Category Archives: Intentional Communities

Essaibi George, a city councilor from Dorchester, is competing against Councilor Michelle Wu, of Roslindale, to become the first woman elected mayor of Boston. Both are courting voters of color, in particular, after three Black candidates were eliminated from contention in the September preliminary election.

In that five-way contest, where most challengers called for diverting funds from police, Essaibi George became defined by her embrace of the Police Department, which she proposed to expand by hiring up to 300 more officers. But all along, she has suggested that reform and support are not mutually exclusive and proposed to diversify the department and make it more transparent plans shes now highlighting as part of the equity agenda.

Everyone in Boston, in every neighborhood, should feel safe, her agenda states. Black lives matter, and Im not afraid of the hard work ahead.

In the preliminary election, Black voters did not flock to Essaibi George, who gained more of her support from neighborhoods of more conservative and white voters. Wu, who won the preliminary election with 33 percent of the vote to Essaibi Georges 22 percent, finished first or second in 17 of the citys 22 wards, and never finished below third, the Globe has reported.

Since then, Wu has picked up considerable additional support from prominent Black leaders including Acting Mayor Kim Janey, whom she beat in the preliminary, and Representative Ayanna Pressley, with whom she served on the council.

In her own remarks to reporters on Tuesday, Wu pointed to her campaigns growing momentum, and described equity as central to all of her campaign platforms.

This moment in Boston is about centering racial justice and making sure that we are meeting the moment, especially for Black and brown communities in Boston, Wu said in response to Essaibi Georges proposal.

In her first 100 days as mayor, Essaibi George pledges to launch a transparent and community-led process to hire the next police commissioner. She also pledges to fully implement the recommendations of the Police Reform Task Force, many of which stalled under former mayor Martin J. Walsh.

Essaibi George is calling for police body camera footage to be publicly released within 24 hours of an incident to establish public trust and transparency. And shes calling for mandatory yearly training for all police officers on racial bias, deescalation, and best practices for responding to mental health crises.

She proposes boosting diversity within the Police Department by partnering with city schools, local universities, and law enforcement groups to recruit candidates. And she calls for giving police candidates from diverse backgrounds along with all residents more points on the civil service exam.

Essaibi George plans to install a senior-level full-time equity employee in each division of city government and to require all city employees, board members, and commission members to attend mandatory annual training on antiracism and inclusion.

She also pledges to ensure that the Boston Public Health Commission and health care centers are providing health care that is gender and identity affirming, and increase access to English language programs.

I will never shy away from tough conversations, and the very hard work that is needed to build a better city for all who call Boston home, Essaibi George said.

Campaign spokeswoman Nicole Caravella said Essaibi George wanted the diversity agenda to stand alone.

We wanted it to be an intentional plan specifically focused on equity, said Caravella. Which I think Annissa would say is important being deliberate and intentional. Its critical that we provide the communities with a comprehensive list of action items that Annissa will take on as mayor.

Essaibi George is making a direct appeal to Black communities by promising to target $100 million in investment from the federal American Rescue Plan to correct inequities. Later investments would follow for other marginalized communities, she said. She also called for combating gun violence in communities of color by convening community working groups to develop neighborhood action plans. Each working group, comprised of religious, youth, and other community organizations, would have a $250,000 fund for the first year of programming.

To ensure racial equality in contracting, Essaibi George proposes to rely more heavily on a contractors diversity and inclusion practices in awarding bids. She would award at least 20 percent of all city contracts to minority businesses over the course of a year with the ultimate goal of increasing the share of city contracts going to Black and Latino businesses over 10 percent.

But Wu, along with then-councilor Pressley, cosponsored the city ordinance that called for equity in city contracting through outreach to minority- and women-owned companies. She has also called for increasing the share of city contracts going to women and people of color over 10 percent.

Wu highlighted several proposals within the citys power to implement quickly including reforming city contracts to ensure equity; boosting home ownership and helping to close the racial wealth gap; and taking clear steps within the next administrations first 100 days to use city funding to invest and build wealth in Black and brown communities.

These are all steps in the direction that we have laid out, months and years ago, in partnership with community members, Wu said.

Regarding the police department, Wu as a councilor proposed alternative responses to mental health emergencies predating Janeys recent implementation of a pilot program, which Essaibi George called for expanding.

Wu has called for deep structural and cultural reforms to the Police Department and sees the police union contracts as the key to reform.

The underlying issue here is we often see a shielding of accountability from the police union contract, she said.

I am the only candidate in this race who has laid out a clear plan for how to handle negotiations and to be very transparent about what we will be pushing for, and how we will implement those changes on the public health side and on the accountability side throughout that contract, Wu said.

Meghan E. Irons and Milton J. Valencia of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.

Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at Stephanie.Ebbert@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @StephanieEbbert.

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Essaibi George aims to broaden appeal with diversity plan - The Boston Globe

Date/Time: November 4, 2021 (1-2PM ET / 10-11AM PT)

California is facing power insecurity at levels unlike anything in its recent history: heightened winds and aging infrastructure, record wildfires, more frequent and longer duration outages that are both unintentional and intentional. Leaving the individuals, communities, and business looking for their own power security, and fast. In this session, well dive deep into regulations and policies that are in place, those that are needed, and how this new urgency could impact microgrid adoption in California and other states facing similar conditions. Bloom will also share examples of rapidly deployed microgrids and how those examples are needed and could be replicated in todays state of unprecedented power insecurity.

