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Thursday, March 14, 2013
March 21, 2013.. International Challenges and Opportunities: Law and Policy on Cybersecurity
Christopher Painter has been on the vanguard of cyber
issues for twenty years. Most recently, Mr. Painter served in the White House as
Senior Director for Cybersecurity Policy in the National Security Staff. During
his two years at the White House, Mr. Painter was a senior member of the team
that conducted the President's Cyberspace Policy Review and subsequently served
as Acting Cybersecurity Coordinator. He coordinated the development of a
forthcoming international strategy for cyberspace and chaired high-level
interagency groups devoted to international and other cyber issues.
Youth Scientist Challenge 2013
Do you have some budding young scientists in your classroom?
Discovery Education and 3M are looking for students in grades 5-8 who are enthusiastic about science.
To enter the Young Scientist Challenge, students must create a 1-2 minute video describing a new innovation or solution that could solve or impact an everyday problem related to how we live, how we work or how we play.
The top 10 students will receive a trip to the 3M Innovation Center in St. Paul, MN to compete for the chance to win $25,000!
Here is the Teachers Tools page for you to help your students get started right away. The contest ends April 23
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
2013-2014 John D. Solomon Fellowship Program
2013-2014 John D. Solomon Fellowship Program.
The John D. Solomon Fellowship for Public
Service is the first student fellowship in New York City government
devoted specifically to emergency management. This program provides the
opportunity for up to seven graduate students in New York City-area universities
to have a nine-month paid fellowship (approximately 20 hours per week) in an
agency of New York City government charged with helping the city prepare for all
types of emergencies. Each fellow will receive a $4,000 stipend, will be
assigned an agency mentor and will participate in special programs with other
fellows.
Participating New York City government agencies in
2013-2014 will be:
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Office of Emergency Management
-
Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
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Department of Aging
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Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs
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NYC Digital
-
NYC Service
-
Department of Youth and Community Development
The deadline for
applications is Friday, March 15, 2013.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Essence Editor Says She Was Fired
http://naturallymoi.com/2013/03/news/essence-editor-says-she-was-fired-it-wasnt-what-i-expected-at-all/
Essence Editor Says She Was Fired; “It wasn’t what I expected at all”
It seems that Essence Magazine is no longer about empowering and inspiring Black women. Constance C.R. White is the former Editor of Essence magazine and she has let the cat out of the bag. She shares that she did not leave the top Black women’s magazine of her own accord but was actually let go because she disagreed with the direction the magazine was going.According to White, when Time Inc took over the magazine, which was previously Black owned, they increasingly made an effort to “limit the way black women were portrayed.” White says that she disagreed with this new direction and constantly had disagreements with her bosses and they eventually told her that they were letting her go.
“I went in there with passion and excitement and high expectations,” White told Journal-isms, referring to her 2011 hiring. “It wasn’t what I expected at all. What needs to happen is the reader is getting lost and the reader has to be at the center. To make their world smaller is unacceptable,” White said by telephone. “A lot of the readers have sensed” what is happening, she said.
Essence, the nation’s leading magazine for black women, was originally black-owned but has not fared well under Time Inc. ownership, White maintained. Nelson [Martha Nelson, the editor-in-chief of Time Inc.] vetoed such pieces as a look at African American art and culture, and “I was not able to make the creative hires that needed to be made,” White said.
White’s story adds additional doubt to the notion that Essence can be considered a legitimate advocate for black women when black women are not being allowed to make key decisions for the magazine. This was the concern for millions of readers when the magazine was purchased by Time Inc. Since the merger took place, the content became lighter and less-controversial in tone, focusing on a steady staple of relationship advice, beauty tips, and more advertising than ever before.
She elaborated by email, “When was the last time you saw Essence in the community advocating for or talking with Black women?
“No more T-shirts with a male employee’s face on it being distributed at the [Essence] Festival.”
Essence announced White’s departure in a terse statement on Feb. 8. No explanation was given.
A New Paradigm for Black America. Chicago, IL March 30, 2013
Wealth, Education, Family and Community: A New Paradigm for Black America
Although we as African Americans were officially granted our freedom nearly 150 years ago, many of us do not feel truly free. Some of us get up and go to jobs that we do not enjoy, working for people who don’t like us very much. Then, when those companies feel that we’ve gotten out of line or they don’t need us anymore, we are sent out the door.
