Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Our Communities Criteria. Business as Usual, or WHO HAS SERVED OUR COMMUNITIES. One of these 5 officials could be Biden's FEMA chief

Will we be back at ‘business as usual’ in practices and policies for communities of color?

Which candidate has done more in fully practicing the 'WHOLE COMMUNITY' concept, and equitable inclusion for all communities in their jurisdiction currently or when they served in an emergency management leadership role for a City, County, or State?

It is not a matter of understanding and being a certified professional in emergency management, it is a matter of consistently ensuring that all communities, and vulnerable communities that are known even under the current COVID-19 crisis by ZIP CODE are served.

Our endorsement from the Black Emergency Management Association International (BEMA)will be based on a stringent criteria for our vulnerable communities, and ensuring that a candidate practices equitable inclusion of those communities, the whole community.  That innovative approaches are implement to provide that service.

Gatekeepers even exist within our own community.

It is not a matter of checking a box to keep a voter block quiet, or even the coloreds quiet.

    • The House Committee on Homeland Security will be the same.
    • Will FEMA Administration or Administrator be the same, but a different name in the next four years?
    • Is BEMA International at, or even invited to the table?
    • From the Gullah entire community along the East Coast, small family farmers, Compton to Inglewood, Liberty, the Bronx, Puerto Rico, and others.  Have those vulnerable communities been served?

Charles D. Sharp .  Chairman\CEO.  Cornell University Climate Fellow. BEMA International

https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063720813

TRANSITION

One of these 5 officials could be Biden's FEMA chief

Thomas Frank, E&E News reporter

Published: Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz is among a handful of people seeking to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President-elect Joe Biden. Monroe County BOCC/Flickr

The names of five prominent emergency management officials are circulating as possible candidates to run the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the incoming Biden administration, which is facing pressure to fill the slot quickly.

Sources close to FEMA tell E&E News that the five officials include Deanne Criswell, commissioner of the New York City Emergency Management Department, and James Featherstone, a longtime emergency management leader in Los Angeles. Criswell, who has held senior positions at FEMA, would be the first woman to lead the agency since its creation in 1979. Featherstone would be the first Black FEMA administrator since the late 1980s.

The Biden administration has vowed to create a diverse Cabinet, and FEMA is under pressure to address diversity issues following a recent internal report that found widespread racial and sexual harassment and discrimination in the agency.

The other potential candidates are Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services; Jared Moskowitz, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management; and Michael Sprayberry, executive director of the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management.

Ghilarducci worked closely this year with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, a Democratic senator from California, on the state's record-setting wildfires and has been outspoken in linking the wildfires to climate change.

"All of them are qualified, and they all have the experience necessary to do the job," a former senior FEMA official said.

The International Association of Emergency Managers, which represents local emergency agencies, has urged the Biden administration to fill the job quickly instead of waiting months after inauguration as previous incoming administrations have done. FEMA's current administrator, Peter Gaynor, will leave office with the Trump administration.

"Changing administrators in the middle of the greatest catastrophe to hit our country at least since World War II is a daunting thought," association President Judson Freed said in an interview. "The sooner we can know who we're going to be working with so we're not waiting until late spring or summer, the better."

Moskowitz has acknowledged his interest in the FEMA job, telling a Florida news outlet in November that "if the call came, I would answer the phone."

Sprayberry told E&E News in a statement that he is focusing on North Carolina's pandemic response and added, "I will say it would be an honor to be considered for a position within the Biden administration."

Criswell said in a statement that she is "committed to leading the NYC Emergency Management Department during these unprecedented times" and is "focused on serving the people of New York City."

Ghilarducci's office did not respond to a request for comment, and Featherstone could not be reached.

Here is a look at the possible candidates.

Deanne Criswell

Criswell was named head of New York City's Emergency Management Department in June 2019 by Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, who hired her from the Cadmus Group consulting firm.

Criswell worked at FEMA from 2011 to 2017 and led one of the agency teams that handle disaster response and recovery. Before joining FEMA, she was emergency manager in Aurora, Colo., a city of nearly 400,000 people near Denver.

In New York City, Criswell has warned about climate change triggering flooding in the city.

"Sea rise is definitely a concern, and sea levels in New York City right now have risen about a foot since 1900," Criswell told the "Disaster Zone" podcast in October. "Our current climate change projections show they could rise another 30 inches by 2050. This is a big concern for us."

"What we're seeing is high sea levels are causing flooding on what you would consider a sunny day," Criswell told podcast host Eric Holdeman.

In November 2019, Criswell told a security conference that "climate change, social and economic inequity, aging infrastructure, reliance on technology, cyber threats and domestic terrorism" are exacerbating disasters, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

"She would check a lot of the boxes. She's been a local emergency manager, worked for FEMA, been on the front lines of COVID activity, is well-respected by her peers. And she's a woman," a former FEMA senior official said.

