Category Archives: Personal Empowerment

Nov. 18The national Girls on the Run program allows Burns Middle School students an opportunity to connect with their school is a nontraditional way, said Faith Butler, BMS guidance counselor and social emotional learning coach.

That kind of connection can be harder to find for some students who aren't involved with a typical team sport or club, Butler said.

There are five BMS female students that participate in the eight-week program.

According to the Kentuckiana chapter of Girls on the Run, the program began in 1996 and has helped more than 2 million girls. More than 100,000 volunteers help make the program a reality each year, with more than 200,000 girls empowered annually. Girls on the Run teaches girls ages 8-13 life skills that promote female empowerment through research-based curriculum.

The three focuses of this program are understanding yourself; valuing relationships and teamwork; and recognizing how we can shape the world at large. Students who have participated receive a lesson immediately after school, then they go to the BMS track and practice a run.

Students are preparing to participate in the annual Girls on the Run Kentuckiana 5K on Saturday, Nov. 20 in Louisville.

Butler said the program has made a positive impact on the students involved.

"I have seen each of them experience personal growth in different ways," she said.

Victoria Self, BMS youth services coordinator, said the great thing about this program is it provides a lot of social emotional learning for students. Not only do they get out and can be physically active, but they're also learning powerful lessons.

Lessons include students learning and identifying their strengths and building self-confidence and character. All of these are important traits for young girls, Self said.

"In today's society, the media, music, magazines etc. make us feel that we, as girls and women, have to look a certain way," she said. "We see many young girls who don't feel good about their physical appearance, or don't feel worthy."

Story continues

Girls on the Run, she said, is an all-inclusive program that empowers these students, something she has already witnessed since its inception at Burns Middle.

"We have already seen some growth in areas of self-esteem, conflict resolution and increased levels of physical activity among our members," she said.

Butler and Self plan to continue the program next year, with hopes that it will expand.

Bobbie Hayse, bhayse@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7315

Read the rest here:

Finding Connections: Girls on the Run empowering Burns Middle School girls - Yahoo News

The left needs to rediscover the virtue of liberty.

The public debate on the threat to democracy typically focuses on the dangers from the right. When an ousted United States president still refuses to acknowledge his defeat, this seems only too justified.

But in their activist enthusiasm, progressive circles tend to overlook the inconvenient truth that alarming authoritarian tendencies have also taken hold on their side of the political spectrum. In a September edition, the Economist dedicated its cover to the threat from the illiberal left. So far, however, the progressive response has largely consisted of eye-rolling indignation, as opposed to reflective self-criticism.

This is unfortunate. Democratic ideals of liberty and freedom lie at the centre of a perfect storm, with classical opponents of liberalism and a new generation of adversaries establishing new and unconventional coalitions.

Discrediting criticism

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The unique restrictions on fundamental freedoms in the wake of the pandemic, for example, have only rarely been called into question by progressives. In most western democracies reflexes have replaced reflection, as the fight against the pandemic has essentially followed Chinas authoritarian example. To the extent that Covid-19 measures were rejected by the extreme right, the progressive camp has resorted to discrediting even the slightest criticism as political recklessness.

By and large progressive voicescaught up in the war against the virusdid not seem particularly bothered by historically unprecedented curfews, quarantine regimes, border closures and the elimination of privacy. Instead of calling for a measured response, progressives decided to stifle dissent under the guise of follow the science, frequently replacing discourse with paternalistic grandstanding and groupthink.

The objective, of course, was to shield the politics of the pandemic against criticism. But recruiting science for the ever-escalating culture wars of the west did not result in the rationalisation of politics but rather in the politicisation and moralisation of science. Technocracywith its supposed rational self-evidencedoes not lead to a sacrosanct realm of quiet truth but to a democratic fall from grace and a public revolt against the ostensible absence of alternatives.

At present, it does not seem that the political left will be a leading voice in the growing chorus against sweeping, often arbitrary and blindly indiscriminate measures of keeping us all safe in these unprecedented times. Isnt it ironic that social circles who until recently viewed the presentation of passports at international borders as an anachronistic imposition now enthusiastically welcome vaccination cards for daily errands?

This, however, is anything but a minor nuisance. After all, instances of state overreach tend to evolve into an insipid permanence. To this day, millions of international travellers scan their footwear on account of one madman who attempted to bring down a plane in 2001. The exceptional police prerogatives introduced in the wake of 9/11 recently celebrated their 20 years anniversary.

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Despite this precedent, progressives do not seem overly concerned with defending personal autonomy against the stifling mix of virtue-signalling safety theatrics, rigid health bureaucracies and Big Covid Business. The principle of better safe than sorry, however, is an unsuitable guideline for defending the values of liberal democracy. An abundance of caution is in effect also an absence of liberty.

To make matters worse, the current great awokening of parts of the activist left has accelerated the shift away from freedom. Woke progressives are increasingly embracing essentialist group identities. Ambiguous notions of racial equity threaten to replace equality of opportunity with an anti-liberal equality of outcome. In this process, justice for individuals is routinely being replaced with justice for groups.

