Category Archives: Intentional Communities

Partnership puts data at the heart of efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on young people at risk of homelessness

SEATTLE, Nov. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A Way Home Washington (AWHWA), the movement to prevent and end youth and young adult homelessness across Washington, is proud to announce a new partnership with the Seattle Seahawks and Tableau Foundation on a statewide initiative to help the 13,000 - 15,000 unaccompanied youth and young adults experiencing homelessness each year. The partnership brings together three organizations who have all found great success through data.

A Way Home Washington Logo

Powered by Tableau, the world's leading analytics platform, AWHWA's flagship program, the Anchor Community Initiative (ACI), has an explicit goal to prevent and end YYA homelessness through intensive work in communities.

"In each Anchor Community, a diverse coalition brings together all parts of a community with partners committing to work across systems and silos, sticking with their collective approach until they have functionally ended youth homelessness. This means they have the capacity to prevent most homelessness, use personalized, real-time data to identify all the unaccompanied young people who are experiencing homelessness, and quickly provide connections to safe and stable housing," said Julie Patio, Executive Director, A Way Home Washington.

The ACI, which began in four communities, is in the process of expanding to include additional communities across the state. This expansion builds on recent milestones achieved by Anchor Communities, including Spokane, which has become the largest community in the United States to achieve a reduction in youth and young adult homelessness, and Walla Walla, which has reduced homelessness for young people by 20 percent in the last six months.

"A Way Home Washington's data-driven approach to preventing and ending youth and young adult (YYA) homelessness in the state is something that really resonated with us in the Seahawks organization" said Jeff Richards, Vice President of Marketing & Community Engagement for the Seattle Seahawks. "We know how clearly communicated insights keep our teams moving in the right direction on and off the field. The same is true for community organizations working together to make sure young people have a safe place to call home and the support needed to thrive."

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As part of the partnership, the Seahawks will host and celebrate several direct service providers from the Anchor Communities at the Seahawks game on Sunday, November 21. Throughout the pandemic, local homeless service providers across the state have worked tirelessly to support young people in need.

"Welcoming the ACI partners to Lumen Field is our way of saying 'thank you' to those who have given so much of themselves to help others," said Richards.

"A Way Home Washington and the Anchor Communities Initiative are proving that we can not only address the total number of homeless youth and young adults in Washington state, but that data empowers communities to be intentional about addressing the disproportionate number of kids of color who experience homelessness each year," said Jason Schumacher, Tableau Foundation's lead on homelessness and housing initiatives. "Seattle has been Tableau's home since its founding in 2004, and we're thrilled to be joined with another iconic Washington organization in the Seahawks to support this statewide effort to help kids in need."

Addressing YYA homelessness is often helping a young person address family disruption related to sexual orientation, gender identity, family abuse, and other issues that are exacerbated by the vulnerability and diminished power young people have in the United States. Additionally, the leading indicator of homelessness later in life (e.g., chronic homelessness, vehicular homelesness, etc.) includes previous episodes of homelessness.

Recognizing the impact that the spread of COVID-19 has had on these vulnerable young people, AWHWA recently sought out additional information to better understand the impact that the pandemic has had on them in Washington. From the Household Pulse Survey, which is conducted every two weeks and gathers data on how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting households across the United States from social and economic perspectives, our analysis shows that 18-25 year olds in Washington state have been deeply impacted by the pandemic, including:

Mental well-being is precipitous among those surveyed. 71% reported being depressed and 82% reported experiencing anxiety.

Only 52% of respondents indicated that they were very confident they could afford food.

Across the board, young people are more vulnerable and are having more acute negative experiences than other age groups in Washington state.

"We expected the impacts of COVID-19 on young people experiencing homelessness to be bad, but what we learned was truly eye opening. Young people fared worse than every other age group in our state, with young people of color being disproportionately impacted," says Patio. "The insights provided by this tailored, real-time data are essential to informing policies and practices that help us to provide the right services and take the right steps to prevent and end youth and young adult homelessness."

About A Way Home Washington

A Way Home Washington (AWHWA) is a statewide movement to prevent and end youth and young adult homelessness, with a focus on prioritizing young people of color and LGBTQ+ youth who experience homelesness at higher rates than their white, straight, cisgender peers. Co-Chaired by First Lady Trudi Inslee, AWHWA unites passionate stakeholders across the state to build systems that respond to the unique needs of all young people.

(PRNewsfoto/Tableau)

Cision

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SOURCE A Way Home Washington; Tableau Software

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Seattle Seahawks and Tableau team up with A Way Home Washington to tackle the rise in youth and young adult homelessness across Washington State -...

I grew up in the old Harlem, New York. Where the hot summers would bring the kids outside to run through the fire hydrants that we turned into sprinklers, stoops and railings became the porches that we didnt have, and the corner store was our very own Walmart of snacks. 125th street, home of the famous Apollo Theater, was the place to get bootleg CDs and DVDs, and the latest Air Force One sneakers.

I had the opportunity to traverse many cultural spaces by way of being a smartBlack kidfrom the hood, but even after the long days of summer camps and evenings of violin lessons on the lower east side, nothing felt quite like home as much as the 1.4 square miles of my Black, Harlem community.

In the summer of 2017, Wholefoods came to Harlem, right on 125th street and just a few avenues away from the Apollo. And well, there went the neighborhood. Its arrival was indicative of a different Harlem. Up until then, Harlem felt impenetrable to processes I would later learn about as an urban planner gentrification and displacement, and the inner workings of policies that drove them.

The change that engulfed Harlem is part of a national trend in gentrifyinglegacy Black citiesand neighborhoods across the country wealthy, white families are moving to non-white, predominantly Black neighborhoods. According to theNew York Times, since the year 2000, white residents moving to non-white communities has affected about one in six predominantly African-American census tracts. Inner cities and downtown centers once plagued by disinvestment, to which minorities were relegated, are attracting new development. The insidious nature of the changes happening in communities like Harlem is not simply the emergence of more white faces on Harlems streets or the newly built bike lanes. The changes symbolize renewed interest in communities that have long fought for the very resources and amenities that new residents can now access so easily. They also symbolize an erasure of the very Blackness and cultural and social norms that created such a dynamic community.

