Monday, November 21, 2016

Systems Approach to community capacity building and resilience.

To address issues both here in the U.S., and in our international community within the diaspora a clear understanding of how to address issues within our communities must be understood by each of us as emergency management professionals.

http://www.alnap.org/resource/23595.  Stepping back: Understanding cities and their systems.

A systems approach focuses on the linkages, interconnections and interrelationships between different parts of a system.  From simple system, to complex-complex systems with built-in feedback and controls designed within the system.  The urban system includes economics and livelihoods, politics and governance, society and culture, infrastructure and services, and finally space and settlements. These aspects of the urban context are all interconnected, dynamic and changing.

The Next Flint Water Crisis

https://psmag.com/the-next-flint-water-crisis-6436aa92b053#.tpoiqrmcc


A new study suggests a number of minority American neighborhoods are at risk of having unhealthier water than their white counterparts.
By Francie Diep
(Photo: Cate Gillon/Getty Images)
Walk through an unincorporated stretch of Wake County outside Raleigh, North Carolina, and it might look just as dense and developed as the town proper. But there’s an important, invisible difference: Folks there may not have access to the city’s municipal water system. Instead, their homes draw from private wells and septic tanks.
While not all unincorporated Wake County communities lack piped water, those that have a larger black population are more likely to depend on wells and septic tanks, according to a 2014 study. “They were excluded probably for historical reasons, during the Jim Crow era,” says University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill environmental researcher Jackie MacDonald Gibson, the leader of the 2014 study.
Now, MacDonald Gibson has a new study that demonstrates the toll that history has had on residents’ health. The kitchen tap water in majority-black Wake County communities that depend on wells is more than 50 times more likely to contain coliform bacteria — and more than 700 times more likely to contain E. coli — than the municipal water that’s available to majority-white neighborhoods just next door.
The presence of coliform bacteria and E. coli indicates that the water has been contaminated with sewage, which can make people seriously ill. If these neighborhoods had municipal water, MacDonald Gibson and her colleague Frank Stillo estimate that the number of annual emergency room visits for gastrointestinal illnesses in these areas would drop by more than one-fifth.
But leaders both in the city and in unincorporated neighborhoods have been reluctant to extend water service, citing costs, according to a surveypublished last year. “I think there’s a lack of awareness of the water quality problem in these wells,” MacDonald Gibson says. The effective result is that Wake County’s black residents bear a disproportionate burden of gastrointestinal disease there.
This may not be a problem only in North Carolina. Studies have shown that other majority-white Southern towns have refused to annex surrounding, majority-black neighborhoods and to extend municipal services to them. The practice is so common that it has a name: underbounding. Researchers have also documented towns underbounding Hispanic neighborhoods in Texas’ Lower Rio Grande and California’s Central Valley.
Poor communities of color in the United States have often had to deal with more pollution than their richer, whiter counterparts. The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, taught us that one way such environmental injustice happens is when officials make poor decisions and ignore residents’ complaints. Wake County shows that underbounding, whether new or historical, might be another way.
Though it’s common knowledge among environmental researchers that well water is often riskier than municipal water, most politicians and community members are not familiar with the dangers. With this new data in hand, perhaps city officials will finally have the information they need to justify the expense of expanding their municipal water system.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

April 2017. AMLFC Institute & 2017 ComplianceAid Caribbean Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Conference


               
ComplianceAid is honored to announce three additional speakers to its line-up of
distinguished presenters for the ComplianceAid Caribbean Basin AML/CFT/FCP Conference.

For more information about the
2017 ComplianceAid Caribbean AML/CFT/FCP Conference and to
REGISTER & SAVE $100 Use coupon code "100off" and Click Here

Register NOW Early Bird Special end November 30th, 2016.













ComplianceAid Caribbean AML/CFT/FCP Conference will be held in
Miami at the Conrad Hotel on April 6th & 7th, 2017.  

The list of 2017 distinguished speakers added to the
10 confirmed conference speakers include:  

· Mrs. Ligia Stella, Director, Financial Intelligence Unit, Sint Maarten
· Mr. Claudius Lestrade, Director, Financial Services Unit, Dominica
· Lt. Col Edward H Croft, Director, ONDCP, Antigua & Barbuda

Information on other confirmed speakers is posted on the website
and additional speakers will be announced shortly.


ComplianceAid is also proud to announce its partnership with:
· The Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions (CCCU)
· The Association of Compliance Professionals of Trinidad and Tobago (ACPTT)
· Trinidad and Tobago Members Clubs Association (TTMCA)  




The above organizations have secured a reduced registration rate for their members. 

Contact your respective association to obtain your coupon code.

If your association is not a current partner, we invite them to contact us, and we will
gladly work with them and extend a reduced conference registration fee
as well as other concessions.





















