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18 posts from June 2015
5 Questions for...Henry Timms, Executive Director, 92nd Street Y
#GivingTuesday was established in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y in New York City and the United Nations Foundation as a sort of corrective to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, two post-Thanksgiving "holidays" dedicated to spending and consuming. The idea, according to Henry Timms, executive director of the 92nd Street Y, was simple: "We were really just trying to say, look, everyone talks about the holiday season and the giving season, and we think there's space for the philanthropic community to make a statement, amongst all the consuming and buying, that giving is important, too."
PND recently spoke to Timms about a new report that provides an in-depth look at #GivingTuesday fundraising trends since 2012.
Philanthropy News Digest: A new analysis by Blackbaud shows double-digit year-over-year growth in #GivingTuesday donations for three years running. Is it your sense that the growth in donations is in addition to the usual giving that happens at the end of the year, or is it coming at the expense of traditional year-end giving?
Henry Timms: We haven't seen evidence of the latter. In fact, the data we have seen has been quite positive with respect to the additive value of #GivingTuesday, both in terms of gift size, which has been meaningful, and also from an overarching perspective. Our own #GivingTuesday campaign has been hugely beneficial in terms of additive donations. It would be naïve to suggest it doesn't happen, occasionally, but the overall trends are very positive. Steve MacLaughlin at Blackbaud has actually been very good on this topic and has written some really interesting pieces on how Americans think about giving, and one thing he talks about is that we do have this kind of default fear of scarcity in the nonprofit sector. It's a kind of Oliver complex, where we tremble whenever we get up the nerve to ask for more. I wonder how healthy that is, especially this year, when we see first-half fundraising numbers coming in pretty bullish. It seems to me like it's a good time to be asking for more. I was at an event in Westchester County recently, and someone there said to me, "You know what, I love #GivingTuesday because it gave me the confidence to ask, which is something I never had." Many of us recognize how important that permission is, and I think we need to encourage our colleagues in the field to ask more regularly. Not just on #GivingTuesday, but all year long.
PND: Was there anything in the Blackbaud study that surprised you?
HT: The finding which jumped out at me was mobile. Something like 17 percent of the online donation form views on #GivingTuesday were from mobile phones. But how many nonprofits are ready to accept mobile donations in a meaningful way? It's a wake-up call. If you've spent any time in Silicon Valley, you know that everyone is building for mobile. The same can't be said of the nonprofit sector, so I hope that finding starts to get people really thinking about mobile. I was also pleased to see a lot of smaller organizations report positive #GivingTuesday results, because one of the early criticisms of the campaign was that it would only work for large organizations. Generally speaking, the data in the Blackbaud study is quite interesting, and one of the many good things about #GivingTuesday is that, three years on, we have richer data and a lot more of it.
author-Mitch Nauffts Fundraising Giving Nonprofits TAGS: author-Mitch Nauffts Fundraising Giving Nonprofits | Comments: (0)
Weekend Link Roundup (June 27-28, 2015)
Our weekly roundup of noteworthy items from and about the social sector. For more links to great content, follow us on Twitter at @pndblog....
"For young and old alike," a new poll suggests, "debt now looms as a major factor in setting their life course. An identical 38 percent of both young and older respondents said that in making decisions such as when to get married, buy a home, or have children, debt had affected their choices 'a great deal'. Nancy Cook, a correspondent for National Journal, reports for The Atlantic.
On the Nonprofit Marketing Blog, Jennifer Chandler, vice president and director of network support and knowledge sharing at the National Council of Nonprofits, shares some thoughts on how new rules issued by the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) could "make life less stressful for nonprofit fundraising professionals and development directors."
In a post on the Software Advice blog, Janna Finch, a market research associate at the firm, shares key findings from a report based on a recent survey of nonprofit event planners.
Is charitable giving really at a record high? On the CNBC website, Kelley Holland takes a closer look at the numbers.
Meredith Kolodner, a staff writer for the Hechinger Report, checks in with a deeply researched look at merit-based scholarship programs, which, studies show, "disproportionately benefit middle- and upper-income students and have little impact on college graduation rates.
author-Mitch Nauffts Fundraising Giving Higher Education Philanthropy Social Good Social Media TAGS: author-Mitch Nauffts Fundraising Giving Higher Education Philanthropy Social Good Social Media | Comments: (0)
[Infographic] Impact Investing Opportunities
Impact investing is an activity "that aims to generate a specific social or environmental benefit in addition to financial gain." Previously the domain of institutional investors, over the last five years it has begun to attract the attention of foundations and high-net-worth individuals and, according to the team at Getting Smart, has powered a revolution in ed tech. In addition to outlining basic considerations for donors thinking about making an impact investment and listing ten education investment categories, our infographic of the week (courtesy of Getting Smart) includes a link to a paper (38 pages, PDF) that identifies twenty-five impact investment opportunities in K-12 education.
author-Mitch Nauffts Impact/Effectiveness Infographics Philanthropy TAGS: author-Mitch Nauffts Impact/Effectiveness Infographics Philanthropy | Comments: (0)
[Review] 'Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change From the Cult of Technology'
Don't be fooled by the title of Kentaro Toyama's Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change From the Cult of Technology: this is not an iconoclastic anti-technology manifesto. Nor is it a paean to an idealized pre-digital age when social change was driven by "people in the street." Instead, as back-cover blurbs from both Bill Gates and William Easterly, the NYU economics professor whose book The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor excoriated the kind of "technocratic" global health interventions favored by the likes of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Geek Heresy presents a nuanced argument for a human-centric approach to development work that leverages, rather than relies on, technology to create change.
A "recovering technoholic," Toyama, co-founder of Microsoft Research India and now the W.K. Kellogg Associate Professor of Community Information at the University of Michigan, once believed fervently in the power of technology to solve a range of "social afflictions." Like many of his peers in the tech industry, he embraced the idea that digital technology and cleverly designed devices could improve failing schools, eliminate health disparities, and lift communities out of poverty. But his work in India and elsewhere soon disabused him of that notion, convincing him, instead, that technology's role in society, not to mention its many grave consequences, was widely misunderstood. He couldn't ignore the fact, for instance, that Microsoft Research India's pilot projects, though successful in well-funded, closely monitored demonstration schools, faltered when scaled to underfunded government schools — in part due to the lack of adequately trained teachers, engaged administrators, and tech support and infrastructure. In those situations, technology not only didn't improve things; it exacerbated existing problems and disadvantages.
This "Law of Amplification" is the crux of Toyama's argument. "[T]echnology"s primary effect," he writes, "is to amplify human forces...[and] magnify existing social forces" — another way of saying "the degree to which technology makes an impact depends on existing human capacities." While it isn't a novel idea, as the author himself admits, Toyama sees it as a useful framework for a discussion of how NGOs, development experts, and industry leaders can leverage technology more effectively to address poverty, educational disparities, and other development challenges.
author-Kyoko Uchida Education Global Health International Affairs/Development Philanthropy Poverty Alleviation Reviews Science/Technology TAGS: author-Kyoko Uchida Education Global Health International Affairs/Development Philanthropy Poverty Alleviation Reviews Science/Technology | Comments: (0)
Restoring Eyesight: Leveraging Tech to Empower People
Jadi Begum Bi lives in a small mud house near Sargodha, Pakistan. She may never meet Shakil Khan, a member of a displaced community near Syedpur, Bangladesh, or Raju Sharma, a laborer in Patna, India. They all have one thing in common, though: they had been blind for years, until their eyesight was restored and their lives transformed as part of RS Foundation's ocular procedures program.
A Canadian nonprofit organization, the RS Foundation has facilitated more than fourteen thousand procedures for men, women, and children over the past six years by funding local and international partners such as OBAT Helpers USA, Sightsavers in the UK, and the Seva Canada Society. Other organizations engaged in this work in a significant way include 20/20/20 (U.S.), the Fred Hollows Foundation (Australia), the Aravind Eye Care System (India), LRBT (Pakistan) and Unite for Sight, whose eye clinics have benefited 1.9 million patients in Ghana, Honduras, and India.
According to the World Health Organization, 60 percent of the estimated half a million children who go blind every year in developing countries will die in childhood. WHO further notes that restoring sight is the single most cost-effective health intervention in reducing global poverty. For the cost of dinner at an inexpensive restaurant, a poor, visually impaired individual can have their sight restored, regain the ability to work and provide for their family, and recover their lost dignity. Indeed, studies have found that eye surgery interventions in developing Asian and African countries "significantly increase personal consumption expenditure (PCE) among operated cases" and raise "productivity among vulnerable groups, in particular females, [the] elderly and those with the [least] economic opportunity."
Global Health Innovation International Affairs/Development TAGS: Global Health Innovation International Affairs/Development | Comments: (0)
5 Questions for...Vic De Luca, President, Jesse Smith Noyes Foundation
The Jesse Smith Noyes Foundation was established in 1947 by Charles Noyes, a real estate developer in Manhattan, in honor of his wife, Jessie Smith, herself a women's suffrage and civil rights activist. Initially, Noyes set up the foundation to provide scholarships, with half earmarked for non-white students. In the 1990s, the family decided to change course and began to provide funding more directly to organizations working on issues in which they had an interest. Today, most of its support goes to grassroots organizations and movements in the United States working "to change environmental, social, economic, and political conditions to bring about a more just, equitable, and sustainable world."
Recently, PND chatted with Vic De Luca, who joined the foundation in 1991 and has been its president since 2000, about its donor-advised campaign, a new initiative aimed at convincing donors to make more timely allocations from their donor-advised funds.
Philanthropy News Digest: The Noyes Foundation recently launched a campaign around the timely distribution of monies from donor-advised funds. Why is the distribution of funds from DAFs suddenly an issue?
Vic De Luca: Donor-advised funds have been around a long time, administered in many cases by community foundations, but they started to become really popular among donors in the 1990s after mutual fund companies like Fidelity and Vanguard began to offer them, and by the early 2000s their popularity was off the charts. One of the reasons for their popularity is that contributions to a donor-advised fund qualify for an immediate tax deduction, while donors have complete say over how those tax-advantaged dollars are allocated. In other words, you're allowed to transfer funds from your own personal account at Fidelity or Vanguard to a public charity, and then at some point in the future you get to "advise" that public charity as to where those dollars should go. It's a simple process. You just contact the fund-holder, answer some questions, and make a contribution; it can be a one-time contribution, or you can choose to contribute on a regular basis. And you can make disbursements from the fund at any time, or not at all.
PND: What part of that equation does your campaign address?
VDL: We're not saying donor-advised funds are good or bad; we're saying the current system is broken, in that it allows an individual donor to take an immediate tax deduction but does not insist on a corresponding responsibility to put those dollars to work for public benefit in a timely fashion, which is something we'd like to see. We think donors should be encouraged to give, and what we're trying to do is to say to individuals who have donor-advised funds, "Look, you've made your contribution to this public charity, you've gotten your tax deduction, don't let that money sit there, let's put it to good use." We think the money sitting in donor-advised funds is an untapped resource that could and should be used to deal with some of the pressing problems of the day. And we can help donors who share our social justice concerns do that.
author-Mitch Nauffts Philanthropy Regulation/Oversight TAGS: author-Mitch Nauffts Philanthropy Regulation/Oversight | Comments: (0)
How to Identify Prospects in a Small Shop
When it comes to identifying prospects, many otherwise intelligent people enter the world of the Sugar Plum Fairy. They figure that all they have to do is research individuals with a high net worth, determine an appropriate six-figure "ask," find out where these individuals live, and then track them down and request a gift. The Sugar Plum Fairy part is that these individuals will be delighted to have been stalked in this way and will make the gift.
In fact, effective prospect research has to start with people to whom you have access: your own friends and family, your board members and their networks, your organization's current donors, and your donors' friends and family members. Many famous people might, in fact, be interested in your organization. But getting your message in front of them requires a messenger: someone you know has to know them.
So, we start with who we know. Then we must determine: of the people we know, who gives money to charitable causes? In a typical year, about 70 percent of the adult population will make a donation to a nonprofit organization, so there's a better-than-average chance that the people we have access to are givers. That said, there is no point in asking someone for money who never gives. Once you've eliminated the people who never give, you have a list of prospects to research. And if you hang out with high-net-worth individuals who also happen to be generous donors, then you'll want to do more research on them and maybe eventually ask them if they'd be interested in supporting your organization.
When thinking about prospect research, keep the following in mind:
Fundraising Nonprofits TAGS: Fundraising Nonprofits | Comments: (0)
[Review] 'The Social Profit Handbook: The Essential Guide to Setting Goals, Assessing Outcomes, and Achieving Success for Mission-Driven Organizations'
In his poem "i thank You God for most this amazing," e.e. cummings wrote that "now the ears of my ears awake and / now the eyes of my eyes are opened." It is precisely this sense of clarity that comes to mind when reading The Social Profit Handbook: The Essential Guide to Setting Goals, Assessing Outcomes, and Achieving Success for Mission-Driven Organizations (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2015) by David Grant, former president and CEO of the New Jersey-based Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.
As Grant notes, the world of the twenty-first century increasingly is defined by metrics and data. The social sector is no exception, and calls for better and more timely measurement of its activities have become a feature of the landscape. Gone are the days when funders were content to let intuition and anecdotal evidence guide their funding choices. Donors today — both institutional and individual — are keen to move the needle on large, seemingly intractable societal and environmental challenges, and in attempting to do so they have become ever-more interested in data that can demonstrate the impact of the programs and organizations in which they have invested. As a long-time admirer and teacher of poetry and literature, Grant relishes the complexity of this brave new world and applies his nuanced perspective toward a keen assessment of what it means for the field. "Social profit," he writes, "is about desired social benefits, and so it has to be defined locally depending on what a community of people values and what they need. It will never have a fixed or standard measure, and efforts to create one will get bogged down in endless quibbles and conflict about measurement itself."
According to Grant, efforts to measure social impact are fraught with challenges with which the for-profit world does not have to contend. Trying to balance multiple bottom lines, for example, is necessarily more complex than having to worry about a single one, he notes, especially given the fact there is no single agreed-upon unit of "social profit." Rather than focus on quantitative measures, therefore, Grant emphasizes qualitative "formative assessment." While not ignoring quantitative performance measures, he favors "soft measurements" and argues that a true assessment of social profit demands "a combination of pertinent metrics and a qualitative description...that can only be created by the people who are providing and receiving it."
author-Michael Weston-Murphy Impact/Effectiveness Nonprofit Management Nonprofits Philanthropy Reviews TAGS: author-Michael Weston-Murphy Impact/Effectiveness Nonprofit Management Nonprofits Philanthropy Reviews | Comments: (1)
Climate Action: A Catalyst for Change
The coming months promise to be the most hopeful yet in our long fight against global climate change.
President Obama is moving forward with a plan to clean up dirty power plants. The Clean Power Plan will do more to cut the dangerous carbon pollution that's driving climate chaos than any single step ever taken, and it will also spur tremendous innovation and create tens of thousands of clean energy jobs.
Elsewhere, Pope Francis is poised to issue a papal encyclical on our collective moral obligation to protect future generations from the dangers of climate change. And more than a hundred and ninety world leaders will gather in Paris later this year with the goal of taking concerted action to confront the climate crisis. In doing so, they will also be creating a more equitable, just, and sustainable future for our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
And yet, powerful forces, most notably the fossil fuel industry and its political allies, are prepared to do everything they can to derail this progress. Theirs is a simple agenda: put fossil fuel profits first — even if it puts the rest of us at risk.
In the two-year run-up to the midterm elections last November, the fossil fuel industry spent more than $720 million to support its agenda and its allies in Congress. They seem to be getting their money's worth. Republican leaders in the House and Senate have been pushing legislation meant to block the Clean Power Plan, while offering no alternative of their own to address climate change.
We can't let them get away with it.
Civic Tech Climate Change Current Affairs TAGS: Civic Tech Climate Change Current Affairs | Comments: (0)
Philanthropy's Difficult Dance With Inequality
America's foundations do not easily use the word "inequality." This may seem surprising in the wake of the Ford Foundation's recent announcement that it will refocus 100 percent of its grantmaking on "inequality in all its forms," but perhaps it shouldn't. Out of close to four million grants made by American foundations and recorded by Foundation Center since 2004, only 251 use the word "inequality" in describing their purpose. Moreover, the geographic focus of many of those grants is countries such as El Salvador, Nigeria and Malaysia -- or it's simply "global," which in the parlance of most foundations means the rest of the world. More common are terms like "opportunity" and "poverty," which can certainly be viewed as related to "inequality" but hardly are synonyms for it.
Nevertheless, inequality is an inescapable fact of our world: while extreme poverty in many regions of the globe may be declining, recent research suggests that the gap between rich and poor is fast becoming a growing threat to peace, economic prosperity, the environment, public health, democracy and just about any other major challenge you can name. Indeed, one of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals developed by seventy nations (with the direct participation of 7.5 million people around the world) is to "reduce inequality within and among nations." So, why don't more foundations embrace the term?
Inequality is controversial. In most camps, the word "inequality" is not neutral. It is a concept that implies a search for causes rather than the treatment of symptoms. It requires the kind of work that Carnegie Corporation board chair Russell Leffingwell so eloquently described in his McCarthy-era testimony to Congress: "I think [foundations] are entering into the most difficult of all fields....They are going right straight ahead, knowing that their fingers will be burned again, because in these fields you cannot be sure of your results, and you cannot be sure that you will avoid risk." It is also difficult for a single foundation, or even a coalition of foundations, to know where to begin. Oxfam reports that eighty-five ultra-high-net-worth individuals hold as much wealth as the poorest half of the world's population. How do you tackle such a challenge? Besides, this simply isn't the kind of work that most foundations do. More than 60 percent of the giving by U.S. foundations goes to mainstream causes in the fields of health, education, and the arts.
author-Brad Smith Current Affairs Economy Philanthropy TAGS: author-Brad Smith Current Affairs Economy Philanthropy | Comments: (2)
On the BMAfunders.org site, Shawn Dove, CEO of the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, argues that mass incarceration of young men and boys of color "is a symptom of a larger disease that is prevalent both before and after arrest and imprisonment occur."
A new report from Crain's New York Business, in partnership with the Association of Fundraising Professionals, finds that 57 percent of respondents to a spring 2014 survey said they expected to raise more in 2014 than in 2013, while a majority — 52 percent (compared to 29 percent in 2013) — said their organizations planned to hire development staff in 2015 to take advantage of the more generous giving climate.
"Generation Z, the heirs to the digital empire built by Generation X and expanded by Millennials, is made up of people who don't just spend time online — they live there," writes Beth Kanter on her blog. "And despite their youth... kids in Generation Z are regularly rocking social media for social good. Well-informed, constantly connected, and more tech-confident than your aunt Jan, they're taking on the world's problems, one online fundraiser at a time.
Where do nonprofit boards fall short? The Nonprofit Law Blog's Erin Bradrick shares some thoughts.
On her Social Velocity blog, Nell Edgington chats with Mary Winkler, senior research associate with the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute, about measurement as a "necessary practice" for nonprofit organizations, the difference between measurement and evaluation, and the challenge inherent in finding funding for measurement work.
African Americans author-Mitch Nauffts Criminal Justice Fundraising Governance Impact/Effectiveness Journalism/Media Nonprofits Philanthropy TAGS: African Americans author-Mitch Nauffts Criminal Justice Fundraising Governance Impact/Effectiveness Journalism/Media Nonprofits Philanthropy | Comments: (0)
[Infographic] CECP - Giving in Numbers 2015
After a short hiatus, we're back with a new infographic, courtesy of CECP, a coalition of one hundred and fifty CEOs "united in the belief that societal improvement is an essential measure of business performance," and the Conference Board, a global business membership and research association. Based on an annual survey, it provides a nice snapshot of "social engagement" at 271 multi-billion-dollar companies, including 67 of the top 100 companies in the Fortune 500.
author-Mitch Nauffts Corporate Philanthropy Infographics TAGS: author-Mitch Nauffts Corporate Philanthropy Infographics | Comments: (0)
5 Questions for...Michael I. Sovern, Board President, Shubert Foundation
The state of the nonprofit arts sector in the United States has ignited passionate debate in recent years. PND asked Michael I. Sovern, board president of the Shubert Foundation, which recently awarded grants totaling $24 million to nearly five hundred arts nonprofits, about the role of philanthropy — and, specifically, general operating support — for performing arts organizations. Sovern is Chancellor Kent Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and former president of Columbia University (1980-93), and has served on the boards of numerous nonprofits, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, WNET/13, and the American Academy in Rome.
Philanthropy News Digest: The Shubert Foundation describes itself as "the nation's largest private foundation dedicated to unrestricted funding of not-for-profit theaters, dance companies, professional theater training programs, and related service agencies." When did the foundation adopt a policy of providing unrestricted funding to performing arts groups? And why do you believe it's important for the foundation to give its grantees maximum flexibility with respect to the way they use their grant income?
Michael I. Sovern: Our policy of providing unrestricted funding was already in place when I joined the foundation's board over thirty years ago. Although the foundation was established in 1947, its formal funding priorities and guidelines were created in the 1970s, which is when the focus on unrestricted funding for professional theater companies — with a secondary focus on professional dance companies — began.
We have reviewed the policy from time to time but always have come up with the same answer. Each of the many performing arts organizations we support is wrestling with issues specific to its own location and circumstances while also facing challenges that are common across the industry. We believe that the administrators, artists, and boards of our grantees know best where the funds we provide should be directed. Our confidence is buttressed by our multi-faceted approach to the evaluation of each company — one that considers the artistic, fiscal, and administrative aspects of the organization. This careful annual review helps us to feel comfortable with awarding unrestricted grants.
PND: Why do you think so many arts funders are reluctant to provide general operating support?
MS: Some donors want to see the specific impact of their contributions immediately. Some enjoy exercising control. Fresh initiatives are more exciting than paying the electric bills. But the quest for earmarked support can draw an organization's attention away from its central mission. Time and energy that could be spent strengthening the company may be diverted, possibly to the detriment of the overall health of the organization. A search for replacement funds to continue the projects or programs can drain resources while often yielding minimal results. The impact on the bottom line of the organization and the toll on the company itself may well prove that the pursuit of these funds was a mistake.
The Future of 'Community' for Community Foundations
Community foundations have existed for more than a hundred years by adhering to a simple proposition: they exist to serve their local communities. Today, this proposition is being challenged by an increasingly global, twenty-first century mindset and amazing new technologies that strengthen connections even as they weaken the importance of place. As a result, the definition of "community" is changing, and community foundations must ask themselves: Will we change with it?
More and more, Americans see themselves as global citizens – both influencing and being influenced by international events. The ubiquitous nature of smartphones and social media apps means that almost everyone is only a click away from staying in touch with any person they've ever met or from learning about a new development affecting any cause they've ever cared about. At the same time, Americans are more willing than ever to relocate to different communities in pursuit of a job or a different lifestyle.
The fact is, we are all part of multiple communities based on professional and personal interests that do not necessarily stem from or exist within a defined geography. Some of these communities exist only in cyberspace. And yet people have – and will always have – a direct connection to the place where they currently live. This presents a significant challenge – and a huge opportunity – for community foundations, which increasingly must figure out how to respond to locally based donors who support causes and organizations outside a foundation's stated geographical boundaries.
Put simply, community foundations that can address both the local and global philanthropic interests of their donors are the ones most likely to grow over the coming decades. At Silicon Valley Community Foundation, we are committed to embracing this responsibility and believe that community foundations that cannot or choose not to do so will find themselves at a distinct disadvantage over time.
Philanthropy TAGS: Philanthropy | Comments: (1)
President Obama's Eulogy for Beau Biden
Below is the full text of the extraordinary eulogy for Beau Biden that Barack Obama delivered on June 6, 2015, at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden, the vice president's eldest son and a former attorney general of Delaware and Iraq War veteran, died on May 30 from brain cancer. We were out of pocket over the weekend and only learned of the president's remarks through Dave Pell's not-to-be-missed enewsletter, Next Draft. On Medium, Pell wrote he felt obliged to share the president's remarks because, in addition to being "one of the most amazing and thoughtful remembrances I've ever [heard]," they "seriously make [me] want to be better." We couldn't agree more.
"A man," wrote an Irish poet, "is original when he speaks the truth that has always been known to all good men." Beau Biden was an original. He was a good man. A man of character. A man who loved deeply, and was loved in return.
Your Eminences, your Excellencies, General Odierno, distinguished guests; to Hallie, Natalie and Hunter; to Hunter, Kathleen, Ashley, Howard; the rest of Beau's beautiful family, friends, colleagues; to Jill and to Joe — we are here to grieve with you, but more importantly, we are here because we love you.
Without love, life can be cold and it can be cruel. Sometimes cruelty is deliberate — the action of bullies or bigots, or the inaction of those indifferent to another's pain. But often, cruelty is simply born of life, a matter of fate or God's will, beyond our mortal powers to comprehend. To suffer such faceless, seemingly random cruelty can harden the softest hearts, or shrink the sturdiest. It can make one mean, or bitter, or full of self-pity. Or, to paraphrase an old proverb, it can make you beg for a lighter burden.
But if you're strong enough, it can also make you ask God for broader shoulders; shoulders broad enough to bear not only your own burdens, but the burdens of others; shoulders broad enough to shield those who need shelter the most.
To know Beau Biden is to know which choice he made in his life. To know Joe and the rest of the Biden family is to understand why Beau lived the life he did. For Beau, a cruel twist of fate came early — the car accident that took his mom and his sister, and confined Beau and Hunter, then still toddlers, to hospital beds at Christmastime.
But Beau was a Biden. And he learned early the Biden family rule: If you have to ask for help, it's too late. It meant you were never alone; you don't even have to ask, because someone is always there for you when you need them.
And so, after the accident, Aunt Valerie rushed in to care for the boys, and remained to help raise them. Joe continued public service, but shunned the parlor games of Washington, choosing instead the daily commute home, maintained for decades, that would let him meet his most cherished duty — to see his kids off to school, to kiss them at night, to let them know that the world was stable and that there was firm ground under their feet.
author-Mitch Nauffts Current Affairs Other TAGS: author-Mitch Nauffts Current Affairs Other | Comments: (1)


