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!

IN THE CITY

New Pittsburgh Courier:

Kingsley looks to heal after pool tragedy
by Sonya M. Toler, Courier Staff Writer

Malik Bankston and his Kingsley Association staff are trying to heal after a teenager drowned in the new community center's pool.

Opened just three weeks ago, the pool was closed July 20 after 15-year-old DeGulle Ngankam, of Highland Park, drowned.
"The staff is grief-stricken," said Bankston, Kingsley's executive director.
"The staff needs healing," he said. "There will be several things that we will be doing over the next few days together."
The day after the incident, anyone visiting the Frankstown Avenue facility could see the sorrow on the faces of the employees.
Grief counselors who have been called in for staff, Kingsley members and anyone else who wants to talk about the incident are assisting in part of the healing process."

JUST REID

Six Trade Secrets For Great Speaking

in the mood for powerpoint?

sooper misc ppt
if you're interested in different 'takes' on the art of PowerPoint, then check this out....jim