EMAIL TRACKING....Avoid at all costs.

Advice from snopes.com

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1.    Any time you see an email that says "forward this on to '10' (or however many) of your friends", "sign this petition", or "you'll get bad luck" or "you'll get good luck" or "you'll see something funny on your screen after you send it" or whatever --- it almost always has an email tracker program attached that tracks the cookies and emails of those folks you forward to.

The host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of 'active' email addresses to use in SPAM emails or sell to other Spammers. Even when you get emails that demand you send the email on if you're not ashamed of God/Jesus --- that is email tracking, and they are playing on our conscience.

These people don't care how they get your email addresses - just as long as they get them. Also, emails that talk about a missing child or a child with an incurable disease "how would you feel if that was your child" --- email tracking. Ignore them and don't participate!

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2.    Almost all emails that ask you to add your name and forward on to others are similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to send business cards to the little kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guinness Book of Records for the most cards. All it was, and all any of this type of email is, is a way to get names and 'cookie' tracking information for telemarketers andSpammers -- to validate active email accounts for their own profitable purposes.

You can do your Friends and Family members a GREAT favor by sending this information to them. You will be providing a service to your friends. And you will be rewarded by not getting thousands of spam emails in the future!

Do yourself a favor and STOP adding your name(s) to those types of listing regardless how inviting they might sound!

Or make you feel guilty if you don't!

It's all about getting email addresses and nothing more.

You may think you are supporting a GREAT cause, but you are NOT!

Instead, you will be getting tons of junk mail later and very possibly a virus attached! Plus, we are helping the Spammers get rich!

Let's not make it easy for them!

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3.    Email petitions are NOT acceptable to government or any other organization - I.e. Social security, etc. To be acceptable, petitions must have a "signed signature" and full address of the person signing the petition, so this is a waste of time and you are just helping the email trackers.

And another important point is to delete all previous names from your emails before forwarding!!! Send emails to your entire address list BCC then everyone after you doesn't get your friend's email address.

Black Male Initiative: Email Hoax, College Education

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Please be aware of an email hoax that provides misinformation about the Call Me Mister program.

Black Male Initiative: Black Collegian. Call Me Mister!

Call Me MISTER!
A Program that Recruits, Trains, Certifies, and Secures Employment for African-American Men as Teachers
by Ross Norton

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The statistic is alarming: less than 1 percent, or fewer than 200, of South Carolina's 20,300 elementary school teachers are African-American men. A unique partnership is changing that. The Call Me MISTER program has received national attention and could become a model for similar efforts to increase the number of Black male teachers coast to coast.

National numbers are little better than those in South Carolina. According to an October 2004 report by the National Collaborative on Diversity in the Teaching Force, only 6 percent of the country's public school teachers are African American. The national Education Association reports that 25.8 percent of U.S. teachers are men. Only 9 percent of elementary school teachers are men. The numbers for Black males are even lower.

South Carolina's answer was launched when Clemson University and three historically Black colleges — Benedict College, Claflin University and Morris College — created the Call Me MISTER program to recruit, train, certify and secure employment for African-American men as teachers in the State's public elementary schools. The first class of MISTERs graduated in May 2004 and entered classrooms as strong, positive role models, mentors and leaders.

Another senior institution, South Carolina State University, and four two-year colleges, Midlands Technical College, Orangeburg/Calhoun Technical College, Tri-County Technical College and Trident Technical College, now join the four founding members of the partnership. Clemson is responsible for overall marketing and development, but each school is responsible for recruiting for its program.

The program appeals to young men who want to use their lives to change the lives of other African-American males. Recruits most often hear of Call Me MISTER while still in high school. The partner institution and its teacher education program first must accept students. After they're on campus, they apply to become program participants, or MISTERs.

Prospective MISTERs must demonstrate a commitment to becoming a teacher and submit to an interview before being admitted. The program includes about $5,000 in tuition assistance, but its real value to the MISTERs — and their future elementary students — is a high degree of personal development.

According to Call Me MISTER director Roy I. Jones, the MISTERs learn values, leadership skills, mentoring and how to be role models. They learn to be men. And it is those skills, paired with their academic preparation that will make them distinctive in the classroom.

"They have to know to and for whom they are to be good teachers," Jones says. "Teachers who don't know who they are don't need to be in the classroom."

Students in the modern elementary classroom are rife with personal and developmental problems. Many children are dealing with broken or dysfunctional homes. In their personal lives they are exposed to drugs, violence, a lack of supervision and, perhaps most significant, the lack of positive male role models.

For minority and non-minority children, the MISTER leading his class represents something they don't have in sports stars and entertainers: a Black man of authority whom they can reach out and touch.

"The MISTERs will have a different perspective than most of the other teachers," Jones says. "Some of them come from a dysfunctional background themselves. All of them represent a new breed of teacher: one uniquely prepared to address the whole child."

In a State where African-American men, although a significant part of the population, represent a blip on the elementary teacher rolls and 65 percent of the prison population, Jones believes Call Me MISTER will shatter stereotypes while it kicks open doors across the nation.

In 2001, Call Me MISTER was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show and selected to be part of Oprah's Angel Network. The program also has received widespread recognition from former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige and has been featured in such national media outlets as USA Today, TIME Magazine and National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."

Call Me MISTER sponsored a national conference on "Innovations in Recruitment, training and Retention of African-American Male Teachers" on March 18-20 in Greenville, S.C. The conference urged participants, who represented various higher educational institutions from several states, to form collaborative and strategic partnerships based on the Call Me MISTER model and experience. Attendees were given CDs, which included a PowerPoint presentation of the program components.

