Equitable Discipline. ERIC Digest.

School Practices. ERIC Digest.:
Contextualization of Misbehavior

Before disciplining students, educators should elicit and consider the reasons for their perceived misbehavior, particularly as they relate to racial differences between teachers and students. Doing so demonstrates a teacher's respect for student concerns. It can even uncover information about a problem that the school might help solve, such as the need for educational supports; assistance in securing food and shelter; relief from victimization through bullying; and counseling for trauma, depression, and family difficulties (Gathercoal, 1998).
For example, in class, many African American students speak out loudly and interrupt as a way of showing their interest, or even argue as they press their point; their intention is to participate, not misbehave, although some teachers may consider them disrespectful. "

The Daily Texan - Opinion

The Daily Texan - Opinion
"By Yvette Owo"

Methods of Discrimination

“…America's public education system also contains more superficial methods of
discriminating against African-American students, especially, again, African-American males. In February, Dr. LaVonne Neal, a professor at Southwestern University and special education teacher, gave a lecture entitled, "Something in the Way He Moves." She discussed teachers' perceptions of African-American males' behavior and school achievement based simply on the way the African-American male student "moves."

Dr. Neal noticed that teachers often made comments about a child's expected level of achievement as they watched the children walk through the halls between classes. Comments like "He'll never be in my [gifted and talented class]" were common. When Dr. Neal questioned her fellow teachers about how they could make such assumptions, many responded, "Look. Look at the way he's walking down the hallway (or how he's dressed, etc.)." Dr. Neal conducted an experiment to determine the effects of African-American males' movement styles on teachers' expectations and reactions.
The test showed that teachers not trained in cultural differences recognize social patterns as deficiencies, and minority children (especially African-American males) are often perceived as low in achievement, aggressive and in need of special education.
Dr. Neal suggests that to remedy such problems, teachers need to learn Culturally Responsive Teaching methods….”

blog me a river

Blogs and Nonprofits
What's a Blog, and Why Should Nonprofits Care?
by Zafar S. Shah

“…Sisnett tried her hand at experimenting with blogs. With one blog for her creative and personal writing and another for her work at Austin Free-Net, she soon became an advocate for the medium amongst her nonprofit and nontechie peers. "I was thrilled," Sisnett explains, "to find that blogs could have a real function in my work and not just in my writing…"

“…Free-Net's experiments with staff blogging fit a trend developing in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. According to Teresa Crawford, Technical Director at Advocacy Project and a leader in the movement to provide technology assistance to international nonprofits, blogs with an "internal focus" have made it easier for organizations to capture the knowledge of teams and support their collaboration. "Rather than only a linear discussion list for a team," she points out, "individual and collaborative blogs make it possible to see ties among team members and issues they are working on."

back to basics

Lost in Translation: Communication Between
the World of Business and Nonprofits
By: Marian Gryzlo, 05/21/04

"Nonprofits are unique in what they provide and how they provide it, and often in how they communicate it. With a little practice and patience, the business world can be more sensitive and understanding of the nonprofit world’s language. In return, nonprofits can learn to express their activities in terms that have real meaning to their corporate partners. Double meanings will then become single; ambiguity will turn into clarity; and funders and their partners will begin to say what they mean, speaking a common language that is mutually understood.
In the ever-changing world of philanthropy and community partnerships, there are common phrases that may have one meaning to a nonprofit and quite another for a business.  If "men are from Mars, and women are from Venus," then sometimes it seems corporations are from Mercury and nonprofits from Pluto when trying to communicate."

