can.

Against these overwhelming challenges, communities have identified creative ways to tackle climate change. Our work at the Greenlining Institute over the past three decades has shown that when communities lead, results follow. Weve worked in coalitions to advance community-led solutions to climate change, creating models for climate action across the globe.

Government responses to environmental racism and redlining tend to be siloed and top-down, with limited community engagement. Transformative Climate Communities, a Greenlining Institute initiative, helps build healthy and resilient communities, empowering them to fight climate change. This involves creating new models for community-led ownership over climate action plans, while also reducing carbon emissions.

Our transportation system is the largest source of air pollution in the United States, with environmental and health hazards hitting low-income communities of color the hardest. Systemic racism limits access to affordable and efficient transportation for people of color, exacerbating disparities when it comes to the impact of pollution.

Towards Equitable Electric Mobility, another Greenlining Institute Project, brings together advocates and community leaders to advance state and local level policies and programs that foster a more sustainable and just transportation system, as has happened in Colorado, Illinois, North Carolina, Virginia and Michigan.

When programs that promote the use of alternatives to fossil fuels in transportation are designed to maximize environmental and economic benefits for historically underserved communities, they work better for all communities.

Another community-based effort, Green Raiteros, is an electric ridesharing program or an Indigenous Uber as Huron Mayor Rey Leon calls it. Volunteers use the programs electric vehicles or their own to drive fellow residents to access medical appointments or other services in exchange for a small fee. Greenlining helped the program secure early resources and technical assistance.

Operated by a local nonprofit with support from a coalition of community stakeholders, Green Raiteros serves predominantly low-income Latinx residents, many of whom are farmworkers. They endure some of the nations unhealthiest air and highest transportation costs.

We can accelerate progress, innovation, and, yes, even technology, to tackle climate change. But without equity at the center, we stand to replicate the harms of the fossil fuel economy.

If we start with the voices and priorities of people most impacted, we can withstand the climate disasters heading our way, and advance an ambitious long-term climate agenda.

This year, were celebrating our 52nd Earth Day. Lets get this one right.

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Let's get Earth Day right by focusing on low-income communities and people of color - Bangor Daily News

Welcome again from sunny Orlando, Florida as we continue with Day 2 of the 2022 RILA Asset Protection Conference! While todays sessions had something for everyone, the primary theme was all about peopleour leaders at every level, our workforce, our customers, and our communities. The energy once again flowed freely throughout the event, and attendees were once again rewarded with a series of great sessions.

The day began with the annual Women in Asset Protection Breakfast, an event that has become a popular landmark within the annual conference. Panelists shared their experiences with an enthusiastic audience as female law enforcement officials and industry leaders explored avenues that can be pursued to expand and support career development and a more diverse retail organization.

The conversation then moved to the main stage for a general session on Leveraging Stores to Better Serve Communities with Targets Oscar Arango, Paul Jaeckle with Meijer, and moderator Erin Hiatt with RILA. With examples including a Meijer store that became a safe harbor during an Active Shooter incident to ways that asset protection departments can find creative ways to lessen the burden on our law enforcement partners, the presentation outlined a few of the many ways that we can enrich the lives of the communities we serve while reminding us that while we have a responsibility to protect, its how we go about it that really defines our programs.

Our next session featured a continuing discussion on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Doing Whats Best. Our panel of retail leaders and DEI experts emphasized that rather than simply focusing on doing whats right, its just as important to emphasize doing whats best by amplifying underrepresented voices, engaging the community, and bringing difference experiences and perspectives to the forefront to make us better. We were reminded that inclusion is an action, but belonging is a feeling, grounded when we start from a place of good with open minds, good intensions, and sincere motivations.

Todays Breakout Sessions provided an array of options for attendees, with both morning and afternoon sessions packed with topics most relevant to todays asset protection issues. This included roundtable discussions, interactive presentations, and the annual Student Mentorship Program with students from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business Analytics program. Over the past several months, students teamed with Kroger to examine which products are most susceptible to large-scale theft, spikes in theft frequency, and the efficacy of theft deterrence strategies. Congratulations once again to the students, who provided an excellent presentation and all those who support this terrific initiative. Look for the published report presented by the students in an upcoming edition of LP Magazine.

The afternoons General Sessions began with Lisa LaBrunos discussion with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who is pioneering ORC efforts across his state. General Raoul shared how influential retailers have been to raising awareness among law enforcement and prosecutors about the gravity of ORC, discussed the Organized Retail Crime Task Forces being pioneered by District Attorney Offices across the U.S., and offered perspective on the importance of collaboration between all stakeholders. He urged attendees to be persistent and intentional when working with officials, once you start explaining how the proceeds can go towards funding other criminal activity, then you have the attention of law enforcement agencies and dedication to devote resources to it.

This was followed by the final session of the day, understanding and Managing eCommerce Loss at Scale with Jerret Sauer and Maghan Hoppes with Gap, Inc. and Todd Isenhour with Lowes. As eCommerce becomes an increasingly important part of the retail business, understanding and managing eCommerce loss is a critical need. Our team of experts dove into defining eCommerce loss, measuring it, and how retailers align internal teams and external partners to tackle this increasingly important challenge.

We also want to recognize the tremendous contributions of our solution provider partners who offered their latest products and innovations along with their subject matter expertise. The Exposition Hall was very well-attended between sessions the past two days, with solution providers eager to share and retail leaders eager to learn and explore the opportunities. These outstanding partners do an exceptional job supporting both the conference and the industry, making events like this possible.

While were looking forward to the final day of sessions on Wednesday, we would also offer our gratitude and congratulations to RILA for another great conference experience. Look for our summary in tomorrows newsletter as we wrap up a busy and productive event.

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The Story Continues: Day 2 from the 2022 RILA Asset Protection Conference - Loss Prevention Magazine