Moderator:

Speakers:

If you can't tune in live, please register and we will email you a link to access the archived webcast footage and resources, available to you on-demand after the webcast.

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Microgrids: Weathering the Storm of Grid Failure | Greenbiz - GreenBiz

Across the U.S., the Latinx population is booming.

Eighteen percent (18%) of the population identifies as Latinx, according to the 2020 census. Before the pandemic, the largest share of enrollment growth belonged to the Latinx population.

In fact, Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), colleges or universities with a student population that is at least 25% Latinx, grew by 94% between 2010 and 2020, according to Excelencia! in Education. Excelencia! president and CEO Dr. Deborah Santiago, and other leading experts, believe the number of HSIs will continue to grow.

HSIs receive federal funding meant to improve Latinx education. But truly serving the Latinx student population isnt as simple as applying for HSI qualification. Experts say institutions need to reach out to Latinx communities, embrace family involvement, employ Latinx staff and faculty in leadership positions, and work to ensure that Latinx students feel comfortable on campus. Doing this is not just an equity imperative, they say, but crucial to the survival of the American economy.

Dr. Antonio R. Flores

More than half of all the new workers joining our labor force nationwide everyday are Hispanic, said Dr. Antonio R. Flores, president and CEO of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU). HACUs leadership led the push in 1992 that resulted in Congress officially recognizing HSIs. [Congress] needs to invest in those institutions that are graduating by far the largest groups of new workers joining the American labor force.

If you dont have a highly educated workforce, eventually, youll get behind other countries," Flores said. "Your economy is not growing as fast in different ways. Its investing in Americas future, really, to invest in an HSI."

Federal funds alone wont guarantee a Latinx students success either, said Dr. Claudia Garcia-Louis, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Texas: San Antonio (UTSA) and an expert on Latinx identity. UTSA has been an HSI since its inception in 1969, due to the high population of Latinx people in south Texas.

"Educational leaders need to ask the local community as well as students what it means to serve them," said Garcia-Louis. Ive found that administrators, even Latinx folks, feel that we know whats best, but we dont ask whats best."

Garcia-Louis said that institutions trying to connect with their community will fail if they simply bring in big names to offer lectures to the community at large.

If you [bring in] a community organizer doing that work, now youre recognizing the communityyoure addressing Hispanic excellence, and youre breaking down barriers," she said. "The community knows these folks, she said.

Inviting prominent members of the community onto campus, said Garcia-Louis, will make the institution feel accessible, even to those without degrees.

Dr. Claudia Garcia-Louis

Dr. Deborah Santiago agrees.

The effort to know whos in [an institutions] service area, their strengths, then using that information to recruit not just students but families and communities, that makes for sustaining enrollment, she said.

It all starts with knowing the profile of your student, knowing who you serve and who you dont and who you intend to serve. Those three questions are core to being intentional, she added.

If students on campus feel accomplished, said Santiago, that will create a consistent enrollment base.

Make sure part of your admissions team or counselors are people who look like the community or are in the community and have positions or trust, she said.

The community and family connection are vital to Latinx students, said Santiago, because were more likely to be the first to go to college in our families. So much focus in on the students, but for Latinos, its disproportionately about family decision.

Colorado State University: Pueblo, has been an HSI since 2002. In 2008, HACU recognized the school as one of the top HSIs in the nation. Dr. Chrissy Holliday vice president of enrollment management, communications, and student affairs said achieving that status wasnt an accident. It was accomplished through intentional effort, and a constant surveying of their students for areas that could improve.

There are two separate orientations at CSU: Pueblo, one for the new students and another for their families. Parents, grandparents, spouses and siblings all come and meet with Holliday, the dean of students, and financial aid representatives. There is a glossary of commonly used but lesser-known higher education vocabulary on the CSU: Pueblo website, and all families are given information about who to contact if they have questions. Theyre also offered a guidebook on the college experience, with helpful hints about what times of the year are most stressful to students.

We try to figure out, what are the issues [the families are] more concerned about, said Holliday. We see it as a handoff, that they are trusting us to take care of our students. We assure them that while their student is here, they have a support system through us.

CSU: Pueblo is also deeply entrenched in its area high schools. Just a few years ago, track centers were established in four area high schools with advisors and peer-mentors there to help any high schooler with questions.

Saint Xavier University in Chicago, Illinois, is also embedded in its local high schools. They have been an HSI since 2017, by virtue not only of their location on the south side of Chicago but also their schools mission. As of Spring 2021, 44% of the student population at SXU identified as Latinx, and 70% of their students are first-generation.

Our university was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1846 to help serve the educational and medical needs of the Chicago immigrant community, said SXU president Dr. Laurie M. Joyner. Our culture is a culture of care.

Dr. Deborah Santiago

Being an HSI, said Joyner, is about committing to equity and fairness, not just enrolling a the right number of students to qualify for HSI funding.

You have to make sure youre centering their voices, the voices of their families, and making sure your institution is serving them well, said Joyner. As weve come to find out, its more complicated, a long-term process, not a destination you get to. Its a process of continuing to deepen your commitment.

Serving minoritized students, she said, requires disaggregation of data.

When you start breaking out your retention, graduation rate, and success rates by cultural and racial background, youll see gaps. Thats just the way it is in this country, said Joyner. The challenge is, how do we close those gaps? Thats the purpose of those [HSI] dollars.

