#Akilah Institute

[ariwilder]

So last episode made me think lots of thinks, but one of them includes the writers trying to hint at a divide (keep hinting).

So, when everything seems to going downfall for Shauna and her baby, team Wilderness start doing blood sacrifices and rituals (Lottie, Van, Mari, some extras and Travis), while our main girls (Tai, Nat, Misty) and Akilah try to support Shauna, however, they could.

UNTIL

They all regress to praying and magical thinking. And it makes me wonder if its foreshadowing of how ALL of them end up doing ritual cannibalism, etc. Just a couple of thoughts.

It also surprises me of how badly they speak of adult Lottie as a loonie. Then, I try to imagine what it would be like going back to the modern world after almost two years in the wilderness only to find out the person you all decided to follow is diagnosed with schizophrenia and in a mental institution for life. (Until she wasn't). I'm not surprised by Van's reaction, at all.

[buzzbuzzwhs]

Or forever hold your peace (A YellowJackets Taivan fic)

2004

Back when she lived with her mother in New Jersey, the TV had a wire coat hanger as an antenna. Once, the Saturday afternoon, the movie of the week was “The Graduate.”  Benjamin and Elaine running towards freedom, away from Elaine’s wedding, captivated young Van Palmer.

Freedom, was what Van wanted. Freedom wasn’t those 19 months her brain blocked out. Freedom had come as Oberlin offering her a scholarship. She’d gotten a degree in film, and had taken over ownership of the small video rental store in town. 

But Benjamin and Elaine didn’t know what they were doing, and Van was no Benjamin. If she was, she wouldn’t be mopping the floor of the store, she would be at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. She’d be yelling at them to stop, because Tai Turner was marrying Simone, and not her. 

She’d received the classily engraved invitation, inviting her to come. Shauna had encouraged her to go—she’d been asked to be a bridesmaid but had declined owing to pregnancy. Van was not asked to be a bridesmaid. The RSVP card had been for “Miss Vanessa  Palmer and guest. Van had thought, briefly, about inviting one of her employees as her guest. 

She’d declined because she couldn’t do it. Shauna had posted about the rehearsal dinner on LiveJournal. Shauna, being one of the few sober ones, spoke about how she liked Simone and how two of Tai’s AKA sisters from Yale, Avril and Rasheeda, were lovely. Akilah was there, and a red-eyed photo of the three survivors dotted the post.

Shauna’s role in the rehearsal dinner was to read the recent ruling out of Massachusetts, Goodridge v. Department of Public Health. It was a somber reminder that no meat carving station or the strapless Priscilla of Boston dress Tai would wear the next day could dress up the reality that Tai and Simone’s wedding had no legal protection to back it up in New York, or New Jersey.

The post had a photo that Akilah had taken on her camera phone—showing Shauna standing up at the Russian Tea Room, wearing a black dress that fit as well as a trash bag, her hair flat-ironed stick straight and hanging to her bra strap. Shauna closed the entry with a joke about how she didn’t know why a lawyer would pick someone who managed to fail the semester she spent at the County community college and the semester she’d spent a year later at Providence College to read a legal brief.

There was a photo Jeff took, of Simone glowing as Shauna quoted the passage “Here, the plaintiffs seek only to be married, not to undermine the institution of civil marriage. They do not want marriage abolished. They do not attack the binary nature of marriage, the consanguinity provisions, or any of the other gate-keeping provisions of the marriage licensing law. Recognizing the right of an individual to marry a person of the same sex will not diminish the validity or dignity of opposite-sex marriage, any more than recognizing the right of an individual to marry a person of a different race devalues the marriage of a person who marries someone of her own race. If anything, extending civil marriage to same-sex couples reinforces the importance of marriage to individuals and communities.”

Tai, meanwhile, looked as if she was ready to destroy everything:  from the sewn-in curls at the top of her head to the pink and black minidress and choker she wore. 

Van’s watch said it would be 4pm that evening in New York, meaning that her time to speak now had passed. 

Van opened a drawer she rarely opened. There were several mementos of her youth, but she looked at three:  a pretzel Christmas tree ornament, a strip of photo booth photos from FAO Schwartz, and a lock of hair. 

1998-2002

Once they were rescued and ok’d, Tai enrolled at Yale. She had been planning on Spellman, but she didn’t want to get on a plane. She joined AKA and became a proud soror. 

Van had jumped at the chance to enroll at Oberlin with her scholarship. This also meant that she was flying Newark to Cleveland and back regularly. She checked on her mother, and then rode to see Tai in New Haven. They’d take the Metro into New York. They got their carriage ride. Tai got her soft pretzel, and bought Van a Christmas tree ornament to commemorate it. They saw Rent twice. 

Both women graduated from college. Tai immediately enrolled at Columbia Law School. Van had decided to take a year off before film school. She was a manager at the video store now. 

The weekend it happened, Van had been in New York to interview for film schools. She looked handsome in  a neat tie and vest with a Brooks Brothers button-down Tai had gotten her for college graduation.She’d gotten into the habit of blowing her hair straight, and it now came to the small of her back. She bobby-pinned the sides back. The raw nudity of showing her scars lost to her mother’s voice in her head telling her to get her hair out of her face. 

The interviews went well. She and Tai celebrated by getting photos taken in a booth at FAO Schwartz. 

The next morning, Van sat in Tai’s apartment. Van had just cooked them breakfast. 

“I mean, if I get in it, we could get a place near here together, and I could commute to school,” Van said. 

“I got the summer associateship at that Big Law firm,” Tai said. There was a pregnant pause. 

“Of course you did!”  Van smiled encouragingly.

“Yeah. I’ll be in the whirlwind world of being wooed by the firm to join them post-grad,” Tai drew a breath. “Van, those associates have events for significant others. The people who go to those events…they’re not from a trailer park.  I’m sorry. I can’t do this any more.”

Van ran out of the building. She still packed things in a WHS duffle bag. She emotionlessly put in in the overhead bin.

For two weeks, Van continued to work. She powered herself on Mountain Dew and Popov. She barely slept. She didn’t shower, and her hair was in a bun of neglect. She didn’t cry or laugh. The college students with whom she worked stopped asking about her trip. 

“Sarah came in today,” Van said to her employee Jenna after they closed one night. “I barely recognized her. She said you cut her hair short—that you’re your dorm’s barber.”  Jenna felt Van lock her eyes on hers as she slid a pair of scissors towards her. 

“Are you sure?” Jenna asked, undoing the bun and running her fingers through Van’s hair. Van nodded as Jenna carefully guided her to an office chair. Van had survived fire and a wolf attack, but the icy scissors on her neck were harshest thing she ever felt. Jenna paused, holding the severed years of hair in her fist. 

