Category Archives: Intentional Communities

Why some are comparing the national backlash against anti-racist teaching to Virginias strident campaign to resist school desegregation after Brown v. Board of Education

Arnold Ambers was still a teenager when he woke up at 4 a.m., jumped behind the wheel of a rickety bus and shuttled dozens of children to a nearby segregated elementary school. Much of the fleet lacked heat and, on the coldest mornings of those Virginia winters, hed pull over on the side of the road to brush ice off the windshield with a worn towel.

After finishing the route, Ambers arrived late to his all-Black high school, named in honor of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, which remained racially segregated despite the Supreme Courts decision in Brown v. Board of Education years earlier. As Ambers bused children to racially isolated schools even after the court found such segregation unconstitutional in 1954, officials fought tooth and nail to keep it that way. As one of the nations last holdouts, Loudoun County schools remained racially isolated until desegregation began in 1968. Such discrimination was so pervasive that it became baked into Ambers perception of normality.

That was the sign of the times, the 79-year-old Ambers said, recalling how his family was barred from many public spaces outside the balcony of a Leesburg theater. But by the time he enrolled at Shaw University, a historically Black institution in North Carolina, hed had enough and joined civil rights protests, marching and singing songs like We Shall Overcome. But white folks didnt take kindly to Black people demonstrating, and hell never forget the occasion an irate man spit on him. Its one of the most degrading things that you could ever do.

These days, Ambers is on edge. The racial strife thats engulfed the county in the last several years, he said, brings back memories of Jim Crow.

This year, Loudoun County has become ground zero for a national uproar over schools use of critical race theory, a legal concept thats seemingly been bastardized to encompass any instruction about systemic racism and Black Americans enduring struggle for racial equity. That strife came to a head at a school board meeting in June, when one man was arrested and another injured after the gathering descended into chaos as parents protested critical race theory with signs that read education not indoctrination.

Its painful to realize that weve come a long way, but in the last five years weve really gone backwards quite a bit, Ambers said. And I guess the painful reality is that racism has always been there.

For some observers, the backlash is part of the complex, centuries-long history of racism and oppression that some educators have sought to confront, particularly after George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020. Specifically, theyve likened the blustering rhetoric of critical race theorys staunchest critics and legislative efforts across the state to prohibit teachers from discussing systemic racism to massive resistance, an effort by white segregationists in Virginia to thwart school desegregation for years after the Brown decision.

Among them is Juli Briskman, a Democratic member of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, who referred to the current upheaval as the massive resistance of our generation. Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which litigated Brown, quipped that segregationists and the current dissidents mobilized around a singular force: The unifying power of whiteness.

In this 1960 photograph, opponents to school desegregation in Louisiana yell at police officers during a protest. One sign reads All I Want For Christmas is a Clean White School. (Getty Images)

While white segregationists employed legal, and sometimes violent, tactics to evade school desegregation, critics said that similar strategies are now being leveraged to block educators from teaching about that very historic reality.

As the rancor reaches a fever pitch nationally, some parents have pulled their kids from public schools and others have touted private school choice as an option to shield children from curricula permeated with ideas we find toxic. In July, a teacher in Tennessee was fired for teaching students about racism and white privilege.

Meanwhile on Fox News, which has warned against the dangers of critical race theory thousands of times this year, pundit Tucker Carlson suggested next to a graphic of the Democratic Party logo and the words ANTI-WHITE MANIA that classrooms be equipped with cameras to ensure teachers arent filling impressionable young minds with civilization-ending poison.

People protest against critical race theory in June outside the Loudoun County Government Center in Leesburg, Virginia. (Getty Images)

In nearly half of states, Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation this year that seeks to limit how educators discuss racism and other divisive issues, and in 10 states such bans have become law. Under a new Tennessee law, for example, public schools could lose funding. In Arizona, teachers could have their licenses revoked.

Jin Hee Lee, the senior deputy director at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, finds the current efforts similar to resistance to desegregation in that both operate on nostalgia that fails to recognize how educational inequities upheld by the status quo marginalize Black children and could be detrimental by further destabilizing public education.

The idea that any efforts to engage and remedy that problem is somehow in itself harmful to other children is beyond ironic, its really quite tragic, she said. An accurate accounting of history and the requirement that all children should be treated equally, and to be included, is beneficial for everyone.

Jamel Donnor, a critical race theory expert and associate professor of education at Virginias College of William & Mary, also sees similar parallels between the backlash to critical race theory, which he called a boogeyman, and Southern resistance to school desegregation. Even to this day, K-12 schools are starkly divided by race and integration efforts remain divisive even in northern enclaves like New York City. In both instances, he said the uproar centers on resistance to inclusion.

First it was the inclusion of black bodies, he said. Now, its the inclusion of ideas [and] materials that purport to provide a more holistic picture, a more holistic understanding of the experiences of people of color in the United States.

Jonathan Zimmerman, an education historian at the University of Pennsylvania, acknowledged similarities between massive resistance and the current backlash with outright racism as a key motivator, but several differences muddle the analogy. Massive resistance after Brown was a battle over the Constitution and its interpretation, he said, while the current feud is largely about American identity.

Many white Americans in particular are deeply invested in a narrative of America thats being challenged, and while he doesnt endorse their perspective, he said they come from a correct perception that these stories represent a radical difference from the stories they were invested in. Meanwhile, he said that in some cases the most ardent proponents of anti-racist teaching have imposed their opinions about history on students. Laws that bar teachers from discussing divisive topics have the same effect.

All truths are subject to interpretation and there is no singular, unvarnished truth, he said. Never has been, never will be.

The very existence of the segregated Douglass School, where Ambers graduated in 1960, was a feat in itself.

To the backdrop of white resistance, members of Loudoun Countys Black community, including Amberss father, held chicken dinners and other fundraisers to buy a plot of land on the outskirts of Leesburg for the countys first high school for Black children. The school was built in 1941, after organizers sold the land to the county for $1, and the countys Black community raised money to fill the building with desks and books.

Ambers and other students at Douglass werent offered the same opportunities as the countys white children and almost immediately after the Brown decision was released, white officials in Virginia and across the South vowed to keep it that way. A prominent force was Virginia Sen. Harry Byrd, who blasted Brown as the most serious blow that has yet been struck against states rights an argument that echoed the Lost Cause, in which Confederate officials sought to inaccurately portray the Civil War as a feud over local control rather than an effort to uphold slavery.

Virginia officials created the Gray Commission, which recommended officials amend the state compulsory attendance law so white children didnt have to attend integrated schools and the creation of taxpayer-funded tuition grants so parents could send their children to private institutions known today as segregation academies. Two years later, Byrd launched a campaign that became known as massive resistance that included a collection of laws aimed at preventing integration, including a policy to pull funding from schools that allowed Black and white children to sit in the same classroom. Through newly created tuition grants, money from closed public schools was funneled to private schools that werent bound by Browns mandates. After the school-closure law was found unconstitutional in 1959, state lawmakers repealed school attendance rules and created a local option that gave cities and counties authority to close schools.

In Loudoun County, educational inequities upheld by racial segregation were felt in teacher salaries, transportation and facilities. At the Bull Run school, Black children brought lumps of coal each morning to provide the building with heat and others hauled in water from a nearby stream.

Shortly after Brown, county officials voted to let students use public education funds for private schools, in effect allowing white families to cover tuition costs while sidestepping integration. In a resolution, officials voted to stop public funding if the federal government forced integration, a reality that came to fruition only after years of legal battles. But the animosity lingered long after and white resistance extended beyond public education. In the mid-1960s, Black youth wanted to swim in Leesburgs public pool but the volunteer fire department filled it with rocks and cement rather than see that happen. The town didnt get another public pool until 1990.