Since she became president in 2017, Joyner converted 45% of SXUs budget to supporting financial aid, and their retention rate from first to second year is the strongest its been in a decade. Theyve tripled their endowment and are in the final steps of hiring a chief diversity officer. Joyner knows they have come a long way, but said they still have a long way to go, especially when it comes to leadership of color.

We always aim for it. Its critically important. But its tough with tenure, people tend not to turn over. Your student population is changing more quickly than youre able to change your staff, said Joyner. And, when their new chief diversity officer is hired, there will likely be more assessments and more changes to come.

We want to make sure all our students feel like they belong, she said. We want to measure how our culture is really evolving, to make sure its fully inclusive.

Liann Herder can be reached at lherder@diverseeducation.com.

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HSIs, Community, and Family - The Steps to Latinx Student Success - Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

Terry Brooks| Opinion Contributor

Is that the best weve got for our kids?

Knee-jerk and wrong-headed proposals. Courageous young people giving voice to the issues at hand in the middle of a school board meeting. Bold leadership from our superintendent. And a puzzling mix of regressive and promising policy proposals from Metro Council leadership.

Thus is the landscape of Louisville as we grieve the tragic murder of Tyree Smith.

And as we reflect upon the Louisville landscape, it is a collective imperative that we take a hard-eyed look at solutions to honor Tyree and to prioritize all the boys and girls in our city.

Its disheartening to hear our citys leaders deeply misguided prioritization of a police presence in schools and longing for easier processing of youth into the juvenile justice system in response to the attack on the lives of Louisvilles children. Is that the best weve got for our kids?

More: Arguments, yelling disrupted a JCPS school board meeting again. What happens now?

Kentucky Youth Advocates analyzed data from the Administrative Office of the Courts and found that, in 2019, while Black youth represented 27%of Jefferson Countys population of youth ages 10-17, they accounted for more than 70%of public offense complaints that were school-related. And law enforcement was the source for 98%of the school-related public offense complaints filed against youth of all races. Additional data from JCPS showed that across racial groups, students with disabilities were much more likely than their non-disabled peers to be involved in an incident with a school resource officer. The disproportionality was highest among Black students.

Research shows that even when students of different races commit the same infractions, they are not disciplined in the same way.

Are we willing to ignore decades of data showing the deleterious effects of policing our kids? Or, do we believe the best approach is to double down on failed strategies?

In order to move forward, we have to acknowledge that we have not invested enough in our kids and their families especially in Black and brown communities. The finger-pointing is counterproductive. There has been failure at every turn in addressing adverse childhood experiences and the disinvested communities where kids grow up particularly in Louisvilles West End.

These issues must be addressed. Throughout history, communities that lack resources to basic needs like health and mental health care, social supports, economic development, transportation, and education suffer from the impact of poverty, mental illness, violenceand incarceration. This goes without question regardless of race, be they urban or rural.

While reviewing data from the Department of Juvenile Justice a couple of years ago, we found that though only 10%of Jefferson County youth (ages 10-17) lived in ZIPcodes 40210, 40211and 40212 West End neighborhoods where the majority of children are Black those ZIPcodes accounted for approximately 30%of Jefferson County youth sentenced to DJJ commitment, confinementor probation. This reflects the impact of historical and ongoing systemic factors exacerbated by racial segregation in Louisville.

Scripture reminds us, Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light. The sins of redlining and intentional disinvestment in Louisvilles predominantly Black neighborhoods have been exposed for years. Now what?

Will we come together and pool our resources to do the bold and right things for kids? Or, will we ignore the clarion call to deliberate action and repeat the failed steps that have hindered so many for so long in our community?

More: LMPD chief doubles down on her call for police officers in Jefferson County schools

Lets reject the insanity of repeating the past and expecting different results. The brazen political move towardlaw enforcement in schools would waste resources on an idea that just doesnt work, exacerbate disparities among students of color and those from under-resourced ZIPcodes with intensity, and would consistently increase the challenges that our students with special needs face. It is a notion that makes political leaders sound tough on crime when, in fact, it is detrimental to youth and to community safety.

Lets embrace the upstream approach that focuses on building strong families and communities so all children can thrive. Lets follow child development science and understand that the rational part of the teenage brain has yet to mature. Lets understand the clear connection between trauma and behavior management. As such, lets no longer accept ineffective practices like detaining more youth in juvenile detention centers.

Instead, we can invest in developing youth within their respective communities with connections to positive adults and opportunities a successful strategy buttressed by years of research.

Criminalizing children who have ongoing traumatic stress is not the answer, and it has never been the answer. There are parents and families all over this city hoping for real investments in youth inside and outside of schools. Such strategies require a level of intentionality that shuns thinking we can police our way out of the turbulent circumstances we created or allowed.

More: Louisville police chief's push for school police after bus stop shooting called 'shameful'

It is encouraging to note that school suspensions have been reduced in JCPS as a result of staff tackling the tough job of inventing a culture of personalization and trauma-informed practice, with a focus on behavioral health supports. Despite reports of school fights at the start of the school year, in the first 30 days of the current school year, fighting referrals were down by 46%and out-of-school suspensions down by 24%compared to the same time period in school year2019-2020, before the pandemic began.

No one most significantly the superintendent himself is suggesting JCPS has arrived particularly in the arenas of economic and racial disparities, but Marty Pollio and our communitys educators are taking bold steps to ensure that every child is a learner and that every child is safe, supported and valued. And those efforts to keep students safe should be recognized and applauded.