“That girl you had in New York?  She was into long hair, wasn’t she?”

Van stared at the familiar waves, plopped in a garbage can. In her mind she felt Tai playing with her hair. Van shook her head—startled as her shoulders didn’t stop her hair. It had been her security blanket so long. 

“When we first met, my friend and I had just gotten bobs for freshman year. I hated it. I just—I don’t want the memories around.”

Jenna stood in front of her, grasping a thick forelock and snipping them off. She offered the strands to Van. Van accepted them, as she slowly realized that Jenna had cut thick bangs that masked her scars. As red hair rained onto the floor, hot tears finally began to silently rain down Van’s cheeks. 

“You’re so pretty,” Jenna said, more referencing her handiwork than Van.  Van looked at the face staring at her back from Jenna’s compact mirror. The bangs drew attention to her tear-swollen eyes. The rest was soft and messy, hitting her lips. “You’re always wearing those button=downs, and I figured you didn’t want your hair in their way,”  Jenna fixed a curl that framed one of Van’s scars.

It seemed like every student who came into the store had to comment on her hair. Apparently it was “hot,” “cute,” and “you have really pretty eyes.” Van never sent in her grad school apps. Why do that, if all you get was knowing you lived in the same island as Ms. Taissa Turner, 2L and gunner. As the snow melted, an email popped up in Van’s inbox. 

FYI

I was in the city with Tai yesterday. She met this girl named Simone. She’s moving in soon. I just thought you’d want to hear. 

Shauna

PS—Have you heard from anyone?

[youth-rights]

 Youth Rights Masterpost

This list compiles a variety of youth rights and youth liberation perspectives and resources. I do not condone or endorse every single item on this list. Read broadly, think critically.

Every effort is made to locate websites with free access to each resource. When a free version has not been located, resources are listed in bold.

This list is continually updated. Please send an ask or message if you know of a resource that could be included or if a link is broken.

Organizations and Websites:

National Youth Rights Association - A U.S. youth civil rights organization.

Freechild Institute - A U.S. youth engagement organization.

Youth Liberation Now! - An anarchist youth liberation zine.

Global Partnership and Fund to End Violence Against Children - A global platform for anti-child abuse advocacy.

End Corporal Punishment Initiative - An initiative of the Global Partnership and Fund to End Violence Against Children focused on ending corporal punishment.

The YP Foundation - An Indian youth development organization focused on empowering youth to lead social change.

Breaking Code Silence - A U.S. anti-troubled teen industry campaign.

We Warned Them Campaign - A U.S. anti-troubled teen industry campaign.

Unsilenced - A U.S. anti-troubled teen industry advocacy group.

Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor (defunct) Archive - The archived print materials of Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor, a U.S. youth liberation group that existed from 1970-1979.

Child USAdvocacy - A U.S. organization focused on legislative reform of child abuse law.

National Juvenile Justice Network - A U.S. community of state juvenile justice policy reform organizations.

Children’s Voting Colloquium - A global organization focused on eliminating the minimum voting age.

Articles:

“What are Youth Rights,” NYRA

“‘Young and Oppressed,’” NYRA

“Youth Liberation,” Freechild Institute

“Top Ten Reasons to Lower the Voting Age,” NYRA

“A Brief Overview of the Problems with Teen Brain Science,” NYRA

“The ‘Troubled Teen’ Industry,” NYRA

“The Rights of Kids in the Digital Age,” WIRED

“The Child and its Enemies,” Emma Goldman

“‘Missing’ Teenager, Tommy Crow

"Now I Am Free," Tommy Crow

“Youth Rights & The Libertarian Party,” Brianna Coyle

“The Young Person's Bill of Rights,” Dr. Robert Epstein

“Youth Liberation 15-point Program - Platform of Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor,” Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor

“Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor,” The History Search

"Children's Freedom: A Human Rights Perspective," Peter Gray

“Against Adult Supremacy,” Vyvian Raoul

Books:

No! Against Adult Supremacy, 2016 (x)

Escape from Childhood, John C. Holt, 1974 (x) (x) (x)

Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work, Akilah S. Richards, 2020 (x)

The Teenage Liberation Handbook, Grace Llewellyn, 1998 (x)

Schools on Trial by Nikhil Goyal, 2016 (x)

Thank You For Being Young, Andrew Lerner, 2011 (x)

Birthrights, Richard Farson, 1974 (x)

The Children’s Rights Movement, Beatrice and Ronald Gross, 1977 (x)

Help at Any Cost, Maia Szalavitz, 2006 (x)

For Your Own Good, Alice Miller, 1983 (x)

Growing Up Absurd, Paul Goodman, 1960 (x) (x)

The New Handbook of Children's Rights, Bob Franklin, 2001 (x)

Framing Youth, Mike A. Males, 1998 (x) (x)

The Scapegoat Generation, Mike A. Males, 1996 (x) (x) (x) (x)

FPS Magazine, 1970-1979 (x)

Children’s Rights Handbook, FPS, 1979 (x)

And Justice For All: The Legal Rights Of Young People, Sandra Nunez, Trish Marx, 1997 (x)

The Struggle for Student Rights: Tinker v. Des Moines and the 1960s, John W. Johnson, 1997 (x)

As Soon as You're Born They Make You Feel Small: Self Determination for Children, Wendy Ayotte, 1986 (x) (x)

Raised in Captivity: Why Does America Fail its Children?, Lucia Hodgson, 1997 (x)  

We Fight To Win: Inequality and the Politics of Youth Activism, Hava Rachel Gordon, 2009 (x)

Act Your Age!: A Cultural Construction of Adolescence, Nancy Lesko, 2012 (x)

Other Resources:

ACLU and ACLU Affiliates - The Know Your Rights pages of each ACLU Affiliate provides information on students’ rights and occasionally on youth rights in general.

[whytehousetv]

This All-Women’s College Is Training Rwanda’s Future Leaders The first all-female college in Rwanda is making strides in empowering women from all backgrounds to become the nation’s next business leaders, part of an effort to leave behind an image of a violent country, wracked by genocide. At the Akilah Institute, students prepare for well-paying jobs and financial independence and learn gender equality. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports.

[zylofonemusic]

PROFILE: Alyn Sano

PROFILE Alyn Sano Shengero popularly known on stage as Alyn Sano is a Rwandan Afro-pop singer/vocalist. She was born on October 10, 1995, and the third born in a family of five siblings. The 26-year-old hails from Kigali, Rwanda. She took a hospitality course at Akilah Institute for Women to study Tourism and Hotel Management. She graduated from university in 2017. Growing up, she joined her…

[gokul2181]

Hari Kondabolu : ‘Politically Re-Active’ will not be short on material this US election!