Leaving behind universalist ideals, however, undermines the principles of democratic equality, regardless of whether this assault is orchestrated by the right or the left. While the dangers of far-right ideologies of exclusion arewith good reasonwidely discussed, the increasing anti-universalist tribalism in parts of the left is frequently glossed over as irrelevant or a right-wing illusion.

The German political scientist Jan-Werner Mller is a case in point. What is the matter with a liberalism that bashes a supposedly radical left minority in times when authoritarians in China, India and Brazil are expanding their power?, Mller asks in a recent essay. Certainly, drawing attention to authoritarian regimes is justified. But an equally pertinent question also deserves to be asked: what is the matter with a liberalism that fails to respond to legitimate criticism with self-reflection but rather with incensed finger-pointing? Have the proponents of woke not coined the term whataboutism to describe the practice of avoiding uncomfortable discussions by changing the topic?

Even with regards to freedom of expression, parts of the left are giving up on previously held principles. Surveys in numerous western countries demonstrate that large parts of the public now shy away from openly articulating political opinions. In the US, a survey by the libertarian Cato Institute reveals that given the prevailing political climate 62 per cent of Americans refrain from expressing their views. In Germany in 2021 just 45 per cent of citizens feel they can speak their mind freely.

But this trend does not affect the right and left in equal measure. In Germany, by far the least amount of pressure to adapt is perceived by supporters of the Greens. And in the US, the Cato survey shows that only the very liberal group is confident to express their opinion openly at any time. The progressive camp may still believe in the ideal of liberty but it is evidently not particularly successful in effectively communicating this professed tolerance to the opposing political spectrum. All great political action begins by saying what is, declared Ferdinand Lassalle in 1862. Parts of the left would be well-advised to revive this insight.

A similar process of shying away from liberty is notable in the climate crisis. Certainly, swift political action to protect the climate is necessary. There is no freedom on a planet on fire. But here too, important parts of the progressive camp have come to consider liberty a liability rather than a strength. There is widespread suspicion in activist circles that democratic processes will not be capable of dealing with the magnitude of the task at hand. This may or may not be true. But uncritically embracing states of emergencyas now declared by thousands of cities around the globecircumventing parliamentary work via the judicial process, and calling for massive restrictions on civil liberties is almost certain to produce negative outcomes in the long run.

Considering liberty a finite commodity linked with the emission of carbon dixide has its own intricate pitfalls. What is supposedly required is an act of wilful self-disempowerment in which a virtuous superego delegates individual responsibility to the community. This attempt to relieve the individual from accountability through the enforced regulation of climate-neutral behaviour on the state level is reminiscent of what Theodor Adorno calls the authoritarian character. As such, it is the exact opposite of self-empowerment and individual responsibility long celebrated by the left. The idea that liberty is now primarily a function of what must not be done echoes Orwellian euphemisms in which 2 and 2 equals 5 and war is just another word for peace.

In matters related to Covid-19, identity politics and the climate crisis, important parts of the left are turning their backs on long-celebrated ideals of liberty and freedom. Conspicuously, liberty seems to be losing its appeal precisely to the extent that progressive forces are gaining social and cultural hegemony.

In her essay The Freedom to Be Free, Hannah Arendt expresses hope that freedom in a political sense will not vanish again for God knows how many centuries. Arendts passionate call for freedom resonates through the ages. In a time when liberty is threatened by enemies and appropriated by false friends, progressives must not silently abandon this ideal but reclaim, redefine and rediscover it.

This is an edited excerpt from the authors recently published Vom Ende der Freiheit: Wie ein gesellschaftliches Ideal aufs Spiel gesetzt wird.

Michael Brning is a member of the Basic Values Commission of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) and director of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in New York.

Continued here:

The lure of progressive authoritarianism Michael Brning - Social Europe

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka with Jamila T. Davis and students in the Social Justice Certificate Program at Seton Hall

With a panel of judges that includes the associate director of Change.org, public officials from East and South Orange, and the director of Strategic Projects at EmblemHealth, one of the largest not-for-profit health insurers in the nation, Seton Hall's Social Justice Certificate program is set to hold a Shark Tank style competition to determine and fund the best community-based solution for a local issue. The competition, believed will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, November 22 on the University's South Orange campus.

Spearheaded by for the Center for Community Research and Engagement at Seton Hall, the Social Justice Certificate program has brought community members together to learn from experts, each other and a curriculum that historicizes the context of the Black and urban experience in America.

Social Justice Certificate ProgramThe Social Justice Certificate program is a collaboration between the Center for Community Research and Engagement at Seton Hall, the South Orange Community Care & Justice program and Newarks Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery. Believed to be one of the first of its kind in the nation,the certificate program has been co-led by Seton Hall Professor Juan Rios and has featured presentations by Jamila T. Davis; Until Freedom's Angelo Pinto, Esq.; Seton Hall Professor Kelly Harris and Dean Georita M. Frierson of the College of Arts and Sciences; Professor Bahiyyah Muhammed of Howard University; LaKeesha Eure, director of the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery, and Until Freedom's Tamika Mallory, Mysonne Linen and Linda Sarsour.

Learning from Yale Professor of Public Health Ijeoma Opara and Newark Mayor Ras BarakaLast week, Yale Professor of Public Health Ijeoma Opara and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka also presented to the students, helping them prepare for their presentations.