There is also a great deal of frustration with regard to how our kids are being educated, and the violence that has taken too many young lives in our community. Mass incarceration has ripped the black family to its core and an entire industry has been built from the prison industrial complex.
The solutions must lie with us. Taking charge of our individual and collective future requires a set of coordinated strategies that relate to how we build resources, protect our resources and target those resources. Education must become a leading priority that goes beyond what our children learn in school everyday. We must recommit ourselves to building and supporting black businesses, strengthening our families and sustaining our communities.
The future belongs to us.
Wealth, Education, Family and Community: A New Paradigm for Black America is a forum hosted by Min. Louis Farrakhan and Dr. Boyce Watkins. Min. Farrakhan and Dr. Watkins will discuss the need for a shift in the way people of color think about building wealth, pursuing education and challenging the obstacles to progress which exist in black America today. The forum will be exciting, engaging and fulfilling, with the presentation of long-term strategies for African American socio-economic progress and sustainability.
The next step of the Civil Rights Movement must go beyond voting for the right politician.
When: Saturday, March 30, 2013, 5 PM CST, doors open at 4 PM
Where: The UIC Forum on the campus of The University of Illinois at Chicago – 725 W Roosevelt (on the corner of Halsted and Roosevelt)
Cost: Free and open to the public
Where: The UIC Forum on the campus of The University of Illinois at Chicago – 725 W Roosevelt (on the corner of Halsted and Roosevelt)
Cost: Free and open to the public
Note: You must RSVP on this form in order to attend the event.
RSVP for the event at this link.
The Old and Reshaped Black Media
Dr. Boyce: Let’s Face it, Essence Magazine Has Lost it’s “Essence”
by Dr. Boyce Watkins
The revelations by former Essence Magazine editor Constance White both intrigued and concerned me. Not to say that I was surprised, but I admittedly long for the days when my friend Susan Taylor stood at the helm of the magazine, and Essence represented something black, extraordinary and authentic. There was a time when we fully understood that the power of media wasn’t just for making money, it was also for shaping minds. In fact, Adolph Hitler once said that if you want to control a group of people, all you have to do is control what they read, watch and hear.
For much of my life, when I thought about Essence Magazine, I thought about black women. Now, when I think about Essence, I think about what white people want black women to become. The mind can be under occupation in the same way that one colonizes a foreign country, and in the space of African American media, it’s difficult to argue that we’re not a conquered and imperialized group of people.
The pressure to assimilate is overwhelming when I look at how most of the radio stations our kids listen to are owned by big corporations like Clear Channel, who don’t care that commercialized hip-hop music is teaching young boys how to grow up and become murderers and r*pists. Television Networks like BET seem to believe that it should once again be illegal for black people to learn how to read. Even TV One, the “good version” of BET (a network that most of us respect), is 49% owned by NBC Universal, implying that they remain officially black-owned by a mere technicality.
Essence is one of the latest victims of the perpetual paper chase that turns us into the kinds of economic addicts that are produced by a racially-oppressive capitalist society. As black kids, we grow up believing that our goal in life is to sell our soul to the highest bidder, and that it’s OK to be an asset on someone else’s plantation, as long as our overseers allow us to live in the big house. This opens the door to a life of fancy cars, big houses and expensive meals at the finest restaurants, where we charge it to the game without realizing that there is a massive debt to be repaid.
Then, one day, you look in the mirror and the person you see no longer has a soul. Like the hooker on the corner who gave her baby away for another vile of crack cocaine, you realize that your worth in this world has been reduced to the size of your paycheck (which can be taken away as soon as they are finished with you). The community you love languishes and dies, while you sit in the warmth of your corporate office with a boss telling you that the plight of “those people” has nothing to do with you.
I understand this well, because I know capitalism. I’ve been teaching Finance at the college level for the last 20 years, and one thing I know for sure is that the powerful temptation of money can lead us to become something that we’re not, and it can literally reshape the structure of our psycho-sociological DNA, turning a righteous mission into an abandoned one. I believe this is what happened to Essence magazine, and quite frankly, it disgusts me.
I wasn’t surprised in the least to hear former Essence editor White say that the corporate captains who own Essence were pulling the strings and dressing the magazine up in black face. I could hear the voices of thousands of black women on our blogs who, through women’s intuition, could tell that something was wrong. I’ll keep things simple: If you want to understand why most corporations or politicians do anything that doesn’t make sense, just follow the money. Its much more profitable to sell beauty tips and relationship advice than it is to discuss controversial topics like racism, poverty or the prison industrial complex. Purely capitalist organizations are not designed to incur these kinds of risks.