New Post has been published on https://jordarnews.in/hari-kondabolu-politically-re-active-will-not-be-short-on-material-this-us-election/

Hari Kondabolu : ‘Politically Re-Active’ will not be short on material this US election!

Co-creator Hari Kondabolu delves into the revival of their in-demand podcast after three years, why Donald Trump is ‘not a typical candidate’, and how being a new parent has affected his world view

The last time Hari Kondabolu was in Hyderabad, he fell in love with Irani chai. “They were some of the most delicious drinks I had in my life,” he laughs, “Especially the ones at the iconic older places in the city.” From a time of constant travel, the actor-comedian-podcaster is now creating content in a house-bound setting.

Over a video call from California, the 37-year-old says he and long-time friend W Kamau Bell are closely watching the US political landscape as the 2020 Presidential election campaigns and debates roll on.

Also Read: Get ‘First Day First Show’, our weekly newsletter from the world of cinema, in your inbox. You can subscribe for free here

Hari is co-creating content for the third season of Politically Re-Active (Topic Studios). The new season comes three years after the previous one, and for both Kamau and Hari, the timing and urgency called for a revival. The three-year absence did not go unnoticed; many fans of Hari and Kamau continually asked when they would return. Hari mentions that Kamau, who has won an Emmy for United Shades of America, was asked more about the podcast than about his television show, so “it’s clear people resonated with the podcast.”

The podcast, which kicked off in 2016, is not just another political science satire show. The second season’s episode on gerrymandering has been implemented in many US schools’ curriculum for its relevance and easy-to-understand approach to a complex topic. Hari looks back, “On a level, maybe we didn’t anticipate the ratings to be really good and that was cool.”

The early episodes certainly have stick, in that people are still listening to them, three years on, given they feature personalities such as Hasan Minhaj, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Van Jones, Lewis Black, Akilah Hughes and more.

The reason we went off the air, to begin with was, it was a well-done podcast; but that takes time and effort, tons of research, preparation and editing. Even with producers, we were doing some heavy lifting.” So season two came to a close, but Hari and Kamau stayed in touch: Kamau started United Shades of America and Hari released The Problem With Apu in November 2017, a documentary about Apu from The Simpsons.

Newfound urgencies

Then in 2020, COVID-19 struck; the world came to a stand-still and Kamau and Hari found their schedules to be more free. The third season was based “on a gradual acceptance that this was a popular thing that people loved, and on finding time to do it during an important election year.”

According to Hari, Trump is “not a typical candidate.” He elaborates, “Trump has been able to exploit cracks in the Constitution and the system. We can talk about what he’s done with immigration but we have a system that allows him to make choices; and we’re supposed to have a system of checks and balances but the fact that this man was not checked, tells you about that system.”

The third season launched with the first official episode on October 8. Episodes of Politically Re-Active are hot-off-the-mic, with Hari and Kamau recording weekly from their respective homes. Hari recalls recording the first episode, “Trump had just been tested positive for COVID-19 — so the chaos we are in now is certainly different than the chaos of pre-election. It is extreme now.” Certainly, this is like no other process largely due to the pandemic, explaining the way people are voting is changing, and how the debates look.

Seasoned guests for season 3 include:

Jon Lovett, former Obama speechwriter and co-host of Pod Save America

Cori Bush, a nurse and Black Lives Matter activist poised to be Missouri’s first black Congresswoman

Alexandra Rojas of Justice Democrats

Desmond Meade, who led the movement to get the vote for disenfranchised ex-felons in Florida

Actor-comedian-filmmaker Ilana Glazer (Broad City) who is working to empower young voters to participate in elections

To add value to the third season, Hari and Kamau will bring in a variety of political experts and activists, with whom they had engaged through their years in the industry. “It was a multi-fold process; we thought about who we would like to talk to in general — somebody with personality, is interesting and is engaged in political thinking or work.”

The newfound timeliness also comes from Hari becoming a new parent over the last month, and Kamau being a father of three.“There’s a degree of thinking about where this [country] is going, and what we have to look forward to. We think about systems and larger institutional things and we always have more than whatever the topic of the week is, so it’s important to keep the eyes on the prize.”

Though Hari’s new son is only a month old, parenthood has given him some new perspective. “In my most cynical times, when I think about the end of the world through environmental disaster or nuclear annihilation [laughs] there is this really dark part of me that thinks to myself ‘well, at least it’s done, human suffering is over because humanity’s over — it’ll be over with.’ [laughs]. I can’t have that thinking with a kid, right? I’m certainly thinking more about the future in that we must salvage things to create a future that’s livable. Optimism is valuable when you have a kid; you’re working towards their growth and for that to work, you have to value said future.”

Pulling it together

The episodes are meaty, each about an hour-long and there have been some challenges, he admits, chief among them being the global lockdown. “There is a general disconnect from people this year,” he says. “ Earlier when we did the podcast, the guest would be with me or Kamau, but this year, that is not there. I hate that everything is so distant, there isn’t a human connection!”

One of the most remarkable differences within the house-bound settings is that Hari and Kamau may not be as out and about; for the time being, their portal to the elections is largely screen-oriented. The Vice Presidential Debate on October 8 saw Hari and Kamau live-tweeting real-time responses and observations as a form of communication, and also, interestingly, some zen, “Both of us, being comedians, the instinct with these live events is to tweet, to find perspectives and jokes as a way to deal with the absurdity of it. We’re not going to short on material this election!”

But podcasts possess an inherent intimacy for both listener and creator, agrees Hari. “I love that we are learning with the listener, it’s more genuine when the audience knows it, too, because they seem themselves in you. I would rather be in that position than in a position of ‘preachiness’.”

Politically Re-Active can be streamed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

Source link

[aizenat]

You're doing a lot of projecting so I'm just going to be nice about this. I'm Black. I've been on tumblr for ten fucking years (idk why I'm still here too lol leave me alone). I used to be a mod on a pretty popular site that called out white washing in fanart and fandom spaces. I was calling Jo out on her racism before it was cool, and being called an uppity nigger for it.

At no point did I ask you to cry over some rich white woman. Like, idk why yall think someone pointing out that a bitch still is part of an oppressed class despite her wealth is the same as defending all that other shit. Like stay on task. Yall really need to do better with these convos cos that projection of shit I didn't say is the stuff that gets me heated. Be mad at what I said: don't create strawmen arguments I literally never said and argue over them lol.

I'm aware of the native thing but never saw that being used in her books. She talked about it on pottermore, so idk if maybe you're conflating stuff. If she did in fact use it in a book, direct examples would be smart when arguing a point. I asked knowing you wouldn't have a specific answer to it lol. But again, I'm open to being proven wrong with direct examples of that in the BOOKS and not supplemental material.