Professor Opara is a public health researcher whose focus is on HIV/AIDS, STI and substance use prevention for urban youth, racial and gender specific prevention interventions for Black girls, and community-based participatory research with urban youth. Opara was named the 2020 recipient of the NIH Director's Early Independence Award, which funds her 5-year community-based study on youth substance use, mental health outcomes, and neighborhoods in Paterson, New Jersey.

Dr. Opara stressed to the students the importance of a data-driven approach to analyzing problems as well as potential solutions and the importance of listening to the community. She noted that whatever expertise she and her team may bring to the community, "it is the community that is the expert on the community."

Mayor Baraka agreed with Dr. Opara's community and data-driven approach and emphasized the importance of research in the process of program inception as well as collaboration, an understanding of cost and a plan for sustainability.

Baraka has been at the forefront of the movement in the United States to reallocate resources earmarked specifically for policing to other means of addressing public safety and well being including the use of credible messengers as community violence interrupters, social workers and the formation of the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery, which is dedicated to violence suppression as well as healing, peace and recovery from systemic and more personal forms of oppression.

"I was impressed with what I saw at Seton Hall,"said Mayor Baraka. "These students, many of whom work for the City of Newark, have gone above and beyond to put themselves in a position to better themselves and their community. They learned their history and now, through the course's focus on social justice, they'll have an opportunity to create a better future."

$5000 Award to Implement Best ProjectIn addition to history and theories of social justice, the Social Justice Certificate program at Seton Hall emphasizes "actionable knowledge"and seeks to empower its participants as "changemakers"in search of equity and community well being.

To that end, participants in the class were split up into cohorts of five or six team members each who have dedicated themselves to solving particular problems within their communities. These programmatic solutions will be presented before a panel of judges on the last day of class and the team with the winning proposal will receive $5,000 to implement their program.

The classes are held on Seton Hall's campus but include a large online contingent from Brooklyn (many from Man Up! Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to building safer communities through violence prevention, education, employment and the use of credible messengers) as well as South Orange, Connecticut and as far away as Cleveland, Ohio and California.

Projects in the class include a campaign against gender-based violence, an initiative that utilizes video storytelling and social media to emphasize the humanity of police officers and members of the community, a program designed to bring healthy food choices to those who live in a "food desert,"a reentry resource guide, a financial literacy project and a gun violence prevention campaign.

"This certificate program is about opportunity and access and the skillset necessary to make it count,"said Davis. "It's a class on Civics and grassroots empowerment really, updated to reflect the realities of the 21st century urban landscape. This first run has been a tremendous success and the work that comes out of it within our communities will resonate for a long time to come. We have proof of concept, but now we need to sustain and grow."

See the original post:

'Social Shark Tank' for Community Solutions at Seton Hall to Award $5000 for Best Project - Seton Hall University News & Events

Executive Summary

Gender equality and the well-being of children go hand in hand. When women are empowered to live up to their full potential, their children prosper, but when women are restrained and denied equal opportunities within a society, their children suffer. Lebanon, Iraq and Syria are among the lowest-performing countries on the Global Gender Gap Index 2021, ranking 132nd, 152nd, and 154th respectively. Children from these three countries are greatly impacted by years of continuous internal and external conflict, an escalating economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. While assuring the well-being of children remains a global challenge, it is especially challenging for those in fragile contexts, where the vulnerability of children is greatly exacerbated by gender inequality. To explore the relationship between womens empowerment and child well-being in fragile contexts in more depth, we designed a mixed methods research where we assessed the level of womens empowerment through selected personal, environmental, and relational empowerment factors and looked at how these three empowerment dimensions in women are associated with the core well-being outcomes in children.

The findings showed that none of the surveyed women are empowered at a relational level. In a deeply patriarchal society, women have limited decision-making power within their families and limited control over household assets. Most of these women experience time poverty and continue to provide most of the unpaid care work, often leaving them with little or no discretionary time. Many of the women are also subjected to gender-based violence (GBV) and domestic violence, undermining their health, dignity, security and autonomy.

Unlike empowerment through relational factors, more women are empowered through personal factors. The majority of the surveyed women have moderate-to-high self-esteem and a positive self-image, as well as being spiritually empowered through their religion. Most of them have good mental health, are resilient, and can cope with challenging situations in their lives. However, the challenges encountered in their societies make it difficult for these women to break out of their traditional gender roles and consequently, the majority of them still hold self-sabotaging, discriminatory attitudes and beliefs.

In this region, the vast majority of the women live in communities with highly restrictive gender norms and relations that restrain their behaviour and limit their freedom of movement. Very few women are aware of their own civic rights (when such rights exist) and they lack access to much needed legal services. There is also very little legislation in the three countries that supports womens rights and needs. Consequently, none of the surveyed women from any of the three countries are empowered through environmental factors.

None of the surveyed children achieved total well-being. Although most children are enrolled in formal education, the self-perceived functional literacy is still low in all three countries, particularly in the area of digital literacy, and attitudes towards learning are either neutral or negative. The surveyed children who do not benefit from humanitarian food assistance programmes, especially in Lebanon, have inadequate and non-diverse nutrition. Only a small percentage of the children have developed positive health-related behaviour and exposure to violence is prevalent, especially at home. In contrast to the physical and protection outcomes, the surveyed children showed better results in the areas of psychosocial and mental health. The majority of them are resilient, have empathy, and are spiritually and mentally empowered.

