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The race toward economic and social stability
Posted on December 22, 2020 by Leslie Green	Leave a comment
By Leslie D. Green | Special to Crain's Content Studio
Economists suggest the speed of recovery from pandemic-related shutdowns shows the United States is on an upswing that could continue into 2021. However, presidential transition-related conflict and a third-wave surge in global coronavirus cases have economists, investors and businesses on edge.
Credit spreads, overall financial-stress indicators and the dollar have remained relatively tame, suggesting the equity market is mainly consolidating its outsized gains while anticipating clarity on the profits outlook. Indicators, including positive corporate earnings in the third quarter, have been pointing toward stronger U.S. growth—particularly since they rebounded faster than during the last recession. And the United States has been experiencing solid momentum in economic growth so far in the fourth quarter, bringing activity within the 90 percent to 95 percent range of pre-coronavirus pandemic action.
Yet, uncertainty remains. Business leaders question how the President-elect's plans and policies, including taxes, health care and tariffs, will affect industries and their consumers. And, as more states implement and reestablish COVID-borne restrictions, worries over country-wide shutdowns and hopes for an additional stimulus are growing.
"We have seen a fairly quick rebound. But that last 5 percent of economic growth is going to be very, very difficult to reclaim. It will be a long climb—and probably not until 2022—until we return to the levels of economic growth we had prior to the pandemic," said Matt Elliott, Midwest Region Executive for Business Banking and Detroit Market President of Bank of America.
Elliott recently moderated a virtual roundtable conversation with metro Detroit business, academic and community leaders about the state of the region transitioning from 2020 to 2021.
Top row, from left: Christina Brown, Consumer Research Insights Analyst, HMS Mfg. Co.; Matt Elliott, Midwest Region Executive for Business Banking and Detroit Market President of Bank of America; Ki (Kouhaila) Hammer, President and CEO, Ghafari Associates; Darienne Driver Hudson, President and CEO, United Way for Southeastern Michigan. Bottom row, from left: Rip Rapson, President, The Kresge Foundation; Nicole Sherard-Freeman, Executive Director, Workforce Development & Detroit at Work, City of Detroit; Michelle Sourie Robinson, President and CEO, Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council; M. Roy Wilson, President, Wayne State University.
Nicole Sherard-Freeman, executive director of Workforce Development & Detroit at Work for the City of Detroit, said city administrators are encouraged by the recent bump in economic indicators but recognize that it's unlikely to be the real story.
"We won't know the real measure of impact of what's happening with the economy for another 12 or 18 months," she said. "That's when we'll start to feel the ripple effects of what happens when you close casinos and hotels and restaurants, and when Detroit's small business community fails at a rate of about 40 or 50 percent."
Going beyond economic figures and issues of financial volatility, roundtable participants also delved into the impact of this dramatic year and their concerns surrounding the future of COVID-19, supply chain shifts, racial justice and equity.
Down, Not Out
Increasing cases of coronavirus in the U.S. and Europe is a top concern for investors and business leaders alike though many businesses have been able to rehire workers and the number of unemployment claims is decreasing. Still, there's growing, but cautious, optimism.
The City looks at residential employment, instead of unemployment, as the real measure of how economic development, economic stability and mobility are affecting Detroit neighborhoods. That number was close to 231,000 in February 2020, Sherard-Freeman said.
"But those numbers dropped in April to 165,000. It looked a lot like a 90-degree angle fall off a cliff," she said.
With 208,000 residents employed as of late October, the city appeared to be bouncing back. Still, Sherard-Freeman said city leaders remain watchful.
While dips in the economy often hit contract labor first, that sector is also usually the first to rebound, said Ki (Kouhaila) Hammer, president and CEO of Ghafari Associates, which operates technical staffing company G-Tech.
"Before COVID, things were going just fine. Then the pandemic hit, and business in the G-Tech world went down by about 50 percent almost overnight," she said. The company furloughed staff and cut employee hours, and clients began requesting billing-rate reductions.
Now, though, G-Tech is getting "requests for many engineers, in many different frames for different clients," Hammer said.
Likewise, HMS Mfg. Co., which designs and manufacturers housewares for retailers, was doing well and focusing on developing innovative products for the home in the beginning of the year. The company paused that strategy when the quarantines started and businesses shifted to delivering essential products.
The company's niche has helped.
"We did all right because we make everything that's in the house," said Christina Brown, consumer research insights analyst for HMS. "Now, we need to make sure we are making the right things for the home to ensure we support life looking a bit different."
While COVID didn't hurt HMS sales, it did complicate order fulfillment and supply chain logistics, and it altered company priorities.
"All of our business units focused on shifting away from new design into human protection—what our people need to get through the pandemic and what customers need from us," Brown said.
In part, this means determining whether employees truly need to travel to accomplish their goals and developing more secure online platforms to help people feel more comfortable making purchases.
"This idea of pivoting and shifting toward the people is really critical for growth," Elliott said.
Agility Is Key
Pivoting or evolving business strategies is really about resilience and resilience planning, Elliott said. This requires having a diversified source of revenue, planning for sustainability of revenue sources and business models, and ensuring your organization has a technology angle and technology support.
"Not every organization can make that sort of a pivot. But you have to if you're going to be resilient," Elliott said.
HMS, which has U.S. and global operations, found itself contending with different and ever-changing pandemic-related executive orders. Shipping also became more complicated for goods manufactured domestically and internationally. At the same time, production was complicated by executive orders requiring some businesses to shut down, Brown said.
Still, HMS shifted goals, optimizing what it manufactured to maintain retailer partner expectations while still protecting their workers. The company also began using its 3D printing capabilities to produce personal protection equipment (PPE), which it distributed to staff and frontline workers.
Now, Brown said, "We are looking at different fulfillment options to optimize where the staff can be and what we can do from various locations. We are looking at doing things like shipping directly to the consumer, shipping larger volumes to our retail customers at a time to optimize fulfillment."
While work with aviation, shipping companies and online retailers, such as Amazon, accelerated, many construction projects stopped, especially those in the Middle East, which essentially halted for Ghafari Associates, a global engineering, architecture and construction services company.
So, Ghafari shifted its focus from construction to designing more capital projects for the future. Because work in the Middle East is predicated on oil prices, the company is used to and prepared for shifts there.
"If the oil prices are up, they're spending money. If oil prices are down, they're not spending money, and everything shifts to a very slow pace," Hammer said.
Adjusting Service Models
Nonprofits were among the most visible organizations to shift strategies and processes to both endure the pandemic and support those suffering through job and other losses.
In March, most of the region's K-12 and post-secondary schools turned to remote learning. Whereas digital learning has kept students with adequate technology connected, schools have been paying the price.
By April, many colleges and universities began seeing decreases in fall enrollment—16 percent around the country—and drops in residence hall renewals. Consequently, they initiated layoffs and other budget cuts to help stave off hundreds of millions of dollars in predicted losses while also trying to mitigate the financial pain many students were experiencing.
Yet, Wayne State University is bucking the trend. The Detroit school has seen increases in some enrollment figures.
"We actually had a 5 percent increase in our first-year students," said university President M. Roy Wilson, M.D., a trained epidemiologist.
The university also hasn't taken the financial losses most universities have so far experienced this year because of shifting strategies a few years ago that included turning to a public-private partnership for housing and food services, Wilson said.
Still, with decreased consumer spending in 2020, property taxes left unpaid or deferred, high rates of unemployment and other hits to state budgets, college and university administrators expect state and federal budget cuts to affect their bottom lines in the near term.
"We've been fortunate, but we are going to be impacted financially," Wilson said.
The United Way for Southeastern Michigan was beginning to witness more stable households and thriving children before the world was thrust into the pandemic, said United Way President and CEO Darienne Driver Hudson.
However, the board quickly released $2 million from emergency reserves to help nonprofits on the front lines of serving those in need and to provide collaborative and regional grants. Through ongoing and new corporate partnerships, the nonprofit also acquired the volunteers they needed to answer calls from distressed citizens.
"We were able to raise $37 million with the COVID fund. But the actual campaign we run annually plummeted," Hudson said. The nonprofit, which has more than 740 corporate and community partners, shifted from using its resources to deal with decreasing donations to pushing much-needed resources into the community.
"That's not a sustainable funding model for any of us, especially people who have fee-for-service models like our family service agencies," Hudson said. "That's a big question in terms of what happens next, how we think about those models."
More than the economy's finances, Rip Rapson, president of The Kresge Foundation, said the "dark matter of the economy" needs addressing. He described this as the fraying of the soft tissue of the community that is creating a health crisis throughout society.
"Unless people feel a sense of cohesion, a sense of confidence in their daily routines, unless they feel like they have the kind of mutual supports and community that permit them to succeed over the long term, all this falls apart," said Rapson.