The sudden interest in Black communities across the country is not, in fact, a sudden process. While the demographic shifts suggest a pattern of individual white households choosing to move to historically Black and disinvested neighborhoods to spur gentrification and eventually displacement, their accomplices includehousing policiesthat both encourage and intensify changes in these Black communities. The gentrification process and the displacement it incites perpetuates patterns of injustice as Black communities are erased, removed from the fabric of reinvested communities, and priced out of the very neighborhoods that once offered affordability.These injustices are deeply rooted in the United Stateslong historyof intentional disinvestment in Black communities and other communities of color. This disinvestment was aided by federal, state, and local housing policies throughout the country, beginning in the early 20th century. This included practices such as redlining, blockbusting, urban renewal and highway construction, to name a few the culmination of these interventions disseminated Black neighborhoods throughout the county. Richmonds Black communities were no exception.

As the city of Richmond undergoes significant transition,achieving racial equity means implementing policies to combat involuntary displacement of Black residents and to preserve the culture embedded within historic Black communities.

Neighborhood Change in the City of Richmond

In Richmond, gentrification has been pretty significant in neighborhoods such as Jackson Ward, Church Hill, and more recently, the citys Northside. As each of these neighborhoods have undergone gentrification, both physical and cultural displacement have occurred. This year, Jackson Ward celebrated its150th anniversary, which prompted reflections on the changes that the neighborhood has undergone over the last century and how it has endured after decades of forcible displacement of its Black residents.

What does it mean for a neighborhood, once known as the Harlem of the South, to have transformed to a majority white community, where African-Americans only comprise about23% of the population? Or when long time residents are forced to move and are replaced by new and younger ones? History and culture is lost, and we lose the benefit of not only learning about the history of a community from those who lived there, but we risk the history being lost altogether if we do not continuously highlight the historical narratives and markers of its Black culture. Trailblazers such as Maggie Lena Walker and Oliver Hill, who helped make the neighborhood such a staple in Richmonds Black community, are not just figures of the past. Their legacy can remain even as the community transforms and can even light our path forward.

Church Hill is yet another example of a neighborhood where demographic shifts mirror those happening in historically disinvestment communities throughout the city. Church Hill is one of Richmonds oldest neighborhoods. Beginning in the late 1950s, the neighborhood experienced significant decline. Development and housing policies gave way to white flight, leaving behind low-income African-Americans to experience decades of disinvestment. That has since changed. Between 2000-2010, the neighborhood began to attract a whiter and more educated population. By 2015, African American households, both renters and homeowners, haddeclinedby 20 percent, after comprising almost 90 percent of households in 2000. Even more striking, in this same period, Black homeowners in Church Hill declined by 23 percent, while white homeowners increased by 159 percent. Home values have grown at the same speed as white folks in the neighborhood. In just four years, between 2010-2014, home values increased by 30 percent, from a median sale price of $165,000 to $215,000 by 2014.

These changes in the demographic make-up of the community should have prompted decision-makers, elected officials, and policymakers to take a closer look at the policies driving such drastic change in the community and attracting residents so unlike the existing ones.

The demographic and housing market shifts are compounded by a contentious cultural shift, a shift that the preservation of Black businesses have been crucial in curtailing. Brookland Park Boulevard, located in Richmonds Northside and the citys firststreetcar suburb, once served as the physical demarcation of white and Black residents in the neighborhood. Similar to Church Hill, the Northsides housing market is undergoing significant change and attracting a demographic that was once foreign to the community. However, the presence of Black businesses along this main commercial corridor has been key to the neighborhood maintaining its cultural footprint. These businesses reflect a commitment to making sure that Black culture and families are reflected even as the community changes. More importantly, the types of businesses matter: restaurants, Black hair salons, and barbershops, which in the Black community are of great significance. They have long offered respite for us, serving as gathering spaces to discuss politics, culture, and social issues.

Mobility vs. Displacement

As difficult as it may be, change is a fact of life. Neighborhoods change, and the people within those neighborhoods change as personal and economic factors drive them to move out of one community and into another. I, for one, have moved countless times in my life. For jobs, for school, or simply out of a desire to be somewhere else. But, its important to distinguish theprocess of this changefrom the havoc it wreaks on the people who have called a community home.

Nothing is as simple as being either for or against something. When I hear gentrification, I have a visceral reaction because of how Ive seen it change my own community, but I know that it denotes a process, not necessarily an outcome. I do not think any Black person who has lived in an under-resourced or impoverished community is against finally getting those resources we have fought so hard for. Its about more than being against change or investment, or for it, especially when that investment is long overdue. But it is a matter of not feeling disposable, unseen, or unheard as this investment occurs; of not feeling as though the white people moving in are somehow more deserving of paved sidewalks, greenspace, bike paths and grocery stores.

I dont believe gentrification has to lead to displacement, and in fact, there arecitiesacross the country where policy has been key to combating involuntary displacement in communities of color.

Policy got us into this, so policy has to get us out.

Creating an equitable Richmond means being intentional about promoting policies that combat involuntary displacement, ensuring that Black households truly have a choice in remaining in their communities and that they can reap the benefits of reinvestment as much as their white counterparts. This includes policies that promote stability for Black homeowners and renters in historically Black neighborhoods.

Property Tax Relief

In places like the District of Columbia and Maryland,caps on property taxesfor the elderly or low-income residents, called homestead laws, ensure that they can remain in their homes even as property taxes rise due to revitalization. What if these types of laws were expanded to all homeowners, regardless of age? This might be a solution for ensuring that Black homeowners are not priced out of their homes as their communities are revitalized.

Inclusionary Zoning

Additionally, a shrinking stock of affordable housing throughout the country increases the likelihood of working class families being displaced. In thecity of Richmond, a lack of affordable housing in neighborhoods that are rich in resources keeps many families from remaining in those communities. Passing and enforcinginclusionary zoning(IZ) laws that require developers to build a certain percentage of affordable housing in new or renovated buildings or to build more housing for larger families, can help ensure that residents find affordable housing within communities of their choice.Burlington, Vermont was an early adopter of inclusionary zoning in the 1990s. As part of the IZ requirements, at least 15-20 percent of newly built housing has to meet the affordability requirements, and they have to remain affordable for up to 99 years. This policy has allowed the locality to build 270 affordable units, and while it is not a perfect system, enforcing regulations means that people can access affordable housing in changing communities.