Speakers included former U.S. Secretary of Education and former South Carolina Governor Richard E. Riley; Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu, founder and publisher of African American Images and author of more than 20 books; Abigail Thernstrom, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and co-author of several books, including No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning; and Crystal Keykendall, educator, lawyer and author of several books, including From Rage to Hope: Reclaiming Black and Hispanic Students.

"I'm convinced we are on the brink of a breakthrough with the Call Me MISTER program in addressing, to some degree, the very critical issues confronting our children in school. I am very proud of our MISTERs in training as well as our graduates who are now teaching in several elementary schools," Jones says. "We are on a mission that we believe will transform every life that the program and its participants touch."

For more information about the Call Me MISTER program, visit the Web site: http://www.callmemister.clemson.edu/ or telephone 864-656-4646.

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Ross Norton is director of news at Clemson University.

Black Male Initiative: Call Me Mister

Welcome to Call Me MISTER

The mission of the Call Me MISTER (acronym for Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models) Initiative is to increase the pool of available teachers from a broader more diverse background particularly among the State's lowest performing elementary schools. Student participants are largely selected from among under-served, socio-economically disadvantaged and educationally at-risk communities.
The Call Me MISTER program is contributing to the talent pool of excellent teachers by identifying and supporting students like Mr. Mark Joseph (shown here), who are literally "touching the future" by teaching children. Mark's teaching degree was made possible through the Call Me MISTER program.
The project provides:

• Tuition assistance through Loan Forgiveness programs for admitted students pursuing approved programs of study in teacher education at participating colleges.
• An academic support system to help assure their success.
• A cohort system for social and cultural support.

“Call Me MISTER” was developed by some of our State’s visionary educational leaders who sincerely believe we can build a better tomorrow by getting you involved today.

Video Spotlights

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Please be aware of an email hoax that provides misinformation about our program.

December. Critical Infrastructure Protection Month.

Recognizing Critical Infrastructure Protection Month

President Obama declared December National Critical Infrastructure Protection Month.

Our Nation’s critical infrastructure includes everything from power plants, chemical facilities and cyber networks to bridges and highways, stadiums and shopping malls, as well as the federal buildings where millions of Americans work and visit each day.

Protecting these assets is a shared responsibility. As required by the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, The Department of Homeland Security leads this effort  through a framework of public-private partnerships in close collaboration with the 18 critical infrastructure sectors, which include federal, state, and local governments as well as private sector infrastructure owners and operators.

Since September 11th, DHS has made great strides to improve the security and resiliency of national critical infrastructure. One of the most significant developments has been the linking of physical and cyber infrastructure.  Businesses, governments, and individuals all rely on a vast and interdependent network of physical and cyber systems.  At DHS, we continue to work with industry to identify and mitigate threats to the industrial control systems that operate everything from the power supply to water filtration.

An aware and vigilant public is a critical part of securing critical infrastructure. As Secretary Napolitano has said, “Homeland security starts with hometown security and everyone has a role to play.”

The Department’s "If You See Something, Say Something™" campaign is a simple and effective program to raise public awareness of suspicious behavior and to emphasize the importance of reporting such activity to the proper state and local law enforcement authorities.

Throughout this month, the Department will reach out to our partners and the public to raise awareness of what we can all do to protect and improve the resiliency of the nation’s vast array of critical assets and systems. It will take all of us working together to ensure these resources remain strong for the next generation.

Follow the Department’s critical infrastructure protection and resilience programs at www.dhs.gov/criticalinfrastructure.

$25,000 Prize. VA Announces “Badges for Vets” Contest

VA Announces “Badges for Vets” Contest

Goal: Help Vets Get Jobs

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced the Badges for Vets contest for creating digital “badge” systems to help Veterans translate their military skills into civilian jobs. 
“We are looking for ways to make it easy for employers to see Veterans for who they are: highly qualified individuals in any job applicant pool,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.  “We want to help good jobs find Veterans and help Veterans find good jobs.”

A “digital badge” recognizes skills obtained through non-traditional learning, such as work-related training, online courses, and experience. Learners display their badges across the Web, resulting in jobs or formal credit.

“Many recently discharged Veterans earned employable skills during their time in uniform,” said Jonah Czerwinski, director of the VA Innovations Initiative that sponsors the new contest.  “They represent high-quality training and real-life experience.  We’re looking for new ways for employers to easily identify Veterans who have this training and this experience to fill good jobs in the private sector.”

VA is joined by the Departments of Education, Energy, and Labor to sponsor the “Badges for Vets” contest as part of the Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition administered by a consortium supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Mozilla Foundation.

VA Innovations Initiative (VAi2) will award up to three $25,000 prizes in five categories to teams that demonstrate they can develop and deliver digital badges representing skills learned in the military that are desired by civilian employers.   

Entries in the contest are due by Jan. 12, 2012, and winners will be announced at the Digital Media and Learning Conference in San Francisco Feb. 28-March 3.

VAi2 solicits the most promising ideas from VA employees, the private sector, non-profit organizations and academia to increase Veterans’ access to VA services, improve the quality of those services, enhance the performance of VA operations and deliver services more efficiently.  

Information about the Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition: 

http://www.dmlcompetition.net/

Resources: Witness Justice & Coalition Addressing Trauma

Witness Justice  hopes that the following links help provide the resources and support that you or someone you know may need in order to obtain justice and recover from a violent crime. We strongly encourage you to explore these links to acquire additional information that may help address your needs.


Please note that Witness Justice is not responsible for the content or accuracy of the information provided on these sites. Though we support the good intentions of these sites, Witness Justice neither endorses nor assumes any responsibility whatsoever for any of the views or policies of the organizations represented here. It is incumbent upon the user to exercise good judgment when accessing or acting upon any information obtained from any site on this list.


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