"Nicole's comment about 40 to 50 percent of the small businesses in the city of Detroit failing is not something that gets put back together right away. This has enormous traumatic, personal, professional community implications."
Wilson added that there's also the issue of children missing out on the social and educational development they get from in-person learning. "As an epidemiologist, I'm worried about the pandemic and think we have to be very cautious," he said. "So, I just urge everyone to think in terms of being as aggressive as we can be in driving the numbers down so that we can open up schools earlier."
Which is why, Rapson said, philanthropy's energies have been redirected. "Philanthropy can step in and underwrite every one of those 50 percent of businesses who fail, or they can do any number of other things. But it can't do everything," he said. "So, this deconstruction of what it takes to be healthy and vibrant and sustainable over the long term is at risk."
Understanding, Addressing Disparities
Pivoting in philanthropy, Rapson explained, requires a deep commitment to trying to figure out the infrastructures of social and racial justice that are needed to carry the country into a different rebuilding process.
"There's no question that urban centers of America are going to have to rebuild. Whether it's housing, small business development, transportation or infrastructure, this is going to be a different world, and municipal government is only going to have so many tools at its disposal," Rapson said.
"It's sad, but I think it took the pandemic to remind people that you can't talk about health without talking about disparities. You can't talk about housing without talking about disparities. Just tick through every single indicator," Rapson said. "People don't want to deal with it. It's complex. It means sort of undoing systems and kind of rejiggering them."
When it comes to rebuilding the city of Detroit, Sherard-Freeman pointed out that it won't happen with $15-an-hour jobs as the ultimate goal.
She and colleagues at the City are exploring what prospects they have to benefit the region. Beyond FCA building and bringing 5,000-plus jobs to Detroit and the opportunities through suppliers considering a move to the city, Sherard-Freeman said there's more they can do.
She cited closing the gap on public education and building a workforce that becomes an attractive economic value proposition for industries outside of the auto industry, like health care.
But this means understanding the impact of COVID on the healthcare industry, on communities of color and on industries that don't yet exist, Sherard-Freeman said.
Rapson added that understanding the open space possibilities and neighborhoods around FCA is as important as determining what to do about the city's transportation, education and health-related issues.
"What it means is that we have to go back to basics, but the basics are sort of predicated on issues of racial disparity and justice. How we think about a next-generation housing program in the city, how we think about a next-generation small business program or commercial quarter redevelopment program has everything to do with issues of identity and race and history and legacy and opportunity. So, in some ways we're looking at what we've always been looking at," Rapson said. "But I do think that there's sort of a bright light that has shined in our direction, and we have to take advantage of the moment."
The responsibility is on everyone, Hudson said. "Even if you were not the person who built the system, or you are not perhaps the oppressor, or you've been victimized, everybody has a role to play, and everyone has a responsibility to understand how we can improve it," she said.
For its part, the United Way Worldwide has changed its bylaws to include statements on diversity and against racial justice, which they are pairing with staff training.
Elliott said Bank of America thinks about diversity and inclusion as a core part of its business strategy. "There is also an extremely strong business case for closing the racial wealth gap," he said. "We can't be a top 10 state for jobs and income if we don't make progress on closing the racial wealth gap."
Ghafari has always had internal policies promoting diversity and inclusion and standing against discrimination, Hammer said. However, not everyone on staff understands the perspectives of other cultures.
"We're finding out we all need more education in terms of what we have to be aware of so that we don't think that we're doing such a good job when we're not. So, we're on our first journey, if you will, of pivoting after the whole situation with Mr. (George) Floyd," Hammer said.
Michelle Sourie Robinson, president and CEO of the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council, said they've seen eloquent letters, commitments and pledges from corporations since the video of the death of George Floyd came to light.
But, she said, equitable education and simply the opportunity for minority-owned companies to compete for business are the best ways to close the racial wealth gap.
"Minority firms are often overlooked. But because of their ability to hire in some of these often-forgotten sectors, they have the ability to help close that gap in a more sustainable manner," Robinson said. "We've seen some amazing organizations that are raising funds, but when you look at the fact that the average black family has about $3,000 in net worth, and you compare that to the average white family, which has about $147,000, we have some gaps to close.
"And we close those through economics. So anytime you support minority-owned firms, you are actually helping to do that in a fashion that is much more sustainable than most."
Global manufacturing hit a 29-month high in October and appears to be dealing valiantly with shifts in demand and supply chains. USDA economists predict higher commodity prices in nearly every agricultural industry in 2021.
However, the country is not out of the woods.
Fundamental changes in the way we operate are as necessary to growth as are a second stimulus, a vaccine, a return to pre-pandemic employment levels and a peaceful transition of power at the federal level.
"Going forward doesn't mean continuing the way we've been going," Elliott said. "If you're not being inclusive, we're going to have problems. If your business isn't resilient or planning for resiliency, we're going to have problems.
"We all need to take into account how what's happening now is impacting not just the business community, but also our children, our educational system and the fundamental building blocks of what our economy and society will look like as we head into 2021."
This piece was originally printed in Crain's Detroit Business Book of Lists 2021 and on CrainsDetroit.com.
Reading, Writing
Women in Nonprofits: Why More aren't in Positions of Power
Posted on October 13, 2020 by Leslie Green	Leave a comment
Traveling to far-flung places and helping people with their basic needs was Julie Chase-Morefield's dream in high school. Her mother grew up impoverished and shared stories of standing in line to get federal food commodities. Now Chase-Morefield is president and CEO of the Lorain-based Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio.
Diana Natalicio's high school set low expectations for students simply because they were from low-income families. Girls were taught home economics or secretarial skills, while boys learned woodworking and machine shop skills. As the first female president of the University of Texas at El Paso, Natalicio provided new opportunities for both low-income and Latino students.
Anita Bradley dropped out of college and struggled with drugs after both her father and uncle died in a boating accident. Bradley endured one crisis after another, including a miscarriage, until she finally sought treatment. Years later, Bradley founded the Northern Ohio Recovery Association in Cleveland.
Yet, driven and successful women like Natalicio, Bradley and Chase-Morefield are habitually demeaned on the job.
While studies show that 45% of nonprofit CEOs are women, the illusion of gender parity dissipates with closer examination, said Patricia Deyton, a senior adviser for the Council of Women World Leaders, an adjunct professor at the Simmons University School of Business and the Harvard Extension School in Boston and former CEO of the American Red Cross of Massachusetts Bay.
"When you look at the nonprofits with power—the ones with voice and the nationwide nonprofits—that's where you see disparity in leadership," Deyton said.
Women nonprofit CEOs earn 34% less than their male counterparts, said Deyton, who is also a senior associate at the Center for Gender in Organizations, a research group at Simmons University. And, she said, women hold just 18% of CEO roles at nonprofits with budgets over $50 million.
Such disparities make it difficult for women to lead, Chase-Morefield said.
"Women are collaborators who just want to make things happen without worrying about who gets the credit," she said. "But that's not the way the rest of the world is."
As a result, Chase-Morefield thought she couldn't have flaws.
"I felt I had to be much more serious and much more prepared than men because I was being judged on a much higher standard," she said. "My predecessor had been male, and there was a little bit of a 'good ol' boys' thing with the men in the community. It was frustrating. They wouldn't take me seriously.
"People would even say, 'You went into nonprofits because you couldn't make it in the business world.'"
Women's work? No, women's values
Nearly 75% of nonprofit employees are women—not because they can't make it in business but because the sector reflects women's values to a greater degree, Deyton said.
Indeed, most staff and board members at Humble Design in Pontiac, Mich., are women—though not intentionally. Founder and co-CEO Treger Strasberg said the work resonates with more women.
Strasberg understands Chase-Morefield's frustration.
"I've seen directly how being a woman has impacted my business," she said. "Small meetings tend to be run by women-driven organizations. But when we get to the large organizations seeking large dollars, serious money, it's a male-centric room."
Strasberg has been studying homelessness for 11 years and even talked about affordable housing at the White House with Ben Carson, the U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development. "But I've been to meetings where there were 16 people, and I was the only woman," she said. "And they turn to my husband, who is not an expert, for answers."
Likewise, Diana Sieger finds she's not always taken seriously or included in networking opportunities even after being appointed president of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation more than 30 years ago.
"I don't play golf," she said, "But I survive."
Sieger credits the respect she gets in boardrooms to her outspoken nature.
"I would be the only woman sitting around the table, and I wanted so desperately to be taken seriously," she said. "But I was never shy about advisedly expressing my opinion, and that worked in my favor.
"I remember sitting in a meeting, and the men were denigrating Hillary Clinton in pretty unsavory terms. I said, 'I want you to go home and say that to your wife, your daughter and your granddaughter and see how they react.'