I'll admit I didn't hear about that doc, but the generality jump in logic was odd. She was in a doc saying she went to Africa and so that means she profited off African spirituality? I don't remember seeing any of that in Harry Potter. That's a logical fallacy. That statement that she profited off of it is really vague. It leaves a different impression of what she actually did and that's intellectually dishonest.

And, like, just because other white fantasy writers often appropriate spiritual practices that dont belong to them, that doesn't mean Jo is guilty simply for writing fantasy lol. That's another fallacy. Like, I get what you're trying to say, but you gotta specify. This is way too vague and lazy. And you made the op; you cant want to be on these convos but then be too lazy to properly articulate your point. These the type of vague arguments alt right folk take and "disprove" wrong in their "pwned" vids or whatever.

Also, side note, Blair White is the dumbest intellectually vapid and dishonest dipshit on the internet and I have more respect for a cockroach than I do her lol. Stop.

But like kinda the tldr version: none of this tackles the statement Akilah made that implies women are only part of an oppressed class if they're poor. That implies womanhood is a class one can opt in and out of. If one can opt in and out of an oppressed class, is it real oppression? If as Black folk, we can understand no amount of wealth or power can remove us from the class of Black people (ie, Obama being the most powerful man in the country and still called a nigger by whites), that implies other facets of our lives do not negate our blackness. Meaning whites will always have systemic power over us.

If womanhood, however, and how it is oppressed is something that wealth (aka, another axis of oppression: class) can negate, then its not really an oppressed class. Meaning you're (general you. Calm down) claiming sexism as an institution doesn't exist. If that is what Akilah is implying, that is what I take issue with. All this other shit with Jo, idc. She ain't my favorite author and I have no desire to die on a hill defending her dumbass.

But yall claiming to be feminists all while making statements that heavily imply womanhood is not an oppressed class is a problem imo. It shows a fundamental lack or understanding and knowledge of real feminist theory. That's what I've criticized and that's what you've failed to address.

Gotta love Joke Karen Rowling. And before anyone gets all offended I just got one question. Why do t/rfs always talk about how trans people are predators and fetishists when they're the main ones sexualizing them and being creepy? Also, I've met t/rfs that always say something creepy about women's vaginas. It's like they contradict themselves. They don't want people to sexualize them yet they do the same thing. You shouldn't sexualized anyone. It's creepy.

And don't even get me started on how racist as fuck JK Rowling is. It seems to me that people forget about that. Black people, black trans people years ago have constantly called out JK's racism but people ignored it. Now it's all getting attention and we're supposed to be surprised about this?

Also, why was I today years old when I found out Jk wrote a book about a trans character?

[queerstoriesqdm]

When the Black and Brown Workers Collective was founded in February 2016, creator Shani Akilah said, “This is a movement, not a moment,” and that is still true today. The collective issued its Call to Action and began directly engaging with institutions flagged for uplifting, protecting, and colluding in antiblack racist policies and practices. Philadelphia Fight, Mazzoni Center, and the Philadelphia bar ICandy were among our targets. [ 111 more words ] http://ift.tt/2rVShZW - http://ift.tt/2rVShZW

[gordonwilliamsweb]

LA Hospital Seeks Vaccine Trial Participants Among Its Own High-Risk Patients

The patients at Dr. Eric Daar’s hospital are at high risk for serious illness from COVID-19, and he’s determined to make sure they’re part of the effort to fight the disease.

He also hopes they can protect themselves in the process.

When Daar and his colleagues at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center on Wednesday announce the start of enrollment for a trial to test a COVID-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca, they will also unveil the hospital’s community-based recruitment strategy.

Harbor-UCLA wants to recruit most, if not all, of the trial’s 500 participants from among the high-risk patients it already treats: people over 65, those with chronic illnesses and members of underserved racial and ethnic groups. Hospital officials also expect that the recruitment task will not be easy.

“It’s a priority and obligation to make sure our community is well represented in these trials,” said Daar, chief of HIV medicine at Harbor-UCLA and a researcher at the UCLA-affiliated Lundquist Institute, who dropped his other research projects last spring to focus on a COVID-19 vaccine.

The safety-net hospital in Torrance, California, serves patients in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County who are predominantly Black, Latino and Pacific Islander. Many live in crowded homes and do “essential” work that requires them to expose themselves to the virus to make a living: They’re orderlies and cooks and house cleaners, day laborers and bus drivers and sanitation workers.

The area has high rates of heart disease and stroke.

“If you don’t have a community represented in the trial, it’s hard to extrapolate your results to the community,” said Dr. Katya Corado, one of Daar’s colleagues. “We want to find something to protect our patients and loved ones.”

Latinos and Blacks in the United States are nearly three times more likely than non-Hispanic whites to be diagnosed with COVID-19 and nearly five times more likely to be hospitalized with the disease. In Los Angeles County, Latinos in particular have been disproportionately stricken by the virus.

Eight of 10 COVID-19 deaths nationwide occur among people 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Historically, Blacks and Latinos have been less likely to be included in clinical trials for disease treatment, despite federal guidelines that urge minority and elder participation.

The National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration have urged infectious disease researchers to focus on these vulnerable populations in the large phase 3 trials that will test how well vaccines prevent COVID-19.

Harbor-UCLA, a public teaching hospital owned and operated by Los Angeles County, is one of roughly 100 sites nationwide testing the AstraZeneca vaccine candidate, which was developed in collaboration with Oxford University in Britain. Phase 3 trials of about the same size for vaccine candidates produced by Moderna and Pfizer are already underway. Each of the three companies seeks to recruit 30,000 people, 20,000 of whom will get the vaccine and 10,000 a placebo, or harmless saline solution, to test whether the vaccine prevents coronavirus disease.

Recruitment at Harbor-UCLA will include patients with well-controlled chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, and people with HIV who’ve kept the virus under control with medication, Daar said.

According to the AstraZeneca trial protocol, patients will get up to $100 for each of 15 to 20 visits during the two-year trial. The Harbor-UCLA team will also offer car services to bring people to the hospital through L.A. traffic.

To reach its targeted recruits, the hospital will distribute leaflets to clinics and community organizations and create targeted social media campaigns, in addition to taking any free publicity it can get, Daar said.

Recruitment of high-risk patients in other COVID-19 trials so far has been mixed. Moderna, which began the first phase 3 trial of the experimental vaccines on July 27, announced Friday that 18% of its 13,000-plus enrollees so far were Black, Latino or Native American — a high percentage as clinical trials go, but only about one-third of the goal set by NIH officials.