Perhaps the most significant effort to resist desegregation unfolded in Prince Edward County, a rural Virginia enclave with deep ties to the Brown decision. It was here, in 1951, where Black high school students from Farmville went on strike over poor school conditions and sued for equity. Their legal struggle was ultimately one of five cases consolidated into the Supreme Courts Brown decision. Years later, however, segregationists retained the upper hand. Under pressure from two court desegregation orders in May 1959, officials chose to close the countys entire public school system for five years rather than comply. White children were allowed to enroll in the private Prince Edward Academy, which became a model segregation academy for communities across the South, and many Black children, who were excluded from enrollment and unable to use tuition grants elsewhere, were effectively locked out of a formal education altogether.

Such efforts expanded beyond Virginia. By 1969, more than 200 private segregation academies were formed across the South and in seven states Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana families were allowed to use tuition grants, often called private school vouchers today, to avoid desegregated schools.

Rather than focusing on race, white residents in Loudoun County often spoke fondly of their Black neighbors and much of their rhetoric justifying the school closures centered on school privatization, local control and taxpayers rights. The Farmville Heralds publisher at the time, a staunch segregationist, asserted in an editorial that if Virginia, the mother of constitutional government allowed school integration, it would have permitted the rape of ideals and principles for which great men have given their minds and blood, suffering almost unbearable hardships.

Christopher Bonastia, a Lehman College professor and author of Southern Stalemate: Five Years without Public Education in Prince Edward County, Virginia, described the massive resistance strategy through a simple quote: If we can legislate, we can segregate. Now, he said, some critical race theory critics have adopted a similar gameplan. It seems to me that the theory is if we can legislate, we can obfuscate, meaning that if we dont allow this teaching of how racism is sort of baked into U.S. law and policy and practices, then we can maintain this racial innocence.

He also sees similarities between the two camps overall rhetoric.

This claim to colorblindness, which happened in Prince Edward, that is the kind of claim of the anti-CRT folks who question why children should learn to be race-conscious instead of viewing everybody as equals. Hee Lee of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund made a similar connection, noting that claims of colorblindness have been used to entrench existing racial disparities for generations.

It ignores inequalities that exist and it ignores important conversations to try to remedy those racial inequalities, she said. Claiming colorblindness doesnt make inequality just magically disappear. In fact, its very important for us to identify and examine inequalities that do exist.

In this 1956 photograph, two children watch a Ku Klux Klan cross burning from a car affixed with a sign protesting racial integration. (Getty Images)

As Black students in Prince Edward County and elsewhere fought for educational equity, their struggle was about far more than access to white schools. The transformative vision of school integration also included desegregating curriculum, in which African-American experiences and voices were included in classroom instruction, said Jarvis Givens, an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

In his Book Fugitive Pedagogy: Carter G. Woodson and the Art of Black Teaching, Givens traces the life of the father of Black history, and highlights how anti-racist teaching practices have long been a staple of Black educators approach to instruction and doing so has always faced resistance.

To define fugitive pedagogy, Givens turns to the actions of Tessie McGee, a Black history teacher from Louisiana who, in the 1930s, kept a copy of Woodsons book on the Negro on her lap, reading passages to students in defiance of state and district rules. Through her actions, Givens wrote, McGee explicitly critiqued and negated white supremacy and anti-Black protocols of domination, but they often did so in discreet or partially concealed fashion, as part of a larger vision to dismantle Jim Crow segregation while celebrating African Americans contributions to society. She and others did this at grave risk of getting caught.

For many Black educators, that was a real threat as they faced relentless suspicion and surveillance. Such surveillance, similar to Tucker Carlsons call for cameras in classrooms, has been endemic to the experiences of Black teachers historically. Now, contemporary calls to police classroom instruction is worrisome, he said.

Now were seeing it out in the open because a lot of folks are being given permission to kind of surveil what teachers are teaching, he said, and whether or not it adds up to their vision of what it means to be patriotic and American, and whether or not its consistent with the stories that weve been told that we need to tell about the past, of Americas history, for so long.

In this photograph from 1957, a Black mother and her first-grade child walk past segregationist protesters as they enter a public school on the first day of classes in Nashville, Tennessee. As the city underwent desegregation, white parents began a boycott and withdrew their children from public schools. (Getty Images)

Despite Black educators long history offering anti-racist instruction and being subjected to surveillance to prevent it, Givens said the issue has taken on a new form in the last year. Parents are so up in arms this year, he argued, because the instruction is being offered to white kids who are being asked to confront issues of racial inequality.

I think the falling out has to do with the fact that theres a lot of white people who dont want their children learning these sorts of narratives because of what it implicates about their own identities in certain ways and the ways it names whiteness in explicit ways that causes discomfort for people, he said. Thats whats really whats at hand here: What happens when we decide to include Black history in ways that go beyond the terms of whats comfortable for white Americans?

Zimmerman, the University of Pennsylvania historian, said the current moment creates an opportunity for educators to present American history from multiple perspectives and allow students to grapple with the lessons rather than prescribing their own views. Yet partisans on both sides, he worried, are disinterested in an honest debate.

I want more nuance, he said, but, to be as direct as possible, who the [heck] am I? How many people actually do want that and how do we make the case for it?

For 45 years, Virginias efforts to defy Brown were placed on a pedestal outside the state capitol in Richmond. That era came to an end in July, when a 10-foot bronze statue of segregationist Sen. Byrd, the massive resistance architect, was removed from its perch and hauled off to storage.

Yet much of his legacy carries on unabated as schools across the country remain starkly segregated by race and some communities continue to leverage tactics, such as school district secessions, to resist integration.

Some of the very groups leading the charge against critical race theory are also engaged in efforts to block ongoing desegregation efforts today. In New York City, where public schools are among the most racially segregated, students filed a lawsuit this year arguing that the citys use of selective admissions screens at its sought-after high schools, long seen by some as a hurdle keeping Black and Hispanic children from the lauded campuses, violate the state constitution. The lawsuit calls on the city to scrap its competitive admissions practices.

A new group called Parents Defending Education, which offers an IndoctriNation Map to fight indoctrination in the classroom by exposing educators promoting harmful agendas, sought to intervene in the New York City case. The student groups efforts to strike down race-neutral admissions screens, the group wrote in a court filing, is intentional racial discrimination, plain and simple.

Plaintiffs believe the best way to achieve equity is to focus on race and to break the parts of the citys school system that are working, the group, which didnt respond to requests for comment, noted in court papers. Parents Defending Education believes the best way to achieve equality is to treat children equally, regardless of skin color, and to fix the parts of the citys schools that are broken.

Despite the persistence of racial segregation in schools, some school leaders have sought in recent years to grapple with the past and how it still affects the education system today. After Floyds murder in Minneapolis, for example, the head of a private school in Montgomery, Alabama, wrote an open letter about the role his school played in resisting desegregation. The Montgomery Academy opened in 1959 as an all-white school and was seen by many as one of the early catalysts for the white flight from Montgomerys public schools.

We must be willing to confront the uncomfortable fact that The Montgomery Academy, like many other independent schools founded in the South during the late 1950s, was not immune to the divisive forces of racism that shaped this city and community over the course of its history, John McWilliams, who didnt respond to requests for comment, wrote in the letter. In his view, he wrote, Black Lives Matter protests that engulfed the country had clear ties to a centuries-long struggle. I believe that we are witnessing the cumulative impact of over 400 years of white supremacy, racial division and discrimination play out in our streets and cities across the country.