"From that time forward, I didn't hear those kinds of comments."
The takeaway, Sieger said, was not to allow herself to be minimized, to address it then and there and to learn how to sit down with a business leader and hold her own.
"I take the attitude that you may not like me, but you're going to respect me," she said.
Nonetheless, Sieger acknowledged that being a white woman in leadership is a truly different experience from being a minority female leader.
"Women say men treat us as if we're invisible," she said, "but African American women and Latinx women are truly invisible people."
Case in point: Helene Gayle, M.D., noticed throughout her career that she could be the only leader in the room and still be discounted by male colleagues.
"Luckily, I came into my roles in the times when being the first woman was not the uphill battle that it was 20 or 30 years ago.
"Still, I have had male counterparts that were my direct reports, and reports of my direct reports, who got more attention in meetings than I did," said Gayle, president and CEO of The Chicago Community Trust, former president and CEO of CARE and a physician who worked with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on HIV/AIDS and other health issues.
As a minority leader, NORA's Anita Bradley finds she must do more than her male counterparts to get the outcomes for the people she's serving.
"I have brought in more than 20 million federal dollars," Bradley said, "but it's not easy."
It's what you know—and who, too
The ability to acquire essential funding, Bradley said, comes down having access to a larger social network. That's something that men and white people in general tend to have because they are invited to serve on more boards of directors.
"Clearly, being on boards provides connections, knowledge and experience," Deyton said.
Likewise, Cassie Nielsen, president of Talent for VMG Partners, recently told Yahoo! Finance it "makes economic sense" for women to serve on boards as they make 70-80% of consumer purchasing decisions.
"Yet, because women are underrepresented on boards of directors, those boards lack a diversity of decision-makers, which allows unconscious bias to play out," Deyton said.
Sieger of the Grand Rapids Foundation said boards of trustees also help build a good network of female leaders and other support and are easier to get on than boards of directors.
It took a while to get her foot in the door, but Eva Garza Dewaelsche, president and CEO of SER Metro-Detroit Jobs for Progress Inc., said sitting on several boards has allowed her to penetrate a normally all-male group of leaders. Dewaelsche sits on the advisory board of Comerica Bank, is a member of the New Detroit board of directors and is a Detroit police commissioner.
Unfortunately, she said, she has received more help from men than women.
"I would like to be able to say that women have opened doors to opportunity for me, Dewaelsche said. "But that hasn't been the case for most of my life because they are not in leadership roles or were not when I started 25 years ago.
"Women have to place themselves in situations where they can have that opportunity—where they can be leaders. I take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way to learn how to be a leader."
Whatever the reasons for the inequality, women's work should not be diminished, Deyton said. "Women at work in this country's more than 900,000 charitable organizations are making huge contributions to the fabric of our society."
This story was originally published at FordFund.org/our-stories. Read more about these incredible women:
Compassion Becomes a Career for Women in Nonprofits
http://FordFund.org/our-stories.Bringing Dignity to the Struggles of Others
From Roots in '60s and '70s Grow 3 Advocates for Social Change
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Talented women do business all over the globe.
Specifically, Michigan women are relentless, approachable, focused, and community-oriented. They defend high net-worth clients, navigate restructurings, lead mergers, invent new products, secure patents, manage plants, harness the power of technology, enhance brands and save lives.
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You want these Notable Women in Law on your side. They set legal precedents, relentlessly pursue justice and win big cases for their clients — all while mentoring the next wave of women in law and finding ways to give back.
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Crain's Notable Women in STEM are inventors and healers. They are leaders who innovating our future in mobility, infrastructure, health, information technology, energy and more. They are building up the next generation of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
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Crain's Notable Women in HR are the people behind the people. In this special report, we honor outstanding women at Michigan companies who recruit, attract, retain and engage the people who make businesses successful. They motivate excellence, make or break company culture and help manage the rapid change every business must navigate today.
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Crain's Notable Women in Real Estate have brokered some of the region's biggest deals, financed major projects, grown portfolios and changed the face of neighborhoods and communities across metro Detroit. They are designers, architects, construction managers, teachers and unquestionably leaders in what has historically been a male-dominated field.
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Handing out hope
Posted on April 9, 2019 by Leslie Green	Leave a comment
This story was originally published on FordFund.org.
Inventor Gino Tubaro shows you are never too young to change lives
Atomic Lab founder and inventor Gino Tubaro proves youth isn't an impenetrable barrier to invention, entrepreneurship or community service.
"From childhood, I started to imagine what I could invent with my ideas," Tubaro said.
At 12 years of age, the Argentinian invented a device that could recognize the difference between an appliance and fingers and would prevent electrocution by interrupting the current if fingers were touching an electrical outlet. His invention earned him AR$500 pesos and significant recognition from the World Intellectual Property Organization, a United Nations agency that promotes innovation and creativity that benefits all countries.
Encouraged, Tubaro continued inventing. His creations include a wearable device that recognizes letters in written text and translates them into braille in real time.
From prototypes to prosthetics
At 16, Tubaro decided to construct a 3D printer from the spare parts of paper printers. The idea was to use the machine to prototype his inventions and try to create a company. The company would also sell the 3D printers Tubaro built.
"After I had my machine, I wanted to go to forums and talks and showcase my projects," he said.
With one Facebook message, Tubaro's plans changed and so did the lives of many.
Argentina resident Ivana Gimenz didn't have the $10,000 it would cost to buy a prosthesis for her son, Felipe Miranda, who was missing a hand since birth. She messaged Tubaro on Facebook to ask if he could use the printer to construct a prosthetic for Felipe.
"It was a challenge," said Tubaro, who now is studying electrical engineering. "I am not into medical or biotechnology, but I always love to design things."
Tubaro based the prototype on a photo of Felipe and the knowledge that he would have limited movement.
"The first one was really, really bad," Tubaro said. "It broke really easily, and we had to make a lot of improvements."
After getting direction from medical professionals, Tubaro and his colleagues figured out how to make it. A few months later, Tubaro sent the prosthesis by mail, as the inventors weren't able to travel the 500 kilometers to deliver the device.
Before long, Tubaro received photos of Felipe using it to hold a fishing pole and perform other valuable activities. Elated, the young inventor uploaded a video of Felipe and his new hand to the internet.
The video was a hit. What's more, his new company, Atomic Lab, gained notoriety.
In 2015, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) honored Tubaro as one of its Innovators Under 35. In 2017, Tubaro had a private meeting with then-President Barack Obama in Argentina.
"We didn't know at the time many people would want them," Tubaro said. "But tens of thousands of people saw the video we uploaded. After, many people wanted the prosthesis. They sent requests through Google forms."
Alliances amplify efforts
Gino Tubaro has since been able to deliver no-cost prosthetic limbs to children and adults who need them in Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil with the help of partners that include Ford Fund, Disney Mexico, the History Channel and prison inmates.
"We teach people in prison in Argentina how to 3D print and assemble the prosthetics," Tubaro said. "The project changed people's mindset, and the numbers of people going back to prison has decreased because they feel better with the work they are doing."
The History Channel donated $60,000 to the Atomic Lab Limbs project in 2016. The funds went toward supplies, tools, virtual teaching sites and research and development.
For Disney Mexico, Atomic Lab designed 60 brightly colored, superhero-themed prosthetics that movie stars distributed.
"The kids were really excited," said Tubaro, who taught himself English by watching television. "They started to not only be able to grab things, but they also said they felt like superheroes."
Social media nets automotive partnership
A major boost to the nonprofit came after Tubaro tweeted that his nonprofit needed a vehicle to increase distribution. He hoped to work with automobile companies. Ford was the first to respond.
"After going to many other motor companies, the only one we felt cared more about the community than selling the car was Ford," Tubaro said.
"He shares the same vision of Henry Ford," said Joe Avila, community development manager of U.S. and Latin America at Ford Motor Company Fund. "He's committed to making people's lives better, which is what the Ford Fund is all about."
Avila met Tubaro in late 2017, when the young inventor returned from speaking at the London School of Economics. There, Tubaro discussed Project #Argentinatón, Atomic Lab's mission to deliver as many prosthetic limbs as possible to Argentinians in need.
"It was a no-brainer for us to partner with him," Avila said. "He's a social entrepreneur."
Atomic Lab employed a donated Ford Ranger and Gino Tubaro's solar-powered 3D printer to make and deliver prostheses at no cost to clients. Hook-and-loop tape makes the prosthetics adjustable, and plastic keeps the weight light.
"We found a shared vision with Atomic Lab: Improve people's lives by applying innovation and ingenuity to make accessible for them what they need to achieve it," said Carlos Galmarini, institutional relations director of Ford Argentina.
To start, Ford loaned the nonprofit a fully equipped Ford Ranger for the planned cross-country journey. Ford also provided extensive modifications – "options" – exclusive to the assignment.