However, given the magnitude of unaddressed ills plaguing our community, we need more than only the schools to lead. We need the whole city of Louisville to step up. That means pediatricians and preachers and police officers. It means business leaders and grandparents. It means nonprofits and neighborhoods. It means YOU!

It means that if you have been watching from afar, this is your invitation to get involved: advocate, mentor, support, create, teach, invest, fundand, most importantly, listen to our youth.

Terry Brooks is the executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates.

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Here is why having police officers in schools is detrimental to youth and community safety - Courier Journal

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect people across the United States, cities and states are struggling to combat vaccination gaps. This is especially true in Nevada, where the vaccination rate for Black residents is lagging behind that of white, Asian and Latino residents.

According to Bloomberg Equality's Vaccine Tracker, Nevada reports one of the lowest vaccination rates for its Black population when compared to 45 other states, Washington, D.C. and two cities. The sample, selected by Bloomberg, represents 95.9 percent of the population and 94 percent of vaccine doses administered across the country. With only 31.5 percent of its Black population vaccinated against COVID-19, Nevada has the fifth-lowest rate in the United States for this racial group. In this regard, our state falls at the bottom of the ranks alongside Idaho, Nebraska, South Dakota and Iowa.

While this statistic is alarming in itself, it is especially worrisome when magnitude is considered. Nevadas Black population is notably larger than the Black populations in the other four low-ranking states according to the World Population Review, Black people make up 9.12 percent of the population in Nevada (more than 271,000 people), but only 4.83 percent of the population in Nebraska (more than 92,000 people). They account for even less of the population counts in Idaho (more than 11,000 people), South Dakota (more than 17,000 people), and Iowa (more than 116,000 people).

As racial vaccine gaps persist in Nevada, the raw number of Black residents affected by COVID-19 will continue to grow. Black Americans everywhere are already disproportionately affected by COVID-19, and vaccine gaps do not alleviate this problem.

Racial vaccine gaps in the era of COVID-19 are disturbing, but this underlying story is not new. If any racial group has a valid reason to be hesitant about vaccines, it is Black Americans. Systemic racism, discrimination, and the mistreatment of Black people have played a role in health care for decades. This dates back to the 1930s with the start of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. In the study, 399 low-income Black men with syphilis were not told about their diagnosis; instead, they were told that they had bad blood and could receive free medical treatment and meals in exchange for participation in this research. A cure for syphilis, penicillin, was developed in the 1940s but was intentionally withheld from these men. Many of the participants in this study experienced substantial physical harm and some even died as a result.

Beliefs about racism in healthcare, paired with a mistrust of the governments motives, contribute to Black mistrust of the COVID-19 vaccine. Medical mistrust is not the fault of our Black neighbors rather, it is another tragic legacy of years of discrimination and, yes, systemic racism in American society.

As we seek to close these racial gaps and address the vaccine hesitancy of Black Nevadans, it is crucial that we lead with empathy and understanding. Changing attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine will take time. Because of this, we must not shame or stigmatize people who are wary due to historical and modern examples of systemic racism in health care.

Clark County, the Southern Nevada Health District and community partners banded together earlier this year to support the Back to Life outreach campaign, which was designed to increase vaccination rates within Southern Nevadas Black communities. Clark County Commissioner William McCurdy II stated that As long as we are intentional within our outreach to the most impacted communities of this COVID-19 virus, we will continue to see our numbers increase in terms of vaccination rates.

While the vast majority of Nevadas population resides in Clark County, future outreach efforts must target Black people across the state. As time goes on, we can continue to share positive stories of the vaccine, correct misconceptions, and listen to uncertainties with an open heart. The COVID-19 vaccine is our greatest tool in ending this pandemic, but this does not mean that the concerns of Black Americans are invalid. Addressing these concerns with an open mind and open heart is the first step toward closing racial gaps in vaccination and protecting all our neighbors. From there, we can only emerge stronger in our efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic together.

Olivia Cheche is a senior at UNLV majoring in Political Science with a Brookings Public Policy minor. In addition, she is a student researcher at Brookings Mountain West and The Lincy Institute, an independent think tank focused on the Mountain West region. She can be reached at [emailprotected].

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Vaccine gaps have a prominent effect on Black Nevadans - The Nevada Independent

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --CB Resource, Inc.(the "Company" or "CBR") a leader in community bank performance and risk management solutions announced the creation of the CDFI Performance Group ("CPG") and the appointment of Mr. Robert "Bob" Jones as Executive Director.

The CDFI Performance Group developed by CB Resource intends to focus on banks with or seeking the CDFI designation certified by the CDFI (Community Development Financial Institutions) fund and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. They have a mission to serve the nation's most distressed communities in a financial capacity. Mr. Jones joins CBR as former CEO of a CDFI designated bank and former Chairman of the Community Development Bankers Association (CDBA). Mr. Jones will work closely with Mr. Jeff Rigsby, founder, President and CEO of CBR and Robert Finch, Director of Sales & Marketing, to further establish the company as a leader in the areas of enterprise risk management, strategic planning, and capital planning.