Lost in Translation: Communication Between
the World of Business and Nonprofits
By: Marian Gryzlo, 05/21/04

"Nonprofits are unique in what they provide and how they provide it, and often in how they communicate it. With a little practice and patience, the business world can be more sensitive and understanding of the nonprofit world’s language. In return, nonprofits can learn to express their activities in terms that have real meaning to their corporate partners. Double meanings will then become single; ambiguity will turn into clarity; and funders and their partners will begin to say what they mean, speaking a common language that is mutually understood.
In the ever-changing world of philanthropy and community partnerships, there are common phrases that may have one meaning to a nonprofit and quite another for a business.  If "men are from Mars, and women are from Venus," then sometimes it seems corporations are from Mercury and nonprofits from Pluto when trying to communicate."

lesson for the day

my enthusiasm for a letter or message from someone should never trump that persons' desire or knowledge to have that message kept private.
blogging should have the courtesy to verify an authors intention as to privacy or publication.
this is nothing more than courtesy and nothing less than establishing trust and integrity...jim

Free Lecture and Reception

MCG ARTS presents JANYCE ERLICH-MOSS

Free Lecture and Reception: Thursday, July 29, 6-8 pm at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild

Slide Show/Lecture begins at 6 pm

For almost two decades, Janyce Erlich-Moss has been photographically exploring the landscape and man’s relationship with it. Although landscape photography has traditionally been regarded as representational, her work is an ongoing effort to challenge that assumption. She uses a variety of methods to alter the viewpoint and make the familiar into something strange thereby emphasizing the essence, rather than the physical nature of the subject.

Turning towards the urban landscape Moss began shooting around the city of Philadelphia with a variety of pinhole cameras (known to Leonardo da Vinci and other artists as the “camera obscura”) that have neither lenses, nor the capacity to selectively focus.

In Dark Matters Moss combines this early pre-photographic technique with modern digital processing. This combination permits both spontaneous image making in the field and creative manipulations in the computer. The resultant images are sensed, much like a vague memory, and imbue the viewer with the recognition of a given place rendered disquietingly unfamiliar.

Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild – 1815 Metropolitan Street – North Side – 412-322-1773 – www.manchesterguild.org

Learning from Weblogs: Nonprofits Online
By: Tom Watson, 04/08/04

"Nonprofits are often inherently conservative (and I don't mean politically) in their communications strategies. There is good reason for this: they must report to their boards, they must answer to the government for their nonprofit status, and they must satisfy donors, who more often than not, do not reward a "shoot from the hip" style of communications. And while an open Weblog may not be the right tool for every nonprofit, there are a few good lessons nonprofits can take from the growing phenomenon.
1. Internet users want a voice…more.
http://www.onphilanthropy.com/tren_comm/tc2004-04-08.html

2. Closed sites leave money on the table…more.
http://www.onphilanthropy.com/tren_comm/tc2004-04-08.html

3. Allow personality…more.
http://www.onphilanthropy.com/tren_comm/tc2004-04-08.html

4. Finally, Weblogs are fun - they open up a world of viewpoints and information you might not ordinarily find. If you're not already reading them, wade in. Services like Blogdex (http://blogdex.net/) and Kinja (http://www.kinja.com/) are good places to start. Have a look around and see if Weblogs don't help make your own nonprofit's site more of a two-way street."

just say no...more!

EDUCATION WEEK LIVE WEB CHAT TODAY:

RESPONDING TO CHILDHOOD OBESITY THROUGH SCHOOL POLICY

Join us this afternoon, July 29, from 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., ET, for a live Web chat on school efforts to promote student health.

http://www.edweek-chat.org

Childhood obesity is quickly becoming an epidemic in the United States, with the rate of overweight children and adolescents nearly tripling in the past 20 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As the nation's children grow heavier, policymakers, health officials, and interest groups are pressuring schools to provide students with healthier meals and snacks and more time for physical activity during the school day.

Fewer than 35 percent of students today attend daily physical activity classes, and most schools don't require physical education, the CDC reports. At the same time, the federal agency says, half of all districts have a contract that gives a company the rights to sell soft drinks in schools. Some states have already moved to limit the sale of candy and soda in schools, but asking schools to give up the lucrative vending deals offered by companies such as Coca Cola is no small matter. Our panel of expert guests will address your questions on these and other pressing school health issues.


Guests:
* Rep. Sean Faircloth is a Democrat in the Maine House of Representatives who has sponsored comprehensive legislation to help the state's schools address childhood obesity.