text:
Toni Braxton retiring from music
By Daily Dish on February 7, 2013 at 2:16 PM
Singer Toni Braxton is hanging up her microphone after realising she no longer has a love for music.
The singer has won eight Grammy Awards and sold over 66 million records worldwide, but over the last few years she has been hit with a number of health scares and financial problems that have forced her to rethink her career.
In 2011, she teamed up with her mother and sisters for the reality TV show "Braxton Family Values," which is currently approaching its third season, and now she has decided to retire from recording altogether and focus on acting and other projects.
Braxton, who will show off her acting chops for the first time in the TV movie Twist of Faith on Saturday, announced the news during an appearance on "Good Morning America" on Thursday.
She said, "I don't feel the love for music anymore. It's not affecting me and making me feel that thing I always felt when I performed, it's leaving me. I'm not sure what's going on in my life, maybe I'm going through a female midlife crisis, I'm not sure, but my heart isn't in it anymore, and I hate to say that."
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Gary Johnson Speaks To The BBC After The 4-0 Win Against Leyton Orient
Yeovil Town manager Gary Johnson spoke to local journalist Chris Spittles in an interview for BBC Somerset, after the 4-0 win over Leyton Orient on Saturday 4th January 2014.
CS: An emphatic victory Gary. That should do a lot for confidence, shouldn't it?
GJ: Yes, I think so - to score four goals. The first thing that we've got to say is that the work that was put in before the start of the game was magnificent. That was beyond the call of duty. That was stewards and ground staff and everybody. So credit to everybody for getting the game on. So then we couldn't let them down, and I didn't think the boys let them down. I thought it was a good work-rate all round, with four good goals, and people have gone home hopefully happy that we've got the result.
CS: James Hayter - one goal all season, but he's trebled his total this afternoon.
GJ: Yes he has, and he looked dangerous and he looked sharp. So what we needed, which we said at half time, was for a couple of quality balls to go into the box. There was a fantastic ball by Liam Davis who played really well today, and then a good finish by Granty (Joel Grant). Then Kevin Dawson hit his great cross and Hayts got in on the end of that. I didn't really want to bring him off, because when people are on a hat-trick and given he's not going to get too many more of them over the years, but I wanted to give Kieffer (Moore) a bit of a confidence boost. He's had a good couple of weeks actually, and so has Adam Morgan, and I wanted to get both of them on. Adam nearly scored with his first touch, and Kieffer did score when he got put in. So there's a lot to come from them, and I think people don't realise they're only young lads - Adam is only 19 years of age. They've got a future, and we're going to try to bring them out very quickly.
CS: You could see Kieffer's confidence in front of goal - he was clean through, and some other lads would snatch at that. But there was never any doubt he was going to convert that chance.
GJ: He's a confident lad and he's a good finisher. He's a strong boy as well when he finishes. When he strikes the ball in training, all our goalkeepers say he's got one of the hardest strikes - with both feet - in the club. He's a bit awkward sometimes, and it doesn't help him when the ball hits him on the back of his heel when he first comes on, and then goes back 30 yards! I've had some big 'uns, and they always look a bit awkward. But funnily enough he is one of the ones who is not as awkward, because he is six-foot-seven, but he is not too bad and he's got a decent touch. So I'll give him time and hopefully people will give him time. We'll work with him. He's a fine specimen, so hopefully we'll bring him through.
CS: Do you think we saw the difference between Championship and League One today?
GJ: Yes, I think so. Russ (Slade) will say that he's left a few boys back at home, and that sort of thing, but from our point of view, we've just got to do what we've got to do. I just caught a glimpse of Sheffield Wednesday drawing 1-1 with Macclesfield. So they are not easy games - you can't just turn up and win them. But I said to the boys before the game, we've got to show that we've improved. I said that to you, and we've got to show that we've left League One behind for a little while, and I thought we showed that today.
CS: FA Cup Fourth Round - who do you want in the draw tomorrow?
GJ: You want a big team don't you? You want a big team so that the boardroom have a smile on their face. We'd then give it a go, have a great game and then concentrate on the league. But the excitement of the cup in the Fourth Round is that there must be some big teams out there, or more big teams that we can play. That will give everyone a boost if we can get one of the big boys - I don't mind them at home or away. Although it's probably got to be away if we're going to earn some money.
CS: Byron Webster came off early in the second half. What's the situation with him?
GJ: The situation with Byron is that he's had his hamstring (strain) anyway, and on that surface out there where your feet are moving all the time, it's a very slippery surface. He just felt that it was aching a little bit. I think it was 2-0 when we did it, and I just didn't feel that we didn't need to risk him, and then lose him, when we know that Luke (Ayling) can do the job, and we know that Joe (Edwards) can do a job. We also wanted to see where Ed (Upson) was, and we thought Ed looked sharp after that injection. I don't know what they injected into him but I want some of it!
CS: Burnley are next up here for next Saturday. How likely are you to have new faces? We know you're working hard on Ishmael Miller and Joe Ralls. What are the chances of those two for next Saturday?
GJ: Well they're both still out there - it's just the politics of their clubs, along with the situation of their clubs. So both lads have told me that they would like to be a part of our season. Obviously with Forest and Ishmael, they've got to see whether there are any offers for him, because it looks like he's going to be leaving there. I'm sure Cardiff think that it's better for Joe to have the experience of games. So we'll have to wait and see. With both of them, it's certainly not a definite no right at this minute, but they're also not a definite yes. They're both still open at this moment in time.
CS: We mentioned before the game that Wes Thomas was someone who you'd had talks about. Are there other players, and strikers in particular, where you're monitoring their situation?
GJ: Yes, you have to do that because if there are six clubs in for a particular striker, then it's probably not us who are going to get him. But it doesn't stop us being in for them, because that's how we got an Ishmael Miller - things fall into place and you get them. But while that's not happening, I'm pleased that we've got a couple of strikers scoring (James Hayter and Joel Grant) here at the moment - Hayts would be disappointed if we brought somebody in straight away and took his place because he's found a little bit of a lease of life there today, and it's good that he's got a couple of goals. He loves scoring goals, and I'm sure he enjoyed the game.
Next Interview : 04/01/2014 : Peter Johnson Speaks To The BBC About The Club's Scouting Structure
Previous Interview : 04/01/2014 : James Hayter Speaks To The BBC After The 4-0 Win Against Leyton Orient