"I am excited. Community banks are facing increased adverse economic conditions, growing burden of systemic risk and the threats of new market entrants." Stated Jeff Rigsby, President & CEO of CBR. "Conversely, as a board member of a CDFI bank, I see that they are positioned to be a leading force in providing small business owners and local underserved community members with targeted banking and financial services that they alone are uniquely empowered to provide. Under Bob's leadership, I am confident we will join forces with CDFI banks to provide them with the necessary support to optimize recently available capital, align strategic priorities with sound risk management disciplines, and deliver proprietary insights customized to serve their mission."

"I am thrilled to be working with Bob " said Mr. Finch. "He has a great understanding of the opportunities and risks that CDFI banks have. With his direction, CB Resource will be able to better provide CDFI banks with the tools they need to be successful as they fulfil their mission. Having defined strategies and focused risk management programs will be critical for these banks."

Recently retired, Jones served as CEO of United Bank and United Bancorporation (OTCQX:UBAB). Additionally, he served as Chairman of UB Community Development. Jones' service extends into many critical areas of banking and advocating for CDFI services and advancement of its mission.In addition to being Chairman of CDBA, Jones was appointed by the President to serve on the Community Development Advisory Board of the CDFI Fund.

"Following our certification as a CDFI in 2010, I have personally seen the power of a progressive community bank deliver the unique capabilities of a CDFI," said Mr. Jones. "These organizations have proven the value of this model and their commitment to improve the future of challenged rural and urban communities across our country. These are times of opportunity and strength. CDFIs have an intentional advantage through the extension of resources and visibility. I look forward to working with CBR and mission driven banks to enhance their performance and fulfil their mission."

About CB Resource, Inc.

CB Resource, Inc.is a member company of Finance 500, Inc., a full-service broker-dealer serving over 2,000 banks nationwide. CBR is theonly firm serving community banks that seamlessly integrates ERM, Strategic and Capital Plansolutionwithina fully integrated platform.Theseintegrated solutions along with superior Board and Management reportingare setting a new standard servingcommunitybank executives and their boards.

Contact:Robert FinchSVP, Director of Sales and Marketing949.502.6910[emailprotected]

SOURCE CB Resource

cb-resource.com

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CB RESOURCE, INC. Creates CDFI PERFORMANCE group and APPOINTS Robert Jones to Executive Director - PRNewswire

Black residents in the rural South are nearly twice as likely as their white counterparts to lack home internet access, according to a new study from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

The study, published Wednesday, examined 152 counties in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia where at least 35% of residents are Black. Researchers found that 38% of Black residents in those counties do not have access to internet in their homes, compared to 23% of white residents in the same regions.

The study also found that nearly one in four Black residents in the rural South don't even have the option to subscribe to high speed broadband, compared to just 3.8% of Americans nationwide.

The research offers a stark snapshot of how the inability to access affordable broadband can be felt most acutely for Black Americans in the rural South, a region of the country where they account for nearly half of the total population.

For adults, having strong access to the internet impacts the kinds of jobs that are available to them, and is essential for tele-health appointments, especially in areas where many hospitals have shut down. During the pandemic, when many students were learning from home, children without internet access face even higher hurdles to learning.

The study was conducted by Dominique Harrison, director of technology policy at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank that focuses on public policy issues and how they impact Black Americans. Harrison told NPR that her research differs from other data sets because Black rural residents are often overlooked in research about broadband access. Past studies, she says, encompass all rural residents, rather than specifically breaking down the data by race.

"Black residents in the rural South are rarely looked at in terms of research to understand the challenges they face in terms of access to broadband," Harrison said.

She also noted that the data helps provide more context for things like poverty rates, employment, education and health care. Harrison says in her study that 60.8% of residents in the Black rural South have incomes less than $35,000. Approximately 49% of Black children in the rural South live in poverty.

This new data comes as a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package remains stalled in the House as Democrats in Congress remain locked in negotiations over broader legislation geared toward climate and the social safety net. The infrastructure bill doles out approximately $65 billion for broadband investments.

Harrison says her research helps paint a picture for how policy impacts certain communities.

"To isolate this specific community and really get to the details of what's going on I think paints a very clear picture to policy makers about the ways in which this infrastructure package, for example, can really have a targeted and intentional impact on these folks," she said.

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More than 1 in 3 rural Black southerners lack home internet access, a new study finds - WXXI News

Left: Shelly C. Lowe, nominee for the chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Right: Maria Rosario Jackson, nominee for the National Endowment for the Arts chair Chris Richards; Photo courtesy of Maria Rosario Jackson/The National Endowment for the Humanities; the National Endowment for the Arts hide caption

Left: Shelly C. Lowe, nominee for the chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Right: Maria Rosario Jackson, nominee for the National Endowment for the Arts chair

The White House has announced who it would like to lead the arts and humanities endowments.

To Chair the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), President Biden's nominee is Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, a longtime arts and humanities administrator and professor in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (HIDA) at Arizona State University.

For the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Biden has selected Shelly Lowe, a citizen of the Navajo Nation who is currently the Executive Director of the Harvard University Native American Program. If confirmed, Lowe would become the first Native American to Chair the NEH.

The NEA and NEH fund hundreds of thousands of arts and cultural programs throughout the U.S., from poetry competitions to scholarly research to major dance companies. The Chairs of each federal agency need to be confirmed by congress and serve four-year terms.

According to the White House, Dr. Jackson has spent the last 25 years "focused on understanding and elevating arts, culture and design as critical elements of healthy communities."