When studying correlations between the empowerment of mothers and children and their well-being, a number of significant associations were identified. These include displacement, the poor education of mothers, living in an extended family and marriage at a young age all of which limit womens empowerment and are negatively associated with child well-being outcomes. The study also shows that violence against women at home shapes a childs physical and mental health incrementally, as well as increases the risk that the children will also be subjected to violence. On the other hand, participation in power structures, better time use, and increased decision-making power within the household enables women to better protect their children from abuse. Finally, the research identified a strong connection womens mental health and childrens mental health and resilience.

See the original post here:

Empowered Women, Empowered Children: Examining the relationship between women's empowerment and the well-being of children in Middle Eastern Fragile...

Gary McDonald Business Editor

17 November, 2021 01:00

A BANBRIDGE businessman who has previously talked openly and publicly about being impacted by the distressing symptoms of mental illness has invested a six-figure sum into creating a new wellness centre and adjoining gardening and teaching centre in Portadown.

Alan McDowell (59) says the facilities provide crucial support and empowerment for men and women who may be recovering from mental illness, addiction, physical illness, loneliness or isolation.

And it does so in a holistic way by offering a variety of services that include practical, therapeutic activities, social events, listening spaces and talks and presentations on well-being.

The centre at 31-37 Armagh Road in Portadown (opposite McCrums Motorcycles) currently offers - or is actively planning for - classes in pottery and ceramics, woodwork, woodcarving, arts and crafts, sewing and design, yoga and physical exercise, horticulture and gardening, and furniture restoration and upholstery.

Alan said: I've always had the urge to give back, and if this centre helps even one man or woman to get back to wellness, that alone will have been worth the time and investment.

And he admits: I'm living proof that, with the right support and help, everyone can recover from mental illness and lead happier and healthier lives in the future.

The number of lives lost to suicide in Northern Ireland is soaring at startling levels, and according to a recent research paper for the Stormont Assembly, around 70 per cent of those who die by suicide in the north are not known to mental health services, making it particularly challenging for agencies to step in to offer help.

Thanks to effective intervention, I'm now well again. But I want to use my own personal experience and recovery process to help others get back to wellness, because with the correct help and support, everybody can make a successful recovery from this debilitating illness, he added.

The most effective way back to lasting wellness is to address the issues that triggered the illness with a professional and experienced counsellor.

But in addition to this, I believe that to break the cyclic, negative thinking often associated with ill mental health, we have to participate in an enjoyable, practical activity that will create distraction, and that's what this project in Portadown is offering.

Alan previously held senior management positions in a number of globally-recognised horticultural firms, among them Westland Garden Health and Bulrush Horticulture in Northern Ireland, and his personal financial investment in the site at Portadown utilises his 40-year experience in that sector.

The vision for our teaching Empower Gardening & Educational Centre is to provide an opportunity for young people experiencing mental health issues or who are unemployed to learn a host of new skills and talents.

This will help raise their self-esteem, self-confidence and self-belief to enable them to enter a new career and/or enter paid employment in a career they have passion for.

Importantly, we've developed a business which will generate revenue for the adjoining Portadown Wellness Centre, which currently relies on funding from various bodies to operate.

And it's the firm vision of our board of directors - who have many years experience in business management and development - that both centres will become self-financing within the next two to three years and no longer have to rely on public funding.

Meanwhile the centre is hosting a Community Family Artisan Christmas Market over the next four Saturdays (running from 10am to 6pm).

Each week around 20 innovative crafters and talented small businesses will be selling a range of unique festive gifts and products, ranging from hand made candles, jewellery, hand crocheted and knitted items, floral table decorations, fine art and paintings and drawings by local artists.

There will also be an animal farm under canopy to the rear of the Empower Garden Centre where children can pet real donkeys, goats, lambs and other animals.

Alan adds: We open the market this coming Saturday, which also happens to be International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day, an event in which survivors of suicide loss come together to find connection, understanding, and hope through their shared experience.

Read more:

Investment in Portadown wellness centre 'will empower those with mental health issues' - The Irish News

Alizz Islamic Bank added another recognition to its list of accomplishments by winning the award for the Best Initiative recognising and Empowering Women at the Al Mar'a Magazine Summit and Annual Awards event which was held at Al Bustan Palace, a Ritz-Carlton Hotel under the patronage H.E Rahma Al-Mahrooqi, Minister of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation.

Alizz Islamic Bank won the honour for its new female banking segement 'Hiyya' which features products and services that are designed exclusively for women. The award highlighted the achievements of Omani women and shed light on their contributions and effective roles in the comprehensive development of the Sultanate. The award was received by Ms. Muna Al Khusaibi, Deputy Senior Manager of Marketing and Corporate Communications on behalf of the Bank.

Mohammed Al Ghassani, Chief Consumer Banking Officer, Alizz Islamic Bank stressed that Achieving a pioneering role in the banking sector is not an easy matter. We have a clear understanding of womens banking needs and services and we do not make a product without putting in it the maximum benefits for the customer, whether it is a woman or a man.