Preservation and Celebration

While Jackson Ward still struggles with the legacy of mass displacement of Black residents, the community does provide an example of how historic preservation policies help to combat cultural displacement in legacy Black communities. For example, in 1976, Jackson Ward was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places; efforts driven by those who recognized the need to protect the communitys history. In 1978, it was recognized as a National Historic Landmark, followed by two local designations in 1986. These designations are significant because they not only provide federal and local protections against significant changes to historic properties, they also symbolize a commitment and recognition from officials that this Black community is worth being preserved. More recently, projects such asThe JXN Project and theJackson Ward Collectivehave been created to preserve Black culture by supporting Black business owners and ensuring that they have the resources needed to thrive. These types of projects help preventcultural and social displacementby ensuring that minority business owners are embedded in the citys economy.

Why the moment is now

Black people and neighborhoods have always deserved to be protected from displacement, but the recent health crisis has shown us just how tenuous our circumstances could be without the proper interventions. The COVID-19 crisis hit hard, butBlack and Latinocommunities were hit the hardest. For those who never truly understood the implications of decades of disinvestment and racism in housing within Black communities, the health crisis revealed just how deep these inequities run. As federal eviction moratoria are lifted and forbearance programs end, state and local policies are even more important to curtailing displacement.

If racial equity is to be achieved in Black communities that have long been the epicenter for disinvestment, then as reinvestment occurs, Black households must also be able to reap the benefits of this revitalization. And being able to remain there is simply the starting point, for as neighborhoods transform, we should not be left thinking, there goes the neighborhood.

Born and raised in Harlem, New York, Mariah Williams is an urban planner, storyteller, adjunct professor, and researcher dedicated to highlighting the experiences of Black people and spaces in cities. Her work on Black joy, Black women, and community has been featured inNext City, Third Wave UrbanismandFor Harriet. Mariah received her B.A in Sociology from the University of Richmond and her Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Commonwealth University.

This essay is part of theRichmond Racial Equity Essays series,exploring what racial equity looks like in Richmond, Virginia. It is reprinted here with permission. Check out thefull project, the accompanyingvideos,and thepodcast.

Originally posted here:

There Goes The Neighborhood: Combating Displacement in Richmond's Historically Black Neighborhoods - rvamag.com

What To Know Today

Cook Countys chief public defender: End the criminalization of gun possession. In an op-ed for The Nation, Sharone Mitchell Jr. lent his support to an amicus brief filed by public defenders against New Yorks gun licensing policy, decrying how its largely young men of color who are affected when illegal gun possession cases are prosecuted. Despite the Second Amendments claimed protections that have only expanded in the last 60 years Black and brown men in New York, Chicago, and other localities around the country arent protected like white gun owners: Were arrested, prosecuted, and warehoused in prisons, he writes. Mitchell expressed support for many policies of the gun reform movement including funding community violence intervention, repealing the gun industrys unique legal protections, and restricting assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. But he argued that the cost of gun possession prosecutions has been too high for Black and brown communities, while also failing to cut the supply of guns to those areas.

Judge in Rittenhouse murder trial talks jury instructions ahead of closing arguments. Kyle Rittenhouse faces six counts in connection with killing two protesters and injuring a third last August in Kenosha, Wisconsin. On Friday, the judge hearing the trial signaled he would tell jurors that they could weigh whether the 18-year-old Illinois resident provoked his first fatal attack when assessing the teens self-defense claims. Judge Bruce Schroeder also indicated he would tell jurors they could consider lesser charges than first-degree intentional homicide against one of the two men Rittenhouse killed. What it means: Youre giving a buffet of options, an expert told The Washington Post. Maybe the jury cant agree on all things but they compromise on something lower. Closing arguments in the case begin later this morning.

Newark to dedicate $19M to community-violence intervention. Mayor Ras Baraka on Fridayannouncedthat the three-year investment would include money earmarkedfor the city through theAmerican Rescue Plan. Coming soon: A request for proposals from local groups of community-based public safety projects that will also reduce and prevent violence in our city. More on Newark from The Trace: Earlier this year, J. Brian Charles reported on the federal oversight of Newarks police and how advocates and city officials were split on the future of the expensive outside intervention.

Federal and local law enforcement have recovered ~25K privately made guns since 2016. Thats according to reporting by The New York Times on the national rise in ghost guns, DIY firearms that lack serial numbers. Go deeper: The Traces Alain Stephens first reported on the explosion of ghost guns in California in 2019. In August, he wrote that the federal government is increasingly worried about extremists and white supremacist groups using the weapons.

86 percent the share of community violence intervention workers who occasionally or frequently worry about losing their jobs because of a funding lapse, according to a recent survey of groups in Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Oakland. [Giffords]

Link:

Daily Bulletin: 'There's No Second Amendment on the South Side of Chicago' - The Trace

When the U.S. Department of Justice announced its environmental justice investigation in Alabama on Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division called it historic.

It's the first timethe DOJ has opened a Title IV environmental justice investigation into a recipient of department funding. It will examine whetherthe public health departments of Alabama and Lowndes County have engaged in unlawful racial discrimination against Black residents who make up a vast majority of the countys population.

Clarke said the departments are well aware of the struggles Black residents face in accessing safe wastewater disposal in rural areas, but even if they arent aware, the ADPH and Lowndes County Health Department could face consequences.

If the action has the effect of discriminating and you can show that more people of color are harmed by that, whether or not it was intentional, then that's an adequate allegation of a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, environmental justice attorney Chandra Taylor said.

Investigation: DOJ opens investigation into Black residents' access to sewage disposal in Lowndes County

How safe is your tap water?: Here are Alabama utilities with the most serious contaminants

This issue of adequate sewage access in Lowndes has been widely reported on, and U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell has even brought potential solutions like the Rural Septic Tank Access Grant of 2018 to Congress. It passed, and millions of dollars have come into the county to help increase access. Still, the problems have not yet been resolved.