Ambers, who ironically finished his professional career as a school bus driver in Virginias Fairfax County, retiring in 2015, has been forced to face how racism in Leesburg schools persisted long after he left. Just recently, his three children, now adults, detailed to him for the first time how they experienced racial discrimination in the system long after the district was formally desegregated.

They were called the N word and during Black history they were asked to explain things like they were considered slaves, he said. They were treated like Well, youre supposed to know about this so tell us about it.

Arnold Ambers, who graduated from Loudoun Countys racially segregated Douglass School in 1960, was a member of the varsity basketball team (Photo courtesy Arnold Ambers)

Several years ago, the school district began to address issues of racial equity after high-profile reports found inequities negatively affected the academic progress among students of color, prompting school leaders to create a Plan to Combat Systemic Racism, including teacher trainings that focused on helping educators foster racial consciousness.

Then, in September 2020, county officials issued a long-overdue apology to the Black community for joining the campaign of massive resistance decades ago. While noting that much work must be done to fully correct or eradicate matters of racial inequality in the county, the officials wrote that county educators must continually assess the status of racial equity in the school system and correct its past transgressions as it pertains to race.

Even in the face of backlash and intimidation, Briskman, the county Board of Supervisors member who gained notoriety in 2017 when she gave former President Donald Trumps motorcade the middle finger, vowed to carry on.

The work is not going to stop, she said, and were not going to be threatened.

Lead Image: In this photograph from 1961, teacher Althea Jones offers instruction to Black children in a one-room shack in Prince Edward County, Virginia. Beginning in 1959, the county lacked public school facilities for an estimated 1,700 Black children while some 1,400 white students attended private schools financed by state, county and private contributions made in lieu of tax payments. (Getty Images)

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Critical Race Theory and the New 'Massive Resistance' - The 74

This is the first in a two-part series about utopian societies exploring the benefits of community cooperation and its dark sides how the rejection of the status quo can morph into extremism and fanaticism.

Utopian societies are not a modern invention. The word utopia was first coined in 1517 by Sir Thomas Moore. Though his vision for the perfect society was more puritanical than the free love hippie communes of the 60s and 70s, the ideal is the same a rejection of the tyrannies of the established state and an embrace of a more egalitarian form of society.

History is rife with examples of these communities, and, for better or worse, utopian systems continue to exist communes, monasteries, ashrams, and intentional communities all embrace communality, simplicity, and egalitarian values. But what happens when the noble intentions of the collective collide with the complexities and differences of human nature?

Akash Kapur is author of Better To Have Gone: Love, Death And The Quest For Utopia In Auroville. Kapur was raised in an intentional community in India, then moved to the U.S. at age 16, where he attended a prestigious East Coast boarding school and later attended Harvard University. He joins KCRW host Jonathan Bastian to talk about the realities of life in utopian communities and his experiences in Auroville, where he and his wife Auralice Graft grew up.

His book traces the history of Auroville in southern India, inspired by the philosophy and yoga of a sage named Sri Aurobindo and founded by Mirra Alfassa, an elderly French woman known to everyone there as the Mother. Kapur talks about his own parents and why they moved there, and shares some of the mysterious history of his wifes mother and stepfather and their untimely death. His perspective is unique and clear-eyed, both about the freedoms and ideals of Auroville, but also about the many darker realities of the place he continues to call his home.

Continued here:

Searching for Utopia, Part 1: The freedoms and failures of of an intentional community in India - KCRW

Workbox provides tech entrepreneurs from all walks of life with access to funding via 30-plus angel investors and venture capitalists, something that is all too commonly an uphill battle for minority entrepreneurs in the tech field. Our members also receive guidance on everything from digital marketing and finance to recruitment and exclusive networking programs. All too often minority groups don't have access to the tools necessary to ascend to leadership roles. Programs like ours provide those tools as well as entry to groups and conversations that social biases have prevented minorities from penetrating in the past. Simply put, we focus on providing access and opportunity. This type of diversity-focused programming is, I believe, one of the best and quickest ways to increase the number of minorities in leadership roles.

One of the tricks to being a successful leader is to know what you don't know. To that end, I believe it's also crucial for companies to turn to diversity experts to help make purposeful connections with the communities they are looking to engage.

For example, at Workbox, there are communities that, try as we might, we just haven't been able to connect with thus far. To help solve that problem, we recently tapped Tim King, founder and CEO of Urban Prep Academies, to join our board of advisers. Through his work as an educator, social justice pioneer, philanthropist and businessman, Tim has a plethora of experience and insight that will help Workbox figure out new ways to make genuine, actionable connections with communities we have yet to reach. His recommendations and observations are not only helping Workbox with our internal and external diversity initiatives but also helping our members formulate the ways in which they want to structure their own recruiting practices.

Partnerships, like the one Workbox has with Tim King, are vital to creating permanent change and leveling the playing field so that there are more minorities in leadership positions. Building true diversity requires a multifaceted effortand one that needs a holistic approach. That's what we're doing at Workbox.

John Wallace is co-founder and CEO of Workbox, a co-working accelerator in Chicago.

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Opinion: Tech companies need to be intentional in recruiting to address diversity problem - Crain's Chicago Business

By The Hand Club For Kids, Grace and Peace Revive Center, and Intentional Sports joined the Chicago Fire Foundation, Jason and Vedrana Heyward, and state and local leaders to break ground on a first-of-its-kind professional-level facility for sports, education, and wellness in the North Austin community.

The $31 million state-of-the-art campus will help close the opportunity gap for youth on Chicagos west side through access to education, leadership development, and sports training, including soccer and baseball programming from the Chicago Fire FC and the Jason Heyward Baseball Academy, respectively. It features 150,000-square-feet of indoor space, new outdoor turf fields, and Chicagos only FIFA regulation turf arena for year-round indoor sport the largest turf field on the citys west side.

The 10-acre project transforms a vacant parcel of land on North Laramie to ensure families in the community have access to team sports, education, enrichment, and wraparound services that help form the foundation of a strong, healthy, and safe community. The campus will house after-school programming for more than 400 youth and over 100 free community hours per week. Through the work of the Chicago Fire Foundation, the Fire will offer more than 20 hours per week of free soccer programming for the community.

Its truly remarkable to see our vision take shape here in the North Austin community, said Donnita Travis, founder, and executive director of By The Hand Club For Kids and lead organizer for the development. The campus and the world-class programming that it will offer will truly be the hands, feet, and love of God on display for our children and community. We are beyond grateful for our partners and all those who have invested their time and resources to make this campus possible; they are reshaping the future for so many young people in Chicago.

The project is supported by a $1.5 million capital grant from the State of Illinois, which will assist with the brownfield redevelopment of the former Glidden paint factory. The grant provided critical resources that enabled community leaders to break ground on the campus this summer and open to the community in the fall of 2022. Overall, the project will support 75 permanent jobs and 200 temporary construction jobs.

Our Rebuild Illinois capital program is about more than just delivering new infrastructure investments to communities its about investments in brighter futures for our children. Were proud to put capital dollars to work with our support for the new community and youth sports center coming to Austin next year, bringing hundreds of local jobs along the way, said Gov. JB Pritzker. By The Hands new facility will deliver essential education, after-school programming, and health and wellness services that will benefit the entire community. Working in collaboration with our leaders in the General Assembly, we are delivering essential investments like this one that will enhance the quality of life for our Illinois residents, attract additional investment in the area, and strengthen our local economy for years to come.