Al Ghassani added, Alizz Islamic Bank won the award for its continuous provision of exclusive and exceptional services and products that it provides to its customers, all of which are in compliance with the provisions and principles of Sharia.

Hiyya, offers women a Sharia compliant savings account that is based on the sharia principle of mudaraba whereby the customer is the rab-al-mal (investor) and the bank is the mudarib (investment manager), wherein the bank invests the funds within a common investment pool, including other Mudaraba accounts. As per the arrangement, profits will be shared between customers and the bank according to the previously agreed distribution ratios.

In addition to that, the instant debit card will offer exclusive benefits, as the main intent is to ensure an open platform for women to enjoy a host of discounts and special offers at spas, beauty salons and beauty products, while availing deals from health clubs, fitness centres and perfume stores. Exclusive stores and branded outlets for clothing and accessories, home dcor, restaurants and flower shops are all pegged onto the account, which also includes priority express service at all Alizz Islamic Bank branches.

Hiyya customers will get free Takaful insurance services that is designed specifically for women, as it covers some of the most common cancers that affect women, and will also include insurance cover to obtain a second medical opinion.

Additionally, it will also cover the takaful insurance on hand luggage and travel, the Takaful insurance provision also assures compensation for the loss of hand luggage while traveling anywhere in the world). It will also provide compensation for the loss of personal documents or keys on account of the loss of handbag; the onus will be on the insurance company to reimburse the customer for the expense incurred in obtaining new personal documents/keys.

The only condition for availing the Takaful insurance scheme, which has some of the best offers to meet all health needs of women and add value to their lifestyles, is that the woman must not be less than 18 years old and not more than 65 years old, and that she be of Omani nationality or have a valid Omani residency visa.

Link:

ALIZZ Islamic bank wins 'best initiative for empowerment of women' award - Times of Oman

BRATTLEBORO The Womens Freedom Center is hosting an online forum to help people of all ages to spot the signs of a predator preparing a victim for sexual abuse.

The first step in ending rape culture is knowing what the signs are and how somebody might be at risk, said Shari, an advocate at the Womens Freedom Center. All advocates at the center use first names only for their safety.

The Womens Freedom Center is the local domestic and sexual violence organization serving both Windham County and southern Windsor County.

Were looking to highlight the red flags of grooming across all ages, said Shari.

Grooming is defined as the predatory process used to gain the trust of a potential victim. Shari said these premeditated and opportunistic tactics can be spotted if people know what to look for.

This needs to be a conversation about universal precautions and universal empowerment, she said.

The practice of grooming has received local attention recently due to revelations that a now retired teacher groomed and abused female students while working at Brattleboro Union High School.

We are not specifically focusing on that because this type of behavior can and does happen every day and everywhere, said Shari. We are focusing on what are some of the signs that any of us might witness and how we can shift the outcome.

Shari said its not just about a predators attention to children, though they are usually the most vulnerable. She said grooming can affect anyone of any age.

Predators typically target people who are unpopular or feeling unloved, people with low self-esteem and a lack of confidence. Predators try to isolate their victims and cast themselves as a friend or mentor, someone who tries to comfort his or her victim with an us against the world attitude. Victims are also often unsupervised or have tenuous connections to their families or friends or are experiencing personal difficulties with their families or the world in general.

The free online community forum is scheduled for Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and is being co-hosted by Brooks Memorial Library.

To get the Zoom link, contact the Womens Freedom Center at 802-257-7364, or call Brooks Memorial Library at 802-254-5290.

Grooming is not only about the victim, said Shari, but also about the perpetrator, who grooms his or her own self image as a beneficial member of the community while also strategizing ways to use their manufactured image to both deflect attention from their activities as a buffer of respectability to deny any abuse allegations.

However, said Shari, abuse is not always as subtle as manipulative grooming.

Many predators have also gotten away with blatant behavior for years, via the pandemic of rape culture itself, which pressures entire communities to keep quiet while pain is being caused, she said.

During the community forum, participants will learn about grooming tactics and discuss signs parents should look for and how to explain them to their children and teens.

For those who are interested, the forum can be followed up with additional in-depth skill-building and age-specific Bystander Empowerment workshops, ideal for workplaces, faith communities, and social organizations.

The Womens Freedom Center also hosts parent workshops for adults who want to learn how to protect children, as well as youth workshops to offer skills, knowledge and resources to young people so they can protect themselves.

These are not strangers committing these crimes, said Shari. More than 80 percent are known to the victim in some way.

On Nov. 19, the Womens Freedom Center is hosting an in-person Survivor Gathering for people who have experienced domestic or sexual violence.

The outdoor gathering will start at 5 p.m. and will feature a bonfire and is free and confidential; sharing or joining in quiet activities is entirely optional. To reserve your spot and get more information, call 802-257-7364.

For more information, visit http://www.womensfreedomcenter.net. For those who need help immediately, an advocate can be reached 24 hours at 802-254-6954.