You can go to Wilcox County, and you find exactly the same situation, but really nothing happening to solve the problem, University of Alabama professor Mark Elliott said. It's kind of ironic that Lowndes County is the one that has the DOJ action when you can go to any other Black Belt county and find almost nothing being done to solve the problem in very similar conditions.

Elliott has studied water, sanitation and public health for over a decade, and in recent years, his studies have focused on the Black Belt region of Alabama. The three key factors he has found that contribute to the sewage shortcomings in the Black Belt are high percentages of rural poverty, lack of municipal sewer systems and impermeable soil that causes traditional septic systems to fail.

In a project with UA, Elliott found that over half of the homes in Wilcox County that he sampled in a site by site survey had failing septic systems and instead used an illegal method of sewage disposal called straight-piping.

What are they left with? he said. They've got to get wastewater out of their home. They've got to get it off the property, so they'll bury a 4-inch PVC pipe, maybe connected to a 55-gallon drum, maybe to a septic tank, maybe to a buried refrigerator or something to handle the solids, and then just run the liquids out into the woods.

This method is also used by many residents of rural Lowndes County.

Whether or not straight-piping results in an overwhelming stench just depends on the weather each day, Elliott said.

Sewell represents the 7th congressional district of Alabama, which includes much of the Black Belt, and several other counties in her district could be experiencing similar lack of sewage treatment options.

This wastewater crisis is an issue of environmental justice, public health and equity. It is exacerbated by systemic disinvestment in rural and underserved communities, especially communities of color like those across the Black Belt, Sewell said in a statement to the Advertiser. I welcome the Department of Justices investigation into the abhorrent conditions of the wastewater systems that my constituents face in Lowndes County.

An ADPH official said the department is looking to have this matter resolved as quickly as possible.

Congresswoman Sewell looks for solutions to Lowndes county sewage issues

Congresswomen Terri Sewell discusses calls for a moratorium on sewer citations while the state finds solutions to sewage problems at homes in rural Lowndes County, Ala., on Monday, July 30, 2018.

Mickey Welsh / Advertiser

Taylor, who is withthe Southern Environmental Law Centers Environmental Justice Center, has won several cases aimed atprotecting communities in poverty and communities of color from being disproportionately harmed by their environments.

When theDOJ launches such an investigation on administrative complaints, the health departments being investigated typically don't go to court. That happens only if an investigation finds intentionaldiscrimination, Taylor said.

The most powerful effect that comes out of filing an administrative civil rights complaint is the possibility that the federal funding that the federal aid recipient received would be taken away, Taylor said. What is more likely are settlements in a negotiation between the investigating federal agency and the federal aid recipient where they modify their decision-making.

Hadley Hitson covers the rural South for the Montgomery Advertiser and Report for America. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com.

Original post:

The intersection of environmental justice and civil rights: How DOJ investigation could play out - Montgomery Advertiser

Michelle Charron Hollie| Guest Columnist

After the 2018 midterm elections,Duval County Supervisor of Elections (SOE) Mike Hogan closed early voting sites at two local schools Edward Waters University and the University of North Florida. He said they were being replaced by two other sites, close to the schools, and that access to the polls would not be seriously affected.

Now the SOE is closing both the replacement polling stations. They are two of five sites being shuttered, a decision that will disproportionately affect young voters and Black voters in their attempts to participate in the coming municipal elections and the 2022 midterms. It is part of a nationwide assault by extremist officeholders on the right to vote, triggered by the defeat of Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Hogan said the reason for closing the UNF site was a low turnout, although the school had the second-highest number of voters of all the campus early voting sites in Florida. He also claimed that the university administration had security issues and parking worries, although the school never said that publicly.

As for Edward Waters, Hogan insists that voting must take place in a publicly-owned building,and EWU is a private school, not public. But under Florida Statute 101.657, SOEs may designate any of various facilities as early voting sites, including convention centers and stadiums. Under the law, these facilities can be either public or private property.

This qualifies EWUs Adams-Jenkins Complex and the Nathaniel Glover Community Field and Stadium as legitimate early voting locations for students and the surrounding community.

The EWU/UNF controversy is part of a continuing effort by Florida policymakers to impede voting by college students. In 2014, the administration of GOP Gov. Rick Scott banned the use of all college campuses, public or private, for early voting. In 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker struck down the ban citing a stark pattern of discrimination.

"Throwing up roadblocks in front of younger voters does not remotely serve the public interest., Judge Walker wrote. Abridging voting rights never does."

After pressure from local activists and community leaders, Hogan was forced to provide early voting sites at EWU and UNF for the 2018 midterms.A total of2,089 people voted early at EWU; 91 percent were Black.

But by 2020 Hogan had closed both sites and they remain inoperative.

Students have good reason to be concerned: the 2018 midterms saw vote-by-mail ballots of 18-21-year-old Duval voters rejected at a rate of over 7 percent. In 2020, Duval once again had disproportionately high vote-by-mail ballot rejection rates among voters under the age of 30. The best way to remedy these disparities is by restoring student access to in-person early voting.

The discrimination practiced by Hogan in the closing of early voting sites is not just related to age but to class and race. The early voting sites that remain open serve areas with a median household income of $64,000; those that are closing serve neighborhoods where the median is $44,000. Low-income voters are more likely to miss voting on Election Day due to transportation issues or not being able to take off work.

As for race, the EWU site was replaced with a site at Prime Osborne Convention Center. In 2020, 3713 people voted early there; 59 percent were Black. Now its closed.Another of the five sites being closed was at the Gateway Center. In 2020, 5872 people voted early there; 89 percent were Black. The UNF site was replaced by a polling place at the Deerwood Center, where over 12,000 people voted. Why close such a busy voting site? The answer isnt money: The SOE has seen its budget increase in recent years, more than enough to support early voting.

Early voting at the campuses will serve not only students, faculty, and staff, but surrounding communities. Residents near theEWU site say it was far more accessible than sites downtown that require transportation.

Creating intentional barriers to voting by students is particularly offensive. Colleges and universities prepare young people to contribute to our nation. Students should have opportunities to vote for candidates who speak to their interests. Early voting alleviates the burdens of long lines on Election Day, and takes into account the school and work obligations and transportation limitations of students.