A hallmark of Governor Pritzkers capital vision for the State of Illinois is funding for community development projects that increase access to essential amenities, create jobs, and enhance the quality of life for our residents, said Sylvia Garcia, Acting Director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). We are proud to support By The Hands and Grace and Peaces investments in Austin with a Rebuild Illinois grant which will revitalize essential community space, leveraging it to expand education and wellness services for children and families in the area. This is one of several key projects underway today in Chicago and around our state to ensure all of our communities have access to dependable roads, bridges, schools, and community services needed to succeed in a 21st-century economy.

By The Hand Club For Kids, the holistic after-school program that takes students by the hand and walks with them from kindergarten to college will operate its sixth Chicago-area club on the campus. Occupying 30,000-square-feet of indoor space, By The Hand will serve more than 400 Chicago Public School students on-site, promoting academic excellence and nourishing them mind, body, and soul. By The Hand currently serves approximately 1,600 CPS students from Chicagos south and west sides.

Longtime community cornerstone Grace and Peace Revive Center has been operating on the North Laramie site since 2018 and will continue providing critical wraparound services spanning education, health awareness, and advocacy for North Austin residents. Food banks, domestic violence counseling, transitional housing, and advocacy workshops are just a few of the services that will be available on-site.

North Austin is our home, and we are very proud to be investing in its future, said Pastor John Zayas, founder, and pastor of Grace and Peace Church and CEO of the Revive Center. We hope this campus serves as a beacon of hope and opportunity, signaling to our community that we are committed to improving the quality of life and access to resources for our neighbors on Chicagos west side.

Anchoring the development will be Intentional Sports, a not-for-profit organization working to close the opportunity and access gaps that persist in youth sports. Young people in underserved communities like North Austin are four times less likely to play sports and six times more likely to quit sports due to costs.

Intentional Sports will provide best-in-class youth sports academies, competitive opportunities, and health and wellness training across 120,000-square-feet of indoor space. The facility expects to host approximately 25,000 participants per year, with adult leagues, camps, and national tournaments generating revenue to sustain the facility and provide low-cost and no-cost options to local athletes and their families.

We are trying to change the landscape of North Austin and its surrounding communities, and we believe equitable access to sports, education, and leadership development is the way to do that, said Andy McDermott, founder, and president of Intentional Sports. Not only are we bringing a first-of-its-kind facility to Chicago, but were giving young people on the west side a chance to play in a world-class space, right in their own neighborhood. Its a winning combination.

Intentional Sports will debut multiple youth sports and leadership academies when the campus opens, in addition to soccer programming from the Chicago Fire and baseball programming from the Jason Heyward Baseball Academy.

The Chicago Fire Foundation

The Chicago Fire Foundation and Chicago Fire FC are committed to expanding access to the game of soccer for Chicago-area youth and their families.Through the contribution to the community campus, the Chicago Fire Foundation will establish a permanent home for its community outreach programs, which include its award-winning P.L.A.Y.S. (Participate, Learn, Achieve, Youth, Soccer) Program. Established in 2013, P.L.A.Y.S. aims to enhance the academic performance and development of key social and emotional (SEL) skills of elementary school students through a sports-based curriculum. To date, it has generated more than 250,000 hours of soccer across 40 Chicago Public Schools and serves nearly 1,000 youth each year.

The Fires proven curriculum and hands-on approach to cultivate a love of soccer and a commitment to sportsmanship will be a key part of the programming at the community center.

The youth within our Chicago community deserve to have access to first-rate facilities and high-quality programming within their neighborhoods, said Executive Director of the Chicago Fire Foundation Jessica Yavitz. Investing in our youth through soccer not only teaches sporting skills, but also social and emotional learning traits and values. By teaming up with By The Hand Club For Kids, Grace and Peace Revive Center, and Intentional sports to create the North Austin community center, were able to provide a safe place for the community to come together and play for years to come.

Jason Heyward Baseball Academy

Chicago Cubs right fielder Jason Heyward and his wife, Vedrana, continue their philanthropic efforts, making a substantial financial gift and committing their resources to launch the Jason Heyward Baseball Academy, a sports training and leadership development program for players of all ages and skill levels. Housed on the campus, the Jason Heyward Baseball Academy will introduce the game of baseball to thousands of youth on Chicagos west side while providing education, leadership, mentorship, and skills training to build strong athletes and community leaders.

Sports play a defining role in building character, forging opportunity, and changing the lives of young people, said Jason Heyward. Vedrana and I are committed to helping lift Chicagos youth and leveraging our skills and resources to make a difference in our city. Weve been longtime supporters of By The Hand and couldnt be happier to be a part of this incredible effort.

As the director, Jason Heyward, together with his personal coaching staff, will take a hands-on approach, guiding all aspects of the curriculum for participants ranging in age from 18 months to college-age athletes. In conjunction with the Baseball Academy, Vedrana Heyward will launch Girls on the Diamond, a holistic collection of programming geared toward helping young women discover their passion, harness their talent, and develop life skills to grow into confident, well-rounded, and powerful women on or off the baseball diamond.

Since making Chicago their home in 2015, the Heywards have been steadfast in their commitment to helpingimprove the lives of Chicago youth in underserved communities through their ongoing support for By The Hand and Cubs Charities, the designated charity of the Chicago Cubs. The Jason Heyward Baseball Academy is the latest representation of the couples commitment to Chicago-area youth, and they plan to continue their philanthropic support for both organizations.

The campus will be developed in partnership with Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives and built by ARCO/Murray and GMA Construction Group. For more information about the campus or to inquire about employment opportunities, please emailinfo@bythehand.org.

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$31 Million Sports, Education, and Wellness Facility to open in North Austin - Chicago Defender

Vaccinationsavailabletoday starting at 4:00 PM at Longs Park in Lancaster

Governor Tom Wolf today visited Union Community Cares Downtown Lancaster Health Center to thank health care centers for their efforts to provide access to vaccines and to encourage all Pennsylvanians to help stop the spread of COVID-19 by getting vaccinated.

Our hard-working health professionals across the commonwealth like Union Community Care deserve recognition and our gratitude for everything they do each day to get Pennsylvanians vaccinated. They keep us safer as individuals, and when enough people get vaccinated they also help slow the spread of this disease everywhere, Gov. Wolf said. Right now, we need to put all of our efforts into increasing vaccination rates in Pennsylvania communities so that our neighbors, our friends, and our children are safe. Getting vaccinated is easy, its free and its widely available. I urge Pennsylvanians: Please, go get your shot.

Union Community Care operates 10 community health centers in Lancaster and Lebanon counties. Among its many health careservices, the organization focuses on vaccine equity and provides COVID-19 vaccines at its centers and through partnerships and community events.

In the past few weeks, COVID-19 cases in Lancaster County have risen dramatically, raising alarm and fear, said Dr. Anne-Marie Derrico, Union Community Cares chief medical officer. But this surge is different. We now have an effective weapon to fight COVID-19, and that weapon is the vaccine.

Union Community Care will offer vaccinations to the public today at Longs Park in Lancaster. The Community-Accessible Testing and Education (CATE) Mobile Vaccination Unit will be in the park starting at 4:00 PM to provide vaccination opportunities to anyone ages 12 and older. Starting at 6:00 PM, Union Community Care will host A Day of Healing, an opportunity for the Lancaster community to reconnect, memorialize loved ones lost to COVID-19, honor healthcare heroes, and spend time healing together.

At Union Community Care, we see vaccine equity as core to our mission, said Alisa Jones, Union Community Cares president & CEO. We have provided more than 12,000 COVID-19 vaccines to patients and community members at our centers and by way of intentional vaccination partnerships and events in the Lancaster and Lebanon communities including our very own neighborhoods, local businesses and organizations, schools, churches, those experiencing homelessness, and any hard to reach areas that have gone unseen and unheard. As the pandemic evolves, we are clear in our purpose to vaccinate and protect everyone in our communities by meeting them where they are, in spaces they trust, with people they trust.