See more here:

Women's Freedom Center hosts forum to spot the signs of 'grooming' - Brattleboro Reformer

The public debate on the threat to democracy typically focuses on the dangers from the right. At a time when an ousted US president refuses to acknowledge his defeat, this seems only too justified. But in their activist enthusiasm, progressive circles tend to overlook the inconvenient truth that alarming authoritarian tendencies have also taken hold on their side of the political spectrum. A few weeks ago, The Economist dedicated its cover to the threat from the illiberal left. So far, however, the progressive response has largely consisted of eye-rolling indignation as opposed to reflected self-criticism.

This is unfortunate given that democratic ideals of liberty and freedom lie at the centre of a perfect storm with classical opponents of liberalism and a new generation of adversaries establishing unconventional new coalitions.

The unique restrictions of fundamental freedoms in the wake of the pandemic, for example, have only rarely been called into question by progressives. In most Western democracies reflexes have replaced reflection as the fight against the pandemic has essentially followed Chinas authoritarian example. To the extent that Covid-19 measures were rejected by the extreme right, the progressive camp has resorted to discrediting even the slightest criticism as political recklessness.

By and large progressive voices caught up in the war against the virus did not seem particularly bothered by historically unprecedented curfews, quarantine regimes, border closures, and the elimination of privacy. Instead of calling for a measured response, progressives decided to stifle dissent under the guise of follow the science, frequently replacing discourse with paternalistic grandstanding and groupthink.

The principle of better safe than sorry is an unsuitable guideline for defending the values of liberal democracy.

The objective, of course, was to shield the politics of the pandemic against criticism. But recruiting science for the ever-escalating culture wars of the West did not result in the rationalisation of politics but rather in the politicisation and moralisation of science. Technocracy with its supposed rational self-evidence does not lead to a sacrosanct realm of quiet truth but to a democratic fall from grace and a public revolt against the ostensible absence of alternatives.

At present, it does not seem that the political left will be a leading voice in the growing chorus against sweeping, often arbitrary, and blindly indiscriminate measures of keeping us all safe in these unprecedented times. Isnt it ironic that social circles who until recently viewed the presentation of passports at international borders as an anachronistic imposition now enthusiastically welcome vaccination cards for daily errands?

This, however, is anything but a minor nuisance. After all, instances of state overreach tend to evolve into an insipid permanence. To this day, millions of international travellers scan their footwear on account of one madman who attempted to bring down a plane in 2001. And the exceptional police prerogatives introduced in the wake of 9/11 just celebrated their 20 years anniversary.

Despite this precedent, progressives do not seem overly concerned with defending personal autonomy against the stifling mix of virtue-signalling safety theatrics, rigid health bureaucracies, and Big Covid-Business. The principle of better safe than sorry, however, is an unsuitable guideline for defending the values of liberal democracy. An abundance of caution is in effect also an absence of liberty.

To make matters worse, the current great awokening of parts of the activist left has accelerated the shift away from freedom. Woke progressives are increasingly embracing essentialist group identities. Ambiguous notions of racial equity threaten to replace equality of opportunity with an anti-liberal equality of outcome. In this process, justice for individuals is routinely being replaced with justice for groups.

Leaving behind universalist ideals, however, undermines the principles of democratic equality, regardless of whether this assault is orchestrated by the right or the left. While the dangers of far-right ideologies of exclusion are with good reason widely discussed, the increasing anti-universalist tribalism in parts of the left is frequently glossed over as irrelevant or a right-wing illusion.

Considering liberty a finite commodity linked with the emission of CO2 has its own intricate pitfalls.

The German political scientist Jan-Werner Mller is a case in point. What is the matter with a liberalism that bashes a supposedly radical left minority in times when authoritarians in China, India and Brazil are expanding their power?, Mller asks in a recent essay. Certainly, drawing attention to authoritarian regimes is justified. But an equally pertinent question also deserves to be asked: What is the matter with a liberalism that fails to respond to legitimate criticism with self-reflection but rather with incensed finger-pointing? Have the proponents of woke not recently coined the term whataboutism to describe the practice of avoiding uncomfortable discussions by changing the topic?

Even with regards to freedom of expression, parts of the left are giving up on previously held principles. Surveys in numerous Western countries demonstrate that large parts of the public now shy away from openly articulating political opinions. In the United States, a recent survey by the libertarian Cato Institute reveals that given the prevailing political climate, 62 per cent of Americans refrain from expressing their views. In Germany in 2021, just 45 per cent of citizens responded that they feel like they can speak their mind freely.

But this trend does not affect the right and left in equal measure. In Germany, by far the least amount of pressure to adapt is perceived by supporters of the Greens. And in the US, the Cato-survey shows that only the very liberal group is confident to express their opinion openly at any time. The progressive camp may still believe in the ideal of liberty, but it is evidently not particularly successful in effectively communicating this professed tolerance to the opposing political spectrum. All great political action begins by saying what is, declared Ferdinand Lassalle in 1862. Parts of the left would be well-advised to revive this insight.

A similar process of shying away from liberty is notable in the climate crisis. Certainly, swift political action to protect the climate is necessary. There is no freedom on a planet on fire. But here too, important parts of the progressive camp have come to consider liberty a liability rather than a strength. There is widespread suspicion in activist circles that democratic processes will not be capable of dealing with the magnitude of the task at hand. This may or may not be true. But uncritically embracing states of emergencies as now declared by thousands of cities around the globe circumventing parliamentary work via the judicial process, and calling for massive restrictions on civil liberties is almost certain to produce negative outcomes in the long run.