James Featherstone

Featherstone spent 30 years working in public safety in Los Angeles, starting in the city's fire department in 1986 and working his way up to become general manager of the city's Emergency Management Department. Retiring in 2016, he became CEO of the Los Angeles Homeland Security Advisory Council, where he worked with the public and private sectors to modernize emergency preparedness, until August.

As interim fire chief in Los Angeles in 2013-14, Featherstone ran an agency that had faced allegations of discrimination against minorities and had paid millions of dollars to settle discrimination lawsuits.

"I'm certainly sensitive to diversity," Featherstone said in a 2014 interview with the Los Angeles Times. "Have I experienced discrimination? Absolutely."

Featherstone recently was chairman of a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine committee that published a report in January on strengthening supply chains to withstand major disasters. The committee's report, written for FEMA, found that an influx of emergency supplies after a major disaster can have the unintended consequence of delaying an area's recovery and should be scaled back.

"The most effective way to deliver the needed supplies to a disaster-impacted area is by re-establishing pre-disaster supply chains," according to the report, which FEMA requested after experiencing supply problems during the devastating 2017 hurricane season.

Featherstone has served as a senior fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and was an adjunct instructor at Texas A&M's National Emergency Response and Recovery Training Center.

Mark Ghilarducci

Ghilarducci has been a senior official in California emergency management since 2000 and previously was a federal coordinating officer at FEMA in the Clinton administration.

In recent years, as California has faced some of the largest and most destructive wildfires in state history, Ghilarducci has been outspoken about climate change and a frequent witness at hearings in Congress.

In June 2019, Ghilarducci told the House Oversight and Reform Committee, "California has been severely impacted by the effects of climate change, which have manifested in the form of tree mortality, floods, severe storms, debris flows and multiple major wildfires."

Wildfire season is growing longer and fires are intensifying, Ghilarducci testified, because of "warmer temperatures, variable snowpack and earlier snowmelt caused by climate change."

In an August 2019 hearing before the same committee, Ghilarducci called climate change "a force multiplier when it comes to wildfires and their destruction" and said the wildfire burn area in California would increase 77% by 2100.

Ghilarducci had "frequent discussions" with Vice President-elect Harris in recent months about how to protect California residents from wildfires and COVID-19, according to a statement from Harris' Senate office in September.

At the August 2019 hearing, Ghilarducci questioned a new FEMA policy that made it harder for disaster survivors in large states such as California to get emergency aid from FEMA.

Jared Moskowitz

Moskowitz has the least experience in emergency management of the five possible FEMA candidates. He's been in charge of Florida's Division of Emergency Management since January 2019, when newly elected Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis named him to the position.

The appointment got attention in Florida because DeSantis is a Republican and Moskowitz is a Democrat who at the time of his appointment represented Broward County in the Florida House of Representatives, a part-time job. He worked on Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2008. Moskowitz's full-time job was general counsel at AshBritt Environmental, a Florida company with contracts to clean up hurricane debris.

When he appointed Moskowitz, DeSantis called him a "high octane incumbent" and "an effective Democratic voice in the Republican-dominated Legislature," according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

"We have a rich history of Democrats and Republicans coming together in emergency management," Moskowitz told the Sun Sentinel in June. "When a hurricane hits, it doesn't pick a Republican house or a Democratic house. This pandemic doesn't pick whether you watch Fox or MSNBC in how it affects you."

Moskowitz was aggressive in the spring at lining up hotels to accommodate hurricane evacuees so they would not have to stay in traditional "congregate" shelters, where the coronavirus might be easily spread.

One emergency management senior official told E&E News that Moskowitz's candidacy for the FEMA job could be hurt by his association with DeSantis, a strong Trump supporter who was aggressive about keeping Florida schools and businesses open during the pandemic.

Michael Sprayberry

Sprayberry has run the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management since 2013, when he was appointed by then-Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, after working in the state agency for eight years. Sprayberry has continued to serve under North Carolina's incumbent governor, Democrat Roy Cooper.

Sprayberry is well-regarded by other emergency mangers for his experience and calm demeanor during disasters.

"He is a top-notch emergency manager. He never overreacts to bad news and ... takes ownership of the job that he's been appointed to do," former FEMA Administrator Brock Long told The Charlotte Observer in May. "I've always found Mike Sprayberry to be a humble diplomat by nature."

The Raleigh News & Observer wrote in May that Sprayberry "fits a familiar trope, the uncle who knows where the good barbecue is on the way to the beach — and has very strong opinions about it — but also the one who answers the phone immediately and shows up first to help when your car gets stuck in the mud."