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Releasing Drone Program Memos Is Fundamental to Government Transparency
Security and Secrecy, Freedom of Information, Open, Accountable Government, Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), Secret Law
On May 13, the Center for Effective Government joined other open government organizations in urging Attorney General Eric Holder not to appeal the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York Times Co. v. Department of Justice. In April, the Second Circuit ruled that the government must disclose the legal analysis justifying the government's drone-based targeted killing program, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Times.
The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) prepares opinions to advise agencies on whether proposed executive actions are lawful. As an office of the Department of Justice (DOJ), such opinions effectively become law, defining the government's view of its authority. Despite their importance for understanding government operations, disclosure of OLC opinions is piecemeal; at least 11 such memos remain secret.
The opinion in this case forms part of the legal basis for the government's targeted killing program. Under the program, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) use remotely piloted aircraft, commonly called drones, to kill individuals that the government deems to be terrorists. At least four U.S. citizens have been killed by drone strikes.
Despite clear public interest in understanding the drone program, DOJ sought to withhold this opinion on national security grounds. Thankfully, the Second Circuit rejected that argument. Due to the administration's numerous public statements regarding the drone program, the court ruled, "Whatever protection the legal analysis might once have had has been lost."
Now the administration has a choice. It can accept the ruling and release the opinion, or it can fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep the document secret. It is an important opportunity for the administration to correct its course: to turn away from aggressive FOIA litigation and secret law and instead turn toward President Obama's goals of unprecedented transparency. We hope the Justice Department will accept the court's ruling and promptly release this important information.
Image by Flickr user naromeel;