* Sarah Lee is the physical activity health scientist in the division of adolescent & school health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

* Jane Mandell is a senior nutritionist in analysis, nutrition, and evaluation with the Food and Nutrition Services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Please join us for this important discussion:

http://www.edweek-chat.org

Submitted by Richard Flanagan RFlanag@aol.com

Supplemental Education Services Application Training
Presenter: Norma Hull
PA Department of Education
Date: Friday, August 6, 2004
Time: 9:30 am - 11:30 am
Location: Parental Stress Center
5877 Commerce Street
Corner of Baum Blvd. and S. Beatty Street (East Liberty)

Hosted By:
Wireless Neighborhoods

Under the NO Child Left Behind Act, faith-based and community organizations are eligible to receive federal funds to provide extra academic help in math and language arts to students in certain schools that need improvement.
Wireless Neighborhoods will provide technical assistance throughout the application process to those groups attending the workshop

Get your organization on the approved list by January 2005

Please RSVP (strongly encouraged) to Joyce Keyes at
jkeyes@wireless-neighborhoods.org/412-471-1910

bidwell culinary students presentation! 

Sending you Forget-me-nots

What's Not to Remember
CNN Crossfire co-host Tucker Carlson claimed on the July 27 edition of the show that "[n]obody prevented anyone from voting" in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. Carlson then added that the reason thousands of voters were purged from Florida's voter lists prior to the election was "[b]ecause they were convicted felons" -- an assertion contradicted by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in its June 2001 report "Voting Irregularities in Florida During the 2000 Presidential Election."
From the July 27 edition of CNN's Crossfire:

CARLSON: [N]o one is going to prevent anyone else from voting.
BEGALA: Oh, they did in Florida. They disenfranchised tens of thousands of people.
CARLSON: That's a total lie. That's a total lie -- as you know.
BEGALA: No, it's not.
CARLSON: Nobody prevented anyone from voting.
BEGALA: They knocked tens of thousands off the rolls in Florida.
CARLSON: Because they were convicted felons, Paul.
BEGALA: No, they weren't. That's the problem. They got it wrong.
CARLSON: OK, I can't re-argue something, especially when you're wrong.
BEGALA: No, I'm right.

In fact, according to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, numerous Florida voters were wrongly disenfranchised, largely as a result of an inaccurate list of supposed felons who were wrongly deemed ineligible to vote. In June 2001, the Commission reported that "Florida's reliance on a flawed voter exclusion list" -- provided to counties by Katherine Harris, then Florida's secretary of state and currently a Republican member of Congress -- "had the result of denying African Americans the right to vote." Regarding that flawed voter exclusion file, an article published by Salon.com in December 2000 reported that: (more)

Why Blogger?

From: JOI ITO  Bloggers versus journalists 

 "I've been interviewing a lot of professional journalists about "What is journalism? What makes a good journalist?" They usually talk about vetting sources, portraying things accurately, and other things that any blogger who is used to being ripped to shreds in comments by their readers on their blog do as second nature.
  My conclusion is that much of good journalism is just common sense, and I would even assert that compared to journalists who don't write in their name, have fact-check desks to do their fact-checking and editors to fix their grammar, bloggers are much more accountable and have to take it in the face compared to their anonymous counterparts in the mass media.
Is mass media more rigorous than blogs? 

 Remember the "Rumsfeld bans phone cameras" story that UPI and AFP ran and all the media picked up? Xeni at Boing Boing called the defense department and debunked the story and I updated my entry as a lot of the mass media were still going to press with the story. Did they print any corrections? I didn't see any. And this isn't an isolated incident. I've seen many cases where blogs have fact-checked and vetted stories that the media have just passed over.
I'm not blaming the mass media for their lack of ability be as nimble as blogs, but characterizing bloggers as a bunch of amateurs with no news value is really silly. Particularly annoying are the articles that seem to be picking a fight with the blogs.

  Maybe as Mahatma Ghandi said, "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." Dan, maybe you and "We the Media" better get over hear before the real fighting starts."

Call to Action!