In a time when liberty is threatened by enemies and appropriated by false friends, progressives must not to silently abandon this ideal but reclaim, redefine, and rediscover it.

Considering liberty a finite commodity linked with the emission of CO2 has its own intricate pitfalls. What is supposedly required is an act of wilful self-disempowerment in which a virtuous superego delegates individual responsibility to the community. This attempt to relieve the individual from accountability through the enforced regulation of climate-neutral behaviour on the state-level is reminiscent of what Theodor Adorno calls the authoritarian character. As such, it is the exact opposite of self-empowerment and individual responsibility long celebrated by the left. The idea that liberty is now primarily a function of what must not be done, echoes Orwellian euphemisms in which 2 and 2 equals 5 and war is just another word for peace.

In matters related to Covid-19, identity politics, and the climate crisis, important parts of the left are turning their backs on long celebrated ideals of liberty and freedom. And conspicuously, liberty seems to be losing its appeal precisely to the extent that progressive forces are gaining social and cultural hegemony.

In her essay The Freedom to Be Free, Hannah Arendt expresses hope that freedom in a political sense will not vanish again for God knows how many centuries. Arendts passionate call for freedom resonates through the ages. In a time when liberty is threatened by enemies and appropriated by false friends, progressives must not to silently abandon this ideal but reclaim, redefine, and rediscover it.

The text is a slightly edited excerpt from the recently published book: Vom Ende der Freiheit. Wie ein gesellschaftliches Ideal aufs Spiel gesetzt wird.

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CHICAGO, Nov. 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new report by TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) and Aite-Novarica Group found that the collections industry is boosting hiring and technology investments as it transitions into a next normal stage. Approximately seven in 10 collections professionals (69%) said technology solution spending will modestly or significantly increase in the next two years. About two-thirds of collections professionals (67%) said employee compensation will increase in the same time period.

The report, A Transition to the Next Normal: The Collections Industry in 2021, provides the latest annual look at the trends, challenges and opportunities in the U.S. third-party collections industry. The report is informed by a survey of 151 third-party debt collection professionals and interviews with 12 industry thought leaders conducted in Q2 and Q3 2021.

The ramp up in tech and employee investments is occurring against a backdrop of a growing collections employment market. The number of collections employees is expected to increase to 137,928 in 2021 compared to 134,347 in 2020, though it remains below 2018 levels (139,273).

The collections industry is experiencing modest employee growth even as industry activity slowed in recent years. According to the report, in Q3 2021, 77.6 million consumers had at least one collection tradeline, collectively totaling $188 billion in outstanding balancesa 1% and 3% decline, respectively, from year-end 2020.

After a better than expected pivot to remote work and surprisingly good collection rates in 2020, 2021 has brought greater uncertainty for the collections industry, said Jason Klotch, vice president of third-party collections in TransUnions diversified markets business. While collections performance continues to be a bright spot, particularly for larger companies, reduced account volumes, a changing regulatory environment and shifts in the consumer credit market are among the challenges the industry is facing today. Companies, though, expect more accounts to be placed in collections in the coming year and investing in new technologies and employees is critical for the anticipated volume increase.

Technological advancements key for future of industry

While letters and phone calls continue to be nearly universal approaches for collectors communicating with consumers, the use of text messaging has become more common. More than three in 10 respondents (31%) reported that their company uses this channel today compared to 22% in 2020 and 16% in 2019.

The report also found that use of technologies such as online payment portals has multiple benefits: 1) they may be preferable to certain customers who do not want to have a human interaction and want to deal with their debt at a time of their choosing; 2) this service is beneficial due to the limitation on outbound telephone calls that will take effect with the implementation of new regulatory requirements.

While certain technological tools have been adopted somewhat uniformly across the industry, others are far more likely to be in use at larger companies. Medium and large companies have similar adoption rates for online payment portals and predictive scoring tools and at generally much higher rates than smaller companies.

Larger Collections Agencies More Apt to Use New or Recent Technologies

Employees will be a major differentiator

Advancements in technology have also allowed more employees in the collections industry to work from home. More importantly, this practice could help companies retain more of their top employees. Since the onset of the pandemic, 87% of larger companies represented in the survey had collection agents shift to remote work compared to 43% for smaller companies.

Companies that shifted to a remote working environment in response to the pandemic largely expect to continue to offer at least some degree of remote work in the future. This most often takes the form of a hybrid arrangement, rather than never going in to the office. As one interviewee in the report noted, Unless theres a regulatory or client-driven requirement to be in the office, most companies appear to be okay with some sort of hybrid model.

Nearly two-thirds (64%) of companies are either considering or already offering remote work arrangements for new hires. This consideration of remote work is distributed among a variety of roles, including collection agents. The main reason companies are considering remote working arrangements? Approximately 71% say it is to attract better applicants and 62% say it is to increase employee retention. One-third (33%) said it was to reduce costs.

The last two years have proven how resilient the collections industry can be, and as account activity increases it is clear that the agencies that are investing in technology and talent will be best prepared when the market shifts, concluded Klotch.