"It's a big pickup," Tubaro said. "And we created a 3D printer that (essentially) floated at the back of the truck so it would not get any physical interaction while the pickup was on the road."
Essentially, Avila said, they used the method for stabilizing the printers that the military uses to transport bombs. "If they hit a hole or something, the printer would not move and would not deviate from the printing process."
That wasn't their only vehicle modification. They attached a dome, cables and solar panels to the exterior to power the 3D printers.
"It takes five or six hours to print each part for the prostheses. The idea was to print them over the 500 kilometers between each town," Tubaro said.
They also produced common parts in advance of the journey. Volunteers at Ford's Pacheco Stamping and Assembly plant in Buenos Aires helped assemble prosthetics for delivery.
Using the Ford Ranger, Ford Fund and Ford Argentina helped Atomic Lab deliver nearly 200 prosthetic limbs around Buenos Aires. In all, Tubaro and his team were able to deliver more than 1,000 prosthetic devices to people in outlying towns. They also reached those in remote areas that even "post mail" cannot reach.
"My favorite part was the delivery," Avila said. "You go to the house to deliver to young girls, young boys and adults, and it's very hard to contain emotions because you are making their lives better."
Avila said Tubaro didn't just drop off the medical device and leave. "He also answered any questions. He would open the truck and bring the children and explain how everything worked. He would tell the kids what motivated him. He would print a small gift and tell the kids about following their dreams and encourage them to be entrepreneurs and invent things. The kids would be so excited."
At the end of the journey, Ford donated $40,000 and the Ranger so Tubaro's vision could grow. Now, Atomic Lab is working to partner with 44 countries to deliver more prostheses to those who find cost a barrier.
Next, Tubaro said, he wants to improve on the product with robotics and artificial intelligence. These technologies could improve the user's ability to grab and hold objects.
Oftentimes, youth have great ideas but don't know the next step.
The key is to make strong connections, said Sibrina Collins, executive director of the Marburger STEM Center. Part of Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan, the Center holds business pitch competitions for high school kids from faith-based organizations and an annual Shark Tank Entrepreneurship summer camp.
Keith Young, founder of Ecotek Lab, a Michigan-headquartered, science-based research cohort for youth in Detroit, Baltimore and Orlando, sees common traits among young inventors – from their uninhibited creativity to the barriers of entry they face.
"Kids are all looking for the same thing, an opportunity to explore," Young said.
Young, who advised enterprise systems for Fortune 500 companies as a consultant for Deloitte, started looking at the quality of education his own kids were getting. That's when he developed Ecotek, what he calls "a YMCA for scientists" to create patentable products in myriad fields, such as material science, citrus greening and life science.
Young said youth who don't have a STEM Center or organization like Ecotek should look for mentors at maker groups or tech accelerators.
Gino Tubaro, now 23 years old, hopes to be an inspiration to those around him by launching his own mentoring organization.
Inventor Gino Tubaro uses video chats to shorten the distance between himself and clients when he cannot visit in person.
Tubaro's League of Inventors incubator lab would teach kids – ages 6 to 16 – how to 3D print, use a computer numeric control (CNC) machine, code, laser cut, design and more through hands-on projects and workshops.
"It's his vision that more people like him will do these things around the world," Ford Fund's Avila said.
As a result, Ford Fund created and developed the first Ford Fund Entrepreneurship Ambassador Award for Tubaro. The award will include a $25,000 donation to Atomic Lab and a visit to Detroit on June 16, 2019, where the young inventor will be keynote speaker at a special event. He also will be part of a judging panel and engage in the Ford Fellowship program that will bring about 20 entrepreneurs from around the world to Detroit.
"Young people say, 'He's young like me, he still has to finish college,'" Avila said. "Gino is able to connect his dream with his passion and his skills. He's saying, 'Follow your passion. If you don't have skills, develop them. Create something, invent something.'"
Business communities can help end the addiction crisis
Posted on March 8, 2019 by Leslie Green	Leave a comment
Crain Content Studio, the marketing-storytelling arm of Crain's Detroit Business, worked with Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation to convene, moderate and report on a roundtable discussion among experts in education, medicine and government about the problem of addiction among young people. The discussion took place on Jan. 16, 2019 and was originally published on crainsdetroit.com on March 11, 2019.
In 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency when 11.4 million people reported misusing opioids and 47,600 people died from opioid overdoses.
In Michigan, 1,941 people died from opioid overdoses that year, a 13.9 percent increase over the number of opioid deaths in the state in 2016, reports the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Addiction is rampant in our society. According to the Center on Addiction, one in four Americans who began using any addictive substance before age 18 is addicted. Still, substance abuse experts are waging an uphill battle against the stigma surrounding addiction, describing a deep-seated culture of shame and fear that prevents parents, schools, and business leaders from engaging in meaningful dialogue on the subject.
The Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation in Detroit is trying to erase this stigma and change the culture and conversation around addiction and recovery.
As part of its efforts, the Foundation partnered with Crain Content Studio, the marketing-storytelling arm of Crain's Detroit Business, to unite parents and experts from government, academic, and medical fields to discuss prescription drug addiction and how businesses can play a part in ending the crisis.
"Most of our initiatives for adolescents and young adults tend to be in mental health and in opioids and addiction. We strive to be a catalyst for change," said Lawrence J. Burns, President and CEO of Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation. The $120 million independent nonprofit partners with more than 40 organizations to further its efforts to help children and young adults.
Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation has partnered with Detroit Red Wings announcer Ken Daniels and Lisa Daniels, who formed The Jamie Daniels Foundation in memory of their son, who died of an opioid overdose in 2016. The Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation will help The Jamie Daniels Foundation with fund development, financial management and generating awareness about opioid abuse. The Daniels' foundation provides resources and support to the increasing numbers of people battling addiction.
Wreaking havoc on families and businesses
Ken Daniels once saw a billboard that rang all too true. It read: "The brain isn't the only organ impacted by addiction. It also breaks hearts."
Daniels and his family are well acquainted with the heartbreaking consequences of youth drug addiction, a widespread problem as devastating as it is complex. Jamie Daniels was a smart kid. He did well in school and had a family and friends who loved him.
And yet at age 15, Jamie deliberately faked symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and failed clinical tests to obtain a prescription for Adderall, the stimulant drug used to treat the condition, said his mother, Lisa.
Though she harbored grave doubts about her son's diagnosis and need for Adderall, Lisa followed professional recommendations, carefully dispensing the medication to Jamie at the prescribed dosage. "I thought I was in control of it," she said.Source: National Institutes of Health-funded study by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan
TEEN DRUG MISUSE
Percent of the estimated 3.6 million U.S. high school seniors who misused prescription and over-the-counter drugs in 2018:
5 percent: Sedatives, such as Valium and Xanax
4.6 percent: Adderall
3.4 percent: Opioids, such as Oxycontin and Vicodin
3.4 percent: Cough/cold medicine
0.9 percent: Ritalin, a stimulant used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Source: National Institutes of Health-funded study by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan
While attending Michigan State University, Jamie began abusing opioids as well as Adderall and other drugs.
Jamie eventually completed two stints in rehab with his parents' support. He moved into a sober living home in Florida and was under a physician's care for depression and anxiety, conditions common in people suffering from addiction.
Until he was convinced by an acquaintance to switch to a less reputable recovery facility and doctor, Jamie was clean and on the road to recovery.
Less than two weeks after making the switch, 23-year-old Jamie died from an overdose of heroin laced with Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 80 to 100 times stronger than heroin.
"There is a hole in my family's heart that will never be filled," said Ken Daniels. "And in the time we're sitting here, we'll lose eight more people (to addiction). So, we have to continue to talk about it. We need to talk about this in the home. We need to talk about it in the schools and at work; and hopefully in the long term, we can end this crisis."
Young adults aged 18 to 25 comprise the largest segment of the population misusing and abusing prescription drugs, such as opioids.
But drug addiction doesn't just impact families. Opioid addictions, specifically, cost businesses, educational and social institutions, criminal justice systems, and health care organizations billions of dollars yearly.
Altarum, an Ann Arbor-based nonprofit health research institute, estimates the economic burden of opioid addiction:
$800,000 per opioid overdose death in lost earnings and productivity
$1 trillion in costs to individuals, businesses and governments since 2001
$215.7 billion in health care costs for emergency and ongoing care from 2001 to 2017
In addition, employees with substance-use disorders miss an average 14.8 days of work a year — almost 50 percent more days of work than the typical employee average of 10.5 days, according to the National Safety Council. And about 70 percent of U.S. employers in construction, entertainment, recreation, and food service industries employ twice the average number of workers with substance use disorders than employers in other industries.
Equal-opportunity killer
Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation and its more than 40 partners are strategizing ways to end the addiction crisis. Solutions include ending the social stigma associated with addiction and recovery.