"He's nonpolitical and doesn't really give a damn whether Republicans or Democrats are in power," Mark Goodman, a local emergency manager, told the Raleigh newspaper. "He does what is best for the people of North Carolina. That's the key. It's hard to find people like that."

Sprayberry is a member of FEMA's National Advisory Council and was president of the National Emergency Management Association in 2017-18.

Sprayberry last year voiced opposition to FEMA's plans, which were then under consideration, to slash disaster aid and make it harder to states to qualify for disaster aid. FEMA formally proposed the idea on Monday.

"I wouldn't support it because what that does is put the onus back on the states" for disaster recovery, Sprayberry told E&E News in October 2019.

 




Charles D. Sharp
Cornell University Climate Fellow
Chairman\CEO
Black Emergency Managers Association International


 

1231-B Good Hope Road.  S.E.  

Washington, D.C.  20020

Office:   202-618-9097

bEMA International

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

A 501 (c) 3 organization

 

 

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today.  We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.  In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late.  Procrastination is still the thief of time.  Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity.  This may well be mankind’s last chance to choose between chaos or community.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ‘Where Are We Going From Here:  Chaos or Community’.

 


Sunday, December 20, 2020

News and announcements from Project Drawdown, the world's leading resource for climate solutions.

 

No images? Click here

 

Project Drawdown

News and announcements from Project Drawdown, the world's leading resource for climate solutions.

Support climate solutions, today

A new year filled with hope and opportunity is upon us. With world-changing work underway, Project Drawdown is standing tall to highlight Earth’s greatest solutions to our climate change crisis. Our work depends on the generosity of folks like you. Join us in supporting global efforts to move the world toward Drawdown—quickly, safely, and equitably. Make a tax-deductible contribution this month, and donors will match your donation!

 

 

 

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

$1.00 (One Dollar) Challenge. Our Narrative, OUR GIVING TUESDAY. BEMA Int, Mambo Mundo, NOSACONN

 BEMA International members Globally

I’m asking all members of the Black Emergency Managers Association globally to contribute $1.00 to Operation Asentamientos Humanos fundraiser. This fundraiser is a collaboration of Mambo Mundo, NOSACONN (New Orleans South Africa Connection), and BEMA International to provide relief and recovery to the vulnerable communities of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Jamaica as a result of multiple hurricanes that touched these communities in November 2020.

We have been challenged.  I’m confident that each of you as individual, and organization members of BEMA International can meet the challenge.

It doesn’t matter where the disaster, crisis, and emergency has occurred.  It matters that now we and can control the narrative and each of you as members of BEMA International globally are representing vulnerable communities to say “No more!” when disasters and crisis strikes our community.  That we will take a stand.

This is the first event in preparation for 2021 events for New Orleans, the Mid-Atlantic Region, the Caribbean, and other vulnerable communities.  The COVID-19 crisis has again focused on the data to show which communities are vulnerable by Zip Code. 

Time for a change.  We are the change that is coming.  

Our theme song:  Change is Coming" by Jamal Batiste (https://youtu.be/I6JvjCBGwhc)

Vulnerable communities must now take a stand and control the narrative for the services, and funding to sustain their communities.  Your giving $1.00 is a part of the sustainability of our vulnerable communities globally.  This is a start.

Give by any means.  Give by selecting one of the methods listed below, and participate in this historical event of Us coming together as ONE.  This is the First.

Operations  Asentamientos Humanos

            Media Release:

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Batiste-Fathers-and-Sons-of-The-New-Millennium----BB-King-s-Blues-Club-Host-Disaster-Relief-Benefit.html?soid=1011087220895&aid=ONwhG5SdOTs

 

Cash App


$CASHAPP Hashtag:                $OAHumanosFund 

   


PayPal

NOSACONN Link  (NOSACONN.COM)

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=L83NTETDXHS5S 

 

Operacion Asentamientos Humanos Link (OAHRelief.org):

https://paypal.me/OPAsentamientos

 

Direct Deposit  -  Official Financial Institution for Operation Asentamientos Humanos

Liberty Bank & Trust, New Orleans
Routing number: 065002108 Account number: 2457857
       EIN Number: 46-0700671

CONTACT:   Operacion Asentamientos Humanos at

                      operationasentamientoshumanos

 

Stay safe, be prepared.

Charles D. Sharp
Cornell University Climate Fellow
Chairman\CEO
Black Emergency Managers Association International


 
1231-B Good Hope Road.  S.E.  
Washington, D.C.  20020
Office:   202-618-9097
bEMA International
Cooperation, Collaboration, Communication, Coordination, Community engagement, and  Partnering (C5&P)
 
A 501 (c) 3 organization

 


 

 

Monday, December 14, 2020

Wall Street Vultures Are Set to Get Rich From Water Scarcity. December 9, 2020

 


 

Nick Martin

The New Republic

For the first time California water futures will be traded on Wall Street. Utility companies and agribusiness will be the main purchasers of these water futures, while vulture capitalists rush to find increasingly scarce water for giant water users.