Other AstraZeneca trial sites have also publicized their efforts to reach those most at risk from the virus. The University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine placed one of its AstraZeneca recruitment sites in Vernon, south of downtown Los Angeles in an area with many factories and meatpacking plants, which have experienced high COVID-19 infection rates.

Clinicians suspect that the higher rates of disease and hospitalization in minority groups are due both to health conditions — such as undertreated diabetes and heart disease — and to higher exposure to the virus in workplaces and crowded housing. Environmental factors like polluted neighborhoods may also have an impact.

While there’s little evidence that vaccines affect Blacks or Latinos differently than white people, the subject hasn’t really been studied, said Dr. Akilah Jefferson Shah, an allergist/immunologist and bioethicist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. That’s another reason for making sure these groups are well represented in trials, she said.

“We know now there are subgroup responses to drugs by sex, but no one figured it out until they started including women in these studies,” Jefferson Shah said. “Race is not genetic. It’s a social construct. But there are genetic variants more prevalent in certain populations. We won’t know until we look.”

Perhaps most important, diversity in the research will be needed to build trust and uptake of the vaccine, Corado said. In a May poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, just 25% of Blacks and 37% of Hispanics said they would definitely seek vaccination against the coronavirus, compared with 56% of whites.

In July, the Harbor-UCLA vaccine team began holding weekly Zoom meetings with about 25 activists and clergy members to learn what their communities were saying about the vaccine and get tips on how to design educational materials for the trial.

What they’ve heard suggests they’ll have an uphill recruitment battle.

One member of the community council, HIV activist Dontá Morrison, noted that people frequently say on social media that the vaccine is designed to give them COVID-19 as part of a plot to get rid of Black voters. (None of the vaccines contains infectious COVID virus.)

“It may seem far-fetched, but those are the conversations because we have an administration that has not shown itself to be trustworthy,” Morrison said.

He noted that the first challenge UCLA researchers face is to convince community leaders, particularly clergy members, of the vaccine’s safety. Church leaders worry they’ll be blamed for supporting the trial if the vaccine ends up making their congregants sick, he said.

If done right, the trial could build trust in medical science while helping minorities help themselves — and the rest of us — find a way out of the current mess, Morrison said.

Dr. Raphael Landovitz, another UCLA scientist working on the trial, agreed.

“We’re hoping that people understand this is a chance — if we succeed — to take back some power and control in this situation that has made so many of us feel so powerless,” he said.

This KHN story first published on California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

LA Hospital Seeks Vaccine Trial Participants Among Its Own High-Risk Patients published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[dinafbrownil]

LA Hospital Seeks Vaccine Trial Participants Among Its Own High-Risk Patients

The patients at Dr. Eric Daar’s hospital are at high risk for serious illness from COVID-19, and he’s determined to make sure they’re part of the effort to fight the disease.

He also hopes they can protect themselves in the process.

When Daar and his colleagues at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center on Wednesday announce the start of enrollment for a trial to test a COVID-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca, they will also unveil the hospital’s community-based recruitment strategy.

Harbor-UCLA wants to recruit most, if not all, of the trial’s 500 participants from among the high-risk patients it already treats: people over 65, those with chronic illnesses and members of underserved racial and ethnic groups. Hospital officials also expect that the recruitment task will not be easy.

“It’s a priority and obligation to make sure our community is well represented in these trials,” said Daar, chief of HIV medicine at Harbor-UCLA and a researcher at the UCLA-affiliated Lundquist Institute, who dropped his other research projects last spring to focus on a COVID-19 vaccine.

The safety-net hospital in Torrance, California, serves patients in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County who are predominantly Black, Latino and Pacific Islander. Many live in crowded homes and do “essential” work that requires them to expose themselves to the virus to make a living: They’re orderlies and cooks and house cleaners, day laborers and bus drivers and sanitation workers.

The area has high rates of heart disease and stroke.

“If you don’t have a community represented in the trial, it’s hard to extrapolate your results to the community,” said Dr. Katya Corado, one of Daar’s colleagues. “We want to find something to protect our patients and loved ones.”

Latinos and Blacks in the United States are nearly three times more likely than non-Hispanic whites to be diagnosed with COVID-19 and nearly five times more likely to be hospitalized with the disease. In Los Angeles County, Latinos in particular have been disproportionately stricken by the virus.

Eight of 10 COVID-19 deaths nationwide occur among people 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Historically, Blacks and Latinos have been less likely to be included in clinical trials for disease treatment, despite federal guidelines that urge minority and elder participation.

The National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration have urged infectious disease researchers to focus on these vulnerable populations in the large phase 3 trials that will test how well vaccines prevent COVID-19.

Harbor-UCLA, a public teaching hospital owned and operated by Los Angeles County, is one of roughly 100 sites nationwide testing the AstraZeneca vaccine candidate, which was developed in collaboration with Oxford University in Britain. Phase 3 trials of about the same size for vaccine candidates produced by Moderna and Pfizer are already underway. Each of the three companies seeks to recruit 30,000 people, 20,000 of whom will get the vaccine and 10,000 a placebo, or harmless saline solution, to test whether the vaccine prevents coronavirus disease.

Recruitment at Harbor-UCLA will include patients with well-controlled chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, and people with HIV who’ve kept the virus under control with medication, Daar said.

According to the AstraZeneca trial protocol, patients will get up to $100 for each of 15 to 20 visits during the two-year trial. The Harbor-UCLA team will also offer car services to bring people to the hospital through L.A. traffic.

To reach its targeted recruits, the hospital will distribute leaflets to clinics and community organizations and create targeted social media campaigns, in addition to taking any free publicity it can get, Daar said.

Recruitment of high-risk patients in other COVID-19 trials so far has been mixed. Moderna, which began the first phase 3 trial of the experimental vaccines on July 27, announced Friday that 18% of its 13,000-plus enrollees so far were Black, Latino or Native American — a high percentage as clinical trials go, but only about one-third of the goal set by NIH officials.

Other AstraZeneca trial sites have also publicized their efforts to reach those most at risk from the virus. The University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine placed one of its AstraZeneca recruitment sites in Vernon, south of downtown Los Angeles in an area with many factories and meatpacking plants, which have experienced high COVID-19 infection rates.

Clinicians suspect that the higher rates of disease and hospitalization in minority groups are due both to health conditions — such as undertreated diabetes and heart disease — and to higher exposure to the virus in workplaces and crowded housing. Environmental factors like polluted neighborhoods may also have an impact.

While there’s little evidence that vaccines affect Blacks or Latinos differently than white people, the subject hasn’t really been studied, said Dr. Akilah Jefferson Shah, an allergist/immunologist and bioethicist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. That’s another reason for making sure these groups are well represented in trials, she said.