I don’t hate Essence Magazine, but I think that we should not define the magazine by what it used to be. Instead, we should define it by what it is. Essence Magazine is NOT a publication designed for the empowerment and independence of African American women. It is a magazine that is run and owned by a big corporation with mostly white shareholders who have positioned the brand to get access to the spending power of African American women. Ladies, the magazine is certainly wired to SERVE you, but it is not wired to LIBERATE you. There is a very big difference between the two.
Susan Taylor left the building long ago and Essence has “evolved.” The painful truth that we must realize is that to truly create black-owned media that empowers the African American community, we must be able to think beyond the financial bottom line. Economic inequality is the last great hurdle of black civil rights, and overcoming starts with the power of OWNERSHIP.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and author of the book, “Black American Money: How Black Power Can Thrive in a Capitalist Society.” To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Grant Opportunity. Deadline May 3, 2013. State Farm.
Feel free to share
this unique State Farm grant opportunity with your community partners,
educators, and parents you insure. Let me know if you have any questions..
Thanks.. Jose
To all community
leaders, partners, and educators:
I’m excited to inform
you that the State Farm®
Youth Advisory Board (YAB) service-learning grant
applications are now available from March 1, 2013 until May 3, 2013
at 5 PM CST.
The grants range from
$25,000 - $100,000 and are designed to create sustainable change in local
communities across the United States and Canada. Public K-12, charter, higher
education institutions, and non-profit organizations are eligible if they are
able to demonstrate how they plan to impact student achievement within the
public K-12 curriculum. All applicants must have a youth contact and adult
administrator, as the programs must be youth-driven and
youth-led.
Each grant request must fall under one of these issue areas, chosen by the board itself:
- Community Safety
- Environmental Responsibility
- Financial Literacy
- Access to Higher Education
- Health and Wellness
As of August 2012,
six years after the initial launch of the YAB, the board has awarded more than
$24.7 million in grants to organizations in the U.S. and Canada and
impacted approximately 14.1 million lives.
To apply for the
grant and to obtain additional information, please visit www.statefarmyab.com! You can also
check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube!
Please share this email with anyone you think might be interested and don't hesitate to email me at jose.soto.cwme@statefarm.com or call me with any questions!
Please share this email with anyone you think might be interested and don't hesitate to email me at jose.soto.cwme@statefarm.com or call me with any questions!
Sincerely,
Jose
Soto | State Farm Insurance |
Public Affairs Specialist 10451 N.W. 117th Ave Suite 300, Medley, Fl.
33178
| (:
786-394-9688
| (: 305-458-3935
(Cell)
Here’s your chance to make
a positive impact in your community!
"The
mediocre teacher tells…..The good teacher explains……The
superior teacher demonstrates….The great
teacher inspires." - William Arthur
Ward
* Every individual matters. ...Every
individual has a role to play... Every individual makes a difference... We have
a choice: What sort of difference do we want to make? - Jane
Goodall
BEMA's Meet & Greet March 2013 at B.Smith Union Station
BEMA Network Members (All):
ARE YOU READY FOR THIS!
Mark your calendars for our March 2013 Meet & Greet to be held
at B.Smith Union Station.
Why Union Station? Union Station is
accessible by public transportation, excellent garage and on street parking, and
security. Many of our members travel by public transportation and use the
Virginia or Maryland commuter trains which originate at Union Station.
What better way to decompress.
"Hey B & Dan we're coming!"
When: Wednesday, March 20,
2013
Time: 6:00 - 9:00 PM
Location: B. Smith
Restaurant
Union Station
50 Massachusetts Ave NE
Washington, DC 20002 (map)
Phone: (202) 289-6188
Washington, DC 20002 (map)
Phone: (202) 289-6188
Parking: 2-hr $1.00 complementary parking inside Union
Station parking garage.
Enough time to drink some tea, water, soda and eat a
little.
Come out enjoy the
atmosphere, the upcoming events that BEMA and members will be participating, and
other BEMA business items.
Looking forward to seeing as many members as
possible.
Charles
Charles D. Sharp
Chief Executive
Black Emergency Managers Association
bEMA
2027 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20020
Office: 202-618-9097
Cell:
240-750-7609
Emergency Power: Generators
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
More generators can mean more noise
Outages prompt sales, but some can exceed decibel limits
Tropical storms, derechos and large snowstorms have led to an increase in generator sales in the region and more generators can mean more noise during power outages.