Despite the availability of accurate information, the perception persists that addiction is the result of an inherent character flaw, moral failing, or conscious decision and affects only a certain segment of society."Nobody goes into their first use thinking, 'Someday I'm going to be an alcoholic,' or 'Someday I'm going to abuse drugs,'" said Brian Spitsbergen, director of Community Relations for Growth Works Inc., a Plymouth-based facility that provides substance dependency and abuse treatments and solutions for adults and youth.
"There's no one path to recovery that's going to work for everybody, because every person is different and every brain is different," Smith-Butterwick said. "So we are trying to do as many different things as we can to reach as many different parts of the population as we can."
In 2017, Michigan lawmakers enacted opioid-related legislation that includes requiring the Michigan Department of Education, with direction from the Prescription Drug and Opioid Abuse Commission, to provide school districts with models for how to instruct students on the dangers of prescription opioid abuse.
The American Medical Association classifies addiction as a disease, and its task force reports that people who misuse and abuse opioids suffer from a chronic medical condition, like type-2 diabetes or high blood pressure.
Dennis Martell, director of Health Promotion at Michigan State University, added that addiction is not an epidemic.
"It is endemic," he said. "It's part of our culture. It's always been around."
Spitsbergen, who has been sober for more than 32 years, agreed. "Ten percent of the population will meet the criteria for a substance use disorder in their lifetime," he said. "It can happen to anyone. That's the persuasive power that addiction has. It isn't about the gutter."
There could be two middle school-aged children who go to the same church and same school and have the same family life, Spitsbergen said. But their responses to their first experience with alcohol could be completely different.
"Because of things that might happen in their brain state, their lives might never be the same," he said.
The stigma surrounding addiction is so prevalent that parents often don't participate in potentially beneficial events, said Robert Shaner, superintendent of Rochester Community Schools. He noted only 125 parents attended a recent information session on vaping, opioids and other dangerous drug trends provided by the parent-teacher association for his district, which has 15,400 students.
"People almost treat addiction like they don't want to 'catch it,'" Shaner said, adding that some parents think, "'If I'm not around the people it happened to, it's not going to happen to my kid.' Nobody wants to say they've got it, and no one wants to say they've been treated for it. This is a non-partisan, equal-opportunity killer that we have to attack as a community."
The challenge of easy access
"There's no pain greater than losing a child," Shaner said, adding that the heaviest burden a school administrator must bear is to help parents bury their children.
"Over the past six years, we've done this because of opiates well over a dozen times," said Shaner. "Recently, we had five graduates from one high school lose their lives to opioid addiction. They didn't start as street junkies; they didn't start out looking to be addicts. Some of the addictions were caused by self-medicating because of mental health issues, some started because of athletic injuries, and for some it was having access to the drugs."
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency says most teens find prescription and OTC drugs in their home medicine cabinets or on a kitchen shelf. And among those 12 and older who misused opioid pain relievers:
40.4 percent got the drug from a friend or relative for free
35.4 percent received a prescription from a doctor
8.9 percent bought the drug from a friend or relative
6 percent bought the drug from a dealer or stranger
Students as young as middle-school age hold "bowl parties," said Carmen McIntyre, a physician who serves as associate chair for community affairs for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.
"Everybody's supposed to bring meds out of their parents' medicine cabinet," she explained. "They just take a few pills from each bottle so (parents) don't notice anything. And then they put them all into this big bowl to share."
McIntyre said children attending these parties also steal Narcan, a drug used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, though in her experience children panic and flee the scene rather than stick around and help the youth who overdosed.
When he was a high school principal, Shaner made a point of talking about drugs with his students. "I would say—and I don't consider this a scare tactic—'If you love your parents, don't do these things. You don't want them to feel that pain, if you truly love them.'"
One of the programs that Shaner, a former law enforcement officer, has helped implement in his district is a prescription drug drop-off program at parent-teacher conferences.
Prescription take-backs are a proven means of reducing the supply of unused, prescribed narcotics, preventing them from circulating among household and community members. Such programs allow members of the community to safely dispose of unused medications at designated locations staffed by law enforcement.
The prevention efforts of Michigan Opioid Prescribing Network, known as Michigan OPEN, include educating medical professionals, law enforcement and others on how to hold opioid collection drives in a manner that encourages participation and does not make community members feel uneasy or like criminals. So far the organization has helped organize drives in 60 cities, getting about 3,000 pounds of pills and 40,000 to 45,000 opioids off the street, said Chad Brummett, associate professor and director of the Division of Pain Research at the University of Michigan Medical School and co-director of Michigan OPEN.
10 WAYS THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY CAN HELP FIGHT DRUG DEPENDENCY AND ADDICTION
The experts say there's considerable work to be done to reduce overdose deaths and prevent and treat addiction, but they can't do it without the help of business leaders.
"If you're thinking about something that takes away from your (company's) bottom line, mental health and addiction are exponential problems," Shaner said.
Roundtable participants shared their expert advice.
1. Advocate for more mental health services and counselors at schools: The largest percentage of prescription drug abusers are young adults aged 18 to 25 who are also beginning their careers with area businesses. "We all know K-12 education is important in solving the (opioid) problem, so we ought tobe funding it and supporting it in the right way," Shaner said.
2. Sponsor youth peer programs: Eric Hipple, a former Detroit Lions quarterback and director of Outreach for the After the Impact program, suggests businesses underwrite programs that take a deeper dive into the problem of drugs and facilitate conversations and peer support among youths.
3. Support organizations that help: Provide meaningful support to nonprofits working to prevent and treat addiction. "Politics trump data, but business trumps politics," said Martell.
4. Provide job training: People in recovery can't return to the workforce without skills, said Smith-Butterwick. Helping recovery organizations incorporate job training would help recovering addicts support their recovery financially.
5. Make educating workers a priority:Hold human resources-developed programming on identifying, preventing, and treating opioid abuse.
6. Teach coping skills: People who develop a substance use disorder may begin using as a means of easing physical or emotional pain.Teaching alternative coping skills, such as meditation, can help promote healthy living.
7. Partner with insurers: Commit to offering employees robust, extended mental health treatment and addiction recovery services and challenge insurers to craft a benefit plan that reflects your commitment.
8. Become recovery friendly: Be mindful and welcoming of employees who suffer from addiction and/or are in recovery when planning social events. "They can't tell anybody in the office, 'I'm in recovery' because it's not comfortable," said Smith-Butterwick. She recommends planning company events that don't include alcohol.
9. Support employees in recovery:Workers often fear they will lose their jobs if their drug use is discovered. Instead, encourage and facilitate confidential addiction referral and recovery services for employees.
10. Engage in a community of businesses approach: Brummett emphasized the advantages of businesses combining resources as a community to financially support nonprofits dedicated to preventing and treating addiction. "Unfortunately, state and federal dollars will dry up, and we will still have issues with opioids, pain and mental health," he said.
Prevention efforts
The number of medical professionals overprescribing potentially addictive medications drastically increased in the 1990s. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports the number of opioid prescriptions dispensed at U.S. pharmacies tripled from 76 million prescriptions in 1991 to 219 million prescriptions in 2011.
McIntyre said one of her patients died from an overdose two days after another physician — who was aware the patient suffered from addiction — injected her with the benzodiazepine Valium and gave her a prescription for 120 Valium in pill form.
McIntyre also cited her own experience with a pharmacy dispensing 100 Vicodin to her following a dental procedure. She pointed out to pharmacy staff that her dentist likely prescribed 10 Vicodin, not 100, but said the pharmacy refused to take back the medication after it had crossed the sales counter.
Brummett said regularly prescribing opioids following dental procedures "just doesn't make sense." The more doses doctors prescribe, he said, the more patients take, regardless of whether their pain is reduced.
Those aged 13 to 30 who filled an opioid prescription immediately before or after having their wisdom teeth extracted were about three times as likely as their peers to still be filling opioid prescriptions long after they needed them, according to a Michigan OPEN study.
"If you think about surgery (alone), the two factors that determine whether and how many opioids a person is going to get are the surgery they're having and the surgeon caring for them," explained Brummett.
Not prescribing opioids to the 80 percent to 90 percent of people who don't need them could significantly reduce exposure and access to the drugs, both primary and secondary, Brummett said. Consequently, in 2017, Michigan OPEN released the first evidence-based prescribing recommendations in the country.
Health care providers in and outside the U.S. don't know how much of the prescribed drugs patients actually use, he said. "Unless you ask people, they don't tell you. The only metric you have is whether or not they refill."
Brummett said having conversations about prescribing recommendations helps create a culture of opioid stewardship that opens the door to progressively more detailed conversations, such as how to deal with chronic users, including the 6 percent to 10 percent of patients who undergo surgery and begin taking opioids as a result.