Governor Wolf encourages all Pennsylvanians ages 12 and older to get vaccinated to stop the spread of COVID-19 and its variants.

Earlier this week, the governor announced a Vaccine or Test requirement for commonwealth employees in state health care facilities and high-risk congregate care facilities. The governor also announced a vaccine incentive, in which all vaccinated commonwealth employees under the governors jurisdiction are eligible for an additional 7.5 or 8 hours paid time off.

Read more:

Gov. Wolf Thanks Health Care Centers for Making COVID-19 Vaccines Accessible, Stresses Vaccines are Effective, Free, Available - pa.gov

Sen. Twina Nobles, D-28

By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium

August is Black Philanthropy Month and philanthropic leaders both locally and around the world will use it as an opportunity to celebrate the legacy of Black giving and inspire increased investment in Black communities.

Started in 2011 by Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland and the Pan-African Womens Philanthropy Network, Black Philanthropy Month is a month-long celebration that aims to illuminate the ingenuity and transformative impact of Black generosity.

According to Dr. Copeland, for the descendants of Africa living in America giving back to the community to sustain ourselves and survive after slavery was the only means Black communities had because we did not have access to the same capital and resources as our White counterpart.

That James Brown song, I dont need nobody to give me nothin, just open up the door and Ill help myself, recites Copeland during an interview with The Seattle Medium. That is the story of Black giving, homegrown Black giving and homegrown Black business development.

This is the first year that Black Philanthropy Month will be celebrated in Washington State, organizations like the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle and the Black Future Co-Op Fund, a local, Black-led philanthropic organization that seeks to uplift Black-led solutions that ignite Black generational wealth, health, and well-being, are optimistic about the possibilities that stem from this years celebration.

Governor Jay Inslee recently issued a proclamation naming August Black Philanthropy Month in Washington.

According to Gov. Inslee, That proclamation recognizes the rich history Black Washingtonians have of investing their time, talent, treasure and care for Washingtons communities.

This is first time Black Philanthropy Month will be celebrated in the state of Washington, and recognized by the Governor and the whole state, says Michelle Merriweather, CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle. So, we are really excited to shine a light on and celebrate Black philanthropy and all facets of it.

Throughout the month of August, the founders of the Black Future Co-op Fund and other local Black philanthropic leaders will host a series of virtual events about the legacy of Black generosity and exploring how we can collectively invest in a liberated future by, forand with Black Washingtonians. The theme for the events is Demystifying Philanthropy: Moving Toward Black Abundance. The schedule of events are as follows:

Tuesday, Aug. 17 at 12 to 1:30 pm Black Philanthropy Is Community Care.Black generosity is grounded in a sense of collective responsibility to community. From the Black church that has shaped consistent giving to the ways Black communities rally to supportneighbors needs, Black philanthropy nourishes community wealth and well-being. Learn from Black leaders about the myriad ways Black giving has bolstered Black communities and influenced the field of philanthropy.

Tuesday, Aug. 24 at 12 to 1:30 pmFrom Institutional Philanthropic Redlining to Black Freedom.Black people have long given time, talent, and treasure to care for their communities. At the same time, white-led philanthropy has for decades systematically under-invested in Black communities.Hear from Black philanthropic leaders who are forging new pathways to self-determination in the face of persistent racism, and explore together how we create a liberated future.

Tuesday, Aug. 31 at 5 to 6:30 pm Where Is the Money?In the wake of social justice uprisings, corporations, foundations, and individuals made pledges to address anti-Black racism and improve equity. While some money has made it out the door, many who made commitments have yet to fulfill their promises. Delve into how words without action perpetuate anti-Black racism; what it will take to move beyond words to real change; and how we hold people, foundations, and corporations accountable.

Senator Twina Nobles, one of the founders of the Black Future Co-Op Fund, is excited about the possibilities that can come from our community working together and investing in ourselves and our organizations.

I am excited about the work Black Future Co-op is doing, says Nobles. Because we really have been able to highlight, in partnership with the community, significant events and moments and celebrate things as Black people and one of those things being Black Philanthropy.

Since the murder of George Floyd, justice reform particularly economic reform and equality has been at the forefront of the Black community. Just as civil rights was the argument of the 1950s and 60s, todays fight for equity is a continuum morphing into economic justices, and Black philanthropy has taken the baton to bring about financial equity and access to venture capital to continue to build a vibrant Black community.

Today Black Philanthropy Month is global movement, says Dr. Copeland. It celebrates and empowers black giving in all of its forms and it promotes funding equity as a racial justice issue.

Proponents of the Black philanthropy movement says that its important toacknowledge thatanti-Black racism has purposely ignored the Black communities contributions to philanthropy, and anti-Black racism has persistently undermined opportunities for Black people to build generational wealth. Moving toward Black abundance requires intentional, significant investment in Black communities.

We need to get those investments in the Black community, says Nobles. All the people who are standing up to address anti-Black racism we want to see them follow through on those commitments. It has been great to see our partners step up in the name of Black Philanthropy Month to commit to investment funds, so that that money can go back out into the community.

For the members of the Black Future Co-Op Fund, many people give back in many ways and philanthropy is defined by the individual. But regardless of what you do, they want people to know that they are making a difference in our community.

You define what philanthropy is to you, says Merriweather. It could be your tithe and offerings at church, time at your son or daughters school, mentoring a young person who is not related to you, you define what philanthropy is for you. I just ask that you do for the betterment of your community and in that we all win.

For more information on Black Philanthropy Month, local events or to register, visitblackfuturewa.org/BPM2021.

More:

Celebrating Black Philanthropy Month And The Tradition Of Black Giving - Seattle Medium

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif., Aug. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In an effort to increase student and pedestrian safety at and around Los Amigos Elementary School in Rancho Cucamonga, Ca., the City of Rancho Cucamonga gathered partners together to help restore the Los Amigos intersection mural, create safe walking paths, and implement traffic calming strategies in a historically underserved neighborhood.

Utilizing a SCAG (Southern California Association of Governments) grant in partnership with Music Changing Lives and a grant from America Walks, the city was $10,000 short in completing the project and reached out to Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) for support. "This is more than a sponsorship," said Marci Coffey, IEHP director of community partnerships. "This is an all-hands-on-deck effort to create safe spaces for our community, and we're thrilled to be a part of it."

In coordination with City staff, Music Changing Lives and their artist and Rancho Cucamonga resident, Chris Becktel, took the lead in creating sidewalk art in the neighborhood surrounding the school and will also assist with the task of restoring the intersection mural located at the intersection of 9th Street and Baker Avenue, originally painted in 2018 with funding assistance from SCAG. In an effort to expand upon the traffic safety goals related to the initial 2018 project, additional semi-permanent infrastructure will be installed along 9th Street between Grove and Vineyard Avenues, to try and influence slower speeds and heightened driver awareness.

Designed by Becktel, painted walking routes in surrounding neighborhoods have created accessible, interactive, and enjoyable routes for residents and students to walk along. "The creation of intentional walking spaces helps to break down perceptions that it's unsafe to walk in the neighborhood," said Erika Lewis-Huntley, Management Analyst III at the City of Rancho Cucamonga "The project also supports Healthy RC's 'Safe Routes to School Program,' which aims to create safer, more walkable routes for students to and from their school."

In completion of the project, IEHP's Chief Executive Officer, Jarrod McNaughton, and Governing Board Member, Eileen Zorn, were invited to paint the IEHP logo on one of the sidewalk paths.