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VoxAdpocalypse : Explaining YouTube's Latest Attacks On Journalists And Comedians [VIDEO]0
Business, Featured, Front Page, Headline News
What began as a feud between Vox video producer Carlos Maza and political comedian Steven Crowder came to an explosive climax on Wednesday when YouTube banned thousands of accounts from their monetary partnership program.
150-Year-Old School District To Change Its Name Because Of Confederacy Reference0
Featured, Political Correctness
Neetu Chandak Republish Reprint School board members voted Tuesday to change the name of a 150-year-old California school district because of a Confederacy reference. Dixie School District's (DSD) name change cost is around $40,000, according to The Associated Press Wednesday. The name change would go into effect Aug. 22. Dixie was a nickname for southern U.S. states
One Young Catholic's View of the Tragedy of Notre Dame0
Faith & Freedom, Featured, Front Page, WORLD
Yesterday was really a tough day for me. Watching the burning of a building that has existed for over eight and a half century's, that has such a significance to Catholicism really hurt. As someone that wasn't old enough to remember 9/11, watching the central spire fall really gave me a brief glimpse of how
PETA Trashes Steve Irwin On Twitter, Gets #REKT In The Replies0
Featured, Front Page, Political Correctness
Animal Rights Activist Group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) made the poorly thought out mistake of trashing the legacy of the late Steve Irwin on the anniversary of his birthday. Steve Irwin was best known as The Crocodile Hunter. The controversy began when @GoogleDoodles honored Steve Irwin with a Google Doodle to
Crowd of Denver Teachers on Strike Rally Outside of Capitol Building in Denver0
Featured, Headline News
See the live feed below, courtesy of Fox News: Denver teachers went on strike Monday after failing to reach a pay deal with administrators. The struggle between the two sides has been going on for around a year now, causing multiple reports of walk outs. Denver Public Schools on Twitter had the following to say:
National Butterfly Center to File Emergency Restraining Order Against Border Wall0
Featured, Top News
A Texas butterfly sanctuary among the southern border of the United States is set to file a restraining order against the Trump administration to prevent a wall from being built through its property. It is reported that the restraining order will be preventing the construction of a 36-foot "wall system" until the multiple lawsuits filed
PETA Trashes Steve Irwin On Twitter, Gets #REKT In The Replies
Top 6 Books Every Libertarian Should Read At Least Once
Featured, Philosophy
Tesla and SpaceX Removed From Facebook... by Elon Musk Himself
Featured, Tech Freedom
VoxAdpocalypse : Explaining YouTube's Latest Attacks On Journalists And Comedians [VIDEO]
Liberal Tolerance of Obama's Executive Power is what Makes Trump Scary
2016 Presidential Race, 2020 Presidential Race, Abuse of Authority, Featured, Front Page, Headline News, Political Opinion, Top News
150-Year-Old School District To Change Its Name Because Of Confederacy Reference
One Young Catholic's View of the Tragedy of Notre Dame
Elias J. Atienza