"As the daughter of an African American man and a Mexican immigrant woman," Jackson wrote in a research paper earlier this year, "I watched my parents resort to the arts and to the particular expressions of their respective cultures because they feared that without intentional exposure to Black and Brown people who could express their fullest humanity, my brother and I might actually believe the narratives that they were sure we were confronting daily."

Shelly C. Lowe grew up on the Navajo Reservation in Ganado, Arizona. She's held positions at Harvard, Yale and the University of Arizona and served on boards of the National Indian Education Association and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.

"To me humanities is about place and time," Lowe told The Harvard Gazette in 2016. "It's the essence of a city and its people. It's the feel of the land and the people who move through it daily. It's the beauty of community and the energy encompassed within it. It's a piece of time that is captured, shared, and then forever ongoing through memory, story, and learning."

Both Lowe and Jackson were appointed to the National Councils that advise the arts and humanities endowments. If they are confirmed, they would vacate those seats.

The arts and cultural sector, which employs more than five million people, has been devastated by the pandemic. According to the White House, "the unemployment rates for the cultural community spiked to among the highest in the Nation." President Biden's American Rescue Plan set aside $135 million for both the arts and humanities endowments, nearly double the amount that was available to cultural groups in President Trump's CARES Act.

Within the arts world there was hope that Biden would create a cabinet-level position to oversee the various government entities that have cultural programs such as the Department of State's Art in Embassies and the Department of Education. So far, that hasn't happened.

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Here are the White House's picks to lead the National Arts and Humanities Endowments - NPR

WORCESTER, Mass., Oct. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --On Friday Oct. 8, the St. Vincent nurses strike will reach another unfortunate milestone in their struggle against Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, which began a full seven months earlier on March 8 in a last-ditch effort by the nurses to finally convince Tenet Healthcare, one of the most profitable corporations in America, to finally put their concern for patients ahead of their ravenous desire for profits.

As the strike, now the longest nurses' strike in state history, reaches its seventh month, the support for the nurses' cause, and the ire against Tenet for its behavior continues to gather momentum within the region, the state and the nation

"The fact that we are still outside this hospital, the hospital we love and have served, some of us for 10, 20 even 40 years is a travesty and serves as an indictment of Tenet Healthcare and their unyielding desire for profit and power at the expense of the suffering of our patients and our community," said Marlena Pellegrino, RN, a longtime nurse at the hospital and co-chair of the nurses local bargaining unit of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. "Our nurses want nothing more than to be back at the bedside to provide our patients with the dignity and expert care they expect and deserve from this, their community hospital. Unfortunately, Tenet has refused an agreement that would allow that to happen, choosing instead to spend millions to keep us out, to pursue illegal practices to punish us for our advocacy -- all to avoid accountability for providing safe patient care."

In the last two weeks, the nurses have been buoyed by a growing chorus of voices coming from all sectors of the community, including two powerful letters from the unions -- UFCW 1445 and Teamsters Local 170-- representing most of the caregivers still working inside St. Vincent Hospital who place the blame for poor conditions inside the hospital, and the crisis outside the hospital on Tenet, and fully support the nurses call for a return to the positions they held prior to the strike.

Public officials have also weighed in, which included a powerful statement by State Representatives Mary Keefe and David LeBoeuf, where they wrote in part: "Worcester is in the midst of a public health crisis with a 'negative' number of hospital bedsthroughout the regionThis lack of services during the height of resurge of the COVID-19 pandemic has put all of us in the community at risk. There are over 700 nurses on the picket line. Bringing them back to their jobs would solve this crisis that our community faces."

Also last week, Mayor Joe Petty and City Councilor and Chair of Public Health Sarai Riveraheld a press conference supporting the St. Vincent nurses' position and calling out Tenet for their efforts to endanger the community, where the Mayor stated, "Tenet Healthcare is demanding that these nurses end this strike with no guarantee that they will retain their previous positions or a commitment that they can return to work without fear of retaliation. These demands are unprecedented and violate the standard practice in any and all strikes and the high labor standards that we expect from all employers in our city. The demand put upon them by the hospitals corporate owners is not only unjust, it is detrimental to the safe restoration of services for our community. I want Tenet to know that we will not allow Worcester to be a testing ground for the imposition of unprecedented labor practices that harm unions and all workers. And when it comes to our nurses, who have given so much to us for so many years, I want Tenet to know that we in Worcester believe that they are irreplaceable."

This week, the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, which represents thousands of organized workers and serves as the voice for working families in Massachusetts sent a letter to policy makerscalling out Tenet for the abusive treatment of St. Vincent nurses and the need to return them to their original positions to end the nurses strike so they can resume caring for the communities they have served with skill and compassion for decades.

And on Tuesday, nurses who work at hospitals owned by Tenet Healthcare in California, Arizona and Texas, sent a letter to Tenet's CEO Saum Sutaria, as well as a number of legislators and policymakers in Massachusetts, decrying the for-profit company's actions during the historic strike, stating in part that they "strongly condemn Tenet's continued disregard for the community and patients' health during this pandemic by failing to return striking St. Vincent nurses to work and ending the seven-month long strike. As fellow Tenet nurses, we have seen how Tenet leadership put profits over patients at our own hospital and we see they are making the same choice at St. Vincent. Their actions are now putting the community of Worcester at dire risk with the closing of beds and failing to reinstate striking nurses."