To download the full report, please click here.

About the reportInsights on the challenges, trends, and innovations occurring in the third-party collections industry are informed by a quantitative survey of third-party debt collection professionals conducted in Q3 2021. A detailed look at the composition of survey respondents is provided in the appendix. Survey results are representative of the market at a 95% confidence interval with an 8-point margin of error. This is the third annual survey of the third-party collections industry conducted by TransUnion and Aite-Novarica Group. The full report isavailable here.

About Aite-Novarica GroupAite-Novarica Group is an advisory firm providing mission-critical insights on technology, regulations, strategy, and operations to hundreds of banks, insurers, payments providers, and investment firmsas well as the technology and service providers that support them. Comprising former senior technology, strategy, and operations executives as well as experienced researchers and consultants, our experts provide actionable advice to our client base, leveraging deep insights developed via our extensive network of clients and other industry contacts. Visit us on theweband connect with us onTwitterandLinkedIn.

About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU)TransUnion is a global information and insights company that makes trust possible in the modern economy. We do this by providing an actionablepicture of each person so they can be reliably represented in the marketplace. As a result, businesses and consumers can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good.

A leading presence in more than 30 countries across five continents, TransUnion provides solutions that help create economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for hundreds of millions of people.

http://www.transunion.com/business

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Collections Industry Increases Hiring and Technology Investments While Preparing for the Next Normal - StreetInsider.com

OneOf announces Whitney Houston NFT collection with previously unreleased full-length demo recording

Whitney Houstons iconic talent and legacy is being celebrated with a debut NFT collection by OneOf, the green music NFT platform backed by Quincy Jones. This exclusive collection culminates in a single OneOf One Iconic item, which is an early never-before-heard full-length song demo recording that Houston made at age 17. This recording will be auctioned in December, with auction details revealed on December 1st at OneOf.world, a two-day immersive art, music and NFT experience during Miami Art Week. The winner of the auction will have personal access to this recording in their OneOf Vault along with a digital video created by breakout 17-year-old artist Diana Sinclair, who has recently been featured in TIME, Teen Vogue and Hypebeast.

Proceeds from the sales of the collection will go to the Whitney E. Houston Foundation, a non-profit which continues Houstons work to empower, support, and inspire young people. Inviting 17-year-old artist/photographer/activist Sinclair to create all of the digital artwork and videos echoes Houstons mission. Sinclair also recently addressed equity in the NFT space with their critically acclaimed exhibition The Digital Diaspora and was selected for Fortunes NFTy 50: The 50 most influential people in NFTs.

The Whitney Houston OneOf collection includes thousands of affordable, fixed-price NFTs. The Gold and Platinum items feature rarely-seen archival photos from Houstons early life and career, designed as colorful and vibrant animations that create a mesmerizing digital scrapbook effect. For the Diamond tier, Sinclairs video artwork was inspired by the songs and music videos for The Greatest Love of All and I Will Always Love You, exploring Houstons focus on supporting and inspiring young people, especially Black youth.

A limited edition Gold tier pre-sale of only 300 tokens at $17 is available. The primary seven day sale of Platinum, Diamond, and remaining Gold tier NFTs will begin on November 30th. The Whitney OneOf One NFT will be the first NFT in the OneOf Iconic series.

Im excited to see Whitneys legacy and her wonderful music expand into bold new technology of this era, states Pat Houston, Executor of the Estate of Whitney E. Houston. It was a joy partnering with 17-year-old Diana Sinclair and watching the artistry of Whitneys music influence a new generation.

Before shooting, I spent a lot of time consuming not only the music that Whitney sang, but also the visuals that surrounded her, shares Sinclair. Whether that be from photoshoots or her music videos, I saw a common theme in a lot of her work, the empowerment of Black women. One of my favorite examples of that was in the music video for her song, Im Every Woman. Whitneys talent and presence stands out a lot to me as a young Black woman in the arts. Its empowering to me to see such positive (often playful) depictions of Black women in media, and matriarchal love and perseverance, like in the Greatest Love of All music video and song. In the artworks I created, I wanted to highlight those sides of Whitney in the upper tiers, and then create animation work that simply let Whitney shine while touching on the colorful playful energy she had throughout her career.

Whitney is an icon for the ages, adds Joshua James, OneOf co-founder. We couldnt be more excited to be releasing this historical song from the very beginning of her journey as an artist.

This exciting new collection arrives on the heels of OneOfs three-year partnership with the GRAMMY Awards. Details on the NFT collections will be revealed in early January ahead of the upcoming GRAMMY Awards, taking place on January 31st. The NFTs will be released as collectibles and experiences celebrating the GRAMMY Awards, nominees and recipients, including tokens designed by world-famous crypto artists. A portion of the proceeds of the NFTs will go to the Recording Academys scholarship fund.

OneOf has been making headlines since it was first announced. The platform launched in August with the iHeartRadio Music Festival, and its debut artist collection featured a 26,000 token drop from Doja Cat. An auction for the one-of-a-kind item in her collection sold for $188k, making it the single largest auction transaction on Tezos, the blockchain protocol on which OneOf is built.

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Whitney Houston unreleased song & NFT collection announced - The Music Universe.