McIntyre added, "We don't need to just talk about prevention, we need to talk about developing as normal human beings. We have to start teaching people that after surgery, (you're) supposed to have pain. Part of the purpose of pain is to slow you down so your body can heal."
To learn more about combating addiction and ending the opioid crisis, visit The Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation at chmfoundation.org.
Homeless veterans find help in community of tiny homes
Posted on April 10, 2018 by Leslie Green
The 10 months Richard Butler spent in Vietnam were the scariest of his life. For solace, he turned to drugs.
"That was the only way I could see myself making it through. And if I didn't make it through, I was planning to be too numb to realize it," says Butler, 64, who served in the Marine Corps from 1971-1974.
Addicted, things got worse when he returned home. "I made a lot of bad life choices and I had a lot of friends who were in the streets doing nonproductive stuff," he says.
Butler wound up robbing banks and spending "quite a bit of time" in prison. He also entered drug rehab three different times. Eventually, he found himself homeless.
However, Butler isn't alone.
Homeless veterans by the numbers
• 181,500 veterans are in state and federal prisons and local jails
• 40,000 veterans are homeless, a 40 percent decrease since 2012
• 11 percent of homeless adults are veterans
• 20 percent of the male homeless population are veterans
• 51 percent of single homeless veterans have disabilities
• 50 percent suffer from serious mental illness
• 70 percent are dealing with substance abuse
Sources: Veterans Bureau of Justice, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and National Coalition for Homeless
Most homeless veterans are loners, male and single and suffer from mental illness and/or alcohol and drug abuse. Thankfully, organizations such as Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin in Racine are creating solutions to end homelessness among veterans.
Veteran village
Jeff Gustin, co-founder of Veterans Outreach, is part of the solution.
Read the full story at FordBetterWorld.org.
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Is the end in sight for paper-based verification?
While the cost of identity fraud reached almost £2bn last year, CIFAS estimates that account takeover fraud - fraud when someone uses another individual's identity to commit fraud - is up around 150% over the past 12 months due in part to the credit crunch. Fraudulent applications for credit are costing lenders huge sums and cracking down on these applications is vital to minimising risk. But for many lenders, the price of verification can seem prohibitive.
And indeed paper-based verification is a significant expense, costing on average around £25 per application and taking up to two weeks to process. It's for this reason that new electronic verification has been so eagerly adopted by lenders - the cost drops to a few pounds and the checking process time is dramatically reduced, lessening the risk of 'losing' customers in the two-week window.
The process of carrying out ID checks can be split in to two parts 1) the Identity check is a method of proving an identity exists and 2) the verification check is a method of proving the person owns the identity. Until very recently, electronic ID solutions have mainly been used to complete the first stage of this process which confirms the Identity exists. The second stage of the process which is needed to verify the person owns the identity is still predominately done using traditional paper-based methods, for example a letter sent to the applicant at their home address. However, developments in technology now mean that robust identity and verification checks can both be done in a single electronic search. This method uses robust data sources to confirm the identity exists and then matches bank account or credit card details to the applicant's name and address to verify the person owns the identity. The whole process can be done instantly real time, saving significant time and cost. And the future looks promising. The ultimate goal, which is certainly achievable, is to employ an end to end electronic verification process and do away with the need for paper checks altogether.
This is a dramatic step in speeding up the approvals process and will mean significant cost savings for lenders and retailers.
Comment: John Cannon, verification expert, Callcredit
About Callcredit:
• Callcredit (www.callcredit.co.uk) is the UK's most innovative, state-of-the art credit reference agency, with an extensive range of information and value added services for businesses and individuals.
• Callcredit Check provides consumers with online access to the details of their credit file at www.callcreditcheck.com
• Callcredit has harnessed state-of-the-art information technology with an unrivalled knowledge of the industry's needs to develop a range of innovative information solutions. Solutions that are enabling major lenders and a host of other blue chip companies to address regulatory requirements, make better credit decisions, target new customers more effectively and manage existing customers more profitably.
• Callcredit is one of six core businesses that form the Callcredit Information Group. The other five are:
• Database management company EuroDirect
• Market analysis firm GMAP Consulting
• Online payment service provider, Legatio
• Scorecard development and affordability assessment specialist DecisionMetrics
• Marketing services and database specialist, Broadsystem
• Following the publication of Sir James Crosby's report, Callcredit has joined forces with the other two UK credit reference agencies to offer expert advice for victims of ID fraud. This joined up approach will mean that victims can contact Callcredit who will then alert the other two agencies to the fraud on their behalf. Our ID fraud team will also work with victims to contact all lenders and ensure that fraudulent information is removed and the consumers' credit history is fully restored.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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One day, President Bush is praising the wild beauty of the Everglades, while a curious alligator peers from a slow-moving slough perhaps 50 feet away. The next, he will be pounding nails at a volunteer home-building work site.
Day by day, with visual props at the ready, Bush is trying to drive home the theme that his personal and presidential interests reach beyond tax-cutting to encompass the environment and the needs of the poor.
With the fight over his signature tax cut behind him, and a second big battle involving education policy going largely his way, the president is entering the summer casting a softer shadow.
On Monday, he spent the morning in Everglades National Park, his second visit to a national park in five days. Today, at a Habitat for Humanity site in Tampa, he will turn the spotlight of the presidency on volunteer efforts and the importance of home ownership.
The president's helicopter set him down near an area of the Everglades that was farmed from 1909 to 1975 and is undergoing reclamation in a program Congress approved late last year.
"Growth and progress are desirable, and environmental destruction is not inevitable. We must build and plan with respect for nature's prior claims," Bush said.
Bush also announced his appointment of Fran P. Mainella, long-time director of Florida's state park system, to head the National Park Service.
The president, reaching out to new audiences, is sending a message that echoes one used by his father during the 1992 primary election campaign, when the elder Bush told a New Hampshire audience, "Message: I care."
The previous President Bush took the theme of compassion to a state struggling in the grips of recession, to demonstrate to a skeptical electorate that he was concerned about the economic hardship they faced.
The second President Bush faces no such political pain today. But his travels nevertheless suggest a desire to demonstrate concern for issues other than taxes.
And so he is in Florida, a state that was crucial to last year's victor and would likely be just as important in a presidential race three years from now, paying homage to the nation's largest subtropical wilderness.
More is at stake than the environment and volunteerism in the trips this week and last, when he wound up his California visit with a stop at Sequoia National Park.
In the end, Bush's standing on the environment could drag down his overall poll ratings, making it more difficult to win approval of a variety of policy initiatives.
Bush began his tenure by blocking the Clinton administration's effort to reduce arsenic in drinking water and discarding a campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
Both moves left an "initial bad impression" that will be hard to overcome, said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
"Almost all polls show he makes lower grades on the environment than on other aspects of his agenda," Kohut said. "Public opinion of his energy policy was very affected by his bad image on the environment. It's something he has to work on."
And it will take more than picture-perfect visits to national parks. "He's going to have to take some strong environmental stands in order for people to think differently about him," Kohut said.
Environmentalists contend that Bush's recent trips amount to little more than posturing.
"Frankly, what we're seeing is an effort to try and repair the damage that his actions in the first four months in the presidency have done. He dramatically underestimated the power of environmental issues with the voting public," said Deb Callahan, president of the League of Conservation Voters.
Callahan said Bush has put a positive gloss on his limited support of the national parks. While pledging to increase funding for roads and buildings, she said, Bush has only slightly increased money available to protect valuable historic and natural resources.
In Sequoia, the president emphasized efforts to reduce the backlog of deferred maintenance, rather than spending money to purchase more park land.
On Monday, the president outlined what he is calling "a new environmentalism for the 21st century."
It does not necessarily mean less of a role for the federal government, he said. Rather, it would increase the authority of state and local governments "to do more to protect the environment."
"We mean that the federal government will work more closely and effectively with people closest to the problem and, therefore, best-equipped to solve it," he said, citing the combined federal and state effort to restore the Everglades.
The nearly 1.4-million-acre park at Florida's southern tip has been struggling against years of development to the north, which has restricted the crucial flow of clean, fresh water.
Speaking to about 100 park workers and others, Bush drew attention to the $58-million increase he is seeking for the park's restoration budget this year, bringing it to $219 million.
That is part of a 35-year, $8-billion federal-state project launched a year ago.
Times staff writer Elizabeth Shogren in Washington contributed to this story.