text:
A csutakfarkú poszáta (Urosphena squameiceps) madarak osztályának verébalakúak (Passeriformes) rendjébe, ezen belül a berkiposzátafélék (Cettiidae)  családba tartozó faj.

Rendszerezése
A fajt Robert Swinhoe angol ornitológus írta le 1863-ban, a Tribura nembe Tribura squameiceps néven.

Előfordulása
Kína, Dél-Korea, Észak-Korea, Japán, Oroszország, Kína, Laosz, Mianmar, Tajvan, Thaiföld és Vietnám területén honos. Vonuló faj.

A természetes élőhelye szubtrópusi és trópusi síkvidéki- és hegyi esőerdők, mérsékelt övi erdők, legelők és cserjések, valamint vizes élőhelyek.

Megjelenése
Testhossza 9,5-10,5 centiméter, testtömege 8-10 gramm.

Életmódja
Gerinctelenekkel táplálkozik.

Szaporodása
Áprilistól júliusig költ.

Természetvédelmi helyzete
Az elterjedési területe rendkívül nagy, egyedszáma pedig stabil. A Természetvédelmi Világszövetség Vörös listáján nem fenyegetett fajként szerepel.

Jegyzetek

További információk
Képek az interneten a fajról

Urosphena
Madárfajok
Dél-Korea madarai
Észak-Korea madarai
Kína madarai
Laosz madarai
Mianmar madarai
Oroszország madarai
Tajvan madarai
Thaiföld madarai
Vietnám madarai

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


American designer Ralph Lauren once again took to Instagram to share further details of global icon Priyanka Chopra's Christian wedding dress and the fascination continues for fans. The designer revealed that at Priyanka's request, eight special words and phrases were incorporated into the embroidery pattern of the coat, including 'family' and 'compassion,' as well as husband Nick Jonas' full name and the date of their wedding ceremony. Priyanka, who's known to stay true to her roots, also embroidered the chant 'Om Namaha Shivay' on her coat, besides the names of her parents. The couple tied the knot in a two-day royal wedding at the Umaid Bhawan Palace in the month of December.


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County board approves 2022-23 budget
The Ramsey County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a biennial budget of $774,095,817 in 2022 and $783,166,239 in 2023. This represents an increase of $25,257,019 (3.4%) over 2021 and an increase of $9,070,422 (1.2%) from 2022 to 2023.
"Faced with the realities of the persisting COVID-19 pandemic, this budget sustains and scales the transformative investments we committed to beginning in 2020-2021," said County Board Chair Toni Carter. "We continue prioritizing a Residents First approach to improve service delivery with a focus on systems reform, racial equity and community engagement. I extend our thanks to all residents, businesses and other stakeholders who shared their valuable feedback with us throughout this process."
On Aug. 24, 2021, County Manager Ryan O'Connor proposed a 2022 budget to commissioners. The $1.25 million addition to the 2022 budget since that time represents additional state grant funding received during the 2021 legislative session.
Property taxes fund about 43 percent of the budget. The 1.55% property tax levy increase compares with a statewide average increase of 3.7% in 2022 - one of the ten lowest among Minnesota's 87 counties.
Commissioners also approved $11.1 million for the Housing and Redevelopment Authority. Prior to passage today, Ramsey County had been the only metro-area county in Minnesota not to utilize this authority. The $11.1 million will be used to fund affordable housing efforts and the priorities of the county's Economic Competitiveness and Inclusion Plan.
Public hearings on the proposed property tax levy and budget were held on Sept. 14 and Nov. 29, 2021.
Video of the Dec. 21 board meeting and documentation, and links to all materials that were a part of budget deliberation process, are available in the budget and finance section.
Posted on Tuesday, December 21, 2021 - 10:27 a.m.