“We know now there are subgroup responses to drugs by sex, but no one figured it out until they started including women in these studies,” Jefferson Shah said. “Race is not genetic. It’s a social construct. But there are genetic variants more prevalent in certain populations. We won’t know until we look.”

Perhaps most important, diversity in the research will be needed to build trust and uptake of the vaccine, Corado said. In a May poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, just 25% of Blacks and 37% of Hispanics said they would definitely seek vaccination against the coronavirus, compared with 56% of whites.

In July, the Harbor-UCLA vaccine team began holding weekly Zoom meetings with about 25 activists and clergy members to learn what their communities were saying about the vaccine and get tips on how to design educational materials for the trial.

What they’ve heard suggests they’ll have an uphill recruitment battle.

One member of the community council, HIV activist Dontá Morrison, noted that people frequently say on social media that the vaccine is designed to give them COVID-19 as part of a plot to get rid of Black voters. (None of the vaccines contains infectious COVID virus.)

“It may seem far-fetched, but those are the conversations because we have an administration that has not shown itself to be trustworthy,” Morrison said.

He noted that the first challenge UCLA researchers face is to convince community leaders, particularly clergy members, of the vaccine’s safety. Church leaders worry they’ll be blamed for supporting the trial if the vaccine ends up making their congregants sick, he said.

If done right, the trial could build trust in medical science while helping minorities help themselves — and the rest of us — find a way out of the current mess, Morrison said.

Dr. Raphael Landovitz, another UCLA scientist working on the trial, agreed.

“We’re hoping that people understand this is a chance — if we succeed — to take back some power and control in this situation that has made so many of us feel so powerless,” he said.

This KHN story first published on California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/la-hospital-seeks-vaccine-trial-participants-among-its-own-high-risk-patients/

[stephenmccull]

LA Hospital Seeks Vaccine Trial Participants Among Its Own High-Risk Patients

The patients at Dr. Eric Daar’s hospital are at high risk for serious illness from COVID-19, and he’s determined to make sure they’re part of the effort to fight the disease.

He also hopes they can protect themselves in the process.

When Daar and his colleagues at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center on Wednesday announce the start of enrollment for a trial to test a COVID-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca, they will also unveil the hospital’s community-based recruitment strategy.

Harbor-UCLA wants to recruit most, if not all, of the trial’s 500 participants from among the high-risk patients it already treats: people over 65, those with chronic illnesses and members of underserved racial and ethnic groups. Hospital officials also expect that the recruitment task will not be easy.

“It’s a priority and obligation to make sure our community is well represented in these trials,” said Daar, chief of HIV medicine at Harbor-UCLA and a researcher at the UCLA-affiliated Lundquist Institute, who dropped his other research projects last spring to focus on a COVID-19 vaccine.

The safety-net hospital in Torrance, California, serves patients in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County who are predominantly Black, Latino and Pacific Islander. Many live in crowded homes and do “essential” work that requires them to expose themselves to the virus to make a living: They’re orderlies and cooks and house cleaners, day laborers and bus drivers and sanitation workers.

The area has high rates of heart disease and stroke.

“If you don’t have a community represented in the trial, it’s hard to extrapolate your results to the community,” said Dr. Katya Corado, one of Daar’s colleagues. “We want to find something to protect our patients and loved ones.”

Latinos and Blacks in the United States are nearly three times more likely than non-Hispanic whites to be diagnosed with COVID-19 and nearly five times more likely to be hospitalized with the disease. In Los Angeles County, Latinos in particular have been disproportionately stricken by the virus.

Eight of 10 COVID-19 deaths nationwide occur among people 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Historically, Blacks and Latinos have been less likely to be included in clinical trials for disease treatment, despite federal guidelines that urge minority and elder participation.

The National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration have urged infectious disease researchers to focus on these vulnerable populations in the large phase 3 trials that will test how well vaccines prevent COVID-19.

Harbor-UCLA, a public teaching hospital owned and operated by Los Angeles County, is one of roughly 100 sites nationwide testing the AstraZeneca vaccine candidate, which was developed in collaboration with Oxford University in Britain. Phase 3 trials of about the same size for vaccine candidates produced by Moderna and Pfizer are already underway. Each of the three companies seeks to recruit 30,000 people, 20,000 of whom will get the vaccine and 10,000 a placebo, or harmless saline solution, to test whether the vaccine prevents coronavirus disease.

Recruitment at Harbor-UCLA will include patients with well-controlled chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, and people with HIV who’ve kept the virus under control with medication, Daar said.

According to the AstraZeneca trial protocol, patients will get up to $100 for each of 15 to 20 visits during the two-year trial. The Harbor-UCLA team will also offer car services to bring people to the hospital through L.A. traffic.

To reach its targeted recruits, the hospital will distribute leaflets to clinics and community organizations and create targeted social media campaigns, in addition to taking any free publicity it can get, Daar said.

Recruitment of high-risk patients in other COVID-19 trials so far has been mixed. Moderna, which began the first phase 3 trial of the experimental vaccines on July 27, announced Friday that 18% of its 13,000-plus enrollees so far were Black, Latino or Native American — a high percentage as clinical trials go, but only about one-third of the goal set by NIH officials.

Other AstraZeneca trial sites have also publicized their efforts to reach those most at risk from the virus. The University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine placed one of its AstraZeneca recruitment sites in Vernon, south of downtown Los Angeles in an area with many factories and meatpacking plants, which have experienced high COVID-19 infection rates.

Clinicians suspect that the higher rates of disease and hospitalization in minority groups are due both to health conditions — such as undertreated diabetes and heart disease — and to higher exposure to the virus in workplaces and crowded housing. Environmental factors like polluted neighborhoods may also have an impact.

While there’s little evidence that vaccines affect Blacks or Latinos differently than white people, the subject hasn’t really been studied, said Dr. Akilah Jefferson Shah, an allergist/immunologist and bioethicist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. That’s another reason for making sure these groups are well represented in trials, she said.

“We know now there are subgroup responses to drugs by sex, but no one figured it out until they started including women in these studies,” Jefferson Shah said. “Race is not genetic. It’s a social construct. But there are genetic variants more prevalent in certain populations. We won’t know until we look.”

Perhaps most important, diversity in the research will be needed to build trust and uptake of the vaccine, Corado said. In a May poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, just 25% of Blacks and 37% of Hispanics said they would definitely seek vaccination against the coronavirus, compared with 56% of whites.

In July, the Harbor-UCLA vaccine team began holding weekly Zoom meetings with about 25 activists and clergy members to learn what their communities were saying about the vaccine and get tips on how to design educational materials for the trial.

What they’ve heard suggests they’ll have an uphill recruitment battle.