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Specializzata in microbiologia e virologia, fa parte del team di ricercatrici del INMI che a febbraio 2020 ha isolato il SARS-CoV-2, insieme a Francesca Colavita e Maria Rosaria Capobianchi. La sequenza parziale del virus, denominato 2019-nCoV/Italy-INMI1, è stata depositata nel database GenBank.

Biografia
Originaria di Ragusa, si è laureata all'Università degli Studi di Catania e in seguito si è specializzata all'Università "La Sapienza" di Roma dove ha conosciuto Maria Rosaria Capobianchi e il professor Ferdinando Dianzani, a cui riconosce il merito di avere alimentato la sua passione per la ricerca.  Ha condotto studi di ricerca su SARS, Ebola, influenza suina e chikungunya.

Note

Voci correlate
 Maria Rosaria Capobianchi
 Francesca Colavita

Altri progetti

Studenti dell'Università di Catania
COVID-19

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Table of Contents » Title 46.2. Motor Vehicles » Subtitle III. Operation » Chapter 10. Motor Vehicle and Equipment Safety » Article 22. Emissions Inspections » § 46.2-1177. Emissions inspection program
Title 46.2. Motor Vehicles
Chapter 10. Motor Vehicle and Equipment Safety
§ 46.2-1177. Emissions inspection program.
The Director shall administer an emissions inspection program. Such program shall require biennial inspections of motor vehicles at official emissions inspection stations in accordance with this article and may require additional inspections of motor vehicles that have been shown by on-road testing to exceed emissions standards established by the Board.
The emissions inspections required in § 46.2-1178 shall not apply to any:
1. Vehicle powered by a clean special fuel as defined in § 46.2-749.3, provided provisions of the federal Clean Air Act permit such exemption for vehicles powered by a clean special fuel;
2. Motorcycle or autocycle, unless such autocycle has been emissions certified with an on-board diagnostic system by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency;
3. Vehicle which, at the time of its manufacture was not designed to meet emissions standards set or approved by the federal government;
4. Antique motor vehicle as defined in § 46.2-100 and licensed pursuant to § 46.2-730;
5. Vehicle for which no testing standards have been adopted by the Board; or
6. Vehicle manufactured for the current model year or any of the three immediately preceding model years unless identified by the remote sensing program as violating the emissions standards established for that program.
1980, c. 469, § 46.1-326.3; 1981, c. 624; 1988, c. 806; 1989, c. 727; 1993, cc. 995, 998; 1993, Sp. Sess., c. 2; 1995, cc. 836, 851; 2006, c. 729; 2015, cc. 95, 161.


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Q: Randomize OrderBy with EntityDataSource I am getting a list of people in a EntityDataSource and binding this to a repeater.
I want to order them randomly so the people are not always displayed in the same order.  What options do I have to do this?

A:  list.OrderBy(x => Guid.NewGuid())

should do the trick.

A: Heres the code, for anyone interested.
   protected void MyDataSource_QueryCreated(object sender, QueryCreatedEventArgs e)
    {
        var members = e.Query.Cast<EntityFramework.Member>();
        e.Query = from member in members.OrderBy(x => Guid.NewGuid())
                  select member;
    }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Prisoners Report on Conditions in
NC Correctional Institution for Women - North Carolina
Got legal skills? Help out with writing letters to appeal censorship of MIM Distributors by prison staff. help out
www.prisoncensorship.info is a media institution run by the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons. Here we collect and publicize reports of conditions behind the bars in U.$. prisons. Information about these incidents rarely makes it out of the prison, and when it does it is extremely rare that the reports are taken seriously and published. This historical record is important for documenting patterns of abuse, and also for informing people on the streets about what goes on behind the bars.
We hope this information will inspire people to take action and join the fight against the criminal injustice system. While we may not be able to immediately impact this particular instance of abuse, we can work to fundamentally change the system that permits and perpetuates it. The criminal injustice system is intimately tied up with imperialism, and serves as a tool of social control on the homeland, particularly targeting oppressed nations.
North Carolina Prison Info/full facility list
More Reports from North Carolina prisoners
News & Analysis from Under Lock & Key
Select State: North Carolina
Select Facility: NC Correctional Institution for Women
Albemarle Correctional Center (Badin)
Alexander Correctional Institution (Taylorsville)
Avery/Mitchell Correctional Center (Spruce Pine)
Central Prison (Raleigh)
Cherokee County Detention Center (Murphy)
Craggy Correctional Center (Asheville)
Foothills Correctional Institution (Morganton)
Greene Correctional Institution (Maury)
Hoke Correctional Institution (Raeford)
Lanesboro Correctional Institution (Polkton)
Lumberton Correctional Institution (Lumberton)
Marion Correctional Institution (Marion)
Mountain View Correctional Institution (Spruce Pine)
NC Correctional Institution for Women (Raleigh)
Neuse Correctional Institution (Goldsboro)
Pamlico Correctional Institution (Bayboro)
Pasquotank Correctional Institution (Elizabeth City)
Pender Correctional Institution (Burgaw)
Polk Correctional Institution (Butner)
Raleigh prison (Raleigh)
Rivers Correctional Institution (Winton)
Scotland Correctional Institution (Laurinburg)
Tabor Correctional Institution (Tabor City)
Warren Correctional Institution (Lebanon)
Wayne Correctional Center (Goldsboro)
[Organizing] [Political Repression] [Neuse Correctional Institution] [NC Correctional Institution for Women] [Central Prison] [North Carolina] [ULK Issue 71]
Admin Cracks Down on Organizers as Protests Begin in NC
by a North Carolina prisoner May 2020 permalink
Revolutionary Greetings!
Just recently, the national grievance petition that I drafted got published in several newspapers. Then our cell block got raided multiple times, and cellphones were confiscated. Well the C.O.'s put the searches off on my organizing and blaming me for the raids. As a result, a XXXX gang member stabbed me 5 times in the back with an ice pick. I am recovering fine but it just goes to show how far these fascists will go to shut me up.
Next, I would like to update you on these petitions. So on 8 May 2020 citizens in Raleigh, N.C. did a vehicle protest blaring horns, marching with signs in front of Central Prison in Raleigh & prisoners on the inside went on a 3 day hunger strike and refused to lock down at the facility.
On 9 May 2020 many protests broke out at the Neuse Prison inside and outside demanding N.C. prisoners' human rights.
On 10 May 2020 women prisoners at NCCIW also protested on the inside while dozens of cars blared their horns outside of the prison in solidarity and marched in front of the prison until local police from two agencies were dispersed to break the crowd up.
Prisoners are tired of being restricted from writing to other prisoners of the opposite sex. Tired of paying $10.00 for prison rule violations, restrictions on who can send us money, life sentences and all the b.s. time we are being sentenced.
[Abuse] [NC Correctional Institution for Women] [North Carolina]
Women's Prison in NC denied AC, food
by a North Carolina prisoner October 2018 permalink
I would like to continue receiving these subscriptions. I am in a North Carolina prison that is probably more different than any others across the U.S. I say this because women are so different than men. We let everyone treat us any way.
We are the only prison (I think) that doesn't have air conditioning for 1600 inmates. Some dorms didn't have working water fountains this summer and if the officer didn't make someone get ice coolers at a certain time we have nothing cold to drink. The officers response, "it isn't me I have my water in a ref."
I noticed this summer after 7:30 PM or 8 PM they started seeing what the temperature was. The food we get is less than a child would eat. And big cockroaches as big as my pinky, well fatter but that long. If you don't have money you starve. They throw away food but don't give seconds. There is almost 16 hours between supper and breakfast.
And the officers lie on you. All the staff does what they want. They will lock you in Seg for someone telling them you have drugs or anything and it don't have to be true. Just because you pissed someone off. I went to seg for them telling me a white powder substance tested positive for crack or crack-based. I know for a fact that it was a norotton pill and do you think I could fight it? No! Cause the inmate always lies and the staff is never wrong. The medical here is a joke. They just cut you off your medication for no reason. Even when the outside doctors say not to. We are so overcrowded but I'm pulling the same amount of time for habitual felon as people who has killed.
Oh! If you don't brown-nose with the police then you're just going to have to take what they dish. Oh! But let them hear about an inspection everything changes. This is the worst run prison, every shift something changes. And why can't we smoke? Damn, it's not illegal. But I guess I am venting because this place beats all I've ever seen. Thanks for listening.


text:
Foy Draper  (ur. 26 listopada 1913 w Georgetown, w stanie Teksas, zm. 1 lutego 1943 koło Al-Kasrajn w Tunezji) – amerykański lekkoatleta  sprinter, mistrz olimpijski, później pilot wojskowy poległy podczas II wojny światowej.