"Strategies for Strengthening the Technical Workforce: A Review of Inte" by Katharine M. Conn PhD, Elizabeth H. Park et al.
Numerous countries suffer from a shortage of technicians and skilled workers, particularly in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), due to a mismatch between the skills and interests of the students graduating from or leaving the current education system and the needs of the labor market. Often, parents and students place a high priority on entering and completing university, and as a consequence, many students pursue academic education in secondary schools in order to gain entrance to university, only to find themselves entering the job market lacking the skills they need for employment and advancement. Further, in some countries, the vocational school system is not well-respected by the public and focuses heavily on preparation of youth for specific jobs in one firm rather than preparing them for careers within an industry as a whole. This literature review aims to synthesize the research evidence about the effectiveness of various strategies used by national governments, non-governmental organizations, technical schools, and industries to strengthen both the quality of the technical workforce, as well as the avenues through which individuals can access career and technical programming.
Conn, Katharine M. PhD; Park, Elizabeth H.; Nagakura, Wakasa PhD; Khalil, Sherihan; and Corcoran, Thomas. (2017). Strategies for Strengthening the Technical Workforce: A Review of International Evidence. CPRE Research Reports.


Home » Pressure washing Dublin – for your patios, paths, driveways, buildings, deck's etc.
Pressure washing Dublin – for your patios, paths, driveways, buildings, deck's etc.
Pressure Washing Service Dublin – Get it cleaned!
We provide pressure washing or power hosing service in greater Dublin area. We use high pressure cleaners that are extremely powerful and operate at pressures up to 230bar. These robust machines use eco-friendly technologies. During the cleaning process the pressure is set at a level suitable for the surface actually being cleaned ensuring the surface is cleaned without damaging. We clean up dirt in no time.


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Daily Readings & Meditations
Parish Shop
The Eucharistic Sacrifice or Holy Communion
Sacrament of the Sick
Parish Grouping
Data Privacy Policy: The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on May 25th 2018.
Please click here for the Data Privacy Notice for the Parish of St.Vincent de Paul.
A link to the EU GDPR portal is to be found here. Website https://www.eugdpr.org
Cookie Policy & Management: A link to the Cookie Policy can be found at the bottom of the Home page under Quick Links. The policy holds an option to change your Cookie Preferences . Alternatively, please click here to view the policy.
Archdiocese of Dublin Guideline for Web Broadcasting in Churches
Please refer to the website below for official guidelines. The Parish of Marino endeavours to ensure that these guidelines are upheld.
http://www.dublindiocese.ie/guidelines-for-web-broadcasting-in-churches
Advent Prayer Resources
Marino Parish Newsletter Christmas 2020
Marino Newsletter Autumn Issue
FIRST COMMUNION 2021
Griffith Avenue
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Website Development & Design | Graphedia


We have a team of dedicated designers and developers who are using all the latest technologies to scratch their creative itches.
We have a wealth of commercial experience and specialise in everything from illustration, digital marketing and print, so whatever you need, we have it covered.
On a day to day basis, our designers could be working on anything from a business card to a 48 sheet billboard plus everything in between. We have a well-oiled production line from the moment you contact us right through to completion, including a comprehensive briefing process which helps our designers hit the nail on the head first time. As a result, our turn-around times are second to none.
Our designers always keep in mind the target audience, placement and how long they have to get key messages across. We are experts in learning who your target demographic are and what they are most likely going to respond to which will, in turn, increase your ROI.
For every project, we are accustomed to adapting our techniques to appeal to conquest, new or loyal customers in both traditional and digital design. Every project we do is customised to our clients and their brand identity.
We are The Imagination Station and imagination is our speciality. Nothing is impossible and we stand by the statement 'no idea is a bad idea'. Whether you are looking for a brochure or signage or a leaflet that folds into the shape of a boat, we will always find a way to make it happen in no time at all, whilst always shedding the best light on your brand.
We value your opinion so we will always tailor your artwork to your creative preference and if you need advice, from start to finish, we are always only a phone call away.


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français | español
ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work, 2019
Impact and people
How the ILO works
ILO Director-General
Former Directors-General
Multilateral system
The ILO and the G20
G20 summits
ILO reports for the G20
The ILO and the G7
G7 France 2019
G7 Canada 2018
The ILO and the BRICS
United Nations Reform
Partnering for Development
Programme and budget
Results based management
Global level programming in the ILO
Country level programming in the ILO
Reporting on results
Accountability and Transparency
Committee on Accountability
Ethics Office
Evaluation Office
Independent Oversight Advisory Committee
Office of Internal Audit and Oversight
Assurance audit
Investigation and inspection
Governance and Tripartism Department (GOVERNANCE)
Labour Administration, Labour Inspection and Occupational Safety and Health Branch (LABADMIN/OSH)
Better Work Branch (BETTERWORK)
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work Branch (FUNDAMENTALS)
Social Dialogue and Tripartism Unit (DIALOGUE)
Labour Law and Reform Unit (LABOURLAW)
Regular budget income
Financial reports, Statements and External Auditor's reports
History of the ILO
ILO in the media
All ILO Newsroom content
Albert Thomas ...
Director of the International Labour Organization, 1919-1932
Albert Thomas (France) was born at Champigny-sur-Marne on 16 June 1878. In 1898 he entered the Ecole Normale Supérieure, where he studied history and won a travelling scholarship which enabled him to visit Russia. Other educational distinctions followed, including degrees in literature and history at the University of Paris. In 1904, Thomas was appointed to the editorial staff of L'Humanité and elected a municipal councillor for Champigny, where, eight years later he was elected Mayor. As a journalist, Thomas wrote for L'Information and the Revue socialist, founded the Revue syndicaliste, and subsequently launched L'Information ouvrière et sociale.
In 1910 Albert Thomas was elected member of the Chamber of Deputies for one of the constituencies of the Department of the Seine, and re-elected in 1914. He became a member of the public works, railways, and finance committees of the Chamber, and was active in shaping legislative measures, notably those relating to mines, workers' and peasants' pensions, and pensions for miners.
When the First World War broke out, Thomas served in a territorial regiment for a few weeks, after which he was summoned to Paris, and placed in control of the railway services, acting as a link between the General Staff and the Ministry of Public Works. In October 1914 the Government gave him the task of organising factories with a view to the intensive production of munitions. In May 1915 he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for Artillery and Munitions, becoming Minister of Munitions the following year.
Thomas had just been elected Deputy for the Tarn when, in November 1919, during the First Session of the International Labour Conference in Washington, (at which he was not present), the Governing Body of the ILO chose him to be the Director of the Office. From that moment, Albert Thomas gave himself up entirely to the work of the ILO.
Thomas gave the Organisation a strong impetus from the very beginning. In a few years he created, out of a small group of officials housed in a private residence in London, an international institution with a staff of 400 and a building of its own in Geneva. In the first two years, 16 international Labour Conventions and 18 Recommendations had been adopted. From 1920 onwards, the ILO launched an ambitious programme of publications, which included the Official Bulletin, the monthly International Labour Review and various other periodicals and newspapers. As Director, Thomas took personal interest in recruiting an international team to form the Secretariat of the Organisation. Thomas' leadership helped to establish the image of the ILO as one of boundless enthusiasm and explosive energy.
Opposition soon began to develop, and the optimism that had prevailed immediately following the end of the war gave way to doubt and pessimism. Some members sought to restrict the powers and activities of the Organisation. Firstly, it was felt that the Conference had gone too far and too quickly in the output of Conventions and Recommendations. National governments and parliaments could not keep up. Thomas, noted the disappointing number of ratifications and reached the conclusion that over-production of Conventions and Recommendations should stop.
Secondly, the publications programme of the Office became a target for criticism, namely that its research was not objective and impartial. At the same time, efforts were being made to restrict the competence of the ILO. In 1921, the French government took the position that the ILO was not competent to deal with agricultural matters and the Permanent Court of International Justice was requested to give an advisory opinion on the question. The Court found that the competence of the ILO did extend to international regulation of the conditions of labour of persons employed in agriculture, rejecting a restrictive interpretation of the Constitution. Other attempts to induce the Court to restrict the scope of action of the ILO also failed in 1922 and 1926.
Another serious difficulty emerged over the financing of the Organisation. Under the Constitution, the ILO was dependent on the League of Nations for its financing, but in all matters of general policy the Constitution provided the ILO for absolute independence. In 1923, a group of governments worked in the Governing Body to reduce the ILO's budget to approximately US $1,400,000 - which became established as a standard level for the ILO.
The restriction of the budget made stabilization and consolidation of ILO programmes and activities necessary. This, in turn, had positive spillover effects. Between 1922 and 1931, the Conference continued to meet each year but only adopted 15 Conventions and 21 Recommendations. The limitation of the standard-setting work of the ILO allowed national governments to devote adequate attention to applying the provisions of the international agreements in national laws and regulations. More and more countries ratified ILO Conventions and ILO standards began to exercise an effective influence in the improvements of conditions of life and work. In 1926, an important innovation was introduced when the International Labour Conference set up a supervisory system on the application of its standards, which still exists today. It created the Committee of Experts composed of independent jurists responsible for examining government reports and presenting its own report each year to the Conference.
The stabilization of the ILO's basic programmes in no sense implied stagnation. As Director, Thomas continued to inspire his staff to take advantage of every opportunity to promote the objectives of the ILO. He was a great believer in the "policy of presence", and he spent a good deal of time travelling in order to seek support for the objectives and functions of the Organisation. He visited all the European countries, as well as countries in North and South America, China and Japan. In 1932, after having assured the ILO's strong presence in the world for thirteen years, Albert Thomas suddenly died at the age of fifty-four.
Tags: ILO Director General