One member of the community council, HIV activist Dontá Morrison, noted that people frequently say on social media that the vaccine is designed to give them COVID-19 as part of a plot to get rid of Black voters. (None of the vaccines contains infectious COVID virus.)

“It may seem far-fetched, but those are the conversations because we have an administration that has not shown itself to be trustworthy,” Morrison said.

He noted that the first challenge UCLA researchers face is to convince community leaders, particularly clergy members, of the vaccine’s safety. Church leaders worry they’ll be blamed for supporting the trial if the vaccine ends up making their congregants sick, he said.

If done right, the trial could build trust in medical science while helping minorities help themselves — and the rest of us — find a way out of the current mess, Morrison said.

Dr. Raphael Landovitz, another UCLA scientist working on the trial, agreed.

“We’re hoping that people understand this is a chance — if we succeed — to take back some power and control in this situation that has made so many of us feel so powerless,” he said.

This KHN story first published on California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

LA Hospital Seeks Vaccine Trial Participants Among Its Own High-Risk Patients published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

[blairemclaren]

Consolee Masezerano Death | Akilah Institute Student Dies

Consolee Masezerano Death | Akilah Institute Student Dies

Elizabeth Dearborn Hughes mourns the death of Consolee Masezerano who recently passed away. Masezerano was a student of Akilah Institute, a Class of 2021.

According to Hughes tweet, Consolee passed away after courageous battle with an illness. We are yet to verify the death age at this time.

I was deeply saddened to learn about the passing of @akilahinstitutestudent, Consolee Masezerano, Class…

[afflatusafrica]

Our Progress

Afflatus Africa empowers, engages and connects African Youth in order to unveil their potential through inclusive and dynamic co-learning environment.

- Since December 2017, we have Equipped 430 youth with jobs and entrepreneurship related skills and we were able to help over 50 people to get jobs, internships and scholarships at Center for Education Network, Mashilika ltd, Kepler, Akilah Institute, African Leadership University, Boston College etc.

 - Since April 2018, we organize reading for change monthly event (the biggest book talk in Rwanda), a series of storytelling, book launching and review, panel discussions and networking to build a promising society. We promoted the culture of reading to more than 40, 000 people through events, workshops, media and social media campaign

 - We pay subscription for primary and high school students at Kigali public library to encourage schools and parents to subscribe their children and give them access to books.

-  We link young people with mentors in their fields of interest.

 - We organize Annual Conquerors Conference that aimed at Unveiling African Youth’s full potential to conqueror African greatest challenges by finding solutions within themselves.

 - Below is the feedback of one of our beneficiaries

- Hello I am Charles RUZIBIZA, After my high school, I attended one of interesting training willing is winning by Afflatus- Africa that took place at KGM(Kigali Genocide Memorial site). I gained some skills that enabled me to open my doors from the world of idleness and unemployment at large. After trainings, the Afflatus-Africa team had this perfect idea of keeping us in touch in order to share some opportunities. I this kind of way, I had an opportunity to get an internship of two months in CEN (Central for Education Network) company. This has improved my working skills and experience at the largest extent. #willing is winning Thank you very much.

 - 5 of our team were awarded humanity medals as youth champions. 5 of our team were selected to participate in Young African Leaders Initiative, the program that was initiated by the former US president Barack OBAMA.

 - Great people across the globe apply to speak in our events. We host people like rtd Major Peter Sossi and Samantha Lakin from USA, John Maxwell team from UK, people from Sweden, Kenya etc.

 - Some universities like University of Rwanda have welcomed us to establish clubs in their (all) Colleges and Campuses.

these links can lead you to the photos and videos.

Regards,

Afflatus Africa,

Email: afflatusafrica@gmail.com

[murillobasto]

Criança Feliz vence prêmio internacional WISE Awards 2019

Criança Feliz vence prêmio internacional WISE Awards 2019

Anúncio realizado nesta quarta-feira (4) reconhece o programa brasileiro de atenção à primeira infância como um dos mais inovadores do mundo

Criança Feliz vence prêmio internacional WISE Awards 2019 - O Brasil venceu a edição 2019 de um dos maiores prêmios internacionais do mundo na área da educação: o WISE Awards da Cúpula Mundial de Inovação para a Educação. O anúncio foi realizado pelo júri na manhã desta quarta-feira (4), em Madri, na Espanha. O prêmio reconheceu o trabalho desenvolvido pelo programa Criança Feliz, do governo federal, como uma das principais e mais inovadoras iniciativas do mundo na área. O ministro da Cidadania, Osmar Terra, comemorou a vitória e destacou o papel do programa que acompanha crianças e gestantes por meio de visitas domiciliares em todo o País. “É um orgulho receber a notícia de que o nosso programa do governo Bolsonaro venceu o prêmio deste ano. O apoio do programa às famílias é decisivo para fazer com que as crianças tenham uma escolaridade maior, uma profissão bem remunerada no futuro e possam ajudar a família a sair da pobreza”, ressaltou. A premiação é uma iniciativa da Fundação Catar e é considerada uma das mais concorridas e prestigiadas do mundo. O programa brasileiro de atenção à primeira infância competiu com mais de 480 projetos de vários países. O CEO da WISE, Stavros Yiannouka, falou sobre o reconhecimento. "O WISE Awards demonstra mais uma vez como as organizações globais e os governos podem enfrentar desafios educativos urgentes com soluções inovadoras de maneira sustentável e em grande escala”, enfatizou. Além do Criança Feliz, foram premiados o Family Business for Education (Reino Unido/Serra Leoa, Nigéria e Libéria), United World Schools: Teaching the Unreached (Reino Unido / Camboja, Nepal e Myanmar), Micro: bit Educational Foundation (Reino Unido), Arpan’s Personal Safety Education Programme (Índia) e Akilah Institute (E.U.A. / Ruanda). https://youtu.be/LWMgsYJTGTU Para a secretária Nacional de Promoção do Desenvolvimento Humano do Ministério da Cidadania, Ely Harasawa, o reconhecimento fortalece o programa, mostra a importância de todos contribuírem com a educação. “O fato de ser uma premiação de inovação educacional é muito importante porque nós no Ministério da Cidadania temos essa compreensão de que a educação é um processo muito mais amplo do que a política educacional, que é uma responsabilidade de todos”, destacou. Leia também: https://www.i9treinamentos.com/crianca-feliz-incentiva-participacao-dos-pais-no-desenvolvimento-dos-filhos/ Ela também comemora a inclusão do País no grupo seleto de discussão sobre o tema. “O prêmio nos dá a possibilidade de participarmos de uma comunidade de inovação em educação, o que pode ser uma grande oportunidade de inovação e aprimoramento do programa”, concluiu. A entrega do certificado e do prêmio de 20 mil dólares será realizada em novembro, durante a reunião da Cúpula Mundial de Inovação para a Educação, em Doha, no Catar. Para mais informações sobre o WISE Awards, acesse https://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/ Fonte Conheça o calendário de cursos da I9 Treinamentos para o ano de 2019. Novos cursos e professores renomados. Clique na imagem abaixo e fique sabendo muito mais... Read the full article