The nurses have also won praise from their colleagues working in hospitals across the region, who view them as heroes for their stand against Tenet's corporate greed and blatant abuse and the support they are providing to the community. While the nurses are being kept out on the street by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare and Tenet has closed beds and services needed by the community, many of the nurses have found or are seeking work at a number of facilities in the region in the hopes of minimizing the impact of the COVID crisis on their own communities while also sustaining their families until Tenet agrees to an equitable end to the dispute. Many of the strikers are working in a number of hospitals, including at both campuses of nearby UMass Memorial Medical Center, at both UMass Memorial HealthAlliance facilities in Clinton, and Leominster, at UMass Memorial Marlborough Hospital, at Milford Regional Medical Center, Harrington Hospital and Henry Heywood Hospital. Other nurses are working in vaccination sites and some in local nursing homes. The skill, expertise and helping hands of these nurses are much appreciated by their colleagues throughout the region.

"We completely support the St. V's nurses. Their battle for safe staffing in order to provide safe care to their patients is a fight that belongs to all of us," said Diane Lane-Cormier, RN and co-chair of the nurses local bargaining unit at UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Leominster Hospital. "We have had St, Vincent nurses coming in droves to help us out with our nursing shortage at HealthAlliance. They have been nothing but wonderful, caring nurses and we are pleased and grateful to be working side by side with them."

How We Got Here

The strike followed more than 18 months of negotiations and advocacy by the nurses to convince their CEO Carolyn Jackson that conditions for patients were patently unsafe and needed to be improved to protect their patients and stem the mass exodus of nurses, after more than 100 nurses left the facility largely due to the deplorable working conditions. The strike followed a year of great sacrifice and courageous service by the nurses during the worst public health crisis in the nation's history, as they worked tirelessly to care for patients during the pandemic with inadequate staffing conditions and the required personal protective equipment (some nurses resorted to wearing trash bags after Tenet failed to provide appropriate protective gowns), resulting in hundreds of the nurses becoming infected with the virus themselves.

Repeated appeals to improve conditions were ignored by Jackson and her leadership team, who responded to the crisis by furloughing staff, implementing daily staffing cuts, while the corporation bragged in the press of their plan to utilize billions in taxpayer pandemic funding to "maximize our cash position." Over the course of the last two years, the nurses went to great lengths to convince Tenet to address the growing patient safety crisis, including:

"What is at stake in this situation is the ability of nurses to advocate for and to care for patients at the most vulnerable time in their lives," said Marie Ritacco, RN, a member of the nurses negotiating committee and vice president of the MNA. "CEOs come and go, but at the end of the day, nurses are the ones who answer the call light and make the split-second decisions that could save your life.Our union provides us with a protected voice which allows us to fight for you, particularly when a for-profit corporation is willing to sacrifice your safety, as Tenet has done, to boost their stock price for their shareholders.

"We were the nurses in the room with patients gasping their last breaths, holding up an iPad or cell phone to say their final goodbyes to loved ones last year, not anyone wearing a suit from Tenet in Worcester or Dallas," Ritacco concluded."We are appalled that they have chosen to deprive patients in this community the care they need, and they are now threatening us with the loss of our ability to care for you purely out of spite. It is beyond despicable."

More than 700 nurses joined the strike on March 8, and six months later, nearly 700 nurses are honoring the strike.While the nurses continue to walk the line, their cause has been followed and supported throughout the region, the state, the nation, and yes, the world, as nurses and labor/health care advocates from nearly every continent have lent moral and material support to the nurses' cause, seeing their struggle as a fight for humane health care delivery and workplace justice in the face of unmitigated corporate greed.From its inception, the nurses have won the support of nearly every member of the state's congressional and legislative delegations, from Attorney General Maura Healey, the Mayor of Worcester and the entire Worcester City Council. These officials have sent multiple letters, passed resolutions and made multiple calls to Tenet urging them, to provide what the nurses are asking for. The nurses have also won vast community support, with multiple faith leaders and community activists holding rallies, marches and no less than four prayer vigils with the nurses outside the hospital.More than 10,000 "I support the St. Vincent Nurses" lawn signs have been distributed and are showing up outside homes and businesses from Cape Cod to Pittsfield, and several thousand community postcards have been signed and mailed to Tenet's CEO in Worcester and in Dallas from community members.

"As difficult as this has been for all of us, we take enormous comfort from the support we have received and continue to receive from all sectors of our local community and from around the world," said Dominique Muldoon, RN, another longtime nurse at the hospital and co-chair of the nurses local bargaining unit. "No matter what lies and misinformation our CEO puts out, the public understands the core message of our strike, as shown on one of our signs, which is 'if nurses are out here, there is something wrong in there.'The public understands the key role we play in their care, particularly after what we all went through last year, and they know we doing this not for personal gain, but to keep them safe."

As the strike continues, the nurses continue their effort to hold Tenet accountable for their actions and have filed a total of nine unfair labor practices against the corporations for their actions prior to and throughout the strike including making unlawful threats against striking nurses, retaliation and discrimination towards striking nurses, promises of benefits to non-strikers, and bad faith bargaining tactics, all designed to break the strike and to remove MNA as the nurses' bargaining agent.This conduct has greatly disturbed the nurses, who are now demanding that any return-to-work agreement must also include resolution of the unfair labor practices and the conduct underlying them.

The announcement of the charges follows a scathing news report detailing heart-wrenching stories by patients and staff inside the hospital about deplorable patient care conditions and the lack of safe and compassionate care being provided by the replacement nurses hired by Tenet to work during the strike.