Submitted by Miss Tyra of YouthPlaces:

Applicants Desperately Needed for Hampton Scholarship
If you know someone who wants to go to Hampton University and needs assistance please forward.
We would hate to lose any scholarship because of lack of participation. 

Please help get the word out to current Hampton students that ESPN is 
considering taking back two $10,000.00 scholarships because of lack of applicants;
they only received two applications.
If anyone knows of a deserving student please let them know about it and contact renee.antoine@espn.com
Ron Bridges, Government Affairs Representative AARP Ohiorbridges@aarp.org
Phone(614) 222-1503 ..Fax(614) 224-9801...Web sitewww.aarp.org/oh
The power to make it better(tm)www.voicesofcivilrights.org

when jay-walkers die?

click below to visit:
jay-walk purgatory

BIG THANK-YOU TO MISS KAY for this link!
Hope to get more stuff later.

New Pittsburgh Courier- Women of Influence

New Pittsburgh Courier: "Valerie Njie
Vice President of Operations Bidwell Training Center

Valerie Njie is actively involved in her community. Many people assume that she is a teacher or school administrator because she spends so much time at Schenley High School, advocating for not only her own daughter but for all students. She is a member of Mt. Ararat Baptist Church, the Parent School Community Council, the Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program Board of Directors, City High Board of Trustees and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Pittsburgh Alumnae Chapter. You can often find attending meetings to better serve those around her."

Women of Influence in Pittsburgh

New Pittsburgh Courier: "New Pittsburgh Courier 50 Women Of Influence
by Sonya M. Toler
Courier Staff Writer

One of the many definitions assigned to
the word 'influence'is the power or capacity of causing
an effect in indirect or intangible ways.
The following list of women exudes influence,
and their backgrounds and experiences paint a portrait
of hope and empowerment. This list not only showcases women
from the region who are raising the bar, but offers the
community 'our readers' an opportunity to shower thanks on these ladies who give so much of themselves tirelessly. " (see listing)

tips on organizing & designing Information

Innovation Extreme Makeover Lessons
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/archives/innovation_extreme_makeover.php

EM Lesson #1: Fitness precedes beauty.
Healthy bodies are more receptive to beautification than are unhealthy ones.
(Innovation evolves from sound business practices, good leadership, talented staff, and strong interpersonal relationships—get fit first then aspire to create innovative products.)
EM Lesson #2: Beauty is a subjective measure.
Some people think Ivana Trump is beautiful. Ford thought the Edsel was a beautiful car. What is beautiful to one person can sometimes be ugly to another.
(Innovation to one company is chaos to another—effective innovation practices are organization and environment specific. Be sure that your new innovation look fits your company’s personality.)
EM Lesson #3: Aspiring to beauty can be fatal, be prepared.
As the recent plastic surgery related death of Cinar Entertainment co-founder Micheline Charest illustrates, even the rich and powerful are, after all, only mortal.
(Be careful what you wish for, the wrong kind of innovation can destabilize and even kill your company. Ask Enron.)

teacher/student relations at Bidwell 

JUST READ!

Dan Farber RFID moving mainstream--and under the skin
Radio frequency identification tags are turning up in all sorts of places--from Wal-Mart pallets, wristwatches and luggage to dogs and even Japanese schoolchildren. Most recently, VeriChip, maker of subcutaneous RFID tags, has received a preliminary nod from FDA for subcutaneous RFID tags to identify hospital patients and staff.

Could forecasts of sensor ubiquity by 2015 prove conservative? I think not. Technological and economic issues surrounding RFID will continue to be accompanied by huge privacy issues.
As one reader put it: "Who'd want to be tagged and monitored like livestock? This technology gives me the shivers." Our ZDNet News Focus has the latest developments.
see full report: In 2015: sensors everywhere, computers invisible.

Politics and Connections
http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=43Edgrant.h23

Critics, though, question the reasoning behind the grant award and whether it’s appropriate for money intended to help rescue public school students from low-performing schools to be spent educating students who were previously home-schooled.
"To see money diverted from our public school coffers to support a for-profit company helping parents home-school does not seem like an appropriate use of public money," said Barbara Stein, a policy analyst at the National Education Association. (more...)