"We hope these beautiful murals remind Los Amigos students and residents that they are cared for and are truly valued in our community," said McNaughton. "Working in step with partners and communities in this way, we can make lasting and effective strides to ensure our communities enjoy the optimal care and vibrant health they deserve."

About IEHP With a mission to heal and inspire the human spirit, Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) is one of the top 10 largest Medicaid health plans and the largest not-for-profit Medicare-Medicaid plan in the country. In its 25th year, IEHP is supporting more than 1.4 million residents in Riverside and San Bernardino counties who are enrolled in Medicaid or Cal MediConnect Plans and has a growing network of over 7,300 providers and nearly 2,500 Team Members. Through dynamic partnerships with Providers and Community Organizations, paired with award-winning service and a tradition of quality care, IEHP is fully committed to their vision: We will not rest until our communities enjoy optimal care and vibrant health. For more information, visit iehp.org.

SOURCE Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP)

http://www.iehp.org

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Local Organizations Rally to Restore Intersection Mural for Student Safety - PRNewswire

How do higher education institutions internationalize while contributing to the local communities they serve?

International activities have long been part of higher education. These activities include student and faculty exchange, study abroad, global research collaborations and transnational programming. Recent efforts to internationalize Canadian campuses have brought these activities into sharp focus. With this focus comes an increasing tension between attaining a global reputation and meeting the educational needs of a nation or community. How do higher education institutions internationalize while contributing to the local communities they serve?

Recruiting international students is often a priority in an institutions internationalization strategy and community support is immediately needed to offer housing, transportation and other settlement services. In addition to offering these services, the communitys culture also needs to become inclusive of newcomers and, in many cases, supportive of students journeys to become Canadian citizens. Higher education has an important role to play in ensuring international students are well integrated into the economic, social and cultural fabric of the communities. One way that institutions can fulfil this role is to develop an internationalization strategy that explicitly links to community development. For example, fostering community connections for international students and local employers features prominently in St. Lawrence Colleges new Global Engagement Strategy. The college works with governments, industries and various organizations to achieve in-migration objectives in eastern Ontario, developing a skilled workforce and enriching the social and cultural lives of all residents. A series of video interviews with recent international students and graduates of the college highlighted the positive contributions of these community connections.

To further strengthen the internationalization strategy and community development, St. Lawrence launched the Global Engagement Community Development Program (GECD) in 2021. The goal of the program is to welcome international students into the communities and support their transition into the workforce in the three cities that host St. Lawrence campuses Kingston, Brockville and Cornwall. By helping this transition, the college is also proactively addressing the economic challenges in the region, namely retaining and attracting businesses that create new jobs and ensuring the labour supply meets employer demands.

We want international students to feel at home from the beginning of their journey, thus increasing the likelihood of them making Kingston, Cornwall or Brockville their home after they graduate. Therefore, the GECD program includes initiatives such as a job fair for prospective international students, information sessions for employers about immigration pathways and mentorship and outreach programs to promote the practices of diversity and inclusion. In addition, the GECD will liaise with community organizations to run events such as a summer barbecue, a cabane sucre, cultural festivals and field tips. It is crucial that the college helps foster connections and build positive intercultural relationships and exchanges between international students and local residents.

Internationalization, however, is more than welcoming international students. Higher education provided by universities and colleges must equally encompass skills that are shaped by rapidly changing technologies around the world and that enable cross-cultural teamwork to innovate and solve complex problems.

Internationalized higher education requires a more intentional infusion of international and intercultural learning outcomes. Educational tenets related to global citizenship and intercultural competencies are considered as ethical ways to internationalize higher education, and they provide the rich ground for exploration and articulation into relevant skills in all subjects. This is a contribution that higher education institutions can make to community development through its educational mandate. We do not just educate our students; we educate the employers and all community members about the importance of becoming globally minded and globally competitive.

So, is internationalization and community development an oxymoron? The answer is an unequivocal no. Internationalization must also include a strategy to involve local community partners and proactively contribute to the growth and prosperity of the communities they serve. This work beckons us to look outwards for global connections, as well as inwards for local collaborations.

This column is coordinated through the Internationalization of Student Affairs Community of Practice of the Canadian Association of College & University Student Services (CACUSS). For comments or questions please contact international@cacuss.ca.

Read more:

Internationalization and community development: an oxymoron? - University Affairs

Good Friday Morning, Fellow Seekers.

When Democrats in the U.S. House run for re-election in 2022, theyll be taking the time-honored approach of any party looking to preserve (and maybe even expand) their majority: Theyll be selling voters on what they did, and theyll be trying to convince them they can do more of it.

And as Congressional Dems pitch actual successes with theAmerican Rescue Plan, and anticipated successes on infrastructure, and the rest ofPresident Joe Bidensdomestic agenda, theyll be getting help from a small army of supporters. EnterFor Our Future PA, the Keystone State branch of a labor-backed, progressive political action committee forged in the heat of the 2016 campaign season, thats playing a key role in making that pitch to both the Democratic base and to persuadable voters ahead of the 2022 midterms.

The organizations Pennsylvania statedirector,Ashley McBride(pictured above left), took a few minutes this week to chat with theCapital-StaraboutFor Our Futuresmission, its outreach to communities of color, and the races and pols its targeting in 2022.

The conversation below has been lightly edited for content and clarity.

Q: Thanks for taking the time to chat. For those who dont know, what is For Our Future, and what is its mission?

Ashley McBride:We were birthed in 2016, labor came together at that time, to really build something that has a lasting impact. Often organizations drop in right before an election, they build relationships, and then they leave. We wanted to build something that was lasting, just not descend on a community andleave. Weve been around since 2016, and weve grown since each of those years. We really wanted to start a conversation with voters about what they care about most, and then connect the voters with the candidates that they care about.

Q: What does that look like?

McBride:In our work, we do a combination of issue advocacy and electoral work In 2020, we made over 1.6 millioncalls, knocked on more than 700,000 doors, and we did it in a little over five weeks. We have always knocked on doors. But in light of COVID, we wanted to make sure staff and voters were safe. So we did it in late September, and in the 5 1/2 weeks leading upto the election, we knocked on over 700,000doors.

We talk to communities across the state. And we make sure were intentional about our conversations with communities of color. They were key to helpingJoe Bidenwin this election.

We didwork in the7thand8th[Congressional]Districts, which are places where we are excited to continue our work. Were waiting to see what happens with redistricting. We do a huge concentration of work in the southeast and the collar counties, as well ascentral Pennsylvania.

Q: You mentioned redistricting a moment ago. Anything youre keeping a particular eye on there?

McBride:We are watching in great anticipation. There have been a lot of conversations about what is happening in W.Pa, with[U.S. Rep. Conor] Lambs[17th District] seat. And with him running for the U.S. Senate, we have played out several scenarios. Were going to have conversations with the voters weve built relationships with since 2016. And if [the map] looks different, we will talk about different candidates or different issues. It could open opportunities in areas we have not been in before.

Q: You mentioned the role that Black voters played in delivering Pennsylvania for Joe Biden. Hispanic voters also are a growing voting bloc. Can you talk about the kinds of conversations you have with them? Are they different?

McBride:One of the things Im proudest of, when we run a direct electoral program,were grateful to partner with organizations who are trusted messengers in those communities. So weve done work with [the immigrants rights groups]CASAandMakethe Road. We are intentional in making sure that were not excluding communities of color.

But a lot of the time in this work, people talk about persuasion, and it has taken on a specific identity. We have to talk to all voters across the commonwealth. The conversations are not different. Folks are having a conversation about wanting a job that has a living wage, or have healthcare that is affordable and accessible, or a quality education for their children so they can be competitive.