Mr. Hogan, do the right thing. Reopen early voting sites at EWU and UNF. And do it now.

Michelle Charron Hollie, Northeast Florida Chapter President of the ACLU of Florida

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Guest Column: Stop discriminating against students, the poor, and people of color with voting - The Florida Times-Union

In the fall of 2015, Bartlett High School teacher Sheleah Harris noticed something abnormal.

One of her students who was typically engaged and well-behaved suddenly started acting differently. He stopped doing his work and was disruptive in the classroom. Harris, who is now a Shelby County Schools board member, asked him what was wrong.

She learned that he had recently become homeless.

Having seen firsthand the ways homelessness hurts students academically, socially and emotionally, Harris is alarmed by the growing number of Memphis children experiencing housing insecurity.

With 538 enrolled students identified as homeless as of Sept. 29, the number of homeless children in Shelby County Schools had jumped by 36% from last fall, raising questions about how Tennessees largest school district and the community can best support students and families in need.

The data presented to the Shelby County school board last month marks the first recorded increase in student homelessness in Memphis since the pandemic began. At the end of the first quarter last school year, the district reported 395 students were homeless a sharp decrease from the year before that, when there were 643.

Homelessness data is often not 100% accurate, because of varying definitions of homelessness and the challenge in counting people who couch surf day to day.

Still, the latest data is the most accurate picture of homelessness in the district since the pandemic began. During typical school years, the district relies on school counselors, social workers, and teachers to gather data on homeless students on a school-by-school basis. That wasnt possible while school buildings were shut down and school staff could only interact with students and families through a computer screen.

Because the district relies on school counselors, social workers, and teachers to gather the data, the latest data is the most accurate picture of the situation since the pandemic began, now that students have returned to in-person learning and school staff have more direct access to students and families.

The spike is likely the result of a lack of affordable housing across Memphis, Karen Ball, the districts senior advisor of attendance and discipline, said at an Oct. 17 school board meeting. With the national moratorium on evictions now expired, plus a competitive housing market, rental rates have skyrocketed in Memphis and across the nation.

Between September 2020 and September 2021, the nations median apartment rent rose by 15%. In the Memphis metropolitan area, the situation is even worse: The city has seen a 19% increase, according to a MLK50 report last month.

The district continues to do whatever it can to help address the problem, Ball said, from providing transportation, school supplies, and uniforms, to offering group and individual tutoring at both schools and shelters. The district also partners with community agencies to provide temporary housing and emergency payments for hotels.

But, Ball said, resources are quickly becoming exhausted, especially for families who have multiple evictions on their record or owe up to $10,000 in past-due rent or mortgage payments.

And the problem is only expected to get worse.

We are anticipating more homeless families as the school year progresses, Ball said.

Shelby County Schools recent data is unsettling but not surprising, said Mary Hamlett, vice president of family programs for Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association, a nonprofit that assists Memphis families experiencing or on the brink of homelessness. In July, MIFA received about 500 applications for emergency assistance to help families stay in their homes or pay for utilities. In September, she said, the number of applications quadrupled to 2,000.

Hamlett assumes there are far more homeless families than current district data accounts for. Many families, she said, wait to enroll their children in school until they find permanent housing and are able to leave the homeless shelter or other temporary housing.

Meanwhile, many landlords who rented affordable housing and gave flexibility to renters with questionable credit history have left the business because of lost income and other challenges posed by the pandemic eviction moratorium. This causes a bottleneck in getting homeless families permanent housing again, Hamlett said.

The stigma attached to living in a homeless shelter, Hamlett said, can have severe ramifications for childrens social and emotional development and well-being. They may be ostracized from their peers and may live in a constant state of stress.

In turn, homeless children often fall behind academically an even bigger concern after all the upheaval the pandemic has caused during the last three school years.

They know that their future is very uncertain, Hamlett said. How can you focus on learning in that situation?

And if those students cant learn, Hamlett said, a vicious cycle begins. If a child doesnt receive a quality education, they may not be able to land a good job as an adult. If they cant earn enough money to afford stable housing, their children may also experience homelessness.

The only way to get children out of this cycle, Hamlett said, is to ensure everyone has the basics food, shelter, clothing, and education at the beginning of their lives. Schools do their part to support students facing housing insecurity, Hamlett said, and now its on public officials and community leaders to dig into the problem.

Harris echoed that sentiment, saying community leaders and members need to step up as homelessness rises in Memphis and beyond.

The local school district can only do so much, Harris said. We have to have really strong community partners that are kind of locking arms with us to attack this issue.

Thats what Harris resolved to do in 2015 after discovering her student had become homeless. She started by emptying one of her desk drawers and filling it with snacks, toiletries, and school supplies for him and any other student in need. In 2016, Harris founded Living Grace, a nonprofit that advocates for homeless children and provides resources to their families, and shes continued that advocacy work as a school board member.

Board member Stephanie Love applauded the efforts the district has made to support homeless students. But, Love said, the district should be more intentional about how it partners with community organizations to find long-term solutions such as advocating for a living wage.

I think everything that were doing is great, but its not sustainable for our parents, Love said at a recent board meeting. And if we want our students to come to school, we have to make sure they have a home.

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As homelessness increases, Memphis schools and communities are finding ways to help unhoused students - Chalkbeat Tennessee

Multi-generation family lighting Kwanzaa candles

Getty Images / Hill Street Studios

Kwanzaa is a seven-day holiday that starts on December 26 and ends on January 1. It is one of my favorite holidays, right up there with Juneteenth, because it's a time of year that offers a clear and intentional space to celebrate Black culture. Its popularity ebbs and flows year to year, and it's still a relatively niche holiday, but it's a celebration that manages to capture the pulse of Black culture in times of need, ready to help us all reflect and build community while reconnecting us with our African roots.

If you asked 10 different Kwanzaa observers how they celebrate, you would get 10 different answers. It's a holiday designed to meet its participants wherever they are on the Black cultural spectrum. At its core, Kwanzaa is an amalgamation of several solstice and harvest ceremonies traditionally celebrated throughout the African continent. The word Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza" meaning "first fruits." It's a celebration that uses the time of winter harvest to allow its celebrants to reevaluate their lives and reset for the new year.