The New Radicalism
By Rachel Neumann, AlterNet. Posted July 22, 2004.

...While Globalize Liberation is a harsh critic of many tenets of corporate globalization, it seems, fundamentally, a hopeful book. "All we have to do," You write, "is change everything."

David Solnit: Hope is key. If our organizations, analysis, vision and strategies are lanterns, then hope is the fuel that makes them burn bright and attracts people to them. Globalize Liberation is consciously a hopeful book. The dictionary defines hope as "Desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment." Everyone who contributed to the book desires a radically better world, but the confidence that it will be fulfilled is told in concrete experiences from communities in North America and around the world. The essays in Globalize Liberation come out of these interesting times when social movements around the world that are bigger, stronger, more radical and democratic and more connected to each other than at any time in history.

What, right now, gives you the greatest hope?...(more)

The Urban League of Pittsburgh

Education & Youth Development Department

Youth programs provide educational counseling and a variety of opportunities for African Americans and other young people to learn about and experience many career and educational options. This program is responsible for hundreds of youth completing secondary school and moving on to professional training schools, two-year and four-year colleges and other areas of special training. In 2001-2002 alone 1,318 young people participated in Urban League programs.

The Education and Youth Development Department’s focus is the academic improvement and success of African American students in Allegheny County.

The Youth Development Department was established under the premise that young people are our most valued resource and with a mandate to assist African American youth meet the specific developmental goals they require to build character, adjust to an ever-changing society and prevent delinquency. Additionally, our mission includes initiatives, resources and opportunities to foster the healthy and productive development of African-American and other inner-city youth.


You may also read more about the programs availables within the
Education & Youth Development Department here.

Adopt-a-School Program is Live and Well in Our Communities

The Adopt-a-School initiative is a collaboration between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Pittsburgh Division, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

(...email me for more info and details on how to become involved in this very effective movement...JIM
The 'Adopt-a-School' program is a concept initiated by the FBI in the major divisions across the nation. The variations of the program range from periodic visits to a selected school where FBI volunteers and other resource personnel spend time with students during designated classroom time to the model utilized in Western Pennsylvania.
All the models are designed to work with students while stressing the importance of obtaining a good education, living healthy and drug free, and abstaining from violent and/or criminal behavior. The models are flexible enough in structure to not only allow for differences in school systems throughout the country, but also to allow the field divisions to choose an acceptable program that will fit within the confines of their available resources, while meeting the needs of the community/school district. "

see various partnerships: (impossible to list all of the associated organizations)
U.S. Dept. of Justice
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/165925.pdf
City of Pittsburgh Youth Policy
http://www.ypconnection.com/yp-pro/PDF_files/policyreport97-99.PDF
Butler County School District
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/news/butler/s_139454.html
Findlay Twp Police
http://www.findlay.pa.us/Newsletter/SectionContents/Currentnewstext.html
Charlie Check-First!
http://www.pagrandlodge.org/freemason/1102/charlie.html
American Jewish Committee
http://www.pittedtv.org/bio_hate_crimes.htm
Office of Science and Technology
http://www.netl.doe.gov/products/r&d/Intranet_stuff/ed_out/sssp.htm
Lawrence County D.A.
http://www.netl.doe.gov/products/r&d/Intranet_stuff/ed_out/sssp.htm
Tree of Hope
http://www.treeofhope.com/founder.htm

Locate A Social Service Organization

Social Service and Welfare Organizations Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania PA Yellow Pages

(...alphabetical listing of over 100 local service organizations,with email addresses and phone numbers...jim)

Welcome to Petra Ministries!!!

Petra Christian Fellowship - Ministries: Missions / Outreach:
(...please support your community resources. we can't afford to lose the folks that are actually committed to our survival...jim)

Petra Ministries
235 Eastgate Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15235
(412) 243-7225

I want my baby back!