In addition, the AMLFC Institute in partnership with St. Thomas University has
announced its initial roster of speakers for its 2017 Conference taking place at the
Conrad Hotel on April 5th, 2017:

 
  • Ms. Janice P Holness, Executive Director, Financial Services Commission, Jamaica
  • Mr. Paul Coleman, Head of Compliance Unit, Financial Services Commission, Turks and Caicos Islands
  • Mr. Jeremy Stephen MSc. DIC. BSc., Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of the West Indies – Cave Hill Campus, Barbados

For more information about the conference and to REGISTER Click Here

For sponsorship opportunities Click Here or contact us at 305-407-2713
or email contact@complianceaid.pro

We would like to be your host on this third edition,
please let us know if you require assistance in planning your participation.
.

Great rates are still available on hotel and airfare!
Copyright © 2016 ComplianceAid, All rights reserved.


Friday, November 11, 2016

Congratulations: Ibarakumo B. Walson. BEMA International\Lifetime\Nigeria Member

Our survival depends on us coming together.  To put aside our differences, and ego’s for difficult times are ahead.   At times we have to follow, but know when to lead
CDS.  CEO.  BEMA

Congratulations to BEMA International\Lifetime\Nigeria member Ibarakumo B. Walson for completing the Ethics of Humanitarian Work conducted by EDD Integrated Services Ltd, Nigeria, November 10, 2016.

Ibarakumo is with the Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA, http://nema.gov.ng/ ) assigned to the Delta Region and has been a member of BEMA since 2014.  As I do with all members of BEMA we converse by telephone whenever possible.

Thank you for such outstanding work you’re doing for the Delta and Nigeria in planning, preparing, and responding to both man-made and natural disasters.

Special Offer: 
Because of your dedication I shall offer 2 FREE International\Lifetime\Nigeria membership to any of your coworkers that you recommend.

To stress the importance of us coming together for a common goal within the diaspora 2 FREE International\Lifetime memberships in BEMA will be offered to any member of disaster\emergency office\agency\ministry of the member nations of the Africa Union from November 11, 2016 to December 31, 2016.

Thank you for giving the incentive to evolve toward an African Descent NGO for humanitarian aid, disaster response, recovery, and self-sustainability for our communities.  Enough is enough.  The Time for Change is Now.

Ibarakumo, Peace be unto you and your family.

Charles

Charles D. Sharp
Chief Executive Officer
Black Emergency Managers Association  
1231  Good Hope Road  S.E.
Washington, D.C.  20020
Office:   202-618-9097 
bEMA 
GC_Endorser_BLUE_RGB_GRADIE     







Cooperation, Collaboration, Communication, Coordination, Community engagement, and  Partnering (C5&P)


A 501 (c) 3 organization.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Community Colleges since the Great Recession. Tuesday, December 6, 2016 930-1100AM

HBCUs,,,,I can't recall if many have setup a pipeline for graduates of even a neighboring community college to attend your campuses with direct admission.

Basic, simple AA degrees should get others in.  Also has been an issue with transfer of credits from one institution to another.  Interesting.

BEMA



         Urban Institute Events



Tuesday, December 6, 2016, 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Breakfast will be available at 9:00 a.m.
Urban Institute
2100 M Street NW, 5th floor
Washington, DC 20037  



Community colleges, which enroll more than 40 percent of postsecondary students, continue to gain prominence in discussions of public policies for higher education and job training. In 2010, the federal government invested $2 billion in nearly two-thirds of the nation’s community colleges to build capacity and spur innovation in job training. Proposals for free tuition at community colleges have gained national attention. A significant share of the Pell grant expansion has benefited community college students.
Community colleges serve large numbers of academically underprepared students with fewer resources than any other sector of higher education. This has exacerbated their challenges in increasing completion rates and meeting industry needs.
This panel will focus on the emerging issues facing community colleges since the Great Recession. The discussion will highlight variation among institutions and differences across state systems, along with tested policy and institutional solutions that bolster student success and economic development. Panelists will discuss findings from two new Urban Institute briefs.






Registration is required to attend this event. 


Speakers include: 
  • David Baime, senior vice president for government relations and policy analysis, American Association of Community Colleges
  • Sandy Baum, senior fellow, Income and Benefits Policy Center, Urban Institute
  • Lauren Eyster, senior research associate, Income and Benefits Policy Center, Urban Institute
  • Dan Phelan, president, Jackson College
  • David Wessel, director, Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy; senior fellow in Economic Studies, Brookings Institution (moderator)


Breakfast will be available at 9:00 a.m. The program will begin promptly at 9:30 a.m.
For inquiries regarding this event, please contact events@urban.org.



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