Under an umbrella of a basic set of tenets and principles, Kwanzaa celebrations offer a broad and inclusive framework for building an open community and providing a safe space for cultural expression, so that each participant can assign their own significance for themselves each year.

Here, we'll explore the origins, traditions and delicious ways Kwanzaa is celebrated across the world today.

Related: Migration Meals: How African American Food Transformed the Taste of America

At its founding in 1966, Kwanzaa was meant to be a highly political, neoliberal alternative to Christmas. Its founder, Maulana Karenga, Ph.D., professor and chairman of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach, was searching for a way to help heal his community from the oppression of racism.

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In the 1960s, Karenga was a civil rights activist in the tradition of the Black Panther Party and other alternative Pan-African movement organizations. These organizations saw connections to the African diaspora as a valuable cultural respite from the complicated and disempowering backlash Black communities across the country were feeling in regard to the civil rights movement.

After 1965, with the assassination of Malcolm X in the spring and the Watts riots in Los Angeles in August, Karenga decided the following year that Kwanzaa could be the answer his community needed.

What began as a regional niche holiday has grown over the last 55 years and evolved into a truly dexterous, easily customizable celebration, with some basic elements that are central to any celebration.

A Kwanzaa celebration is all about family and community and, as previously stated, is open for interpretation. That said, there are some symbols and basic elements that can be employed to make the celebration feel more authentic.

Each day of this seven-day holiday is assigned one of the seven Nguzo Saba, or principles, as a focus. The principles are observed and discussed each day, and at the end of the week they lead to a focused set of lessons that set the tone for the coming year. The seven principals, in both their Swahili name and English translation, are as follows:

Umoja, or unity

Kujichagulia, or self-determination

Ujima, or collective work and responsibility

Ujamaa, or cooperative economics

Nia, or purpose

Kuumba, or creativity

Imani, or faith.

Setting the aesthetic tone is a wonderful place to begin your celebrations. As a centerpiece, a kind of altar can be set on a woven mat, called a mkeka. A traditional mkeka is made from kente cloth, or African mud cloth, and is meant to represent the foundation of life.

On the mat, ideally, you would place a kinara, or seven-spaced candle holder, for the mishumaa saba, or seven candles. There are always seven candlesone black, three red and three green. The black symbolizes the African people, the red symbolizes their struggle, and the green symbolizes the future and hope that comes from their struggle.

The kinara is set up with the three red candles on the left, the one black candle in the center and the three green candles on the right. The black candle is lit on the first night and is the first candle relit each remaining night, with the addition of another candle lit from left to right, or from red to green, each night until the last day when every candle is lit. You would replace each burned candle daily to start fresh, so you would need 15 red, 7 black and 6 green candles to get you through the holiday.

Aside from the candles, other symbols can be added to the altar: mazao (or crops) are represented by fresh fruit and vegetables, muhindi (ears of corn), to represent children celebrating; kikombe cha umoja (a unity cup), for commemorating and giving shukrani (thanks) to African ancestors through libation; and, last but not least, zawadi (gifts).

The parts of the Kwanzaa celebration that makes it feel truly joyful are food and gifts. When I think of the Kwanzaa table, I think of the best and most celebratory dishes that represent the fullness of the African diaspora. Think African ingredients like okra, peanuts and yams, spices like berbere, mace and allspice, and flavorings like hibiscus, tamarind and ginger. It's an opportunity to connect with fall and winter produce and the botanical treasure that the African continent has to offer. It's also a time for communal cooking and bountiful tables. The Karamu feast, which is traditionally held on the sixth day of Kwanzaa (December 31), is the only real "official" feast and, even then, there's no set menu. This allows for the cultural creativity and self-expression Kwanzaa fosters.

Daily gift-giving is another wonderful part of the celebration. Kwanzaa is a homemade, hand-crafted, anti-capitalistic holiday, so keep that in mind. This becomes another opportunity to use the kitchen as inspiration. Wonderful options for gifting ideas could be things like infused oils, hand-blended teas or baked goods. No matter the gift, the spirit is to use creativity and your time to make something heartfelt and original to share with guests.

Black Eyed Peas

Learn more about Macaroni and Cheese at Monticello.

A dish of baked macaroni and cheese

Read the author's story behind this recipe: Skillet Diaries: A Cast-Iron Legacy

Cornbread in a cast-iron skillet

Read more about Jessica B. Harris' experience with Salada de Quiabo here.

Brazilian Okra & Greens Salad

See More: 10 Homemade Food Gifts from Your Kitchen

Depending on how intensive your ceremony is, these elements are decorative and can be represented using your own aesthetic taste. On a basic level, setting an altar and using each daily principle as a kind of meditation for the day is a great first step. (Watch The Black Candle, a documentary narrated by Maya Angelou, to learn more about the variances in celebrations.) African, African American and diaspora music, dancing and art are also elements that can enhance and round out the aesthetic elements of the holiday.

Whether you've been celebrating for years or are planning to celebrate for the first time, Kwanzaa is a cherished time for many to connect with their African heritage and celebrate their Black culture as they enter a new year.

See more here:

The Origins and Traditions of KwanzaaPlus the Delicious Ways People Celebrate Today - Yahoo Lifestyle

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) On November 11th, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is celebrating 10 years since its opening. And while the museum is well known for the art within its walls, its had an even bigger impact beyond them.

Its life changing, said Bentonville artist, Richard Lorenz.

What a powerful thing to drop in the middle of America, said Graham Cobb, President and CEO of the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Just off I-49 and tucked into a wooded oasis in the heart of Bentonville lies Crystal Bridges.

Our mission from the very beginning was about art and nature and architecture and about welcoming all, said Rod Bigelow, Executive Director and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Crystal Bridges. Our community has embraced us in amazing ways and thats through people coming as tourists to the region or people who have been here their entire lives.

That emphasis on art, nature and architecture has threaded into the Bentonville Community. New buildings being built have an art-like quality to them.

Bentonville Mayor Stephanie Orman also said they take art into account when it comes to the parks and recreation department. They also try to put an emphasis on public art throughout the city.