Tenet's propensity for questionable and unlawful behavior is well documented, as the corporation has been subject to fines and other judgements from courts and governmental agencies totaling more than $1.8 billion over the last 20 years alone. A listing of those decisions can be found here. This includes the award in February of $10.6 million to two cardiologists at Tenet-owned Detroit Medical Center after a federal judge upheld an arbitrators' decision that the hospital and Tenet acted with malice in firing them as retaliation for reporting violations at the facility. Four nurses at a Tenet facility in June of 2020 have also filed $25 million lawsuit against Tenet for alleged wrongful discharge, retaliation against whistleblowers, and intentional and/or reckless infliction of emotional distress, after the nurses reported preventable patient deaths in their emergency department due to understaffing during the height of the COVID crisis. And in February of 2020, Tenet and one of its California hospitals agreed to pay $1.41 million to settle false claims allegations brought by the federal government for knowingly charging Medicare for implanting unnecessary cardiac monitors into patients.

Agreement Scuttled Last Month Over Back to Work Provision and Tenet Unfair Labor Practices

Two monthsago the nurses had agreed to staffing improvements negotiated throughout the strike and were ready to return to work to provide care, particularly during the current surge caused by the Delta variant, yet a final agreement was scuttled by Tenet when they demanded the nurses accept an unprecedented and punitive back to work provision that is not only unfair to nurses, but its replacement of highly skilled nurses with lesser qualified staff, would undermine all the patient safety gains the parties had negotiated. The hospital's proposal also called for the nurses to retract all the unfair labor practice charges, opening the door for Tenet to continue its efforts to retaliate against the striking nurses. The nurses are clear that any negotiated Return to Work Agreement must also include a negotiated resolution of all the unfair labor practice charges the nurses have filed.

"We went on strike to achieve safer patient care and can't go back as long as the hospital's dangerous return to work agreement denies our most fragile patients the experienced, expert care they deserve,"said Muldoon. "Our members are clear.They are ready to end the strike to provide care once again, but not unless all nurses are returned to their jobs and can do so without fear of abuse because a for profit corporation decided to retaliate against nurses who have been advocating for safer conditions inside our hospital."

"This was a callous demand at the 11th hour by our CEO in blatant retaliation against the nurses with only one goal, to punish the nurses for our strike, to break our union and thereby silence our voice as advocates for our patients and our community," said Pellegrino. "This is yet another example of what our nurses have faced for more than two years, why our nurses cast a vote of no confidence against our CEO during the height of the pandemic in May 2020, and why we went on strike and stayed out on strike all this time."

Without an agreement, the strike will continue as the nurses continue to work with the federal mediators and the National Labor Relations to find a way to move the process to a just resolution.

For more background on the strike and the issues involved, click here to learn more.

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association

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St. Vincent Nurses Strike Regrettably Reaches Seven-Months on Oct. 8th As Tenet Healthcare Continues to Deny Agreement to Ensure Safer Patient Care...

The California Nurses Association (CNA) today welcomed Gov. Gavin Newsoms signature Friday enacting landmark legislation to require implicit bias education and training for nursing students and new graduates in California, an important step in addressing persistent racial disparities, particularly in health care.

CNA-sponsored AB 1407, by Assemblymember Autumn Burke, will require nursing schools and programs to include implicit bias education as part of their curriculum, and hospitals to implement an evidence-based program on implicit bias as part of new graduate training. Additionally, verification of implicit bias training will become part of the licensure requirement for all new California RNs.

California is now believed to be the first state in the nation to require implicit bias training as a graduation requirement for nursing students. Michigan has similarly mandated implicit bias training for all health care workers seeking licensure effective next June.

Awareness and then education are critical first steps toward eliminating implicit bias, said CNA Director of Government Relations Stephanie Roberson. AB 1407 is a preemptive approach, starting with educating our future nursing workforce prior to entry into practice. There is no better way to start.

Long-term racial disparities in health care access and treatment continue to be a deplorable stain on our nation, said CNA President Cathy Kennedy, RN. Biases, whether intentional or unconscious, directly contribute to those disparities, especially in a context in which we continue to see corporate health care disparities for which health care services are provided, and what services are prioritized.

Racial gaps in health care have been increasingly documented from maternal and infant mortality to diagnostic procedures to prescription of medication to interactions with medical professionals and institutions generally. A report from the Urban Institute this July, for example, found that Black patients are significantly more likely to suffer dangerous bleeding, infections, and other surgery-related problems than white patients who received care in the same hospital.

Health care facilities and educators must demonstrate their commitment to ending racial health disparities and working toward health equity by aggressively pursuing strategies that eliminate implicit bias within the health care system. This bill is a part of the solution, said Roberson.

Hospitals, health care facilities, and health care educators offer very little, if anything, to bring awareness to or address this phenomenon and problem. Even structural characteristics such as an institution's physical space project how welcoming an institution might be to patients of color. Too often, facilities fail to look at the communities they serve, those communities' needs, and the resources facilities need to tap to fill those needs.

The legacy of structural racism in medical care has been deadly, and has contributed to distrust of medical services among medically underserved communities and patients. It is essential that we guarantee that our future health care workforce is fully aware of the debilitating consequences of implicit bias to bring this scourge to an end and ensure equal, high quality medical care for everyone, Kennedy added.

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California nurses welcome signing of bill to tackle implicit bias in nursing education as step forward on racial health disparity - National Nurses...