Were not being transactional, and were not just talking to someone so we can check off a candidate on a ballot Theres no denying the impactthatCOVID has had, but especially how it has impacted communities of color. Sometimes theres a feeling of being forgotten Im on the phone every day with Pennsylvanians who are working 2-3 jobs just to make ends meet.

Andits not that people dont want to go back to work. They want work that respects their humanity, they want jobs where they have a living wage.

Q: To bring the conversation full-circle, youve just launched somedigital spots in key statesto tout the importance of the bipartisan infrastructure plan. Whats the key to the messaging there?

McBride: Weve partnered with [the pro-Bidennonprofit]Building Back Togetherto really make sure that we are lifting up this administrations commitment to making it right for people across Pennsylvania.

When we talk about infrastructure, we can talk about roads and bridges. But it is about investing in people and their lives. The digital buy is to make sure that message is going far and wide across the commonwealth. Oftentimes, we talk to people, and they voted, and they dont know why. We want to make sure they know that their voice makes a difference, and that they are educated on whats going on in Washington D.C.

It is really making sure that people are aware of the statewide campaign and to stand with the administration to build back better. This is not something that is out of reach or impossible to do. We really can do this.

Were also doing negative accountability campaigns And we are applying this pressure to elected officials who have refused to do right by our people.[U.S. Sen. Pat] ToomeyandCongressman[Scott] Perry,they dont just represent the 1 percent, they represent everyone. And were making sure their priorities align with real Pennsylvanians.

Our Stuff.

TheU.S. Census Bureaudropped its long-awaited population and demographic data on Thursday.Cassie Millerhas your four, key takeawayson the data, which will be used to redraw the Keystone States Congressional and legislative maps.

With $370 million in federal COVID-19 relief money burning a hole in his pocket,Gov. Tom Wolfis lookingto use the money to incentivize vaccine skepticsto finally get the jab,Stephen Carusoreports.

The unions representing state workers in Pennsylvania have faced a choice in dealing withGov. Tom Wolfsnew policy ordering tens of thousands of state employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly tests:To bargain, or to sue?Carusohas the details there, too.

The stateHealth Departmentsays Pennsylvania nursing homes need to get 80 percent of their staff vaccinated or increase testing,Marley Parishreports.

In our mad, polarized, COVID surge summer, its easy to get overwhelmed by the tidal waves of bad news. But,the only way out is through, I write in a new column.

On our Commentary Page this morning, columnistTrish Zornio, of our sibling siteColorado Newsline, asks an impertinent, but utterly necessary question:Should the unvaccinated be denied health care?And aHoly Cross Collegescholar explains how Native studentsfought back against abuse andassimilation at Carlisles Indian boarding school.

En la Estrella-Capital,los empleados del hospital estatal y de la prisindeben vacunarse o someterse a pruebas semanales de COVID segn la nueva poltica. Y el Condado Tiogapide al Senador Mastriano que detenga el caos innecesariode la investigacin forense.

Elsewhere.

Some Pennsylvania state universityfaculty say they think politics are at play in the schoolsrefusal to impose a vaccine mandate, theInquirerreports.

Allegheny Countys population grew by 2.2. percentin the new round of Census data, thePost-Gazettereports.

PennLiverounds upthe latest in new housing development constructionaround the region (paywall).

Protesters have lined up in opposition toPennMedicines vaccine mandate,LancasterOnlinereports (paywall).

The Lehigh Valleys burgeoning Hispanic populationhelped drive the regions growth, theMorning Callreports, crunching new Census data.

Luzerne Countys three-largest citiesalso have seen growth since 2010, theCitizens Voicereports, also diving into Census data.

Advocates are declaring a partial victory now thatYork County Prison no longer has any ICE detainees,WHYY-FMreports.

City & State PAruns down this weekswinners & losers in state politics.

Pennsylvanias soon-to-be vacant U.S. Senate seat againtops CNNs list of those most likely to flip in 2022(viaPoliticsPA).

Heres your #Pennsylvania Instagram of the Day:

What Goes OnThe desk is clear. Enjoy the silence.

What Goes On (Nakedly Political Edition)Philadelphia City Councilmember Mark Squillaholds his annual Summer Down the Shore fundraiser atKeenans PubinNorth Wildwood, N.J., at 7 p.m. tonight. Admission runs from a mere $30 for boogie boarders, to $5,000 for yacht level donors.

WolfWatchGov. Tom Wolfhas no public schedule today.

You Say Its Your Birthday Dept.Best wishes go out this morning to former all-around-spokesguy,Chuck Ardo, who celebrates today. Best wishes go out in advance toVirginia Daniely Lucyat thePa. Dept. of Banking & Securities, who celebrates on Saturday. Congratulations, all around.

Heavy RotationHeres the utterly charming and soulfulYou Make My Life a Better Place,by the unjustly overlookedMamas Gun, which includes members of U.K. soul singerLisa Stansfieldstouring band.

Fridays Gratuitous Baseball LinkYes, it was a gimmick, but that makes it no less charming: TheChicago White Sox(whose legendaryShoeless Joe Jacksonfigured prominently in the original film)topped the New York Yankees 9-8in Thursday nightsField of Dreamsgame in Iowa. They built it. They came. And theyre doing it again next season.

And now youre up to date.

Link:

Ahead of tough 2022, progressive PAC pitches infrastructure, Biden budget to Pa. | Friday Coffee - Pennsylvania Capital-Star

US Census: America is getting less 'white' for first time ever

The United States is an increasingly diverse and urbanized nation, according to statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

STAFF VIDEO, USA TODAY

Phoenix grew at a faster rate than any other major city in the last decade, officially surpassing Philadelphia asthe nation's fifth largest city, new data from the 2020 census show.

Buckeye and Goodyear are both among the 10 fastest-growing cities, with populations of at least 50,000,in the nation,the data show. Buckeye grew faster than any other city in the nation, with population growing nearly 80% in the last decade to reach more than91,000.

Phoenix grew by more than 160,000 people from 2010 to 2020, an increase of 11.2%.

The datareleasedThursday by the U.S. Census Bureau provides the firstlocal demographiccounts from the 2020 census. Theseshow how population has changeddown to the neighborhoodlevel and within demographic groups over the last decade.

The data release is intended to help draw congressional, state legislative and local districts, but also gives insight into total population, voting age population, population breakdowns by race and ethnicity, the number of housing units and whether they are vacant or occupied and thepopulation in group quarters such as prisons or college dormitories.

The counts in this data go all the way down to the block level, the smallest level ofcensus geographythat the bureau uses as the building blocks for counts for larger geographies such as towns, cities, counties or American Indian reservations.

The decennial census, which is an attempt to count everyone living in the United States as of April 1 of the census year, has traditionally come with changes in process and been subject tounexpected events. However, the 2020 census faced unique challenges amidthe COVID-19 pandemic and increasedpoliticization around the census.

Even as 2020 marked the first timeAmericans could complete the census questionnaire online, the bureau suspended on-the-groundoperations in March 2020and did not resume until May.Pandemic-related delays pushed back the bureaus timeline, but the Trump administrationsought to cut the count short before the bureaus revised deadline.After a lawsuit by civil rights groups extended the count by a few weeks,the count concluded in mid-October.

The pandemic and changing timelinemadeefforts by grassroots groups to encourage participation in the censuschallenging, particularly in communities of color that have been undercounted in past censuses.The Trump administrations failed attempt to first add a citizenship question to the 2020 census and later to systematically removeundocumented immigrants from census counts wereobstacles to getting a complete count in some communities.