When you talk with people when they come, thats one of the first things theyre going to mention is Crystal Bridges, said Mayor Orman.

Cobb said the museum has elevated Bentonville as a tourist destination. Its also contributed to attracting talented and high performing workers who want to make Northwest Arkansas their home.

They want vibrant communities. Theyre drawn to ideas that are not like their own, and cultural amenities and great food, he said. These are a lot of things that Bentonville boasts.

Its also boosted the city from an economic perspective. Cobb said from 2004 to 2010, theBentonville Total Commercial Building PermitValue was about $290 million, for an average of $41 million annually. From 2011 to the first half of 2021, that same category has surpassed $1.4 billion, for an average of $128 million annually.Thats a three-time increase annually.

Restaurants, hotels, tourism, its massive. Its a big deal, said Cobb. But theres the cultural piece that, in my opinion, is inseparable from our economy.

For us to have that right here in our backyard, that our students can benefit from is very, very valuable, said Gravette School District Superintendent Maribel Childress.

Not many rural school districts have world class art right down the road. Childress said Crystal Bridges goes above and beyond by providing professional development for teachers and free museum kits for students.

They are really committed to all of the students of Northwest Arkansas to our teachers and to our districts and making sure that we have whatever we need to help our students and our families connect with the museum and connect with art, she said.

Bigelow said they have seen about 300,000 school children come through the doors of the museum.

Its exciting to see kids explore the world in which they live, thinking about challenging topics and topics of joy and thinking through what it means in their classroom and others that are in that room with them, said Bigelow.

Its a huge impact because not a lot of people who are able to travel to the Louvre or other places, said Lorenz. Hes an artist who has lived in Bentonville for about five years. Hes known as The Bird Man for his whimsical depictions of birds.

The museum is free to anyone who wants to go. Bigelow said that move was very intentional in making sure the museum is accessible to everyone. That accessibility has inspired and cultivated the local art scene, even inspiring people across the state, like Little Rock artist Lori Weeks.

All the people nationwide, worldwide that come to visit the museum its just unbelievable and its so inspiring to everybody. We all feed off of it for sure, she said.

Lorenz agrees: the word is out about Crystal Bridges and he hopes locals will keep showing it love for years to come.

Its right here in our backyard, he said. When theres a new exhibit, take advantage of it and go every time.

Crystal Bridges just unveiled its latest exhibit: In American Waters, The Sea in American Painting. According to the museums website, visitors will discover the sea as an expansive way to reflect on American culture and environment, learn how coastal and maritime symbols moved inland across the United States, and question what it means to be in American waters.

Crystal Bridges has several things happening on November 11th. Click here to find out.

Continued here:

10 years of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 10 years of positive impact on the community - KNWA

This Veterans Day, ahead of the three-year anniversary of legal adult-use cannabis sales in Massachusetts, it seems timely to highlight the growing opportunities that the regulated industry offers servicemen and women across our state. In fact, the Act To Ensure Safe Access to Marijuana, enacted by the Legislature and Governor Charlie Baker in 2017, includes specific mandates to ensure veterans can fully participate in this marketplace.

Rightfully so: after all that our veterans have sacrificed for our freedom, they deserve special access to business ownership and good jobs. The Commonwealths cannabis industry offers that and more: since the first Marijuana Retailers opened on the East Coast in Massachusetts on November 20, 2018, gross sales surpassed $2 billion this past September, and already eclipsed $1 billion this calendar year alone. Every new company that comes online brings diverse job opportunities, including roles within licensed facilities, and work for ancillary contractors that can provide services to their businesses.

Each new Marijuana Establishment is mandated to submit to the Cannabis Control Commission (Commission) a Diversity Plan to support Massachusetts equity goals. Every public meeting, Commissioners hold licensees responsible to ensure those include intentional efforts to hire women, minorities, residents with disabilities, LGBTQ citizens, and, of course, veterans, in accordance with our Commission guidance.

As a result, hundreds of veterans have registered as Marijuana Establishment Agents in Massachusetts so far. And, once they are hired, they receive mandatory training that ensures licensees run safely and effectively, but also opens the door for career advancement in an up-and-coming industry taking root in 18 states nationwide.

Veterans also are finding success as entrepreneurs and cannabis business owners. Currently twenty-five of the Commissions license applicants are owned by veterans, and accordingly jump the licensing queue for review and approval under the Commissions regulations. Five veteran-owned businesses have already opened for business, including the first Microbusiness to offer home delivery services, plus an innovative Cultivator who created a new QR code that helps customers readily access product information.

Meanwhile, cannabis businesses in Massachusetts work with the states Supplier Diversity Office to identify and contact veterans who have become certified in any number of construction trades or related businesses. Using a veteran-owned firm to support a licensees plumbing or electric, or to build out a brick-and-mortar facility, yields positive results for both the contractor and the cannabis business.

Beyond diverse hiring practices, every licensee, whether they are owned by a veteran or not, must submit to the Commission a Positive Impact Plan to support communities that were disproportionately impacted by previous marijuana prohibition and enforcement. Plans range from mentorship programs to contributions toward veterans organizations that help residents of Commission-designated areas of disproportionate impact. In fact, when the descendants of World War II General George Patton entered the Massachusetts cannabis industry, they donated to a local veterans group in their host community of Southbridge as part of their plan.

Veterans have plenty to celebrate about this new cannabis industry, but much more work remains to be done. For example, even though medical marijuana has been found to help veterans alleviate certain health conditions, additional research and stronger partnerships with the medical community is needed to ensure more can access these benefits.

The servicemen and women who have kept our country safe, then return home to Massachusetts, deserve opportunities to thrive in new careers that support their families, and receive the care they need. The regulated cannabis industry was designed to offer them that network of support, and we encourage our peers in government, industry, and the public to continue prioritizing veterans success.

Bruce Stebbins and Kimberly Roy are Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commissioners.