Generator sales have doubled every year for the past three or four years, said Jim Fab, owner of Fab Electric in Gaithersburg. When he first started installing generators 25 years ago, he would install perhaps one or two per year. In 2012, his company was installing 20 generators per month.
“Ninety-five percent of our sales are people tired of losing power — 5 percent is medical related,” Fab said.
The loudest generator he sells has a maximum level of 63 decibels, he said.
Montgomery County’s noise ordinance stipulates that levels must not exceed 55 decibels when measured at the property line.
Barriers can be erected to mitigate the noise, but Fab said most people don’t buy those. He said generators, which he said are quieter than lawn mowers, are used only a couple of times a year during power outages and are life-safety equipment. He said he hasn’t heard of many noise complaints because of them.
The Montgomery County Department of Environmental
Protection received 15 complaints about generator noise in 2012, said spokeswoman Esther Bowring.
Each complaint is investigated and if no immediate resolution can be reached, a notice of violation is issued, Bowring said. Four notices were issued in 2012 for generator noise violations, but no citations have been issued for 2012 complaints.
Every time a storm has knocked out power in the past few years, Kinzie Inc. has received hundreds of inquiries about generators, said Robert Kinzie, chief marketing officer for the Bethesda company.
The Cummins generators his company installs reach 62 decibels, he said, and most customers are conscious of the noise they cause.
There are plenty of reasons people want to install a generator, from those running home offices to people with medical problems and older people who can’t be without power for long, he said.
The generators his company installs — depending on capacity — can cost from $18,000 to $80,000.
Nancy Navarro, president of the Montgomery County Council, said her family purchased a small portable generator before Tropical Storm Isabel hit in 2003 and is considering purchasing a partial home generator. Navarro (D-Dist. 4) of Silver Spring said she hasn’t received any complaints about noise from her neighbors.
Somerset has seen more residents applying for generator permits and Mayor Jeffrey Slavin said residents who install generators are required to mitigate the noise.
“People who have installed generators are very interested in being good neighbors,” he said. “They place them where they have the least impact as possible.”
Some Somerset residents don’t see a need for homeowners to have generators and don’t want Somerset to be known as “generator city,” while others have a real need for continuous electricity for health and safety reasons, Slavin said.
The increase of generators in Somerset started after the big snowstorms, dubbed “Snowmageddon,” in February 2010 that left thousands of people in the region without electricity.
Slavin said Pepco’s service has “marginally improved” since then, but there are still “way too many power failures. It’s unacceptable.”
Slavin said he hasn’t installed a generator for his home because he doesn’t want to deal with the expense or decide where to put it.
“I’d rather rough it for a few days, but it’s very frustrating,” he said.
Pepco is working to improve its service and began a plan in September 2010 to improve reliability both day-to-day and during storms, and that plan helped with better response times during Sandy in October, Pepco spokesman Marcus Beal said.
“If customers decide to purchase a backup generation system, we strongly recommend they have a professional install and configure it to ensure that it will operate safely,” Beal said.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Food. Product Recall. Bumble Bee Tuna Products
03/06/2013 01:23 PM EST
Bumble Bee Foods, LLC, has issued a voluntary recall on
specific codes of 5-ounce Chunk White Albacore and Chunk Light Tuna products.
The recall has been issued because the products do not meet the company’s
standards for seal tightness.
. For detailed information pertaining to this Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety Alerts message, please click the link at the beginning of this bulletin.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Training Opportunity: EMForum. Move People from Intention to Action
Who Depends On You?
A Public Education Campaign To Move People From Intention to Action
February 27, 2013 -- 12:00 Noon Eastern
EMForum.org is pleased to host a one hour presentation and interactive discussion Wednesday, February 27, 2013 beginning at 12:00 Noon Eastern time (please convert to your local time).
Our topic will be "Who Depends on You?," a proven public education campaign that takes what we know from research and puts it into a simple, cost-effective, targeted marketing strategy to break through the inertia many people experience when it comes to disaster preparedness. Our guest will be Mary Schoenfeldt, Public Education Coordinator for the City of Everett (Washington) Office of Emergency Management.
Please make plans to join
us, and see the Background
Page for links
to related resources and participant Instructions. On the day of the program, use the Webinar Login
link not more than
30 minutes before the scheduled time.