This Computer Science quiz is called 'Data Output' and it has been written by teachers to help you if you are studying the subject at middle school. Playing educational quizzes is a fabulous way to learn if you are in the 6th, 7th or 8th grade - aged 11 to 14.
A monitor and printer are two devices for the output of data. The data has been Input, Processed and now it has to be Output. As with Input, there are various devices in relation to Output.
Test your knowledge on the subject of Data Output by answering the following questions.


How great is it to come back to work after a long weekend and realize you have already made it to Tuesday. The whole week is actually like a weekend. I am always more pron to go out at night, head to a movie, or do a bit of shopping. I wish I only ever worked 4 days a week. That would make me very happy. I think it would help to balance my life actually. I feel like on a 4 day week I actually get time for me and my life.


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Prosperity Report
Highlight Stories
Investor Hub
Materiality & Stakeholder Engagement
Operating with Excellence
Privacy & Information Security
Energy, Emissions & Waste
Advancing Human Capital
Talent Attraction & Retention
Career & Leadership Development
Inclusive Diversity
Employee Well Being & Safety
Making a Difference in Society
Foundation & Corporate Giving
Agency Force
Values, principles, standards, and norms of behavior
GRI Content Index
Mechanisms for reporting concerns about unethical or unlawful behavior
Explanation of the material topic and its boundary
The management approach and its components
Evaluation of the management approach
Integrity is central to our business, and we're proud that Ethisphere has listed Allstate among the World's Most Ethical Companies® each of the last five years, recognizing our high ethical standards in business practices and values-based leadership. We have built this legacy on the sturdy foundation of our core values: honesty, caring and integrity, inclusive diversity, engagement, accountability and superior performance.
Allstate's Global Code of Business Conduct, published in English and French-Canadian, outlines the values that are core to who we are and what we do. They define our culture and beliefs, and set forth expectations for how we conduct our work. The Global Code was updated in 2017.
In addition to our Global Code of Business Conduct, we have policies for:
Anti-corruption/bribery
Antitrust/competition
Data privacy (employees, customers, consumers)
Diversity/discrimination/equal employment opportunity
Fair dealing (fair business practices)
Gifts and entertainment
Misconduct investigations
Non-retaliation
Political contributions, activities and lobbying
Procurement integrity/dealing with suppliers/supply chain oversight
Protecting company assets
Records management and retention
Training and Communication
Ethical behavior begins with our most senior leaders and cascades down the organization through annual training, which is a condition of employment.
Our Board of Directors receives specialized ethics and decision-making education. In addition, we provide them with education on topics such as insider trading, cybersecurity, conflicts of interest and regulatory developments.
All managers undergo training in ethics and compliance. Allstate launched an ethics training course for new leaders in 2017 as part of the New Leader Development Studio (NLDS). Additionally, an Ethical Leadership Toolkit is available on the company intranet site, including our Ethical Dilemma Spotlight series, which features a new ethical dilemma every month in the Leadership at Allstate newsletter. Each scenario is accompanied by a guide that facilitates ethical discussions within teams. Topics cover a variety of ethical issues, including accepting gifts, reporting inaccurate numbers, sexual harassment and retaliation.
We focus manager training on creating an environment where employees feel comfortable handling reports, preventing retaliation and speaking up when they observe unethical behavior.
To measure the impact of our training, we:
Document manager feedback
Track misconduct
Survey employees annually to measure Allstate's ethical culture
Our Integrity Index survey is one of the primary drivers of feedback within our ethics and compliance initiatives. The Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer (CECO) presents results to each senior leader in face-to-face meetings. At this meeting, we identify areas of strength and opportunity, and many of our business areas develop their own customized solutions to address them.
We distribute the Global Code of Business Conduct to all employees and subsidiaries with accompanying training. We conduct ethics and compliance training as a standard part of onboarding and on an annual basis, and we monitor its effectiveness through internal measures. In 2018, 100% of our employees completed ethics and compliance training on our Global Code of Business Conduct – a condition of employment at Allstate — through the annual compliance confirmation process. For the first time in 2018, we used an upfront assessment that allowed tenured employees to demonstrate their knowledge of the content and pass related lessons. We continued this approach to annual compliance confirmation in 2019.
In addition to Global Code of Business Conduct training, select employees undergo risk-specific training that addresses topics such as anti-corruption, conflicts of interest, data privacy, equal opportunity, insider trading, procurement, social media, workplace harassment and money laundering.
All suppliers doing business with Allstate must adhere to our Supplier Code of Conduct, which outlines our expectations for human rights, environmental stewardship, diversity and inclusion, child labor and more. We comply with the UK Modern Slavery Act and post our Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement on the Allstate Northern Ireland and Allstate external websites. We do background checks on our largest suppliers and any supplier handling Allstate data.
Integrity Index Survey
The Integrity Index Survey, conducted by the Gartner Compliance and Ethics Leadership Council, gives employees a chance to provide feedback that influences company strategy as well as to address important cultural issues. Gartner administers the annual survey to roughly 16,000 randomly selected employees. The survey is anonymous and confidential, and results are used to compare the year-over-year effectiveness of Allstate's ethics and compliance program.
The survey evaluates employee perceptions of the honesty, integrity and ethical actions of both senior leadership ("Tone at the Top") and direct managers ("Direct Manager Leadership") on a seven point scale.
Employee Perception of Senior Leader and Direct Manager Ethics
Inspire Survey Results
Allstate's environment of trust is a significant driver of engagement, retention and satisfaction; that's why we conduct the annual Inspire employee engagement survey measuring whether employees feel that their immediate managers create an environment of trust.
Employee Perception of Environment of Trust
The Allstate Speak Up Process strongly encourages employees to report any activity that causes concern.
Anyone may report any illegal, unethical conduct or regulatory compliance concerns by:
Contacting their manager, another manager or a Human Resources representative
Calling the Allstate i-Report Line: 800-706-9855, a 24/7 toll-free number
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In 2018, we launched an anti-retaliation campaign across the company to help employees think about what workplace retaliation might look like and affirm our zero-tolerance stance on any form of retaliation. This campaign included posters with four scenarios asking employees, "Is this retaliation or something else?" We also dealt with the issue of workplace retaliation through articles on Allstate NOW, Allstate's internal newspaper, and leadership messaging.
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Under company policy, Allstate does not discuss cases or disciplinary actions with anyone other than the disciplined employee. A Human Resources representative follows up with the reporting person to confirm that the case has been investigated, handled and closed. We track employee-submitted reports in our case management system, which records and logs reports and related investigations. The Board of Directors is made aware of substantiated concerns.
In 2018, we implemented a new case management tool that offers better metrics and stronger evaluation of trends. Over the next two years, we will work across the Allstate family of companies to bring this tool to all our locations.
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Examining Caregiver Burden in First Episode Psychosis
November 19, 2019, 4:15 pm-5:30 pm
J. Jomy, E. Gardizi, E. Cole, J. Fowler
Caregivers play a critical role in supporting persons with psychosis; however, they are at high risk for experiencing psychological distress. Most studies have focused on the impact of caregiving in chronic patient samples, while overlooking burden earlier in the course of illness. The purpose of the current study was to: (1) examine the rate of caregiver burden in carers of first episode psychosis patients and to compare the results to chronic cases and (2) examine patient characteristics that are predictive of caregiver burden in first episode psychosis.
Data from 44 caregivers enrolled in the Cleghorn Early Intervention Clinic at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton was used. Caregiver burden was measured using the Experience of Caregiving Inventory (ECI). Descriptive statistics were used to examine rates of caregiver burden while multiple linear regression was used to examine the influence of patient characteristics (age, symptom severity, disability, and insight) on burden. The mean ECI score for our sample was 94.2 (SD = 36.1), which was higher than scores reported in caregivers of patients with chronic disorders. The regression model was significant F (4, 35) = 3.78, p < .10 and yielded an R2 value of .301. Greater symptom severity and poorer insight were associated with caregiver distress. First episode psychosis represents the initial stage of illness when symptoms may be most pronounced and individuals may not have been treated from a prolonged time. Insight may also be limited, partly due to lack of knowledge regarding psychosis. The results of this study speak to the importance early intervention in ensuring that individuals and families are offered treatment and psychoeducation as soon as possible.
Clinicians Family Members Lived Experience Managers Peer Support Workers Researchers