According to a November 26 United Nations report more than 3 billion people are experiencing water shortages. , Image of Ossie Michelin photograph of water defender Amanda Polchies.

 

Bloomberg reported on Sunday that California water futures are now officially on the Wall Street markets, with the United States–based CME Group heading up the 2021 contracts connected to the state’s billion-dollar water market. The “commodity” was most recently going for $496 per acre-foot with the main purchasers of the futures—which were first announced by CME in September—expected to be large-scale water consumers, chiefly utility companies and the states’ Big Ag corporations. (California is home to the largest agriculture market in the nation.) “Climate change, droughts, population growth, and pollution are likely to make water scarcity issues and pricing a hot topic for years to come,” RBC Capital Markets managing director and analyst Deane Dray told Bloomberg. “We are definitely going to watch how this new water futures contract develops.” We’ve officially reached a new phase of the Mad Maxification of America. 

“Mni wiconi”—Lakota for “Water is life”—is not just a snappy slogan popularized by the Standing Rock movement. It’s a fact of human existence. The move to sell water futures in California stands as a foreboding indicator of the transformation of water from basic right into a luxury good. It’s a frightening expansion of a reality that already exists for poor, Black, Latinx, and Native communities across the country, from Flint, Michigan, to Navajo Nation. Welcome to the future.

Back in 2012, MIT News profiled the head of the company Sourcewater, which at the time had introduced the idea of creating an online exchange for gas and oil companies to quickly and easily source and purchase the water necessary to keep up with the rampant domestic fracking boom. These companies needed water but didn’t want to pay a ton for its transportation; Sourcewater helped them accomplish that. And because American businesspeople have been conditioned to bow down to middlemen who help drive down costs, Sourcewater was viewed as a success story. Read through the MIT News piece and you’ll find all the circus-like twists necessary to justify the company’s purported innovation. “Reducing the amount of truck travel via the new online marketplace also brings environmental benefits,” the outlet wrote of a company created to help facilitate fracking. 

One year after Sourcewater’s big breakthrough, in 2013, the federal government supposedly finished its part of a pipeline called the Mni Wiconi, designed to pump water from the Missouri River to tribal citizens and rural communities in western South Dakota. Up to that point, due to both the theft of Lakota lands and four subsequent damming infrastructure projects in the mid-twentieth century, many on the Oglala Lakota reservation, as well as those living on the Rosebud and Lower Brule reservations, had been forced to rely on fresh water deliveries by truck. 

Yet, even after the pipeline system was in place, it remained ineffective in spreading water to the tribal citizens in need, according to a 2019 reportfrom High Country News: “In reservation towns and villages, the new pipeline water is fed into old community water systems—some of which date to the 1960s, with pipes made of potentially hazardous asbestos-cement. The Mni Wiconi’s builders pledged but failed to replace those antiquated systems.” But for the 15 majority-white communities in the areas, as well as local white ranchers—whose county carried an annual per-capita income three times that of the Oglala community—the water pipeline worked just fine: “All the water flowing through Mni Wiconi pipes to those users is from the Missouri River, and their pipeline connections are funded by fees they pay to a not-for-profit, the West River/Lyman-Jones Rural Water System.”

The same year that High Country News published its feature, Sourcewater hauled in a tidy $7.2 million Series A investment and joined the space race of companies looking to provide satellite images of potential water sources to their extractive industry clientele.

These stories are the same kind of nightmare fuel as the new water futures market; it’s just they’re rarely paired together in mainstream coverage. The growth of companies like Sourcewater and CME, which exist to make a quick buck on the world’s emergencies and ill-fated economic pursuits, or austerity regimes like those that oversaw the crisis in Flint, are different faces of the same disaster: A future in which a select few hoard a necessary resource and relative like water is actually already here. That might be the scariest part about any of it.

[Nick Martin@nicka_martin is a staff writer at The New Republic.]



 

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Grants and Loans. Do you know the difference?

 

 

Can You Get the Help You Need From Grants or Loans?

Grants vs. loans with a capitol building image in between

Are you looking to get help paying for your education? Does your non-profit organization need financial assistance to complete a community project? The government offers financial help, but you may not know what’s available and where to find it. 

There are two main types of help offered by the government: grants and loans. Use this quick guide from USAGov to explore the difference between the two and find out how to apply.

Help Me Understand Grants and Loans

RECOMMENDED READING LIST

Search This Blog

ARCHIVE List 2011 - Present