Jako student University of Southern California zdobył akademickie mistrzostwo Stanów Zjednoczonych (IC4A) w biegu na 220 jardów w 1935.

Na igrzyskach olimpijskich w 1936 w Berlinie startował w sztafecie 4 × 100 metrów w której wywalczył złoty medal. Sztafeta biegła w składzie Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalfe, Draper i Frank Wykoff. W finale ustanowiła nowy rekord świata wynikiem 39,8 s.

Podczas II wojny światowej był pilotem bombowca A-20 Havoc. Podczas bitwy na przełęczy Kasserine (w czasie kampanii tunezyjskiej) wystartował 4 stycznia 1943 do lotu do Fondouk, z którego nie powrócił. Ciał Drapera i dwóch członków jego załogi nie odnaleziono. Za datę śmierci przyjmuje się zwykle 1 lutego 1943.

Przypisy

Amerykańscy sprinterzy
Medaliści Letnich Igrzysk Olimpijskich 1936
Uczestnicy kampanii afrykańskiej 1940–1943
Urodzeni w 1913
Zmarli w 1943
Amerykańscy medaliści olimpijscy
Amerykańscy piloci wojskowi


We are looking for a driven and energetic Recruitment Consultant to join us on a permanent basis to deliver on our market leading Corporate Accounts Division on a multimillion pound MSP contract.
Such is the nature of our Corporate Accounts division; this is not a sales based role in the sense that there will be no cold calling to prospect clients. We do however seek individuals who are happy to pick up the phone and utilise craft, influencing skills and a personable nature to build relationships with clients and potential candidates to nurture them through the process.
Previous professional recruitment experience is required for this role, in particular within the Finance, HR or Housing sectors.
Working for Adecco is more than just a job. We offer an excellent benefits package, structured career ladders/progression criteria and unrivalled self-development programmes including training courses and qualifications.
Ensure that all legislation i.e. AWR/Health & Safety adherence is met.


Please join us for our last meeting of the year. There will be food and fun. Our intrepid President has got something cooking, and we'll have details out in the next few days.
We'd also like to thank all of those who made it out for the Dave & Buster's event. It was a really good turnout.


text:
from tiipbusclient.tiipclient import TiipClient
from pytiip.tiip import TIIPMessage

class Application:
    def __init__(self, myID):
        self.id = myID
        self.client = TiipClient(myID)
        self.client.registerBusInterface("doStuff", self.doStuff)
        self.client.subscribe("messages", self.handleMessage)
        self.client.publish(TIIPMessage(ch="messages", pl=["I'm Alive"]))

    def doStuff(self, request):
        print (self.id + " was requested: " + str(request))
        self.client.reply(request, TIIPMessage(pl=["Printed your request"]))

    def handleMessage(self, publication):
        print (self.id + " received: " + str(publication))

    def request(self, clientID, api, argDict):
        reply = self.client.request(TIIPMessage(targ=[clientID], sig=api, arg=argDict))
        if reply and reply.ok:
            print("All went well")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    a = Application("First")
    b = Application("Second")
    a.request("Second", "doStuff", {})

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The Farsons Foundation extended its sponsorship for the Press Photography category of the Malta Journalism Awards 2005, organised by the Institute of Maltese Journalists (IGM). Although this year, more leading companies have joined for the first time as main sponsors of these national journalistic awards, The Farsons Foundation has been one of the leading and initial organisations which has supported this competition since it was established in 1991.
Mr Anthony J. Tabone, member of the Board of Trustees of The Farsons Foundation, presented the cheque to Mr Malcolm J. Naudi, IGM Chairman, in the presence of Mr Joe A. Vella, IGM General Secretary and Mr Hyacinth Muscat, Secretary of The Farsons Foundation. The presentation of the sponsorship was held at the Farsons Brewery.
For this year's edition, there are three new categories, bringing the overall total of categories to twelve. The new categories include Cultural Tourism, Print Journalism (Features) and the Journalist of the Year Award. The winner of the latter will be presented with an attachment with a UK based newspaper or broadcasting station.
The Press Photography, however, is one of the first original awards. The Farsons Foundation has supported several initiatives launched by the Institute since it was established as The Press Club in 1989. The Farsons Foundation, in fact, has been associated with Press Photography since the early 1990s. This category attracts excellent submissions, both in terms of numbers and in quality. All leading Maltese press photographers take part in this category.
Meanwhile, the submissions for the Malta Journalism Awards 2005 closed last month. For this year's edition, the IGM received a record number of 54 submissions. This year's edition promises to be one of the most interesting editions. The IGM's decision to include more categories in this competition has given the desired results as it has resulted in a broader participation.
The special category in the Malta Journalism Awards is the Gold Award, sponsored by BPC. The award is given to a nominated person who has excelled in the field of journalism, and/or has contributed substantially towards the development of journalism in Malta.
IGM Chairman thanked Mr Tabone for the Foundation's longstanding support, not only towards the Malta Journalism Awards, but also towards journalism in general. Mr Naudi said that such a support demonstrates the exemplary role which The Farsons Foundation plays in the Maltese society.


text:
Vietnam-Korea culture center to be built in Quang Nam
14:25 | 22/11/2016 Society Follow Ven.vn on
The central district of Dien Ban has reserved 2.6ha to build the Vietnam-Korea Cultural Exchange Center, Vice Chairman of the Dien Ban People's Commitee Nguyen Xuan Ha told Vietnam News.
Ha said the US$5 million centre - funded by the Vietnam Veterans Association of the Republic of Korea (VVAK) - will include an exhibition centre, vocational and Korean language training, a Taekwondo gym and major space for hosting annual cultural activities of South Korea and Vietnam. The centre, located near the historic town of Hoi An and the newly-unveiled 8km Ha My Beach, aims to draw South Korean tourists and other foreign visitors.
In October, the Korean-Vietnamese Peace Foundation donated 52 items — including documents, photos, books, visual dics, postcards and the "Vietnam Pieta" statue — to Da Nang's museum to commemorate 41 years since the end of the Vietnam war./.
Source: VNA
ven.vn
Party General Secretary extends greetings for Year of the Cat
On the occasion of the Year of the Cat 2023, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has delivered remarks offering the best wishes to the Vietnamese at home and abroad as well as people around the world.
Strong recovery of capital's economy
(VEN) - According to a report by the Hanoi People's Committee, the capital experienced a strong economic recovery in 2022 and maintained its leading position among the provinces and cities nationwide in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI).
Animated morning at Nghi Thuy fishing port, Cua Lo Town
Nghi Thuy fishing port (in Cua Lo Town) is crowded, animated from early morning everyday. Selling fresh seafood at reasonable prices, it is a seafood distribution hub of Nghe An and nearby provinces.
Hanoi enters New Year with fresh optimism
Facing a range of difficulties and challenges last year, Hanoi has realised and even exceeded all 22 of its socio-economic targets, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Dinh Tien Dung told the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) in a recent interview.
The final pitch of GBA Business Challenge 2022 found the winners
The third season of the GBA Business Challenge found the winners.
Kaspersky outlines top five cyberthreats for entrepreneurs
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are great contributors to the global economy: according to the World Trade Organization, SMBs represent more than 90 percent of all businesses worldwide. Due to cyberattacks, businesses may lose confidential information, finances, valuable market share – and there are plenty of ways criminals are trying to reach their goals.
Empowering Safety program launched to save vulnerable young lives on the road
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - December 26, 2022, Small steps lead to big changes, and this year, Vietnam is celebrating 15 years since the successful passing of the 2007 helmet-wearing law.
Most consumers in Vietnam prefer biometrics to other forms of ID verification
More than three out of four Vietnamese consumers say using biometrics for identity verification (78 percent) and payments (76 percent) is more secure than using a PIN, password, or other forms of identification, according to the Mastercard New Payments Index 2022.
The Australian Alumni Awards 2023 kicks off
The Vietnam's Graduates from Australia Club (VGAC) just kicked off nominations for the Australian Alumni Awards 2023 (short called "AAA").
Bac Giang Province, an FDI magnet
(VEN) - Bac Giang is a province in the northern midland and mountainous region, with natural area of 3,895.5sq.km, consisting of 10 administrative units: Bac Giang City and nine districts. The province's population is about 1.9 million, with skilled workers accounting for 72 percent.