See the article here:

Opportunities available to veterans in Massachusetts $2 billion regulated cannabis industry (Guest viewpoint) - masslive.com

The coming year of inventing our way toward whatever our workplaces will look like offers a marvelous opportunity to refresh and reinvent cross-functional relationships. Working to rebuild these bonds is especially important because most people wont be returning to work as the same people they were before the pandemic;the last 18 months have changed all of us in some way. Organizational fragmentation isnt a byproduct of remote work. It results from a lack of intentional bridge-building to link discrete groups and regions. Silos were certainly prevalent before the pandemic hybrid work has simply created new requirements for effectively connecting teams that must work together to achieve shared outcomes. The author offers three approaches to help leaders and their teams reestablish strong connections across organizational boundaries as theyve shifted to hybrid work environments.

As people slowly return to some form of hybrid workplace, bonds that tie them to one another must be rebuilt. Over the past 18 months, most organizations have experienced some degree of fracturing as social connections and cultural cohesion have been strained. The challenges of remote work, dramatic uncertainty, the clumsy process of figuring out what returning to the office could look like, and the mass exodus of workers fed up with cultures that make them feel devalued have all served to threaten a sense of community. On top of all that, most of our remote work interactions have been with our immediate colleagues and focused largely on the tasks at hand research from Microsoft suggests that cross-functional collaboration went down by 25% as interactions within groups increased during the pandemic.

But fragmentation isnt a byproduct of remote work. It results from a lack of intentional bridgebuilding to link discrete groups and regions. Silos were certainly prevalent before the pandemic hybrid work has simply created new requirements for effectively connecting teams that must work together to achieve shared outcomes.

Working to rebuild bonds is especially important because most people wont be returning to work as the same people they were before the pandemic;the last 18 months have changed all of us in some way. Our values and priorities have shifted. Our senses of meaning and purpose have broadened. Our anxiety has increased. For some, tolerance increased while for others, it decreased. In short, we have to get reacquainted with who weve each become. Otherwise, our natural biases that formed about who each of us were will kick in, creating unhelpful dissonance as we react to each other as we did prior to the pandemic. For example, one executive said of his colleague, She used to have the best sense of humor, but now quips I make that she would always laugh at get no reaction at all. Hed failed to consider that she was emotionally exhausted because her family was hit especially hard by Covid-19.

Here are three approaches Ive seen help leaders and their teams reestablish strong connections across organizational boundaries as theyve shifted to hybrid work environments.

Humans are naturally tribal beings. We bind with and narrowly identify ourselves as one of our immediate group. By default, those outside the group are other and likely not to be trusted. This type of we-they thinking will intensify if cross-functional connections arent strengthened. Enabling people to establish new shared identities that bind them to one another more broadly helps reorient their brains to new relationships, seeing colleagues who were once they with fresh eyes.

Research from NYUs Jay Van Bavel found that our brains quickly shift away from previously held biases when we work together in solidarity. In one experiment using brain imaging, a set of people whose amygdalas revealed a variety of implicit biases about certain types of people showed that those biases were dramatically reduced when participants were told those same types of people were now on your new team. The closer we affiliate with our we tribe, the more outsiders become they. The solution requires broadening the definition of we.

In one organization, to break down unhealthy tribalism, we established cross-functional teams to take responsibility for various aspects of the organizations cultural health. Teams focused on things like learning and education, innovation, community building, and hybrid work health and were composed of members from numerous functions and regions, all resourced and empowered to act. Creating an affinity to a team with broader purpose immediately helped improve cohesion and collaboration across the organization.

Recent research from McKinsey revealed that the strongest drivers of people quitting was not feeling valued (in other words, like they and their work mattered) and lacking a sense of belonging. They lacked what I refer to as organizational solidarity: creating strong ties to one another and to a shared purpose so people never question either.

Relationships across functions are especially challenging to form with solidarity when you havent seen or spoken to one another in a long while. In one client organization where there had been a lot of change in one division during the pandemic (a new organization design, new people, and shifts in peoples roles), we did a comprehensive re-onboarding of everyone in the organization. Leaders realized that if we didnt level the playing field for everyone, trust would take too long to build. In a two-day session of round-robin conversations, people gathered to meet for the first timeagain. Each person came prepared to share their responses to five prompts:

It was a heartfelt two days full of emotions and surprises for the group. Most notable were the many comments from tenured employees about seeing their long-standing colleagues in a fresh light while accelerating trust with their new colleagues. One participant said it well: My default position with other departments has been to assume the worst. But when they showed up with that level of commitment to me, I knew I had to trust them. These results are further evidence of what my own 15-year longitudinal study revealed: Stronger cross-functional relationships are six times more likely to produce trustworthy behavior.

As you begin bringing people back to work in whatever form that takes, invest the time to reset relationships not only within your team, but also between your team and key organizational partners. Use the opportunity to shed old baggage with rivaling cross-functional partners and start new by strengthening weak ties.

The ultimate determinant of cross-functional health is the quality of leadership over the teams that must cooperate to get things done. Leaders who model empathy, curiosity, proficiency with conflict, and a genuine desire to create widespread shared success build the strongest cross-functional partnerships. But these leadership skills dont often come naturally, especially to highly results-oriented leaders whove been raised in overly hierarchical environments.

Ive found the fastest way to build strong, consistent cross-functional leaders is to immerse them together in cohorts of leadership development. In nearly a dozen organizations, weve built cohorts of 1216 leaders who journey together in their own learning and formation for 612 months. The content is focused on key skills and knowledge they need to drive the shared results their functions must produce. Recently, weve oriented content to how the organization needs to rethink leadership in a hybrid workplace. Small sub-teams spend time on real projects aligned to strategic goals that create added value for the organization, and pairs of peer-coaches are assigned to meet weekly to exchange feedback and advice on identified development areas. Ive found that the relationships that form during these cohort journeys remain deep for years beyond their initial time together.

As you bring leaders back to your new normal, invest in their development by establishing cohort learning communities that will bind them to one another and their shared organizational aspirations. They will naturally cascade their newfound broader orientation down to their teams, who in turn will connect more effectively with their cross-functional peers.

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The coming year of inventing our way toward whatever our workplaces will look like offers a marvelous opportunity to refresh and reinvent the most important relationships in our organizations: the ones between those who, together, create results and cohesion for the enterprise that no one team could create on its own. Dont squander it.

Read more:

Rebuilding Relationships Across Teams in a Hybrid Workplace - Harvard Business Review