The Village Voice: Nation: Liberty Beat: 'Just Give Me My Son' by Nat Hentoff
....are the secret detentions necessary to prevent escapes and jail-breaks? jim"
'If they want to kill me, kill me,' Ms. Kudi said. 'Just give me my son.' "

Human Rights First's report ends, "U.S. policies that promote secrecy and lack of accountability have encouraged authoritarian regimes around the globe to commit abuses in the name of counterterrorism."

Among the examples cited: "in Zimbabwe (where President Mugabe, while voicing agreement with the Bush administration's policies in the 'war on terrorism,' declared foreign journalists and others critical of his regime 'terrorists' and suppressed their work)."

And "in China (where the Chinese government charged a peaceful political activist with terrorism and sentenced him to life in prison, leading the U.S. State Department to note 'with particular concern the charge of terrorism in this case, given the apparent lack of evidence [and] due process.' " The Chinese Communist leadership must have snickered at this rebuke from the Bush administration).

Another example: "in Eritrea (where the governing party arrested 11 political opponents, has held them incommunicado and without charge, and defended its actions as being consistent with United States actions after September 11)." (Emphasis is added.)

While Congress and our courts ignore our own ghost prisoners, the Associated Press reported on July 13: "The International Red Cross . . . fears U.S. officials are holding terror suspects secretly in locations across the world. The Geneva Conventions on the conduct of warfare require the United States to give the Red Cross access to prisoners of war and other detainees."

simple things

My Website, My Self
When a writer hangs up her Internet shingle, fans go wild. And order ottomans.
July 27th, 2004 11:45 AM

"...thought I knew myself. Then I put three letters before my name and I disappeared entirely. Who knew 'www' could provoke such an identity crisis? It was as if I'd been given the opportunity to choose a new name and couldn't decide between Mary or Moonbeam, as if I was on a makeover show and weighing the advantages of a Kate Winslet-ish nose or a Kate Hudson-esque chin." (more)

perhaps a web log journal of all blessings

July 28, 2004
Writing With An Attitude Of Gratitude
Keeping A Grateful Journal

"Some days it's easier to be more appreciative of life than other days, but if you really take note, there's always something to be grateful for. It's important to be appreciative and by acknowledging life's blessings you actually invite more good things into your life.

Keeping a gratitude journal can remind you of all the things you have to be thankful for."  (more)

Sugar Daddy Syndrome

AFRICA: The 'sugar daddy' phenomenon
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - July 24, 2003
JOHANNESBURG, 24 July (IRIN) - Three teenage girls from a local high school in Johannesburg - South Africa's economic hub - were gathered in a local NGO office on Wednesday after watching an educational play on HIV/AIDS. The topic of discussion had generated a heated debate among the girls, and they were eager to share their thoughts on "sugar daddies".
"Girls my age are doing it, for sure. It's not a big deal anymore. I know it's not a good idea, but if you're getting everything you want from him, you don't think about other things," said 17-year-old Busi, who wanted to remain anonymous.
Although they were reluctant to talk about their experiences, all the girls knew someone who was involved with an older man. These older sexual partners are referred to as sugar daddies, but this type of relationship is anything but sweet.
Sexual relationships between older men and teenage girls play a significant role in the high HIV infection rate among young women in sub-Saharan Africa. But for the people involved in these relationships, the risk of HIV/AIDS is not a priority.

and from another source
"The trick is to get as much money as you can first, before you have sex, because he might run away," Berman quoted one teenage girl in Kenya as saying. Mercy Amba Oduyoye, director of the Institute of Women, Religion, and Culture in Ghana, said the problem stems from societies dominated by males, and that the girls are coerced - even if they're getting money.
British statistician Simon Gregson has devised some rudimentary mathematical models to estimate the effects of cross-generational sex on a country's HIV prevalence, finding that curbing the phenomenon would tend to bring down transmissions. In theory, if people limited sex partners only to people exactly their same age, all the world's sexually transmitted diseases would end after the latest infected generation dies.

just say no thank-you
---In Geneva, Peter Piot, executive director of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, says Zimbabwe isn't the only place where teen liaisons with older men are driving the epidemic. He also cites Botswana, Kenya, Zambia and South Africa, and he praises the SHAZ approach, saying it's "absolutely the right thing."
But SHAZ faces major obstacles.