A survey taken by the Pew Research Center in early 2020 found that a majority ofthose who took the survey incorrectly believed that the 2020 census would ask questions about citizenship.

While the Census Bureau is required by law to keep individual responses private,for data from the 2020 census,the bureau is using anew technique called differential privacy to protect these responses.This method allows the bureau to reveal more details about how it adds noise to different tabulations to protectprivacy, buthasled some data users to raise concerns about the accuracy of the counts.

The 2020 census also made changes to the questions that were asked and to how itinterpretedthe data it collected.For the first time, respondents were able to specify same-sex spouses and partners when answering questions about the relationship between household members.The2020questionnaireadded write-in boxes for people to further describe their race and updates toracialcategoriesand question instructions. Thebureau will also capture moredetailedinformationaboutrace and Hispanic origin.

However, the data released for redistricting will only reflect information about race and Hispanic origin rolled up into a small number of categories. The bureau will release more detailed data on race and ethnicity, as well as the relationship between members of a household, more specific age breakdowns and numbers about homeownership in future releases. The bureau has not yet released a timelinefor future data releases.

The growth that this census data demonstrates comes as no surprise. Weve long known that Phoenix is a top destination to live and work, said Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego.

But some dimensions of that growth, likea resurgence of the downtown, were surprising toPhoenix Community and Economic Development Director Christine Mackay.

If you would have asked me a decade ago if people were going to live in downtown Phoenix, I would have said thats never going to happen, Mackay said.

After the 1970s, downtown Phoenix saw its population leave for the freeways and malls of the suburbs. Mackay explained. The factors bringing them back to the downtown, and to Phoenix are different than what drew people to Arizona in past decades.

People are coming here now not because of resorts, golf courses and retirement, but to find high tech jobs and a great quality of life, Mackay said.

Moreover, while workers have traditionally moved to find jobs, in the last decade, Mackay has seen a shift to workers with desirable skills choosing where they want to live, and the jobs following.

More jobs in the technology sector are reversing a brain drain from Arizonas universities and are creating a more diverse culture, attracting workers from other large metropolitan areas as well as preventing the loss of Arizonans with technical skills to places like Silicon Valley, Mackay said. This growth, as well as the changing tastes of these workers, means reevaluating the citys transportation infrastructure to include more mass transit.

"Were Arizona. Were always going to be married to our car, thats who we are, Mackay said. As people are coming in from more urban cities, theyre much more used to a transit system.

Responding to the news that his city grew faster than any other in the U.S. with a population of 50,000 or more,Buckeye Mayor Eric Orsborn said: There are so many exciting things happening in Buckeye. Our efforts to focus on providing a variety of housing options, attracting quality employers in energy, advanced manufacturing, logistics and distribution are paying off.

While the census numbers show that Buckeye has grown to more than 91,000 residents, BuckeyeEconomic Development Director and Deputy City ManagerDavid Roderique suspects the population is closer to 100,000 people.

"We as a community are growing so quickly, its hard to keep up with the numbers," Roderique said. Roderique said the city tracks residential building permits and uses average household size to get their own population estimates. Permits have been growing at a steady pace since April 1, 2020, the base date for the 2020 census, so the numbers released Thursday won't reflect recent population growth, Roderique said.

Population counts are important for attracting new businesses, retailers and services like schools and health care providers, Roderique said. Many large businesses have a threshold of population that a community will have to meet before they'll set up shop. The city also watches the data for planning infrastructure like roads and water and sewer lines and will use the census data to draw new city council districts.

Roderique said he expects Buckeye to continue to grow as other Valley communities start reaching the limits of available land.Buckeye is the one with all the land, Roderique said."We expect to remain a very high-growth community for a long time.

One way to measure the last decades growth is in new infrastructure, Goodyear City Manager Julie Karins said. Since 2010 the city has built two new fire stations, with a third in the works as well as a new police station and a surface water treatment plant. These serve a population that has grown by more than 30,000 (46%) from 2010 to 2020.

Supporting a growing population takes intentional planning.

For a community to embrace the growth and maintain a high quality of life for existing residents is something that we really focus on, Karins said. While state law requires larger towns and cities to develop a general plan that addresses things like land use, water resources, transportation and safety, Goodyear also has more specific long-term planning processes.

For the first time, Karins said, the city is developing a human services master plan.Data like the census counts will help inform what things like senior meal services, transit, and programming for preschool-age children as well as teenagers will look like in Goodyear.

I dont think we can assume that the Goodyear of the year 2000 is the same as 2020, Karins said. We dont want to be reactive.

Population counts are also key to revenue for Arizona cities like Goodyear. The states shared sales tax is allocated based on population and getting an accurate count helps make sure tax dollars are returned to communities.

According to Karins, the ability to complete the census online helped the community achieve a 70% self-response rate. Self-response provides the highest quality census data. When a household doesnt complete the census for themselves, the bureau will ask someone like a landlord or neighbor to fill in the gaps. In the absence of a proxy, the bureau uses statistical methods to make an educated guess about a household.

I do believe we had a good solid count, Karins said.

When the town of Queen Creekincorporatedin 1989,its population was about 2,700. Three decades later, its population isnearly 60,000.

In the last decade,the towns population more than doubled a faster rate of growth than any other incorporated place in the state faster even than Buckeye and Goodyear, which were among the fastest-growing larger cities in the nation.

Its just been profound, Town Manager John Kross said.

Kross said thetown has grown annually by 6-9% over the last decade, a rate thatsmore sustainable thanin the early 2000s.

We were overheating," Kross said. "That was not manageable. It was very, very challenging."

In those days, the town was growing faster than it could attract investment, which meant the town didnt have the revenue to update infrastructure like roads to match its growth, Kross said.

The town looks closely at data collected by the Census Bureau about population growth,median incomeandmedian age to help plan in a way that aligns investment and revenue with a growing population.

The private sector looks at those characteristics extremely closely too," Kross said. "Those will be keys for them that perhaps trigger new investment in the community.

Looking at population data by agealsohelps planfor things likeparks and recreational programming. Kross said that Mansel Carter Oasis Park ended up having twice the area allocatedfor things like a splash pad and play equipment that would appeal to younger park visitors when the town realized that young residents made up a substantial portion of the population. Children under the age of 18 make up nearly a thirdof Queen Creeks population, thenewly-releasedcensus data show.

While Phoenix and its suburbs have continued to see growth, the same isn't true for places elsewhere in the state. Growing up in the area,Douglas Mayor Donald Huishremembers when neighboring Agua Prieta, across the Mexican border, and Douglas had similar populations.

Whilethe Mexican citys population has grown, Douglas hasshrunkento around 16,500census data show, losingmorethan 800 residents (about 5%) since 2010, one of the larger population losses for incorporated places in the state.

Huish attributes the decline to aloss of job opportunities in the area. Most residents work for some branch ofgovernment, and even those jobs, such as at a state prison, tend to pay less than industries in past decades.When there are opportunities, even with the support of a local community college, it can be difficult to find workers with the right skills, Huish said.

The city also has lost population as some people have moved over the border to Mexico, where the cost of living is lower, Huish said.

Data showing a declining population, as well as theincome of residents can make it difficult to attract investment. Recently, a supermarket in the city announced it would be closing, citing the declining population as one reason it would be leaving the community. But Huish said he suspectsthe loss of customers from Mexico due to the border closure that prohibitstravel of Mexicans into the U.S.

It affects the whole region," Huish said "Thats why weve been preaching hard that we need to get this border open."

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2020 census: Phoenix grows more than any other major city; Buckeye, Goodyear among fastest growing - The Arizona Republic