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Torneo del Consejo Provisorio 1926 var en provisoriskt säsong av Uruguays högstaliga i fotboll. Turneringen var ej en officiell AUF-ledd turnering. Ett provisoriskt råd (Consejo Provisorio) ledde turneringen under detta år vilket gör att Peñarols vinst ej räknas som en officiell ligatitel. Ligan spelades som ett seriespel där samtliga lag mötte varandra vid två tillfällen. Totalt spelades 90 matcher med 253 gjorda mål.

Deltagande lag
Tio lag deltog i mästerskapet; nio från Montevideo, och Universal från San José de Mayo.

Poängtabell

Källor

1926
1926 i Uruguay
Fotbollssäsongen 1926


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14 Nov Before the Battle at Starved Rock
Before the Illinois tribe was driven to Starved Rock where they were almost completely wiped out, there are stories of a great battle that took place in Blue Island along the Calumet River, where the Illinois made a determined effort to fight off their attackers – a group of tribes that included the Ottawa, Pottawatomi, Chippewa, Sauk, and Fox.
We're working on some exciting things related to this battle site, but in the meantime, here are some more accounts from that battle, along with other brief excerpts of Native American activity in Blue Island taken from Ferdinand Schapper's book on the history of Blue Island:
"On September 26th, 1833 the Pottawattomies, to about the number of seven thousand (7,000) were gathered in Chicago for the purpose of making a treaty ceding about twenty million (20,000,000) acres of land to the United States.
On September 9, 1835, Colonel 1. B. F. Russel advertised for forty ox teams, each to be composed of two yokes of oxen to remove the Indians to the country allotted to them in the West. On the first of October Colonel Russel started with the forty ox teams containing the children and baggage of the last remaining members of the red men, about 1,500 in all, and was about twenty days reaching the Mississippi; they were twenty days more reaching the land allotted to them west of the Missouri River."
(Chicago Democratic Press, March 10, 1854)
"A large number of the Pottawattomies from the Calumet River have been for several days encamped near the residence of the late H. B. Clark, a short distance south of the River. Their tents gleaming in the twilight and the red glow of their camp fires and their blanketed forms passing here and there render it quite a border scene of earlier days."
(Chicago Journal, March 29th, 1856)
In 1769 Pontiac, an Indian chief, was assassinated. The Pottawat-tomies, believing that the Illinois tribe of Indians, were accessory to the crime, associated with the Ottawas, Chippewas, Sauks and Foxes, waged a war upon them. The allied Indians were led by the war chief Sugar and the Illinois by their chief Big Elk. The Illinois were forced from point to point until they came to Blue Island, where they made a determined stand. A terrific battle took place, lasting several days, which resulted not only in the defeat of the Illinois, but in breaking up their army and in ignominious flight. A considerable portion of them fled to Hickory Creek near Joliet, where they were again overtaken and again defeated with great slaughter. From there they again fled down the Illinois River to a point where Morris now stands, when another struggle took place resulting in a victory for the allies. The Illinois then retreated to the high rock, now known as Starved Rock, where surrounded by their enemies they were practically annihilated.
(The above has been condensed from an article by P. A. Armstrong, an authority on the Indians of this State.)
The story of the Indian battle was first heard by me from an old trapper who lived with the Indians near the present Hegewisch at the forks of the Calumet River. He was in my father's store in about 1856. His narrative was practically the same as related by Mr. Armstrong. He had heard the story from the Indians, whose ancestors had taken part in the fight. He stepped to the side door of the store and pointed out the battle field which was on the west bank of the Calumet River, just south of 135th Street, about where the Baltimore FK Ohio Terminal crosses the River. He said that the Illinois dead were left on the field, while the allies buried their dead on the hill south of Grove Street.
"Fayette D. Rexford says, in the early days, stone implements and weapons of all kinds used by Indians were found around the Rexford Tavern (on Western Avenue south of Grove St.) The top of the hill around Rexford and Grove Sts., the vicinity west, east, and south of Vermont St., the ground was covered with them."
John Wolf, while digging a cistern southwest corner of Grove and Henry Sts., found skeletons and stone axes; H. B. Robinson found a large lower jawbone of a human body of extraordinary size; Mr. M. C. Eames stated that it would go over the outside of his jaw. The southern part of the Blue Island Hill at one time was also used as a burial place by the Indian. From about Ann and Grove Streets and as far east as Wabash St., skeletons, arrow heads, stone axes etc., were found in great numbers, When the Metz brewery cellars were excavated, the ground was literally full of human remains. Also when the Rock Island Railroad made its cut in the gravel deposits, skeletons, skulls, etc., were continually exposed. When a boy, I have many times dug out "Indian bones" as we called them, on Rexford Street and on Grove St. near Wabash. Wherever and excavation was made almost anywhere south of Vermont St., the graves would show as dark soil in the red gravel and the boys would scratch out the bones with a stick.
On the Brayton Farm a Corn Mill, etc., evidently of Indian origin, was found.
Another place close by where arrow heads, stone axes, and human bones were found in great numbers was on the west bank of the Calumet River south of 135th Street, about where the Terminal Railroad is at present, This place was the site of a battle between the Illinois Indians on one side and the Pottawattomies and their allies on the other. When I was a boy an Indian came from Chicago to this field every summer for several years and scratched through the plowed soil hunting arrow heads and stone axes, sometimes he found a basketful in a day. When the power house of the North Shore Electric Company was erected on this site, two Indian graves were found by Andrew Ward, in about 1910.
Skeletons and Indian axes were found in large numbers on the farm of David Andrews. In making excavations, human bones were found, apparently showing body to have been seven feet high. The Andrews farm was on the extreme southern part of Indian Ridge, near the present Wentworth Avenue and north of the Blue Island and Riverdale Road. This ridge was a burying ground of the Indians and their remains, and arrow heads, axes and other stone implements have been found there ever since whites resided there.
Alexander Reid, Sag Bridge in Lemont, found, (while plowing, about three or four rods from margin of the Sag) on south side of the Sag at a depth of ten or twelve inches, as he expressed it, about a bushel basket of arrow flints and about sixty to seventy stone axes of all sizes.
Early settlers in Thornton found on the site of the present Thornton village, ruins of what evidently had been an Indian strong hold. They consisted of outer trenches with inside fortifications on which grew trees, perhaps a hundred years old. It should be recorded, however, that Indians attributed these remains to French explorers.
*A special thank you to local historian Ken Jellema on his research assistance for this note.
Posted in Blue Island History
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