The sugar daddy is part of a cultural tradition predating the onslaught of HIV, so some families have turned a blind eye to such relationships. For AIDS orphans with hungry bellies to fill and siblings to care for, the cycle may be even tougher to break.

"It's a problem that everybody's aware of and has been trying to tackle," says Imelda Mudekunye, a social worker in Harare who is project coordinator of SHAZ. But, she adds, "how do you say to people, 'Stop having the relationship,' when they want food on the table. It's a tradeoff between having the risk of AIDS in 15 years and having an empty stomach now."
Girls also obtain little luxuries like clothes, cosmetics or a meal of chicken and chips at Nando's, a popular Harare fast-food eatery, Ms. Mudekunye says. "Peer pressure comes in," she notes. "Young people in nice clothes get to hang out. Young girls who are poor want that too."

Can You Lend a Hand?

Lemington Home for the Aged At risk of closing!
 
The elderly they serve are the poorest of poor and are dependent on Medical Assistance, a state welfare program.
Many African American elderly over the age of 70 lack the retirement incomes to pay for the supporte services to assist them in maintaining independence.
Just 40 years ago the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed, therefore a 70 year old today was 30 in 1964. Many African-Americans were not permitted to work in jobs that offered retirement benefits until late in their adult lives.

(PRWEB) June 26, 2004 -- Ms. Mel L. Causey is the administrator for Lemington Home for the Aged d/b/a Lemington Center the oldest continuously operated African American sponsored long term care organization for the elderly in the United States.

Founded by an African American female, Mary Peck Bond in 1877 and incorporated in 1883, Lemington has faithfully served African American elderly in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania community for more than 127 years!
A 501 c3 organization, they operate a 120 bed nursing home in a building that was ill constructed in 1983. Their nursing home is in desperate need of your help.

Feel free to contact the organization for additional information,at 412-441-3700 or email your qiestions to mcausey@aol.com. Or check out their web site at www.lemington.org

ALSO:
Lemington employees press union demands
by Sonya M. Toler  Courier Staff Writer

Platoria Featherstone and other Lemington employees have a message for the community. “Come up and actually see what Lemington is actually about,” she says. “We need the community to support us. We’re the only full service, Black nursing home not just in Pittsburgh but in the country.”The employee’s union, SEIU 1199P, is currently negotiating with Lemington management and wanted their voice heard after the elderly care home’s President and CEO Mel Causey started soliciting public donations last month.Causey sent an e-mail to a broad range of people both locally and nationally, asking for donations for Lemington, which was founded in 1877.  Link to article.

Thomas Merton Center - Pittsburgh

TMC Homepage
The Thomas Merton CenterPittsburgh's Peace and Social Justice Center, Est. 1972

7/27/2004 -5:30 PM
TMC Building Committee Meeting
Thomas Merton Center, 5125 Penn Ave. (Garfield)

7/27/2004 -8:00 PM
Pittsburgh Bill of Rights Defense Campaign Meeting in Edgewood
215 Elm St. (Edgewood)

7/27/2004 -10:00 PM
"Refrigerator Mothers"
WQED-TV

7/28/2004- 1:30 PM
"What Did Four Environmental Projects in PA Teach Arab & Israeli Students About Peace and Justice?"
Creative Consultants, Inc. Center, 64 S. 14th Street (South Side)

7/28/2004 -8:00 PM
Party for Energy Independence (hosted by America Coming Together)
Buffalo Blues on S. Highland Avenue (Shadyside)

7/29/2004 -5:30 PM
"Treasuring Pittsburgh's Women" Picnic
Schenley Park - David Lawrence Shelter (Oakland)

7/29/2004 -7:00 PM
Western PA School Of the Americas Watch meeting
223 Elm Street, Edgewood

7/29/2004- 7:30 PM
PIIN Metropolitan Equity Task Force Meeting
Friends Meeting House, 4836 Ellsworth Ave. (Oakland)