[bigbosscrypto]

Dr Ho: License to Practice - JonTron Thanks to RAID: Shadow Legends for sponsoring today’s video. Install Raid for Free ✅ IOS: https://clik.cc/WaONU ✅ ANDROID: https://clik.cc/AR977 Start with💰50K silver and get a Free Epic Champion 💥 on day 7 of “New Player Rewards” program. -- Follow JonTron Here: Instagram: http://bit.ly/2S9tSgq Twitter: http://bit.ly/L3qbzx MERCH HERE: http://bit.ly/2pmGDHm Business Inquiries: jontron(at)ellifyagency.com -- Cast: Jon Jafari - Jon...Jon Tron. Phillip Green - Vitali Dyomochka Richard Brundage - Q Heather Peterson - M Dante Jayce - Poker Dealer Nia Akilah Robinson - Model #1 Nicole Evangeline - Model #2 Reni Mimura - Hui Yin/Dr Ho Masseuse Henchman Michael Fuhrman - Clifford Cooper Emmett Robert Taylor - Young Poker Player Grace Bozza - Henrietta Innaswetta Joseph Fan - Dr. Ho (But not really) Crew: Jon Jafari - Director/Creator/Lead Editor Sergio Emilio Torres - Director of Photography/Line Producer/Creative Writer Mike Shayne - Gaffer/Creative Writer Andrew Reynoso - Editor/Creative Writer Melanie Licata - Make-Up Artist/Special Effects Lynell Vinuya - Production Designer Charlotte Claw - Production Manager Mike Butler - Set Decorator/Grip Trevor Lazinski - Set Decorator/Grip CJ Farmer - Set Dresser Cheven Zurbe - Set Stepper (Multiple Instances) -- "JonTron Bond" Music by Tom Ryan (http://bit.ly/1Ps8viU) -- This video is not in any way affiliated with Dr. Ho. Please use all products only as intended. via YouTube https://youtu.be/xX4D8anW4Rk If you want to learn more about cryptocurrencies, check out this awesome opportunity from the cryptocurrency institute. http://bit.ly/2sUPBxj

[birdschool60-blog]

Provident Mutual building redevelopment to move forward with Blackwell’s support

A developer’s plan to transform the former Provident Mutual Life Insurance Co. building into a sprawling health campus will move forward with the support of West Philadelphia City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, the incumbent legislator said Monday.

The support reflects a reversal in her position motivated, she said, by a flood of letters from unions, anchor institutions, and neighborhood groups, some touting community benefits agreements with the developer.

Iron Stone Real Estate Partners plans to purchase the 13-acre property from the city for $10 million. Iron Stone’s plans include space for tenants including the University of Pennsylvania, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia,  Public Health Care Management Corporation and the YMCA.

The city sunk $52 million acquiring the historic building and renovating it before putting it up for competitive bids. Then Blackwell surprised the developer and Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration by delaying a December vote on the land transfer bill needed to move the sale forward.

“I have a dozen or more letters of support, all the groups in the area are for it,” Blackwell said at at a community meeting at the Kirkbride Center. “In the final analysis, my job is to try to deliver what the community wants and I’m convinced the overwhelming majority of the community want this project.”

Philadelphia’s political norms ensure that only a district councilperson can introduce legislation that affects their backyard, making Blackwell’s support essential.

Jeff Jubelirer, a spokesman for Iron Stone, said community benefits agreements were signed in the last couple weeks. Groups including Men of Mill Creek Community Organization and the Walnut Hill Community Association promised support in exchange for community facilities within the project, public green space, a permanent advisory council comprised of neighbor groups, and local hiring, he said.

Iron Stone circulated a pamphlet on Monday that listed employment goals for minority apprentices, who would get 50 percent of all hours worked by apprentices, and minority journeypersons who would get 32 percent of journey hours worked across all the trades. The goals for female apprentices and “journeypersons” were each set at seven percent. Local residents would get 60 percent of journey hours, the pamphlet said.

A letter from the Laborers Council, the only majority non-white building trade union in Philadelphia, reinforced minority hiring promises made by Domus Construction, Iron Ston’s union contractor.

“I have assurances that they will commit to a diversified project,” Laborers’ leader Ryan Boyer wrote in a letter to Blackwell.

Michael Pearson of Iron Stone acknowledged that the company had signed a community benefits agreement, but declined to offer any details.

Blackwell said she hadn’t been involved in negotiations between neighborhood groups and the developer.

“I didn’t ask them about community benefits. I don’t know what their community benefits agreement might be,” said Blackwell.

A letter sent to the councilwoman by the Walnut Hill Community Association included a detailed list of community benefits. The commitments from Iron Stone included funding for University City District to clean streets more frequently in the neighborhood, annual support of $5,000 for “events like the Turkey Give-away,” and a guarantee that 50 percent of the building maintenance staff would be employed from the zipcodes adjoining the site, according to the letter.  

Blackwell asked for one addition to the benefits agreement on Monday: residential parking permits for a handful of immediate neighbors. The Provident Mutual building faces houses on 46th Street, and neighbors who attended the meeting feared they would lose on-street parking to visitors and workers. The permits cost $35 a year for a household with one car.

“I’m sure they could come up with that one little fee, one time,” said Blackwell. “Problem solved.”

Pearson said Iron Stone would pay for the requested permits for three years.

Blackwell said that her surprise delay of the project in December stemmed from community opposition at a meeting that month. But her latest reversal stems from a follow-up meeting at West Philadelphia High School, which convinced her that most of those who spoke against the project did not live in her district.

That meeting, held last Tuesday, featured speeches opposed to both the project and the councilwoman.  

“I think what needs to be challenged is councilmanic privilege,” said Shani Akilah, a member of the Black and Brown Workers Collective, in a video posted to the group’s Facebook page.  “Because the developers … are allowed to just give money to council people like Blackwell here, who pretends to be for the people.”

The city initially planned to turn the 92-year-old West Philadelphia landmark into a headquarters for the police department. After Kenney decided to instead put the police in the former Philadelphia Inquirer building on North Broad Street, the city opened up the 13-acre property to competitive bids.

  Source: http://planphilly.com/articles/2019/02/05/provident-mutual-building-redevelopment-to-move-forward-with-blackwell-s-support