Data. Use the Data for YOUR Narrative. It may be a matter of who's reading it and for what purpose.

 

Written by: Dr. Ron Jarmin, Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer Serving as the cornerstone of the nation’s economic statistics, the economic census is the most comprehensive measure of our nation’s economic activity. Every five years (for years ending in 2 and 7), the U.S. Census Bureau gathers data about America’s businesses, the jobs they support, and the trillions of dollars of goods and services they produce. We just completed data collection for the 2022 Economic Census which began in January with companies reporting their 2022 year-end numbers. As we wrap up this phase of the economic census, I’d like to thank all the businesses, large and small, that took the time to respond to the 2022 Economic Census. Your responses make a difference. Read More The economic census helps every American, especially businesses that rely on high-quality data. It provides national, state and local statistics that businesses and local communities use to understand the structure and evolution of markets, industries and local economies. But data users also benefit from the economic census indirectly as it’s a critical input to many other statistical products produced by the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, including Gross Domestic Product (GDP), productivity and producer prices. Continue reading...

Webinar: Community Imperative: Migrants and disasters in the U.S. Thursday, Dec. 14, at 2 p.m. ET

 The U.S. has more immigrants than any other country, more than 45 million people. When disaster strikes, migrant workers are often disproportionately affected.

We are hosting a webinar on Thursday, Dec. 14, at 2 p.m. ET to discuss issues connected to migrants and disasters and increase awareness of funding opportunities.

CDP President and CEO Patty McIlreavy will moderate the discussion. Panelists will be: 

• Eliza Brennan, Senior Program Officer for Education and Migration, International Community Foundation
• Cynthia Hernandez, National Training Director, Resilience Force
• Zenobia Lai, Executive Director, Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative

       

If you haven't registered yet, there is still time.  ​

USAID: Working with USAID. Edge funded Partnership. Improve Citizens Safety and Access to Public Services

Collaborating with USAID Building on the U.S. relationship with Ecuador, Administrator Power visited the country to launch a new USAID EDGE-funded partnership, an initiative to improve citizen’s safety, and an $11.5 million effort to expand citizen access to public services. Learn More

Funding Opportunity: Seeking proposals for the presentation of Finance Fundamentals: Financial Analysis for New Cooperatives

 

CooperationWorks! (CW) is seeking proposals for the presentation of Finance Fundamentals: Financial Analysis for New Cooperatives. Finance Fundamentals is the third and final session of CW’s flagship training for cooperative developers, The Art and Science of Cooperative Development . Historically, the training has taken place over five days in 1-3 weeks in a live-webinar format with regular homework. Typical registration is 10-25 students. The training has concluded with a final exam/project that participants must pass in order for the course to be considered completed. Finance Fundamentals prepares participants to perform financial analysis for start-up cooperatives and to create and understand financial projections for these new businesses. CW is seeking proposals from people and/or organizations that can: ● Present an existing 25-hour curriculum for the training; ● Modify and review regular homework assignments that challenge participants to deeply understand the materials; ● Modify and grade a final exam that accurately assesses participants’ understanding of the material; and ● Present the curriculum via webinar by March 2024.   All proposals must be received by 11:59pm PT on Friday, December 1st, 2023. All proposals should be submitted to Alex Stone at alex@cooperationworks.coop

Funding Opportunity: USAID. Green Climate Fund.

 

Administrator Samantha Power Meets with Mafalda Duarte, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund

• November 29, 2023

Administrator Samantha Power spoke with the Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Mafalda Duarte. They discussed opportunities to combat the climate crisis by increasing climate financing for climate vulnerable countries and improving access to GCF funding opportunities for local actors in developing and emerging markets. They also discussed the GCF’s progress on implementing its Updated Strategic Plan and increasing private sector investments. 

Funding Opportunity: Renewable Resources Extension Act - National Focus Fund Projects

 

Renewable Resources Extension Act - National Focus Fund Projects

The purpose of the grant program is to provide funds for extension projects that have national or regional relevancy. In particular, the program supports extension projects that address emerging forest and rangeland resources through the adoption of climate-smart technologies among forest and rangeland owners. For more information, click here.

Community Imperative: Build. More pertinent in 1967 and 2023 and Beyond. For our youth.

 What is your blueprint.

-Deep belief.

-Do not be ashamed of who you are,

-achieve excellence.

BEMA International

Start at Time 3:31.....

Rarely seen footage of Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking to students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on October 26, 1967, where he delivered his speech "What Is Your Life's Blueprint?"

Community Imperative: Affordable Housing. Atlanta, GA. TI and Tiny build affordable housing.

 https://blacknews.com/news/t-i-and-tiny-open-their-first-affordable-housing-complex-in-atlanta/#google_vignette

Nationwide — Atlanta rapper T.I., alongside his wife Tiny, graced the ribbon-cutting ceremony of their inaugural affordable housing development on Tuesday. This newly unveiled project encompasses 143 apartments, with an additional 25 units dedicated to accommodating homeless youth. The Intrada Westside, situated opposite Center Hill Park in the northwest part of Atlanta, is a significant endeavor driven by their commitment to the local community.