7/30/2004- 6:00 PM
Urban Space Mixer
Urban Space, 709 Penn Ave. (downtown)

7/30/2004 -6:00 PM
An Evening of Socio-Cultural Celebration & Network Party
Ramses II @ the Great Pittsburgh Coloseum, Frankstown Road (Homewood-Brushton)

7/30/2004 -7:00 PM
"Stop the Wall": First-hand account by John Reese
William Pitt Union, Dining Room A, Fifth and Bigelow, University of Pittsburgh (Oakland)

7/30/2004 -7:30 PM
K'vetsh, an all-queer, all-gender open mic cabaret
Modern Formations Gallery, 4919 Penn Ave. (Garfield)

7/30/2004 -8:00 PM
Screening of S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine
Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky St. (North Side)

7/31/2004 -12:00 PM
Beaver County Peace Links weekly Saturday Peace Vigil
Beaver County Courthouse, 3rd Street (Beaver)

7/31/2004 -12:00 PM
Regent Square Peace Vigil
corner of Forbes and Braddock

7/31/2004 -1:00 PM
Black Voices for Peace Anti-War Protest
Corner of Penn and Highland in East Liberty

link to August Calendar:
http://www.thomasmertoncenter.org/calendar/

Update your hero skills:
Allegheny County- Pittsburgh - Adult CPR & AED; Infant and Child CPR & First Aid [Code: 32407]Description:This course prepares individuals to act in emergencies and to recognize and care for life-threatening respiratory or cardiac emergencies in adults, infants and children. Automated External Defibrillator (AED) skills are taught for adults. Basics First Aid is included. Participants receive a one-year certification in Adult CPR & AED and Infant and Child CPR and a three-year certification in First Aid. All sessions are held at the chapter and run from 8:00a.m. until 6:00p.m.
Contact: https://redcrosssecure.org/swpa-redcross/?zone=courseReg&zone=courseReg&courseID=10

Who you gonna’ call?
The United Way HelpConnections database features the most extensive directory of health and human service programs in the region. Whether you want to quit smoking, find a children's program, need someone to care for an elderly parent, or are looking for a support group, this is where to turn. Select from the three search categories or browse through the three types of lists to find what you need. Link to site:https://www.unitedwaypittsburgh.org/
Need to Know
What is Caffeine?
Caffeine is known medically as trimethylxanthine, and the chemical formula is C8H10N4O2 (see this page for an image of the molecular structure). When isolated in pure form, caffeine is a white crystalline powder that tastes very bitter. The chief source of pure caffeine is the process of decaffeinating coffee and tea.
Medically, caffeine is useful as a cardiac stimulant and also as a mild diuretic (it increases urine production). Recreationally, it is used to provide a "boost of energy" or a feeling of heightened alertness. It's often used to stay awake longer -- college students and drivers use it to stay awake late into the night. Many people feel as though they "cannot function" in the morning without a cup of coffee to provide caffeine and the boost it gives them.
Caffeine is an addictive drug. Among its many actions, it operates using the same mechanisms that amphetamines, cocaine, and heroin use to stimulate the brain. On a spectrum, caffeine's effects are more mild than amphetamines, cocaine and heroin, but it is manipulating the same channels, and that is one of the things that gives caffeine its addictive qualities. If you feel like you cannot function without it and must consume it every day, then you are addicted to caffeine.
Link http://home.howstuffworks.com/caffeine1.htm

Local Job Fair set for 11Aug04

Pittsburgh-
 The Mon Valley Initiative of Southwestern PA will host a Re-entry Coalition Career Fair
on 11 August 2004 in the Social Hall of the Homestead United Presbyterian Church, located in Homestead at Ann St. & 9th Ave. (10AM to 3PM)

The dress code is business attire and attendees should bring a resume.

Prospective employers and service providers should contact Jeff Brooks for further information.

Call the Workforce Development Team at 412-464-4000 ext. 4001 to register by  06 August 2004.  Space is limited!