Community Imperative: Affordable Housing. Houston, TX. Slim Thug.

 

Since 2015, the “Welcome 2 Houston” emcee has been bringing affordable housing to the city through his Boss Life Construction company, co-founded alongside Cory Crawford and Troy Green, to their Texas community.

Community Imperative: Affordable Housing. Oakland, CA. First Woman Chair of Black Panther Party, Is Now Leading $80M Affordable Housing Project in Oakland.

Road House.  You'll know when to be nice.

 

“I’m still the same person I was in the ......... – though maybe more ruthless.”

BEMA International

https://www.becauseofthemwecan.com/blogs/news/former-black-panther-elaine-brown-leading-affordable-80m-housing-project-west-oakland

Brown, the former chair of the Black Panther Party, is now leading an $80 million affordable housing project in West Oakland. She is the creator of the project, an activist, a writer, and also a singer. In 1974, she became the only woman ever to lead the Black Panther Party. Now, at age 80, she is focused on providing jobs and low-cost housing to those in need.

“Don’t misunderstand me,” she told the Guardian, sitting in the office of the multimillion-dollar project. “I’m still the same person I was in the Black Panther party – though maybe more ruthless.”

The name of the housing project is the Black Panther. When it opens in May, that name will hang in 3-foot-high letters above the main entrance. Brown told the outlet that what had moved her to build the 32,000-sq-ft project in West Oakland was precisely the same motivation that propelled her leadership of the Black Panthers in the 1970s. “My goal then and my goal now is to create a model and an idea that will raise consciousness and give people

 something to fight for,” she said.

“I want us, Black people, to have economic power,” she continued. “We live in an environment where we have nothing. Black people don’t own anything in America… We are still an oppressed people, but we won’t recognize it.”

Seventh Street used to be a thriving African-American neighborhood that was considered the Harlem of the West. But, over time, the neighborhood changed and was labeled “undesirable,” like many Black neighborhoods throughout the country. Brown wants to help the area’s economic vitality by opening spaces for new Black-owned businesses. On the building’s ground floor, there’s going to be a restaurant, fitness and tech centers, and a grocery store, which is a crucial part of ending the current food desert. The businesses will run as co-ops, with every worker offered an ownership interest and with jobs reserved for poor or formerly incarcerated people.

Black Panther will also have 79 units of affordable housing that will fill the upper stories of the building. It will offer studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments to very low and extremely low-income people, with a maximum limit on their earnings set at 30 percent of the area’s median income, about $30,000 a year.

“Nobody else in West Oakland or anywhere else in this city has 100% affordable housing. Can you believe that?” Brown exclaimed. She says that the Black Panther project will stand as a statement that everybody has a right to a place to live.

Cover photo: First Woman Chair of Black Panther Party, Is Now Leading $80M Affordable Housing Project in Oakland/Photo by Marissa Leshnov/The Observer

Community Imperative: Affordable Housing. Washington, D.C. 1983, the five ladies were given the chance to buy the building for $75,000

 https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2303268175965113853/6576026970430641503

How a Northwest DC apartment building became a home and life-changing investment for 4 women

From left to right: Joanne Jenkins, Janice Washington, Earline Hendricks and Bettie Perry. (Courtesy Noelle-Kristine Spencer)

In 1971, Joanne Jenkins was a single mom looking for an apartment to raise her family in. She discovered a six-unit building in Northwest D.C., then signed a lease and moved in.

Multiple Language - Emergency Management Documentation, English, Creole, Swahili, to Vietnamese, and Sign Language (ASL).

Disaster Response and Recovery Resources Available in Multiple Languages Millions of people across the country have been affected by disasters, from Alaska to Puerto Rico, from Florida to South Carolina.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the entire Federal Government are responding to help disaster survivors.  Below is a compilation of federal information and resources available in multiple languages. Get Assistance After a Disaster – FEMA offers different assistance programs for individual disaster survivors versus public groups like government agencies and private nonprofit organizations.  Find the help you need to support your disaster recovery. Find information on response to Hurricane Ian in multiple languages.  Find information on response to Hurricane Fiona in multiple languages. Find information on response to Typhoon Merbok in multiple languages. Educational Materials on Natural Disasters, Severe Weather, and COVID-19 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a series of educational materials for the public to prepare for and respond to disasters and other emergencies in multiple languages including:   American Sign Language (ASL),  Amharic,  Arabic,  Chinese - (Simplified),  Chinese - (Traditional),  Haitian Creole,  Dari,  Dutch,  Farsi,  French,  Hmong,  Khmer,  Kurdish,  Pashto,  Portuguese,  Somali,  Swahili,  Tagalog,  Tigrinya,  Vietnamese The CDC has developed a number of Public Service Announcements for Disasters, which are available in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. ### With honor and integrity, we will safeguard the American people, our homeland, and our values.